MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed a lengthy and partly redacted motion Wednesday that charts special counsel Jack Smith’s final argument before November that former President Donald Trump acted in a private capacity when he co-conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Much of the motion concerns Trump’s interactions with individuals in Arizona, Georgia, […]

A Columbia woman charged with using multiple aliases to accuse restaurant competitors of criminal activity also used fake names for testimony to a Missouri House committee alleging a conspiracy to obtain liquor licenses for undocumented immigrants  Crystal Umfress of Columbia, owner of Casa Maria’s Mexican Cantina, was already facing trial in a Dunklin County arson-for-hire […]

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that U.S. troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iranian rocket fire in Iraq in 2020 only experienced a “headache,” dismissing the experiences of dozens of American soldiers who were later awarded the Purple Heart. Trump’s comments came after a reporter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, asked whether he […]

The Missouri Supreme Court declined to force an investigation into donations to Attorney General Andrew Bailey connected to a witness in a case his office was handling. In a filing Tuesday evening, the judges denied a request from Lucas Cierpiot — son of state Sen. Mike Cierpiot — to require the disciplinary arm of the court […]

Missouri’s defense of a state law barring minors from beginning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will depend on whether the judge in the case puts stock in expert witnesses touting retracted studies and conspiracy theories about Jerry Sandusky. Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter, who is presiding over a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s gender-affirming care […]

Though food service workers and economists have long worried about the impact technology would have on the restaurant labor force, pilot programs in several fast-casual restaurants over the last few years have shown it may not have the negative impact they feared, a labor economist says. Technology plays several roles in food service, but the […]

Until they get in touch with him, organizer TJ James says, many people with a felony conviction have no idea that they have the right to vote. And it’s not for a lack of interest, said James, an organizer with the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE2. “I’ve had people that I […]

Nearly 8,000 seniors and Missourians with disabilities could lose their at-home care over the next year after a new eligibility algorithm went into effect this week, a spokesperson for the state health department told The Independent.

In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, more than 200 pregnant women faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth, according to a new report. The report was produced by Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of […]

Days after President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, polling organization Siena College Research Institute sought to learn how “persuadable” voters were feeling about Harris. In their survey, a 37-year-old Republican explained that they generally favored Trump for his ability to “get [things] done one way […]

WASHINGTON — Through 26 years as a legislator, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer traveled back and forth from work to be with his family in St. Elizabeth. Luetkemeyer has another agenda for this fall’s election season rather than campaigning: spending time on a small family farm in the Ozark foothills. His seven grandchildren, aged from 2 to […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education is launching the first testing period for its phased rollout of the 2025-26 form to apply for federal financial student aid on Tuesday, with more students set to partake in this beginning testing stage than initially expected. The department announced in August it would be using a staggered approach to […]

Last month, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced that their enforcement of Gov. Mike Parson’s  executive order on hemp products will focus on the misbranded THC products that pose a danger to children. At St. Louis Children’s Hospital, we thank the governor for his executive order and this important step forward in […]

The former caseworker whose account of her time working at a pediatric gender clinic in St. Louis jumpstarted the legislative push to outlaw gender-affirming care for minors testified in defense of Missouri’s restriction on Monday. Jamie Reed, who for four and a half years worked as a case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center, […]

WASHINGTON — Congress may break from its six-week recess and return to D.C. in the last days before an extremely close election to approve emergency spending for Hurricane Helene recovery and response. Lawmakers aren’t set to return to Washington, D.C., until after Election Day on Nov. 5, but President Joe Biden indicated Monday during remarks on the […]

In an effort to address Missouri’s deplorable maternal mortality rates, the state issued an emergency rule Monday allowing doulas to be reimbursed through Medicaid for the next six months.  Doulas — who offer support for families during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, but do not deliver babies — have been lifted up as one solution to […]

Many state chief information and security officers say they don’t have the budget, resources, staff or expertise to feel fully confident in their ability to guard their government networks against cyber attacks, according to a new Deloitte & Touche survey of officials in all 50 states and D.C. “The attack surface is expanding as state […]

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden pledged Monday that the federal government would help people throughout the Southeast recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, and said he expects to ask Congress for emergency funding in the weeks ahead. “I’m here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we will […]

The cost of fertilizer is up; crop prices are down. Farmers have struggled through drought, and ranchers sold off huge swaths of their herd.  To top it all off, Congress has yet to pass a new iteration of the Farm Bill, which expires in a matter of days. And it likely won’t take action on […]

On harvest days at Three Creeks Farm and Forest in the Missouri River valley, farm owner Emily Wright and her staff collect three varieties of leafy greens from the field. “We can’t really grow enough,” she said. “We try to have consistent supply throughout the course of our season — which is basically April to December — […]