(Radio Iowa) -&nbsp;The state auditor says a private auditing firm will review details about the closure of a grocery store that got about two million dollars worth of tax incentives and grants from the City of Waterloo. 

All-in Grocers in downtown Waterloo opened on October 3rd of last year. The store's co-owner announced on August 10th the store would close temporarily, but it is now up for sale. In a written statement, State Auditor Rob Sand says his staff is passing information they've received about All-in Grocers to the private firm hired to audit the City of Waterloo's finances. 

Sand says it's the fastest and most efficient way to ensure public funds provided for the project were spent appropriately and as intended.

(Radio Iowa) -&nbsp;The state auditor says a private auditing firm will review details about the closure of a grocery store that got about two million dollars worth of tax incentives and grants from the City of Waterloo. All-in Grocers in downtown Waterloo opened on October 3rd of last year. The store's co-owner announced on August 10th the store would close temporarily, but it is now up for sale. In a written statement, State Auditor Rob Sand says his staff is passing information they've received about All-in Grocers to the private firm hired to audit the City of Waterloo's finances. Sand says it's the fastest and most efficient way to ensure public funds provided for the project were spent appropriately and as intended.

Closed Waterloo grocery got $2 million in city tax breaks

SEDGWICK COUNTY — A USD 259 Wichita school employee's quick reaction to close a door prevented a man with a gun, who was chasing a woman he had already shot, from entering a school building on Monday.

Just after 9a.m., Sedgwick County Emergency Communications began to receive reports of a shooting outside Cessna Elementary School, 2101 West 45th Street South in Wichita, according to a statement from Police Chief Joe Sullivan during a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

The call was broadcast on all law enforcement radio channels. A Sedgwick County Deputy heard the call and responded. When the deputy arrived, he located a 46-year-old man from Wichita who was armed with a handgun. The man made statements that the deputy would kill him while pointing the gun at the deputy, according to Sullivan.

The suspect than ran to and laid on top of a 30-year-old woman. The deputy gave commands for the man to drop his gun and observed the suspect place the gun to the woman's head.

In defense of the woman, the deputy fired his gun twice. The suspect would not let go of the woman. The deputy then attempted to disarm the man physically. It took two Wichita Police officers and the deputy to disarm the suspect.

Investigators have learned that the man and woman live together and have children together. The couple had an argument in a vehicle on the way to the school which led to the suspect shooting the woman multiple times. The woman ran toward the school and the suspect chased her. A Wichita Public School staff member saw the suspect with the gun approaching the school and pulled the door of the school shut and locked it so the suspect could not get inside.

EMS transported the suspect and the woman to an area hospital. Both are expected to survive, according to Sullivan. When the suspect is released from the hospital,&nbsp; he faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.&nbsp; &nbsp;Police have not released the name of the suspect.

The Advanced Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) was activated to conduct this investigation. ALERT team investigators will present the facts of this case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office for formal charging consideration. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727210527551.png" alt="The suspect with the gun chasing the woman who had already been shot -image from security camera image released by Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>The suspect with the gun chasing the woman who had already been shot -image from security camera image released by Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY — A USD 259 Wichita school employee's quick reaction to close a door prevented a man with a gun, who was chasing a woman he had already shot, from entering a school building on Monday.Just after 9a.m., Sedgwick County Emergency Communications began to receive reports of a shooting outside Cessna Elementary School, 2101 West 45th Street South in Wichita, according to a statement from Police Chief Joe Sullivan during a Tuesday afternoon news conference.The call was broadcast on all law enforcement radio channels. A Sedgwick County Deputy heard the call and responded. When the deputy arrived, he located a 46-year-old man from Wichita who was armed with a handgun. The man made statements that the deputy would kill him while pointing the gun at the deputy, according to Sullivan.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727106753444.png" alt="Police on the scene near the school-photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene near the school-photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>The suspect than ran to and laid on top of a 30-year-old woman. The deputy gave commands for the man to drop his gun and observed the suspect place the gun to the woman's head.In defense of the woman, the deputy fired his gun twice. The suspect would not let go of the woman. The deputy then attempted to disarm the man physically. It took two Wichita Police officers and the deputy to disarm the suspect.Investigators have learned that the man and woman live together and have children together. The couple had an argument in a vehicle on the way to the school which led to the suspect shooting the woman multiple times. The woman ran toward the school and the suspect chased her. A Wichita Public School staff member saw the suspect with the gun approaching the school and pulled the door of the school shut and locked it so the suspect could not get inside.EMS transported the suspect and the woman to an area hospital. Both are expected to survive, according to Sullivan. When the suspect is released from the hospital,&nbsp; he faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.&nbsp; &nbsp;Police have not released the name of the suspect.The Advanced Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) was activated to conduct this investigation. ALERT team investigators will present the facts of this case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office for formal charging consideration.

Quick action by Kan. school employee kept gunman from entering school

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">ARIANA FIGUEROA</a>&nbsp;

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Tuesday during a radio interview that she supports changing a Senate procedure in order to codify the right to an abortion.

Vice President Harris said she is in favor of ending the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, known as the filibuster, to advance abortion rights legislation. But that task would hinge on Democrats agreeing to do so and holding on to majority control in the Senate, a difficult feat this November as&nbsp;<a href="https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/09/23/racing-toward-election-day-control-of-u-s-senate-and-house-up-for-grabs/" target="_blank">Republicans appear potentially poised to take back the upper chamber.&nbsp;</a>

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe, and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” she said during an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.

Harris in 2022 said she would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/10/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-2022-democratic-national-committee-summer-meeting/" target="_blank">cast a tie-breaking vote</a>&nbsp;in favor of abortion rights in her role as vice president. She has often pledged to sign into law a codification of Roe v. Wade, the constitutional right to an abortion struck down by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in August that Democrats would talk about rules changes to codify abortion rights,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/chuck-schumer-outlines-2025-agenda-democrats-sweep-eying-filibuster-ch-rcna167433" target="_blank">NBC reported</a>.

<a href="https://penncapital-star.com/election-2024/trump-talks-agriculture-and-china-in-smithton-ahead-of-rally-at-iup/" target="_blank">At a Monday rally in Pennsylvania</a>, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to himself as a “protector” of women. Trump said women no longer needed to think about abortion and it is “now where it always had to be, with the states.”

“All they want to do is talk about abortion,” the former president said at the rally, referring to Democrats. “It really no longer pertains because we’ve done something on abortion that no one thought was possible.”

Trump has called for Senate Republicans to dismantle the filibuster, but GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republican leaders like No. 2 Sen. John Thune of South Dakota have vowed to keep the procedure in place.

Current Senate projections indicate Republicans are likely to gain control of the Senate. Republicans are also expected to pick up a seat in West Virginia, and only need to hold on to seats in Florida, Texas and Nebraska.

Democrats will need to secure wins in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Additionally, Senate Democrats would need to break a possible 50-50 tie through a Democratic presidency — if they want to remain the majority party and change the filibuster.

If Harris wins, and Democrats hold 50 seats in the Senate, then Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the vice presidential nominee, would be the tie-breaking vote.

During a Tuesday Senate press conference on abortion, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said she was supportive of Harris’ stance and that it would be a carve-out of the filibuster, rather than an elimination of it.

“What we are talking about is a simple procedure to allow, whenever rights are taken away from someone, that the U.S. Senate can, without being blocked by a filibuster, be able to restore those rights,” she said.

The Harris campaign hosted a Tuesday press call with business owner and&nbsp; “Shark Tank” investor Mark Cuban, to advocate for Harris’ economic policies.

Polls have found that voters view Trump as better for the economy.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/in-tied-presidential-race-harris-and-trump-have-contrasting-strengths-weaknesses/" target="_blank">Pew Research</a>&nbsp;found that Trump’s key advantage is the economy, with 55% of voters viewing the former president as making good economic decisions, and 45% of voters viewing Harris as making good decisions about the economy.

“In a nutshell, the vice president and her team thinks through her policies,” Cuban said. “She doesn’t just off the top of her head say what she thinks the crowd wants to hear, like the Republican nominee.”

Battleground states still the favorite spot

The candidates will continue to campaign and travel, especially around battleground states this week.

Trump is scheduled Tuesday to visit Savannah, Georgia, where he will give an afternoon campaign speech about lowering taxes for business owners.

Walz is scheduled to head back to his home state of Minnesota Tuesday&nbsp;for a campaign reception there.

Harris is heading to&nbsp;<a href="https://penncapital-star.com/briefs/kamala-harris-to-campaign-in-pennsylvania-on-wednesday/" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Wednesday&nbsp;</a>for a campaign rally and then she’ll travel to Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Sunday.

Trump is stopping in Mint Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday to give remarks about the importance of making goods in the U.S. His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, will travel to Traverse City, Michigan, on Wednesday to rally supporters.

Vance on Thursday will give a campaign speech on the economy in Macon, Georgia, and then host a voter mobilization drive in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

On Friday, Trump is scheduled to rally supporters in Walker, Michigan and in the evening hold a town hall in Warren, Michigan.

&nbsp;Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727264828416.png" alt="File photo Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign stop last week in Wisconsin -image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>File photo Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign stop last week in Wisconsin -image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">ARIANA FIGUEROA</a>&nbsp;WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Tuesday during a radio interview that she supports changing a Senate procedure in order to codify the right to an abortion.Vice President Harris said she is in favor of ending the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, known as the filibuster, to advance abortion rights legislation. But that task would hinge on Democrats agreeing to do so and holding on to majority control in the Senate, a difficult feat this November as&nbsp;<a href="https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/09/23/racing-toward-election-day-control-of-u-s-senate-and-house-up-for-grabs/" target="_blank">Republicans appear potentially poised to take back the upper chamber.&nbsp;</a>“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe, and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” she said during an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.Harris in 2022 said she would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/10/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-2022-democratic-national-committee-summer-meeting/" target="_blank">cast a tie-breaking vote</a>&nbsp;in favor of abortion rights in her role as vice president. She has often pledged to sign into law a codification of Roe v. Wade, the constitutional right to an abortion struck down by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in August that Democrats would talk about rules changes to codify abortion rights,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/chuck-schumer-outlines-2025-agenda-democrats-sweep-eying-filibuster-ch-rcna167433" target="_blank">NBC reported</a>.<h2>Trump in Pennsylvania</h2><a href="https://penncapital-star.com/election-2024/trump-talks-agriculture-and-china-in-smithton-ahead-of-rally-at-iup/" target="_blank">At a Monday rally in Pennsylvania</a>, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to himself as a “protector” of women. Trump said women no longer needed to think about abortion and it is “now where it always had to be, with the states.”“All they want to do is talk about abortion,” the former president said at the rally, referring to Democrats. “It really no longer pertains because we’ve done something on abortion that no one thought was possible.”Trump has called for Senate Republicans to dismantle the filibuster, but GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republican leaders like No. 2 Sen. John Thune of South Dakota have vowed to keep the procedure in place.Current Senate projections indicate Republicans are likely to gain control of the Senate. Republicans are also expected to pick up a seat in West Virginia, and only need to hold on to seats in Florida, Texas and Nebraska.Democrats will need to secure wins in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Additionally, Senate Democrats would need to break a possible 50-50 tie through a Democratic presidency — if they want to remain the majority party and change the filibuster.If Harris wins, and Democrats hold 50 seats in the Senate, then Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the vice presidential nominee, would be the tie-breaking vote.During a Tuesday Senate press conference on abortion, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said she was supportive of Harris’ stance and that it would be a carve-out of the filibuster, rather than an elimination of it.“What we are talking about is a simple procedure to allow, whenever rights are taken away from someone, that the U.S. Senate can, without being blocked by a filibuster, be able to restore those rights,” she said.<h2>Harris, Trump and the economy</h2>The Harris campaign hosted a Tuesday press call with business owner and&nbsp; “Shark Tank” investor Mark Cuban, to advocate for Harris’ economic policies.Polls have found that voters view Trump as better for the economy.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/in-tied-presidential-race-harris-and-trump-have-contrasting-strengths-weaknesses/" target="_blank">Pew Research</a>&nbsp;found that Trump’s key advantage is the economy, with 55% of voters viewing the former president as making good economic decisions, and 45% of voters viewing Harris as making good decisions about the economy.“In a nutshell, the vice president and her team thinks through her policies,” Cuban said. “She doesn’t just off the top of her head say what she thinks the crowd wants to hear, like the Republican nominee.”<h2>Battleground states still the favorite spot</h2>The candidates will continue to campaign and travel, especially around battleground states this week.Trump is scheduled Tuesday to visit Savannah, Georgia, where he will give an afternoon campaign speech about lowering taxes for business owners.Walz is scheduled to head back to his home state of Minnesota Tuesday&nbsp;for a campaign reception there.Harris is heading to&nbsp;<a href="https://penncapital-star.com/briefs/kamala-harris-to-campaign-in-pennsylvania-on-wednesday/" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Wednesday&nbsp;</a>for a campaign rally and then she’ll travel to Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Sunday.Trump is stopping in Mint Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday to give remarks about the importance of making goods in the U.S. His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, will travel to Traverse City, Michigan, on Wednesday to rally supporters.Vance on Thursday will give a campaign speech on the economy in Macon, Georgia, and then host a voter mobilization drive in Flowery Branch, Georgia.On Friday, Trump is scheduled to rally supporters in Walker, Michigan and in the evening hold a town hall in Warren, Michigan.&nbsp;Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.&nbsp;

Harris says she’d back an elimination of the filibuster to restore abortion rights

By RUDI KELLER &nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise to Allah in every situation” — in his last statement,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/alexiszotos/status/1838698402823180675" target="_blank">KMOV TV reported</a>.

Williams was sentenced to death for the 1998 slaying of Felicia Gayle, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who was stabbed more than 40 times.

None of the physical evidence at the crime scene, including fingerprints, bloodied shoe prints and hairs, could be tied to Wiliams. He was arrested based on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, who said Williams confessed the murder.&nbsp;

During testimony at his murder trial, Williams’ then-girlfriend also said he confessed to the killing. Williams picked her up the day of Gayle’s slaying wearing a jacket over a bloody shirt and with scratches on his neck. She saw a laptop in his car – later shown to have been stolen from Gayle’s apartment – and a purse in the trunk, with Gayle’s identification card.

In the final effort to free Williams or reduce his sentence, Bell filed a case under a 2021 state law allowing prosecutors to bring new evidence to the courts. It was the first time the law has been used in a death penalty case.&nbsp;

Bell filed the case in January, arguing there was “clear and convincing evidence” that potential jurors had been excluded based on race and questioning whether DNA evidence on the knife that killed Gayle had been contaminated by careless handling.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard a final appeal of the ruling in that case on Monday, and&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/23/missouri-supreme-court-considers-death-row-inmates-appeal-as-execution-date-looms/">found the evidence was not convincing</a>.

Bell “failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence Williams’ actual innocence or constitutional error at the original criminal trial that undermines the confidence in the judgment of the original criminal trial,” Judge Zel Fischer wrote in the opinion.

The Department of Corrections declared Williams dead at 6:10 p.m. after a lethal injection,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article292918814.html#campaignName=kansascity_breaking_newsletter" target="_blank">the Kansas City Star reported</a>.&nbsp;

Bell issued a statement that he remained convinced Williams should have been spared.

“Marcellus Williams should be alive today,” Bell said. “There were multiple points in the timeline when decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”

State Rep. Crystal Quade, the Democratic candidate for governor, issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/crystal_quade/status/1838669674864873849" target="_blank">statement over social media</a>&nbsp;saying that she disagreed with allowing the execution to proceed.

“I’ve always stood firm in my stance that the state should not execute potentially innocent people. Marcellus Williams is no different,” Quade said.

There was no statement from Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the Republican candidate.

Gov. MIke Parson, in a statement on Monday stating he would not stop the execution, said he was not convinced by any appeals.

“No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims,” Parson said. “At the end of the day, his guilty verdict and sentence of capital punishment were upheld. Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence, as such, Mr. Williams’ punishment will be carried out as ordered by the Supreme Court.”

Williams is the 100th person executed by Missouri since 1989, when executions resumed after a two-decade lapse.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1726156556643.png" alt="Williams photo MODOC" />
 <figcaption>Williams photo MODOC</figcaption>
 </figure>By RUDI KELLER &nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise to Allah in every situation” — in his last statement,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/alexiszotos/status/1838698402823180675" target="_blank">KMOV TV reported</a>.Williams was sentenced to death for the 1998 slaying of Felicia Gayle, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who was stabbed more than 40 times.None of the physical evidence at the crime scene, including fingerprints, bloodied shoe prints and hairs, could be tied to Wiliams. He was arrested based on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, who said Williams confessed the murder.&nbsp;During testimony at his murder trial, Williams’ then-girlfriend also said he confessed to the killing. Williams picked her up the day of Gayle’s slaying wearing a jacket over a bloody shirt and with scratches on his neck. She saw a laptop in his car – later shown to have been stolen from Gayle’s apartment – and a purse in the trunk, with Gayle’s identification card.In the final effort to free Williams or reduce his sentence, Bell filed a case under a 2021 state law allowing prosecutors to bring new evidence to the courts. It was the first time the law has been used in a death penalty case.&nbsp;Bell filed the case in January, arguing there was “clear and convincing evidence” that potential jurors had been excluded based on race and questioning whether DNA evidence on the knife that killed Gayle had been contaminated by careless handling.The Missouri Supreme Court heard a final appeal of the ruling in that case on Monday, and&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/23/missouri-supreme-court-considers-death-row-inmates-appeal-as-execution-date-looms/">found the evidence was not convincing</a>.Bell “failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence Williams’ actual innocence or constitutional error at the original criminal trial that undermines the confidence in the judgment of the original criminal trial,” Judge Zel Fischer wrote in the opinion.The Department of Corrections declared Williams dead at 6:10 p.m. after a lethal injection,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article292918814.html#campaignName=kansascity_breaking_newsletter" target="_blank">the Kansas City Star reported</a>.&nbsp;Bell issued a statement that he remained convinced Williams should have been spared.“Marcellus Williams should be alive today,” Bell said. “There were multiple points in the timeline when decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice.”State Rep. Crystal Quade, the Democratic candidate for governor, issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/crystal_quade/status/1838669674864873849" target="_blank">statement over social media</a>&nbsp;saying that she disagreed with allowing the execution to proceed.“I’ve always stood firm in my stance that the state should not execute potentially innocent people. Marcellus Williams is no different,” Quade said.There was no statement from Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the Republican candidate.Gov. MIke Parson, in a statement on Monday stating he would not stop the execution, said he was not convinced by any appeals.“No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims,” Parson said. “At the end of the day, his guilty verdict and sentence of capital punishment were upheld. Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence, as such, Mr. Williams’ punishment will be carried out as ordered by the Supreme Court.”Williams is the 100th person executed by Missouri since 1989, when executions resumed after a two-decade lapse.

Marcellus Williams executed after U.S. Supreme Court rejects final appeal

“This is not the end all, be all,” state Sen. Elizabeth Coleman said. “And I think you will see efforts, win or lose, for Missourians to get another say in this”

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure.&nbsp;

Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri’s Nov. 5 ballot.&nbsp;

“What a long strange trip it’s been,”&nbsp;said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice and dean emeritus at St. Louis University School of Law,&nbsp;quoting Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.&nbsp;

In the 18 months since the amendment, which would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability, was proposed as&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/09/group-files-ballot-measures-adding-abortion-protections-to-missouri-constitution/">an initiative petition</a>, it has faced a “minefield of ballot litigation” that ended earlier this month when the state’s highest court ruled the measure must stay on the ballot, Wolff said.

On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">to ban abortions</a>&nbsp;in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling triggered a state law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for victims or rape or incest.&nbsp;

Since then,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/dashboard/ballot-tracker-status-of-abortion-related-state-constitutional-amendment-measures/" target="_blank">citizens in six states have voted&nbsp;</a>to protect or increase abortion access, including in Kansas, Ohio and Michigan. Missouri is among 10 states where abortion will be on the ballot this year.&nbsp;

Amendment 3 would legalize abortion until the point of fetal viability and protect other reproductive rights, including birth control.

For anti-abortion lawmakers, “this is like the mega Super Bowl,” said James Harris, a longtime Republican political consultant.

He said litigation to drive up costs for proponents is advantageous, so lawsuits are par for the course. But the secretary of state’s effort to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/10/missouri-supreme-court-rules-amendment-legalizing-abortion-will-remain-on-ballot/">decertify the measure before the court cases concluded</a>&nbsp;was unique.

While all the attempts were ultimately rebuffed by Missouri’s higher courts, they could foreshadow fights to come if Amendment 3 passes.

Sean Nicholson,&nbsp;a long-time progressive activist who has worked on multiple initiative petition campaigns, but is not involved with Amendment 3, called a circuit court ruling earlier this month that threatened to throw the measure off the ballot “some creative lawyering.”

“Nothing shocks me anymore in terms of what politicians are willing to do,” Nicholson said. “I think fundamentally they are terrified of a straight up or down vote on Amendment 3 and they’re going to pull out everything they can to avoid the consequences of voters having their say.”

State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, is among the anti-abortion activists who sued to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot. She said regardless of what happens in November, there’s a long road ahead.

“This is not the end all be all,” Coleman said. “And I think you will see efforts, win or lose, for Missourians to get another say in this.”&nbsp;

In&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/09/group-files-ballot-measures-adding-abortion-protections-to-missouri-constitution/">March 2023, 11 iterations of what’s now Amendment 3&nbsp;</a>were filed by Dr. Anna Fitz-James on behalf of the coalition behind the campaign. The political maneuvering by the state’s Republican elected officials aimed at keeping the abortion-rights amendment off the ballot began almost immediately.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to accept State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s fiscal note summary estimating the potential public cost of the amendment. Bailey, who thought the estimate&nbsp; should be about $6.9 trillion, attempted to force Fitzpatrick to alter his estimate of $51,000.

By the time Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/21/missouri-ag-misses-deadline-on-abortion-petition-as-appeal-is-filed/">ordered Bailey to certify the measure&nbsp;</a>with Fitzpatrick’s estimate, the initial certification process, which is supposed to take no more than 54 days, had already taken nearly double that. The Supreme Court ultimately<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/20/missouri-supreme-court-rejects-ags-push-to-inflate-cost-of-abortion-rights-amendment/">&nbsp;ruled in favor of Fitzpatrick.</a>

Shortly after, Amendment 3 backers sued Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft over the ballot summary language he drafted, which would have asked Missourians, in part, if they wanted to “allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth.”&nbsp;

Beetem ruled in September 2023 that Ashcroft’s language was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/25/judge-rejects-rewrites-summary-for-missouri-abortion-initiative-petition/">“problematic” and inaccurate.</a>&nbsp;

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the campaign behind the amendment,<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/19/missouri-abortion-ballot-viabilty-effort-fundraises-1-million/">&nbsp;officially kicked-off signature gathering efforts in January</a>, blaming the previous months of litigation for the delay.&nbsp;

Despite a May deadline to gather more than 171,000 signatures from Missourians across six of the eight congressional districts, the campaign ultimately<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/03/missourians-signatures-abortion-amendment-viability/">&nbsp;filed more than 380,000 signatures</a>&nbsp;with the secretary of state’s office.&nbsp;

This was despite a&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/02/missouri-abortion-amendment-march-life/">“decline to sign” campaign,</a>&nbsp;the distribution of fliers urging Missourians to withdraw their signatures and unsubstantiated warnings&nbsp;that signing the initiative could result in identity theft.&nbsp;

At the same time, GOP lawmakers failed to pass one of their top priorities —&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/17/missouri-session-initiative-petition-senate/">legislation raising the threshold to pass initiative petitions</a>&nbsp;— due in part to a record-breaking filibuster by Senate Democrats.

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said Missouri has been a battleground for attacks on the initiative process.&nbsp;

“We’ve seen an escalation of attacks to the ballot measure process and politicians trying to change the rules of the game to prevent citizens from putting these issues on the ballot,” she said. “Like reproductive freedom.”

Shortly after<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/13/missouri-voters-will-decide-whether-to-legalize-abortion-in-november/">&nbsp;Ashcroft certified the measure for the ballot in mid-August</a>, he posted “fair ballot language” to his official website that mirrored the ballot language rejected by the courts in 2023. Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker ruled the description was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/05/judge-rules-ashcrofts-abortion-amendment-unfair-misleading/">“unfair, inaccurate, insufficient and misleading.”</a>&nbsp;

Ashcroft was ordered to replace his language with the court’s language.&nbsp;

The final effort to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot began in late August, when a&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/10/missouri-supreme-court-rules-amendment-legalizing-abortion-will-remain-on-ballot/">lawsuit filed by anti-abortion lawmakers and activists&nbsp;</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/09/missouri-abortion-rights-amendment-state-supreme-court/">claimed the initiative petition failed to follow a number of laws.&nbsp;</a>

Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh sided with the plaintiffs, ruling the proposal failed “to include any statute or provision that will be repealed, especially when many of these statutes are apparent.”

“I do think the circuit court decision is an important inflection point for the legislature to have a policy discussion in [2025] about when all of these measures are putting umpteen things into the constitution which then directly or indirectly invalidate a statute,” James said. “Should the voter clearly know that, and has it been kind of loosy-goosy?”

The Supreme Court took an expedited appeal of Limbaugh’s ruling. But Ashcroft announced he was decertifying the measure, an unprecedented attempt to rescind his previous decision that the measure had met the requirements to be on the ballot.

The next day, the Supreme Court judges said Ashcroft missed his statutory deadline to change his mind and they allowed the measure to stay on the ballot in a narrow 4-3 vote.

“The litigation, although highly charged, tends to wring out the politics of it and get down to what is legally required and how to apply that,” Wolff said, later adding: “It’s still not going to be easy to pass a constitutional amendment in the future, but I think we have some greater clarity about the process going forward.”

Alice Clapman, senior counsel for voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice — a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on democracy issues — said&nbsp;Ashcroft&nbsp;“acted outside the law” when he decertified the ballot initiative.

It was an example of a series of “particularly brazen” attempts to stop abortion ballot initiatives that reflect a much broader pattern seen across the United States, she said.&nbsp;

“In a way these tactics to block abortion rights ballot initiatives are really doubling down on the repressive nature of abortion restrictions,” Clapman said.&nbsp;

Ashcroft called Clapman’s characterization of him “patently false,” saying his decision was within reason until the Supreme Court decided otherwise.

“The court did not follow state statute to stop it from going to the ballot,” he said. “I stepped in and did what the court illegally failed to do.”

Ashcroft added that he was “disheartened” by the rulings, but he expects if Amendment 3 passes, “some people will celebrate, and some people will act in the very same way they did in 1973 when Roe v Wade passed. They will work and act to make sure that women and children are protected.”

Missouri isn’t the only state to have a fight over an abortion amendment play out in new ways.&nbsp;

In Florida, state police have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-abortion-ballot-amendment-elections-police-cfd4e3479498e63e65f1116acd95f7be" target="_blank">knocked on voters’ doors to question them about signing a petition&nbsp;</a>to restore abortion rights in their state. A state health care agency also created a website denouncing the amendment, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been particularly vocal in his opposition to it.

In Arkansas, the state Supreme Court upheld the secretary of state’s decision to keep an abortion amendment off the ballot, ruling that&nbsp;<a href="https://19thnews.org/2024/08/arkansas-supreme-court-abortion-ballot-measure/" target="_blank">the campaign behind the initiative did not submit the correct paperwork on time.</a>

If voters approve Amendment 3, Missouri could be the first state to overturn a statewide ban by the vote of the people.&nbsp;

GOP lawmakers over the last decade passed laws targeting abortion providers in order to make obtaining an abortion more difficult.&nbsp;Those laws included mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and an abortion.

A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in the state, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. But by 2020, that number dropped to 167 as providers closed. Between the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 through March 2024, there were 64 abortions under the state’s emergency exemption, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.&nbsp;

Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/" target="_blank">a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group, found that in 2023, 8,710 Missourians traveled to Illinois and 2,860 Missourians went to Kansas for the procedure, which remains legal in both states.&nbsp;

Polling has remained favorable for Amendment 3.&nbsp;

<a href="https://emersoncollegepolling.com/september-2024-missouri-poll-republican-candidates-lead-in-president-governor-senate-races/" target="_blank">An Emerson College poll</a>&nbsp;found 58% of those surveyed support Amendment 3, with 30% opposed. The most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.slu.edu/research/research-institute/big-ideas/slu-poll/index.php" target="_blank">SLU/YouGov Poll</a>&nbsp;found that 52% supported the amendment and 34% opposed.

State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from Olivette and a long-time advocate for abortion rights, said it’s important to keep in mind Missouri’s recent past.

“The legislature has a history of overturning the vote of the people,” she said.

As far back as 1940, when Missourians approved&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=174544#:~:text=Under%20the%20Missouri%20Nonpartisan%20Court,Judicial%20Commission%20makes%20the%20selection." target="_blank">an initiative for a nonpartisan court plan to select appellate judges,</a>&nbsp;the legislature put a proposition on the ballot two years later hoping to repeal it. Voters rejected the attempt.&nbsp;

In 2010, voters approved a new statute banning puppy mills by regulating dog breeders. The next year, legislation changed key provisions, such as removing the cap on the number of dogs allowed per breeder, undoing the citizen-led statutory change.

In 2018,&nbsp;Missourians passed a citizen-led amendment that would have&nbsp;required legislative districts be drawn to ensure partisan fairness.&nbsp;This amendment, known as&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2020/11/04/voters-repeal-clean-missouri-redistricting-plan-they-enacted-in-2018/">“Clean Missouri,” was repealed two years later</a>&nbsp;through a legislature-proposed amendment.

In 2020, Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers refused to fund it until the Missouri Supreme Court ruled they had no choice.&nbsp;

If Amendment 3 passes, McCreery predicted, Republican lawmakers will try something similar to what happened with Medicaid expansion, “but on steroids.”

“I expect shenanigans moving forward,” she said.

Wolff said lawmakers may also attempt to legislate around the issue. Even though parental consent is not directly mentioned in the amendment, lawmakers could try to rewrite laws requiring it.&nbsp;

Wolff added that he’s never seen such a unified effort by elected officials to stop a ballot measure. Even the heavily-opposed embryonic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/us/10stemcell.html" target="_blank">stem cell research amendment&nbsp;of 2006&nbsp;</a>didn’t face such pushback.

But lawmakers limited the kinds of research that could be conducted under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/us/10stemcell.html" target="_blank">the stem cell amendment</a>. Ultimately, those restrictions made it impossible for researchers to move forward.&nbsp;

“(Amendment 3) is going to be harder to chip around about,” Wolff said. “But they’ll be creative. They’ve already been quite creative, so they will continue. That’s what a democratic republic will give you.”

Coleman said if the amendment passes, it will not be the last time Missourians vote on abortion, adding that an effort similar to the one that undid Clean Missouri is likely.&nbsp;

“The reason why you’ve seen such passion in the pro-life movement or from elected officials who are pro-life is because that reflects the passion of Missouri citizens who are pro-life,” Coleman said. “Which is to do anything and everything to protect the most vulnerable.”

Wolff agreed that this won’t be the end.&nbsp;

“There’s nothing permanent,” Wolff said, “in the people’s constitution.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725617026837.png" alt="&nbsp;Attendees cheer during a Missourians for Constitutional Freedom rally after the campaign turned in more than 380,000 signatures for its initiative petition to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution Friday morning (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Attendees cheer during a Missourians for Constitutional Freedom rally after the campaign turned in more than 380,000 signatures for its initiative petition to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution Friday morning (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>“This is not the end all, be all,” state Sen. Elizabeth Coleman said. “And I think you will see efforts, win or lose, for Missourians to get another say in this”</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure.&nbsp;Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri’s Nov. 5 ballot.&nbsp;“What a long strange trip it’s been,”&nbsp;said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice and dean emeritus at St. Louis University School of Law,&nbsp;quoting Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.&nbsp;In the 18 months since the amendment, which would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability, was proposed as&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/09/group-files-ballot-measures-adding-abortion-protections-to-missouri-constitution/">an initiative petition</a>, it has faced a “minefield of ballot litigation” that ended earlier this month when the state’s highest court ruled the measure must stay on the ballot, Wolff said.On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">to ban abortions</a>&nbsp;in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling triggered a state law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for victims or rape or incest.&nbsp;Since then,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/dashboard/ballot-tracker-status-of-abortion-related-state-constitutional-amendment-measures/" target="_blank">citizens in six states have voted&nbsp;</a>to protect or increase abortion access, including in Kansas, Ohio and Michigan. Missouri is among 10 states where abortion will be on the ballot this year.&nbsp;Amendment 3 would legalize abortion until the point of fetal viability and protect other reproductive rights, including birth control.For anti-abortion lawmakers, “this is like the mega Super Bowl,” said James Harris, a longtime Republican political consultant.He said litigation to drive up costs for proponents is advantageous, so lawsuits are par for the course. But the secretary of state’s effort to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/10/missouri-supreme-court-rules-amendment-legalizing-abortion-will-remain-on-ballot/">decertify the measure before the court cases concluded</a>&nbsp;was unique.While all the attempts were ultimately rebuffed by Missouri’s higher courts, they could foreshadow fights to come if Amendment 3 passes.Sean Nicholson,&nbsp;a long-time progressive activist who has worked on multiple initiative petition campaigns, but is not involved with Amendment 3, called a circuit court ruling earlier this month that threatened to throw the measure off the ballot “some creative lawyering.”“Nothing shocks me anymore in terms of what politicians are willing to do,” Nicholson said. “I think fundamentally they are terrified of a straight up or down vote on Amendment 3 and they’re going to pull out everything they can to avoid the consequences of voters having their say.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725989310270.png" alt="&nbsp;Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, anti-abortion activist Kathy Forck, Thomas More Society attorney Mary Catherine Martin speak to reporters on the steps of the Missouri Supreme Court Sept. 10 following oral arguments in a case involving the abortion-rights amendment (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, anti-abortion activist Kathy Forck, Thomas More Society attorney Mary Catherine Martin speak to reporters on the steps of the Missouri Supreme Court Sept. 10 following oral arguments in a case involving the abortion-rights amendment (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)</figcaption>
 </figure>State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, is among the anti-abortion activists who sued to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot. She said regardless of what happens in November, there’s a long road ahead.“This is not the end all be all,” Coleman said. “And I think you will see efforts, win or lose, for Missourians to get another say in this.”&nbsp;<h2>In the courts</h2>In&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/09/group-files-ballot-measures-adding-abortion-protections-to-missouri-constitution/">March 2023, 11 iterations of what’s now Amendment 3&nbsp;</a>were filed by Dr. Anna Fitz-James on behalf of the coalition behind the campaign. The political maneuvering by the state’s Republican elected officials aimed at keeping the abortion-rights amendment off the ballot began almost immediately.Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to accept State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s fiscal note summary estimating the potential public cost of the amendment. Bailey, who thought the estimate&nbsp; should be about $6.9 trillion, attempted to force Fitzpatrick to alter his estimate of $51,000.By the time Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/21/missouri-ag-misses-deadline-on-abortion-petition-as-appeal-is-filed/">ordered Bailey to certify the measure&nbsp;</a>with Fitzpatrick’s estimate, the initial certification process, which is supposed to take no more than 54 days, had already taken nearly double that. The Supreme Court ultimately<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/20/missouri-supreme-court-rejects-ags-push-to-inflate-cost-of-abortion-rights-amendment/">&nbsp;ruled in favor of Fitzpatrick.</a>Shortly after, Amendment 3 backers sued Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft over the ballot summary language he drafted, which would have asked Missourians, in part, if they wanted to “allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth.”&nbsp;Beetem ruled in September 2023 that Ashcroft’s language was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/25/judge-rejects-rewrites-summary-for-missouri-abortion-initiative-petition/">“problematic” and inaccurate.</a>&nbsp;Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the campaign behind the amendment,<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/19/missouri-abortion-ballot-viabilty-effort-fundraises-1-million/">&nbsp;officially kicked-off signature gathering efforts in January</a>, blaming the previous months of litigation for the delay.&nbsp;Despite a May deadline to gather more than 171,000 signatures from Missourians across six of the eight congressional districts, the campaign ultimately<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/03/missourians-signatures-abortion-amendment-viability/">&nbsp;filed more than 380,000 signatures</a>&nbsp;with the secretary of state’s office.&nbsp;This was despite a&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/02/missouri-abortion-amendment-march-life/">“decline to sign” campaign,</a>&nbsp;the distribution of fliers urging Missourians to withdraw their signatures and unsubstantiated warnings&nbsp;that signing the initiative could result in identity theft.&nbsp;At the same time, GOP lawmakers failed to pass one of their top priorities —&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/05/17/missouri-session-initiative-petition-senate/">legislation raising the threshold to pass initiative petitions</a>&nbsp;— due in part to a record-breaking filibuster by Senate Democrats.Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said Missouri has been a battleground for attacks on the initiative process.&nbsp;“We’ve seen an escalation of attacks to the ballot measure process and politicians trying to change the rules of the game to prevent citizens from putting these issues on the ballot,” she said. “Like reproductive freedom.”Shortly after<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/13/missouri-voters-will-decide-whether-to-legalize-abortion-in-november/">&nbsp;Ashcroft certified the measure for the ballot in mid-August</a>, he posted “fair ballot language” to his official website that mirrored the ballot language rejected by the courts in 2023. Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker ruled the description was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/05/judge-rules-ashcrofts-abortion-amendment-unfair-misleading/">“unfair, inaccurate, insufficient and misleading.”</a>&nbsp;Ashcroft was ordered to replace his language with the court’s language.&nbsp;The final effort to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot began in late August, when a&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/10/missouri-supreme-court-rules-amendment-legalizing-abortion-will-remain-on-ballot/">lawsuit filed by anti-abortion lawmakers and activists&nbsp;</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/09/missouri-abortion-rights-amendment-state-supreme-court/">claimed the initiative petition failed to follow a number of laws.&nbsp;</a>Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh sided with the plaintiffs, ruling the proposal failed “to include any statute or provision that will be repealed, especially when many of these statutes are apparent.”“I do think the circuit court decision is an important inflection point for the legislature to have a policy discussion in [2025] about when all of these measures are putting umpteen things into the constitution which then directly or indirectly invalidate a statute,” James said. “Should the voter clearly know that, and has it been kind of loosy-goosy?”The Supreme Court took an expedited appeal of Limbaugh’s ruling. But Ashcroft announced he was decertifying the measure, an unprecedented attempt to rescind his previous decision that the measure had met the requirements to be on the ballot.The next day, the Supreme Court judges said Ashcroft missed his statutory deadline to change his mind and they allowed the measure to stay on the ballot in a narrow 4-3 vote.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727266562572.png" alt=" Tori Schafer, an attorney with the ACLU of Missouri, speaks to media following a trial over Amendment 3 on Sept. 6 outside the Cole County Courthouse (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Tori Schafer, an attorney with the ACLU of Missouri, speaks to media following a trial over Amendment 3 on Sept. 6 outside the Cole County Courthouse (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>“The litigation, although highly charged, tends to wring out the politics of it and get down to what is legally required and how to apply that,” Wolff said, later adding: “It’s still not going to be easy to pass a constitutional amendment in the future, but I think we have some greater clarity about the process going forward.”Alice Clapman, senior counsel for voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice — a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on democracy issues — said&nbsp;Ashcroft&nbsp;“acted outside the law” when he decertified the ballot initiative.It was an example of a series of “particularly brazen” attempts to stop abortion ballot initiatives that reflect a much broader pattern seen across the United States, she said.&nbsp;“In a way these tactics to block abortion rights ballot initiatives are really doubling down on the repressive nature of abortion restrictions,” Clapman said.&nbsp;Ashcroft called Clapman’s characterization of him “patently false,” saying his decision was within reason until the Supreme Court decided otherwise.“The court did not follow state statute to stop it from going to the ballot,” he said. “I stepped in and did what the court illegally failed to do.”Ashcroft added that he was “disheartened” by the rulings, but he expects if Amendment 3 passes, “some people will celebrate, and some people will act in the very same way they did in 1973 when Roe v Wade passed. They will work and act to make sure that women and children are protected.”Missouri isn’t the only state to have a fight over an abortion amendment play out in new ways.&nbsp;In Florida, state police have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-abortion-ballot-amendment-elections-police-cfd4e3479498e63e65f1116acd95f7be" target="_blank">knocked on voters’ doors to question them about signing a petition&nbsp;</a>to restore abortion rights in their state. A state health care agency also created a website denouncing the amendment, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been particularly vocal in his opposition to it.In Arkansas, the state Supreme Court upheld the secretary of state’s decision to keep an abortion amendment off the ballot, ruling that&nbsp;<a href="https://19thnews.org/2024/08/arkansas-supreme-court-abortion-ballot-measure/" target="_blank">the campaign behind the initiative did not submit the correct paperwork on time.</a>If voters approve Amendment 3, Missouri could be the first state to overturn a statewide ban by the vote of the people.&nbsp;GOP lawmakers over the last decade passed laws targeting abortion providers in order to make obtaining an abortion more difficult.&nbsp;Those laws included mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and an abortion.A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in the state, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. But by 2020, that number dropped to 167 as providers closed. Between the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 through March 2024, there were 64 abortions under the state’s emergency exemption, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.&nbsp;Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/" target="_blank">a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group, found that in 2023, 8,710 Missourians traveled to Illinois and 2,860 Missourians went to Kansas for the procedure, which remains legal in both states.&nbsp;<h2>What’s next</h2>Polling has remained favorable for Amendment 3.&nbsp;<a href="https://emersoncollegepolling.com/september-2024-missouri-poll-republican-candidates-lead-in-president-governor-senate-races/" target="_blank">An Emerson College poll</a>&nbsp;found 58% of those surveyed support Amendment 3, with 30% opposed. The most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.slu.edu/research/research-institute/big-ideas/slu-poll/index.php" target="_blank">SLU/YouGov Poll</a>&nbsp;found that 52% supported the amendment and 34% opposed.State Sen. Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from Olivette and a long-time advocate for abortion rights, said it’s important to keep in mind Missouri’s recent past.“The legislature has a history of overturning the vote of the people,” she said.As far back as 1940, when Missourians approved&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=174544#:~:text=Under%20the%20Missouri%20Nonpartisan%20Court,Judicial%20Commission%20makes%20the%20selection." target="_blank">an initiative for a nonpartisan court plan to select appellate judges,</a>&nbsp;the legislature put a proposition on the ballot two years later hoping to repeal it. Voters rejected the attempt.&nbsp;In 2010, voters approved a new statute banning puppy mills by regulating dog breeders. The next year, legislation changed key provisions, such as removing the cap on the number of dogs allowed per breeder, undoing the citizen-led statutory change.In 2018,&nbsp;Missourians passed a citizen-led amendment that would have&nbsp;required legislative districts be drawn to ensure partisan fairness.&nbsp;This amendment, known as&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2020/11/04/voters-repeal-clean-missouri-redistricting-plan-they-enacted-in-2018/">“Clean Missouri,” was repealed two years later</a>&nbsp;through a legislature-proposed amendment.In 2020, Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers refused to fund it until the Missouri Supreme Court ruled they had no choice.&nbsp;If Amendment 3 passes, McCreery predicted, Republican lawmakers will try something similar to what happened with Medicaid expansion, “but on steroids.”“I expect shenanigans moving forward,” she said.Wolff said lawmakers may also attempt to legislate around the issue. Even though parental consent is not directly mentioned in the amendment, lawmakers could try to rewrite laws requiring it.&nbsp;Wolff added that he’s never seen such a unified effort by elected officials to stop a ballot measure. Even the heavily-opposed embryonic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/us/10stemcell.html" target="_blank">stem cell research amendment&nbsp;of 2006&nbsp;</a>didn’t face such pushback.But lawmakers limited the kinds of research that could be conducted under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/us/10stemcell.html" target="_blank">the stem cell amendment</a>. Ultimately, those restrictions made it impossible for researchers to move forward.&nbsp;“(Amendment 3) is going to be harder to chip around about,” Wolff said. “But they’ll be creative. They’ve already been quite creative, so they will continue. That’s what a democratic republic will give you.”Coleman said if the amendment passes, it will not be the last time Missourians vote on abortion, adding that an effort similar to the one that undid Clean Missouri is likely.&nbsp;“The reason why you’ve seen such passion in the pro-life movement or from elected officials who are pro-life is because that reflects the passion of Missouri citizens who are pro-life,” Coleman said. “Which is to do anything and everything to protect the most vulnerable.”Wolff agreed that this won’t be the end.&nbsp;“There’s nothing permanent,” Wolff said, “in the people’s constitution.”

Failed GOP attempt to keep abortion off Missouri ballot could foreshadow fight to come

The 28th annual Pumpkinfest is a little more than week away and preparations are underway for the festival.  

One big task is helping prepare the pumpkins for the famous pumpkin mountain, which Pony Express Museum Executive Director Cindy Daffron says will start on Monday with gutting the 120 or so pumpkins 

"And then the carving task goes on, because we try to take businesses who have contributed to our mountain to build it and carve that pumpkin for them, so that it can light up on Friday night, October 4th," Daffron tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr.  

If you're interested in helping prepare the pumpkins, you can contact Daffron at the museum to volunteer.  Lunch will be provided.  On Tuesday and Wednesday carving will begin.  

Daffron says also on Monday help will be needed to take pumpkins to area schools.  

"And every school is like, we knew you were going to call the kids are so excited, it's a lot of fun to use your talent and then the kids get to come and see some of their work of art," Daffron says. "So, when you can come and see that mountain light up at 8'o clock both nights, right on time, it's quite a great event." 

The pumpkin mountain will be lit up at 8pm on Friday and Saturday night during the festival. The annual festival fills the area with vendors, music, and lots of family fun for everyone.  

And the best part, Daffron says, is it's entirely free. 

"We're paying to do the entertainment, we're bringing stuff on, so all you have to do is buy your food, so come and enjoy something that's a family event," Daffron explains. "I hear commonly, if I bring my family, the mother can stay with the children in the children's tent, the dad can go to listen to music and they can swap out, the kids can stay there an hour, hour and a half, while the parents are also enjoying part of what's on there." 

Pumpkinfest will run October 4th through the 6th, beginning at 5pm on the 4th and noon on the 5th and 6th.   

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/10/1697125810743.jpeg" alt="File photo" />
 <figcaption>File photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post The 28th annual Pumpkinfest is a little more than week away and preparations are underway for the festival. One big task is helping prepare the pumpkins for the famous pumpkin mountain, which Pony Express Museum Executive Director Cindy Daffron says will start on Monday with gutting the 120 or so pumpkins "And then the carving task goes on, because we try to take businesses who have contributed to our mountain to build it and carve that pumpkin for them, so that it can light up on Friday night, October 4th," Daffron tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr. If you're interested in helping prepare the pumpkins, you can contact Daffron at the museum to volunteer. Lunch will be provided. On Tuesday and Wednesday carving will begin. Daffron says also on Monday help will be needed to take pumpkins to area schools. "And every school is like, we knew you were going to call the kids are so excited, it's a lot of fun to use your talent and then the kids get to come and see some of their work of art," Daffron says. "So, when you can come and see that mountain light up at 8'o clock both nights, right on time, it's quite a great event." The pumpkin mountain will be lit up at 8pm on Friday and Saturday night during the festival. The annual festival fills the area with vendors, music, and lots of family fun for everyone. And the best part, Daffron says, is it's entirely free. "We're paying to do the entertainment, we're bringing stuff on, so all you have to do is buy your food, so come and enjoy something that's a family event," Daffron explains. "I hear commonly, if I bring my family, the mother can stay with the children in the children's tent, the dad can go to listen to music and they can swap out, the kids can stay there an hour, hour and a half, while the parents are also enjoying part of what's on there." Pumpkinfest will run October 4th through the 6th, beginning at 5pm on the 4th and noon on the 5th and 6th.

Preparations underway as the 28th annual Pumpkinfest is just over a week away

Democrat Pam May of St. Joseph is taking on a big
challenge in her first political campaign.

May is running against the senior member of the
Missouri Congressional delegation:&nbsp; 6th
District Republican Sam Graves.

May says she didn’t intend to take the leap,
though she felt a woman needed to be represented on the ballot.

“I kept watching, hoping that another woman with
more experience would file to run,” May tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in an
in-studio interview. “I just saw that was not going to be happening and so I
just decided to run.”

May says she felt a woman needed to be
represented on the ballot since Amendment Three is on the November ballot. May
favors the amendment which would loosen abortion restrictions in Missouri.

May is retired. She worked most of her
professional life as a legal secretary and para legal for Legal Aid of Western
Missouri. May says she will not be running as a typical Democratic candidate.

“I’m not out there using standard, Democratic
talking points,” May says. “I decided I wanted to not be out there being angry,
calling people names. I wanted to run a different campaign.”

May says she hopes what she says during the
campaign will resonate with residents of northern Missouri. May says she
believes the district is ready for a change. Just traveling the 6th
Congressional District can prove challenging. The district runs from the
Missouri River to the Mississippi River, a mostly rural district, that covers
the 39 counties making up the northern third of Missouri.

May says it will take more of the residents of
the district to get engaged in politics for her to pull off the upset, relating
what she heard from a speaker at a seminar who stated the biggest threat to
democracy isn’t certain candidates or even the courts.

“The biggest threat to democracy, in his opinion,
and I agree with this, is that people aren’t involved and people don’t vote.
And that’s the biggest threat to our democracy,” May states. “And so, we have
to get people engaged.”

Graves has represented the 6th
Congressional District since 2001 and has the most seniority of anyone in the
Missouri Congressional delegation.

You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727193919700.jpeg" alt="Pam May of St. Joseph, Democrat running for the 6th Congressional District/Photo by Justin Peacock" />
 <figcaption>Pam May of St. Joseph, Democrat running for the 6th Congressional District/Photo by Justin Peacock</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostDemocrat Pam May of St. Joseph is taking on a big
challenge in her first political campaign.May is running against the senior member of the
Missouri Congressional delegation:&nbsp; 6th
District Republican Sam Graves.May says she didn’t intend to take the leap,
though she felt a woman needed to be represented on the ballot.“I kept watching, hoping that another woman with
more experience would file to run,” May tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in an
in-studio interview. “I just saw that was not going to be happening and so I
just decided to run.”May says she felt a woman needed to be
represented on the ballot since Amendment Three is on the November ballot. May
favors the amendment which would loosen abortion restrictions in Missouri.May is retired. She worked most of her
professional life as a legal secretary and para legal for Legal Aid of Western
Missouri. May says she will not be running as a typical Democratic candidate.“I’m not out there using standard, Democratic
talking points,” May says. “I decided I wanted to not be out there being angry,
calling people names. I wanted to run a different campaign.”May says she hopes what she says during the
campaign will resonate with residents of northern Missouri. May says she
believes the district is ready for a change. Just traveling the 6th
Congressional District can prove challenging. The district runs from the
Missouri River to the Mississippi River, a mostly rural district, that covers
the 39 counties making up the northern third of Missouri.May says it will take more of the residents of
the district to get engaged in politics for her to pull off the upset, relating
what she heard from a speaker at a seminar who stated the biggest threat to
democracy isn’t certain candidates or even the courts.“The biggest threat to democracy, in his opinion,
and I agree with this, is that people aren’t involved and people don’t vote.
And that’s the biggest threat to our democracy,” May states. “And so, we have
to get people engaged.”Graves has represented the 6th
Congressional District since 2001 and has the most seniority of anyone in the
Missouri Congressional delegation.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Democrat Pam May aims high in her first run for office

(Radio Iowa) - Iowa averages between 20 and 40 inches of snowfall every year, and whether the winter ahead will be warmer than normal or cold and brutal, the winter operations administrator of the Iowa Department of Transportation vows his crews will be ready. 

Craig Bargfrede says shortly after -last- winter was over, he started stockpiling the essentials, including 265-thousand tons of salt at the 100 D-O-T garages, along with mountains of sand and stacks of new snowplow blades. 

The D-O-T has about a thousand full-time employees and also hires on some 500 to 600 seasonal workers every winter to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Bargfrede says the hiring process is now underway.

(Radio Iowa) - Iowa averages between 20 and 40 inches of snowfall every year, and whether the winter ahead will be warmer than normal or cold and brutal, the winter operations administrator of the Iowa Department of Transportation vows his crews will be ready. Craig Bargfrede says shortly after -last- winter was over, he started stockpiling the essentials, including 265-thousand tons of salt at the 100 D-O-T garages, along with mountains of sand and stacks of new snowplow blades. The D-O-T has about a thousand full-time employees and also hires on some 500 to 600 seasonal workers every winter to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Bargfrede says the hiring process is now underway.

Iowa DOT already has tons of salt stockpiled for the winter ahead

A trial in a lawsuit challenging the state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care is expected to last two weeks

BY:&nbsp;ANNELISE HANSHAW&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

A case that will determine whether Missouri can continue restricting adolescents’&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/lawsuit-seeks-to-block-missouri-ban-on-transgender-care-for-minors/">access to gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;began Monday in Cole County Circuit Court.

The plaintiffs — which include transgender minors, gender-affirming care providers and loved ones — will argue that medical treatments for gender dysphoria are “safe and effective,” attorney Omar Gonzalez Pagan said in opening arguments.

The state will defend the 2023 law&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-governor-signs-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-restrictions-for-trans-athletes/">restricting gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;by looking into the risks of the treatment and highlighting those who have regretted medical transitions.

“These kids need compassionate, evidence-based medicine. But what they’ve been doing for the past 15 years isn’t evidence-based,” Solicitor General Joshua Divine said in his opening statement.

Defendants include Gov. Mike Parson, who signed the bill into law, and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is responsible for enforcing the law.

Both parties plan to call a host of expert and fact witnesses, and attorneys have requested a week for each side to present evidence.

On the first day of the trial, which will be heard by Circuit Judge Craig Carter without a jury, attorneys argued over which experts were most qualified to speak on the efficacy and risks of gender-affirming care.

“(Plaintiffs’ experts) are the type of people that are qualified to testify as to this type of care,” Gonzalez Pagan said. “The state’s experts, with one exception, do not have this sort of experience.”

Divine said that plaintiffs’ experts benefit financially from gender-affirming care, so they have their “financial reputations” at stake. He defended his witnesses’ qualifications, calling one a “victim of cancel culture” when a journal article was retracted.

The first expert called to testify was Dr. Aron Janssen, vice chair of clinical affairs at the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. A majority of the patients in his psychiatry practice are transgender or gender-nonconforming children and adolescents, he said, and he has published approximately 24 articles in academic journals.

Jason Orr, an attorney for the plaintiffs, asked him about the state’s claims.

One claim is that gender dysphoria is a self-diagnosed condition because the symptoms are self-reported. Janssen said physicians base a diagnosis on questions to patients and loved ones, like other psychiatric conditions he treats.

“If that was a standard to base diagnosis, we wouldn’t have depression, anxiety, migraines,” he said.

The state will bring “detransitioners,” or people who began transitioning to a gender other than their sex as assigned at birth and later stopped. One received gender-affirming care in Missouri as an adult, but none received the care as a minor in Missouri, attorneys discussed in a virtual hearing last Friday.

Orr asked Janssen if there’s any scientific literature about those who stop their transition.

“The majority of patients who detransition do so because of external pressures but not because of internal pressures or regret,” Janssen said. “For some, transition is a wonderful experience… For others, it means you are kicked out of your family, lose your job.”

Patrick Sullivan, with the attorney general’s office, used several documents to challenge Janssen during cross-examination. Some were not on the list of items the defense plans to submit as evidence, but Carter allowed the exhibits for questions only.

Some of the documents were studies, including the over 400-page&nbsp;<a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank">Cass Review published earlier this year</a>. The report was a systematic review commissioned in England that concluded that there was weak evidence to support cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for transgender youth.

Sullivan presented Janssen a document called an “evidence pyramid,” with systematic reviews at the top as the best form of scientific literature.

Janssen said the Cass Review had a key flaw: the authors are not experienced in gender-affirming care and wouldn’t know the best factors to look at.

“When we look at what is involved in creating a good systematic review, having experience in the field is important,” he said. “When none of the authors work in the area, we have to take what they’re saying with a grain of salt.”

Sullivan interrupted him as Janssen explained the review’s flaws.

“He’s answering your question,” Carter said.

Sullivan’s questioning lasted around two hours, with multiple objections from plaintiffs as new exhibits came into the courtroom. The exhibits were largely studies out of Europe and articles from The New York Times and The Free Press.

Sullivan used an opinion article to question plaintiffs’ second expert, a clinical child psychologist.

The other witness to take the stand during the trial’s premiere day was a transgender man who transitioned at a young age in Missouri.

Arguments are scheduled to conclude Oct. 4.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727182625215.png" alt="The Cole County Courthouse is hosting a trial challenging the state's restrictions on gender-affirming care, bringing in a judge from Wright County to oversee the bench trial (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>The Cole County Courthouse is hosting a trial challenging the state's restrictions on gender-affirming care, bringing in a judge from Wright County to oversee the bench trial (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>A trial in a lawsuit challenging the state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care is expected to last two weeks</h2>BY:&nbsp;ANNELISE HANSHAW&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>A case that will determine whether Missouri can continue restricting adolescents’&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/lawsuit-seeks-to-block-missouri-ban-on-transgender-care-for-minors/">access to gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;began Monday in Cole County Circuit Court.The plaintiffs — which include transgender minors, gender-affirming care providers and loved ones — will argue that medical treatments for gender dysphoria are “safe and effective,” attorney Omar Gonzalez Pagan said in opening arguments.The state will defend the 2023 law&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-governor-signs-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-restrictions-for-trans-athletes/">restricting gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;by looking into the risks of the treatment and highlighting those who have regretted medical transitions.“These kids need compassionate, evidence-based medicine. But what they’ve been doing for the past 15 years isn’t evidence-based,” Solicitor General Joshua Divine said in his opening statement.Defendants include Gov. Mike Parson, who signed the bill into law, and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is responsible for enforcing the law.Both parties plan to call a host of expert and fact witnesses, and attorneys have requested a week for each side to present evidence.On the first day of the trial, which will be heard by Circuit Judge Craig Carter without a jury, attorneys argued over which experts were most qualified to speak on the efficacy and risks of gender-affirming care.“(Plaintiffs’ experts) are the type of people that are qualified to testify as to this type of care,” Gonzalez Pagan said. “The state’s experts, with one exception, do not have this sort of experience.”Divine said that plaintiffs’ experts benefit financially from gender-affirming care, so they have their “financial reputations” at stake. He defended his witnesses’ qualifications, calling one a “victim of cancel culture” when a journal article was retracted.The first expert called to testify was Dr. Aron Janssen, vice chair of clinical affairs at the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. A majority of the patients in his psychiatry practice are transgender or gender-nonconforming children and adolescents, he said, and he has published approximately 24 articles in academic journals.Jason Orr, an attorney for the plaintiffs, asked him about the state’s claims.One claim is that gender dysphoria is a self-diagnosed condition because the symptoms are self-reported. Janssen said physicians base a diagnosis on questions to patients and loved ones, like other psychiatric conditions he treats.“If that was a standard to base diagnosis, we wouldn’t have depression, anxiety, migraines,” he said.The state will bring “detransitioners,” or people who began transitioning to a gender other than their sex as assigned at birth and later stopped. One received gender-affirming care in Missouri as an adult, but none received the care as a minor in Missouri, attorneys discussed in a virtual hearing last Friday.Orr asked Janssen if there’s any scientific literature about those who stop their transition.“The majority of patients who detransition do so because of external pressures but not because of internal pressures or regret,” Janssen said. “For some, transition is a wonderful experience… For others, it means you are kicked out of your family, lose your job.”Patrick Sullivan, with the attorney general’s office, used several documents to challenge Janssen during cross-examination. Some were not on the list of items the defense plans to submit as evidence, but Carter allowed the exhibits for questions only.Some of the documents were studies, including the over 400-page&nbsp;<a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank">Cass Review published earlier this year</a>. The report was a systematic review commissioned in England that concluded that there was weak evidence to support cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for transgender youth.Sullivan presented Janssen a document called an “evidence pyramid,” with systematic reviews at the top as the best form of scientific literature.Janssen said the Cass Review had a key flaw: the authors are not experienced in gender-affirming care and wouldn’t know the best factors to look at.“When we look at what is involved in creating a good systematic review, having experience in the field is important,” he said. “When none of the authors work in the area, we have to take what they’re saying with a grain of salt.”Sullivan interrupted him as Janssen explained the review’s flaws.“He’s answering your question,” Carter said.Sullivan’s questioning lasted around two hours, with multiple objections from plaintiffs as new exhibits came into the courtroom. The exhibits were largely studies out of Europe and articles from The New York Times and The Free Press.Sullivan used an opinion article to question plaintiffs’ second expert, a clinical child psychologist.The other witness to take the stand during the trial’s premiere day was a transgender man who transitioned at a young age in Missouri.Arguments are scheduled to conclude Oct. 4.

Battling experts: Qualifications of witnesses a key in Missouri gender-affirming care case

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/aaronsanderford/">AARON SANDERFORD</a>

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Republican push to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes and boost former President Donald Trump ran into political reality Monday as a key lawmaker, State Sen. Mike McDonnell, announced he won’t support the change.

McDonnell, of Omaha, said he had heard from people passionate about the issue who live in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. But he said he did not hear enough to move him off his original position against the switch.

“Elections should be an opportunity for all voters to be heard, no matter who they are, where they live, or what party they support,” McDonnell said in a statement. “I&nbsp;have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue. After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”

McDonnell said he told Gov. Jim Pillen his stance and suggested that the Legislature put winner-take-all to a vote of the people, as a proposed constitutional amendment, so people can decide the issue “once and for all.”

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that award a single Electoral College vote to the winner in each congressional district, plus two votes to the statewide winner of the presidential popular vote. Nebraska has split off votes twice in four presidential elections.

President Joe Biden won the 2nd District in 2020. Trump won all five of the state’s electoral votes in 2016. Mitt Romney did the same in 2012. The 2nd District got its national name as “the blue dot” in 2008, when former President Barack Obama won it.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727142059244.png" alt="State Sen. Mike McDonnell announces leaving the Democratic Party after he was censured by the state and Douglas County Democrats. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Mike McDonnell announces leaving the Democratic Party after he was censured by the state and Douglas County Democrats. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/aaronsanderford/">AARON SANDERFORD</a>LINCOLN, Neb. — The Republican push to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes and boost former President Donald Trump ran into political reality Monday as a key lawmaker, State Sen. Mike McDonnell, announced he won’t support the change.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725133509171.png" alt="File photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>File photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>McDonnell, of Omaha, said he had heard from people passionate about the issue who live in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District. But he said he did not hear enough to move him off his original position against the switch.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727142619266.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>“Elections should be an opportunity for all voters to be heard, no matter who they are, where they live, or what party they support,” McDonnell said in a statement. “I&nbsp;have taken time to listen carefully to Nebraskans and national leaders on both sides of the issue. After deep consideration, it is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.”McDonnell said he told Gov. Jim Pillen his stance and suggested that the Legislature put winner-take-all to a vote of the people, as a proposed constitutional amendment, so people can decide the issue “once and for all.”Nebraska and Maine are the only states that award a single Electoral College vote to the winner in each congressional district, plus two votes to the statewide winner of the presidential popular vote. Nebraska has split off votes twice in four presidential elections.President Joe Biden won the 2nd District in 2020. Trump won all five of the state’s electoral votes in 2016. Mitt Romney did the same in 2012. The 2nd District got its national name as “the blue dot” in 2008, when former President Barack Obama won it.<h2>2nd District split</h2>Nebraska Republicans have argued for years that Nebraska should award all five of its electoral votes to the statewide winner of the presidential popular vote, a process many call winner-take-all.Republicans hold a 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Democrats statewide, but the 2nd District cuts much more evenly between Republicans, Democrats and registered nonpartisans, a split that makes the 2nd District competitive in national elections.Pillen had pledged to call a special session if he could secure the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster to change to winner-take-all. All five of Nebraska’s GOP congressional delegates wrote a letter urging state lawmakers to pass such a move.The Nebraska Legislature has 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one progressive who is a registered nonpartisan. People whipping votes for Pillen and the Trump campaign have told others they expected the remaining GOP holdouts to join the push for the change if McDonnell did.Pillen’s office had no immediate comment Monday, nor did the Trump or Harris campaigns.McDonnell’s no on winner-take-all leaves Republicans in Nebraska’s officially nonpartisan Legislature with no path to overcoming a promised filibuster unless a Democrat or nonpartisan senator defects. Thus far, none has opposed the status quo. Nebraska Democrats tweeted the list of 17 pledged no votes, including McDonnell.Part of the GOP urgency is wrapped in national polling that shows a close race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Some political observers have argued the 2nd District could break a 269-269 Electoral College tie.Few Democrats were surprised that the fate of winner-take-all largely swung on McDonnell, a former Omaha fire union president who switched to the GOP this spring after facing political pushback from Democrats for backing abortion restrictions and legislation restricting some health care for minors who are transgender.Several said the abortion debate should have shown Republicans that McDonnell is largely immovable once he has made a controversial position clear. McDonnell said when he switched parties that he would not support winner-take-all. Others said he did what helped him most politically.McDonnell’s stance&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/09/18/winner-take-all-push-gets-help-of-gov-jim-pillen-sen-lindsey-graham-trump/" target="_blank">softened in recent weeks</a>&nbsp;under pressure from local, state and national Republicans, including some with ties to the Trump campaign. He was one of two dozen GOP state senators who met Sept. 18 with Pillen and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.<h2>Both sides heard from</h2>People in the room said McDonnell told GOP colleagues last week he was looking for a way to get to yes. McDonnell&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/09/19/sen-mike-mcdonnell-says-hes-a-no-on-winner-take-all-as-of-today/" target="_blank">told the Examiner on Thursday</a>, not long after the meeting discussion became public, that he remained a no on winner-take-all, “as of today.”He kept meeting and talking with people on both sides of the issue, including people tied to Trump, after that statement. He also heard from national and local Democrats tied to Harris.But on Monday, McDonnell seemed to want to put the issue to rest. And with it, he may have secured one more election where a small slice of Nebraska will matter to both presidential campaigns.U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., said he was “incredibly disappointed by Senator McDonnell’s opposition” to winner-take-all. Ricketts said Nebraskans should speak as one in the Electoral College and “elect a president for all Nebraskans.”State Sen. Rob Dover, a Republican representing the Norfolk area, also expressed disappointment in McDonnell’s decision.“There is too much at stake in this election for Nebraskans to spare an electoral vote,” Dover said in a statement. “We should speak as a unified voice.”State Sen. Loren Lippincott, a Republican from Central City, said he has spoken with the Governor’s Office and they are now doubtful they would call a special session this year on winner-take-all. McDonnell’s vote was key, he said.“That kind of closes the casket,” Lippincott said of his fellow senator’s announcement. “With Mike McDonnell being an absolute no, that kind of closes the lid. We’re going to have to reintroduce this bill in the next session.”Both Trump and Harris have campaign staff in Nebraska, and both have sent surrogates to campaign here. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Nebraska native, held a rally here. Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, came to Nebraska to fundraise and meet with local Republicans.For McDonnell, the calculus could be partly political. He has openly flirted with running for mayor of Omaha as early as 2025. His likely opponent, Republican incumbent Jean Stothert, has said she supports the switch to winner-take-all.Statewide support leans toward winner-take-all, but polling over several years indicates broad, bipartisan support in the 2nd District for keeping the state’s unusual system, which brings attention and money to the Omaha area.McDonnell’s statement acknowledged the impact on the district.“For Omaha … it brings tremendous national attention, is impactful on our local economy and forces Presidential candidates to make their case to all Nebraskans, instead of just flying over and disregarding us,” he said.<h2>Praised for ‘standing strong’</h2>Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, praised McDonnell for “standing strong against tremendous pressure from out-of-state interests to protect Nebraskans’ voice in our democracy.”“Nebraska has a long and proud tradition of independence, and our electoral system reflects that by ensuring that the outcome of our elections truly represents the will of the people without interference,” Kleeb said.Kleeb also said the party would support leaders “who stand up for the people,” which some interpreted as a hint that the door might be cracked open for McDonnell to return or to secure some form of support from the party if he runs for office in the future.The Nebraska Republican Party had no immediate comment.This article originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/" target="_blank">Nebraska Examiner</a>, a part of States Newsroom.

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