MoInd 📰

Is it ignorance, amnesia, hypocrisy or some combination thereof that is fueling the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives? There is a growing and rallying cry to get rid of DEI programs and policies in both the public and private sectors. Why? The surge to turn the clock back has been inspired by the […]

The U.S. Census Bureau and a growing number of states are starting to gather more detailed information about Americans’ race and ethnicity, a change some advocates of the process say will allow people to choose identities that more closely reflect how they see themselves. Crunching and sorting through those specific details — known as data […]

Karen Uhlenhuth always has a few gallons of water in the back of her Prius and an eye toward the side of the road. When she sees one of the 80 or so saplings she recently planted looking thirsty, she’ll pull over and give it a drink. “The real test is the first summer,” she […]

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he has selected a Stanford University professor of health policy and skeptic of COVID-19 precautions to run the National Institutes of Health, the sweeping federal agency tasked with solving many of the country’s biggest health challenges. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will require Senate confirmation before taking over the role […]

WASHINGTON — Incoming White House budget director Russ Vought has spent much of his career learning the detailed, often convoluted mechanisms that make up the Office of Management and Budget. The agency, little known outside Washington, D.C., is relatively small compared to the rest of the federal government, but it acts like a nucleus for […]

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey believes the state can still enforce some abortion restrictions even after voters lifted the state’s ban earlier this month, though he didn’t weigh in on the constitutionality of a host of laws that are currently the focus of a lawsuit.  In a rare official opinion from his office, Bailey argued […]

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Tuesday it’s reinterpreting federal law to allow Medicare and Medicaid patients access to anti-obesity medications to reduce their weight over the long term. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s proposed rule, which the Trump administration would need to finalize before it would take effect, is expected to cost $25 […]

The thin margin on Amendment 2 to legalize sports wagering, threatened when almost 10,000 unreported votes in Christian County were heavily against it, appears safe in a review of official returns posted on county election websites. And while the Missouri Constitution makes new amendments effective 30 days after the election, passage won’t immediately pull down […]

Over the past few years, education in Missouri has undergone a quiet but seismic shift. What’s most interesting about this change is that it’s happening outside of schools. Today, 1 in 16 school-aged children in the state are homeschooled, according to new research by Amy Shelton and myself. That puts the number of children educated […]

A challenge to Missouri’s voter ID law will proceed to the state Supreme Court following a Cole County decision upholding the 2022 legislation, opponents said Tuesday. The decision by Circuit Judge Jon Beetem found the individual voters and organizations that sued — the Missouri NAACP and the League of Women Voters — were unable to […]

Missouri Department of Transportation employees are entitled to raises included in a market pay plan even if lawmakers haven’t appropriated enough money to cover the cost, the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. In the unanimous decision, Judge Gary Witt wrote that the Missouri Constitution is unambiguous in the power it gives to […]

St. Louis’ sewer district will receive the largest loan in the history of Missouri’s clean water fund — equal to almost the entire current balance of the state’s fund for similar projects.  The Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced Monday that it had awarded a $640 million loan to the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District to […]

Officials in blue states are vowing to build a “firewall” of reproductive health protections as they anticipate federal and state attacks on abortion access under the Trump administration. “We’re going on offense,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, told Stateline. “We are in an unprecedented war on American women and patients. State attorneys general, […]

Americans hand over a huge chunk of their paycheck for a roof over their heads. Policymakers are looking out for indications of what President-elect Donald Trump plans to do to ease housing costs next year after an election where voters were laser-focused on the economy. Housing accounted for 32.9% of consumers’ spending in 2023, making it the […]

Donald Trump announced that loyalist Pam Bondi is his pick for the next U.S. Attorney General. From 2011 to 2019, Bondi served as the Attorney General of Florida. In early 2020, Bondi was one of then-President Donald Trump’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial. Later that year, Bondi repeated unsubstantiated claims by Trump that there had […]

WASHINGTON — Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst began proposing ways to cut government spending to the Trump team this weekend, but she’ll need to convince her colleagues in Congress if her ideas are going to have any chance of taking effect — like ending the manufacture of pennies and nickels and curbing overpayments for Pentagon […]

An attorney and former elected official in Independence connected to two Independence utility projects that faced years of FBI scrutiny pleaded guilty Monday to federal tax evasion.  John C. Carnes, 69, was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2022 and charged with one count of tax evasion, one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct […]

Every public pension program in Missouri should adopt policies against making political contributions from retirement funds, State Treasurer Vivek Malek wrote in a letter sent Monday to system managers. In the letter, Malek wrote that contributions this fall by funds set up to pay pensions for sheriffs and prosecutors to the campaign committee promoting passage […]

Missouri’s restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender minors are constitutional and may remain in place, Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter wrote in a 74-page ruling Monday. Soon after the ruling became public, the ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal promised to appeal. The state’s restrictions on gender-affirming care, passed by […]

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education will be far easier said than done. As Trump seeks to redefine U.S. education policy, the complex logistics, bipartisan congressional approval and redirection of federal programs required make dismantling the department a challenging — not impossible — feat. It’s an effort […]