A Missouri appeals court has delivered a sweeping rebuke of the stateās marijuana licensing process, ordering regulators to award Hippos LLC 13 facility licenses after finding the 2019 scoring was inconsistent and, in one case, performed by a grader whose qualifications were never established. The unanimous ruling lands just weeks after a scathing state audit […]
WASHINGTON ā More than two dozen U.S. House Democrats cast a spotlight Tuesday on a newly installed commemorative plaque for those who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.Ā The members ā led by New York U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the U.S. Committee on House Administration ā led […]
WASHINGTON ā Sure, Sen. Thom Tillis has become the most visible, outspoken Republican insider critic of the second Trump administration. But donāt mistake Tillis for a maverick. The North Carolina senator is being who heās long been, the sort of GOP stalwart known as an establishment Republican. A Republican whoās conservative on fiscal issues, usually […]
The voting overhaul measure that the U.S. Senate began debating Tuesday would cause major headaches for underfunded state and local election officials, without meaningfully stopping fraud, according to a collection of voting rights advocates and elections officers. The so-called SAVE America Act, which President Donald Trump is relentlessly pushing, would create chaos for state and […]
By the time you read this, those swept up in ICE raids may already be filling some of the 1,000 beds at a troubled for-profit prison in Leavenworth now turned federal detention facility. The last hurdle for owner CoreCivic to reopen its site was a special use permit from the city of Leavenworth and, after […]
WASHINGTON ā U.S. Senate Republicans pressed forward Tuesday with a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot, despite long odds the legislation will ever become law amid bipartisan opposition. The 51-48 vote to formally begin debate on the measure, which GOP lawmakers have […]
A petition to force a statewide vote on Missouriās gerrymandered congressional map was less than 200 signatures away from meeting its goal Tuesday as a Cole County judge heard arguments over the status of 100,000 signatures set aside in December. There is no doubt that People Not Politicians, the political action committee pushing for a […]
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia are challenging guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that plaintiffs allege imposes new rules and funding conditions they say could weaken state protections against housing discrimination ā and their ability to investigate them.Ā The lawsuit focuses on two HUD memos in September detailing how […]
As federal immigration officers made more āat-largeā arrests in communities across the country in the first year of the current Trump administration ā including at homes, places of worship and workplaces ā more than 1,100 Nebraska families developed family safety plans in the event a parent or breadwinner faced detention or deportation. These plans help […]
When Ashlea Belcher looks back on her conversations with young people about Agape Boarding School and Circle of Hope Girlsā Ranch, āwhat set those cases apart was not chaos,ā she said. āIt was the structure.ā Belcher, a former forensic interviewer and now director of the Childrenās Center of Southwest Missouri, said young people who attended […]
WASHINGTON ā Electricity rates āincreased significantlyā in nearly every U.S. state in 2025, with residents in a dozen states seeing at least a 10% jump, according to a congressional report released by Democrats Tuesday. Minority members of the Joint Economic Committee released state-by-state figures from monthly utility bill data showing, on average, American households paid […]
A ban on gender-affirming treatments for minors appears to be the strongest selling point in a Missouri ballot measure that would outlaw abortion, according to a new poll that suggests the issue could be key to persuading voters to back it. And a year into new Republican administrations, President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Kehoe […]
Already in March, there have been four terrorist attacks in the U. S.: near the New York City Mayorās home; in a synagogue in Michigan; on a university campus in Virginia; and in front of a bar in Austin, Texas. As terrorist attacks increase within our borders, will they become a part of our way […]
WASHINGTON ā The U.S. Supreme Court Monday said it will hear oral arguments in April in two cases brought by immigrants hailing from Syria and Haiti after the Trump administration tried to end their temporary protections, initially granted because their countries had been deemed too dangerous for return.Ā Mondayās orderĀ consolidates two cases, one brought on […]
Investor-owned utility profits have soared as consumer utility bills have skyrocketed in recent years, according to a new analysis of dozens of electricity providers. The Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group tracking fossil fuel and utility industries, analyzed financial disclosures from 110 investor-owned electric utilities between 2021 and 2024, as well as available 2025 […]
A coalition of mostly Democratic-led states is suing the Trump administration over a new federal requirement that would force colleges to report detailed admissions data, including race, gender, test scores and financial aid for individual students.Ā The mandate is an expansion of a 40-year-old system known as IPEDS and follows the 2023 Supreme Court decision […]
The U.S. Department of Justice has begun connecting its push to obtain sensitive personal data on millions of voters to whether the upcoming midterm elections will be fair and secure, laying the groundwork for the Trump administration to potentially cast doubt on the results. The Justice Department has sued 29 states and the District of […]
In the past year, Christian King, a doula based in Kansas City, has supported more than 40 mothers enrolled in Medicaid through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum.Ā In that role, she helps educate and support families about birth and babies, but her work also takes on a more nontraditional approach. When one motherās water was […]
Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson is pledging support for legislation aimed at cracking down on ādate rapeā drugs, after two Democratic lawmakers said they believe they were drugged in Jefferson City during last yearās legislative session. Patterson, a Republican and physician, said he found the lawmakersā accounts āvery troublingā and encouraged them to pursue criminal […]
Gov. Mike Kehoe has proposed decreasing state spending for Missouriās transportation industry. According to a chart from Citizens for Modern Transit and the Missouri Public Transit Association, Missouri counties were provided $6.7 million for transportation for this fiscal year. The governor is proposing that the state cut spending to $1.7 million. For the past three […]