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Lawmakers are once again pushing for Missouri to join more than 30 other states that have enacted protections against frivolous litigation aimed at silencing free speech. The proposal targets strategic lawsuits against public participation, or “SLAPPs,” which are often filed without any expectation of winning in court and are instead simply an attempt to intimidate […]

Missouri journalists know the Sunshine Law because we use it every day. We push to keep government records and meetings open and accessible because it is necessary for our reporting. But what about the general public? Most Missourians don’t realize they rely on the Sunshine Law just as much as journalists do. Whether checking school […]

WASHINGTON — Among the flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump signed on the first day he returned to the White House are five that lay out the use of military forces within the U.S. borders and extend other executive powers to speed up the president’s immigration crackdown.  The administration has engendered huge controversy in […]

WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops in the U.S. military, adding to the list of legal setbacks to the administration’s agenda. U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Ana Reyes ordered Trump’s Department of Defense to revert to military policy in place before he issued an […]

On New Year’s Eve, Grace Paul and four of her children, refugees from South Sudan, had just arrived in Kansas City. At midnight, when gunfire erupted outside, they didn’t know that people in the United States sometimes shoot bullets into the sky to celebrate. So they hit the floor, as memories of the war that […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun the process of reinstating tens of thousands of fired federal workers, though most are just being placed on administrative leave as the government cites the “burdens” of rehiring, court filings reviewed by States Newsroom show. The documents also show, agency by agency, the wide swath of firings that […]

In most Missouri counties, children linger in foster care longer than the federal standard, according to data compiled by the state social services agency.

No Missouri law is more important to holding government accountable than the state’s Sunshine Law. As a newspaper editor, I had a deep appreciation of the impact of the law as a reporting tool. But the Sunshine Law exists for ordinary citizens, not just journalists. Every Missourian should value the power of this law, which […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday refused to provide further details about deportation flights that were in flight when a federal judge issued an order blocking the invocation of the wartime law used to authorize the removals. In new court filings, the Department of Justice said two deportation flights to El Salvador […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts on Tuesday rejected calls to impeach federal judges who issue rulings that block Trump administration policies, a rare public statement from the nation’s highest sitting judge. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning […]

Students began asking questions soon after President Donald Trump took office. “How old do I have to be to adopt my siblings?” an area student asked a teacher, worried that their parents could be deported. “Can I attend school virtually?” asked another student, reasoning that they would be safer from being targeted by immigration agents […]

As vaccine skepticism gains a greater foothold in the Trump administration and some statehouses, some Americans may already be paying the price, with deaths from influenza on the rise. Flu-related deaths hit a seven-year high in January and February, the two months that usually account for the height of flu season, according to a Stateline […]

From March 16-22, journalists, news and media organizations, civic groups, libraries, watchdogs, schools and open government advocates across Missouri will recognize Sunshine Week because, as James Madison once said, “government works best when it’s being watched.” For the most part, I think many media outlets have established a working relationship with public officials in their […]

President Donald Trump is more popular in Missouri than ever even if the policies his new administration pursues aren’t, according to the latest Saint Louis University YouGov poll.  The survey of 900 likely Missouri voters, polled between Feb. 18 and March 2, showed 56% of those polled approve or strongly approve of Trump. The survey […]

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday denied the Trump administration’s emergency effort to block the reinstatement of federal employees at six government agencies. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the government’s request to stay a Northern California district court’s March 13 ruling ordering the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and […]

WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Monday ordered the U.S. government to provide answers about details of the Trump administration’s deportation of immigrants under an 18th-century wartime law after civil rights groups alleged that the administration defied the court’s restraining order reversing the deportations. The Department of Justice was given four directives by U.S. Judge James Emanuel Boasberg […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s move late Friday to dismantle the agency that serves as the primary federal funding source for libraries and museums nationwide prompted questions over the weekend about how the agency can continue to carry out its core work. After Trump signed an executive order Friday that called for severe reductions in seven […]

The head of the Missouri agency that for years has struggled to administer public benefit programs like food assistance and Medicaid announced her retirement on Friday afternoon, effective immediately.

Immigration was the biggest factor in population growth for many booming Sun Belt counties as well as for the agricultural Midwest, according to a Stateline analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau county estimates. The analysis shows the significant impact immigration had between mid-2020 and mid-2024 in fast-growing states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, as […]

When Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey took office in January 2023, he inherited a pile of more than 200 unfilled open records requests left over from his predecessor. Some of the requests had been languishing for more than a year before Bailey took over.  It wasn’t a good look for the state official specifically empowered […]