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MoInd šŸ“°

Judge halts Trump order tying state transportation grants to immigration actions

38 minutes 40 seconds ago
A Rhode Island federal judge blocked an order that would have yanked billions of federal dollars for roads, bridges and airport projects in states that don’t aid in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. U.S. District Judge John James McConnell Jr. granted a preliminary injunction late Thursday to the 20 Democratic-led states that brought the case […]
Ariana Figueroa, Ashley Murray

Both parties prep for mega-bill marathon in U.S. Senate vote-a-rama

38 minutes 56 seconds ago
WASHINGTON — The next hurdle for Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate and the ā€œbig, beautiful billā€: Democrats — and possibly a few of their own members — in a marathon voting session will make last-ditch attempts to change the tax and spending cut measure. The vote-a-rama, as it’s known, is expected to begin sometime […]
Jennifer Shutt

Minnesota assassination prompts many lawmakers to wonder: Is service worth the danger?

5 hours 41 minutes ago
A year into her first term in office, New Jersey Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer decided not to run for reelection. The political world saw her as a rising star in 2023; Jaffer, a Democrat, previously served as the nation’s first female Muslim mayor. But rampant harassment from online commenters and other politicians about her religion, as […]
Alex Brown, Robbie Sequeira

Five Missouri counties no longer have a license office. A fee hike seeks to fix that

6 hours 41 minutes ago
When the state announced the Caruthersville license office was going to close, residents needing to renew registrations or driver license were directed to the closest open offices in Kennett, New Madrid and Malden.Ā  Those communities are all at least an hour, round-trip, from Caruthersville. The inconvenience would be compounded if, after waiting in line, the […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri lawmakers push state colleges to create 60-credit-hour transferable degree programs

8 hours 42 minutes ago
Missouri students majoring in business, biology, elementary education, psychology and nursing may soon be able to transfer more college credits between the state’s public universities. State lawmakers negotiated a plan to make 60-credit-hour blocks in five degree programs universally transferable among public universities and community colleges in Missouri as part of a bill awaiting the […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Cannabis advocates question Missouri policy on medical marijuana patients’ buying rights

10 hours 46 minutes ago
Cannabis advocacy organizations are sounding the alarm about guidance from state regulators limiting how much medical marijuana patients can purchase from licensed dispensaries.Ā  By law, dispensaries are required to track how much medical marijuana patients buy so they don’t exceed their limit.Ā  According to a FAQ that was added earlier this year to the website […]
Rebecca Rivas

USDA data highlights monopoly risk in rural grocery markets

1 day 10 hours ago
If you live in a small town, you probably have fewer grocery stores than you did 30 years ago — and fewer choices inside them. Independent grocers have disappeared, replaced by big national chains that now decide what’s on the shelves, how much it costs, and who gets to profit. In 1990, the top four […]
Lauren Cross

US senators from Minnesota reflect on slain state legislator in Senate floor remarks

2 days 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith honored Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, during remarks on the Senate floor. The Minnesota Democratic senators on Tuesday reflected on Melissa’s leadership, devotion to her community and many contributions to her state. The Hortmans were killed over the weekend in what […]
Shauneen Miranda

Judge grills Trump DOJ on order tying transportation funding to immigration enforcement

2 days 1 hour ago
A Rhode Island federal judge seemed likely Wednesday to block the U.S. Department of Transportation’s move to yank billions in congressional funding for bridges, roads and airport projects if Democrat-led states do not partake in federal immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge John James McConnell Jr. during a hearing pressed acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri judge rejects inmate claims that sentencing decision was illegal

2 days 4 hours ago
A Missouri man serving life without parole on Monday lost a bid to reopen his criminal case for an in-person resentencing he claims he was unconstitutionally denied. Deandra Buchanan, convicted in Boone County of three counts of first-degree in 2002, was originally sentenced to death. The Missouri Supreme Court reduced the sentence to life without […]
Rudi Keller

GOP senators warn mega-bill’s new Medicaid cuts will hurt rural hospitals

2 days 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican leaders expressed confidence Tuesday they’ll be able to tamp down opposition to various elements of the party’s ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ in time to approve the measure before the Fourth of July, though they acknowledged there’s considerable work left to do.Ā  GOP senators from across the political spectrum have debated the […]
Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda

Missouri Senate will hold hearing on MU Health, Anthem negotiations

2 days 9 hours ago
A Missouri Senate committee will hold a public hearing at the end of the month focused on failed negotiations between MU Health Care and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield that has impacted the coverage of 90,000 people. The Missouri Senate Insurance and Banking Committee will convene for the hearing at 1 p.m. June 30. Senate […]
Jacob Richey

Missouri’s health system among worst-performing in the country, report finds

2 days 10 hours ago
Missouri has among the highest rates of antipsychotic drug use in nursing home residents, contributing to the state’s health care system ranking near the bottom nationally in a report released Wednesday.Ā  The report, published by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focused on health care issues, used data from 2023 to measure every state’s health […]
Clara Bates

US senators call for security funding boost after Minnesota assassination

3 days 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators emerged from a briefing with federal law enforcement officials Tuesday saying they’ll likely boost funding on safety and security for members and their families in an upcoming government funding bill. The hour-long briefing by U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate sergeant-at-arms followed theĀ weekend assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa, Shauneen Miranda

Freedom’s Frontier will ā€˜cease to exist’ if Congress rescinds funding for National Heritage Areas

3 days 5 hours ago
TOPEKA, Kansas — Freedom’s Frontier, a coalition of more than 200 historically significant sites on both sides of the Kansas-Missouri border, will ā€œcease to existā€ if Congress approves proposed legislation to defund National Heritage Areas, the organization’s spokesman says. Johnny Szlauderbach, director of communications and strategic projects at Freedom’s Frontier, said on the Kansas Reflector […]
Sherman Smith

ā€˜Expensive and complicated’: Most rural hospitals no longer deliver babies

3 days 8 hours ago
Nine months after Monroe County Hospital in rural South Alabama closed its labor and delivery department in October 2023, Grove Hill Memorial Hospital in neighboring Clarke County also stopped delivering babies. Both hospitals are located in an agricultural swath of the state that’s home to most of its poorest counties. Many residents of the region […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Two-thirds of those in poll view GOP’s tax and spending cut bill unfavorably

3 days 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Republicans and backers of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again platform support the party’s ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ as passed by the U.S. House, though Americans overall view the legislation unfavorably, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan health research organization KFF. The survey shows that nearly two-thirds of those polled, […]
Jennifer Shutt