Bob Packwood, a longtime Oregon Senator who entered national politics young and ascended to the pinnacles of congressional power before his career ended in scandal, died Saturday. He was 93.
The post Bob Packwood, longtime Oregon Senator marred by scandal, dies at 93 appeared first on Lincoln Chronicle.
Property tax cuts are headed to Floridians’ ballots in November, and St. Johns County’s leaders are concerned.
The post St. Johns County leaders warn property tax cuts could decrease service appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
Missouri state Rep. Dave Griffith has spent the last five years digging into research on how psychedelic-assisted therapy has helped veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. This May marked the end of his final legislative session in the House, and he pushed one last time for legislation to allow clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted […]
Voters will consider whether to increase the homestead exemption, which would eliminate property taxes for many homeowners.
The post Property tax overhaul headed to ballot; see how your legislators voted appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
Problems with how Missouri counties assess real estate are complicating an effort to update the formula that determines state aid for public schools. In a meeting Monday morning, the Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force discussed how an updated formula could factor in local property taxes as real estate valuations struggle to keep up with […]
When Barb Buchanan walked into her first support group for family members of people with mental illness in Columbia around 2010, Heather Harlan greeted her with a “huge smile.” Harlan started attending the meetings, run by NAMI Missouri, the statewide affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in 2007. Her adult son, Micah Bacus, […]
Mayor Donna Deegan says the tax proposal unfairly punishes cities like Jacksonville that have low tax rates.
The post Jacksonville officials stare down $300M hit from DeSantis’ property tax plan appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek’s office made a last-minute push in the closing hours of the legislative session to stop lawmakers from moving the state’s private school voucher program to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. But the largest scholarship-granting organization in the program did not join the public show of support. With just a […]
Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville was the only legislator from Northeast Florida to vote no on the budget.
The post Florida lawmakers pass $114.5B budget after contentious session appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
A Missouri bill awaiting action from Gov. Mike Kehoe would give judges broader power to quickly dismiss lawsuits designed to chill speech, replacing what supporters have long described as among the weakest anti-SLAPP laws in the country. The legislation, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Mike Henderson of Desloge, would repeal Missouri’s current anti-SLAPP law and […]
The 2026 legislative session saw one Republican consistently advocate for the traditions of the Senate, often in opposition to his party. State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield, is term-limited. What he experienced in his final session is a window into the consequences for someone who veers from party loyalty, not unlike what has […]
Gov. Ron DeSantis wants legislators to put a property tax referendum on the election ballot for November.
The post DeSantis unveils plan to eliminate most property taxes appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
The budget agreement includes money for school vouchers, AIDS drug assistance and Everglades restoration.
The post Florida lawmakers reach a budget deal with a vote set for Friday appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
After decades spent working with people seeking abortions, Allison Hile said one thing became clear: Some Missouri lawmakers have little understanding of what women go through to prevent pregnancy. “It is very difficult to take time off work, to find childcare, to drive somewhere to get birth control, to pay for birth control,” Hile told […]
Missouri lawmakers spent part of this year’s legislative session arguing that the state should steer low-income families away from buying candy, soda and desserts with public benefits. Then they passed a budget that eliminates $2 million for a program designed to help those same families buy more fruits and vegetables. Double Up Food Bucks, run […]
The bills will supplement coaches' salaries and also allow coaches to spend their own money to help players.
The post DeSantis comes to Ribault High to sign bills supporting high school coaches appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
A wide-ranging education package backed by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe collapsed in the final days of the legislative session after negotiations over school accountability became a fight over which communities should be opened to charter schools. The breakdown killed legislation that would have shaped Kehoe’s push for an A-F grading system for public schools, one […]
Legislative leaders are negotiating next year's budget, a secretive process Gov. Ron DeSantis likens to selecting a pope.
The post Behind closed doors: How Florida’s state budget gets made appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
As the Missouri House began the final day of this year’s session last week, state Rep. Tim Taylor reluctantly reported that last-minute efforts to salvage a package of changes to property tax laws had failed. For most of the past year, property taxes and how they are levied had dominated the three-term Republican’s legislative work. […]
A bill to create a new faction of school protection officers with “physical fitness superior to a U.S. Marine” got final approval from Missouri lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session. The legislation seeks to allow schools to hire volunteer or paid guards called “Missouri Rangers” who could carry a gun on school […]
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the armed guardian bill Friday, saying it would make colleges and universities safer.
The post Florida expands armed guardian program to colleges and universities appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
A bill restricting the use of low-flying drones and directing the state to automatically expunge drug offenses of thousands of eligible Missourians passed the General Assembly Friday. The House voted 110-25 to approve the bill, with 18 Democrats and seven Republicans in opposition. The underlying legislation, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Nick Schroer of Defiance, […]
The Missouri General Assembly adjourned Friday without the factional warfare and late-session meltdowns that have come to define the Capitol in recent years, ending a 2026 session marked less by dysfunction than by a return to legislative basics. Republicans used their supermajorities to advance major pieces of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s agenda, including a proposed constitutional […]
Nixon said she was protesting the lack of affordability in Florida as well as new Republican congressional maps.
The post Rep. Angie Nixon arrested after sit-in outside governor’s office appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
A plan to move oversight of Missouri’s private school voucher program out of the State Treasurer’s Office fizzled on the last day of legislative session Friday after the chairman of the House Fiscal Review Committee refused to bring it up for a vote following a call from St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski. The proposal to […]
The Missouri Senate on Thursday voted to strip oversight of the state’s private school voucher program from State Treasurer Vivek Malek, moving it to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The change was included in a wide-ranging education bill that also expands eligibility for MOScholars, the state’s tax-credit-funded voucher program. The plan still needs […]
Nixon spoke with a megaphone while protesting a redistricting bill that she considered unconstitutional.
The post State Rep. Angie Nixon reprimanded for disrupting Florida House appeared first on Jacksonville Today.
Healthcare providers could face the death penalty if they don’t provide life-saving care to a baby born after an attempted abortion under legislation headed to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe. The legislation — approved by the House Wednesday on a 102-46 vote — has been a top priority of Republicans this year and was the only significant anti-abortion […]
A bill requiring pornography websites to conduct age checks before granting access is headed to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe. Commercial websites and platforms must already verify that users are at least 18 if more than a third of their content is sexually explicit as part of a rule enforced by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway […]
A Missouri House committee voted down legislation on Tuesday aimed at establishing safeguards on the use of artificial intelligence over concerns that the bill lacked enforcement mechanisms and included drafting errors. The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Joe Nicola of Grain Valley, would have specified that liability for harm caused by an AI system […]