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MoInd 📰

Red and blue states have big climate plans. The election could upend them

8 months 3 weeks ago
Pennsylvania wants to remain a manufacturing powerhouse. But state leaders also want to reduce climate change-causing emissions from steel mills and other industrial facilities, while cutting back the toxic pollutants that cause health problems in nearby neighborhoods. Thanks to a nearly $400 million investment from the federal government, the state is preparing a massive plan […]
Alex Brown

Missouri tax revenues declining in first months of fiscal year, raising concerns

8 months 3 weeks ago
Missouri’s general revenue has lagged behind inflation for two years in a row. And with that gap widening, the next few months could determine whether state revenue will see a year-over-year decline for the first time in more than a decade.  “September is a good sort of bellwether one for us, because that’s where we […]
Rudi Keller

Voters’ ‘moral flexibility’ helps them defend politicians’ misinformation

8 months 3 weeks ago
Many voters are willing to accept misinformation from political leaders – even when they know it’s factually inaccurate. According to our research, voters often recognize when their parties’ claims are not based on objective evidence. Yet they still respond positively, if they believe these inaccurate statements evoke a deeper, more important “truth.” Our team conducted a […]
Minjae Kim

Trump, Harris campaigns move quickly past apparent assassination attempt on GOP nominee

8 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The presidential campaigns are rushing ahead this week without missing a beat, despite numerous law enforcement agencies investigating a possible assassination attempt Sunday on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, was looking to pick up an endorsement from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters during a private sit-down […]
Jennifer Shutt

Deportations, raids, visa access: How the presidential election could impact immigrant farmworkers

8 months 3 weeks ago
The farmworkers scattered. There was a union representative in the workers’ employer-provided housing, on an orchard in upstate New York. Their employer, major apple grower Porpiglia Farms, had hired them on H-2A, or temporary labor, visas. That day in August 2023, according to the workers’ union, United Farm Workers, the orchard’s owners burst in. The […]
Sky Chadde

Rent is eating up a greater share of tenants’ income in almost every state

8 months 3 weeks ago
There were 21 states where a majority of tenant households spent 30% or more of their incomes on rent and utilities last year, compared with just seven states in 2019. Nationwide, about 22 million renters are shouldering that percentage. Anyone paying more than 30% is considered “cost burdened,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban […]
Tim Henderson

Missouri initiative campaigns launch TV spending after surviving court challenges

8 months 3 weeks ago
Missouri’s November ballot is now set, and initiative campaigns are ramping up spending to convince voters to pass the proposals. The first to go on the air last week was Winning for Missouri Education, the committee funded by online sports gambling companies for Amendment 2, which would legalize betting on college and professional games. The […]
Rudi Keller

How Jay Ashcroft politicized the Missouri secretary of state’s office

8 months 3 weeks ago
His waning days as Missouri’s secretary of state have not been kind to Jay Ashcroft. Once considered a frontrunner to become governor, he finished a dismal third in the August Republican primary. A few weeks later, he was forced to certify Amendment 3, an initiative petition clearing the way for voters in November to decide […]
Barbara Shelly

EPA slow to suspend toxic herbicide tied to lifelong health issues

8 months 3 weeks ago
Imagine an agricultural chemical so vial, so poisonous, so unsafe to human health that even the pesticide-friendly and herbicide-happy Environmental Protection Agency eventually couldn’t look the other way. That chemical is dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA, sold under the brand name Dachtal. The herbicide is widely used on broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and onion […]
Dave Dickey

Kansas State University researchers say carbon sequestration on farms can combat climate change

8 months 3 weeks ago
Farmers can help combat climate change and improve the health of their soil by switching to natural fertilizers and minimizing tilling, new research from Kansas State University shows. According to a paper published in June in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, analysis from a no-till cornfield in Kansas showed that manure or compost fertilizer […]
Allison Kite

Additional security will be in place for Jan. 6, 2025 certification of presidential vote

8 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol Police are welcoming a special security designation from the Department of Homeland Security for Jan. 6, 2025, when Congress will gather to certify the Electoral College vote count for the winner of the presidential election. The last time Congress undertook the responsibility, a pro-Trump mob attacked the building, eventually breaking […]
Jennifer Shutt

Trump refuses to debate Harris again before November election

8 months 3 weeks ago
After a poor showing in Tuesday night’s ABC News presidential debate, Republican nominee Donald Trump said Thursday in a post to his social media platform he will not participate in any more debates with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris before the Nov. 5 election. Former President Trump and Harris had differing proposals for a […]
Jacob Fischler

Support for access to in vitro fertilization to be voted on again in U.S. Senate

8 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate will vote for a second time next week on legislation from Democrats that would bolster support for in vitro fertilization, though it’s unlikely GOP lawmakers will reverse course from their previous opposition. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the revote Thursday afternoon, saying he hopes that Republicans will join with […]
Jennifer Shutt

Federal officials say no sign bird flu is spreading among humans, despite Missouri case

8 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Public health officials are still trying to determine how a Missouri resident contracted bird flu without having any contact with infected animals, but said Thursday there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission taking place in small enclaves or in a more widespread manner. The Missouri case marked the 14th person to contract highly […]
Jennifer Shutt