Look at US! @MO_Independent won 24 awards - 9 in 1st place - for our work last year, judged fellow professional journalists and received today at the end of the annual @MissouriPress convention One 1st was for Best Online Newspaper or website. Here’s the rest of our best work:

James Pointer’s life sentence in @MoCorrections' Moberly prison ended abruptly last week when he bled to death from an opening in his leg used to administer dialysis treatments #moleg #mogov

A Missouri House committee spent Wednesday looking at bills to exempt some employers from the minimum wage hike approved by voters, including one that punishes workers for violating employee handbook rules #moleg #mogov

Lawsuit over $15M for @HannibalHealth cancer center in Kirksville tests Missouri legislature’s power to earmark funds for health-care construction #moleg #mocourts

With in-custody deaths at the highest in state history & watchdogs warning prisons are overrun with drugs, 3 lawmakers — 2 Republican and 1 Democrat — have filed bills creating a new oversight panel for the Missouri Department of Corrections #moleg #mogov

RT @ArianaLFigueroa: Trump nominee for budget chief says president can withhold funding approved by Congress. Story by @JenniferShutt http…

Mike Parson "seemed to love the pomp and circumstance of being governor and recoil from the hard parts of the job" - commentary from @MO_Independent chief editor @J_Hancock #moleg #mogov

Deaths in Missouri prisons hit a new high in 2024. The total, 139, is 2 more than the 137 recorded by @MoCorrections in each of the previous 2 years and represents the 4th year in the past 5 where deaths behind bars have averaged >10 a month #moleg

'Everyone that I hear from, including current staff, former staff, and people who live there say that it is overrun with drugs and other contraband': Warden, top supervisor removed from jobs at SW Missouri prison #moleg #mogov @MoCorrections

.@JustinMSparks gamble to prevent state Rep. Jon Patterson from winning the #MoHouse speakership failed spectacularly Wednesday, when only 10 members voted to support his long-shot bid. #moleg #mogov

After ceremonial opening, #MoHouse now electing a temporary speaker, prelude to the vote on whether @JustinMSparks can topple Jon Patterson, nominee of the #GOP conference #moleg

"a political suicide mission": #MoHouse Democratic leader @Ashley4MO on @JustinMSparks attempt to block speaker nominee Jon Patterson as #moleg opening day arrives.

Last night, the Rolla, Mo., City Council rejected efforts to make the community a ‘sanctuary city for the unborn’ “Why are we doing this?” Mayor Louis Magdits IV asked. “What is out to be accomplished?” #abortionrights #moleg via @annaspoerre

RT @J_Hancock: Republican candidate for Missouri House speaker draws scrutiny over $6 million earmark Rep. Justin Sparks says his advocacy…

RT @J_Hancock: Rep. Justin Sparks insists there were no discussions prior to obtaining the appropriation about the possibility of a job.…

The fight over the Missouri ballot measure on minimum wage didn't end with the November vote; new #moleg members seek to rollback increase as usiness lobby groups sue to overturn vote

RT @ScottCharton: In 1967, Gary Rust bought a small weekly newspaper in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He grew the enterprise into one of Americ…

In 5 years working for @semissourian, I remember Gary Rust to be exceptionally smart, clear-visioned and personally generous. He was a journalist, a state lawmaker and a leader in his community out of office. RIP Gary.

Mike Johnson re-elected as U.S. House speaker via @statesnewsroom DC bureau

Markum “Magnificent” Messiah spent 2 decades cultivating #cannabis in what most would recognize as the black market. Now he and his family are growing #marijuana legally under a microlicense issued by the state of Missouri #moleg #mogov via @Rebeccarivas

Commentary from Joshua Holzer of Westminster College in Fulton: President-elect Donald Trump claims that Republicans won “a political victory that our country has never seen before.” Is this true?