Marshall Griffin

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Robin Carnahan over the language used in a ballot initiative regarding health care exchanges. The Republican Lt. Governor is accusing the Democratic Secretary of State of trying to deliberately mislead voters.

A panel created by the Missouri House to review the state's transportation needs met Monday afternoon in Columbia.

Missouri’s state budget for next year has been signed into law, but Governor Jay Nixon also carved $15 million out of the spending plan that takes effect July 1. 

Updated 4:34 p.m. with comments from Rep. Sylvester Taylor. 

Usually, the residency requirement for political candidates is just another box to check, but two cases involving St. Louis-area office-seekers have not been so clearly defined - until today.

Two ballot questions going before Missouri voters in November won’t cost or save the state any money, according the State Auditor’s office.

One in particular would make changes to how appellate judges are selected.  The fiscal note for that measure was put together by Deputy Auditor Harry Otto.

“(We contacted) four statewide offices, 20 other departments/agencies, the House and Senate," Otto said.  "Out of those 24 places that we contacted we received comments from 16, and all 16 said ‘no costs associated with this measure.’”

A new temporary committee has been created in the Missouri House to examine how the Governor’s Office of Administration (OA) awards government contracts.

The Interim Committee on Government Bidding and Contracting may also be used to recommend new legislation for next year’s regular session.  State Representative Sue Allen (R, Town and Country) will chair the committee.  She says last year’s controversy surrounding former Medicaid contractor SynCare LLC played a part in the committee’s creation.

A group billing itself as non-partisan is calling on U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D, Missouri) to reveal where she stands on micro-unions.

Micro-unions are smaller groups of workers within an officially-sanctioned labor union.  The National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) issued a ruling last year that allowed the creation of micro-unions.  Jason Klindt with the Coalition to Protect Missouri Jobs says micro-unions are a threat to small businesses.

The Missouri Attorney General’s office is warning the public of a new scam that’s targeting smartphone and cellphone users.

The scam is known as "smishing," and it involves text messages telling recipients that they’ve won prizes or gift cards from big-name retailers such as Wal-Mart or Costco and instructs them to claim them by clicking on a link.  Attorney General Chris Koster (D) says clicking the link will infect phones with malware that gives identity thieves access to personal information.