As more private equity firms buy health care physician practices and facilities, states are pushing back on acquisitions that some critics say could potentially gut health care infrastructure. This year alone at least seven states, including California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, have enacted laws requiring more oversight over private equity acquisitions […]
As corporate ownership of residential property across the country rises nationwide, researchers from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Center for Geospatial Solutions, which is housed at the institute, warn this rising trend has complicated the housing market for first-time buyers. According to a joint “Who Owns America” report, nearly 9% of residential […]
The younger children of Mohammad Ali Dadfar believe their father is away, working. That’s what they’ve been told. Only the oldest, an 11-year-old girl, and Dadfar’s wife know the truth. The father of four, an immigrant from Afghanistan who helped the U.S. military fight the Taliban, is in a Springfield, Missouri, jail — held with […]
Missouri’s social services department has in recent years been reprimanded by a judge for illegally denying food assistance and scrutinized by the federal government for massive Medicaid application backlogs. And for more than a decade, the agency has vowed to tackle these problems by overhauling the computer systems that help determine whether people qualify for […]
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ call for a close reexamination of the 42 million people who receive federal food aid has befuddled advocates and lawmakers, coming mere days after recipients began to see benefits that had been stalled during the government shutdown. Details remain scant a week after Rollins during an interview on the right-wing […]
Opponents of a referendum on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map are offering “huge sums of money” to signature gatherers in an effort to undermine the petition drive, according to accusations in a federal lawsuit. Advanced Micro Targeting of Dallas, Texas, was hired by a PAC called People Not Politicians to help collect the signatures needed to […]
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on Thursday joined a growing number of government agencies investigating the makers and sellers of a product called 7-OH for engaging in what she called “unlawful” practices. The name, 7-OH, is short for 7-hydroxymitragynine, and it’s made by chemically converting the main opioid-inducing element in kratom. 7-OH is sold as […]
WASHINGTON — A new U.S. Department of Education regulation to narrow eligibility for a key student debt relief program for public service workers has drawn strong opposition from advocates who argue the regulation is an attempt to target organizations whose missions do not align with President Donald Trump’s agenda. Under a final rule slated to […]
As states strive to curb health insurers’ use of artificial intelligence, patients and doctors are arming themselves with AI tools to fight claims denials, prior authorizations and soaring medical bills. Several businesses and nonprofits have launched AI-powered tools to help patients get their insurance claims paid and navigate byzantine medical bills, creating a robotic tug-of-war […]
The constitutionality of Missouri using general revenue to fund private-school scholarships will be debated Monday and Tuesday in Cole County Circuit Court. The Missouri National Education Association is seeking to stop the state from distributing more tax dollars to private schools, saying the $50 million appropriation of general revenue to the MOScholars program is illegal. […]
A St. Louis jury awarded a California cannabis consultant $3 million on Thursday, following a four-day trial where he argued a 2022 lab accident ended his career in the marijuana industry. The incident happened when Mark Avent of Escondido, Calif., was helping build out the cultivation and manufacturing facility at 5401 Bulwer Ave. in St. […]
A day after President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a new directive to its agents: Arrests at courthouses, restricted under the Biden administration, were again permissible. In Connecticut, a group of observers who keep watch on ICE activity in and around Stamford Superior Court have since witnessed a series of […]
The trucking industry is a major economic driver supporting multiple sectors, but lately it is facing challenges due to a lack of freight to haul and labor constraints. The Missouri Department of Transportation estimates that over 985 million tons of goods pass through Missouri annually, with a net worth of $1.1 trillion. About 87% of […]
As a teacher and coach, I remember vividly the helplessness I felt when my students would ask me: “But how will this help me get a good job?” For years, educators were often on their own when it came to helping students connect what they were learning in the classroom with where it might lead […]
GREENBELT, Md. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detailed to a federal judge Thursday plans for the Trump administration to again remove the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, this time to the West African country of Liberia. U.S. District of Maryland Judge Paula Xinis is considering whether to lift her order that barred Abrego […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition on social media Thursday and threatened them with punishment as severe as death, after they appeared in a video message encouraging U.S. armed forces to refuse “illegal orders.” Trump also shared another social media post that said the Democrats should be hanged. The video’s […]
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is asking a federal court to roll back the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to approve a new generic brand of mifepristone, her first foray into a lawsuit filed by her predecessor to limit access to medication abortion nationwide. In September the FDA approved a new generic form […]
TOPEKA, Kansas — The Republican secretaries of state for Kansas and Missouri have signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange voter registration information in a bid to identify people who failed to cancel registrations after moving from one state to the other. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins […]
WASHINGTON — At least 25 bills have been introduced this Congress to further limit lawmakers and their family members from trading individual stocks, and representatives across the aisle renewed pressure Wednesday on U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to take up the issue. Their contention is members of Congress hold a serious advantage over everyday Americans […]
A group of Democratic secretaries of state in a letter to top Trump administration officials say they’re concerned the administration misled them about how it would use voter data collected from their states. The letter, dated Tuesday, is addressed to Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, and Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of […]
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