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TSA officers working without pay demand progress from Congress on funding talks

6 days 14 hours ago
Transportation Security Administration officers are struggling to afford basic necessities as they approach their second missed full paycheck since a funding lapse began last month, union leaders said at a virtual press conference Tuesday. Officials from the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 44,000 TSA officers nationwide, urged Congress to immediately find […]
Jacob Fischler

Missouri Supreme Court upholds legislature’s redistricting authority, keeps voter ID law

6 days 15 hours ago
The Missouri Supreme Court handed down three rulings Tuesday that could shape the 2026 election, saying lawmakers had the authority to pass a new congressional map last year, leaving intact the state’s photo-ID requirement for voters and striking down limits on voter-registration and absentee-ballot outreach. The decisions gave Missouri Republicans a major win in the […]
Jason Hancock

Federal cuts, expiring aid squeeze state budgets nationwide

6 days 19 hours ago
A perfect storm has arrived on the ledgers of many state budgets, bearing down on the people who often need help the most. Federal and state policy decisions, the end of pandemic aid and long-term fiscal trends — such as people aging into Social Security benefits — are requiring states to take a tougher look […]
Statehouse Reporting Project

Airport chaos: TSA agents skip work, security lines expand, Trump sends in ICE to assist

6 days 23 hours ago
Airport security workers missed work Monday at the highest rate since a partial government shutdown began in mid-February, the Department of Homeland Security said, and the Trump administration sent immigration officials to some airports in an attempt to keep lines moving. Travelers reported hourslong security lines at major airports in Atlanta and Houston, while waits […]
Jacob Fischler

Tax credits for food donations debated by Missouri House committee

6 days 23 hours ago
Missouri residents can receive state income tax credits on donations to food pantries, homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Two bills seeking to make adjustments to those credits were discussed Monday afternoon by a Missouri House committee. One bill, introduced by Republican state Rep. John Voss of Cape Girardeau, would eliminate the Dec. 31 expiration date […]
Hannah McDonough

Supreme Court skeptical of allowing states to count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day

1 week ago
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices on Monday appeared skeptical of the validity of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, in a case that could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of voters during the upcoming midterm elections. The high court heard arguments on whether federal law overrides a Mississippi law that requires mail-in ballots […]
Jonathan Shorman

Missouri referendum campaign says it has enough signatures to challenge gerrymandered map

1 week ago
Backers of a proposed referendum on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional plan believe they have met the minimum number of signatures needed to make the November’s ballot. Updated data, posted Monday morning by People Not Politicians, the political action committee that organized a referendum petition drive, shows that the petition has at least 129% of the required […]
Rudi Keller

Medicaid cuts could add pressure to already-stressed psychiatric units

1 week ago
Federal Medicaid cuts could exact a heavy toll on psychiatric units at hospitals across the country, many of which are already struggling to keep their doors open but provide essential mental health care to people who need it. Psychiatric units are costly and, like labor and delivery services, typically lose money for hospitals and tend […]
Nada Hassanein

Trump administration pushes to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is again trying to send the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the west African nation of Liberia and urging a federal judge to dismiss a bar on his removal, according to legal documents filed over the weekend.  Abrego Garcia, of Maryland, has agreed to be deported to Costa Rica, […]
Ariana Figueroa

US Supreme Court to hear case to decide where migrants can apply for asylum

1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in a case to determine if a migrant on Mexico’s side of a border crossing with the United States can legally apply for asylum when arriving at a U.S. port of entry. The case, which stems from a policy during President Donald Trump’s first term […]
Ariana Figueroa

5 things to watch as Missouri lawmakers return for the final stretch

1 week ago
Legislative spring break is over, and Missouri lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday with a packed agenda and a May 15 deadline to adjourn. The second half of the session begins with a tighter budget picture, unresolved fights over taxes and public benefits, and a Senate that has already shown it can consume time […]
Jason Hancock

Drop in opioid overdose deaths nears 50% since 2023

1 week ago
Since their peak less than three years ago, opioid overdose deaths dropped nearly by half as of October, according to a Stateline analysis. The drop comes as a shrinking fentanyl supply has made the drug weaker and less deadly and volunteer efforts get more people into treatment. The weaker fentanyl tracks to a crackdown on […]
Tim Henderson

In Missouri, tax fight becomes test of broader progressive coalition

1 week 1 day ago
A coalition of progressive groups in Missouri is using the fight over a proposal to eliminate the state income tax to build a coordinated alliance that organizers hope lasts beyond any single legislative battle. Led by 24 organizations, with more expected to join, the coalition held eight meetings across Missouri this month as labor, reproductive […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Why restructuring could leave Missouri in the cold

1 week 2 days ago
Missouri lawmakers are weighing whether to restructure the state’s electricity markets. Before moving forward, they should take a hard look at how restructured markets have performed during extreme weather and how they have affected household utility bills. The record is clear: when reliability mattered most, restructured markets repeatedly failed, and over time, families, farmers, and […]
Maddie Milam

The pay gap between women and men widened last year, analysis finds

1 week 3 days ago
The earnings gap between men and women slightly widened last year, according to a new analysis published Thursday.  The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute calculated women last year earned 18.6% less than men per hour on average. That’s up slightly from 2024, when the wage gap narrowed slightly to 18%.  The wage analysis, which examines several […]
Kevin Hardy

Education Department to transfer management of defaulted student loans to Treasury

1 week 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department will take over the Department of Education’s responsibility for collecting on defaulted federal student loan debt, President Donald Trump’s administration announced Thursday. It’s the first step in a multi-phase process that will end with Treasury taking on the entire federal student loan portfolio. It’s also the latest interagency agreement announced […]
Shauneen Miranda