Independent committee to investigate revenue department flap in Missouri

By   /  May 6, 2013  /  Accountability, Missouri, News  /  1 Comment

PRIVACY: Residents and lawmakers think Missouri's Department of Revenue is invading it. (Photo Alan Cleaver.)

By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS – Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones said Monday that he will form a committee to investigate the possible violation of privacy rights by the Missouri Department of Revenue.
The Bipartisan Investigative Committee on Privacy Protection will include two sheriffs, two county prosecutors, a retired FBI agent and a former [...]

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MO’s Nixon pushes for campaign contribution limits while accepting fat checks

By   /  May 6, 2013  /  Featured, Missouri, News, Politics & Elections, Transparency  /  No Comments

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As Gov. Jay Nixon pushes the Missouri General Assembly to implement limits on campaign contributions, he and other statewide office holders continue to accept fat donations from favored donors.

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VA disability backlog ‘a national embarrassment’

By   /  May 1, 2013  /  Featured, Missouri, News  /  1 Comment

HOLD ON: Veterans filing claims at the St. Louis VA Regional Office average wait times of 370 days.

ST. LOUIS — More than 60 U.S. senators, including the two from Missouri, are urging the White House to help alleviate a growing backlog of veterans’ disability claims that see most wait months, and in some cases years, for processing.

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Federal court limits anti-gay funeral protests in Missouri

By   /  April 29, 2013  /  Featured, Free Speech, Missouri, News  /  1 Comment

Bradley C. Bower/AP

Groups such as the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church won’t be allowed picket within 300 feet of funerals. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Missouri law banning protests closer than that, though the court struck down a broader law to keep protesters even further away.

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Nixon administration says MO Senate budget cuts hit unintended targets

By   /  April 26, 2013  /  Featured, Missouri, News  /  1 Comment

LEUBBERING: Nixon's budget director said the Senate proposal has unintended consequences.

As a Senate committee prepares for another round of weekend public hearings on the revenue department’s new document-scanning practices, the upper body of the Missouri Legislature has gotten some blowback over its budget cuts.

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