a Better Bubble™

MoInd 📰

US Senate Dems block bill curbing congressional stock trading, calling it too weak

2 weeks 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans did not gain any support Wednesday from Democrats as they attempted to advance a bill that mashed together two hot-button midterm issues: requiring voter ID in federal elections and limiting stock trading for members of Congress. The Republican-led bill, titled the Stop Insider Trading Act, failed 53-47 when lawmakers stayed solidly […]
Ashley Murray

Republican AGs sue abortion ‘shield law’ states in US Supreme Court

2 weeks 5 days ago
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and the attorneys general in Arkansas and Alabama filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme Court, suing California, Massachusetts and New York to invalidate the so-called “shield laws” that have allowed providers in those states to send abortion medication to people in states with abortion […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

Missouri adds new paperwork requirements to food assistance as federal penalties loom

2 weeks 5 days ago
Since receiving a letter from the Missouri Department of Social Services Sept. 1 containing “an important notice” about his federal food assistance, Andrew Dallas has struggled to ease his mind.  Dallas, 63, of Arnold, who was diagnosed with epilepsy after a childhood head injury, can’t work or drive, and he depends on disability benefits and […]
Steph Quinn

Democratic US Senate may block Trump nominees for Supreme Court, lower courts

2 weeks 5 days ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated Wednesday that should Democrats regain control of the chamber following the elections, they plan to block judicial nominees sent up by President Donald Trump, including for any possible vacancies on the Supreme Court.  “Look, the bottom line is, one of the reasons that we want to […]
Jennifer Shutt

Republican attacks on the Missouri Supreme Court may just be the beginning 

2 weeks 5 days ago
I was baffled when I saw that Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, represented by Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, had asked a federal district court for an injunction against the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri.  Why would they risk infuriating the court that they regularly appear before with a weird gambit in federal […]
Bridgette Dunlap

Justice Department indicts 10 noncitizens in quest to prove Trump claims of election fraud

2 weeks 6 days ago
A federal grand jury indicted 10 noncitizens for unlawfully voting in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday, highlighting the administration’s effort to keep election security a top issue, in line with President Donald Trump’s longstanding unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. The indictments, which include nine counts of unlawful voting and nine counts of […]
Jacob Fischler

Missouri can keep using disputed federal database to review voter eligibility

2 weeks 6 days ago
Missouri can continue using a federal database to review voter eligibility after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily cleared the way for states to use an expanded version of the system to check the citizenship status of registered voters. The court’s 6-3 emergency order on Friday stayed a federal judge’s ruling that had blocked the expanded […]
Rebecca Rivas

Appeals court poised to allow contempt probe of DHS deportation flights to El Salvador

2 weeks 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — Most judges on a federal appeals court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to allow a federal judge to continue investigating Trump officials for possible criminal contempt-of-court charges for defying a judicial order by sending more than 100 Venezuelan men to a brutal Salvadoran prison last year.   The administration is challenging if U.S. […]
Ariana Figueroa

Trump TV ads paid for with $20M in Homeland Security funds, Dems find

2 weeks 6 days ago
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as the promos critics call propaganda come under bipartisan attack. The Trump administration recently moved the funds into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection budget line intended […]
Jonathan Shorman

Congressional watchdog says Trump administration can’t defy lawmakers to revoke $810M

2 weeks 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration must spend the $810 million that it said last week it planned to cancel, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.  The congressional watchdog’s decision contends the White House budget office doesn’t hold the ability to claw back that funding without approval from Congress.  “Any […]
Jennifer Shutt

US Supreme Court allows Trump to resume deportations outside immigrants’ home countries

2 weeks 6 days ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted, for now, the Trump administration’s request to continue rapid third-country deportation of immigrants to countries not their own.  The decision will allow the Trump administration to carry out its aggressive deportation method of quickly removing immigrants to one of the countries — some with human rights concerns […]
Ariana Figueroa

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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

3 weeks 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 “yes” vote on Proposition A, a referendum on the 2025 redistricting map, and a “no” vote […]
Rudi Keller