MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — The approval gap on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran narrowed slightly Thursday in the U.S. House, when a War Powers Resolution gained a handful of votes, though still falling just short of passage. The effort to force Trump to seek congressional authorization before further action in Iran failed 213-214, with one Republican voting […]

Missouri is preparing to open up an unlimited number of licenses to allow for marijuana research in the state.  The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation has filed proposed rules with the Secretary of State that describe what a research licensee would be authorized to do and outlines the application requirements and process for a marijuana […]

Though public scrutiny of data centers is growing, 14 states do not disclose how much revenue they lose to data center tax breaks. That’s according to a new report from Good Jobs First, a watchdog group that focuses on economic development incentives. The lack of disclosure comes as other states record mounting losses in tax […]

At Family Planning Associates in Chicago, in the office where staff take phone calls from potential abortion patients, a U.S. map colored in with red and green dry-erase markers notes the latest status of abortion access in every state. The map can change at any time. In the center of the map’s biggest sea of […]

After unveiling a new plan just before midnight to replace Missouri’s income tax with a broader sales tax, state Senate Republican leaders moved quickly to push it to passage early Thursday morning. Democrats unanimously opposed the proposal, but only one said anything against it — and then only briefly. The harshest criticism came from Republican […]

On the Tuesday the president of the United States threatened genocide against Iran, smoke drifted into our town from the southwest, an acrid veil that hung over streets and homes and businesses. The haze contributed to the day’s unsettled mood. The smoke came from controlled fires that slither like snakes over the Flint Hills each […]

WASHINGTON — An effort to force President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval for further war actions in Iran failed in the U.S. Senate for the fourth time Wednesday, with all but one Republican continuing to support the president’s Middle East conflict. Senators voted down the measure, 47-52, with a similar partisan breakdown as earlier […]

WASHINGTON — The White House budget director on Wednesday defended the administration’s latest request for Congress, testifying before the House Budget Committee that a 43% increase in defense spending and a 10% cut to domestic programs is the best path forward.  Democrats on the panel were highly critical of that proposal, which lawmakers will debate […]

A Cole County Circuit Court judge ruled Tuesday that Missouri can use public funds to pay for private school scholarships even though state law doesn’t explicitly authorize it. In a 57-page ruling, Judge Brian Stumpe wrote that lawmakers could directly appropriate funds to the MOScholars program because state law does not “expressly prohibit” it. The […]

WASHINGTON — Tucked into President Donald Trump’s new budget request is a plan that could dramatically change — and, critics say, slash — how much money and help states provide to people needing jobs and training. Trump’s latest budget proposes a federal “Make America Skilled Again’’ grant that would combine a dozen current programs and provide […]

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are once again looking toward the complex budget reconciliation process as a way to achieve some of their policy goals without Democratic votes.  GOP leaders were able to use the special pathway last year to approve the “big, beautiful” law that extended tax cuts, overhauled and cut Medicaid, provided hundreds of […]

When paramedics from the St. Charles City Fire Department arrive at the scene of an opioid overdose, patients refuse to go to the hospital about 75% of the time. But even if they decline treatment, they’re likely to accept naloxone kits that paramedics leave behind, said Marc Doll, emergency medical services bureau chief for the […]

Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office received 10,000 handwritten letters Tuesday asking him to veto a Missouri bill that would impose a statewide ban on intoxicating hemp products. The letters, gathered in just 10 days, came from small-business owners, farmers and customers across Missouri who say the legislation could wipe out the state’s hemp industry — even […]

A surge of tax refunds tied to Missouri’s capital gains tax cut pushed general revenue collections below last year’s pace, as the Senate Appropriations Committee worked on Tuesday to finalize the state budget for the coming year. Net general revenue collections for the year fell $10 million between the close of business Friday and the […]

A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court justices showed skepticism about the Trump Administration’s arguments on birthright citizenship. The court delayed its decision on birthright citizenship by first taking up the procedural question of universal injunctions. The conservative majority seemed to be throwing Trump a bone by barring universal injunctions. The ruling against universal injunctions […]

The Missouri State Board of Education approved Frontier STEM Academy’s charter school application Tuesday, with one board member decrying the addition of charter schools in Columbia as “problematic.” The vote, which was opposed by Columbia Public Schools, opens the door for the first charter school in Missouri outside of the St. Louis and Kansas City […]

The Department of Justice’s stated reason for obtaining sensitive personal data on millions of voters masks the Trump administration’s true intention for obtaining state voter lists, Michigan’s top election official asserted in federal appeals court Monday. Attorneys for Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson made the allegation in a brief in the 6th U.S. Circuit […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday he plans to use the complex reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement for the next three years, though it wasn’t immediately clear if House Republicans were on the exact same page. The plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol with only […]

State Rep. Cathy Joy Loy, a Republican from Carthage, said her bill seeking to automatically retain Missouri third-grade students who are struggling to read is a “tourniquet” to “stop the bleed of children who are not reading.” But speaking to the Senate Education Committee Tuesday morning, school administrators said literacy rates are showing improvement three […]

A sweeping reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service signals that the agency is planning to lean heavily on states to help manage millions of acres of federal land, foresters across the West say. State officials and timber industry leaders say they’ve been given scant details about the plan, which will move the agency’s headquarters from […]