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MoInd šŸ“°

How the megabill allows Trump to expand mass deportations, curb immigrant benefits

6 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending cut bill cleared Thursday has as its centerpiece $170 billion for the administration’s immigration crackdown, helping fulfill the president’s 2024 campaign promise of mass deportations of people without permanent legal status. The measure, passed by the House 218-214, would fulfill several of Trump’s key immigration priorities, […]
Ariana Figueroa

Abrego Garcia was beaten and tortured in Salvadoran prison, new court filings reveal

6 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported in March to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, endured ā€œsevere beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological tortureā€ while there, his attorneys wrote in a late Wednesday filing. The filing, an amended complaint to the District Court of Maryland, provides the first disturbing details of […]
Ariana Figueroa

US House passes massive tax break and spending cut bill, sending it to Trump

6 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans cleared the ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ for President Donald Trump’s signature Thursday, marking an end to the painstaking months-long negotiations that began just after voters gave the GOP unified control of Washington during last year’s elections. The final 218-214 vote on the expansive tax and spending cuts package marked a significant […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa

Older adults now outnumber children in 11 states

6 months 1 week ago
Montana, Oregon and Pennsylvania have joined the ranks of states where older people outnumber children, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The ratio of people older than 65 to children younger than 18 grew in every state, according to a Stateline analysis of the estimates released June 26, which measure age changes in mid-2024 compared […]
Tim Henderson

Federal budget megabill would shift billions in cost to Missouri taxpayers

6 months 1 week ago
The massive federal budget bill signed into law Friday by President Donald Trump would add new uncertainty to Missouri’s own budget, but the most costly portions would not hit the state for two years or more. As Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the budget bills passed by lawmakers this year, he vetoed $310 million in general […]
Rudi Keller

In a reversal, judge keeps Kilmar Abrego in jail over deportation concerns

6 months 1 week ago
NASHVILLE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain temporarily in jail at the request of his own attorneys, who cited conflicting positions taken by the government over whether he is at risk for immediate deportation. An order issued Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes keeps Abrego in the custody of the U.S. Marshals until a […]
Anita Wadhwani

Wisconsin Supreme Court rules 1849 abortion ban is invalid

6 months 1 week ago
In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s 1849 law banning abortion had been ā€œimpliedly repealedā€ by the Legislature when it passed laws over the past half century ā€œregulating in detail the ā€˜who, what, where, when, and howā€™ā€ of abortion. The Court’s majority opinion, authored by Justice Rebecca Dallet and […]
Henry Redman

Title X funding returns to Missouri nonprofit after three-month freeze

6 months 1 week ago
Federal funding that provides access to contraceptives and reproductive health screenings has resumed in Missouri, the Missouri Family Health Council announced in a press release Tuesday. The council, a nonprofit which distributes funds to 52 family planning centers in Missouri and three in Oklahoma, has been operating without key federal funding for three months. It […]
Annelise Hanshaw

US House GOP struggles to advance megabill against Freedom Caucus resistance

6 months 1 week ago
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON —  U.S. House Republican efforts to pass the ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ hit a roadblock Wednesday, when leaders left the chamber in a holding pattern for more than seven hours before calling a procedural vote that stalled amid opposition from hard-right members and others. The House must adopt the rule […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ashley Murray, Ariana Figueroa

Protesters outside the US House make a last stand against the GOP megabill

6 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Protesters demonstrated against the ā€œbig beautiful billā€ outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as House Republicans whipped votes to get the bill across the finish line and to President Donald Trump’s desk by a self-imposed July Fourth deadline. Shelley Feist stood on Independence Avenue near the entrance to the House of Representatives holding signs […]
Ashley Murray

Republicans rewrote the US Senate megabill in its last moments

6 months 2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The final ā€œbig beautiful billā€ approved by Senate Republicans Tuesday included some last-minute changes on hot-button issues such as safety net programs and clean energy tax credits. Senate Republicans had wrangled for weeks to deliver legislative text to satisfy concerns from lawmakers who objected to cutting Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income […]
Ashley Murray

Trump administration tells states it’s freezing $6.8 billion for K-12 school programs

6 months 2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has put on hold $6.8 billion in federal funds for K-12 schools, according to an Education Department notice obtained by States Newsroom. The agency informed states on Monday that it would be withholding funding for several programs, including before- and after-school programs, migrant education and English-language learning, among other initiatives. […]
Shauneen Miranda

Missouri educators sue state over $51 million appropriation to private school vouchers

6 months 2 weeks ago
The Missouri National Education Association is suing the state in an effort to block the appropriation of $51 million to MOScholars, the state’s K-12 scholarship program. In a lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court Monday, MNEA argues that state funds cannot be directly given to MOScholars under the current statute. MNEA vice president Rebeka […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Judge gives administration until Tuesday to put birthright citizenship plans in writing

6 months 2 weeks ago
A federal judge gave Justice Department lawyers until noon Tuesday to confirm, in writing, the administration’s plans for implementing an executive order on birthright citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted nationwide injunctions on the order Friday. Justice Department attorney Brad Rosenberg said at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on Monday that […]
Lauren Lifke

States face hard choices as budgets expected to tighten

6 months 2 weeks ago
Slow revenue growth continues to pinch state budgets across the country, leading governors to propose spending cuts, hiring freezes and some tax increases. In its spring survey of states, the National Association of State Budget Officers found that general fund spending will hold steady in fiscal 2026 as states expect limited revenue growth but increased […]
Kevin Hardy

Supreme Court declines to hear Iowa pork producers’ case against California law

6 months 2 weeks ago
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear Iowa Pork Producers Association’s case against a California law that mandates the amount of space livestock animals, in particular hogs, have while being raised. The Supreme Court has ruled on a previous caseĀ in favor of upholding the California law, which opponents argue puts an unfair burden on […]
Cami Koons