MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — Some members of Congress are asking for their salaries to be withheld during the government shutdown, while federal workers on Friday missed their first full paycheck since many operations closed on Oct. 1. With no movement toward a deal to end the shutdown, the House remained on a prolonged break from Capitol Hill, […]

WASHINGTON — The stakes of the ongoing government shutdown rose Monday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture doubled down on its position that food benefits for November could not be paid and a union for federal workers implored lawmakers to pass a stopgap measure. As the government shutdown entered day 27, President Donald Trump’s administration […]

A ballot summary describing a proposed amendment to Missouri’s Constitution as “limiting parental choice in education” is sufficient, a Cole County judge ruled last week. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins must only correct a drafting error for his description of the initiative petition to be “concise, neutral and sufficient,” Judge Cotton Walker wrote. The lawsuit, […]

WASHINGTON — More than 200 Democratic lawmakers and one Republican are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down President Donald Trump’s sweeping global emergency tariffs. The 207 members of the U.S. House and Senate argued in an amicus brief late Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not authorize the president […]

A recent economic study on THC beverages found the industry has the potential to reach between $9.9 billion and $14.9 billion in national sales.  In Missouri — where the product faces attacks from law enforcement, state legislators and local governments who say it’s part of a public health crisis — that potential is $75.4 million […]

A man jailed on felony drug possession charges has been waiting 469 days in the Clay County Detention Center for mental health services that could allow his case to move forward. It took him 75 days just to get a court-ordered evaluation from the Department of Mental Health, according to Sarah Boyd, spokesperson for the […]

Missouri is currently facing a diabetes crisis. Over 598,000 adults — about 10.6% of our state’s population — live with diabetes, and the numbers keep increasing. Each year, more than 31,000 Missourians receive a new diagnosis, adding to the already heavy burden on our health care system. Diabetes impacts communities unevenly. Rural residents, low-income families […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a memo Friday the agency’s contingency fund cannot legally be used to provide food assistance benefits for more than 42 million people in November, as the government shutdown drags on. The position is a reversal from the department’s earlier stance, according to a since-deleted copy of the USDA’s […]

“Man, don’t let them put you back in there.”  Oshoosi Size is living with his older brother, Ogun, after being released from prison. Ogun wants his little brother to get his life together and stay out of trouble. That’s not easy to do with a criminal record — even if you don’t do anything wrong. […]

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Friday identified the West African nation of Liberia as the location for the removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, noting his deportation could come as soon as Oct. 31.  In a Friday court filing in the District of Maryland, the Department of Justice argued that Liberia is a close partner with […]

The 75 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits will see a 2.8% increase in payments next year, the Social Security Administration said Friday.  The cost-of-living adjustment is just below the inflation rate of 3% announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, also on Friday.  The adjustment is lower than the average over the past decade, but […]

The biggest unresolved question after a months-long study of the Missouri parole system is arguably the most important — what portion of a sentence must be served before an incarcerated person is eligible for release?  Some members of the Parole Working Group established by Gov. Mike Kehoe wanted to require more than the current system, […]

Last year, Cing Cing Hlamyo and four other Burmese families in Missouri pooled their money to join Welcome Corps. Launched by President Joe Biden’s administration in 2023, Welcome Corps allowed people in the United States to sponsor refugees. “When it opened, all the Burmese, they were so excited,” she said.  The group put money in […]

WASHINGTON — Workers this week demolished the East Wing of the White House, originally built in 1942, to make room for construction of a ballroom that President Donald Trump had said wouldn’t impact the building.  White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the roughly $300 million project during a Thursday briefing, saying it is the […]

WASHINGTON — The Senate Thursday failed to advance a Republican measure and rejected unanimous agreements on two related bills from Democrats that would have paid federal employees and contractors who have continued to work amid the government shutdown, which entered day 23.  The stalemate constituted the latest example of how dug in to their arguments […]

The Missouri Association of Realtors is asking a Cole County judge to order a rewrite of the ballot summary for a GOP-backed proposal that would make it nearly impossible for constitutional amendments to pass through the initiative petition process. The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, accuses Missouri lawmakers of trying to trick voters by writing […]

U.S. tariff measures, combined with China’s halted soybean purchases, are hitting Missouri farmers where it hurts, threatening billions of dollars in export revenue and shaking Missouri’s agricultural backbone. Since April 2, the day President Donald Trump dubbed “Liberation Day” and imposed sweeping tariffs on America’s trade partners, businesses have been scrambling to adapt. Missouri is […]

At least 90% of Black people surveyed for a new poll said Medicaid is important to them or their families, and more than half either have public insurance or a family member who relies on the program.  “Medicaid is critical for so many things with regards to making sure that we’re healthy and addressing health […]

As Missouri lawmakers consider changes to property taxes and look ahead to an election-year session where they again are likely to debate eliminating the sales tax on groceries, they face the unanswered question of whether the constitution allows them to take away a source of local revenue. Two southeast Missouri counties are asking the courts […]

WASHINGTON — Proposed mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education have raised alarm among disability advocates and Democratic lawmakers over the potential impact on millions of students with disabilities.  Advocates warn that the department cannot carry out its legally mandated functions for special education services and support at the staffing levels put forward by President […]