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MoInd šŸ“°

ā€˜Kicked a hornet’s nest’: Missouri GOP repeal of voter-approved laws inspires backlash

5 months 3 weeks ago
Republican lawmakers’ decision to overturn a voter-approved expansion of paid sick leave means benefits Missouri workers accrued in recent months will disappear on Aug. 28.Ā  They also placed a question on the 2026 ballot rolling back abortion rights that voters enshrined in the state constitution in November.Ā  It’s not the first time the GOP-dominated legislature […]
Jason Hancock

US Education Department to unfreeze contested K-12 funds

5 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Friday it’ll soon release billions in Education Department funding that has been frozen for weeks, delaying disbursements to K-12 schools throughout the country. The funding — which goes toward migrant education, English-language learning and other programs — was supposed to go out before July 1, but the administration informed schools […]
Jennifer Shutt

Fewer than half of ICE arrests under Trump are convicted criminals

5 months 3 weeks ago
Despite Trump administration rhetoric accusing Democrats of protecting violent criminals and drug-dealing immigrants, the administration’s arrests have been catching a smaller share of criminals overall, and a smaller share of people convicted of violent and drug crimes, than the Biden administration did in the same time frame. While the Trump administration has caught more immigrants […]
Tim Henderson

Violent crime continues to drop across US cities, report shows

5 months 3 weeks ago
Amid recent political rhetoric about rising crime and violence in American cities, a new analysis shows that violent crime has continued to decline this year. Homicides and several other serious offenses, including gun assaults and carjackings, dropped during the first half of 2025 across 42 U.S. cities, continuing a downward trend that began in 2022, […]
Amanda HernƔndez

Over 500,000 immigrants lost work authorization, likely driving up food prices

5 months 3 weeks ago
The Trump administration’s termination of work permits for more than 530,000 immigrants could have far-reaching economic consequences for the country’s agricultural sector, potentially deepening labor shortages and leading to higher food prices. According to a recent analysis by FWD.us, a bipartisan immigration advocacy group, the rollback of humanitarian parole programs and other immigration policies could […]
Juan Vassallo

Legal confusion historically delays emergency abortion care in Missouri

5 months 3 weeks ago
In 2022, Mylissa Farmer arrived at a Missouri emergency room, bleeding and in pain. She was nearly 18 weeks pregnant. Her water had broken, and her pregnancy was no longer viable. Her condition was deteriorating. Doctors knew she needed emergency care. Instead of treating her, they called lawyers. She was turned away from two hospitals […]
Abby Ehrhardt

Tumult over Epstein files dogs Trump, derails business on Capitol Hill

5 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The fallout over President Donald Trump’s handling of financier and Florida sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s case files permeated business on Capitol Hill Thursday, as Senate Democrats urged release of the information. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Florida, a top Department of Justice official interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and a key figure in the […]
Ashley Murray, Christine Sexton

Democrats, education groups call for Trump to unfreeze K-12 funds

5 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday slammed the ā€œassaultā€ on public education by President Donald Trump’s administration, underscoring the impact of billions of dollars in funds still frozen for K-12 schools and ongoing efforts to dismantle the Education Department. Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, who hosted a forum alongside several Democratic colleagues that also heard […]
Shauneen Miranda

ā€˜We’ve already done that’: Missouri lawmakers show little enthusiasm for new congressional maps

5 months 3 weeks ago
As Texas embarks on a special legislative session that includes revising that state’s congressional districts to help Republicans, President Donald Trump is reportedly asking for Missouri to do the same. The reaction among legislative leaders, however, is decidedly negative. Asked by text about a report from Punchbowl News on a new redistricting effort, state Senate […]
Rudi Keller

USDA to ship some DC workers to regional centers, including Kansas City

5 months 3 weeks ago
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to slash its presence in the Washington, D.C., area by sending employees to five regional hubs, Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday. The department wants to reduce its workforce in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia from 4,600 to less than 2,000 and add workers to regional offices in […]
Jacob Fischler

Medicaid cuts are likely to worsen mental health care in rural America

5 months 3 weeks ago
Across the nation, Medicaid is the single largest payer for mental health care, and in rural America, residents disproportionately rely on the public insurance program. But Medicaid cuts in the massive tax and spending bill signed into law earlier this month will worsen mental health disparities in those communities, experts say, as patients lose coverage […]
Nada Hassanein

Missouri AG sues Planned Parenthood, claims it misled patients over safety of abortion pill

5 months 3 weeks ago
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is suing the national Planned Parenthood organization over its claims regarding the abortion drug mifepristone. Bailey filed the lawsuit against the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court. The lawsuit argues Planned Parenthood’s national organization has misled consumers about the safety of mifepristone, which is […]
Jacob Richey

US House grapples with college athletes’ rights as two panels approve bill on player pay

5 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — A measure that would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation got one step closer to becoming law Wednesday after advancing in two separate U.S. House panels. TheĀ bill’s fate remains uncertain as it makes its way through Congress, and Democrats argue that theĀ legislation would give ā€œunchecked authorityā€ to the NCAA on athletes’ […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump illegally withheld Head Start payments, government watchdog says

5 months 3 weeks ago
The Health and Human Services Department illegally withheld payments from Head Start for the first months of President Donald Trump’s term, a government watchdog reported Wednesday. HHS payments for Head Start this year were significantly behind schedule compared with 2024. That violated the Impoundment Control Act, a law governing the president’s duty to spend congressionally […]
Jacob Fischler

FEMA acting chief says response to Texas flood catastrophe was ā€˜outstanding’

5 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration official running the Federal Emergency Management Agency testified Wednesday the response to flash flooding in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend served as an ā€œoutstandingā€ model for the rest of the country. His conclusions about the catastrophic flooding, which had a death tollĀ of 135 and included extensive search and […]
Jennifer Shutt

Feds cancel $4.9 billion loan for Grain Belt Express transmission line project

5 months 3 weeks ago
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday it was cancelling a conditional $4.9 billion loan for the Grain Belt Express, a planned transmission line designed to transport electricity generated by wind farms in Kansas across four states, including Missouri. The loan, which was issued by the Biden administration in November 2024, is being cancelled because […]
Jason Hancock