The state executed four people this year, while Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama executed a total of 20 others. Forty states have abolished the death penalty, paused executions or have not executed anyone in the past 10 years.
A judge ruled that the state’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey did not have the authority to inflate the estimated cost of a ballot measure to restore abortion rights from $0 to $12.5 billion of state funds.
So far this year there have been 76 homicides, which is nine more than this time last year. Over the span of 72 hours throughout the Memorial Day weekend, there were seven homicide scenes across the city.
As the administration calls for gun control measures, many congressmembers, including from Kansas and Missouri, have remained silent. A poll found that only 39 percent of Missourians supported a semi-automatic weapon ban.
Many in the state argue that the state’s lax gun control laws have contributed to an environment in which residents are too comfortable pulling the trigger. The Republican-majority state Legislature has not signaled they will change the laws.
Jay Ashcroft was elected secretary of state in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. He has assured the state’s elections are safe and secure while also uplifting and supporting conspiracy theories about voter fraud.
At 14 of 16 executive branch agencies, the percentage of non-white employees is less than the share of the state’s minority population. A 2010 diversity requirement is now at odds with growing GOP suspicion of DEI efforts.
The proposal would bar governments from being able to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine or future potential medical technologies and it would require private employers, health facilities to provide vaccine exemptions for religious beliefs.
The state is among a handful of Republican-leaning states that have pulled out of the national system designed to improve voting roll accuracy known as ERIC. Many are skeptical that Missouri’s next efforts will be as efficient.
The state recently voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, joining 20 other states across the nation. Some hope growing support for the drug will encourage members of Congress to drop their resistance.
A proposed bill would allow state and local agencies to close certain meetings to the public for various security reasons and it would allow officials to deny citizens from viewing or accessing certain records.
Officials in Kansas and Missouri worry that a federal default could severely disrupt a variety of government services that could cause local layoffs, jettison retirement funds, restrict Medicaid access and more.
The state’s new election law requires voters to show state-issued identification at the polls but thousands of residents don’t have one and getting a photo ID isn’t always easy. Here’s what you need to know.
The state’s new voting law went into effect on Sunday, Aug. 28, which includes a photo ID requirement on election day, changes to who can register voters and how absentee voting will work. Those without ID will need to take extra steps to vote.
A group of Republican attorneys general have filed a lawsuit in hopes of preventing California from setting its own vehicle emissions standards, claiming the state’s rules could negatively impact other states down the road.
The number of vacant, state government positions has increased by more than 700 jobs in the last year, despite a 5.5 percent salary increase for all state workers that was approved by the Legislature and governor last year.
