a Better Bubbleā„¢

MoInd šŸ“°

ICE arrests fell in August despite show of force in DC, Los Angeles

3 months 1 week ago
Despite the assistance of armed troops in U.S. cities, federal immigration officials recorded fewer daily arrests in August than in July and remain well short of a Trump administration plan for 3,000 arrests a day, according to a new report. As of Aug. 29, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests averaged 1,055 a day for […]
Tim Henderson

Missouri cannabis sales remain steady as new products emerge

3 months 1 week ago
More people are heading to Missouri’s dispensaries to buy cannabis products — and spending more money when they go, according to industry experts who spoke Thursday at the MJ Unpacked cannabis conference in St. Louis. While dispensaries in other states are offering steep discounts to try and attract customers, Missouri’s prices have remained steady.Ā  ā€œMissouri […]
Rebecca Rivas

Missouri Republicans invoke Christian values to gerrymander out a Methodist minister

3 months 1 week ago
As the Show-Me StateĀ joinsĀ the mid-decade gerrymandering war following prodding by President Donald Trump, Republican leaders quickly framed the effort as a godly mission. Yet, theirĀ proposed map seeks to flip the seat of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a longtime Democratic congressman who is also a United Methodist minister. In announcing a special legislative session to redraw […]
Brian Kaylor

As few as 5% of voters could defeat initiative petitions under Missouri GOP legislation

3 months 1 week ago
A proposal that would make it virtually impossible for voters to change the constitution or state law through the initiative petition process cleared a Missouri House committee Thursday evening. The legislation sponsored by state Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly, largely mirrors a request from Gov. Mike Kehoe to require a majority of voters […]
Annelise Hanshaw, Anna Spoerre

Legislative push to gerrymander Missouri congressional map advances

3 months 1 week ago
If a new Missouri congressional map endorsed by President Donald Trump is put into place, voters living on Kansas City’s east side will share a congressional district with people living nearly four hours away in Osage County.Ā  Anyone living in downtown Kansas City would be in a district stretching south nearly to Springfield. And Kansas […]
Jason Hancock

RFK Jr. battles with members of US Senate panel over vaccines, removal of CDC director

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Ā  vehemently defended his actions on vaccines and other public health issues under questioning by both Republican and Democratic senators during a contentious hearing Thursday. Kennedy, confirmed on a mostly party-line vote earlier this year, repeatedly justified firing everyone on an influential vaccine advisory panel, […]
Jennifer Shutt

Trump administration urges Supreme Court to quickly overturn ruling against tariffs

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to quickly take up the president’s emergency tariffs case to avoid “catastrophic” economic consequences for the United States, according to a filing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued in the Wednesday petition that roughly $750 billion to $1 trillion in tariff revenue is at stake if […]
Jacob Fischler, Ashley Murray

Trump sued over District of Columbia ā€˜military occupation’ by state National Guard units

3 months 1 week ago
The District of Columbia’s attorney general sued the Trump administration Thursday over the ongoing presence of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, arguing the deployment amounts to a military occupation that violates the district’s right to self-rule. President Donald Trump’s deployment of D.C. National Guard troops and units from states outside the district violates laws […]
Jacob Fischler

Governors split over mobilizing National Guard as Trump seeks more troops

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Inside a bustling Union Station, commuters and tourists breeze past armed military personnel patrolling in groups of three or four as part of President Donald Trump’s surge of National Guard troops and federal agents into the nation’s capital. Outside on a recent weekday afternoon, Robin Galbraith stood among a handful of people protesting […]
Jonathan Shorman

Freedom’s Frontier, preserver of Kansas and Missouri history, spared by release of federal funding

3 months 1 week ago
LAWRENCE, Kansas — Freedom’s Frontier has received the half-million dollars the federal government held hostage for six months, ensuring the organization can continue for another year to preserve the story of the struggle for freedom through historic sites across Kansas and Missouri. Freedom’s Frontier is among 62 National Heritage Areas that recognize historic, cultural and […]
Sherman Smith

ā€˜Jackass legislation’: Missouri lawmakers urged to reject quick fixes for property taxes

3 months 1 week ago
Missouri lawmakers should repeal property tax freeze laws that are warping the system, shifting the tax burden and failing to help those most in need of relief, St. Charles County Collector Michelle McBride said Wednesday. Speaking to the House Special Interim Committee on Property Tax Reform, McBride said there are 115 properties in St. Charles […]
Rudi Keller

Despite shutdown deadline, little movement in Congress on spending deal

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress began searching for compromise on a short-term government funding bill Wednesday, with just a few weeks left to broker a deal before a possible shutdown. Fresh off their August recess, congressional leaders and members of the Appropriations Committee appealed for bipartisanship from the other side while admitting they are far […]
Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda

Trump speculates New Orleans is next as he weighs National Guard expansion

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was unclear Wednesday about his plans to deploy National Guard troops to cities around the country, seeming to backtrack slightly on sending troops to Chicago while teasing New Orleans as a possible next location instead. Despite a Tuesday morning ruling from a federal judge in California that called Trump’s use of […]
Jacob Fischler, Ariana Figueroa

ā€˜Congress must choose’: Epstein survivors demand vote to release case files

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — As survivors of abuse inflicted by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein pleaded on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the release of investigative files, Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie accused House GOP leaders of using ā€œthe oldest trick in the swampā€ to avoid the issue. An unusually large crowd gathered outside the U.S. House […]
Ashley Murray

Missouri lawmakers begin work on Trump-backed congressional redistricting plan

3 months 1 week ago
The push to gerrymander Missouri’s congressional districts to create another GOP-leaning seat officially kicked off Wednesday with Democrats alleging the House violated the constitution by conducting business without a quorum.Ā  Only around 20 lawmakers were present Wednesday afternoon when the Missouri House convened for the beginning of a special legislative session focused on changing the […]
Jason Hancock

Trump can’t use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, appeals court rules

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court late Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, finding there is no ā€œinvasion or predatory incursionā€ by a foreign government and therefore President Donald Trump cannot invoke the wartime law to quickly expel Venezuelan nationals without due process.Ā  The 2-1 rulingĀ rejected the administration’s […]
Ariana Figueroa

Donald Trump rebuts weekend rumors on social media about his death

3 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke at length from the Oval Office on Tuesday, proving that he is in fact alive after rumors circulated online over the long holiday weekend that he might have died.Ā  Trump initially said he wasn’t aware of the speculation when asked about his ā€œdemiseā€ by a Fox News reporter after […]
Jennifer Shutt

When hospitals and insurers fight, patients get caught in the middle

3 months 1 week ago
Amy Frank said it took 17 hours on the phone over nearly three weeks, bouncing between her insurer and her local hospital system, to make sure her plan would cover her husband’s post-surgery care. Many of her calls never got past the hold music. When they did, the hospital told her to call her insurer. […]
Bram Sable-Smith