MoInd 📰

After weeks of tussling between the two campaigns, Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democrat Lucas Kunce are finally set to square off in a televised debate less than a week before voters head to the polls. The debate will air Oct 31 on Missouri Nexstar stations, including KTVI/KPLR-St. Louis, WDAF-Kansas City, KRBK-Springfield and KSN-Joplin […]

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s ban on intoxicating hemp products hit another hurdle on Tuesday, resulting in an indefinite pause on a huge part of the effort. Richard Moore, general counsel for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said in a letter Tuesday that the state’s health regulators will stop embargoing — or tagging […]

WASHINGTON — As private student loan companies take heat over accusations of predatory behavior and deception, members of a U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs panel and student advocates voiced concerns over the industry at a hearing Tuesday. The Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection hearing came as the broader student […]

WASHINGTON — Public health advocates and farmworkers called for a federal ban on a toxic herbicide they say led to their Parkinson’s disease during a Tuesday briefing for congressional staffers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will determine next year if the herbicide, paraquat dichloride, should have its license renewed for another 15 years. The herbicide […]

Three Missouri and two Kansas members of Congress serving constituents in the greater Kansas City area forwarded a joint letter Tuesday to the U.S. Postal Service demanding action to rectify problems with missing or delayed mail and protracted periods in which no mail was delivered at all. Republicans Reps. Sam Graves and Mark Alford, both […]

WASHINGTON — The closely divided U.S. Senate gridlocked Tuesday over the best way to provide nationwide protections for in vitro fertilization, despite lawmakers from both political parties maintaining they want to do so. Republicans voted against advancing a Democratic bill that could have prevented states from enacting “harmful or unwarranted limitations” on the procedure and […]

A political action committee created to support outgoing Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher’s political career paid attorneys defending him against allegations of misconduct almost $75,000 in late August.  According to campaign disclosure forms filed earlier this month, a PAC called Missouri United paid David Steelman and his law firm $21,000 on Aug. 23. The PAC […]

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is the guest of honor Tuesday night at a fundraiser for a pair of PACs at the home of a longtime Jefferson City lobbyist. The event is being advertised as a “celebration of public service” for the Republican governor and First Lady Teresa Parson. It’s hosted by Steve Tilley, a longtime […]

Pennsylvania wants to remain a manufacturing powerhouse. But state leaders also want to reduce climate change-causing emissions from steel mills and other industrial facilities, while cutting back the toxic pollutants that cause health problems in nearby neighborhoods. Thanks to a nearly $400 million investment from the federal government, the state is preparing a massive plan […]

Missouri’s general revenue has lagged behind inflation for two years in a row. And with that gap widening, the next few months could determine whether state revenue will see a year-over-year decline for the first time in more than a decade.  “September is a good sort of bellwether one for us, because that’s where we […]

Many voters are willing to accept misinformation from political leaders – even when they know it’s factually inaccurate. According to our research, voters often recognize when their parties’ claims are not based on objective evidence. Yet they still respond positively, if they believe these inaccurate statements evoke a deeper, more important “truth.” Our team conducted a […]

WASHINGTON — The presidential campaigns are rushing ahead this week without missing a beat, despite numerous law enforcement agencies investigating a possible assassination attempt Sunday on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, was looking to pick up an endorsement from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters during a private sit-down […]

Dr. Betsy Wickstrom says she’s still lacking clarity on what constitutes a medical emergency under Missouri’s abortion ban, despite the law having been in place for more than two years.  In Missouri, health care providers who perform abortions not deemed necessary emergencies can be charged with a class B felony, which means up to 15 […]

The farmworkers scattered. There was a union representative in the workers’ employer-provided housing, on an orchard in upstate New York. Their employer, major apple grower Porpiglia Farms, had hired them on H-2A, or temporary labor, visas. That day in August 2023, according to the workers’ union, United Farm Workers, the orchard’s owners burst in. The […]

There were 21 states where a majority of tenant households spent 30% or more of their incomes on rent and utilities last year, compared with just seven states in 2019. Nationwide, about 22 million renters are shouldering that percentage. Anyone paying more than 30% is considered “cost burdened,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban […]

Missouri’s November ballot is now set, and initiative campaigns are ramping up spending to convince voters to pass the proposals. The first to go on the air last week was Winning for Missouri Education, the committee funded by online sports gambling companies for Amendment 2, which would legalize betting on college and professional games. The […]

His waning days as Missouri’s secretary of state have not been kind to Jay Ashcroft. Once considered a frontrunner to become governor, he finished a dismal third in the August Republican primary. A few weeks later, he was forced to certify Amendment 3, an initiative petition clearing the way for voters in November to decide […]

Imagine an agricultural chemical so vial, so poisonous, so unsafe to human health that even the pesticide-friendly and herbicide-happy Environmental Protection Agency eventually couldn’t look the other way. That chemical is dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA, sold under the brand name Dachtal. The herbicide is widely used on broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and onion […]

Farmers can help combat climate change and improve the health of their soil by switching to natural fertilizers and minimizing tilling, new research from Kansas State University shows. According to a paper published in June in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, analysis from a no-till cornfield in Kansas showed that manure or compost fertilizer […]

Inflation hit a three-year low last month, just as the presidential election is heating up. But the high cost of housing and other necessities will keep the economy central to both of the major campaigns, as seen this week in the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The Consumer Price Index, a measure […]