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Missouri judge weighing whether new abortion ban should appear on 2026 ballot

14 hours 6 minutes ago
A Cole County judge heard arguments Wednesday over whether a proposed ban on abortion set to go to voters next year should be thrown out or revised over a provision targeting gender-affirming care for minors.  The ACLU of Missouri believes the proposal, which was drafted by state lawmakers, violates the state constitution because it includes […]
Anna Spoerre

Trump administration says CDC chief ousted. Her lawyer says she hasn’t resigned or been fired

15 hours 19 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t appear inclined to leave her post, despite the Trump administration announcing Wednesday that she’s no longer running one of the country’s top public health agencies.  Attorneys for Susan Monarez, who received Senate confirmation in late July, posted that she hasn’t been fired […]
Jennifer Shutt

New FAFSA form to be ready by Oct. 1, Education secretary says

18 hours 28 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — The updated form to apply for federal student aid will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told congressional leaders in a letter this week.  The department began testing in early August for the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — to address […]
Shauneen Miranda

Judge keeps Abrego Garcia in US at least through October hearing

19 hours 41 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Maryland federal Judge Paula Xinis barred the Trump administration Wednesday from re-deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was unlawfully removed earlier this year, until she makes a decision in an evidentiary hearing set for October. Separately, Abrego Garcia filed a claim for asylum, a longshot bid to gain legal status as the Trump administration […]
Ariana Figueroa

Extreme heat in prisons brings more legal challenges, pressure on states

21 hours 19 minutes ago
Summer heat is bearing down on U.S. prisons, where temperatures in uncooled cells can climb well into the triple digits. Facing growing pressure from advocacy groups, lawsuits and climate projections that show hotter days ahead, some state prison systems are moving to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures — though many facilities remain years […]
Amanda HernĂĄndez

Diet pills and muscle-building supplements pose a threat for minors in Missouri

1 day 2 hours ago
Seventeen-year-old Christopher Herrera can no longer play sports.  After Christopher ingested concentrated green tea extract labelled as a “fat burning supplement”, his liver was compromised so severely that he nearly needed a liver transplant. Although doctors managed to save his liver, Christopher now lives with the lasting repercussions of this incident. He can no longer […]
Gaurish Agrawal, Ketan Tamirisa, Sahana Srikanth

Fired Fed board member to sue Trump to stay in role

1 day 15 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will challenge her removal, her attorney said Tuesday, arguing President Donald Trump “has no authority” to fire her. Trump announced late Monday that he would fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, over allegations that she falsified documents to obtain a favorable […]
Ariana Figueroa

US Health and Human Services agency orders states to strip gender from sex ed

1 day 16 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration demanded Tuesday that dozens of states remove from sex education materials any references to a person’s gender departing from their sex assigned at birth, or lose federal funding. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families warned in letters to 40 states, the District of Columbia […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump administration threatens to yank state funds over truckers’ English proficiency

1 day 17 hours ago
Three states are at risk of losing some federal transportation funding because they are not enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order that commercial truck drivers must be proficient in English, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday. New Mexico, Washington and California will have 30 days to comply with the order or risk losing funding […]
Jacob Fischler

‘We are sweating’: Missouri kindergarten vaccination rates fall below immunity threshold

1 day 18 hours ago
The percentage of kindergarten students in Missouri vaccinated against diseases like measles and whooping cough is dropping each year as more parents turn in non-medical exemptions prior to their child’s first day of school. Only 90% of Missouri kindergarten students were immunized against measles, mumps and rubella last year, according to the Missouri Department of […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Rudi ’splains it: Missouri property tax rates and how they are set

1 day 23 hours ago
Property tax rates for this year must be set by Monday in Missouri’s 2,807 local political subdivisions authorized to impose levies. That starts the annual billing cycle, with each county collector using those rates and the property values determined by the county assessor to generate tax bills mailed in October.  By Dec. 31, every tax […]
Rudi Keller

As Republicans spar over IVF, some turn to obscure MAHA-backed alternative

2 days 1 hour ago
Republican support for in vitro fertilization, after surging in the wake of a 2024 Alabama Supreme Court decision that threatened the procedure, may be splintering as President Donald Trump retreats from his IVF promises and more far-right voices gain ground. Earlier this year, conservatives in the Tennessee House staged an eleventh-hour skirmish over an IVF […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Trump creates ‘quick reaction force’ out of state Guard troops for law enforcement

2 days 16 hours ago
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing state National Guard units to be ready to assist local, state and federal law enforcement, a potential step toward a dramatic expansion of Trump’s use of military personnel for domestic policing. The order calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ensure troops in the National Guard of […]
Jacob Fischler

More states — including Missouri — joining race to redraw congressional maps

2 days 16 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s push to bolster the GOP’s narrow congressional majority in next year’s elections has prompted a rare nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle that has rapidly taken shape over the past weeks.  Indiana GOP lawmakers’ White House visit this week highlights how the race to redraw congressional districts for partisan advantage may soon expand beyond […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump battles with US Senate Judiciary’s Grassley over home-state picks for judges

2 days 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley are sparring on social media over whether the Judiciary Committee chairman should abandon a century-old tradition that allows senators to block the advancement of judicial nominees who would serve in the senators’ home states. The practice, referred to as “blue slips,” has irked Trump, […]
Jennifer Shutt

Abrego Garcia arrested by ICE as judge orders postponement of deportation to Uganda

2 days 19 hours ago
BALTIMORE — Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore early Monday for a prayer vigil for the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration aims to re-deport to Uganda unless he pleads guilty to Justice Department charges. As Abrego Garcia arrived for his Monday ICE check-in […]
Ariana Figueroa, William J. Ford

Cole County judge denies request to freeze Missouri private-school voucher payments

2 days 21 hours ago
The Missouri State Treasurer’s Office can continue to subsidize private-school scholarships from a $51 million allotment of state revenue while a lawsuit challenging the fund’s constitutionality makes its way through the system, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Brian Stumpe ruled Monday morning. Stumpe rejected arguments by the Missouri branch of the National Education Association that […]
Annelise Hanshaw