MoInd 📰

Self-driving vehicle technology continues to advance, prompting a wave of liability and safety regulations from state lawmakers. This year, lawmakers in Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada and the District of Columbia enacted legislation to regulate driverless vehicles, according to a database from the National Conference of State Legislatures. While much of the legislation aims to update […]

NEW YORK — After a year in the U.S. Navy, Loceny Kamara said he was discharged in 2023, because while on base he had developed mental health issues, including severe anxiety and nightmares, and had fallen into alcoholism. Kamara, 23, went to rehab and managed to get sober for some time while living with family […]

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe announced Tuesday that Catherine Hanaway will replace Andrew Bailey as the state’s next attorney general. Bailey, 44, resigned Monday after a little more than two years on the job to become co-deputy director of the FBI.  Hanaway, 61, will be the fourth person to serve as Missouri attorney general since 2018, […]

A state audit of the Independence School District found the board discussed the four-day school week and other topics during closed meetings, violating the Missouri Sunshine Law. The district also had problems with cash handling procedures and hadn’t created policies on retaining electronic records, the Aug. 18 audit report said. But overall, the audit “has […]

Nestled in Missouri’s Bootheel is the small town of Kennett, the Dunklin County seat. With just over 10,000 residents, it’s a close-knit community where good-natured teasing is a common show of affection. Once a sprawling swampland, it has since been transformed into an expanse of flat, fertile fields where agriculture stands as the backbone of […]

A recent drop in women’s workforce participation is a blinking red light for women and our economy. For nearly a decade, women have driven the growth in overall prime-age labor force participation – strengthening local economies and contributing billions to GDP. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that continuing to advance women’s equality could add trillions […]

Missouri will need a new attorney general for the third time in six years as Andrew Bailey announced on Monday that he plans to step down to become co-deputy director of the FBI.  “My life has been defined by a call to service, and I am once again answering that call, this time at the […]

President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies at the White House Monday celebrated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s concession of NATO-like security protections for Ukraine as part of a future peace deal between the two countries. In a social media post on Monday night, Trump said he called Putin after the meetings were […]

This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — Six Republican governors are sending more than 1,000 National Guard members to the District of Columbia after President Donald Trump last week activated 800 members from the district’s Guard as part of his federal takeover of the nation’s capital. The deployment would bring the total number of National Guard troops […]

If you are one of the 617,000 people in Missouri or Kansas buying health insurance on  healthcare.gov, expect sticker shock when next year’s premiums are announced. With few exceptions, insurance companies selling health coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace plan to increase rates in 2026. In the Kansas City area, all but one carrier […]

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Daniel Zare worked one-on-one as an AmeriCorps member with students going through rough times in school, lightening teachers’ workload in the classroom. At AmeriCorps Project CHANGE, based in Silver Spring’s Sligo Middle School, Zare was one of several in his group who tracked adolescents’ emotional and social wellbeing over months using […]

Just as the Missouri Freedom Caucus appears on the cusp of its biggest legislative victories, half of its members in the Senate have quit.  Missouri lawmakers are poised to return to Jefferson City next month to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts in order to gerrymander the Kansas City-based seat of Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel […]

Once upon a time, Missouri Republicans were proud to declare their independence from Washington, D.C., and anyone associated with it. During Barack Obama’s administration, they authorized specialty “Don’t Tread on Me” license plates, decorated with the Gadsden Flag. A lot of red states have those now, but Missouri was a trendsetter. Lawmakers were also fond […]

WASHINGTON —  A federal judge in Maryland has struck down the U.S. Education Department’s attempts to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion practices in schools. The Thursday ruling marks a blow to President Donald Trump’s administration as it continues to take significant strides to try to crack down on DEI efforts across the federal […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice will rewrite an order from Attorney General Pam Bondi that initially placed a Trump administration official in charge of the District of Columbia’s police force, after an emergency hearing late Friday afternoon on a lawsuit filed by the district. Attorneys on behalf of the Justice Department told District of […]

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe still hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll call a special session to change the state’s congressional map, but Republican lawmakers who’ve spoken to the governor say it’s very possible. State lawmakers and officials gathered in Sedalia on Thursday morning for the annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast. Planned remarks from the podium focused on celebrating […]

BILOXI, Miss. — The Trump administration is developing a powerful data tool it claims will let states identify noncitizens registered to vote. But Democratic critics and data experts warn it could allow the federal government to vacuum up vast quantities of information on Americans for unclear purposes. Some Democratic election officials and opponents of the […]

BOSTON — During this year’s budget cycle, Oklahoma state Sen. John Haste said lawmakers had two major things on their minds. “Number one was tax cuts. Number two, what the hell is going on in Washington?” he told a national gathering of state lawmakers last week in Boston. While Oklahoma lawmakers secured another round of […]

Shannon County has no hospital-based maternity care. While the local health center offers limited prenatal services, pregnant women often drive 60 to 90 minutes to reach a hospital equipped for labor and delivery. That kind of loss does not just change where babies are born. It changes whether they survive. Across rural Missouri, the health […]

WASHINGTON — Local leaders and advocates Thursday said that President Donald Trump’s decision to seize the District of Columbia’s 3,400-member police force and deploy 800 National Guard members is a continuation of his administration’s immigration crackdown. Since the president’s decision Monday to invoke the district’s Home Rule Act, checkpoints are being set up in busy neighborhoods, […]