On a recent morning, thick fog lingered over the hills and hollows of Ozark County, Missouri, limiting the view of Lick Creek. It and other waterways raged out of their banks in overnight flash flooding, only to recede with debris strewn about. County commissioners huddled inside the courthouse, one block from a muddy rodeo ring, […]
For the first time in years, the legislative session wasn’t defined by Republican infighting. The GOP supermajority managed to mend fences and get along most of the year. And even though both the House and Senate left town early last week — an historically rare occurrence that is quickly becoming the norm — they still […]
The Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature abruptly ended its 2025 session early last week to guarantee passage of two bills to undo what a majority of Missourians had voted for. Were they working for what was in Missouri’s best interest, or falling in line with the national Republican agenda? The day before the legislature ended its session […]
Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City next month for a special session to debate providing tax breaks to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals in the state, Gov. Mike Kehoe said in a news conference Friday morning. The special session could also consider a $500 million spending bill for construction needs around the […]
Missouri Farm Bureau will be allowed to sell health care plans to its members, Medicaid will cover the cost of hearing aids for adults and supplies of birth control will be extended under legislation that passed the legislature in the waning hours of the session on Thursday.
Tucked in to legislation Missouri lawmakers passed last week is a provision that will do away with the state sales tax on period products. The measure doesn’t represent a significant cost savings for consumers. It would only shave about 38 cents off a $9 box of tampons. But advocates raising awareness about the financial burden […]
WASHINGTON — Students and families could see significant changes to how student loans are repaid as well as cuts to federal student aid as congressional Republicans look to slash billions of dollars in federal spending to offset the cost of President Donald Trump’s sweeping agenda. Republicans are using the complex reconciliation process to move a […]
The Trump administration has agreed to review the safety and efficacy of abortion pills, based on white papers funded by far-right organizations, which reproductive health experts say are unscientific and contradict decades of research showing low rates of serious adverse events for the most common form of abortion. But during a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday, Health […]
WASHINGTON — As the “one big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill soon heads to the Senate, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri is pushing to significantly expand the child tax credit beyond what House Republican tax writers offered. Hawley, who’s getting a cool reception so far from the GOP colleagues steering tax policy, would claim it […]
When Missouri voters approved a ballot measure last November to provide paid sick leave to hundreds of thousands of workers, Andi Phillips felt hopeful. Gone would be the “complicated math game,” that she says she knew well — weighing whether missing a shift’s pay meant she would still be able to afford things like a […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared split Thursday hearing a major case in which the Trump administration defended not only the president’s order to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship but also its efforts to limit nationwide injunctions. Though the dispute before the justices relates to the executive order on birthright citizenship that President […]
When Missouri Senate leaders turned to a rarely-used procedural maneuver Wednesday to cut off debate and force a vote to ban abortion and repeal a paid-sick leave law, they essentially ended the legislative session two days early. They also sealed the fate of a litany of bills. Among the final-day casualties: – A massive incentive […]
The U.S. House Agriculture Committee approved, 29-25, Wednesday evening its portion of Republicans’ major legislative package that includes a provision that would shift to states some of the responsibility to pay for a major nutrition assistance program. The bill would require states, for the first time, to cover part of the cost of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House panel in charge of overhauling Medicaid by cutting hundreds of billions in federal spending wrapped up debate on its bill Wednesday, following a 25-hour session. The Energy and Commerce Committee voted 30-24 along party lines to sign off on the legislation, sending it to the Budget panel, which is expected […]
WASHINGTON — A national school voucher program got a step closer to becoming law Wednesday, as school choice continues to take heat across the United States. The proposal in the U.S. House would allocate $5 billion a year in tax credits for people donating to organizations that provide private and religious school scholarships and is […]
Missourians receiving federal food assistance for low-income women and children will face fewer administrative hurdles to get benefits after the state this month modernized its system. The Women, Infants and Children Program, known as WIC, for years required participants to physically visit an office to have their benefits loaded onto their cards — a requirement […]
Missouri Senate Republicans invoked a rarely used rule Wednesday to shut down a Democratic filibuster blocking a vote on a measure overturning the abortion rights amendment passed by voters in November. That action was immediately followed by another use of the rule, this time to get a bill passed repealing the paid sick leave law […]
WASHINGTON — House Republicans advanced the tax portion of the “one big, beautiful” reconciliation package early Wednesday, a step forward in permanently extending, and in some cases expanding, the 2017 tax law and temporarily handing President Donald Trump a win on campaign promises like no tax on tips. The House Committee on Ways and Means […]
Last summer, Kenneth Barrett recalls spending 46 days — about half the summer — in solitary confinement at Algoa Correctional Center, a minimum security prison in Jefferson City. In segregation, he was confined to a cell roughly the size of a parking spot for 23 hours a day. Barrett said he had brown tap water […]
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from both political parties are calling on the Trump administration to unfreeze funding for a grant program that helps local communities better prepare for natural disasters. The letter from more than 80 lawmakers urges the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin spending money already approved by Congress for the Building […]
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