MoInd 📰

In the winter, Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin said she would vote to expel state Sen. Bill Eigel. This summer, a political action committee connected to O’Laughlin is working to stop him from becoming governor. On July 5, the NEMO Leadership PAC — which was created to support O’Laughlin — contributed $100,000 to the Great […]

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that Missouri’s ban on lawmakers and legislative staff working as lobbyists for two years after leaving office is unconstitutional. First enacted in 2018 as part of a voter-approved initiative called “Clean Missouri,” the revolving-door law was designed to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption. But the U.S. Eighth Circuit […]

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher is asking a Cole County judge to dismiss him from a whistleblower lawsuit filed earlier this year, arguing any allegations of wrongdoing amount to “little more than internal political disputes.”  House Chief Clerk Dana Miller filed a lawsuit in May accusing Plocher and his chief of staff, Rod Jetton, of […]

WASHINGTON — Before he leaves the Oval Office in January, President Joe Biden wants to see Congress take up a constitutional amendment restoring criminal liability for U.S. presidents in response to the recent Supreme Court decision granting the chief executive broad immunity. Biden announced the “Not Above the Law Amendment” Monday along with endorsing other changes for […]

The Missouri Senate could look very different next year. Only 14 of 34 members are certain to be on hand for opening day 2025 as term limits force out some incumbents and others seek new offices. Half the Senate is on the ballot every two years, and this year there is a contest in every […]

In just the last three months, Missouri has come under fire from two federal agencies and a U.S. district court judge over how it administers programs designed to help the most vulnerable. The state’s dysfunctional call centers serve to deny low-income residents food aid that is guaranteed to them by federal law, a judge ruled […]

No state is an island. No state will survive, let alone thrive, without a winning America. Missouri’s welfare and America’s are inextricably tied. To answer the question of what kind of America you want is also to answer what kind of Missouri you want. If we do not see the connections, we are running the […]

Former President Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement in the Missouri GOP gubernatorial primary finally arrived Saturday night, with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel forced to share the honor. All three quickly crowed to supporters about Trump’s endorsement, never mentioning the fact that it was split three ways. […]

A Clay County judge on Friday refused to reverse her order from earlier this month that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey answer questions under oath about conversations with a local official that may have violated legal ethics rules. Judge Karen Krauser ordered Bailey to sit for a deposition after it was discovered he and a […]

A trio of political action committees supporting either Andrew Bailey or Will Scharf in the Republican primary for Missouri attorney general have raised $4.6 million in large donations this month. The money has translated into an onslaught of TV ads, mailers and text messages from both sides hoping to win the GOP nomination in a […]

U.S. median home prices hit a record high for the second month in a row as sales continued to fall, according to a report released this week, as potential buyers continue to lie in wait for lower mortgage rates. Existing home sales fell 5.4% in June and median home sales reached its highest level on […]

When Natalie Brooks moved her daughters into North Kansas City Schools, she didn’t realize her neighborhood school was one of two in the district that put kids in class an extra 31 days. She became an advocate of the program, believing it helped to skip long summer breaks where her daughters might forget what they’d […]

When John Payne was leading the campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in 2022, he faced a major hurdle. Black business owners were largely excluded from the medical marijuana program when licenses to grow and sell cannabis were doled out by the state in 2019, and many feared history was about to repeat itself.  So to […]

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Federal authorities on Thursday announced the indictment of a North Korea man accused of launching ransomware attacks on hospitals in Kansas and other states, then using the bounty to finance cyber attacks on military bases and defense contractors. Rim Jong Hyok, a member of North Korea’s military intelligence agency, faces federal […]

WASHINGTON — A conservative group and a group of Republican state parties Thursday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of improperly assuming control of Biden campaign funds after he withdrew from the race. The complaint is asking the FEC’s six-person commission — split evenly between Democrats and Republicans — to […]

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office urged a judge on Thursday not to require him to sit for a deposition in his lawsuit against Jackson County, arguing county attorneys want information that “has nothing to do with the case.” Jason Lewis, general counsel for the Attorney General’s Office, urged Clay County Circuit Judge Karen Krauser […]

Vice President Kamala Harris — the likely 2024 Democratic presidential nominee — outlined on Thursday some of her “vision of the future” while touting the administration’s education record in her keynote address to the American Federation of Teachers national convention in Houston. Harris has quickly drawn the support of major unions like the AFT in […]

A federal judge in St. Louis on Wednesday halted implementation of a Biden administration rule that extends protections for LGBTQ students, adding to the number of U.S. courts that have issued similar orders. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel of the Eastern District of Missouri came in a lawsuit filed on May […]

The Kansas City Council gave homebuilders new rules last year designed to make housing easier on the environment. Those rules told them what kind of windows to install, how well the walls should be insulated and how efficient the heating and air conditioning systems should be. Developers now blame those rules for a construction slowdown […]

Two recent news stories aptly illustrate what Missouri children “at risk” of maltreatment need — and what they don’t. What they need is concrete help for their families, so their family poverty is not confused with “neglect” and they are not torn from everyone they know and love and consigned to the chaos of foster […]