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MoInd šŸ“°

Missouri abortion rights amendment trumps most restrictions, judge rules

20 hours 25 minutes ago
Abortion services will resume in Missouri on Monday following a Jackson County court order blocking enforcement of almost all of the state’s laws restricting the procedure. On Thursday afternoon, Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang, for the third time, issued an order to enforce the abortion rights amendment approved by voters in November. In her previous orders, […]
Rudi Keller

States in ā€˜triage mode’ over $6B in withheld K-12 funding

22 hours 22 minutes ago
The U.S. Department of Education’s decision this week to hold back $6.8 billion in federal K-12 funds next year has triggered alarm among state education officials, school leaders and advocacy groups nationwide over how the lack of funds will affect their after-school, enrichment and language-learning services. The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the funding has […]
Robbie Sequeira

Lawsuit challenges ballot language for proposed Missouri abortion banĀ 

22 hours 41 minutes ago
A fight over wording for a proposal to reverse the abortion rights amendment Missouri voters added to the state Constitution in November will look very much like a similar fight in 2023. The ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Cole County with two objectives: Keep the proposal designated as Amendment 3 off of […]
Rudi Keller

White House to delay birthright citizenship restrictions — but may start planning now

23 hours 30 minutes ago
Justice Department attorneys told a federal district judge Tuesday that the Trump administration will not impose proposed restrictions on birthright citizenship for a month — but that it reserves the right to ā€œimmediatelyā€ start planning for that day. The two-page notice was filed in U.S.District Court in Greenbelt in response to District Judge Deborah Boardman’s […]
Lauren Lifke

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly confirms divorce from spouse of more than 40 years

23 hours 33 minutes ago
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday that she and her husband of more than 40 years were granted a divorce. She decided to speak publicly about the amicable end of her marriage because of inquiries about the status of her relationship with retired physician Ted Daughety. Kelly, 75, said the pair remained on friendly […]
Tim Carpenter

How the megabill allows Trump to expand mass deportations, curb immigrant benefits

23 hours 52 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending cut bill cleared Thursday has as its centerpiece $170 billion for the administration’s immigration crackdown, helping fulfill the president’s 2024 campaign promise of mass deportations of people without permanent legal status. The measure, passed by the House 218-214, would fulfill several of Trump’s key immigration priorities, […]
Ariana Figueroa

Abrego Garcia was beaten and tortured in Salvadoran prison, new court filings reveal

23 hours 55 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported in March to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, endured ā€œsevere beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological tortureā€ while there, his attorneys wrote in a late Wednesday filing. The filing, an amended complaint to the District Court of Maryland, provides the first disturbing details of […]
Ariana Figueroa

US House passes massive tax break and spending cut bill, sending it to Trump

1 day 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans cleared the ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ for President Donald Trump’s signature Thursday, marking an end to the painstaking months-long negotiations that began just after voters gave the GOP unified control of Washington during last year’s elections. The final 218-214 vote on the expansive tax and spending cuts package marked a significant […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa

Older adults now outnumber children in 11 states

1 day 4 hours ago
Montana, Oregon and Pennsylvania have joined the ranks of states where older people outnumber children, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The ratio of people older than 65 to children younger than 18 grew in every state, according to a Stateline analysis of the estimates released June 26, which measure age changes in mid-2024 compared […]
Tim Henderson

Federal budget megabill would shift billions in cost to Missouri taxpayers

1 day 9 hours ago
The massive federal budget bill awaiting final votes in Congress would add new uncertainty to Missouri’s own budget, but the most costly portions would not hit the state for two years or more. As Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the budget bills passed by lawmakers this year, he vetoed $310 million in general revenue spending and […]
Rudi Keller

In a reversal, judge keeps Kilmar Abrego in jail over deportation concerns

1 day 19 hours ago
NASHVILLE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain temporarily in jail at the request of his own attorneys, who cited conflicting positions taken by the government over whether he is at risk for immediate deportation. An order issued Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes keeps Abrego in the custody of the U.S. Marshals until a […]
Anita Wadhwani

Wisconsin Supreme Court rules 1849 abortion ban is invalid

1 day 20 hours ago
In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s 1849 law banning abortion had been ā€œimpliedly repealedā€ by the Legislature when it passed laws over the past half century ā€œregulating in detail the ā€˜who, what, where, when, and howā€™ā€ of abortion. The Court’s majority opinion, authored by Justice Rebecca Dallet and […]
Henry Redman

Title X funding returns to Missouri nonprofit after three-month freeze

1 day 21 hours ago
Federal funding that provides access to contraceptives and reproductive health screenings has resumed in Missouri, the Missouri Family Health Council announced in a press release Tuesday. The council, a nonprofit which distributes funds to 52 family planning centers in Missouri and three in Oklahoma, has been operating without key federal funding for three months. It […]
Annelise Hanshaw

US House GOP struggles to advance megabill against Freedom Caucus resistance

1 day 22 hours ago
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON —  U.S. House Republican efforts to pass the ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ hit a roadblock Wednesday, when leaders left the chamber in a holding pattern for more than seven hours before calling a procedural vote that stalled amid opposition from hard-right members and others. The House must adopt the rule […]
Jennifer Shutt, Ashley Murray, Ariana Figueroa

Protesters outside the US House make a last stand against the GOP megabill

1 day 22 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Protesters demonstrated against the ā€œbig beautiful billā€ outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as House Republicans whipped votes to get the bill across the finish line and to President Donald Trump’s desk by a self-imposed July Fourth deadline. Shelley Feist stood on Independence Avenue near the entrance to the House of Representatives holding signs […]
Ashley Murray

Republicans rewrote the US Senate megabill in its last moments

2 days 21 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The final ā€œbig beautiful billā€ approved by Senate Republicans Tuesday included some last-minute changes on hot-button issues such as safety net programs and clean energy tax credits. Senate Republicans had wrangled for weeks to deliver legislative text to satisfy concerns from lawmakers who objected to cutting Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income […]
Ashley Murray

Trump administration tells states it’s freezing $6.8 billion for K-12 school programs

2 days 21 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has put on hold $6.8 billion in federal funds for K-12 schools, according to an Education Department notice obtained by States Newsroom. The agency informed states on Monday that it would be withholding funding for several programs, including before- and after-school programs, migrant education and English-language learning, among other initiatives. […]
Shauneen Miranda