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US Supreme Court weighs how far police investigations can go in using cellphone location data

6 days 21 hours ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to allow law enforcement to continue seeking warrants for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes, even as the justices wrestled with how far the government must go to protect Americans’ privacy. Some of the justices appeared to be searching for a middle ground during oral arguments […]
Jonathan Shorman

Visa delays disrupt classrooms at Kansas City’s Académie Lafayette

1 week ago
For second graders at AcadĂ©mie Lafayette in Kansas City, speaking French with their peers and teachers is a daily routine. But last month, two of their teachers — mentors, guides and cultural bridges — were suddenly unable to teach due to delays in U.S. visa processing. According to Alyson Stewart, director of development for the […]
William Hehemann

US Supreme Court to hear case on legal status of more than 350,000 Haitians and Syrians

1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday will hear oral arguments on the Trump administration’s efforts to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that could open them up to deportation. The case has the potential to have an impact on multiple lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to end […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri private school voucher data exposure sparks fight over MOScholars accountability

1 week ago
The accidental exposure of student information from Missouri’s MOScholars program has reopened a broader fight over how much scrutiny the state’s private school voucher program should face. After The Independent reported last week that student names, schools and parent email addresses were accessible through the underlying data of a spreadsheet posted by the Missouri State […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Supreme Court must protect the people’s power of referendum

1 week 2 days ago
An accountable state government is like a seesaw: government on one side, people on the other. When it works, it moves in a steady rhythm — government acts, people respond. But when one side grows too heavy, the system stops working. The people can push, organize, and speak out, but the balance no longer shifts. […]
McClain Bryant Macklin, Kay Park

Bill giving child sex victims longer to sue abusers hits Missouri Senate snag

1 week 3 days ago
A bill to more than quadruple the time childhood sexual abuse victims have to sue their abusers stalled this week in the Missouri Senate after Democrats accused insurance lobbyists of using it to impose shorter limits on personal injury lawsuits. It’s the fourth year Republican state Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson has sponsored legislation aiming […]
Steph Quinn

Trump administration investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell scrapped

1 week 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice dropped its investigation Friday of the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell over building renovation costs, a move that could open the door for new Fed leadership next month — and signaled a victory for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office closed the […]
Ashley Murray

Trump’s budget would gut local libraries and museums. Congress is not on board.

1 week 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is looking to eliminate funding in fiscal 2027 for the agency that serves as the primary federal funding source for libraries and museums nationwide. But congressional appropriators — who rebuffed similar efforts to gut the agency in fiscal 2026 — expressed little enthusiasm for the proposed cut in interviews with […]
Shauneen Miranda

How Trump’s order on mail ballots threatens Postal Service independence

1 week 3 days ago
President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail voting would shatter decades of U.S. Postal Service independence intended to shield it from partisan politics, postal experts and attorneys say. Postal experts said Trump ordering the postmaster general to take any action — let alone on a matter as sensitive as elections — violates guardrails in federal […]
Jonathan Shorman

Menopause coverage bills meet mixed fates in state legislatures

1 week 3 days ago
A handful of states are considering legislation this session related to menopause and perimenopause, including proposals to mandate coverage and others to include work protections for people experiencing symptoms related to the conditions. Others have already said no to similar bills. Menopause typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, according to the National Institute […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

Errors in Missouri crime bill force Senate to pass fix to avoid sentencing gap

1 week 3 days ago
The Missouri Senate approved legislation Wednesday that included corrections for multiple errors in another bill Gov. Mike Kehoe signed earlier this month. That bill, originally sponsored by Republican state Sen. Nich Schroer of Defiance, was an wide-ranging crime bill that included changes to juvenile detention centers in the state and mandatory prison time for adults […]
Anika Austvold

Healthy food is cheaper than chronic disease. Missouri should act like it

1 week 3 days ago
After passing with overwhelming bipartisan approval in the Missouri House this month, the state Senate is poised to consider legislation that would provide healthy, locally grown food to Medicaid recipients with chronic diet-related illnesses. Two “Food is Medicine” bills are under consideration. They would allow dietitians and other health care professionals to prescribe meals or […]
Melissa Weissler

Missouri governor signs bill to ban intoxicating hemp products in November

1 week 3 days ago
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill Thursday that will take all intoxicating hemp products off the shelves starting Nov. 12 — including THC seltzers currently sold in bars and grocery stores. The legislation largely aligns state law with the upcoming federal ban that Congress approved in November. “If you take the House and Senate […]
Rebecca Rivas

US Justice Department downgrades risk of state-licensed medicinal marijuana

1 week 3 days ago
Medicinal marijuana products that are legal at the state level will see looser federal regulation under an order the U.S. Department of Justice published Thursday, while a process that could remove the drug in all forms from the federal list of the most dangerous drugs is set to begin in late June. The order, signed by […]
Jacob Fischler