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MoInd šŸ“°

Trump administration agrees in court that D.C. will keep control of its police force

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice will rewrite an order from Attorney General Pam Bondi that initially placed a Trump administration official in charge of the District of Columbia’s police force, after an emergency hearing late Friday afternoon on a lawsuit filed by the district. Attorneys on behalf of the Justice Department told District of […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri governor won’t confirm redistricting, but Republicans say it’s likely

1 week 6 days ago
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe still hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll call a special session to change the state’s congressional map, but Republican lawmakers who’ve spoken to the governor say it’s very possible. State lawmakers and officials gathered in Sedalia on Thursday morning for the annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast. Planned remarks from the podium focused on celebrating […]
Harshawn Ratanpal

Trump wants states to feed voter info into powerful citizenship data program

1 week 6 days ago
BILOXI, Miss. — The Trump administration is developing a powerful data tool it claims will let states identify noncitizens registered to vote. But Democratic critics and data experts warn it could allow the federal government to vacuum up vast quantities of information on Americans for unclear purposes. Some Democratic election officials and opponents of the […]
Jonathan Shorman

State leaders brace for ā€˜heavy lift’ from Medicaid, food stamp changes

1 week 6 days ago
BOSTON — During this year’s budget cycle, Oklahoma state Sen. John Haste said lawmakers had two major things on their minds. ā€œNumber one was tax cuts. Number two, what the hell is going on in Washington?ā€ he told a national gathering of state lawmakers last week in Boston. While Oklahoma lawmakers secured another round of […]
Kevin Hardy

Visa delays, hospital closures and the abandonment of rural Missouri

1 week 6 days ago
Shannon County has no hospital-based maternity care. While the local health center offers limited prenatal services, pregnant women often drive 60 to 90 minutes to reach a hospital equipped for labor and delivery. That kind of loss does not just change where babies are born. It changes whether they survive. Across rural Missouri, the health […]
Abby Ehrhardt

Immigration crackdown intensifies in D.C. under Trump order for federal control

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Local leaders and advocates Thursday said that President Donald Trump’s decision to seize the District of Columbia’s 3,400-member police force and deploy 800 National Guard members is a continuation of his administration’s immigration crackdown. Since the president’sĀ decision Monday to invoke the district’s Home Rule Act, checkpoints are being set up in busy neighborhoods, […]
Ariana Figueroa

Unless Congress acts, full Social Security benefits could end in 7 years

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation celebrating the 90th anniversary of Social Security on Thursday, though he offered no plans for avoiding insolvency and a steep drop-off in benefits within the next decade. Trump, who campaigned on ā€œsavingā€ the income stabilization program for America’s seniors, said during an appearance in the Oval Office […]
Jennifer Shutt

Running dry on data: Missouri drought hard to measure

2 weeks ago
After a spring and summer of wet conditions throughout almost the entire state, drought is returning to Missouri. About 10% of Missouri is now classified as abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a map that tracks drought and updates weekly. ā€œWe hadn’t had a week in July or August with a map that […]
Harshawn Ratanpal

Trump in court ruling allowed to hold back foreign aid funds approved by Congress

2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court’s ruling that had required the Trump administration to spend foreign aid dollars approved by Congress. But instead of addressing the central argument of the lawsuit — that a president cannot refuse to spend money approved by lawmakers, who hold the power of the […]
Jennifer Shutt

Their childhoods are on display for millions. States want to protect them

2 weeks ago
A couple of years ago, Alisa Jno-Charles saw her now 9-year-old daughter watching a YouTube video of several children and their swift ninja moves. The video was from Ninja Kidz TV, a YouTube channel that features four young siblings who were raised in a martial arts studio, according to their official website. The channel has […]
Madyson Fitzgerald

Missouri House Republicans receive $25,000 donation from Kansas City Chiefs

2 weeks 1 day ago
The Kansas City Chiefs donated $25,000 on Tuesday to a political action committee supporting Republican candidates for the Missouri House.Ā  The donation, the first major contribution the team made in Missouri this year, comes roughly two months after the legislature approved a $1.5 billion stadium funding plan aimed at convincing the Chiefs and Royals to […]
Jason Hancock

Student scores on Missouri’s standardized test remain below pre-pandemic levels

2 weeks 1 day ago
Students are showing “positive momentum” on state standardized tests, state education officials said Tuesday, though the results remain below pre-pandemic levels.Ā  Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger told the State Board of Education Tuesday that she was glad to see an end to the “nosedive” that scores took between 2018 and 2023. But she knows the […]
Annelise Hanshaw

The EPA is waging war on climate science and public health

2 weeks 1 day ago
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump is seeking to rescind the EPA’s longstanding finding from 2009 that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. The EPA is making a truly radical move here. The endangerment finding has been a linchpin to the agency’s regulatory actions over the years to deal with […]
Daniel R. Schramm

Trump’s mass deportations opened the door for deploying National Guard in D.C.

2 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s move to deploy 800 National Guard members in the District of Columbia over claims that crime is plaguing the city – despite historic lows –  follows his use of the military in his administration’s growing immigration crackdown. ā€œ(D.C.’s) out of control, but we’re going to put it in control very […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri State Board of Education votes to close 12 schools for disabled students

2 weeks 1 day ago
Twelve state schools serving students with disabilities will close next year as part of a plan approved Tuesday afternoon by the Missouri State Board of Education.Ā  There was little discussion Tuesday about the plan to consolidate the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled, or MSSD. Board members delved into the plan more thoroughly during a […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri AG erred in asking Supreme Court to overturn order legalizing abortion

2 weeks 2 days ago
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take up Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s request to reinstate restrictions on abortion in the state, ordering him to turn to a state appeals court instead.Ā  Bailey was hoping the state’s highest court would block a temporary injunction issued by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang on July […]
Jason Hancock