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As demand for AI rises, so do power thirsty data centers

9 months 3 weeks ago
This is the first of two States Newsroom stories examining the implications of the growing need for electricity largely from artificial intelligence and data centers. Read the second here. The next time you’re on a Zoom meeting or asking ChatGPT a question, picture this: The information zips instantaneously through a room of hot, humming servers, […]
Paige Gross

As demand for AI rises, so do power thirsty data centers

9 months 3 weeks ago
This is the first of two States Newsroom stories examining the implications of the growing need for electricity largely from artificial intelligence and data centers. Read the second here. The next time you’re on a Zoom meeting or asking ChatGPT a question, picture this: The information zips instantaneously through a room of hot, humming servers, […]
Paige Gross

Missouri House approves changes to in-home child care regulations

9 months 3 weeks ago
Missouri’s child care crisis was debated again Wednesday, with a bill changing provisions for licensed in-home child care facilities passing through the state House. State law allows up to two children aged 5 years or older that are related to the operator of a child care facility to be exempt from the maximum number of […]
Jake Marszewski

Missouri House approves changes to in-home child care regulations

9 months 3 weeks ago
Missouri’s child care crisis was debated again Wednesday, with a bill changing provisions for licensed in-home child care facilities passing through the state House. State law allows up to two children aged 5 years or older that are related to the operator of a child care facility to be exempt from the maximum number of […]
Jake Marszewski

Congress should allow Medicare to offer coverage for anti-obesity medications

9 months 3 weeks ago
President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have pledged to “make America healthy again.” If Congress wants to actually take a step in that direction, it should pass legislation that would allow Medicare to finally offer coverage for anti-obesity medications. Right now, our Medicare system is operating on regulations that are more […]
David Sater

U.S. House passes bill targeting voting by noncitizens, which is already against the law

9 months 3 weeks ago
The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday to require voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, approving a Republican priority over the objections of Democrats who said the bill would only create hurdles for eligible voters without actually improving fraud protection. The 220-208 vote sent the measure to the U.S. Senate, where […]
Jacob Fischler

Trump administration extends deadline for schools to meet anti-DEI order or lose funds

9 months 3 weeks ago
The U.S. Education Department has agreed to delay for nearly two weeks enforcement of a disputed directive seeking to ban diversity, equity and inclusion practices, according to a court filing Thursday in the case challenging the order. The agreement between the department and the groups suing it over the order pauses enforcement until after April […]
Jacob Fischler

Trump administration extends deadline for schools to meet anti-DEI order or lose funds

9 months 3 weeks ago
The U.S. Education Department has agreed to delay for nearly two weeks enforcement of a disputed directive seeking to ban diversity, equity and inclusion practices, according to a court filing Thursday in the case challenging the order. The agreement between the department and the groups suing it over the order pauses enforcement until after April […]
Jacob Fischler

Trump-supported budget squeaks by in U.S. House after GOP assurances of vast spending cuts

9 months 3 weeks ago
This story was updated at 11:54 a.m. EDT. WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans adopted a budget resolution Thursday, clearing the way for both chambers of Congress to write a bill extending 2017 tax cuts and bolstering funding for border security and defense, though the blueprint set vastly different targets for spending cuts. The cliff-hanger 216-214 […]
Jennifer Shutt

Trump-supported budget squeaks by in U.S. House after GOP assurances of vast spending cuts

9 months 3 weeks ago
This story was updated at 11:54 a.m. EDT. WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans adopted a budget resolution Thursday, clearing the way for both chambers of Congress to write a bill extending 2017 tax cuts and bolstering funding for border security and defense, though the blueprint set vastly different targets for spending cuts. The cliff-hanger 216-214 […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri House committee approves $4 billion for state construction projects

9 months 3 weeks ago
The Missouri House Budget Committee approved almost $4 billion in construction funding Thursday, including 45 new earmarked items for projects that include a county government maintenance shed and a capital city parking garage. About half of the spending is reauthorization of projects approved in past years and funded mainly from the 2021 American Rescue Plan […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri House committee approves $4 billion for state construction projects

9 months 3 weeks ago
The Missouri House Budget Committee approved almost $4 billion in construction funding Thursday, including 45 new earmarked items for projects that include a county government maintenance shed and a capital city parking garage. About half of the spending is reauthorization of projects approved in past years and funded mainly from the 2021 American Rescue Plan […]
Rudi Keller

Missouri bill would require senior-care referral companies to disclose financial ties

9 months 3 weeks ago
For-profit referral companies that connect Missouri seniors to assisted living facilities would be required to disclose their financial ties to those facilities under a bill debated in a Missouri Senate committee on Wednesday. The proposal, which is included in a sweeping health bill, aims to add “protections for families looking to place their loved one […]
Clara Bates

Missouri bill would require senior-care referral companies to disclose financial ties

9 months 3 weeks ago
For-profit referral companies that connect Missouri seniors to assisted living facilities would be required to disclose their financial ties to those facilities under a bill debated in a Missouri Senate committee on Wednesday. The proposal, which is included in a sweeping health bill, aims to add “protections for families looking to place their loved one […]
Clara Bates

St. Louis judges increasingly embrace ankle monitors amid calls to reform bail

9 months 3 weeks ago
In the heat of an argument last spring, Khyla Mason raised a handgun into the air on a neighbor’s porch. She was acting in self-defense, she said, and never fired, but the confrontation was captured on video, and some children were nearby. Mason wound up in a St. Louis jail charged with unlawful use of […]
Taylor Tiamoyo Harris

St. Louis judges increasingly embrace ankle monitors amid calls to reform bail

9 months 3 weeks ago
In the heat of an argument last spring, Khyla Mason raised a handgun into the air on a neighbor’s porch. She was acting in self-defense, she said, and never fired, but the confrontation was captured on video, and some children were nearby. Mason wound up in a St. Louis jail charged with unlawful use of […]
Taylor Tiamoyo Harris

Missouri House GOP starts over with new bill to ban abortion with limited exceptions

9 months 3 weeks ago
With less than six weeks left in the legislative session, Missouri House Republicans scrapped their latest of several iterations of an abortion ban in search of a new solution.  The newest proposed constitutional amendment got its first committee hearing Wednesday night with a bill filed by Republican state Rep. Ed Lewis of Moberly presented to […]
Anna Spoerre

Intoxicating hemp regulations stall in Missouri Senate after 7-hour filibuster

9 months 3 weeks ago
Legislation aiming to regulate intoxicating hemp products like Delta-8 seltzers and hemp-THC gummies stalled in the Missouri Senate on Wednesday after a seven-hour bipartisan filibuster. The bill’s harshest critics argued it was nothing more than an attempt by the marijuana industry to stomp out its competition.  “It reminds me so much of a street drug […]
Rebecca Rivas

Intoxicating hemp regulations stall in Missouri Senate after 7-hour filibuster

9 months 3 weeks ago
Legislation aiming to regulate intoxicating hemp products like Delta-8 seltzers and hemp-THC gummies stalled in the Missouri Senate on Wednesday after a seven-hour bipartisan filibuster. The bill’s harshest critics argued it was nothing more than an attempt by the marijuana industry to stomp out its competition.  “It reminds me so much of a street drug […]
Rebecca Rivas

Trump attack on state climate laws likely doomed, but attempts to yank funds may be next

9 months 3 weeks ago
An executive order President Donald Trump signed Tuesday to block state-level renewable-energy initiatives set off alarm bells among climate advocates. But experts and state policy groups said constitutional protections will blunt any effect the order would have on state operations. The order, one of four Trump signed Tuesday aiming to revitalize the coal industry, directs the U.S. […]
Jacob Fischler