Gov. Mike Kehoe’s first budget proposal launched a tug of war between public-school advocates and those hoping to use state funds for private education. Both sides ultimately came away with what they wanted — but neither expects this to be the final showdown. State Treasurer Vivek Malek, who oversees the state’s tax-credit scholarship program, told […]
Despite rising child labor violations and new Senate demands to investigate the nation’s largest meat processor, the U.S. Department of Labor remains silent on whether it has the staff to conduct future probes amidst a major reduction in its workforce. At a May 22 congressional hearing, newly appointed Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said 2,700 department […]
Community-based violence intervention programs nationwide have long worked alongside law enforcement officers to deescalate conflict, prevent retaliatory shootings and, in some cases, arrive at crime scenes before police do. In many communities, these initiatives have been credited with saving lives and reducing violence. But the Trump administration last month abruptly terminated at least 373 public […]
WASHINGTON — Billionaire and former Trump administration official Elon Musk published a flurry of social media posts Tuesday slamming the “big, beautiful bill” in Congress, but his criticisms were mostly ignored or brushed aside by Republican senators. Musk wrote that the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination” and told the GOP […]
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate tax writers voted Tuesday to move Missouri Republican former Congressman Billy Long one step closer to taking the reins at the Internal Revenue Service, despite protests from Democrats over his alleged involvement with a company that peddled fake tribal tax credits. Members of the Senate Committee on Finance advanced Long’s […]
The first two days of the special legislative session called by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe to allocate state money for Kansas City sports stadiums, disaster recovery and unfinished spending bills have gone as well as could be expected. The Missouri Senate is poised for Wednesday debates on all the legislation Kehoe wants passed. And that’s […]
WASHINGTON — Ximena Arias-Cristobal knows the risks that can come with driving as a person living in the U.S. without legal authorization, where a simple traffic stop could lead to being deported. That fear materialized last month when she was pulled over by local police in Dalton, Georgia, for making an improper turn at a red […]
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sent its first spending cuts request to Congress on Tuesday, asking lawmakers to swiftly eliminate $9.4 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and various foreign aid programs. The request for what are called rescissions allows the White House budget office to legally […]
Almost two dozen employees in Missouri State Archives and the State Library are on paid leave and will lose their jobs at the end of the month because of a politically motivated budget cut targeting Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Twenty-two employees — 17 in the archives, five in the library — were told Friday […]
This column is a major departure from how I have written columns for nearly four decades. It is personal. I have avoided using “I’ and have endeavored to remain objective and impersonal as I have addressed and analyzed myriad social, educational and political issues across race, age, gender and socioeconomic status. That has been my […]
The opening of the legislative special session Monday put partisan and intraparty fights in the Missouri Senate on display as Democrats called for expanded storm relief and Freedom Caucus members called for tax cuts as the price for supporting stadium subsidies. Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers together just two weeks after they finished work in […]
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from invalidating work permits and other documents that granted legal status to 5,000 Venezuelans, a subset class of the nearly 350,000 whose temporary legal protections the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed to be terminated. The Saturday order from U.S. District Judge Edward […]
When Courtney Leader gets the letter from the state each year telling her it’s time to recertify her daughter’s Medicaid eligibility, she scrambles to make sure the paperwork gets to the right place. Leader, of Ash Grove, considers herself adept at navigating her 8-year-old daughter’s complex medical needs and appointments, but even she has fallen […]
A group of state officials and business leaders tasked by Gov. Mike Kehoe with creating a new formula to fund Missouri’s public schools gathered for the first time on Monday under an expectation that funding should be below what lawmakers approved earlier this year. Halle Herbert, the governor’s incoming policy director, told the group that […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the weekend took down a public list of cities and jurisdictions that the Trump administration labeled as “sanctuary” cities, after a sharp rebuke from a group representing 3,000 sheriffs and local law enforcement. On Saturday, National Sheriffs’ Association President Sheriff Kieran Donahue slammed the list as […]
Both sides of the abortion debate seemed caught by surprise last week by the Missouri Supreme Court’s order that essentially reimposed the state’s abortion ban. Planned Parenthood clinics were sent scrambling, cancelling abortion appointments and working with patients to ensure access in other states — a return to the way things operated before voters enshrined […]
As the Missouri legislature begins its special session to consider, among other things, taxpayer subsidies for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, lawmakers are hearing from a parade of stakeholders — Gov. Mike Kehoe, policy analysts, lobbyists, activists and the many special interests who stand to gain from the deal. They should also hear from […]
Along with hundreds of millions in potential new costs for Missouri taxpayers, an analysis of the budget bill backed by Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump shows it would also cut state revenue as tax changes at the federal level are reflected in state returns. Exactly how much is uncertain. The review by Jared Walczak, […]
WASHINGTON — Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday he will continue to advise President Donald Trump despite stepping away from his official role as a special government employee. During a wide-ranging Oval Office press conference, Musk — sporting a bruised right eye he blamed on a punch he invited from one of his sons, 5-year-old X […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday said it will allow the Trump administration to remove deportation protections for more than 500,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were given permission to temporarily remain and work in the United States by the Biden administration. The move by the high court — which permits […]
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