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Race to replace Sam Graves in Missouri’s 6th District opens with clash over Trump loyalty

1 week ago
The first Republican primary without an incumbent in 26 years in Missouri’s 6th Congressional District opened Tuesday with a clash over an endorsement that is likely the foreshadowing of a summer-long slugfest between top contenders. The final day of candidate filing began with state Rep. Mazzie Christensen of Bethany formally bowing out of the primary […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri attorney general sues American Shaman to stop sale of kratom, 7-OH products

1 week 1 day ago
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Kansas City-based CBD American Shaman and several affiliated companies, demanding an immediate halt to the company’s advertising and sale of kratom products.  She takes particular aim at the more potent 7-OH products, which she argues are “hazardous opioids” banned by state and federal law. “We […]
Rebecca Rivas

States say ICE pulled Medicaid data despite court order

1 week 1 day ago
A coalition of 22 states told a federal court that the Trump administration appears to have violated a court order that limited the types of health data that could be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings. Back in December, a court allowed ICE to pull some basic information from Medicaid, the […]
Anna Claire Vollers

US Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on conversion therapy

1 week 1 day ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with a conservative Christian counselor who argued that Colorado’s 2019 law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ minors may violate her First Amendment right to free speech. The court’s 8-1 opinion, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, holds that the Colorado law seeks to “regulate speech based on viewpoint,” and […]
Chase Woodruff

As gas spikes to an average $4 a gallon, Hegseth says Iran ground war still an option

1 week 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — The White House defended skyrocketing gas prices Tuesday as a “short-term disruption” during the ongoing war in Iran, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the administration will not “foreclose any option” in the conflict, including boots on the ground. Briefing publicly for the first time since March 19, Hegseth said it will […]
Ashley Murray

Fiscal crunch forces Missouri House to scale back earmarks in state construction budget

1 week 1 day ago
A fiscal crunch that threatens to consume Missouri’s remaining general revenue surplus reduced — but did not eliminate — budget earmarks that send money to politically favored projects and organizations. The Missouri House on Thursday sent to the Senate four spending bills for state maintenance and construction projects which were greatly pared down from previous […]
Rudi Keller

The World Cup is around the corner. Are cities and states prepared?

1 week 1 day ago
In June, 11 U.S. cities will welcome millions of fans for soccer’s World Cup. Staging the planet’s most popular sporting event is never easy, but this year the conflict in the Middle East and the congressional impasse over funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are creating additional complications. Officials in the host cities […]
Shalina Chatlani

New federal data reinforces nationwide drop in crime since pandemic peak

1 week 1 day ago
Crime in the United States continued to fall in 2024, according to two new federal reports from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, with declines in both violent and property offenses even as some states had higher-than-average crime rates. Crime data often lags by months or even years at the national and subnational levels. Updated […]
Amanda Watford

Missouri public education amendment campaign stops signature push, plans 2028 return

1 week 1 day ago
An initiative petition campaign seeking to enshrine a “fundamental right” to public education in the Missouri Constitution is abandoning its efforts to get on the November ballot, promising a return in 2028. The Missouri Right to Education campaign had only collected around 35,000 signatures —  one fifth of the minimum required for constitutional amendments — […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Supreme Court to decide if Trump can end birthright citizenship

1 week 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case that could reshape the understanding of who is American by birth. The case, Trump v. Barbara, challenges President Donald Trump’s executive order that redefines citizenship to exclude children born to parents who either do not have legal status, or hold temporary legal […]
Ariana Figueroa

New guidance on student screen time passes Missouri House after loosening restrictions

1 week 2 days ago
Public school districts will be encouraged to limit elementary school student use of iPads and laptops in the classroom under a Missouri House bill approved in a 143-10 vote Monday. Originally, the legislation set out to place a 45-minute cap on  students’ screen time in schools and mandate cursive instruction. This raised concerns among educators […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri bill to cut off recurring political donations moves toward state Senate debate 

1 week 2 days ago
A Missouri Senate committee on Monday gave a warm reception to a bill intended to bar candidates from raising money with automatically recurring donations, a practice the sponsor of the legislation called “appalling.” The bill has three main provisions, said state Rep. Jim Murphy, a St. Louis County Republican. The first would require campaigns to […]
Rudi Keller

How Trump’s expansion of federal power threatens states’ authority

1 week 2 days ago
As the United States of America marks its 250th anniversary this year, the relationship between the states and the federal government is approaching a breaking point. Led by a bellicose president, the executive branch has moved to dominate states, resulting in more than a year of escalating confrontations between the two levels of government. President […]
Jonathan Shorman, Kevin Hardy

Pedestrian deaths saw largest recorded drop in early 2025

1 week 2 days ago
Pedestrian deaths fell 11% in early 2025 over the previous year, the largest drop since the Governors Highway Safety Association began reporting them 15 years ago, but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.  It could be evidence that recent state action could be having an effect, ranging from new technology to protect pedestrians to […]
Tim Henderson

State policy will determine how many people lose Medicaid under work rules

1 week 2 days ago
All 41 states that expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act will see fewer people covered due to new federal work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks. But the percentage of recipients who lose coverage will vary greatly from state to state, depending on how state officials implement the new rules, according to a […]
Nada Hassanein

Proposed ban on 7-OH products hits bipartisan resistance in Missouri Senate

1 week 2 days ago
Republican state Sen. Mike Henderson believes he has the support to advance a bill that would impose age limits on kratom sales and ban the stronger opioid-like products known as 7-OH. The legislation is a priority for Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hathaway, who’s said it would strengthen her office’s enforcement authority to go after makers […]
Rebecca Rivas

When being a U.S. citizen doesn’t guarantee your right to vote

1 week 2 days ago
 Missourians will head to the polls in April for municipal elections, and voters across the country have already begun casting midterm primary ballots. But before November arrives, Congress may decide whether registering to vote becomes harder for millions of eligible Americans. The SAVE America Act, the top priority of the Trump Administration and currently moving […]
Janice Ellis