a Better Bubbleā„¢

MoInd šŸ“°

What Missouri officials didn’t explain about an LGBTQ+ library story time

1 week 4 days ago
Denny Hoskins wants to cut a library’s funding over two books he has not read. He Googled them, saw excerpts and looked at some pictures. For Missouri’s secretary of state, that was enough. The books are ā€œRainbowsaurus,ā€ the tale of a family searching for a rainbow dinosaur, and ā€œBig Wig,ā€ about a child who wins […]
Jason Hancock

Attempt to halt imminent deportations of Haitians and Syrians blocked in US Senate

1 week 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen Wednesday tried to advance in the Senate a bill that would create a legal pathway for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status. However, his request for unanimous consent, a way to expedite legislation in the chamber, was blocked by Missouri Republican Eric Schmitt.Ā  Van Hollen said the […]
Ariana Figueroa

Fauci pleads the Fifth to COVID questions by US Sen. Rand Paul at intense hearing

1 week 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s most visible public health officials during the coronavirus pandemic, declined to answer questions from a U.S. Senate committee in a tense and confrontational hearing Wednesday, citing his Fifth Amendment rights.Ā  Fauci said during a brief opening statement he believed Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman […]
Jennifer Shutt

TSA shares passengers’ personal information with immigration enforcement, documents show

1 week 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has for more than a year used personal information airline passengers provide to the Transportation Security Administration for immigration enforcement, according to documents obtained by a government watchdog group. The documents, collected by the government accountability organization American Oversight, show for the first time a formal data-sharing agreement since May […]
Ariana Figueroa

ā€˜People movers’ out, more parking in: Trump announces $22.5B Washington Dulles makeover

1 week 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the main long-distance gateway to the nation’s capital, is set to receive a multi-billion-dollar makeover, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.  Sitting behind a large model of the airport’s new proposed design, Trump unveiled the project at an event in the Oval Office with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, […]
Sam Gauntt

Undocumented immigration population reached as high as 15.8M, report finds

1 week 5 days ago
New estimates put the U.S. undocumented immigrant population in mid-2024 at 14.6 million to 15.8 million, a sharp increase from around 11 million in the 2010s.Ā  Since then the non-citizen population has likely dropped, but the number is unclear since immigrants facing hostility are reluctant to cooperate with government surveys.Ā  The spike in the number […]
Tim Henderson

Obamacare enrollment declines in 49 states

1 week 5 days ago
In 49 states, the number of people enrolled in Obamacare plans has declined since Congress made coverage more expensive by allowing federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year. The lone exception was New Mexico, the only state that has used its own money to fully replace the expired aid, according to a […]
Shalina Chatlani

Campaign spending accelerates as Missouri primary election draws near

1 week 5 days ago
Ballot measure campaigns raised almost $40 million through the third week of July as they paid for ads and direct mail appeals bombarding Missourians ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.Ā  Early voting is underway and the primary election is Aug. 4. The final full financial disclosure statements for state campaigns were due Monday to the Missouri […]
Rudi Keller

Courts issue conflicting rulings on Trump executive order restricting vote-by-mail

1 week 5 days ago
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the federal government can continue implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting vote-by-mail, reaching the opposite conclusion that another appeals panel decided over the weekend. The conflict appeared to make it even more clear the issue will have to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which already […]
Jacob Fischler

Rural Missouri’s future depends on its public schools

1 week 5 days ago
Next month, a child waiting for the bus in a rural district may stand beside a two-lane road, looking across land that has been in one family for generations. But more and more, that will not be the case. Rural land that once supported family farms and community life is being absorbed into something larger […]
Kevin Sandlin

Missouri Republicans threaten library funding over ā€˜rainbow story time’

1 week 5 days ago
Missouri Republican officials threatened Tuesday to cut state funding for Columbia’s public library after staff held a reading of LGBTQ+ children’s books last week. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican running for Congress in Missouri’s 5th congressional district, held a joint press conference Tuesday to discuss their investigation […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Bipartisan US Senate proposal on AI ethics panel good step but incomplete, experts say

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — A proposed federal commission on artificial intelligence ethics could help address moral questions associated with the rapidly developing technology, but there are still some areas in which they believe the proposal falls short, experts say.Ā Ā Ā  Sens. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, introducedĀ a bill last week that would […]
Amelia Twyman

Haitian immigrants brace for end of protected status

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants could lose their legal status as early as Tuesday, subjecting them to deportation after the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed the Trump administration to proceed with terminating their humanitarian protections.Ā  The incoming loss of Temporary Protected Status for between 330,000 and 350,000 immigrants comes amid the […]
Ariana Figueroa

Washington says goodbye to South Carolina US Sen. Lindsey Graham

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress paid tribute to their longtime colleague, the late Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Tuesday morning ahead of a funeral service at Washington National Cathedral, where Graham’s close ally President Donald Trump was expected to speak. Heads of state, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
Ashley Murray

Reflecting Pool damaged before Olympian charged with felony touched it, witness says

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Attorneys representing the former Olympic canoeist charged with damaging part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have asked the judge in the case to release more information from the grand jury.Ā  David Hearn’s legal team wrote in a motion that ā€œthe Government’s sole grand-jury witness on damages testified that the property was already […]
Jennifer Shutt

DHS removes interview requirement for asylum seekers, possibly speeding removals

1 week 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Federal asylum officers can deny interviews to asylum seekers and send them immediately to an immigration judge, speeding up deportation proceedings, under a rule U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published Tuesday. TheĀ rule, which takes effect immediately, will allow USCIS, a Department of Homeland Security agency, to refer directly to immigration judges certain asylum […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri hospitals seek to address workforce challenges as turnover rates rise

1 week 6 days ago
About five years after hospitals were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, workforce trends appear to be stabilizing. In 2021, overall vacancy rates for hospital positions in Missouri were at 17%, but this rate declined to 10.1% in 2025, according to the Missouri Hospital Association’s 2026 Workforce Report. Despite a lower number of open positions, […]
Emma Harper

After juvenile violence, accountability and rehabilitation must work together

1 week 6 days ago
Recent high-profile cases involving juveniles have reignited a difficult conversation in our region about youth crime, accountability and public safety. Victims do not suffer less because the person who caused the harm was 16. Families deserve to have that harm recognized, and communities have every right to expect protection. At the same time, a 16-year-old […]
Kenya Brumfield-Young

Abortion returns to southwest Missouri after more than two decades without local access

2 weeks ago
It’s been nearly 21 years since Missourians living in Springfield could access abortion without driving at least a couple hours. That ended Monday. The city’s Planned Parenthood clinic began offering medication abortion this week, ending a stretch that started in October 2005, when Springfield Healthcare Center closed after three decades in business and left southwest […]
Anna Spoerre