WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time in three years as inflation continues to dog the economy, largely driven by soaring gas and fuel oil prices while the war in Iran drags on. The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee voted 12-0 to increase its benchmark interest rate by a […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House departed Wednesday for a seven-week campaign break after spending less than two weeks in session during August and September. The extended “district work period” is intended to give incumbents from both political parties time to meet with constituents and fundraise back home before voting in this year’s midterm elections ends […]
WASHINGTON — Voters are much more likely to support U.S. Senate candidates in the November midterm elections if they have a plan to avoid an automatic cut to Social Security benefits in 2032, according to a poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation. “Senators elected this fall will be in office in […]
The official poverty rate in the United States dipped slightly by half a percentage point last year to a historic low of 10.2%, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday. The supplemental poverty rate, a more holistic figure that includes an individual’s non-cash resources, remained essentially unchanged at 13.1%, according to the bureau’s annual […]
WASHINGTON — Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year. Former U.S. Education Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King Jr., who led the department during the Obama administration, and Miguel Cardona of the […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday moved forward on a sweeping bipartisan bill that would set national standards for college athletes’ compensation. The measure breezed through its first procedural vote that needed 60 senators to advance, 74-24. The legislation is the latest congressional push to overhaul the college sports landscape, which continues to wrestle with […]
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins wants the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove a congressional redistricting referendum from the Missouri ballot and order the state to hold the November election under the gerrymandered map Republicans muscled through the Legislature last year. In a filing Tuesday afternoon, state Solicitor General Lou Capozzi, writing on […]
In a pair of unanimous decisions, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected the reasons given by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for his refusal to approve two petitions. First, the court ordered Hoskins to certify a petition on whether voters want to accept or reject the legislature’s redistricting plan. Then the court ordered him to certify […]
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped questions about FBI agents at polling places in the midterm elections at a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday that also featured a tense exchange between GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. With the November midterm elections fast approaching and the parties […]
WASHINGTON — The cost of U.S. military operations in Iran has exceeded $40 billion and the war will continue to cost taxpayers between $2 billion and $3 billion per month, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The ongoing bombing campaign, which President Donald Trump launched alongside the Israeli government […]
The Missouri State Board of Education declined Tuesday to seek the roughly $300 million increase needed to fully fund the state’s public school funding formula next year, opting instead to request lawmakers allocate the same amount schools are receiving this year. The decision came after board members deadlocked over the Department of Elementary and Secondary […]
Missouri education officials on Tuesday pushed back the release of “A” through “F” grades for public schools until at least mid-November, giving districts a chance to review the ratings first after administrators raised concerns about the system. “We want to make sure that there’s not a premature release, and that all of a sudden schools […]
Cerina Fairfax, a Virginia dentist and mother of two, spent nearly two years living in the same house as her husband while she was trying to divorce him. Virginia state law required couples with children, like the Fairfaxes, to wait a year before being allowed to file for divorce. Cerina’s husband, former Virginia Lt. Gov. […]
WASHINGTON — With the U.S. Senate set to hold a procedural vote in the coming days on a sweeping bill to overhaul college sports, dueling press conferences Monday underscored the fierce debate over how to tackle the biggest issues plaguing that landscape. Supporters of a bipartisan measure to set national standards for college athletes’ compensation, […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will revoke limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that run on coal and natural gas, according to regulatory documents Administrator Lee Zeldin signed Monday. The administration framed the action to repeal 2024 limits on greenhouse gas emissions from virtually all power plants other than wind, solar or hydro-powered […]
The Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force is entering the final stretch of its 15 months of meetings, preparing a set of recommendations that could change the way the state funds public education. The group is poised to review a draft of its plan to update the public school funding formula on Oct. 19 — […]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday kept in place a lower court’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s embattled plan to place new restrictions on mail ballots for this year’s midterm elections. The unsigned, one-paragraph order upheld a Massachusetts federal court’s injunction on a U.S. Postal Service rule until after Nov. 3 and did not decide whether […]
Despite having to endure all the judicial filings and appeals about which congressional district map is legal and should be in effect, let us seize the opportunity this chaotic morass has presented. Vote for the person, irrespective of party affiliation, no matter which congressional district you end up in. We can begin with the midterm […]
KANSAS CITY — The federal government is going after thousands of people suspected of stealing millions of dollars from taxpayers through their participation in a COVID-19 pandemic program meant to protect small businesses and workers, Vice President JD Vance said Monday. The government is permanently suspending 870,000 people from receiving federal government loans after defrauding […]
WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security officers may have broken state laws carrying out the Trump administration’s orders to find noncitizens voting illegally in federal elections, Democratic senators alleged Monday following a whistleblower complaint. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the whistleblower detailed the department’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” in which U.S Citizenship and Immigration […]
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