Statehouse Blend Missouri

The 2020 session of the Missouri General Assembly, which convenes Wednesday, promises the usual array of legislative wrangling and partisan bickering — all with an election looming in November. In this episode of Statehouse Blend Missouri, we bring you a preview, which first aired on KCUR's Up to Date on Jan. 6. Host Steve Kraske spoke with Brian Hauswirth, news director of Missourinet, and Jaclyn Driscoll, the statehouse reporter for St. Louis Public Radio.

In this very special episode of KCUR’s Statehouse Blend Missouri podcast, we joined forces with St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking podcast to round up the 2019 session of the Missouri General Assembly.

Before getting into the Missouri House, Democrat Robert Sauls was a prosecutor, a public defender and a military lawyer. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that he has focused on criminal justice reform in his first term, cosponsoring bills that seek to change sentencing laws and create special veterans treatment courts. Sauls spoke with Statehouse Blend Missouri host Brian Ellison about life as a newbie legislator, and where he thinks the state budget, which is advancing through the General Assembly, falls short. Subscribe to Statehouse Blend Missouri: iTunes , Google Play , and on the NPRone app .

Before getting into the Missouri House, Democrat Robert Sauls was a prosecutor, a public defender and a military lawyer. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that he has focused on criminal justice reform in his first term, cosponsoring bills that seek to change sentencing laws and create special veterans treatment courts. Sauls spoke with Statehouse Blend Missouri host Brian Ellison about life as a newbie legislator, and where he thinks the state budget, which is advancing through the General Assembly, falls short. Subscribe to Statehouse Blend Missouri: iTunes , Google Play , and on the NPRone app .

Missouri state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove is the granddaughter and niece of state lawmakers, but she’s already making her own mark two months into her first term.

Missouri's budget director announced this week that revenues are down 7 percent compared to last year. While that may change as more people file their taxes, lawmakers are looking for new ways to bring in money while faced with tax cuts they instituted on top of growing expenses for health care, infrastructure and education.

Missouri Republicans have a firm grip on the state legislature, but among the party’s leadership roles, only one is filled by someone near Kansas City.

The Missouri General Assembly convenes this week and Republicans are still in charge, with supermajorities largely unaffected by the 2018 election. They’re united with Gov. Mike Parson, who's a decidedly less controversial leader than predecessor Eric Greitens, who resigned in June.

Midterm elections are just around the corner, but much of Missouri's ballot is covered with pot — and redistricting, ethics rules, a gas tax and a minimum wage increase. Ballot questions join the U.S. Senate race as the big-ticket items on November 6 in Missouri. Host Brian Ellison talks with KCUR's Samuel King , Clean Missouri campaign director Sean Soendker Nicholson and Kansas City Star reporter Allison Kite . Subscribe to Statehouse Blend Missouri: iTunes , Google Play , and on the NPRone app .

The influence of money in today's politics is undeniable, in Missouri and everywhere else. We explore campaign contributions, PACs, "dark money" groups and more, not only in big races like the U.S. Senate race between Claire McCaskill and Josh Hawley, but also in tight local races like the fight for the Missouri Senate seat in Platte and Buchanan Counties. We talk with Republican Tony Luetkemeyer and Democrat Martin Rucker , and St. Louis Public Radio's Jo Mannies . (For more of the conversation about issues in the 34th District Senate race, visit kcur.org next week.)