a Better Bubbleℱ

MoInd 📰

Iran war drives gas price uncertainty ahead of busy summer season

1 week 6 days ago
The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3 Tuesday for the first time this year, and is expected to keep going up. The average price Tuesday was $3.11, up about 11 cents from Monday, according to AAA. “The pump reaction is not only underway — it’s accelerating,” said Patrick De Haan, […]
David Lightman

House committee debates restroom restrictions for transgender Missourians

1 week 6 days ago
With blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and spilling onto a blousy blue mini dress, Landon Patterson sat in front of the Missouri House Emerging Issues Committee Monday. The committee was debating bills that sought to separate public restrooms and changing rooms by sex as assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. The bills varied […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri senator revives ‘personhood’ amendment criminalizing abortion

1 week 6 days ago
Wes Groggins didn’t mince words when he testified to a Missouri Senate committee Monday in support of legislation expanding legal protections for embryos.  The executive director of Abolish Abortion Missouri invoked the Bible’s Old Testament in his justification that anyone who has an abortion or assists someone in accessing an abortion should be charged with […]
Anna Spoerre

Acceptance of sexual abuse and harassment is an entrenched cultural problem

1 week 6 days ago
Perceiving and treating women and underaged girls as sex objects is evidence of a prevalent and pernicious problem perpetuated by a sense of entitlement on the part of the abuser who relies on intimidation and fear. Even worse, it is exacerbated by our continued acceptance. As we begin commemorating another Women’s History Month, will an […]
Janice Ellis

Bill to create agriculture education program gets unanimous support from Missouri House

2 weeks ago
Hoping to grow the next generation of farmers, the Missouri House unanimously approved a bill Monday to create an optional agriculture education program for elementary schools. “We need to educate and encourage growth in agriculture and spark that interest, both in rural and in urban areas,” the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. John Martin, a Republican […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Death toll for US service members in Iran war rises to 6 as Trump projects weeks of conflict

2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he expects war with Iran will continue however long it takes to achieve his objectives, which include eliminating the country’s missile program, preventing its leaders from building a nuclear weapon and ensuring it cannot fund terrorism. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks,” he said […]
Ashley Murray, Jennifer Shutt

States try ‘public option’ Obamacare plans to reduce coverage costs

2 weeks ago
Nearly two decades ago, progressives fought to include a so-called public option — a government-run health plan — in the broad health care overhaul known as Obamacare. That effort failed, defeated by heavy lobbying from the insurance industry and opponents who decried it as a government takeover of health care. But the final Affordable Care […]
Shalina Chatlani

Missouri cannabis regulators target rule-breakers, delays in ownership approval

2 weeks ago
Missouri cannabis regulators want more power to penalize bad actors in the marijuana industry, according to drafts of proposed rules released last week. The sweeping revisions to Division of Cannabis Regulation rules also aim to streamline the process for ownership changes, allow publicly traded companies to own cannabis licenses, and establish recall procedures of marijuana […]
Rebecca Rivas

Missouri’s local news is under pressure — and still essential

2 weeks ago
In rapid succession this year, the Washington Post laid off half its newsroom, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cut 15% of its staff and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced it would close in May. What’s perhaps most alarming is that the collapse of major newspapers no longer arrives as a civic emergency. It’s become routine. Journalism is the […]
Jason Hancock

Early prenatal care declines across US, reversing years of progress

2 weeks 1 day ago
Nearly a quarter of pregnant women aren’t getting prenatal care in the early stages of pregnancy, according to a new analysis from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The share of pregnant women getting prenatal care had been improving: It rose between 2016 and 2021 to a high of more than 78%, but […]
Anna Claire Vollers

US, Israel strike Iran; Democrats call for immediate vote on Trump war powers

2 weeks 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers called Saturday for Congress to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s order launching “major combat operations” in Iran, while Republicans largely provided cautious support of the attacks. Trump said in a video posted to social media at 2:30 a.m. Eastern that U.S. forces struck targets in the Islamic republic. Israeli Prime […]
Jacob Fischler, Jane Norman

House bill would bring driver’s ed courses back to Missouri schools

2 weeks 2 days ago
JEFFERSON CITY — The House Education Committee is considering a bill that would bring driver’s education back to Missouri public schools at the elementary and secondary education levels. Rep. Rodger Reedy, R-Windsor, sponsor of House Bill 2195, told the committee at a hearing on Wednesday that he aims to allow public schools to integrate driver […]
Samantha Jackson

Protecting essential services by eliminating waste in Missouri Medicaid

2 weeks 2 days ago
If you polled Missourians, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who enjoys paying taxes, regardless of political affiliation. Yet most Missourians recognize that some services are essential — things like roads, schools, and programs that support independence, self-sufficiency and community health. These services provide stability not just for individuals, but for entire communities. The […]
Priya Pal

US Senate Democrats demand Trump administration refund tariff payments to businesses

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday demanding the administration refund businesses that paid tariffs to import goods into the United States under authority the Supreme Court has ruled the president never held.  “The American people — small business owners, importers, manufacturers, and the consumers who ultimately bore […]
Jennifer Shutt

DOJ appeals ruling in Sen. Mark Kelly illegal orders case; Kelly vows: ‘I won’t back down’

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration must explain to a circuit court before the end of March exactly why it appealed a lower court’s ruling that allows Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly to keep his retirement rank and pay while a First Amendment case about the “Don’t Give Up The Ship” video plays out. The U.S. […]
Jennifer Shutt