a Better Bubbleā„¢

MoInd šŸ“°

Healthcare sales tax isn’t off the table in Missouri Amendment 5 proposal

1 month 3 weeks ago
ST. LOUIS — Missouri healthcare advocate Leslie Ortbals and her husband want to start a family, but she worries they can’t afford it. The 27-year-old said she takes 10 medications daily to manage multiple chronic illnesses. Now she worries the cost of those drugs could rise — not because of price increases, but because of […]
Bram Sable-Smith

Farm backing, Trump loyalty shape GOP race to replace Sam Graves in Missouri’s 6th District

1 month 4 weeks ago
MARYVILLE — At a shrimp boil on a farm south of town July 1, Missouri Soybean Association President Casey Wasser stood before a crowd to explain why Kansas City Councilman Nathan Willett is the only candidate the association has endorsed in the race for Missouri’s 6th Congressional District. He cited Willett’s curiosity — the questions […]
Annelise Hanshaw, Steph Quinn

Kansas City keeps approving subsidies without knowing whether they work

1 month 4 weeks ago
Kansas City Councilmember Andrea Bough made one of the most revealing statements about Kansas City’s economic development policy I’ve read in years. In a story about $235 million in taxpayer subsidies for an expansion of the KC Current stadium, Bough said, ā€œWe can’t say how much economic development has provided in benefits to the city. […]
Patrick Tuohey

Democratic governors say proposed changes to federal grants would harm reproductive healthcare

1 month 4 weeks ago
A coalition of 23 state governors and the governor of Guam, all Democrats, submitted a joint comment to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on Monday objecting to a proposed rule that would drastically change the federal grantmaking process, saying it threatens programs related to maternal health and reproductive care. The public comment period […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

President Trump shrinks Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — again

1 month 4 weeks ago
President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Monday to again shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah — this time more dramatically, by about 3 million acres orĀ 90% of their original size. Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation, Gov. Spencer Cox and House Speaker Mike Schultz stood around Trump’s desk in […]
Katie McKellar

Fed Chair Warsh vows to fight inflation even as new CPI report shows 3.5% rise

1 month 4 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh promised Tuesday to ā€œput these years of high inflation behind usā€ and lower prices, including mortgage rates, for everyday Americans as inflation remains at the highest level in two years. Warsh appeared before lawmakers on Capitol Hill just after the government’s latest monthly inflation data showed a slight […]
Ashley Murray

US Supreme Court needs more security funding amid threats, justices tell lawmakers

1 month 4 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from both parties indicated Tuesday they will support additional security funding for the U.S. Supreme Court after two justices testified about a sharp rise in threats. Associate Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett told lawmakers on the House panel that writes the court’s annual funding bill an increase is […]
Jennifer Shutt

Darline Graham, Lindsey’s sister, sworn in as his US Senate replacement

1 month 4 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Sen. Darline Graham joined the U.S. Senate Tuesday, temporarily filling the seat of her late brother, Lindsey Graham.Ā  Darline Graham was sworn in just a day after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMasterĀ appointed her, as a Republican, to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term.Ā President Donald Trump recommended her to fill Lindsey Graham’s […]
Shauneen Miranda

Salad greens scrutinized as cyclosporiasis outbreak spreads

1 month 4 weeks ago
As state and federal officials work to identify the source of the recent outbreak of the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis, Michigan health officials have identified lettuces or salad greens as one potential culprit. ā€œEarly information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation,ā€ said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Oregon, 11 other states sue to block Paramount-Warner Bros. merger

1 month 4 weeks ago
Twelve Democratic-led states on Monday sued to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.Ā  The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, argues the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, a federal law prohibiting mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.Ā  […]
Mia Maldonado

Private equity might dodge state laws by partnering with healthcare nonprofits

1 month 4 weeks ago
It wasn’t billed as a takeover. The nonprofit hospice where Washington state nurse Milli Palmer has worked for nearly two decades announced in October 2024 that it was entering a ā€œjoint ventureā€ with Compassus, a private equity-backed home health company. The deal was billed as a 50/50 partnership between Compassus and Providence, Palmer’s employer. But […]
Anna Claire Vollers

ā€˜Reach across the aisle’: Pete Buttigieg campaigns in Iowa with Sarah Trone Garriott

1 month 4 weeks ago
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg did not rule out a potential 2028 run for the presidency Monday at a campaign event for Iowa congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott in Des Moines. When asked about a potential presidential bid during media availability after the event, Buttigieg said he is focused on the 2026 general election […]
Kadin Luhmann

To promote more housing, cities and states target parking minimums

1 month 4 weeks ago
In 1923, the city of Columbus, Ohio, enacted the first known off-street parking requirement for new apartment buildings. The city’s rules got stricter over time. In 1954, a Columbus apartment building with 100 one-bedroom units had to have at least 100 parking spaces; by 2022, the minimumĀ was 150. For a 2,500-square-foot restaurant, the mandate grew […]
Robbie Sequeira

Northeast Missouri state Senate race tests GOP appetite for confrontation

1 month 4 weeks ago
Two entire states — Connecticut and Rhode Island — could fit within the boundaries of northeast Missouri’s 18th state Senate District, almost 7,400 square miles where 14 counties have lost population almost continually for more than a century On Aug. 4, Republican primary voters there will all but choose their next state senator. The two […]
Rudi Keller

States try new measures to get chronically absent students back to class

1 month 4 weeks ago
This year, at least six states enacted laws trying to reduce the number of students chronically absent from school. The measures include requiring monitoring of absences and publicly releasing data, developing new guidance on the best ways to address the problem and increasing punishments for parents and guardians of chronically absent students.Ā  Chronic absenteeism is […]
Robbie Sequeira

Cori Bush targets Wesley Bell’s Israel stance in St. Louis congressional rematch

1 month 4 weeks ago
Wesley Bell and Cori Bush’s political careers were shaped by the protest movement that erupted in Ferguson in 2014 and grew into a national reckoning over race and policing.Ā  As a Ferguson City Councilman, Bell witnessed nightly protests in the streets and volatile council meetings following the killing of Michael Brown Jr., an unarmed Black […]
Rebecca Rivas, Anna Spoerre

Medicaid meal deliveries reduce hospital visits and costs

1 month 4 weeks ago
About a dozen states offer ā€œmedically tailored mealsā€ to people with conditions such asĀ diabetes and heart disease who get their insurance through Medicaid. Such programs significantly improve the health of the people in them, according to a new study. Medically tailored meals are fully prepared, home-delivered meals that are customized by a registered dietitian nutritionist […]
Anna Claire Vollers

After US Sen Lindsey Graham’s death, Trump recommends Graham’s sister to fill out term

1 month 4 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday he would like the South Carolina governor to select the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister to fill the Republican’s seat for the remainder of his term. ā€œI recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri Gov. Kehoe signs controversial ā€˜born-alive’ abortion bill into law

1 month 4 weeks ago
On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law the only significant anti-abortion bill Republicans were able to pass this session as they faced heated debates with Democrats and fractured opinions over what to include in the final pared-down version of the bill. Under the ā€˜Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,’ any healthcare provider who ā€œknowingly […]
Anna Spoerre

Missouri governor signs wide-ranging bipartisan healthcare bill into law

1 month 4 weeks ago
Pregnant women on Medicaid could see a doula more often and anyone using birth control could obtain a year’s supply of contraceptives under a bill that expands women’s and maternal health coverage signed into law Monday by Gov. Mike Kehoe.Ā  The wide-ranging bill, which touches dozens of healthcare statutes and includes protections for nonprofit hospitals […]
Steph Quinn, Anna Spoerre