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MoInd 📰

Visa processing for immigrants from 75 nations frozen by Trump administration

3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The State Department announced Wednesday it would suspend all visa processing for immigrants hailing from 75 countries because they are deemed likely to need governmental assistance in the United States, known as a “public charge.”  The State Department did not answer States Newsroom’s inquiry as to when the policy would take effect or […]
Ariana Figueroa

Democrats in Congress seek to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem

3 days 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats Wednesday introduced three articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after a deadly shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.  The three articles of impeachment were introduced by Illinois […]
Ariana Figueroa

Judge weighs Trump administration limits on congressional visits to immigration facilities

3 days 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON —  U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb Wednesday probed whether the Trump administration has violated her court order, after Minnesota lawmakers said they were denied an oversight visit to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility following a deadly shooting by an immigration officer in Minneapolis.  Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly […]
Ariana Figueroa

Delayed federal funds start flowing to Missouri child care providers

3 days 4 hours ago
The Missouri Office of Childhood has received federal funding owed to more than 1,700 child care providers after submitting a “comprehensive breakdown” of expenditures, state officials said Tuesday. “All subsidy funds requested” were released, and providers can expect to receive delayed payments by Jan. 16, an email from the state office said. The delay left […]
Steph Quinn

Missouri attorney general wants $1 million to furnish new St. Louis offices

3 days 5 hours ago
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is asking for nearly $1 million by June to furnish new offices for one of her highest-paid employees. The request is in the supplemental budget — money needed for programs running short of funds before the end of the fiscal year — for furniture and equipment in 5,000 square feet […]
Rudi Keller

Progressives in Congress vow to oppose immigration enforcement funding

3 days 21 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus announced Tuesday they will oppose any federal funding for immigration enforcement following the deadly shooting of a woman by an immigration officer in Minneapolis.  “Our caucus will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriations bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices,” […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri Supreme Court upholds state’s gender-affirming care restrictions

3 days 22 hours ago
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a law barring minors from receiving cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries and prohibiting Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care for all ages. The decision, written by Judge Kelly Broniec, affirms a 2024 Cole County Circuit Court ruling from that sided with the state on all […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri revenue surplus nearly gone as Gov. Mike Kehoe unveils his budget plan

3 days 23 hours ago
Missouri’s revenue surplus, nearly $8 billion a few years ago, will be exhausted at the end of the coming fiscal year even with a proposed budget that has no new money for public schools, higher education or state employee pay raises. That’s the forecast for the budget plan unveiled Tuesday by Gov. Mike Kehoe in […]
Rudi Keller

US Supreme Court appears poised to affirm trans athlete bans in Idaho, West Virginia

3 days 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared likely Tuesday to keep in place laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning transgender athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams. The outcomes from the nation’s highest court expected later this year could have sweeping implications for transgender rights more broadly as President Donald Trump’s […]
Shauneen Miranda

Bill would ban Missouri politicians from using recurring donations to fund campaigns

4 days 3 hours ago
Missouri politicians wouldn’t be able to lure donors into recurring contributions with emotional appeals that don’t disclose who would benefit from the money under a bill heard Tuesday. State Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, said the scheme leaves contributors, who are often elderly people, confused when thousands of dollars are drawn […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri education board lowers St. Louis Public Schools to provisionally accredited status

4 days 3 hours ago
The Missouri State Board of Education stripped St. Louis Public Schools of its status as fully accredited on Tuesday, a move the only opposing board member called a “messaging device.” The school district has been downgraded to provisionally accredited.  “Lowering accreditation is a broad signal and by itself does not fix audits, stabilize transportation or […]
Annelise Hanshaw

States go their own way as RFK Jr. shifts federal vaccine policy

4 days 7 hours ago
New federal guidance to reduce the number of vaccines recommended for all children from 17 vaccines down to 11 comes as states already are charting their own courses on vaccine policy. The new federal guidelines mention a directive issued by President Donald Trump in December calling to align the U.S. vaccination schedule with “peer” countries, […]
Tim Henderson

What is the Chief Justice signaling in his year-end report

4 days 9 hours ago
I was struck by the inspirational tone of the year-end report issued by Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts went back to basics with his review of the fundamentals spelled out by Thomas Paine in his “Common Sense” pamphlet and the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence. Although the Declaration of Independence is not […]
Daniel R. Schramm

Opening day of Missouri abortion-rights trial focuses on decades of state restrictions

4 days 17 hours ago
KANSAS CITY — Attorneys for Missouri’s only abortion provider presented a timeline Monday of two decades of restrictions on the procedure, laid out for a crowded courtroom across four easels. On the opening day of what promises to be a 10-day trial over which regulations should remain in place under Missouri’s voter-approved abortion rights amendment, […]
Anna Spoerre

Democrats clash with Noem over new limits on oversight visits to immigration facilities

4 days 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A dozen Democratic members of Congress Monday asked a federal judge for an emergency hearing, arguing the Department of Homeland Security violated a court order when Minnesota lawmakers were denied access to conduct oversight into facilities that hold immigrants. The oversight visits to Minneapolis ICE facilities followed the deadly shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good […]
Ariana Figueroa

Arizona US Sen. Mark Kelly sues Hegseth over penalties for ‘illegal orders’ video

4 days 23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the department on Monday for trying to demote Kelly’s retirement rank and pay after he appeared in a video where he and other lawmakers told service members they didn’t need to follow illegal orders.  Kelly’s suit, filed in the federal district court […]
Jennifer Shutt

US Senate Republicans defend independence of the Fed after DOJ launches Powell probe

5 days 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s feud with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has escalated into a Department of Justice investigation, raising alarm bells among some Republicans in the Senate, where Trump will need broad backing from GOP lawmakers to get his choice for the next Fed chairman approved after Powell’s term ends in May.  Retiring […]
Jennifer Shutt

Sports stadium deals hand even more taxpayer money to billionaires

5 days 6 hours ago
When Washington, D.C., agreed to hand over billions in land and tax breaks for a new Commanders football stadium, experts thought it would long remain an outlier in sweetheart deals for sports teams. But just months later, attention turned to Kansas, where officials in December announced plans to fund 60% of a new stadium for […]
Kevin Hardy