MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Education Department is looking to move the $15 billion Individuals with Disabilities Education Act program outside of the agency, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.  In a statement to States Newsroom, department spokesperson Madi Biedermann did not explicitly confirm the report, but said the department is generally looking for ways to move its […]

WASHINGTON —  On day 21 of the federal government shutdown, the political tensions and policy differences that contributed to it appeared likely to destroy any chance for the GOP-controlled Congress to find the bipartisanship needed to pass the dozen bills needed to fund the government.  While that is very inside baseball, failing to approve the […]

Every state with either a Democratic governor, attorney general or both signed a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to side with Illinois and Chicago to continue blocking President Donald Trump’s proposed deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. In an amicus brief filed Monday in the Trump administration’s appeal to overturn lower […]

A circuit court judge was correct to dismiss a lawsuit claiming former Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher retaliated against a legislative staffer who reported allegations of misconduct, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The reason, Judge Lisa White Hardwick wrote in the unanimous decision, is because Plocher was not former House Clerk Dana Miller’s supervisor […]

The funding formula for Missouri’s public schools is poised for wide-ranging changes as work groups studying elements of the model reached the halfway point of their work at meetings on Monday. The groups, led by the state education department’s former finance chief Kari Monsees, have convened three times each. They are scheduled to meet three […]

The most popular idea for controlling property tax bills, the chairman of a Missouri House committee said Monday, is to set a separate tax rate for each of four types of property subject to the annual adjustments required in the state Constitution. Since June, the Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Property Tax Reform has […]

What would you say if I told you it’s possible to cut $250 million from the Missouri Medicaid budget while also improving the health of people on Medicaid? All we need to do is cut out the middleman by not renewing our state contracts with insurance corporations like Centene, Blue Cross and United Healthcare. Over […]

WASHINGTON — A group of Democrats on the U.S. House education panel urged the Education Department to withdraw its proposed supplemental priority on “promoting patriotic education” in a letter obtained Monday by States Newsroom.  House Committee on Education and Workforce ranking member Bobby Scott led a handful of his colleagues in writing to Education Secretary Linda McMahon […]

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department announced Monday it will pause efforts to lay off 2,050 employees throughout the country, after a federal judge expanded a temporary restraining order late last week. The new filing provides more information about how the Trump administration plans to reduce the size and scope of a department that oversees much […]

As the federal shutdown continues, states have been forced to fall back on their own resources to spot disease outbreaks — just as respiratory illness season begins. The shutdown has halted dashboards and expert analysis from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors indicators such as wastewater to provide early warnings of […]

Missouri has lost nearly 1.6 million pounds of food aid since May due to sudden cuts to a federal program that buys food from U.S. farmers and sends it to food banks across the country. That’s 146,400 pounds of cheese, 433,070 pounds of canned and frozen chicken, 1.2 million eggs, 38,250 gallons of milk, 120,000 […]

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is warning voters that a repeal of Missouri’s $1.5 billion stadium subsidy could mean the Chiefs pack their bags and move to Kansas.  And what about the Royals, the other team state lawmakers were hoping to convince to stay in Missouri when they created the subsidy program?  Crickets.  A ballot […]

We are witnessing what is tantamount to a creeping breakdown and dissolution of our political process at the state and national level — laws disregarded, people’s rights dismissed and operational norms ignored on multiple fronts. What is the endgame? What are the real goals behind the suppression and gutting of the processes that have been […]

Thousands gathered in cities and towns all over Missouri on Oct. 18 at No Kings demonstrations to speak up against the many ways they believe the current administration — both at the federal and state level — is a threat to democracy. And scattered among the crowds were volunteers with clipboards, collecting signatures for initiative […]

WASHINGTON — As the federal government shutdown extends to day 17, and with congressional leaders nowhere near negotiating, state officials are beginning to raise concerns of potential cuts to nutrition assistance benefits that feed millions if the government isn’t reopened.  Minnesota has already halted new enrollments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. And officials in Kansas, New […]

WASHINGTON — More than 2,600 nonviolent demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s administration are slated Saturday as part of No Kings day. The includes in Missouri, where rallies are expected to take place in communities all across the state and at the Capitol in Jefferson City. The second No Kings day, following another in June, is […]

This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary are set to run out of funding in the next few days, a new development in the ongoing government shutdown that will likely reverberate throughout much of the country.  The Supreme Court, which is in the middle […]

In Kentucky, patients drive up to two hours to see Dr. Manikya Kuriti, one of the few endocrinologists who serve the rural communities surrounding Louisville. Kuriti’s husband, a pulmonologist, drives from Louisville to small hospitals an hour south and north, in Indiana, to help small teams treat critically ill patients. Rural communities have long struggled […]

President Donald Trump has argued that he needs to deploy National Guard troops across state lines to protect federal personnel and property or to support overwhelmed local law enforcement in cities he claims are “overrun” by crime. But a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and federal crime data shows that Trump’s deployments and proposals […]

MARION, Kansas — Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home, a district judge ruled Wednesday. But Cody won’t be tried for the raids, which Marion […]