a Better Bubbleā„¢

MoInd šŸ“°

Maybe Missourians are smarter than Jefferson City gives them credit for

2 weeks 5 days ago
Missouri Republicans have been making the case for years that our state constitution is getting hijacked by out-of-state interests. Gov. Mike Kehoe said it plainly in a video backing Amendment 4, the proposal that would have made it virtually impossible for voters to amend the Missouri Constitution. ā€œOur constitution,ā€ he said, ā€œshouldn’t be the victim […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri is No. 3 in the number of cyclosporiasis cases in the nation

2 weeks 5 days ago
Missouri has officially been added to the list of states linked to the shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms that caused cyclosporiasis. Five other states — Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina — are also new to the list. They join Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Boone […]
Hailey Sanford

Missouri should dump the use of junk science in its courtrooms

3 weeks ago
Missouri patients deserve confidence that the science presented in our courtrooms is credible, reliable and grounded in evidence. When unreliable expert testimony is allowed to influence juries, the consequences extend far beyond the courtroom. Manufactured claims can scare patients away from proven treatments and make medical innovators think twice about investing in research and development […]
Connie Farrow

Western wildfire could be latest climate disaster to unsettle property insurance market

3 weeks 1 day ago
As Washington state reels from a devastating wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in Spokane last weekend, experts say the disaster has cast newfound uncertainty over a property insurance market that had just begun to stabilize.Ā  Across the country, insurance companies have withdrawn coverage or raised premiums in areas threatened by climate-fueled disasters. In some […]
Alex Brown

Some Haitians targeted for ankle monitors by ICE as they face threat of mass deportation

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — Even before Haitian immigrants in Ohio officially lost their Temporary Protected Status, the Department of Homeland Security required dozens of them to report to immigration appointments and accept ankle monitors, according to their attorneys and local advocates. The practice of using electronic monitoring appears to only be happening in Springfield, Ohio, according to […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri AG bars St. Louis company from kratom sales as federal 7-OH ban looms

3 weeks 1 day ago
An agreement with Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway will bar the owners of St. Louis-based Green Dragon from selling kratom products in the state, the latest development in her office’s crackdown on 7-OH and related substances. Under the agreement announced Thursday, Green Dragon and owners David and Matthew Jadwin cannot own, operate or hold a […]
Rebecca Rivas

States begin banning ā€˜surveillance pricing’ that uses personal data to charge more

3 weeks 1 day ago
Three states this year became the first ones to enact laws restricting companies from using personal data such as browsing history or shopping habits to set individualized prices on goods and services, a practice known as surveillance pricing. The laws in Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey take different approaches to which retailers and products they […]
Robbie Sequeira

Todd Blanche confirmed by the US Senate as attorney general; Collins, Murkowski vote no

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — After a lengthy battle over the status of President Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion ā€œanti-weaponizationā€ fund, Todd Blanche was confirmed as attorney general by the U.S. Senate early Saturday. Blanche, the acting attorney general, won approval to take the role permanently after GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he would back him, […]
Jacob Fischler

Governors and lawmakers say they’re getting serious about states’ rights

3 weeks 1 day ago
OKLAHOMA CITY —  State leaders of both parties say the federal government — including the president — wields too much power, and they want to see more authority returned to the states. Bipartisan groups of governors and state lawmakers held major gatherings in recent days where issues of state authority became a major focus. They […]
Kevin Hardy

Historic defeats for Missouri GOP priorities raise questions about what comes next

3 weeks 1 day ago
At the Oct. 9, 1912, annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Anti Horse Thief Association in Monett, members passed a resolution denouncing a proposed constitutional amendment to restructure Missouri’s tax system. Backers promised their proposal would ease the burden of government and fire up Missouri’s economic engine by sweeping away almost all state […]
Rudi Keller

More states ban child marriage, though it’s still legal in most of the US

3 weeks 1 day ago
After authorities rescued 16 children last month who had been confined to a single room in a home in rural Ohio, attention turned to their mother, who had been 15 and pregnant when she married their father. The child endangerment case has recharged a national conversation around child marriage, which is defined by the United […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Blanche nomination for AG in doubt after Alaska’s Murkowski says she’s opposed

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said early Friday she will vote against the confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanently lead the Department of Justice. That leaves Trump depending on one Republican senator to vote for Blanche: Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary this year after Trump endorsed […]
Jacob Fischler

Trump again tries to curb birthright citizenship, following Supreme Court loss

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders in his second attempt to deny citizenship to babies born to noncitizens, following the Supreme Court’s defeat this summer of an earlier order to redefine birthright citizenship. Trump said the Supreme Court ruling was ā€œan unfortunate decisionā€ so ā€œwe’re making adjustmentsā€ to birthright citizenship, […]
Ariana Figueroa

Bloomberg gives $1.25M to Missouri abortion rights campaign as fundraising gap grows

3 weeks 1 day ago
The campaign opposing a November ballot measure that would reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban has raised more than $6.5 million — including a recent $1.25 million donation from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Stop the Ban, formed last year to oppose Amendment 3 on November’s ballot, reported the Bloomberg donation Wednesday to the Missouri […]
Anna Spoerre

Lawsuit seeks Missouri ballot spot for amendment limiting changes to voter-approved initiatives

3 weeks 2 days ago
A campaign seeking to make it harder for lawmakers to alter voter-approved initiatives sued Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Thursday, asking a judge to overturn his decision blocking the proposed constitutional amendment from the November ballot. The lawsuit, filed in Cole County Circuit Court by three Missourians who signed the Respect Missouri Voters petition, […]
Jason Hancock

Trump administration threatens to gut Head Start rules

3 weeks 2 days ago
The Trump administration appears poised to gut the central policies that shape Head Start, a popular and long-established early childhood education program that serves the country’s neediest children. The Department of Health and Human Services announced the changes Thursday. The federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs posted a notice that itĀ intendsĀ to ā€œsignificantly reduce regulatory […]
Carolyn Jones

As federal protections fade, disabled Americans fear a return to institutions

3 weeks 2 days ago
When Rob Stone finished high school in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2018, he was asked to identify three goals for his life. Stone loves art and baseball. He’s cheerful, sports a cheeky mustache, and he’s always up for an adventure. Stone has a rare genetic movement disorder, dystonia-parkinsonism, that limits his mobility and speech. Setting specific […]
Anna Claire Vollers

Price tag for Trump’s DC deployment of National Guard: $1.4B more through 2029

3 weeks 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — The deployment of National Guard troops hailing from all across the country to Washington, D.C. is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion in additional funds through 2029.  The estimate from Jules Hurst III, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Pentagon’s comptroller, came in response to a series of questions from […]
Sam Gauntt

Missouri and Kansas can expect double-digit Obamacare premium hikes again

3 weeks 2 days ago
Kansas Citians who buy health insurance through hearthcare.gov can expect to pay much more for monthly premiums next year. According to preliminary rate filings submitted to state insurance regulators in Missouri and Kansas, every insurance company selling individual plans in the region through the Affordable Care Act marketplace wants to raise prices in 2027. Across […]
Suzanne King