A bill aimed at preventing foreign and religious laws from being enforced in Missouri was debated Thursday by the state House Government Efficiency Committee. The “No Foreign Laws Act” was voted through the Senate unanimously earlier this month. The legislation prevents state courts and administrative agencies from applying foreign and religious laws that contradict federal […]
More than a third of state ballot measures that voters will be asked to consider this year relate to democracy, with questions on voting rights, election processes, redistricting and similar issues. “It’s the redistricting fights that are really getting heated after the Trump administration began pressuring Republican-led states to shore up the GOP majority in […]
The Trump administration is taking aim at what it calls rampant fraud in state Medicaid programs. But by focusing almost exclusively on Democratic-led states, it has handed ammunition to critics who say it mainly wants to embarrass its political enemies, not save taxpayer dollars. In announcing earlier this month that Vice President JD Vance would […]
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. On May 18, 2018, a teenager at Santa Fe High School in Texas walked into the school armed with his father’s guns and opened fire, killing eight students and two teachers. Evidence later showed the teen had been experiencing […]
As the midterms approach, Republican and Democratic election officials are split over a powerful federal computer program at the center of President Donald Trump’s quest to expose noncitizen voters and compile lists of voting-age Americans. A U.S. House Administration Committee hearing Thursday underscored the partisan divide over the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE program. The […]
Kansas City leaders are bidding to retain the Royals at a new downtown stadium two years after Jackson County voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales-tax-funded ballpark in the Crossroads. Not surprisingly, a familiar fight about taxpayer-subsidized stadiums has roared back to life. Kansas City’s Finance Department presented the plan on Tuesday to the Finance, Governance and […]
An intraparty schism opened Thursday among legislative Democrats as the party’s leader in the Missouri House blasted state Senate Democrats for their silence during a 70-minute debate on a proposal to replace the state income tax with increased sales taxes. Speaking to reporters at a news conference, House Minority Leader Ashley Aune of Kansas City […]
Missouri has hastily passed a sweeping crime bill that moves the state in the wrong direction. The law — signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe — bundles together expanded pathways for certifying adolescents ages 14 to 18 as adults and the expansion and standardization of mandatory minimum sentences. This legislation will push more teenagers into the […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday passed a measure that would extend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti for three years, in a rare rebuke by the GOP-led Congress to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Ten Republicans defected, including Reps. Maria Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez of Florida, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Don Bacon […]
Democrats on a U.S. House spending panel slammed President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to farm and nutrition programs Thursday, as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pledged to collaborate with members of both parties to address their concerns. The president’s budget request would make deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gutting programs to help feed […]
WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testified before Congress on Thursday that he’s not pleased with how spending cuts to programs that help lower-income Americans afford food will affect his efforts to bolster healthy eating habits. “Am I happy about the cuts? No, I’m not happy about the cuts,” Kennedy […]
WASHINGTON — The approval gap on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran narrowed slightly Thursday in the U.S. House, when a War Powers Resolution gained a handful of votes, though still falling just short of passage. The effort to force Trump to seek congressional authorization before further action in Iran failed 213-214, with one Republican voting […]
Missouri is preparing to open up an unlimited number of licenses to allow for marijuana research in the state. The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation has filed proposed rules with the Secretary of State that describe what a research licensee would be authorized to do and outlines the application requirements and process for a marijuana […]
Though public scrutiny of data centers is growing, 14 states do not disclose how much revenue they lose to data center tax breaks. That’s according to a new report from Good Jobs First, a watchdog group that focuses on economic development incentives. The lack of disclosure comes as other states record mounting losses in tax […]
At Family Planning Associates in Chicago, in the office where staff take phone calls from potential abortion patients, a U.S. map colored in with red and green dry-erase markers notes the latest status of abortion access in every state. The map can change at any time. In the center of the map’s biggest sea of […]
After unveiling a new plan just before midnight to replace Missouri’s income tax with a broader sales tax, state Senate Republican leaders moved quickly to push it to passage early Thursday morning. Democrats unanimously opposed the proposal, but only one said anything against it — and then only briefly. The harshest criticism came from Republican […]
On the Tuesday the president of the United States threatened genocide against Iran, smoke drifted into our town from the southwest, an acrid veil that hung over streets and homes and businesses. The haze contributed to the day’s unsettled mood. The smoke came from controlled fires that slither like snakes over the Flint Hills each […]
WASHINGTON — An effort to force President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval for further war actions in Iran failed in the U.S. Senate for the fourth time Wednesday, with all but one Republican continuing to support the president’s Middle East conflict. Senators voted down the measure, 47-52, with a similar partisan breakdown as earlier […]
WASHINGTON — The White House budget director on Wednesday defended the administration’s latest request for Congress, testifying before the House Budget Committee that a 43% increase in defense spending and a 10% cut to domestic programs is the best path forward. Democrats on the panel were highly critical of that proposal, which lawmakers will debate […]
A Cole County Circuit Court judge ruled Tuesday that Missouri can use public funds to pay for private school scholarships even though state law doesn’t explicitly authorize it. In a 57-page ruling, Judge Brian Stumpe wrote that lawmakers could directly appropriate funds to the MOScholars program because state law does not “expressly prohibit” it. The […]
stLouIST