MoInd 📰

First in a five-part series. To some, the warning bells started sounding years ago. When a Republican supermajority in the Texas legislature gutted the state’s family planning budget in 2011 and then in 2015 kicked Planned Parenthood — the country’s largest reproductive health care provider — out of its Medicaid family planning program, reproductive health […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration began posting plans over the weekend that detail how hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed during a government shutdown, while others will keep working without being paid.  The updated guidance gives the clearest picture yet into how President Donald Trump and White House budget director Russ Vought […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has again petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court regarding birthright citizenship, this time on the merits of the administration’s effort to rewrite the constitutional right afforded to children born on U.S. soil.  In two cases brought to the high court, lower courts kept in place a preliminary injunction against President Donald […]

Vermont, New York, Washington, New Jersey and Maine have the best combination of relatively low environmental risks and robust environmental policies, according to a report released this week. West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi ranked lowest on the 50-state scorecard produced by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that advocates for health care improvements. Researchers […]

Gov. Mike Kehoe on Sunday signed the new Missouri congressional district map intended to bring Republicans another seat, and opponents responded with a new lawsuit challenging the plan. Lawmakers, acting at the insistence of President Donald Trump, finished a special session on Sept. 12 by passing a bill targeting the 5th District in Kansas City […]

PORTLAND, Ore. — President Donald Trump said Saturday morning he will send troops to Portland, attempting an unprecedented use of U.S. military forces within the country. In a brief post to his social media platform, Trump said he would have Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth order troops deployed to Oregon’s largest city. Trump did not specify […]

For those who think the Trump administration’s immigration policies are only targeting Latino communities, Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost would like to set you straight. Maxwell said Friday that thousands of Black people, who like him are of Black and Latino descent, are experiencing fear as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and state and local law […]

States are scrambling for the money to fill potholes, plow roads, maintain bridges and pay bus drivers as they confront inflation- and tariff-driven cost increases and declining gas tax revenues.  States also face uncertain federal funding as the Trump administration reduces the size of government and zeroes out some Biden-era transportation programs. As the Infrastructure […]

The last signature needed to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to release files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will arrive in Washington this week, but most Republican members of the Missouri delegation are silent on how they will vote. On Tuesday, voters in Arizona elected Adelita Grijvala to […]

In a new attack on the bill that authorized state funding for professional sports stadiums, a group of taxing districts and property owners are challenging property tax caps authorized for 97 counties in Missouri. A lawsuit filed Friday in Cole County Circuit Court alleges state lawmakers unconstitutionally split residential property into different classes, choosing which […]

In the special session that ended Sept. 12, lawmakers approved measures that would block the ballot process that delivered medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion, reproductive care, and paid sick leave Over the past two decades, Missouri’s broadest health reforms have come from the ballot box, not the Capitol. When the General Assembly did not act, voters […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed its ruling from earlier this month that the Trump administration can withhold $4 billion in foreign aid, though the order notes the decision “should not be read as a final determination on the merits” of the case. White House budget director Russ Vought wrote on social […]

Former FBI Director James Comey proclaimed his innocence of federal obstruction charges and characterized the indictment against him as a consequence of “standing up to Donald Trump” in a video posted to social media, while current Director Kash Patel sought to allay concerns the prosecution was politically motivated. Meanwhile, Trump in remarks to reporters on […]

Georgia spent $54.2 million in less than five years to administer the country’s only Medicaid program with work requirements – more than twice as much as it spent to provide health care to enrollees, according to an analysis released earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office. The report suggests it will be expensive to […]

A referendum petition seeking a statewide vote on the gerrymandered Missouri redistricting plan is insufficient because the bill changing district lines hasn’t been signed yet, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins decided Friday. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, in an opinion letter dated Thursday, recommended Hoskins reject the petition because the law describing the form says the […]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers for their role in the Wounded Knee Massacre will not be rescinded. The massacre occurred on Dec. 29, 1890. Lakota people were camped near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, where they were […]

WASHINGTON — Congress’ failure to pass a short-term government funding bill before midnight Tuesday will lead to the first shutdown in nearly seven years and give President Donald Trump broad authority to determine what federal operations keep running — which will have a huge impact on the government, its employees, states and Americans.  A funding […]

Hours after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Suzanne Swierc shared two thoughts on her private Facebook page — that the killing of the right-wing activist was wrong, and that his death reflected “the violence, fear and hatred he sowed.” The post upended her life. Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita soon obtained a screenshot of the post […]

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Friday pitched his first revision of ballot language for a Missouri constitutional amendment that would ban abortion — without mentioning the ban — at the Cole County Circuit Court.  Next week, Judge Daniel Green will decide if it is a ball or a strike. Last Friday, Green ordered Hoskins […]

When Black voters stay home on election day, the results have major consequences, according to Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. Morial implored attendees at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference Thursday to eschew the myth that their vote does not matter. Black voter turnout was more than […]