MoInd 📰

The number of measles cases is continuing to grow, reaching 1,958 confirmed cases in 43 states through Dec. 16 and threatening to undo next year the United States’ status as a nation that has eradicated the disease, according to a report released Dec. 17 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase […]

For a year, I’ve been writing and working with a larger coalition — What’s Next 4 Missouri — to ensure the story of Missouri’s fight for reproductive freedom is told accurately and rooted in justice.  New abortion data backs our longstanding argument: that legal doesn’t mean accessible. State data reported in The Missouri Independent, and […]

The capital gains tax cut passed this year by Missouri lawmakers will cost far more than expected and shrink state revenues, a new state budget estimate shows. The consensus revenue estimate, issued Wednesday, anticipates that revenue in the year ending June 30 will be $400 million below estimates made a year ago. Growth will return […]

Josh Moore is the new director of MO HealthNet Division, taking over the agency that administers Missouri’s Medicaid program, according to a press release from the state’s social services department Wednesday.  Moore, who has served since 2019 as MO HealthNet’s pharmacy director, succeeds Todd Richardson, the former Missouri House speaker who resigned from his role […]

WASHINGTON — A U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday that National Guard troops can remain in the District of Columbia while the judges take up the case that began when the district sued the Trump administration for deploying roughly 2,000 troops to the nation’s capital. Pointing to the district’s special status as a federal territory, a […]

NEW YORK — On a frigid December morning along busy Broadway in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, pedestrians walk rapidly toward the subway. Cars and e-bikes speed along a busy two-lane road and blast through sharp turns during the early rush to get to the office. In recent years on this stretch of […]

Arrests in the United States have fallen to levels not seen in decades, according to a new report that reconstructs national arrest trends in the absence of federal data. The Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, on Thursday released the first comprehensive national analysis of arrests since federal authorities stopped publishing detailed arrest […]

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in the U.S. House will face a floor vote in early 2026 on Democrats’ plan to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits for three more years, after passing their own legislation Wednesday night that has little chance of a future in the Senate and does not address the tax credits. […]

If you were appalled by the spectacle of Donald Trump clumsily accepting a peace trophy that looks like a prop from “Night of the Living Dead,” then brace yourself. There may be worse in store. To recount, Trump was given — to nobody’s surprise — the inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize” during the World Cup final […]

The St. Louis jails are nearing a breaking point.  At the St. Louis City Justice Center, people behind bars have complained of going weeks without showers and months without fresh air or direct sunlight. One incarcerated person described how swiftly fights can break out without staff present. At the St. Louis County Jail, a former […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he will not allow a floor vote this week on a bipartisan amendment supported by moderate Republicans that would extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits.  Johnson was confident that blocking the amendment would not lead centrist GOP lawmakers to oppose the Republican health care […]

A shutdown-delayed jobs report released Dec. 16 showed an increase of 64,000 jobs in November, rebounding from a large loss of 105,000 jobs in October. Unemployment ticked higher to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021. The October loss was the largest since December 2020, during a COVID-19 surge when jobs dropped by 183,000, according to […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department says it has upgraded its investigation into Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over a video where he and other members of Congress told members of the military they didn’t need to follow illegal orders.  “The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of […]

State lawmakers are seeking solutions to a growing backlog of jailed Missourians awaiting help from the Missouri Department of Mental Health to move their cases forward. These Missourians have been charged but not convicted of crimes, and they were found incompetent to stand trial due to mental health disorders or cognitive disabilities. State law requires […]

Republicans could gain nearly 200 state legislative seats across the South if the U.S. Supreme Court guts a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, a new analysis finds. The bulk of the gains would be concentrated in 10 GOP-controlled state legislatures in Southern states, according to the analysis, produced by Fair Fight Action, […]

No one has ever accused Jay Ashcroft of being a lefty. The former Republican secretary of state was a regular source of ire for Democrats during his eight years in office, whether it was how he crafted ballot summaries or his advocacy for things like book bans and voter ID. But in 2017, when a […]

Missouri’s fourth-largest school district sued the state Monday to prevent establishment of a new charter school in Boone County. Columbia Public Schools wants the courts to declare a law passed in 2024 unconstitutional, arguing that it is a local law for one county masquerading as a general law for the entire state. The district waited […]

WASHINGTON — School cafeterias got a step closer to seeing whole milk again after the U.S. House passed a measure Monday to restore the dairy staple to school lunches.  The bill unanimously passed the Senate back in November, and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk.  The bipartisan effort — which passed the House by voice […]

President Donald Trump’s administration is looking “very strongly” at reclassifying cannabis from the strictest category of controlled substances, Trump said Monday. In a brief affirmative response to a reporter’s question in the Oval Office, the president confirmed he is considering a reclassification of marijuana to unlock research funding. “A lot of people want to see […]

A portion of the signatures submitted last week to force a referendum on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional district map won’t be reviewed before a Cole County judge rules on whether all should be checked. People Not Politicians is challenging a decision by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins that no signatures collected before Oct. 14 — the […]