MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday he will continue to advise President Donald Trump despite stepping away from his official role as a special government employee. During a wide-ranging Oval Office press conference, Musk — sporting a bruised right eye he blamed on a punch he invited from one of his sons, 5-year-old X […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday said it will allow the Trump administration to remove deportation protections for more than 500,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were given permission to temporarily remain and work in the United States by the Biden administration. The move by the high court — which permits […]

When the company at the center of a massive cannabis product recall lost the appeal of its revoked business license in February, Missouri regulators moved quickly to ensure those involved would no longer be permitted access to a marijuana facility without supervision.  But that punishment doesn’t mean those involved with Robertsville-manufacturer Delta Extraction are out […]

A decade of work by lawmakers and activists culminated earlier this month with the legislature sending a bill to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe expanding extracurricular opportunities for homeschool students. The legislation, which has been filed every year in Missouri since 2014, will require public schools to allow homeschooled students in the area to try out […]

Kansas is the only state or local government to pass a plan to fund a Kansas City Chiefs or Royals stadium project. Dysfunction in the Missouri General Assembly might also mean the Show Me State has nothing to offer. A last-minute plan by Gov. Mike Kehoe to help finance stadium projects for the Royals and […]

How honest should elected officials be with the public? It’s not a rhetorical question. In Kansas City, recent decisions by the mayor suggest a level of opacity that warrants closer scrutiny — not outrage, necessarily, but concern. Mayor Quinton Lucas has sidestepped ethics rules, not by breaking them outright, but by rerouting gifts through a […]

Gov. Mike Kehoe’s stadium funding plan for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals is facing growing resistance from across the ideological spectrum as lawmakers prepare to return to the Missouri Capitol on Monday.  From the right, the Senate Freedom Caucus is threatening a return to procedural gridlock if the agenda for next week’s special session […]

WASHINGTON — The Center for Migration Studies Thursday released a report finding the population of people in the United States without permanent legal status increased to 12.2 million in 2023, using the most recent Census Bureau American Community Survey data. It’s a number that grew by 2 million from 2020 to 2023, according to the study by […]

WASHINGTON — The massive tax and spending package U.S. House Republicans narrowly advanced last week could hinder accountability for for-profit colleges and weaken student-borrower protections, student advocates say. The bill, now headed to the Senate, calls for sweeping changes to education policy under what GOP lawmakers deem “regulatory relief.”  That includes eliminating a rule governing for-profit schools, […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services urged health care providers Wednesday to stop several treatments for children with gender dysphoria, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries. The announcement came just a couple hours before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent letters to hospitals throughout the country, promising “a […]

A new lawsuit filed by the Missouri NAACP accuses Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey of failing to follow state law last year when the annual vehicle stops report omitted data that shows whether minority motorists are being stopped more frequently than white drivers. Filed Tuesday in Cole County, the lawsuit also accuses Bailey and the […]

Christopher “Kit” Bond’s death brought very deep memories for me about a governor I have missed since he left the office in 1985. My strongest memory of Bond was his pursuit as the Republican gubernatorial candidate to replace the Democratic governor who controlled a legislature dominated by Democrats. He began his election campaign critical of […]

Elon Musk says in an interview excerpt that he was “disappointed” in the U.S. House GOP’s massive legislative package of tax cuts, border funding and more of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy priorities, telling CBS News the bill would undermine the work of his U.S. DOGE Service to cut government spending. The interview, a portion […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is arguing that a Maryland federal court lacks the authority to require the return of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia because he’s in prison in El Salvador — even though the U.S. Supreme Court has directed administration officials to “facilitate” his return. In addition, the judge in the highly publicized […]

WASHINGTON — Two top Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to detail exactly how it’s spending money that Congress approved earlier this year for government operations. House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray of Washington released a two-page letter Wednesday demanding the White House […]

The European Union’s landmark AI Act, which went into effect last year, stands as inspiration for some U.S. legislators looking to enact widespread consumer protections. Others use it as a cautionary tale warning against overregulation leading to a less competitive digital economy. The European Union enacted its law to prevent what is currently happening in […]

German chemical giant Bayer received no relief from runaway litigation costs associated with Roundup herbicide Tuesday when the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a $611 million judgment that its product causes cancer. The decision, in a case involving three plaintiffs who sued in Cole County, is one of the reasons the company, which […]

Missouri has agreed to abide by a request from the federal government to turn over personal data about anyone receiving food assistance, the state social services agency confirmed to The Independent Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this month requested sensitive data from states about participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. changed the federal government’s recommendation for the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, saying healthy children and healthy pregnant people no longer need to get it. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic who had to broker several deals with Republican senators to secure confirmation, didn’t explain […]

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a judge in Kansas City to lift an injunction that had blocked restrictions on abortion, a decision that upends access to the procedure six months after voters enshrined reproductive rights into the state Constitution. The two-page order imposes a “de facto abortion ban” in the state, according to […]