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MoInd šŸ“°

Missouri counties suffered ballot shortages amid high primary turnout

2 weeks 1 day ago
When Kelli Knapp went to vote during the Aug. 4 primary, she was surprised to find a long line of people waiting outside Hawthorn Hill Elementary School in Lee’s Summit. Her husband, who was ahead of her in line, texted her after about 20 minutes of waiting that the poll workers had run out of […]
Ryleigh Hindle

As the Trump administration dismantles Temporary Protected Status, Salvadorans may be next

2 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — For years, Jose Palma has advocated for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status who hail from countries deemed too unstable for return. But as the Trump administration has stripped those humanitarian protections for nearly a million people, the Salvadoran national is uncertain if his own legal status will remain in place next week.  ā€œI’m […]
Ariana Figueroa

SNAP cuts could lead to kids losing free school breakfast and lunch

2 weeks 1 day ago
Cuts to the nation’s largest food assistance program will likely spill over into schools, causing students to lose access to free breakfast and lunch. More than 1 million American children have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, following a recent federal law. Now, as schools gear up for a new term, […]
Kevin Hardy

Trump’s beef import plan: The trade off facing Missouri farmers and consumers

2 weeks 1 day ago
President Donald Trump has announced a temporary plan to suspend tariffs on up to 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef over 90 days. The administration hopes the additional imports will increase supply and bring down record-high beef prices. For families facing record-high beef prices, any meaningful relief at the grocery store would be welcome. […]
Mamoun Benmamoun

Missouri AG trashes state Supreme Court ruling in federal filing

2 weeks 2 days ago
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s chief litigator on Sunday accused the state Supreme Court of adopting ā€œa legal fictionā€ when it ruled that putting the state’s new congressional map to a referendum means Missouri must use its previous district lines in November. In a federal court filing, Solicitor General Lou Capozzi asked U.S. Chief Judge Stephen […]
Rudi Keller

Labor unions are growing, but where depends on state politics

2 weeks 2 days ago
Labor union membership continues to climb in the United States, though the increase remains sharply divided by the politics of individual states. Last year, the nation added more than 411,000 union members — the largest annual growth since 2008, according to a study published just ahead of the Labor Day holiday by the Illinois Economic […]
Kevin Hardy

Republicans created Missouri’s redistricting mess. Now they’re furious about it.

2 weeks 2 days ago
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway opened her response to Thursday’s Missouri Supreme Court decision with a quote from Benjamin Franklin ā€œA republic, if you can keep it.ā€ Things went downhill from there. Hanaway declared Missouri to be in a ā€œfull-fledged constitutional crisis,ā€ accused the court of disenfranchising every voter in the state and promised an immediate […]
Jason Hancock

Federal appeals court to consider Louisiana’s arguments for banning telehealth abortion

2 weeks 2 days ago
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will consider Louisiana’s arguments for tightening federal policy around a common abortion and miscarriage drug this week. The primary target of Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration and similar lawsuits against mifepristone is to end a Biden-era policy allowing abortion pills to be prescribed without an in-person visit […]
Sofia Resnick

Immigration activity is taking a toll on children’s health, doctors say

2 weeks 5 days ago
In Minnesota, an elementary schooler has gone without surgery to treat a rare, life-threatening neck infection that isn’t responding to antibiotics. Another young child can’t use their hearing aids because the family ran out of batteries and hasn’t come to get replacements. Yet another child’s cochlear implant surgery was delayed by several months.Ā  These patients’ […]
Nada Hassanein

FEMA is off the chopping block. But disaster aid is still a guessing game.

2 weeks 5 days ago
State leaders are breathing a sigh of relief that the Trump administration’s threats to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency have subsided.Ā  But experts say there’s still confusion about President Donald Trump’s decisions to approve or deny disaster declarations, leaving states with uncertainty about whether they can expect federal recovery funds. ā€œThe foundation (at FEMA) […]
Alex Brown

Republican officials ask US Supreme Court to overturn Missouri redistricting ruling

2 weeks 5 days ago
Missouri Republican officials filed a last-chance appeal late Friday night to get the U.S. Supreme Court to allow this year’s congressional elections to be held in districts gerrymandered in 2025. The application to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees the Eighth Judicial Circuit, was filed just before midnight Friday. No immediate action was taken. The application […]
Rudi Keller

Why the rushed Postal Service plan for mail-in voting has states in a panic

2 weeks 5 days ago
President Donald Trump’s executive order placing new restrictions on mail-in voting would assign state officials a Herculean task to reach compliance before the crucial midterm elections. The order directed the U.S. Postal Service to strictly regulate the envelope design of mail-in ballots and to collect voter data from each state through an online portal, among […]
Jacob Fischler

More states are putting panic alarms in schools

2 weeks 5 days ago
Three states this year have enacted laws that require or allow schools to use mobile, wearable, wireless or silent panic alarms to quickly summon emergency responders. The new laws in Illinois, Virginia and West Virginia bring the number of states with such laws to 13, with 10 of them acting since 2023. Another dozen states […]
Robbie Sequeira

Women on parole face higher rates of mental health, housing challenges

2 weeks 5 days ago
Women on parole report higher rates of housing instability, poor health and serious mental health and substance use disorders than men on parole and women who weren’t on parole, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice. For people leaving prison, parole is a period of transition that can […]
Amanda Watford

Missouri school leaders concerned ahead of ā€˜A’ through ā€˜F’ report card rollout

2 weeks 5 days ago
Missouri educators voiced concerns Thursday that the state is rushing to roll out an ā€œAā€ through ā€œFā€ report card system for public schools without fully considering its provisions. In the second of four feedback sessions the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is holding to meet with stakeholders about the proposal, public school leaders peppered […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri voters will decide limits on lawmakers rewriting ballot measuresĀ 

2 weeks 6 days ago
An effort to restrict the legislature’s ability to rewrite laws and constitutional amendments approved by voters through the initiative process will be on the Nov. 3 ballot, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous decision overturning Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green, the court ruled Secretary of State Denny Hoskins improperly declared the […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri Supreme Court blocks gerrymandered congressional map, orders referendum vote

2 weeks 6 days ago
Missourians will vote in November on the gerrymandered congressional map muscled through the Legislature in 2025, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday. The court also ruled the congressional districts used in Missouri’s August primary cannot be used in the Nov. 3 general election. The decision puts a congressional plan before voters for the […]
Rudi Keller

Election experts see few legal options for Trump to meddle with polling places

2 weeks 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said earlier this year he’d ā€œdo anything necessary to make sure we have honest electionsā€ this fall, declining to rule out sending the National Guard or federal law enforcement officers to polling locations throughout the country. Those comments came a few months after Trump casually and briefly mentioned canceling the […]
Jennifer Shutt