May 21, 2026, is the day I became a certified biology teacher in Missouri, and I love my job. I wish others would join me. Sadly, the pathway to teacher licensure is a frustrating waste of time and money that is a barrier to talented people, especially career switchers. My alternative certification process cost over […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to intervene in a lower court decision that halts his $400 million White House ballroom construction unless he receives authorization from Congress. The administration requested the justices grant an immediate stay to a 2-1 federal appeals court decision that sided with historic preservationists who argued Trump […]
Democratic lawmakers proposed nearly 250 bills in state capitols this year seeking to limit federal immigration efforts as they sought to push back against what they view as federal government overreach. In a new report tallying 2026 action, State Futures, a nonprofit coordinating hundreds of Democratic lawmakers across the states, tracked 242 pieces of such […]
Licensed clinical social worker Anne Bethune had been treating trauma clients in Kansas City for several years when, in 2017, her agency asked her to get an additional certification. At the time, Bethune was working primarily with rape victims, using a range of therapies, including traditional talk therapy. Her clients would improve, she noticed, and […]
State Democratic officials are preparing for chaos at the polls this November, as President Donald Trump casts doubt on election security and pushes for more federal involvement in local voting. “We’re no longer talking about hypothetical situations,” said Nick Brown, Washington state’s Democratic attorney general, noting the president’s push to nationalize election administration and to […]
Kansas City officials are looking to cut a ballpark deal within weeks that will define the city for decades. Publicly, at least, the details remain sparse. City officials are scrambling to finalize plans to help finance the Royals’ proposed $1.9 billion ballpark at Crown Center before the end of the month. If things had gone […]
While the nation faces various stress tests for the rule of law upon which our country was built, Missouri courts are facing their own stress test in the hot mess of our current congressional redistricting. Our Legislature redrew our congressional maps in 2025 at the insistence of President Donald Trump. The chief aim was to […]
Abortion access in Missouri continues to expand under the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2024 — less than three months before they’ll be asked to undo it. The latest expansion is in Springfield, where Planned Parenthood began offering in-clinic procedural abortions Thursday. Just a few weeks earlier the clinic began prescribing abortion medication, returning abortion […]
A new federal rule will end Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapies and procedures for kids under age 18. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday a rule that prohibits state Medicaid plans from covering gender-affirming procedures for minors and using federal Medicaid dollars for such care. The rule also prohibits Children’s Health […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued New York, Connecticut and Vermont over laws that allow immigrants in the country without permanent legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live. The suits, filed Aug. 10, are part of a larger push from the Trump administration to go after states […]
A largely overlooked part of the executive order President Donald Trump issued this week scaling back the schedule for childhood vaccines threatens legal action against the four states that don’t allow personal or religious exemptions to school vaccine requirements. Those states — California, Connecticut, Maine and New York — are among the states with the […]
The organization that led the 2024 campaign to raise Missouri’s minimum wage and require paid sick leave is launching a $1 million grassroots campaign to defeat Republican lawmakers who helped repeal the paid leave requirement. Missouri Jobs with Justice Action has joined Progress Missouri, the Missouri Voter Project — State PAC, Missouri Workers Power, Abortion […]
The Trump administration on Wednesday renewed its request to the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly decide a case over an executive order restricting voting, a day after a Massachusetts federal judge expanded an injunction on the order nationwide. The Tuesday order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani that blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order from taking […]
“They want to make a deal,” President Donald Trump announced. “There’s a good chance that something could happen.” He has made more than 50 such uncorroborated declarations of Iran’s intent to negotiate ending his war, and countless discordant statements of his goals. When Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asked Congress for $11 billion for another farm […]
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union has petitioned a federal court in New Hampshire to reaffirm a ruling that found President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order unconstitutional, after the president renewed his attempts to redefine American citizenship despite his loss at the Supreme Court. “This case has always been, and remains, about the […]
The fate of two proposed ballot measures —- a referendum on Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map and a constitutional amendment limiting legislative power to alter laws passed by initiative — will go on trial next week, a Cole County judge decided Wednesday. Circuit Judge Daniel Green ordered back-to-back hearings for the two measures Secretary of State […]
As a new school year begins, some classrooms may use artificial intelligence tools to flag a student struggling with classwork, track attendance or try to raise reading scores. But as school districts make decisions on which tools are safe and worth spending thousands or millions of dollars on, some officials feel overwhelmed by the array […]
When college students head back to campus for the fall semester, more of them will have guaranteed access to abortion medication. Colorado recently joined California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York in requiring public colleges and universities to provide abortion medication to students on campus or arrange to make it available to them through an off-campus […]
In a small town where everyone knows everyone, it’s hard to keep secrets. So when local governments hide their business, it can be especially galling to the residents they represent, and faith in local governance begins to plummet. And when transparency and accountability are absent, it’s easier for drama and intrigue to take over. Take […]
On May 14, Kansas City was told in no uncertain terms by its own consultants that its practice of racial and sex-based preferences in city contracting faced serious legal problems. The Council chose not to end the program. There was no coverage of the report in local media until my column in The Kansas City Star […]
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