The Missouri Senate Education Committee held a hearing before a packed house Tuesday on a bill that would create a letter-grade report card system for public schools. Supporters say it will help parents identify the best places for their kids and provide incentives for schools to improve. Critics say it will stigmatize some schools and
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Editor’s Note: AI was used in background research for this article. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Teachers and parents faced Missouri legislators on Tuesday as two Missouri senators work to write a new grading system for schools into law. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order creating school report cards in January, before his State of
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Missouri lawmakers are taking a hard look at regulating artificial intelligence, focusing on images and videos created without consent. The House Emerging Issues Committee held a public hearing on Monday to examine a series of bills that would expand criminal and civil penalties for nonconsensual AI-generated content. Lawmakers emphasized the rapid
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is asking local election authorities to verify voters’ citizenship status after a federal program flagged people for potential illegal status. However, many county clerks have spotted citizens on the list. Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said Hoskins sent her a list of 74 voters in November whose
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A Cole County judge ruled this week that Gov. Mike Kehoe acted within his legal authority when he called a special session for redistricting. The decision, issued by Judge Christopher Limbaugh, confirms the legality of the session and the resulting House Bill 1, which redraws Missouri’s congressional district. The NAACP challenged
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Missouri lawmakers are considering two bills that would require summer and day camps to be licensed and create emergency plans for inclement weather. The bill was prompted by a deadly Texas flood that killed 27 girls at Camp Mystic in July 2025. Rep. Cameron Parker (R-Campbell) introduced the legislation in the House,
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A bill to strengthen protections for children against grooming and trafficking has cleared a Missouri House committee and is now headed to the Senate. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis (R-Moberly and Macon). The bill passed the full House on Monday with a 148–2 vote. Rep. Lewis described the
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Gov. Mike Kehoe has promised $7.5 million to pay for students to attend classes outside their school districts, if the state legislature can pass an open enrollment bill. “Again, open enrollment is not about weakening public education, it’s about strengthening it,” Kehoe said in his State of the State Address in January.
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Editor’s Note: AI has been used in background research for this article COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The battle for Missouri’s true congressional district map continued Tuesday as the state and the ACLU returned to the Cole County Courthouse for a bench trial on whether a new mid-decade congressional map is already in effect. The ACLU, representing
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More than 100 parents, teachers and students from across Missouri gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon for Public Education Lobby Day, urging lawmakers to prioritize funding for public schools.
Advocates came together in the Capitol Rotunda after having more than 100 different meetings with legislators regarding public education funding.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A bench trial began Monday in Jefferson City over the language that would place Missouri’s new congressional map on the November ballot. The trial is the latest in a series of lawsuits challenging the congressional map the General Assembly passed during a September 2025 special session, a map that could possibly
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Missouri’s first month of legal sports betting generated heavy activity, but no money for education. When Amendment 2, which legalized sports betting in Missouri, appeared on the ballot, one of its biggest supporters was the group Winning for Missouri Education. The group estimated the measure would generate $100 million in tax revenue
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A Cole County judge on Wednesday did not OK the Secretary of State’s request to rewrite the ballot language for a referendum that would put the new congressional map on the November ballot. Judge Brian Stumpe did not deny the request during the case hearing, either; the request will be considered
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri Senate passed new rules on Tuesday that could make it harder to force an end to debate in the chamber. The chamber voted 23-11 on two new rules, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin (R-Shelbina). One change requires more signatures on a motion to vote on the “previous
Continue Reading JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri State Capitol Commission is moving forward with renovation plans for the state Capitol totaling nearly $600 million. The commission approved a motion Monday allowing the Office of Administration to begin the process of hiring an “owner’s representative” to oversee the project. A $595 million budget has been set aside
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway reached a deal with her former client, Grain Belt Expres,s in the company’s lawsuit over the state’s demand for documents. Hanaway was the lead counsel for Grain Belt when she worked at law firm Husch Blackwell. She left that job when she was appointed attorney general
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Both parties in a lawsuit over charter school applications in Boone County asked a judge on Friday to vacate a hearing next week after Saint Louis University rescinded its application for Frontier Schools. Columbia Public Schools filed a lawsuit last month, claiming the establishment of charter schools in Boone County is unconstitutional.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri attorney general on Friday sued the U.S. Census Bureau over its counting of undocumented immigrant populations for the purpose of drawing U.S. House districts. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Missouri is asking for an injunction to stop factoring
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Editor’s note: A sentence has been clarified. COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A former basketball prospect for the University of Missouri who was accused of raping a woman during a September 2024 campus visit is now being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Kansas City. Keiner Asprilla was charged in Boone County last year as an
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A committee in the Missouri state House of Representatives heard the governor’s income-tax elimination bill and public comment on Wednesday. Income-tax revenue makes up about two-thirds of the state’s revenue. The general assembly needs to find a way to replace money from the income tax, and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe proposed
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