a Better Bubbleℱ

MoInd 📰

Zelenskyy in Washington meets with U.S. leaders to beef up support for Ukraine

8 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris rejected any suggestion that Ukraine should end its war by relinquishing territory to Russia. Zelenskyy and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, met for the seventh time during Harris’ tenure as vice president as the Ukrainian leader visited the White House and U.S. […]
Ashley Murray

Trump floats theory Iran was responsible for assassination attempts 

8 months 1 week ago
Former President Donald Trump suggested without evidence Wednesday that Iran could be responsible for two apparent assassination attempts he has faced this year, saying foreign leaders objected to his position on tariffs. Authorities have made no public statements to support the claim that either would-be assassin — in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July and near Trump’s […]
Jacob Fischler

U.S. House ethics panel releases more details about allegations against Florida lawmaker

8 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee Wednesday said it will continue reviewing allegations that Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick violated campaign finance laws, and the panel released more details about the inquiry. The original recommendation for committee review came from the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which is an independent entity that reviews […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri pledges to disperse summer food aid by end of year

8 months 1 week ago
Missouri has begun distributing summer food benefits for children and aims to finish by the end of the year, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services told The Independent this week. The aid was intended to be distributed during summer break, to help vulnerable kids avoid a drop-off in nutrition while they were out […]
Clara Bates

Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska Teamsters endorse Harris-Walz ticket

8 months 1 week ago
TOPEKA — The Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz days after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate in the November election. The conference cited Harris’ Senate voting record, Walz’ commitment to working families and the middle class and the pair’s strong support […]
Anna Kaminski

Will abortion swing the first post-Roe presidential election?

8 months 1 week ago
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country. Dr. Kristin Lyerly’s placenta detached from her uterus when she was […]
Sofia Resnick

Cannabis union drive stalls as company attempts to set national legal precedent

8 months 1 week ago
It’s been more than seven months since employees of St. Louis-based Beleaf Medical cannabis company held an election to unionize. The majority of the ballots — 11 of the 16 — have remained closed. “It’s been quite a while,” said Will Braddum, a post-harvest technician at the company’s Sinse facility in St. Louis. “We’re just […]
Rebecca Rivas

In swing states that once went for Trump, unions organize to prevent a repeat

8 months 1 week ago
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country.  Wisconsin carpenter Efrain Campos just retired this summer after 30 years, […]
Erik Gunn

Louisiana Republican’s ‘overtly racist’ tweet sparks calls for censure in U.S. House

8 months 1 week ago
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford of Nevada took to the U.S. House floor Wednesday night to condemn an “overtly racist” tweet against Haitians and Haitian Americans by Louisiana Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins. Hours before members were scheduled to depart for a recess through the November elections, Higgins posted to X a comment that […]
Jacob Fischler

Congress poised to race out of D.C. after dodging shutdown

8 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a stopgap spending bill that will keep the federal government running through Dec. 20, though the divided Congress has a lot of negotiating to do if members want to pass the dozen full-year appropriations bills before their new deadline. The short-term funding bill, sometimes referred […]
Jennifer Shutt

Idaho AG accuses pediatrics academy of possible consumer violations over gender care policies

8 months 1 week ago
Idaho Attorney General RaĂșl Labrador – along with attorneys general and other officials from 20 U.S. states including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey – has accused the American Academy of Pediatrics of possible “violations of state consumer protection statutes” over its standards and recommendations for gender dysphoria care for children. In a letter sent by […]
Christina Lords

Trump to hold rally at Pennsylvania site where he survived assassination attempt

8 months 1 week ago
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, is slated to speak in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5 at the site of the first assassination attempt against him, his campaign announced Wednesday. Trump will return to the Butler Farm Show, where law enforcement officials say 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks killed one rallygoer, injured two others and shot […]
Shauneen Miranda

U.S. Senate panel probes federal government’s role in affordable housing crisis

8 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The speaker of the Rhode Island House described how his state has tackled affordable housing and how it could be a model for local and state governments across the country in a Wednesday hearing before members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. “My mantra has been: production, production and more production,” Rhode Island […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri judge rules social services department ‘knowingly’ violated Sunshine Law

8 months 1 week ago
The Department of Social Services “knowingly and purposefully” subverted the state’s open records law to gain the upper hand in litigation, a Missouri judge ruled Monday. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem determined the department violated the Sunshine Law by wrongfully denying a records request because of the identity of requester and not the contents […]
Clara Bates

When business is booming but daily living is a struggle 

8 months 1 week ago
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country. ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — The signs on the empty historic buildings […]
Kevin Hardy

Ryan Routh charged with attempted assassination in Trump golf course case

8 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that the man who allegedly stalked former President Donald Trump for a month before aiming his rifle through a fence at Trump’s private golf course on Sept. 15 was indicted on the charge of an attempted assassination of a political candidate. The Justice Department said a federal grand jury […]
Ariana Figueroa

Half of Missourians have faced recent medical debt, survey finds

8 months 1 week ago
Two of every five Missouri adults owe money to medical providers, according to a survey published Tuesday by the nonprofit Missouri Foundation for Health. Those debts include unpaid fees for services ranging from lab tests and doctors’ visits to emergency treatment and dental care. Often, the bills are from one-time or short-term medical expenses, the […]
Clara Bates

Failed GOP attempt to keep abortion off Missouri ballot could foreshadow fight to come

8 months 1 week ago
Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure.  Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri’s Nov. 5 ballot.  “What a long strange trip it’s been,” said Michael Wolff, […]
Anna Spoerre

View politics with good old common sense: cowboy commentator Will Rogers’ wisdom for 2024

8 months 1 week ago
For those trying to come to terms with a particularly tumultuous election year full of deep divisions, ideological invective and personal insults, guidance can come from a historical figure whose insights into American politics still prove useful. As I chronicle in my new book, “Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers And The American People,” Will Rogers stood […]
Steven Watts

Marcellus Williams executed after U.S. Supreme Court rejects final appeal

8 months 2 weeks ago
Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise […]
Rudi Keller