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Divorce becomes next battleground as states debate family values

2 weeks 2 days ago
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. […]
Anna Claire Vollers

US Senate could soon take up bill to set standards for college athlete compensation

2 weeks 2 days ago
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, […]
Shauneen Miranda

Trump EPA to strip greenhouse gas limits for power plants, a key Biden climate policy

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 […]
Jacob Fischler

Missouri school funding task force nears final recommendations

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 — […]
Annelise Hanshaw

US Supreme Court blocks Trump rule limiting mail voting, sides with Dem states

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 […]
Jacob Fischler

No matter the congressional map, Missouri voters still have the final say

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 […]
Janice Ellis

JD Vance uses Missouri visit to announce new crackdown on COVID loan fraud

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 […]
Morgan Chilson

US Senate Dems disclose Trump administration operation dug through state voter rolls

2 weeks 2 days ago
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 […]
Ariana Figueroa

States, cities sue Trump administration over new green card restrictions

2 weeks 2 days ago
States, cities and counties filed a pair of lawsuits Monday challenging new federal rules that will allow immigrants’ use of safety net resources to be taken into account for green cards and other applications to stay in or enter the country. The new federal policy goes into effect Friday and broadens the discretion of immigration […]
Nada Hassanein

Trump plan to limit mail voting hinders Democrats more than GOP, analysis finds

2 weeks 2 days ago
President Donald Trump has, at times, justified his campaign against mail-in voting in explicitly partisan terms, claiming Republicans’ electoral chances hinge on whether the practice is allowed. A new analysis from a Democratic-aligned voting rights group, shared first with States Newsroom, shows he may be right: Eliminating mail-in voting would be more disruptive to Democratic […]
Jacob Fischler

How the US House could overturn the midterm election results

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tried to maintain power following his loss in the 2020 election by exerting pressure on state election officials to, in some cases, â€śfind” the votes. Loyalist Republicans in Congress then attempted to deny Joe Biden the Oval Office when lawmakers gathered to certify the Electoral College, bringing to light loopholes and deficiencies in the […]
Jennifer Shutt

Lawsuit seeks $80 million from Denny Hoskins over Missouri congressional map referendum

2 weeks 3 days ago
Five Missouri voters are seeking roughly $80 million from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging he violated state law in his handling of a referendum challenging Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Cole County Circuit Court, asks a judge to allow the plaintiffs to represent approximately 162,000 […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri’s long fight over who gets the last word

2 weeks 3 days ago
Fourteen Republican lawmakers sent the Missouri Supreme Court a letter last week. It was not a fan letter. Hold Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt, they wrote, and we may come for your jobs. The court held him in contempt the next day. Hoskins had told local election officials to use a gerrymandered congressional […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri governor names 18 to child welfare task force amid growing scrutiny

2 weeks 3 days ago
With Missouri’s child welfare system under fire over foster care deaths, staff turnover and mounting investigation backlogs, Gov. Mike Kehoe has named 18 people to a new task force charged with developing common standards for how courts, caseworkers and others across the state assess a child’s safety. The Missouri Child Welfare Task Force will bring […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri should make medical respite part of its health care infrastructure

2 weeks 5 days ago
Missouri’s healthcare system routinely pays for a hospital stay, a surgery or a course of treatment, then reaches the edge of its own plan when the patient has no home in which to recover. For a person experiencing homelessness, “discharge” can mean returning to a shelter, vehicle or street while managing a wound, infection, cancer […]
Callan Montgomery

Frustrations, remorse and pain surface on 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks

2 weeks 5 days ago
Powerful U.S. officials past and present faced families, survivors and first responders Friday at ceremonies to honor the 25th anniversary of the day 2,977 Americans died in terrorist attacks in Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At the Pentagon, Condoleezza Rice, who was serving at the time under President George W. Bush as national security advisor, […]
Ashley Murray, Shalina Chatlani, Shauneen Miranda, Ariana Figueroa

Schools, libraries sound alarm over potential changes to federal internet program

2 weeks 6 days ago
A multi-billion-dollar federal program that helps schools and libraries afford broadband internet is under review by the Trump administration, leaving education officials and advocates worried about potentially significant cuts.  The E-Rate program provides about $3 billion annually for internet access and telecommunications to more than 100,000 schools and 11,000 libraries across the country. It is […]
Robbie Sequeira