WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers on Wednesday began debating when the Federal Emergency Management Agency should provide state and local communities with help addressing natural disasters and when aid should be handled by others. The Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee’s hearing on FEMA’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year came just days after the Trump administration sent […]
Missouri’s public schools would be fully funded and a policy some blame for undermining a child care subsidy program would be fixed, legislative budget negotiators decided Wednesday night as they worked through eight of the 13 spending bills for state operations in the coming year. Over about three hours, the conference committees of five lawmakers […]
The Missouri Children’s Division has accomplished something most of us would have thought impossible: They got all sides in the debate over abortion to agree. They agree about Hailey, the young mother profiled in an outstanding story in The Independent. They agree that the behavior of the Children’s Division in surveilling, harassing, traumatizing and sometimes […]
WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker is asking why House Republicans approved nearly six times the requested funding for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as President Donald Trump cancels federal grants for arts organizations across the United States. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, the ranking member of the subcommittee that oversees funding […]
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — Immigration attorneys are asking a Massachusetts federal judge for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration from removing their clients to Libya and Saudi Arabia as soon as Wednesday, in a major new development in President Donald Trump’s drive for mass deportations. “Multiple credible sources […]
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that potential major cuts and changes to Medicaid under consideration by Republicans could mean states would have to spend more of their own money on the program, reduce payments to health care providers, limit optional benefits and reduce enrollment. The end result, under some scenarios, could be […]
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that potential major cuts and changes to Medicaid under consideration by Republicans could mean states would have to spend more of their own money on the program, reduce payments to health care providers, limit optional benefits and reduce enrollment. The end result, under some scenarios, could be […]
Missouri House Republicans muscled their biggest tax-cut priority of the year across the finish line on Wednesday, sending a bill exempting capital gains from income tax to Gov. Mike Kehoe. No Democrats supported the bill, although 10 did vote “present” to show they supported provisions of the legislation other than the exemption on profits from […]
Local laws prohibiting landlords from discriminating against tenants who receive public assistance would be unenforceable under legislation sent to the governor’s desk Wednesday. The bill passed by a final vote of 23 to 10 on Wednesday in the Senate, over the opposition of Democrats. It previously passed the House 103 to 37. The legislation takes […]
One year after a federal judge ruled Missourians were being illegally denied food aid by the state, the Department of Social Services has made “no progress” in addressing the problem, the judge wrote in a scathing order this week. “The excessive call wait times and denials based on the failure to provide a reasonable opportunity […]
A faction of Missouri Senate Republicans held up a bill that sought to incentivize investment in child care Tuesday evening, arguing the chamber should instead move on to GOP priorities. The legislation, which would establish a tax-credit program at an estimated expense of nearly $70 million annually, was part of negotiations on a separate bill […]
The fallout from the failed contract negotiations between University of Missouri Health Care and Anthem is rippling far beyond Columbia — reaching counties more than 100 miles away. As of April 1, more than 90,000 MU Health Care patients were left out of network after the two sides were unable to reach an agreement. MU […]
A bill to fund pensions for Missouri sheriffs from new fees on court documents and a slice of the money the state pays counties to house prisoners passed the state Senate on a nearly unanimous vote Tuesday, potentially rescuing a retirement system that voters refused to support at the ballot in November. Last year, lawmakers […]
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced during a congressional hearing Tuesday the department will soon detail which staff positions it plans to move away from the nation’s capital and where in the country those jobs will be relocated. “We have to move,” Rollins said. “This is a customer service oriented agency. And why do […]
Planned Parenthood Great Rivers must turn over documents about gender-affirming care to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, an appeals court ruled Tuesday morning. Bailey has been looking into the use of cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and gender-transition surgeries for minors in the state since March 2023, when a former case worker at the Washington University […]
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland Tuesday will for 48 hours pause her own order to require the federal government to facilitate the return of an asylum seeker mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, while the court waits for the Trump administration’s anticipated appeal of her decision. “I am simply skeptical […]
WASHINGTON — Less than half of Americans have confidence in federal public health agencies’ ability to regulate prescriptions, approve vaccines and respond to outbreaks, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan health research organization KFF. The survey shows that just 46% of the people questioned have at least some confidence in federal agencies ensuring […]
Missouri lawmakers passed a bill Monday evening to establish a fund to pay for hyperbaric oxygen therapy for veterans with a traumatic brain injury and facing post-traumatic stress disorder to help prevent suicide and opioid addiction. With a unanimous 33-0 vote, Missouri senators sent the bill to the governor for his approval. “It was remarkable […]
A provision quietly tucked into the state budget last week to allow the bulk online purchase of lottery tickets has set off a flurry of lobbying on both sides of the issue as lawmakers finalize their work this week on Missouri’s $49.5 billion spending plan. The change, which was added by the Missouri Senate Appropriations […]
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