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Planned Parenthood expands mifepristone access to Kansas City suburbs

3 months ago
The Planned Parenthood clinic in Gladstone began offering medication abortion on Wednesday, becoming the fourth location in Missouri to open appointments following a court ruling that expanded access to medication abortion for the first time since 2018. This is the first time the suburban Kansas City clinic has ever offered medication abortions. Planned Parenthood officials […]
Anna Spoerre

Abortion medication, HPV vaccine laws take effect Wednesday in three states

3 months ago
Several laws restricting access to medications that can be used to terminate a pregnancy and others placing limits on minors’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare — including the HPV vaccine — take effect Wednesday, July 1, in Iowa, Mississippi and Tennessee. Many bills were considered in state legislatures earlier this year that would have […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

Missouri education department’s A-F school grading plan comes with warnings

3 months ago
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent its plan Tuesday for grading public schools on an “A” through “F” scale to Gov. Mike Kehoe, fulfilling a directive from his January executive order while warning that the work will come with new costs. The 24-page proposal estimates it will cost $518,000 to create the […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri tax incentive program aims to turn empty offices into housing

3 months ago
Across Kansas City, it’s easy to find vacant office buildings and empty cubicles collecting dust. The companies once housed there saw employees switch to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and never come back in-person. Or the companies downsized, moved or closed completely. Whatever the case, those buildings present a challenge to city planners attempting […]
Ryleigh Hindle

Bipartisan support on US House panel for examining private equity in youth sports

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — Members of a U.S. House Education and Workforce subcommittee found rare common ground scrutinizing private equity’s stake in youth sports at a Tuesday hearing. Lawmakers from both parties on the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education stressed the importance of making sports accessible to all kids and discussed ways to prevent […]
Amelia Twyman

States gird for new Medicaid ‘medically frail’ rule

3 months ago
State Medicaid agencies are concerned that many sick and disabled enrollees will lose their coverage because the Trump administration is narrowing the definition of who is “medically frail” enough to get an exemption from new work requirements. Under the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed a year ago, states that have expanded Medicaid […]
Shalina Chatlani

Gov. Mike Kehoe vetoes, restricts nearly $500 million from Missouri state budget 

3 months ago
Gov. Mike Kehoe vetoed nearly $53 million from Missouri’s $50.7 billion state budget Tuesday, but his larger move was to freeze $441 million in spending — including dozens of lawmaker-backed earmarks — as state revenues lag projections and Missouri’s pandemic-era surplus dwindles. The vetoes were relatively light, cutting only about $30 million in general revenue […]
Rudi Keller

White House budget director advocates more funding for own agency, cuts for others

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — White House budget director Russ Vought testified before a U.S. House panel Tuesday that his agency needs lawmakers to increase its annual budget, even though he hasn’t spent much of the $100 million Republicans approved in their “big, beautiful” law. That earlier funding, he said, is intended to help the agency keep track […]
Jennifer Shutt

US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump order

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s attempt to redefine the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. In the decision, a majority of the justices upheld the country’s long understanding of automatic citizenship by birth on American soil, regardless of the immigration status of a newborn’s parents. The majority opinion, written by […]
Ariana Figueroa

Supreme Court upholds state bans on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday kept in place state laws banning transgender athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams. The decision stems from challenges to bans in Idaho and West Virginia and marks a major setback for transgender rights across the country. The opinion also came as President Donald Trump’s administration has pursued a broad anti-trans agenda that […]
Jacob Fischler, Shauneen Miranda

Lawsuits challenge Missouri attorney general crackdown on gambling machines

3 months ago
Two lawsuits filed in Cole County accuse Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway of unlawfully using threats of criminal prosecution to force bars and gas stations to shut down slot machine games. The latest case, filed Friday by an entity founded last year called the Missouri Licensing Advocacy Group based in Osage Beach, argues Hanaway and […]
Rudi Keller

25 Democratic-led states sue Trump administration over Medicaid work requirements

3 months ago
Twenty-five Democratic-led states plus the District of Columbia have sued the Trump administration over its new work requirements for people who get their health insurance through Medicaid. At issue is a “medically frail” designation that the states say is too narrow and will make it too difficult for ill and disabled people to remain on Medicaid. […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Why Trump chose a deal over a wider Iran War, and what it means for Missouri

3 months ago
When President Donald Trump moved from a stance of military confrontation with Iran to seeking a ceasefire and engaging in diplomatic talks, many commentators highlighted the political motives behind this change. Some viewed it as a retreat, whereas others questioned the administration’s genuine intentions. Nonetheless, an even more significant reason might be driving this shift: […]
Mamoun Benmamoun

High court issues split decisions on Trump’s control of executive board members

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump both a win and a loss Monday in allowing his firing of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, but ruling that he cannot remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors. The 6-3 decision in Trump’s favor in the Federal Trade Commission case essentially expands […]
Ashley Murray

US Supreme Court says police need warrants for cellphone location data

3 months ago
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement searches for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes are covered by the Fourth Amendment, requiring warrants to obtain the data. But the high court left unsettled when searches for the information are reasonable — likely meaning the justices will eventually weigh in again on […]
Jonathan Shorman

Former Oklahoma trooper nominated by Trump to head up ICE

3 months ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has nominated a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency tasked with carrying out the president’s mass deportation campaign.  Richard “Lance” Schroyer’s nomination on June 27 comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the Trump administration to strip legal status […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri could be on the hook for $150 million in food benefits due to error rate

3 months ago
Missouri will be required to cover 10% of federal nutrition assistance starting in 2027 — roughly $150 million —  if it doesn’t improve the accuracy of benefit payments to low-income residents, according to data released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last July will […]
Steph Quinn