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MoInd 📰

Trump used impossible foreign labor standards as tariff workaround, small businesses say

2 weeks 3 days 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

2 weeks 3 days 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

Union fight erupts at Missouri cannabis dispensary after 12 workers fired

2 weeks 3 days ago
Madison Taylor has spent the past eight days picketing outside her former workplace, Greenlight Dispensary in Springfield. Two weeks ago, Taylor says she and a group of coworkers met outside of work to discuss forming a union. Days later, 12 employees who attended the meeting were fired, she said, after management accused them of consuming […]
Rebecca Rivas

When will adequately funding Missouri public schools become a legislative priority?

2 weeks 3 days ago
Even when Missouri lawmakers fund public schools in accordance with the state’s foundation formula, the level is still inadequate to meet the needs of schools across the state. The practice of selling our public schools short has become the pattern — year after year, irrespective of the need. This year the practice seems to be […]
Janice Ellis

Major bill to set standards for college athletes’ pay passes US Senate

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law Monday after passing the U.S. Senate. The bill — which sailed through on a 77-22 vote — would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation, provide certain antitrust protections to the NCAA, establish a five-year eligibility […]
Shauneen Miranda

‘Dumbfounds us all’: Congress struggles with policies rippling from AI development

2 weeks 3 days ago
The challenges and dire threats surrounding the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence appear unlikely to move Congress or President Donald Trump to act as the U.S. Senate enters its last week before the midterms.  The rapid emergence of the technology has sparked a host of policy debates, with some warning of an existential threat to […]
David Lightman

Trump administration revokes $810M approved by Congress for refugee aid and more

2 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.  The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department program that provided “debt […]
Jennifer Shutt

Private donors are funding Missouri education board’s commissioner search, strategic plan

2 weeks 4 days ago
Private philanthropy will fund two major initiatives underway at the Missouri State Board of Education, but the identities of the donors remain unknown to the public, the state education department and at least one of the contractors doing the work. Earlier this month, the board approved two memorandums of understanding with consultants helping search for […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Anti-abortion divide could complicate Missouri Amendment 3 campaign

2 weeks 4 days ago
More Missouri women had abortions while the state was under a near-total abortion ban than they did in the years before, when abortion was legal but highly restricted. That fact has become a fault line among Missouri conservatives debating Amendment 3 — a divide that could matter in an election recent polling suggests may again […]
Anna Spoerre

Denny Hoskins’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month

2 weeks 4 days ago
There are rough months in politics. And then there are months when you get summoned before the Missouri Supreme Court, found in contempt, sued repeatedly, accused by a former employee of retaliating against him for raising concerns about misconduct and singled out for criticism by the highest court in the nation. Denny Hoskins had the […]
Jason Hancock

Missouri Independent reporters win investigative journalism prize for foster care series

2 weeks 5 days ago
Reporters Clara Bates and Anna Spoerre were awarded the A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism on Saturday by the Missouri Press Association for their reporting on problems in the state’s foster care. The award recognizes reporting that uncovers information not readily available to the public and requires “exceptional journalistic skill, determination and effort.” It includes a […]
Staff Reports

Missouri should take the time to get its next education commissioner right

2 weeks 6 days ago
Missouri education is entering a period of significant change. That makes the search for the state’s next Commissioner of Education more than a personnel decision. It is a decision about who will lead Missouri’s schools through some of the most consequential policy changes the state has undertaken in years. The Missouri State Board of Education […]
Torree Pederson

US Supreme Court again blocks Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map

2 weeks 6 days ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday drove a stake through the heart of Missouri’s undead congressional map, ordering it be buried for the year and for voters to cast ballots in the districts they’ve used the past two election cycles. In a unanimous decision, the court said that state law rules in the case. “In […]
Rudi Keller

CDC’s latest youth behavior report offers a narrower look at teen health

3 weeks ago
For more than 35 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has surveyed American high school students every two years about their health and behavior. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, established in 1991, draws a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9 through 12 at public and private schools. Over the years, […]
Amanda Watford

Doctors and hospitals to see lower Medicaid payments in three dozen states

3 weeks ago
New federal rules likely will force three dozen states to reduce their annual Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals by a total of more than $50 billion — potentially shrinking the number of providers willing to see Medicaid patients, according to a new analysis. The analysis in the peer-reviewed Health Affairs estimates that the 17 […]
Shalina Chatlani

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to permit quick third-country deportations

3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Thursday made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow for rapid third-country deportations of noncitizens to continue, after an appeals court blocked the policy last week. In a brief, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to temporarily halt the appeals court’s order. The […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri should scrutinize all schools, not just St. Louis Public Schools

3 weeks ago
Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s demand that the president of the St. Louis Board of Education testify about the firing of former Superintendent Millicent Borishade raises a larger question: Is this really about accountability, or is accountability being selectively applied? Dr. Borishade has filed an active whistleblower and wrongful-termination lawsuit against the district. Any competent […]
Ray Cummings

FDA nominee faces skepticism on vaccines from Republican senators at confirmation hearing

3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration appeared to disappoint senators from both political parties Thursday with how she answered questions about medication abortion access during her confirmation hearing.  Dr. Heidi Overton also faced skepticism from committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, about her work on vaccine policy […]
Jennifer Shutt

Millions of dollars of waste found in Trump administration push for immigration detention

3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Government investigators Thursday released a report that found the Department of Homeland Security wasted more than $20 million in federal funding in its rapid expansion of immigration detention, including warehouse purchases strongly opposed in numerous U.S. communities. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that millions were wasted because DHS began expanding detention operations without putting […]
Ariana Figueroa