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MoInd 📰

I once wrote that two moments explained Mike Parson’s tenure. Make it three

2 weeks ago
When Mike Parson left office 18 months ago, I wrote that two moments explained his six years as Missouri governor. The first was a pandemic press briefing where a besieged Parson decided not to take questions and instead recite Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena,” casting criticism as something beneath the dignity of the […]
Jason Hancock

America’s 250th birthday is on sale. Where’s all that merch money going?

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — What’s more American than apple pie? Capitalism. And an array of merchandise and influence is on sale for the 250th birthday of the United States. An America250 $275 Liberty Lux American Prosperity decorative throw pillow, anyone? How about a $25 Freedom 250 youth tee? America250, a commission created by Congress a decade ago, and […]
Ashley Murray

More states expand PTSD treatment options for first responders

2 weeks 3 days ago
More states this year have looked beyond traditional counseling and medication to help first responders cope with post-traumatic stress.  Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical workers routinely witness fatal crashes, violent crimes and other traumatic events that can leave lasting psychological scars.  “When you are in the fire service, or any first responder industry, or […]
Amanda Watford

Audit finds former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s state flights often lacked a public purpose

2 weeks 4 days ago
Former Gov. Mike Parson’s office spent $375,000 flying him around on state aircraft without keeping flight records showing why, and for a third of those flights auditors could not identify any state business purpose. That finding anchors a closeout audit of the governor’s office released Thursday by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, which gave the office […]
Jason Hancock

Feds encourage public housing authorities to impose work rules, time limits

2 weeks 4 days ago
Dozens of public housing authorities, tribes, property owners and community groups have joined a new coalition organized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote work requirements and time limits for people who receive federal housing help. HUD is currently finalizing a rule that would allow public housing authorities and property owners who […]
Robbie Sequeira

US labor market weakened in June

2 weeks 4 days ago
Job growth slowed in June to an increase of 57,000 after three straight months of gaining more than 100,000, according to a new report released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job gains were also revised down from 172,000 to 129,000 for May, and from 179,000 to 148,000 for April.  The unemployment rate […]
Tim Henderson

More states try to give patients relief from medical debt

2 weeks 4 days ago
Legislators in at least six states this year have approved measures related to patient medical debt, according to a report on legislative policy trends released Wednesday by United States of Care, a nonpartisan think tank. Many Americans are struggling to afford healthcare. A recent survey found that 46% of adults, regardless of their health care insurance […]
Nada Hassanein

Data center backlash spills into Missouri primaries as GOP candidates demand action

2 weeks 4 days ago
MONTGOMERY CITY — Bill Cope stood before the Montgomery County Commission earlier this month to urge local officials to reject a 25-year, 70% personal property tax abatement for a $15 billion, 934-acre Google data center project under construction outside of New Florence. “I’m not against the schools or health department or anybody getting more money,” […]
Steph Quinn

A sweaty Fourth of July ahead for the US as extreme heat descends on 20 states

2 weeks 4 days ago
WASHINGTON  — As outdoor celebrations and events marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and the World Cup reach their peak, local officials across the country are urging caution amid a heat wave blanketing many East Coast and Midwestern states.  The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning for parts of about 20 states, including […]
Sam Gauntt

Medicaid again to cover non-abortion care at Planned Parenthood as GOP ban ends

2 weeks 4 days ago
WASHINGTON — Republicans celebrated last year when they barred Medicaid payments from going to Planned Parenthood for one year, predicting the financial impact would hollow out the organization.  A year later, with that section of the “big, beautiful” law set to expire July 4, GOP lawmakers are trying to find a way to keep the […]
Jennifer Shutt

More states tighten voting rules ahead of midterm elections

2 weeks 5 days ago
At least nine states have passed voting laws this year that will make it more difficult for some voters to cast their ballots during the midterm elections in November. Lawmakers in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia passed laws between January and May of this year restricting access […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Planned Parenthood expands mifepristone access to Kansas City suburbs

2 weeks 5 days ago
The Planned Parenthood clinic in Gladstone began offering medication abortion on Wednesday, becoming the fourth location in Missouri to open appointments following a court ruling that expanded access to medication abortion for the first time since 2018. This is the first time the suburban Kansas City clinic has ever offered medication abortions. Planned Parenthood officials […]
Anna Spoerre

Abortion medication, HPV vaccine laws take effect Wednesday in three states

2 weeks 5 days ago
Several laws restricting access to medications that can be used to terminate a pregnancy and others placing limits on minors’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare — including the HPV vaccine — take effect Wednesday, July 1, in Iowa, Mississippi and Tennessee. Many bills were considered in state legislatures earlier this year that would have […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

Missouri education department’s A-F school grading plan comes with warnings

2 weeks 5 days ago
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent its plan Tuesday for grading public schools on an “A” through “F” scale to Gov. Mike Kehoe, fulfilling a directive from his January executive order while warning that the work will come with new costs. The 24-page proposal estimates it will cost $518,000 to create the […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri tax incentive program aims to turn empty offices into housing

2 weeks 5 days ago
Across Kansas City, it’s easy to find vacant office buildings and empty cubicles collecting dust. The companies once housed there saw employees switch to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and never come back in-person. Or the companies downsized, moved or closed completely. Whatever the case, those buildings present a challenge to city planners attempting […]
Ryleigh Hindle

Bipartisan support on US House panel for examining private equity in youth sports

2 weeks 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — Members of a U.S. House Education and Workforce subcommittee found rare common ground scrutinizing private equity’s stake in youth sports at a Tuesday hearing. Lawmakers from both parties on the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education stressed the importance of making sports accessible to all kids and discussed ways to prevent […]
Amelia Twyman

States gird for new Medicaid ‘medically frail’ rule

2 weeks 5 days ago
State Medicaid agencies are concerned that many sick and disabled enrollees will lose their coverage because the Trump administration is narrowing the definition of who is “medically frail” enough to get an exemption from new work requirements. Under the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed a year ago, states that have expanded Medicaid […]
Shalina Chatlani

Gov. Mike Kehoe vetoes, restricts nearly $500 million from Missouri state budget 

2 weeks 6 days ago
Gov. Mike Kehoe vetoed nearly $53 million from Missouri’s $50.7 billion state budget Tuesday, but his larger move was to freeze $441 million in spending — including dozens of lawmaker-backed earmarks — as state revenues lag projections and Missouri’s pandemic-era surplus dwindles. The vetoes were relatively light, cutting only about $30 million in general revenue […]
Rudi Keller

White House budget director advocates more funding for own agency, cuts for others

2 weeks 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — White House budget director Russ Vought testified before a U.S. House panel Tuesday that his agency needs lawmakers to increase its annual budget, even though he hasn’t spent much of the $100 million Republicans approved in their “big, beautiful” law. That earlier funding, he said, is intended to help the agency keep track […]
Jennifer Shutt