MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court late Wednesday upheld a lower court’s order requiring the U.S. Education Department to reinstate more than 1,300 fired employees and blocking an executive order to dismantle the department and a directive to transfer some services to other federal agencies. The ruling from a three-judge panel in the United States Court […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rescinded guidance issued in July 2022 that emphasized hospitals are responsible for providing emergency abortion care despite state bans, saying it does not reflect the Trump administration’s policy. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law requiring hospitals that accept Medicare funding to […]

Gov. Mike Kehoe expanded the agenda of the special session Wednesday enough to win Missouri Senate passage of bills with money for disaster recovery in St. Louis, changes to property taxes policies and tax incentives to finance new or improved stadiums in Kansas City.  Initially scheduled to go in at 10 a.m., the Senate finally […]

People in Marsha Keene’s community are already struggling to cover the basics. Most of the clients Keene serves at the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center in southeast Missouri are working but still rely on federal food assistance to keep up with ever-increasing costs. The center provides a domestic violence shelter, parenting education and summer camps […]

Missouri leaders take pride in our reputation as a business-friendly state where cutting edge industries like biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, agtech and geospatial intelligence continue to grow. A new report puts us among the top 10 states for tech manufacturing growth. But proposed federal budget changes could undercut our economic competitiveness by weakening one of our […]

WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Linda McMahon took heat from Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce on Wednesday over the Trump administration’s initiatives to dramatically overhaul the federal role in education and eliminate the Education Department. Lawmakers took aim at President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request — which includes $12 billion […]

WASHINGTON — The Maryland federal judge overseeing the lawsuit concerning the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia unsealed documents Wednesday that the Trump administration had asked to keep unavailable to the public under the so-called state secrets privilege. The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis unsealed three documents that she said did not contain any privileged […]

When a tornado struck Joplin on May 22, 2011, killing 161 people and causing about $2 billion in damage, President Barack Obama issued a major disaster declaration the next day. That action immediately made help available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, for people to pay for temporary housing and begin repairs. The […]

When President Donald Trump’s performance in the polls in 2024 signaled a possible re-election, Keith Ellison and fellow Democratic attorneys general read Project 2025 and started getting ready, especially when Trump hired the key author of the planning document after his election. They divided the documents into sections and marshaled their staff lawyers to be […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tariffs would decrease the deficit over the next decade but overall shrink the U.S. economy and raise costs for consumers, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Wednesday. Tariffs are paid to the U.S. government by domestic companies and purchasers who buy goods from abroad. The nonpartisan CBO found […]

WASHINGTON — The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released detailed analysis Wednesday showing Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” would increase federal deficits by $2.4 trillion during the next decade. CBO projects that if enacted as written, the legislation would result in 10.9 million people losing access to health insurance by 2034, a number that includes “1.4 million […]

After years of exponential growth, opioid overdose deaths in Missouri are dropping. While health care workers, community groups and other officials say many factors may contribute to the drop in opioid overdose deaths, they agree that access to overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone, often provided under the brand name Narcan, is saving lives. “I do think […]

Gov. Mike Kehoe’s first budget proposal launched a tug of war between public-school advocates and those hoping to use state funds for private education. Both sides ultimately came away with what they wanted — but neither expects this to be the final showdown. State Treasurer Vivek Malek, who oversees the state’s tax-credit scholarship program, told […]

Despite rising child labor violations and new Senate demands to investigate the nation’s largest meat processor, the U.S. Department of Labor remains silent on whether it has the staff to conduct future probes amidst a major reduction in its workforce. At a May 22 congressional hearing, newly appointed Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said 2,700 department […]

Community-based violence intervention programs nationwide have long worked alongside law enforcement officers to deescalate conflict, prevent retaliatory shootings and, in some cases, arrive at crime scenes before police do. In many communities, these initiatives have been credited with saving lives and reducing violence. But the Trump administration last month abruptly terminated at least 373 public […]

WASHINGTON — Billionaire and former Trump administration official Elon Musk published a flurry of social media posts Tuesday slamming the “big, beautiful bill” in Congress, but his criticisms were mostly ignored or brushed aside by Republican senators. Musk wrote that the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination” and told the GOP […]

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate tax writers voted Tuesday to move Missouri Republican former Congressman Billy Long one step closer to taking the reins at the Internal Revenue Service, despite protests from Democrats over his alleged involvement with a company that peddled fake tribal tax credits. Members of the Senate Committee on Finance advanced Long’s […]

The first two days of the special legislative session called by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe to allocate state money for Kansas City sports stadiums, disaster recovery and unfinished spending bills have gone as well as could be expected. The Missouri Senate is poised for Wednesday debates on all the legislation Kehoe wants passed. And that’s […]

WASHINGTON — Ximena Arias-Cristobal knows the risks that can come with driving as a person living in the U.S. without legal authorization, where a simple traffic stop could lead to being deported. That fear materialized last month when she was pulled over by local police in Dalton, Georgia, for making an improper turn at a red […]

This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sent its first spending cuts request to Congress on Tuesday, asking lawmakers to swiftly eliminate $9.4 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and various foreign aid programs. The request for what are called rescissions allows the White House budget office to legally […]