a Better Bubbleℱ

MoInd 📰

Most states don’t disclose which companies get data center incentives, report finds

3 months 4 weeks ago
Most states offering incentives to data centers don’t disclose which companies benefit, according to a new report. At least 36 states have crafted subsidies specifically for data center projects, according to Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog group that tracks economic development incentives. But only 11 of those states — Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, […]
Kevin Hardy

Government reopens after 43 days: Trump signs bill ending record shutdown

3 months 4 weeks ago
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — The longest shutdown in U.S. history ended Wednesday night when President Donald Trump signed a spending package that  reopens the government and funds most of it through January. The Oval Office ceremony came just hours after the House voted to approve the legislation, which senators passed earlier in […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa, Shauneen Miranda

Judge hears arguments over legality of gerrymandered Missouri congressional map

3 months 4 weeks ago
The old cliche that “silence is golden” became “silence is confusing” on Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court as attorneys argued over the power of Missouri lawmakers to gerrymander congressional maps in the middle of a decade.  Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh must decide if language missing from the state Constitution’s directive on when and how […]
Rudi Keller

Jeffery Epstein alleged in newly released emails that Trump ‘knew about the girls’

3 months 4 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released emails Wednesday they say show President Donald Trump knew about the financier’s abuse of underage girls as far back as 2011. The three emails released by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform were among 23,000 pages of documents turned […]
Ashley Murray

Black homicide victims’ families most likely to be denied compensation

3 months 4 weeks ago
Families of Black homicide victims in the United States are more likely than any other group to seek financial assistance through state victim compensation programs — and they are the most likely to be denied, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Race and Justice. Researchers analyzed nearly 60,000 homicide-related compensation claims […]
Amanda Watford

The shutdown tug-of-war over SNAP benefits: a timeline

3 months 4 weeks ago
Payments for November for the nation’s main food assistance program have been delayed during the government shutdown, amid a confusing mess of contradicting guidance from the Trump administration and a flurry of court orders in two cases at every level of the federal judiciary. The off-and-on freeze of benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, […]
Jacob Fischler, Ashley Murray

Kansas county agrees to pay out $3 million over newspaper raid

4 months ago
TOPEKA — The county involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor. In two of the four agreements, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office also crafted a statement admitting regret. “The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and […]
Anna Kaminski

FCC allows prisons, jails to charge more for phone and video calls

4 months ago
The Federal Communications Commission voted to roll back limits on how much companies can charge incarcerated people and their families for phone and video calls. The 2-1 vote in late October reverses rate caps the FCC adopted last year under a 2023 law that allows the agency to set limits on prison phone and video call […]
Amanda Watford

Deal ending government shutdown includes restrictions on intoxicating hemp products

4 months ago
WASHINGTON — Kentucky’s two U.S. senators sparred this week over the future of the country’s hemp industry — one arguing that a provision attached to the package that will reopen the government will close a problematic loophole and the other contending the language will regulate the industry “to death.” Sen. Mitch McConnell ultimately prevailed and […]
Jennifer Shutt

Thousands of refugees, legal immigrants in Missouri could lose food assistance

4 months ago
More than 3,000 immigrants who are in Missouri legally but are not citizens are expected to lose eligibility for the nation’s largest federal food assistance program this month due to the massive tax and spending bill President Donald Trump signed into law in July, according to the state’s Department of Social Services. Another 6,000 could […]
Steph Quinn

PAC tied to Jay Ashcroft’s 2024 Missouri governor campaign fined for violating ethics laws 

4 months ago
The PAC backing Republican Jay Ashcroft’s 2024 bid for governor improperly coordinated with his campaign on a letter attacking his opponents, according to a consent agreement approved by the Missouri Ethics Commission. The Committee for Liberty, which spent $2.9 million promoting Ashcroft’s losing effort, must pay $536 and avoid future violations, states the agreement posted […]
Rudi Keller

Here’s the list of newly pardoned Trump fake electors, other allies

4 months ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Monday he pardoned his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other people allegedly involved in the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but the president’s federal pardon does not shield members of the group from state charges. Posting to social media early Monday, U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin released the […]
Ariana Figueroa

FDA to remove black box warning from hormone replacement therapy drugs

4 months ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday it plans to remove warnings from hormone replacement therapy drugs that can be used to address symptoms of menopause, saying the statements are no longer needed.  The black box warning, the strongest caution possible from the FDA, was added in the early 2000s after a […]
Jennifer Shutt

The midterm ballot measure battles have already begun

4 months ago
When Missouri Republican lawmakers approved a new district map in September to help their party in Congress, progressive activist Richard von Glahn was ready. Hours after the state legislature passed the gerrymandered map, von Glahn had submitted a proposed ballot petition to put it to the voters. It would be more than a month before […]
Jonathan Shorman

New Trump administration rule could override state medical debt protections

4 months ago
A new Trump administration rule issued late last month could override state laws that prevent consumers’ credit reports from including medical debt, potentially weakening financial protections for millions of Americans. In recent years, more than a dozen states have taken steps to keep medical debt from hurting residents’ credit scores, passing laws with bipartisan support. […]
Anna Claire Vollers