a Better Bubbleā„¢

MoInd šŸ“°

Missouri doesn’t require asking pregnant patients about their mental health. New moms keep dying

2 weeks 3 days ago
When a doctor starts asking a new mother about feelings of depression, therapist Haley Walker said the patient may be thinking about more than her actual symptoms. ā€œ[It] can feel scary as a new mom,ā€ Walker said. ā€œYou’re like, ā€˜Is this person going to try and take my baby if I’m honest?ā€™ā€ Walker specializes in […]
Meg Cunningham

Eric Schmitt bungles accusation against former special counsel Jack Smith in heated hearing

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday defended before a U.S. Senate panel his past investigations of President Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents and alleged role in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Judiciary Committee Republicans repeatedly dissected Smith’s work and accused him of weaponizing the Department of Justice. In a […]
Ashley Murray

Eric Schmitt’s Hawks-Hawkeyes blunder and the politician he’s become

2 weeks 3 days ago
On Monday, Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt showed he still knows how old-fashioned politics works. He helped pass a college sports bill he spent months negotiating with Democrats Maria Cantwell and Chris Coons. They disagreed over major provisions, compromised and produced legislation that passed the Senate 77-22. A day later, a different Eric Schmitt showed up. […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri judge hears challenge to Boone County charter school expansion

2 weeks 3 days ago
A Cole County Circuit Court judge will decide whether to strike down a 2024 law allowing charter schools in Boone County, a case that could further define Missouri’s constitutional ban on special laws. In a hearing Tuesday morning, attorneys representing Columbia Public Schools asked Circuit Court Judge Emily Fretwell to block a 2024 law that […]
Annelise Hanshaw

News orgs banned from White House accuse Trump of First Amendment violation

2 weeks 4 days ago
WASHINGTON — The three news organizations that President Donald Trump barred from entering the White House grounds earlier this month have asked a federal judge to ensure their reporters continue to have access after a temporary restraining order expires in early October.  Attorneys for CNN, MS Now and Politico filed paperwork late Monday requesting a […]
Jennifer Shutt

Trump thwarted in hunt for rare noncitizen voters as midterms near

2 weeks 4 days ago
Five weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s sprawling effort to identify and remove noncitizen voters hasn’t produced the kind of large purges that could meaningfully affect the midterm elections. Even a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision giving states access to a supercharged Department of Homeland Security computer program to verify voters’ citizenship will have […]
Jonathan Shorman

Governors pledge to oppose federal overreach — even when their party runs Washington

2 weeks 4 days ago
Democratic and Republican governors say they will more aggressively push back on federal overreach regardless of which party controls Washington. Earlier this month, the bipartisan National Governors Association for the first time in over a decade updated its internal principles on federalism — the system of power sharing between Washington, D.C., and the states. That […]
Kevin Hardy

Trump used impossible foreign labor standards as tariff workaround, small businesses say

2 weeks 4 days ago
WASHINGTON — Small businesses will once again challenge President Donald Trump’s tariffs in federal court this week as they continue to feel the squeeze of the administration’s roller coaster policy on import taxes. Spice importer Burlap & Barrel and rare watch importer Collective Horology will argue Wednesday in the Court of International Trade in New […]
Ashley Murray

Missouri Republicans scramble to launch late campaigns on two ballot measures

2 weeks 4 days ago
Missouri Republicans are scrambling to organize late campaigns on ballot measures they spent most of the year trying to block from the Nov. 3 election. The party’s State Committee met Saturday in Columbia and passed resolutions asking for a ā€œyesā€ vote on Proposition A, a referendum on the 2025 redistricting map, and a ā€œnoā€ vote […]
Rudi Keller

Union fight erupts at Missouri cannabis dispensary after 12 workers fired

2 weeks 4 days ago
Madison Taylor has spent the past eight days picketing outside her former workplace, Greenlight Dispensary in Springfield. Two weeks ago, Taylor says she and a group of coworkers met outside of work to discuss forming a union. Days later, 12 employees who attended the meeting were fired, she said, after management accused them of consuming […]
Rebecca Rivas

Major bill to set standards for college athletes’ pay passes US Senate

2 weeks 4 days ago
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law Monday after passing the U.S. Senate. The bill — which sailed through on a 77-22 vote — would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation, provide certain antitrust protections to the NCAA, establish a five-year eligibility […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump administration revokes $810M approved by Congress for refugee aid and more

2 weeks 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.  The $810 million in the ā€œpocket rescissionā€ would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department program that provided ā€œdebt […]
Jennifer Shutt

Private donors are funding Missouri education board’s commissioner search, strategic plan

2 weeks 5 days ago
Private philanthropy will fund two major initiatives underway at the Missouri State Board of Education, but the identities of the donors remain unknown to the public, the state education department and at least one of the contractors doing the work. Earlier this month, the board approved two memorandums of understanding with consultants helping search for […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Anti-abortion divide could complicate Missouri Amendment 3 campaign

2 weeks 5 days ago
More Missouri women had abortions while the state was under a near-total abortion ban than they did in the years before, when abortion was legal but highly restricted. That fact has become a fault line among Missouri conservatives debating Amendment 3 — a divide that could matter in an election recent polling suggests may again […]
Anna Spoerre

Denny Hoskins’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month

2 weeks 5 days ago
There are rough months in politics. And then there are months when you get summoned before the Missouri Supreme Court, found in contempt, sued repeatedly, accused by a former employee of retaliating against him for raising concerns about misconduct and singled out for criticism by the highest court in the nation. Denny Hoskins had the […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri Independent reporters win investigative journalism prize for foster care series

2 weeks 6 days ago
Reporters Clara Bates and Anna Spoerre were awarded the A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism on Saturday by the Missouri Press Association for their reporting on problems in the state’s foster care. The award recognizes reporting that uncovers information not readily available to the public and requires ā€œexceptional journalistic skill, determination and effort.ā€ It includes a […]
Staff Reports

Missouri should take the time to get its next education commissioner right

3 weeks ago
Missouri education is entering a period of significant change. That makes the search for the state’s next Commissioner of Education more than a personnel decision. It is a decision about who will lead Missouri’s schools through some of the most consequential policy changes the state has undertaken in years. The Missouri State Board of Education […]
Torree Pederson