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Missouri lawmakers signal bipartisan support for bills to curb child sexual abuse

5 months ago
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 […]
Steph Quinn

Proposals to expand Missouri private school voucher program meet tight budget

5 months ago
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 […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Mike Kehoe says Missouri is falling behind. His solution: more tax cuts

5 months ago
Gov. Mike Kehoe’s State of the State address rested on a tension he never resolved. Missouri, he warned, is falling behind. Its population is “stagnant.” Economic growth over the past decade has been “average at best.” When competing with states like Texas and Tennessee, Missouri too often loses before the conversation even begins. Yet in […]
Jason Hancock

Abortion safety takes center stage as Missouri trial enters second week

5 months ago
KANSAS CITY — Roughly 1% of the more than 53,000 Missourians who received abortions over the last 10 years in Illinois and Kansas experienced complications, ranging from infection to incomplete abortions to hemorrhaging.  Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office are dissecting dozens of Missouri’s Targeted Regulation of Abortion, or TRAP laws, […]
Anna Spoerre, Kevin Hardy

Missouri court cases vanish from public view through ‘security level’ system

5 months ago
A Missouri House candidate’s history of domestic violence. A Highway Patrol trooper’s sexual abuse of a fellow officer at a work conference. A lawsuit between prominent St. Louis attorneys. All of these cases were removed from Missouri’s public court database. Searching for them online, it appeared as if they never existed. Cases assigned a high […]
Finnegan Belleau, Nathan Lee

Could this be the last year we commemorate MLK Day as a federal holiday?

5 months ago
If left up to the Trump administration, Martin Luther King Jr. Day would likely be nullified as a federal holiday. Trump used his executive powers to change the observance of MLK Day by cancelling it as a free-admission day for those who wish to visit our national parks during federal holidays. The order also applies […]
Janice Ellis

Trump rolls out framework on health care costs that’s silent on ACA tax credits

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump outlined his health care proposals to Congress on Thursday, asking lawmakers to approve several broad policy changes “without delay” — but left out any mention of enhanced tax credits whose expiration has left some Americans with skyrocketing costs.  Health care costs, especially the rising price of health insurance, have become […]
Jennifer Shutt

Far fewer people buy Obamacare coverage as insurance premiums spike

5 months 1 week ago
Nationwide, the number of people buying health plans on Obamacare insurance marketplaces is down by about 833,000 compared with a year ago, according to federal data released this week. Many states are reporting fewer new enrollees, more people dropping their coverage, and more people choosing cheaper and less generous health insurance plans with higher deductibles. […]
Nada Hassanein

Trump threatens tariffs on Greenland, countries that oppose US takeover

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened Friday to place tariffs on Greenland and any country that opposes his efforts to take over the Arctic island, as members of Congress from both political parties were in Europe to assure allied nations that lawmakers won’t go along with his plans.  “I may do that for Greenland too. […]
Jennifer Shutt

Federal courts deny Trump request for private voter data in 2 states

5 months 1 week ago
The Trump administration hit two major legal roadblocks this week in its effort to obtain sensitive personal voter data from states. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter dismissed a lawsuit by the Department of Justice against California seeking voter information. The Trump administration has demanded that at least 40 states provide unredacted voter […]
Kevin Hardy

Republicans push to put Medicaid work requirements into Missouri constitution

5 months 1 week ago
A plan to add Medicaid work requirements to the state Constitution was debated by a Missouri House committee this week, with Republican lawmakers hoping to put the issue before voters later this year. The proposed ballot measure, if approved by a majority of Missouri voters, would make it more difficult for the state to reverse […]
Steph Quinn

Missouri lawmakers seek to improve gifted education in public schools

5 months 1 week ago
More Missouri public school students could receive gifted education under two proposals debated by the House Education Committee Thursday. State Rep. Brenda Shields, a Republican from St. Joseph, is sponsoring a bill that would require schools to screen all students to determine if they qualify as gifted before they reach third grade. She estimates that […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri cannabis advocates celebrate clarification on medical patients’ rights

5 months 1 week ago
Missouri cannabis regulators have changed their guidance on whether or not medical marijuana patients can purchase from licensed dispensaries as a regular consumer, following complaints over the last year that the state’s policy was an unconstitutional restriction. But the update ended up causing more confusion about what patients can or can’t do, cannabis advocates say.  […]
Rebecca Rivas

Court considers end to legal protection for nearly 1 million immigrants from Haiti, Venezuela

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — A panel of appellate judges Wednesday heard a challenge from civil rights groups to the Trump administration’s decision to revoke an extension, as well as end, temporary protections for nearly 1 million immigrants from Haiti and Venezuela.  The challenge comes from the National TPS Alliance, which represents immigrants with Temporary Protected Status because […]
Ariana Figueroa

Democrats stall Missouri governor’s appointments, vow to slow Senate pace

5 months 1 week ago
Missouri Senate Democrats blocked debate on more than a dozen gubernatorial appointments Thursday, bringing the chamber to a standstill and vowing to spend the year slowing down the legislative process.  For two hours Thursday, a Democratic filibuster prevented the Senate from considering appointments by Gov. Mike Kehoe to various boards and commissions. With no end […]
Jason Hancock, Steph Quinn

Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act and deploy military in Minnesota

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday morning to send the military into Minnesota to stop protests, following another shooting by immigration agents that injured one person, seven days after an agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis. Writing on his own social media platform, Trump said he would invoke the Insurrection Act, a […]
Ashley Murray