State leaders who want to curb the increasingly violent arrest tactics of immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere are struggling to push back. They’ve promised civil rights legislation that could offer alleged victims another route to courts, ordered up official tribunals to gather video and other records, or asked cities to refuse requests to […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump promised Thursday his newly established “Board of Peace” will not “be a waste of time,” just after the leaders of several countries signed its charter at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Trump, who has been vocal about his hopes to one day win the Nobel Peace Prize, said he […]
The text messages were brief, but state Rep. Cecelie Williams told the Missouri House on Thursday that they carried her backward in time. She thought she had worked through the feelings of fear, self-doubt and the instinct to shrink and stay quiet. Last year, she publicly shared her history of domestic abuse for the first […]
Baby bottles, baby wipes and breast pump supplies would be exempt from state and local sales taxes under a bill discussed by a Missouri Senate committee Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Barbara Anne Washington of Kansas City, would eliminate what she described as a “parenting tax” on the items. “Anything we can […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court justices across the political spectrum appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s swift, informal dismissal of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and his effort to influence the independent central bank that governs monetary policy in the United States. The oral arguments Wednesday drew a high-profile appearance in the courtroom of […]
The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced resolutions Wednesday to recommend former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena the panel issued related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The votes on both resolutions […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced in a social media post Wednesday that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte brokered a possible agreement on Greenland, though Trump provided few details or a timeline. Trump’s comments came just hours after he took his case for acquiring the Arctic island to the World Economic Forum in […]
As many people struggle to afford housing and tenant populations grow in some regions, more cities are turning to official registries to answer questions about their rental housing market. Who owns this rental property? Are they up-to-date on matters of code such as having working fire alarms? Are they keeping their building heated and habitable […]
Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud, is asking a federal judge for leniency as he faces the possibility of years behind bars. Diehl admitted in September to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of $379,900 by obtaining a pandemic loan intended to help struggling small businesses […]
The push to allow Waymo driverless taxis to operate in Missouri cleared its first hurdle Tuesday evening. The House Emerging Issues Committee voted 7-4 Tuesday, along partisan lines, to advance two identical bills sponsored by Republican state Reps. Don Mayhew of Crocker and Brandon Phelps of Warrensburg. The bills had received strong support from advocates […]
A sponsor of legislation to make Missouri’s restrictions on cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors permanent argued Tuesday night that the ban has “no detriments.” But for six hours, transgender people, their loved ones and physicians told the House Emerging Issues Committee about the hardships they’ve experienced because of the law. Those in opposition […]
KANSAS CITY — The first slate of witnesses from the Missouri Attorney General’s office in the fight to uphold statewide abortion regulations offered testimony that professionals and scientific studies have long disputed, including claims about mental health outcomes and abortion medication. It’s the second week of a 10-day bench trial that will be decided by […]
Missouri is moving toward higher-stakes “performance funding” for higher education, where appropriations rise or fall with completion rates, job outcomes, and other measurable outputs—while also pressing an aggressive workforce agenda built on “job-ready” credentials. That combination creates a threshold integrity problem Missouri has not yet confronted: if the state is going to pay for “outcomes,” […]
Missouri’s budget picture brightened slightly this week with the discovery of a $250 million error in state projections, though lawmakers were warned Tuesday the change isn’t enough to take tight controls off state spending. State Budget Director Dan Haug told the House Budget Committee that more than $100 million in disaster relief appropriations were mistakenly […]
WASHINGTON — The first year of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House was defined by clashes with the judiciary branch, as the president and his administration pushed forward with an aggressive immigration agenda. In the past year, the Trump administration has aimed to drastically change immigration policy in the United States, including by stripping […]
In a win for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, a recent court ruling has cleared the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to resume using states’ Medicaid data to find people who are in the country illegally. The case is ongoing. But for now, immigrants — including those who are in the country legally […]
WASHINGTON — A Department of Homeland Security policy that barred unannounced visits for lawmakers seeking to conduct oversight at facilities that hold immigrants will remain in place, as ordered by a federal judge Monday. District of Columbia federal Judge Jia Cobb issued an order that denied a request from a dozen Democratic lawmakers, on the […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump showed no signs Tuesday of backing off his goal to acquire Greenland, after saying over the weekend he would place a 10% tariff on eight European countries that object to his plans and posting several times on social media. Trump’s insistence that the United States gain control of the Arctic […]
Missouri lawmakers are considering a package of bills they hope will curb child sex trafficking, train first responders to recognize signs of sex trafficking and shift punishment away from survivors. The bills would also establish the crime of “grooming a minor,” defined in the legislation as a pattern of behavior by an adult intended to […]
Missouri lawmakers are considering expanding the state’s private school voucher program with proposals to open eligibility and remove demands on private schools who accept voucher funds. But the program, which has spent a majority of the $50 million it received in state funding this fiscal year, may lack room to grow with Gov. Mike Kehoe […]
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