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MoInd 📰

The midterm ballot measure battles have already begun

1 month ago
When Missouri Republican lawmakers approved a new district map in September to help their party in Congress, progressive activist Richard von Glahn was ready. Hours after the state legislature passed the gerrymandered map, von Glahn had submitted a proposed ballot petition to put it to the voters. It would be more than a month before […]
Jonathan Shorman

New Trump administration rule could override state medical debt protections

1 month ago
A new Trump administration rule issued late last month could override state laws that prevent consumers’ credit reports from including medical debt, potentially weakening financial protections for millions of Americans. In recent years, more than a dozen states have taken steps to keep medical debt from hurting residents’ credit scores, passing laws with bipartisan support. […]
Anna Claire Vollers

‘Blood, sweat and tears’: Missouri cannabis microbusiness owners begin to see light

1 month ago
Samantha Blum hasn’t been able to secure investors for her small-scale marijuana cultivation facility in the two years since Missouri awarded her a microbusiness license. So she and her longtime partner, Anthony La Pietra, decided to give up and fund the entire operation themselves, cashing in La Pietra’s retirement to build a greenhouse in Adrian, […]
Rebecca Rivas

Missouri GOP using incest victims, miscarrying women as bait to re-ban abortion

1 month ago
Most Missourians, like most Americans, do not want abortion to be a crime.  This is a problem for Missouri Republicans, who demonstrated last legislative session that their top priority is not the business of the state and attending to Missourians’ needs, but the reinstatement of the abortion ban that voters just rejected.  Because they know […]
Bridgette Dunlap

US Senate advances bill to end record-breaking government shutdown

1 month ago
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — Seven U.S. Senate Democrats and one independent joined Republicans on Sunday night in advancing legislation to reopen the government and temporarily keep it afloat until the end of January, after a record-breaking shutdown that began Oct. 1. Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan […]
Ashley Murray

States told by Trump administration to ‘undo’ full SNAP benefits paid for November

1 month ago
Following a late Friday emergency ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration has instructed states that authorized full November nutrition assistance benefits to return a portion, another unprecedented reversal for a program that helps 42 million people afford groceries. A Saturday memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service said states […]
Jacob Fischler

Air travel snarls as cutbacks due to government shutdown begin

1 month ago
The first flights affected by a new Federal Aviation Administration directive led to widespread delays and cancellations Friday. The FAA will ramp up to a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports by Nov. 14, starting with a 4% reduction Friday.  More than 1,000 flights had been canceled by 5 p.m. Eastern  […]
Jacob Fischler

Trump administration issues November SNAP benefits, then asks Supreme Court to intervene

1 month ago
This report has been updated. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states Friday it was releasing full November funding for the nation’s major food assistance program that helps 42 million people afford groceries, complying with a federal court order issued Thursday. The midday memo to states contradicted the Trump administration’s weeks-long position that funding the […]
Jacob Fischler

Safety net policies don’t catch every Missouri farmer

1 month ago
A rainbow of crops fills farmer Abbey Innes’ table at the Columbia Farmers Market: tomatoes, squash, garlic, kale and flower bouquets — all from her and her husband’s 15-acre farm in Howard County. But for a few markets last year, the table was a bit emptier. “We planted hundreds of pounds of seed potatoes and […]
Harshawn Ratanpal

State death penalty policies are heading in sharply different directions

1 month ago
States are moving in sharply different directions on the death penalty, with some looking to broaden when and how executions occur while others try to scale them back or end them entirely. Lawmakers in more than half of the states have introduced over 100 bills this year to either expand or limit capital punishment, to […]
Amanda Watford

States, donors and schools scramble to keep Head Start centers open — for now

1 month ago
With some early childhood education centers already closing their doors because of the federal government shutdown, local leaders are scrambling to find money to keep Head Start programs available to some of the country’s most vulnerable children. Head Start programs, which serve more than 700,000 low-income children across the country, are almost entirely federally funded. […]
Kevin Hardy, Nada Hassanein

Missouri schools show improvement in annual performance reports

1 month ago
Missouri public schools showed continued improvement in annual performance reports released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Thursday, with 56% of districts and charter schools raising their scores. The state is in its fourth year of the Missouri School Improvement Program 6, which education officials deem “more rigorous” than the previous iteration of […]
Annelise Hanshaw

National Republicans gear up to fight referendum on Missouri congressional map

1 month ago
A newly formed political action committee created to defend the gerrymandered congressional map drawn by Missouri lawmakers received $100,000 this week from national Republicans. On Wednesday, Put Missouri First reported two $50,000 contributions — one from the National Republican Congressional Committee and the other from the Republican National Committee. It marks the first contributions to […]
Jason Hancock

Report: The number of US jobs rose last month for the first time since July

1 month ago
The United States gained 42,000 jobs in October, the first increase since July as measured by ADP, a private payroll processing company and the only source of jobs estimates during the government shutdown, as federal jobs reports have been paused. ADP’s report, released Wednesday, showed job increases mostly in West Coast states, which gained 37,000 […]
Tim Henderson

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to retire from Congress

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who made history as the first woman to hold the speaker’s gavel, announced Thursday she will retire, ending a 40-year legislative career as one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress.  Her announcement came after Tuesday’s elections. Pelosi had a hand in crafting what was known as […]
Ariana Figueroa