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MoInd šŸ“°

Columbia schools sue to block law expanding reach of Missouri charter schools

2 weeks 3 days ago
Missouri’s fourth-largest school district sued the state Monday to prevent establishment of a new charter school in Boone County. Columbia Public Schools wants the courts to declare a law passed in 2024 unconstitutional, arguing that it is a local law for one county masquerading as a general law for the entire state. The district waited […]
Rudi Keller

Whole milk back on school lunch menus, under bill on its way to Trump

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — School cafeterias got a step closer to seeing whole milk again after the U.S. House passed a measure Monday to restore the dairy staple to school lunches.Ā  The bill unanimously passed the Senate back in November, and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk.Ā  TheĀ bipartisan effort — which passed the House by voice […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump ā€˜very strongly’ considering loosening federal marijuana regulations

2 weeks 3 days ago
President Donald Trump’s administration is looking ā€œvery stronglyā€ at reclassifying cannabis from the strictest category of controlled substances, Trump said Monday. In a brief affirmative response to a reporter’s question in the Oval Office, the president confirmed he is considering a reclassification of marijuana to unlock research funding. ā€œA lot of people want to see […]
Jacob Fischler

Judge delays decision on signatures for Missouri referendum on gerrymandered map

2 weeks 3 days ago
A portion of the signatures submitted last week to force a referendum on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional district map won’t be reviewed before a Cole County judge rules on whether all should be checked. People Not Politicians is challenging a decision by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins that no signatures collected before Oct. 14 — the […]
Rudi Keller

States will keep pushing AI laws despite Trump’s efforts to stop them

2 weeks 3 days ago
State lawmakers of both parties said they plan to keep passing laws regulating artificial intelligence despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop them. Trump signed an executive order Thursday evening that aims to override state artificial intelligence laws. He said his administration must work with Congress to develop a national AI policy, but that in […]
Madyson Fitzgerald

Planned Ameren Missouri transmission line to connect with Grain Belt Express

2 weeks 3 days ago
Ameren Missouri is making plans to build a nearly 30-mile-long transmission line through Callaway and Montgomery Counties. If approved by state utility regulators, the new transmission line would connect existing electrical substations in Callaway and Montgomery Counties to the multi-state Grain Belt Express, a power line carrying energy from Kansas to Indiana. Ameren submitted a […]
Jana Rose Schleis

Missouri AG faces coordinated, pro-China social media attacks over $24B COVID judgment

2 weeks 4 days ago
A week after Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced plans to seize $24 billion worth of assets owned by China as compensation for COVID-19, the online hate started pouring in.Ā  Hundreds of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, in late November began questioning the attorney general’s competence and character, honing in on her defense […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri Republicans are putting party priorities ahead of their citizens

2 weeks 4 days ago
Republican lawmakers are in desperate need of a civics lesson. They need to learn — or be reminded — that as elected officials their first obligation is to uphold the laws of the Missouri Constitution as they fight for the welfare and well-being of the citizens they represent. For years now, Missouri’s Republican lawmakers seem […]
Janice Ellis

Energy costs crushed my smelter job and now threaten Missouri farms

2 weeks 6 days ago
When I fire up the tractor before sunrise in Campbell, the hum of the engine takes me back to a different kind of power — the kind that used to surge through the aluminum cells at Magnitude 7 Metals in Marston before it closed its doors almost two years ago. Back then, I worked nights […]
Dalton Ezell

As homeless population rises in Missouri, cities confront cross-border ā€˜drop-offs’

2 weeks 6 days ago
For years, stories circulated around Joplin, Missouri, about the city’s homeless population and how they arrived in the city. Calls would come in to city officials following a recurring theme. ā€œPeople were coming to the City Council meetings and saying, ā€˜I don’t know why you guys don’t know this, but I’m witnessing busloads of people […]
Meg Cunningham

An ever-larger share of ICE’s arrested immigrants have no criminal record

2 weeks 6 days ago
Immigration arrests under the Trump administration continued to increase through mid-October, reaching rates of more than 30,000 a month. But, rather than the convicted criminals the administration has said it’s focused on, an ever-larger share of those arrests were for solely immigration violations. In 45 states, immigration arrests more than doubled compared with the same […]
Tim Henderson

New rules take aim at ā€˜predatory’ contracts in Missouri cannabis microbusiness program

2 weeks 6 days ago
Missouri cannabis regulators have routinely revoked microbusiness licenses for relying on contracts they’ve publicly characterized as ā€œpredatory.ā€Ā  The state is hoping to put a stop to the turnover through proposed rules that will be open for public comment starting Monday through Jan. 14.Ā  Regulators first introduced the rules last December and have since held two […]
Rebecca Rivas

Trump signs order intended to block states from regulating AI

2 weeks 6 days ago
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday night that aims to preempt states from enacting rules governing artificial intelligence, a major departure from the typical federalist structure of American government that Trump said was necessary because of the issue’s high stakes. In an early evening signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Trump said theĀ order […]
Jacob Fischler

Unemployment rose in half the states in September

3 weeks ago
September unemployment rates rose in 25 states and fell in 21 compared with last year, the government reported Dec. 11 in a shutdown-delayed analysis. The largest increase compared with September 2024 was in Oregon, where the rate rose from 4.2% to 5.2%, followed by the District of Columbia, increasing from 5.3% to 6.2% and Delaware, […]
Tim Henderson

In Trump rebuke, US House approves bill to overturn collective bargaining limit

3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would overturn an executive order from President Donald Trump that strips collective bargaining rights for roughly 1 million federal employees.Ā  The 231-195 vote was a rare bipartisan pushback against the president. The bill was sponsored by Maine’s Jared Golden, a Democrat, and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, […]
Ariana Figueroa

US Senate hits stalemate on solution to spiraling health insurance costs

3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate in long-anticipated votes failed to advance legislation Thursday that would have addressed the rising cost of health insurance, leaving lawmakers deadlocked on how to curb a surge in premiums expected next year.  Senators voted 51-48 on a Republican bill co-sponsored by Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri set to block junk food from SNAP purchases after USDA approval

3 weeks ago
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved Missouri’s request to restrict the use of food stamps for the purchase of some junk food items, according to a news release from the USDA. Starting in 2026,Ā Missouri is set to stop allowing SNAP benefits to be used to purchase candy, prepared desserts, soda, beverage mixes, juices and […]
Jacob Richey

Republicans in Congress eye more power for states to remove voters

3 weeks 1 day ago
Republicans in Congress want to give states more authority to remove ineligible voters — including noncitizens and people who have moved or died — from voter rolls, seeking to reinforce the Trump administration’s own push to scrub the lists.Ā  At a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers weighed changing a landmark federal voter registration law, […]
Jonathan Shorman