MoInd 📰

Amber Schmidtke, a microbiologist, remembers feeling a tinge of relief five years ago as COVID spread across communities. At least it wasn’t measles. “Measles is the most contagious disease we have,” said Schmidtke, who teaches at Kansas City University. But now, she and other public health experts are watching with alarm as the largely preventable […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump released a budget request Friday that would dramatically slash some federal spending, the initial step in a monthslong process that will include heated debate on Capitol Hill as both political parties work toward a final government funding agreement. The proposal, for the first time, details how exactly this administration wants […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump released a budget request Friday that would dramatically slash some federal spending, the initial step in a monthslong process that will include heated debate on Capitol Hill as both political parties work toward a final government funding agreement. The proposal, for the first time, details how exactly this administration wants […]

As states rush to address falling literacy scores, a new kind of education debate in state legislatures is taking hold: not whether reading instruction needs fixing, but how to fix it. More than a dozen states have enacted laws banning public school educators from teaching youngsters to read using an approach that’s been popular for […]

Missouri’s air quality worsened from 2021 to 2023, with wildfires, warmer temperatures and dangerous air pollutants fouling the air Missourians breathe. The American Lung Association’s 2025 State of the Air report found that the St. Louis and Kansas City areas both had poorer outcomes for some measures of air quality compared to previous years. St. […]

WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in prison in El Salvador after he was mistakenly deported more than a month ago, and Senate Democrats said Thursday they will file a privileged resolution that would require the State Department to report on human rights conditions in CECOT,  the brutal 40,000-capacity facility where Abrego Garcia was first […]

WASHINGTON — Despite news that the U.S. economy has contracted since January, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s policies are working to “unleash this era of American prosperity.” Miller, also a top adviser for Trump on immigration, dismissed fears from the small business community and American consumers […]

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Thursday struck down President Donald Trump’s use of a wartime law to deport Venezuelan nationals, but limited the scope to the Southern District of Texas. Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., whom Trump appointed in 2017, wrote in a 36-page order that the administration’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act was unlawful, […]

Missouri’s voter-approved paid sick leave law officially went into effect Thursday, allowing thousands of qualified employees to begin accruing paid time off.

For more than 50 years, the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals have called adjacent stadiums in eastern Kansas City home. The teams’ future at Truman Sports Complex, though, is increasingly in doubt as the franchises ponder options on both sides of the state line and as officials in the Jackson County Legislature and Missouri General […]

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans, including most Republicans, oppose major cuts in federal funding for Medicaid, according to a poll released Thursday by the nonpartisan health research organization KFF. The survey shows that 76% of those questioned wouldn’t support  Congress slashing the amount of spending dedicated to the state-federal health program for lower-income Americans and some people […]

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans defended President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs Wednesday, blocking a largely symbolic measure to terminate the president’s import taxes that have shocked the economy. The resolution failed in a tied 49-49 vote Wednesday evening. Vice President J.D. Vance broke the tie on a subsequent procedural vote to stop the measure from receiving another chance […]

A Senate bill allowing homeschooled student participation in public and charter school activities and athletics passed the Missouri House on Wednesday. Sponsored by state Sen. Ben Brown, a Republican from Washington, the bill would prohibit public and charter schools from banning homeschooled or full-time virtual students from taking part in school athletics and activities. A […]

A Senate bill allowing homeschooled student participation in public and charter school activities and athletics passed the Missouri House on Wednesday. Sponsored by state Sen. Ben Brown, a Republican from Washington, the bill would prohibit public and charter schools from banning homeschooled or full-time virtual students from taking part in school athletics and activities. A […]

The split among Senate Republicans over a bill allowing Missouri students to enroll in neighboring school districts widened to a chasm they could not bridge Wednesday after the legislation was tied to an obligation to fully fund public education. The state Senate debated the legislation, dubbed “open enrollment,” for five hours, finally setting it aside […]

A proposed constitutional amendment that would again ban abortion in Missouri passed out of a state Senate committee on Wednesday, meaning it is one step away from heading to a statewide ballot. The legislation approved on a 4-2 party line vote would repeal the reproductive rights amendment known as Amendment 3 but allow exceptions for […]

WASHINGTON — Three U.S. House committees on Tuesday approved the first few bills that will make up Republicans’ massive reconciliation package after rejecting numerous Democratic amendments. The Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Education and Workforce committees each voted mostly along party lines to send their measures to the Budget Committee, which is expected to bundle […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that he would focus on the agency’s workforce to manage trade and border crossings, while the committee’s top Democrat accused him of covering up a 2010 death at a CBP facility he oversaw. If Rodney […]

A reproductive health care nonprofit filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn Missouri’s law requiring minors to get parental approval before getting an abortion. The lawsuit contends the consent law is unconstitutional after voters passed an abortion rights amendment last year. Right By You, a nonprofit that helps young people navigate pregnancy decisions, including by […]

A reproductive health care nonprofit filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn Missouri’s law requiring minors to get parental approval before getting an abortion. The lawsuit contends the consent law is unconstitutional after voters passed an abortion rights amendment last year. Right By You, a nonprofit that helps young people navigate pregnancy decisions, including by […]