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MoInd 📰

Even blue states are embracing a tougher approach to crime

30 minutes 34 seconds ago
The outcomes of seven ballot measures in Arizona, California and Colorado reflect the stricter approach to crime that’s been seen across much of the country recently, with voters and policymakers driven by concerns over rising retail theft, homelessness, fentanyl misuse and challenges in police recruitment and retention. Voters have decided in recent years that they […]
Amanda Hernandez

Nonprofit drops $150K into PAC supporting lame-duck Missouri governor

3 hours 53 minutes ago
The not-for-profit group originally set up to pay for Gov. Mike Parson’s 2021 inauguration gave $150,000 this week to the political action committee that helped get him elected. Parson is leaving office due to term limits and has said repeatedly that he does not intend to be a candidate for public office again.  The PAC, […]
Rudi Keller

Sunshine Law violations by social services agency will cost Missouri $120,000

19 hours 28 minutes ago
A Cole County judge on Tuesday ordered the Missouri Department of Social Services to pay more than $115,000 in legal fees and a $5,000 penalty for “knowingly and purposefully” violating the state’s open records law. In September, Judge Jon Beetem determined that the department violated the Sunshine Law by wrongfully withholding public records based on […]
Clara Bates

Trump’s victory throws new USDA framework on seed industry into question

20 hours 23 minutes ago
Imagine two fields, side-by-side. One grows genetically modified corn, the seed bought from a major firm. The other grows organic where the farmer stresses about cross-contamination. The company that produced the neighbor’s corn seed has patented its product, restricting its use. If the grower’s corn intermingles with the neighbor’s, the organic farmer worries about being […]
Sky Chadde

Fed’s recent rate cuts could improve borrowing options for state and local government projects

23 hours 31 minutes ago
The Federal Reserve’s second consecutive key rate cut could mean more than just lower borrowing costs for the average consumer — state and local governments stand to benefit, too. Lower interest rates may bring changes for housing development, tax revenue, debt refinancing and bread-and-butter projects like roads, water and sewer, state and local government officials […]
Casey Quinlan

It’s past time for Missouri’s attorney general to take action against abusive boarding schools

1 day 3 hours ago
Andrew Bailey has won re-election. For the next four years, he’ll be Missouri’s attorney general. So he no longer has to worry about potentially alienating teachers. Or conservative ministers. Or those who believe in spanking children. Or county sheriffs and other local law enforcement officials. Or business owners and leaders who want to make a […]
David Clohessy

U.S. House GOP urged to bar transgender women from using women’s bathrooms at the Capitol

1 day 20 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina led a charge Monday to try to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol and House office buildings, following the election of a transgender lawmaker. The move, which the House Democratic leader characterized as attempting to “bully” another member, came as […]
Shauneen Miranda

Federal agency fights for nursing home staffing mandate, but for how long?

2 days 3 hours ago
The federal government is asking a judge to rule that it has the power to impose staffing requirements on nursing homes that collect billions of federal tax dollars through Medicaid and Medicare. The request was made Friday in the form of a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by the nursing home industry. […]
Clark Kauffman

Judge weighs whether Missouri-based Kanakuk defrauded abuse survivor’s family

2 days 18 hours ago
OZARK — Attorneys argued about culpability in Christian County Circuit Court Monday morning in a lawsuit involving a Branson-area Christian summer camp accused of conspiring with its insurer to trick a family into signing a non-disclosure agreement by concealing prior knowledge of sexual misconduct. Logan Yandell, a survivor of sexual abuse by Kanakuk Ministries’ former […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Margin on Missouri sports betting amendment narrows as counties tally official results

2 days 21 hours ago
A late report adding nearly 10,000 votes to Christian County’s election results has narrowed the margin for Missouri’s sports betting amendment and put it in range for a possible recount. The official results from Christian County, certified last week, increased the county’s vote total on Amendment 2 by 9,653, with a margin of 3,995 votes […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri members of Trump legal team score high profile jobs in administration

3 days 2 hours ago
President-elect Donald Trump tapped two Missouri members of the legal team for jobs in the new administration, naming D. John Sauer solicitor general and Will Scharf assistant to the president and White House staff secretary. Sauer, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of Town and Country, was Missouri solicitor general from 2017 through 2022 […]
Jason Hancock

Now that the elections are over, our most important work is just beginning

3 days 3 hours ago
Votes have been cast and whether our candidates and issues won or loss, as concerned citizens, our most important work is ahead of us — in Missouri and Washington. Continued involvement and ongoing oversight should rule the day. This election cycle has been anything but politics as usual. But lest we forget, the people remain […]
Janice Ellis

What a Moberly court case in 1955 tells us about teacher diversity today

5 days 3 hours ago
MOBERLY — Mayme Williams sat in the lobby of the Country Villa apartments in Moberly, reminiscing about the all-Black Lincoln School in the early 1930s, when the city’s public schools were still racially segregated. At 97, Williams still remembers her childhood years at the Lincoln School: her friends, the walk to school from her family’s […]
Olivia Gyapong

Missouri sees an uptick in emergency contraception requests after Election Day

6 days 2 hours ago
Health care providers say they are seeing a drastic increase in the number of emergency contraceptive kit requests by Missourians since the election. The Missouri Family Health Council helps fund the state’s reproductive health care through Title X, a federal grant. It has a program that allows Missourians to order emergency contraception kits via mail […]
Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval

‘A little goofy’: Loopholes allow millions to flow around Missouri campaign donation limits 

6 days 3 hours ago
After years of no-limit spending on Missouri politics, voters had enough in 2016. That year, as candidates raked in $65.5 million in donations larger than $100,000, Missourians overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment capping donations to candidates, outlawing direct contributions from corporations and labor unions and banning efforts to conceal where money is coming from. The […]
Rudi Keller