MoInd 📰

Shelby Twigger hates to miss work. After attending a retirement event with her dad, Doug, in summer 2024, she insisted on going back for the final hour and a half of her shift at Christian County Enterprises in Nixa, where about 60 Missourians with disabilities take on contract work for businesses across the state. Shelby, […]

Rural hospitals are closing across Missouri at a pace that should concentrate every lawmaker’s attention. According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, 50% of Missouri’s 58 remaining rural hospitals are at risk of closure. Another 21% are considered at immediate risk of closure.  For many communities, these are the emergency room, the […]

The Missouri Senate unanimously passed a bill last week aimed at curbing meritless lawsuits filed to chill speech through the threat of a long and expensive legal fight. The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Mike Henderson of Desloge, would broaden Missouri’s limited protections against so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, and create […]

The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is getting involved in Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s lawsuit against a nonprofit governing body for high school sports and activities, accusing the organization of sex and race discrimination for denying a board position to a white man. U.S. attorneys cite key civil rights cases, like Loving v. […]

WASHINGTON — A U.S. fighter jet went down over Iran Friday and one crew member has been rescued, according to several media reports. Iranian state media reported the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was responsible.   The attack marks the first time Iran has shot down U.S. military aircraft since the war’s start. Reuters and the New York Times […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration released its fiscal 2027 budget request Friday, asking Congress to increase spending on defense programs by 43% and decrease funding for non-defense accounts by 10%.  The proposal kicks off what will be a monthslong process on Capitol Hill as lawmakers write the dozen annual government funding bills ahead of the […]

Before Wyoming elections, the state’s League of Women Voters tries to get voter registration information into the hands of residents at events and gatherings. But under state law, League volunteers can’t sign up voters themselves — only local election officials can do that. “It’s been tough,” said Linda Barton, president of the League of Women […]

The Missouri House gave bipartisan approval Thursday to legislation that would help Medicaid recipients get healthy, locally grown food if they have been diagnosed with chronic diet-related illnesses. One bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Holly Jones of Eureka, passed 121 to 18. Most of its provisions are also included in a wide-ranging bill sponsored […]

A wide-ranging health care bill that includes a provision expanding doula services for low-income families across the state passed out of the Missouri House on Thursday. The legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Tara Peters, a Rolla Republican, would expand coverage of doula support for women enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program from six to 16 […]

The Missouri House on Thursday voted to advance a package of tax credits designed to boost access to affordable child care and stabilize the industry. The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph, passed with 50 Republicans and all Democrats in support.   It’s the fourth year the chamber has sent the […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats this week blasted the Trump administration’s attempts to shift management of federal student loans from the Education Department to the Treasury Department, saying it would contribute to dysfunction in the student loan system. In a Wednesday letter, the ranking members of five Senate panels — the committees covering banking, finance, education, federal […]

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving the Department of Justice and will be replaced for now by President Donald Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, the president announced Thursday. “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a […]

After four years of trying, the Missouri House passed legislation Thursday that would require the state to conduct a study on using psilocybin — also known as “magic mushrooms” — and other alternative therapies to treat depression, substance use or as part end-of-life care.  Veterans and first-responders would be able to possess the psychedelic if […]

A bill heading to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk would take all intoxicating hemp products off the shelves starting Nov. 12 — including THC seltzers currently sold in bars and grocery stores — aligning state law with an upcoming federal ban. If Congress reverses course and decides to allow the sale of these products, Missouri […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday that would end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, sending the same bill it passed last week to the House, which didn’t take any action during a brief session. But it appeared the shutdown also could be affected by executive action. President Donald Trump wrote […]

WASHINGTON — A federal court order last month to effectively axe a Biden-era student loan repayment plan capped years of chaos for more than 7 million student borrowers enrolled in the program. The Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan marked a cornerstone of the Joe Biden administration’s loan forgiveness efforts but became mired […]

A lawyer for a company hoping to break into Missouri’s gambling market told a state Senate panel Wednesday that unregulated slot machines are siphoning millions from schools and that lawmakers should respond by legalizing video lottery games. Matt Hortenstine, chief counsel for Illinois-based J&J Ventures, called enforcement efforts a “whack-a-mole” game unless retailers have a […]

Democrats sued over President Donald Trump’s executive order clamping down on mail ballots on Wednesday, signaling the start of another fight with the White House over elections. The order, which would create a national list of voting-age American citizens and directs the U.S. Postal Service to place limits on mail-in ballots, constitutes an extraordinary and illegal attempt […]

As Missouri Republicans push a constitutional amendment to phase out the state income tax, the proposal’s House sponsor told a Senate committee Wednesday that sales taxes are a fairer, more transparent way to raise money — even as he insisted the measure itself would not directly raise them. Pressed on language allowing lawmakers to expand […]

For the first time in years, there are early signs that police killings in the United States may be declining — after deaths reached a record high in 2024 and amid intensified scrutiny of law enforcement tactics nationwide. The findings come as photos and videos of aggressive law enforcement — particularly involving federal immigration agents […]