Missouri’s grim revenue picture got even grimmer last month, with tax collections falling 16.3 percent below what they were in September 2008 — and revenue in September 2008 was lousy to begin with.
The only bright spot in Missouri’s revenue picture —…
In 2005, the Missouri Legislature dramatically strengthened penalties for driving while intoxicated. That the Legislature did so in a bill aimed at clarifying laws about nude dancing speaks only to its tortuous methods, not its intent.
The intent of the new DWI…
Artist's rendition of lobbyist, right, delivering Christmas party cash to Missouri legislator.
State Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, says he sees no problem serving as chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee while he runs for statewide office next year. Of course he…
The courts finally have spoken: In Kansas, it’s no longer legal to harass a person by blasting him with secret electromagnetic energy weapons.
At least it’s no longer legal to do that to James Walbert of Wichita.
Mr. Walbert, a self-described inventor, asked…
State Rep. Cynthia Davis offers a tip to hungry families.
State Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O’Fallon, is staking out a strong position on child hunger: She’s for it.
“Hunger can be a positive motivator,” she notes in the latest edition of her newsletter.
More…
In this thriller, a gutsy Missouri House Speaker takes on voter-approved term limits . . .no wait. He does that in this editorial. We don't know what the book is about.
On Nov. 3, 1992, Missouri voters overwhelming approved a constitutional…
About 75 percent of Americans who work part-time can’t get health insurance through their jobs. Missouri lawmakers are part of the fortunate 25 percent. The part-time lawmakers, whose five-month legislative session ended Friday, not only can buy coverage for themselves —…
Legislators throw paper copies of bills into the air at the close of the 2006 session.
Chiseled in stone on the state capitol in Jefferson City is a Latin phrase that translates as “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme…
Actors in a production of Lysistrata at Douglas College in British Columbia
A coalition of women’s organizations in Kenya has claimed success in its one-week “bedroom boycott,” aimed at pressuring the African nation’s largely male coalition government to enact reforms.
Taking their cue…
Ben Roethlisberger was injured while driving without a helmet in 2006.
Missouri lawmakers have taken a giant step toward increasing the number of human organs available for transplantation. But, alas, not on purpose.
They did it by voting last week to change…
Imagine buying a $7,500 car blind — without knowing how it compares to other models, how well it’s made or how fuel-efficient it is. Most of us simply wouldn’t do it.
But that’s exactly how we buy health care. Americans spent…
In January, Andrea Elliott was notified that she had ten days to vacate her rental house after it was sold through foreclosure. Robert Cohen | Post-Dispatch
Many real estate investors — just like many homeowners — are having a hard time…
Here's a tip: The National Conference of State Legislatures offers a free video.
The Missouri House was awfully busy last week, passing or advancing a passel of terrible bills that would harm the public interest in any number of ways. Among the…
AmerenUE
Missouri’s largest electric utility wants to change state law so that customers could be billed for finance charges while a new nuclear power plant is being built in Callaway County.
No big deal, AmerenUE officials say. The result would be “a…
Not that its products are unsafe, but the Acme Co. would find it easy to make friends in the Missouri Legislature.
Regarding the revelation that FBI agents have been poking around the Missouri Capitol, looking into alleged “pay-to-play” schemes involving state…
Republican lawmakers in Missouri have a problem: They’d like to reduce the number of uninsured Missourians. But they don’t want to admit that their 2005 Medicaid cuts were a mistake — or hand Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon a political victory.
Mr.…
Sherri Cook gets a kiss from her son, Chance Roth.
“Columbus said the world is round?
Don’t you believe a word of that.
For I’ve been down to the edge of the world,
Sat on the edge where the wild wind whirled,
Peeked over the…
AmerenUE
A Missouri Senate committee is to vote this afternoon on a revised — but still deeply flawed — utility bill that was written to benefit the state’s largest electric company.
AmerenUE has applied for a federal permit to build a new…
Cousin Eddie enjoys the Zoo for free!
That stateswoman nonpareil, that Solomon in skirts, that philosopher queen of the Missouri Legislature, state Sen. Joan Bray of University City, has come up with a dandy idea: People who don’t pay taxes to the…
About 344,000 people in Missouri were uninsured in 1999. About 815,000 have no coverage now — an increase of roughly 137 percent.
You might expect that staggering growth to inspire a sense of urgency in Jefferson City. Instead, legislators spent the…
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