MoInd 📰

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s request to grade public schools on an “A” through “F” scale is pushing House lawmakers to approve legislation some think isn’t quite ready. With approval and dissent on both sides of the aisle, the House voted a bill to create a new school accountability system through to the Senate 96-53 Thursday […]

A supplemental spending bill pushing total state appropriations for the fiscal year to almost $55 billion was the first legislation sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe in this year’s session when the Missouri House voted 137-13 for final passage. The $3.1 billion spending package was pushed quickly through the General Assembly to speed distribution of $59.5 […]

Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal law enforcement or the military to disrupt the midterm elections. Measures to restrict federal agents from operating at or near election-related locations have been offered in […]

Missouri lawmakers Wednesday once again discussed a request for $294.6 million — including $35 million in state general revenue — to help the state implement federally mandated changes to safety net programs. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last summer will require states to verify that Medicaid enrollees […]

When Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore signed emergency legislation last month prohibiting agreements between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities, he was pushing back against one of the fastest-growing pieces of President Donald Trump’s deportation strategy. The expansion of immigration enforcement hasn’t happened primarily through high-profile raids: It has unfolded through formal partnerships […]

Amid a slew of proposed changes scaling the federal government’s role in broadening assistance in federal rental programs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to rescind a 2024 regulation requiring public housing agencies and certain federally subsidized landlords to give 30 days’ notice before filing for eviction based on unpaid rent.  Under […]

A ballot measure pushed by Republicans to change how majorities are calculated in Missouri for constitutional amendments proposed by initiative must clearly alert voters that is its intent, a Cole County judge ruled Wednesday. The decision from Circuit Judge Daniel Green is the written version of his oral ruling from Feb. 19 that provisions critics […]

The proposal to eliminate the state income tax is moving to the Missouri House floor following a party-line committee vote Wednesday. The 7-3 vote on Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s top priority followed a heated discussion where Democrats on the House Commerce Committee accused Republicans of steering the state into a fiscally dangerous future. “You don’t […]

Don Mayhew believes in the free market. “We have choice in a lot of different things. Go to a grocery store — there’s four different brands of green beans you can buy,” said Mayhew, a Republican Crocker. “We know that competition in any marketplace is the foundation — the cornerstone — of our capitalist system.” […]

A bill that would ban three-cueing and establish new reading assessments was discussed in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. After legislation prohibiting three-cueing as a primary instructional method passed last year, legislators are now aiming for an outright ban. Three-cueing, also known as the Meaning Structure Visual system, teaches kids to read by using […]

When Mark Ludwig lost shared custody of his son more than a decade ago, his life fell apart.  “The devastation of losing my son who was my sole purpose in life, I couldn’t function,” Ludwig, who lives in the St. Louis area, told the Missouri House Children and Families Committee in late January. “I lost […]

The Missouri Senate on Tuesday stripped money for furnishing new space for the attorney general’s office and sending a tourism team to Washington, D.C., from a spending bill funding state agencies through June 30. The changes cut about $1.1 million in general revenue spending from the supplemental appropriation bill that had already been cut by […]

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee mounted unusually blunt criticisms of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a tense five-hour hearing Tuesday, with North Carolina’s Thom Tillis threatening to obstruct the chamber’s business if Noem did not answer questions from his office about immigration enforcement.  Tillis even revisited a book written by […]

When state Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs first arrived in Jefferson City as a lobbyist in 2015, a woman who had been around the Capitol longer pulled her aside and offered advice that sounded, at first, absurd for a statehouse job.  Don’t drink from the “special refrigerator” in someone’s office. Don’t go for one-on-one drinks after hours. […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he “might have forced Israel’s hand” in launching the war on Iran that has already cost the lives of six American troops.  Trump’s statement came less than a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the United States joined the campaign to protect American troops after […]

The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3 Tuesday for the first time this year, and is expected to keep going up. The average price Tuesday was $3.11, up about 11 cents from Monday, according to AAA. “The pump reaction is not only underway — it’s accelerating,” said Patrick De Haan, […]

With blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and spilling onto a blousy blue mini dress, Landon Patterson sat in front of the Missouri House Emerging Issues Committee Monday. The committee was debating bills that sought to separate public restrooms and changing rooms by sex as assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. The bills varied […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Monday that President Donald Trump acted within executive powers when he launched an attack with Israel on Iran over the weekend. Several Democratic senators indicated Monday that they will force a vote on a war powers resolution to bar Trump from taking further military action in the region […]

Wes Groggins didn’t mince words when he testified to a Missouri Senate committee Monday in support of legislation expanding legal protections for embryos.  The executive director of Abolish Abortion Missouri invoked the Bible’s Old Testament in his justification that anyone who has an abortion or assists someone in accessing an abortion should be charged with […]

Perceiving and treating women and underaged girls as sex objects is evidence of a prevalent and pernicious problem perpetuated by a sense of entitlement on the part of the abuser who relies on intimidation and fear. Even worse, it is exacerbated by our continued acceptance. As we begin commemorating another Women’s History Month, will an […]