MoInd 📰

The tiniest menace of summer doesn’t care if you’re hiking through the woods, walking the dog or pulling weeds in your backyard. It just wants a ride and a meal. As ticks spread into new parts of the country and emergency room visits for tick bites climb higher than usual, states are scrambling to monitor […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department on Thursday defended the agency’s major role in a broader drive by the administration to dismantle the Education Department.   Grilled by U.S. Senate Democrats, acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling stood behind the multiple interagency agreements, or IAAs, Education has so far signed with Labor, […]

A coalition of hemp businesses filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in an attempt to halt a statewide ban on intoxicating hemp products from going into effect in November. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District, claims the ban state lawmakers passed this spring contains “unconstitutionally vague” definitions for hemp and […]

In the spring of 2021, Cecilia Williams lost her son, daughter-in-law and grandson to a drunken driver. Williams, who lives in Bonne Terre, is now raising the two orphaned grandchildren who survived, Bentley and Mason. A year later, Melanie Wankum was hit head-on by a drunken driver, killing her instantly and injuring a passenger on their […]

As federal officials consider whether to reclassify marijuana under federal drug law, a new study has found that more American teenagers seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder, known as CUD, are facing longer wait times before receiving care. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, analyzed national data from more than 124,000 […]

The nation’s election infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks by foreign actors, President Donald Trump said during a primetime address Thursday night, citing a batch of documents he declassified — but providing no proof broad interference actually occurred or affected an election outcome. Democrats and advocates quickly criticized the remarks as another attempt by Trump to give […]

Missouri state Sen. Jill Carter considers herself a “poster child” for school choice, having homeschooled her children and spent a decade advocating for parental rights before winning a Missouri Senate seat in 2022. “I think government has ruined education,” said Carter, whose 32nd District encompasses Jasper and Newton counties, the area surrounding Joplin. “We talk […]

In her analysis of the most recent U.S. Supreme Court term, Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog pondered whether it was “the Trump term?” after mixed results for President Donald Trump on the cases involving his agenda. So, how did Trump do? The court checked Trump with high profile decisions against him on tariffs, birthright citizenship, and […]

Farmers from across the country are urging the federal government to expedite an investigation of the fertilizer industry as they struggle with “impossibly high input costs.”  A letter from grower associations follows a slew of recent federal actions taken to address the expense of fertilizers.  In the letter sent to leaders of the Senate Committee […]

Ballot measure fights are consuming the big money in Missouri elections this summer, with more than $27 million raised for proposals on the Aug. 4 ballot, according to reports filed this week with state and federal authorities. There’s no hotly contested statewide candidate race on the primary election ballot, but there are four constitutional amendments, […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied a key group for his party Thursday, telling the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention that, if successful in November’s midterm elections, a Democratic majority in the House would pursue several progressive policies.  The New York congressman addressed affordability, voting rights and what he called “the […]

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. House Budget Committee approved their budget resolution Thursday, marking one small step forward in the complicated process that could allow the party to enact a third party-line bill.  The 20-14 vote followed hours of debate over amendments from Democrats that sought to roll back pieces of the earlier Republican […]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin called New York’s recently announced statewide moratorium on data centers an “easy way to cop out” during an appearance at the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Infrastructure Summit Tuesday. Data centers — which house the computer servers and storage that power the internet, cloud computing and artificial […]

WASHINGTON — A major legislative package that would put into law President Donald Trump’s push to greatly reduce the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Education advanced out of a U.S. House panel on Wednesday.  The U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce approved — nearly along party lines — each of the package’s 10 bills that […]

A teenager charged with the same crime can face dramatically different consequences depending on where they live. In one state, a young person accused of a serious offense may be sent to a juvenile facility focused on treatment and rehabilitation. In another, they could face adult criminal proceedings, a permanent record and the possibility of […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t appear to secure the support needed to take over the public health agency during a lengthy and often tense confirmation hearing Wednesday.  While Dr. Erica Schwartz told lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee that oversees health policy she would […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine. In a post to social media, Trump called the practice of federal immigration officers conducting enforcement during traffic […]

For much of the Republican primary race for Missouri’s 10th District state Senate seat, state Rep. Tricia Byrnes of Wentzville has sought to make the accelerating development of large-scale data centers a decisive campaign issue. The district, which comprises Callaway, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike and northwestern St. Charles counties, has been a flashpoint of public outcry […]

WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed Wednesday to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that if he is confirmed for the top post, the Justice Department would not oppose an effort in Congress to permanently ban a controversial “anti-weaponization” fund. Blanche also said he would consider any new information brought forward to the government about […]

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, issued an executive order Tuesday that puts a moratorium on the construction of large-scale data centers. The pause, which will last up to a year, is the nation’s first statewide ban on data centers, which have drawn increasing concern from lawmakers and citizens based on their impact on […]