Jason Hancock
Politics and Policy Reporter | The Missouri IndependentJason Hancock has spent two decades covering politics and policy for news organizations across the Midwest, with most of that time focused on the Missouri statehouse as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. A three-time National Headliner Award winner, he helped launch The Missouri Independent in October 2020.
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Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher's bid for the state's Lieutenant Governor's seat comes months initially floated his candidacy and weeks after he was accused of ‘unlawful’ conduct by legislative staff.
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The attorney general’s office says it has five staffers working on the Sunshine Law backlog and a policy of not charging fees for processing requests. But the first come, first serve strategy has meant hundreds of requests wait in limbo for months — even years.
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Speaker of the House denies accusations uncovered in public records that he threatened staff when pressing for the legislature to award a lucrative contract to a private company.
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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated much of the lower court’s injunction, with the exception of a provision it narrowed concerning alleged coercion against social media companies.
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The Missouri Attorney General's slow response times have renewed scrutiny over how the office handles enforcing state transparency laws.
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The audit is not a routine, scheduled review. It was initiated by Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick and began Aug. 2 with a meeting with officials at the Department of Health and Senior Services.
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The litigation filed in Cole County uses Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s argument that legalizing abortion will cost the state billions of dollars. State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick concluded that reasoning has no merit.
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The former New York mayor admitted he spoke falsely about election fraud in Georgia, statements that featured prominently in his 2020 testimony to a Missouri House committee and in a lawsuit against the right-wing outlet Gateway Pundit.
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The unanimous verdict was scathing in its assessment of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who refused to sign off on the work of Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The court concluded that nothing in state law “gives the attorney general authority to question the auditor’s assessment of the fiscal impact of a proposed petition.”
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Andrew Bailey laid out the proposal in 2021 before he was attorney general. His office won’t clarify whether he still believes the changes should become law.
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A Cole County judge in November concluded Josh Hawley’s staff illegally refused to turn over public records out of concern it could have hurt his 2018 Senate campaign
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Proponents of an initiative petition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution have been unable to begin collecting signatures because of a showdown between the attorney general and state auditor.