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This column is prompted by a question from a long-time statehouse observer as to why Missouri’s legislature has become so divided.
My answer involved the number of changes in the statehouse …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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1/26/22
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The recent personal and racially tinged partisan attacks by a couple of U.S. House members, and the absence of swift discipline, stands in stark contrast to how legislators treat one another in …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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1/5/22
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The criminal case for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia had a personal impact on me.
Like Arbery, I often walk briskly in nearby neighborhoods. Although I must confess that at my advanced …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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12/8/21
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I begin this column with a confession.
We journalists are reluctant to report about ourselves because under journalism ethics, a reporter should avoid covering something in which the reporter has …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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12/8/21
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The 10 deaths at a packed Houston, Texas, concert crowd raised powerful and haunting memories for me from an episode of an old TV series more than four decades ago — “WKRP in …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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12/1/21
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A recent New York Times article about U.S. Supreme Court edits of wording mistakes reminded me about how Missouri’s Supreme Court has dealt with legislative mistakes.
The New York Times …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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11/24/21
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A recent New York Times article about U.S. Supreme Court edits of wording mistakes reminded me about how Missouri’s Supreme Court has dealt with legislative mistakes.
The New York Times …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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11/17/21
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I write this column about Todd Akin hoping it provides readers a better perspective about journalists and public officials, but also that it might encourage politicians and public officials to be …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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11/3/21
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I write this column about Todd Akin hoping it provides readers a better perspective about journalists and public officials, but also that it might encourage politicians and public officials to be …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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10/27/21
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I’m writing this column after one of the most vicious and unfounded attacks I’ve heard by a Missouri governor against a major Missouri news organization.
It involves the St. Louis …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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10/20/21
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Missouri has lost one of the most influential Senate leaders in at least the past half century.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the accomplishments of Jim Mathewson who died Sept. 28 from …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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10/6/21
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent resignation following allegations of inappropriate behavior with women staffers offers some interesting similarities but also contrasts with the resignation …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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8/25/21
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This year was the second time I’ve seen the power women legislators can have when they are united.
The latest was success of a bi-partisan group of Missouri women senators to force a compromise …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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8/13/21
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The Missouri legislature’s recent special session on Medicaid involves a dominant state issue with a long and fascinating history.
It begins in 1945 when Pres. Harry Truman called for a national …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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7/14/21
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A recent suggestion by a Missouri Senator of a Senate leadership purge reminded me about the last time the Senate’s top leader was ousted.
Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Jefferson County, made his …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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6/30/21
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The 2021 Missouri legislative session was one of the most unusual and unpredictable of the legislative gatherings I’ve covered in some 50 years.
Despite Republicans holding an …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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5/19/21
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One of the fascinating issues for the 2021 legislative session has been the idea of a tax increase.
You would think such an idea would be dead on arrival in a Republican-controlled legislature. …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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5/12/21
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The Missouri House refusal to fund voter-approved Medicaid expansion reminded me of a long Missouri legislative tactic of “kicking the can down the road” involving state funding for …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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4/21/21
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In 2015, the then Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Bill Shuster (R-PA) led negotiations with members of both parties in the House, Senate and White House on a …
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By Blaine Luektemeyer
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4/21/21
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The Missouri legislature’s week-long break that began March 15 is a good time to assess where the General Assembly may head in the second half of it’s annual session.
This year taxes, school …
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By Phill Brooks, Contributing Columnist
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3/17/21
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