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MoInd šŸ“°

US Senate launches debate on GOP mega-bill, but passage still not assured

4 days 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate began floor debate on Republicans’ ā€œbig, beautiful billā€ Sunday afternoon, though there are several steps to go before the legislation can become law, and any one of those could lead to additional GOP opposition — potentially dooming the measure.Ā  Senators must wrap up an ongoing review of the bill with […]
Jennifer Shutt

Coverage without care: What Medicaid expansion missed in Missouri

4 days 14 hours ago
In Missouri, we don’t just live with fewer healthcare options. We live with the knowledge that when help doesn’t come, it’s not an accident. It’s policy. I’m a nurse. I’ve worked in rural hospitals, in short-staffed ICUs, in systems that have learned how to survive without actually protecting anyone. And what I see now is […]
Abby Ehrhardt

Why Trump’s second trade war could be worse for US farmers

4 days 14 hours ago
For April Hemmes, a fourth-generation farmer on land her family has worked for almost 125 years in north-central Iowa, life is guided by a simple philosophy: ā€œPrepare for the worst and hope for the best.ā€ It’s a mindset that has helped her navigate extreme weather, market shocks and trade disputes. But this year, Hemmes said, […]
Mónica Cordero

US Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear

1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday in a major decision reined in nationwide injunctions by some lower courts that had blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order barring birthright citizenship. The high court declined to decide the constitutionality of birthright citizenship itself. But the justices said the Trump executive order rewriting the constitutional right to birthright […]
Ariana Figueroa

Gun silencer, school voucher provisions dropped from GOP mega-bill in the US Senate

1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Republicans cannot exempt gun silencers, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns from being classified as firearms under a federal gun regulation law from the 1930s, according to the Senate parliamentarian’s latest ruling on the ā€œbig, beautiful bill.ā€ The provision addressing silencers, also called suppressors, was added to the House’s version of the bill by […]
Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda, Ariana Figueroa, Ashley Murray

Numerous voter-approved bonds in jeopardy for violating Missouri public notice law

1 week ago
Hallsville, a town of about 2,000 people northeast of Columbia, was peppered with homemade purple and gold ā€œYes on Prop 2ā€ signs adorning front lawns early this spring. The Hallsville School District was asking for a $6.5 million bond issue to finance more parking for the growing high school, a new elementary classroom and increased […]
Jason Hancock, Annelise Hanshaw

Trump administration intends to deport Abrego Garcia to third country, DOJ lawyer says

1 week 1 day ago
This report has been updated. GREENBELT, Maryland — The Trump administration plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country once he is released from federal custody, a Department of Justice attorney disclosed during a Thursday emergency court hearing. Attorneys for the unlawfully deported Abrego Garcia had made an emergency request Thursday to bring […]
Ariana Figueroa

$1,000 ā€˜Trump Accounts’ for babies skewed toward the wealthy, critics say

1 week 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — Tucked in the ā€œone big beautiful billā€ is a proposal for tax-advantaged ā€œTrump Accounts,ā€ each seeded with $1,000 from the government for certain babies born in the United States over the next few years. But financial experts and advocates for low-income children are not overly impressed. The idea is not new and has […]
Ashley Murray

Trump urges voters to press for US Senate GOP mega-bill after setback on Medicaid cuts

1 week 1 day ago
This report has been updated. WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday told his supporters to call members of Congress and lobby them to support the ā€œbig, beautiful bill,ā€ a crucial push with just days to go before a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline. Trump’s plea follows several tumultuous days on Capitol Hill as GOP […]
Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda, Ashley Murray

Federal spending bill could be ā€˜devastating’ for Missouri Medicaid patients, rural hospitals

1 week 1 day ago
Policymakers and health advocates said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s ā€œOne Big Beautiful Bill Actā€ could be ā€œdevastatingā€ to thousands of Missourians who rely on Medicaid and live in rural communities. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the changes could cause nearly 9 million Americans to lose health care coverage. That includes approximately 130,000 to […]
Torryionna Miller, Lina Kong

Trump drive to defund NPR, PBS resisted by Republicans from rural states

1 week 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s request to claw back $9.4 billion in previously approved spending on foreign aid and public media ran into significant opposition Wednesday, potentially dooming its path forward in the Senate. Numerous GOP lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee, including Chairwoman Susan Collins, expressed concern at how the proposed rescissions would affect American […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri or Kansas? Business leaders don’t care as long as Chiefs and Royals stay near KC

1 week 1 day ago
Kansas City regional business leaders don’t care whether the Chiefs or the Royals play in Missouri or Kansas as long as they don’t leave the metropolitan area. That was the main message Wednesday for an online presentation featuring top executives from four organizations that have membership straddling the border. The presentation came just days before […]
Rudi Keller

GOP mega-bill stuck in US Senate as disputes grow over hospitals and more

1 week 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans appeared deeply divided Wednesday over how to establish a fund for rural hospitals to offset the budget impacts of Medicaid cuts in the ā€œbig, beautiful bill.ā€ The hospitals, which are generally already hurting financially,Ā rely heavilyĀ on Medicaid, a state-federal partnership that provides health insurance for low-income households and for some people […]
Ashley Murray, Shauneen Miranda, Jacob Fischler, Jennifer Shutt

A radical proposal to abolish state government and strengthen American democracy

1 week 1 day ago
Get rid of states? Legal scholar Stephen Legomsky, who taught for 34 years at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, has just published a book, ā€œReimagining the American Union,ā€ that proposes a radical idea: Abolish state government. The Conversation’s politics and democracy editor, Naomi Schalit – a former statehouse reporter herself – […]
Stephen Legomsky