MoInd 📰

When Deandre Pointer appeared in front of a Jackson County judge in June 2023, his world was bright. After years of protesting his innocence of murder charges and failing to convince any court, Pointer cut a deal to trade his life without parole sentence for a 23-year term on two counts of second degree murder […]

Missouri’s 67 rural hospitals are pondering a dramatically different future under President Donald Trump’s new budget plan. The recently approved budget bill will slash federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. By some estimates, it could lead to 8.6 million people nationwide losing health coverage. Various estimates conclude that between […]

Despite Missouri lawmakers failing this year to pass legislation targeting antisemitism in public schools and colleges, the Anti-Defamation League concluded in a new report released Friday that the state has still made progress at combating what it called “anti-Jewish sentiment.” The report, which aims to evaluate all 50 states on a series of criteria, points […]

At U.S. President Donald Trump’s request, Congress voted in July 2025 to claw back $1.1 billion it had previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That measure, which passed in the House and the Senate by very narrow margins, will cut off all federal tax dollars that would have otherwise flowed to PBS and […]

Black leaders in the Missouri legislature said Thursday that they will fight any attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts, pointing to the courts as the venue where they have greatest hopes to prevail. State Rep. Michael Johnson, a Kansas City Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus, said any effort to remake maps is […]

American companies are split between support and criticism of a new voluntary European AI code of practice, meant to help tech companies align themselves with upcoming regulations from the European Union’s landmark AI Act. The voluntary code, called the General Purpose AI Code of Practice, which rolled out in July, is meant to help companies jump-start […]

As more hospitals have gobbled up private physician practices, costs for childbirth and other services have gone up, according to a new study. Since the early aughts, the share of physicians in the United States working for hospitals has nearly doubled, according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit […]

WASHINGTON — Fueled by President Donald Trump’s aims to bolster the U.S. House’s razor-thin GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections, a rare mid-decade redistricting fight in Texas grew increasingly bitter in recent days and engulfed other states. As Democratic legislators in the Lone Star State fled to block a new congressional map, a handful of […]

A final vote on a St. Louis County bill to regulate intoxicating hemp products stalled out Tuesday night after about a dozen business owners and lobbyists opposed it at the county council meeting. The bill’s sponsor, St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, told The Independent on Wednesday morning that she plans on revisiting the bill’s […]

The abrupt termination of tax credits for clean energy projects is perhaps the most drastic blow that President Donald Trump has struck in his campaign against wind and solar electricity. As states brace for the uncertainty ahead, they are scrambling to get pending projects off the ground before the tax credits expire. “The real opportunities […]

U.S. families lose nearly $350 billion each year due to the incarceration of a loved one in jail or prison, according to a recent report from the criminal justice advocacy group FWD.us. The estimate includes both direct expenses and long-term losses in household income. The findings are based on a national survey of just over […]

The Missouri attorney general’s office is asking a Cole County judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging a state agency violated competitive bidding laws to steer lucrative technology contracts to a well-connected company. The lawsuit, filed in May by a longtime state employee named Rodney Rice, alleges “deliberate bias” toward St. Louis-based World Wide Technology in […]

BERKELEY — Christy Williams stood outside the Boeing facility in St. Louis for hours on Tuesday next to her handwritten sign declaring: “We aren’t building toasters!” For the last three years, Williams and her son have helped build F-15 fighter jets at Boeing in the St. Louis area — something she called her life’s dream.  […]

The Trump administration recently slashed funding for the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an agency that works to improve our health care system. Such budget cuts threaten to make Missouri hospitals less safe, less effective and potentially more prone to devastating medical errors. While not as well-known as other federal health care […]

WASHINGTON — The House Committee on Oversight issued subpoenas Tuesday for testimony from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among other ex-government officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations, regarding knowledge of Florida sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Committee Chair James Comer of Kentucky also subpoenaed the U.S. Department of Justice for […]

It might be easy to miss, but the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District is changing. English Language Development Coordinator Melisha Otero is in her sixth year with the district. In that time, she’s seen the number of English language learner (ELL) students increase dramatically. During the 2020-21 school year, the number of ELL students hit […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is bringing back a physical fitness test to public schools after over a decade, but details of the new test, including timing and implementation, remain to be seen. Trump signed an executive order July 31 that reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test — a source of both fear and achievement among youth […]

Victoria Gomez de la Torre doesn’t know when — or if — the migrant children she serves are going to get the education help they’ve come to rely on. Gomez de la Torre oversees the migrant education program for 12 central Florida counties. The federally funded service helps the children of migrant agricultural workers, who […]

The Trump administration has taken its first step toward restricting access to abortions for veterans who are covered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical benefits, reversing a 2022 rule. Former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration enacted the rule following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which ended federally protected access to abortion. More than […]

On April 1, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield terminated its contract with University of Missouri Health Care, stripping in-network coverage from more than 90,000 patients. That’s one in every 70 Missourians suddenly cut off from their doctors, clinics and hospitals. Some patients lost access to cancer follow-up care, prenatal visits or stroke rehabilitation mid-treatment. Lawmakers […]