MoInd 📰

The latest round of student test scores show fewer Missouri public school districts and charter schools in jeopardy of losing accreditation, though this year’s data won’t immediately affect how schools are graded. Based on annual performance report scores released Monday for the sixth iteration of the Missouri School Improvement Program, or MSIP6, there were 343 […]

Supporting Amendment 3 was never an option for Justice Gatson. As the leader of the Reale Justice Network, a reproductive justice organization based in Kansas City, she had a simple explanation for her decision: the amendment didn’t go far enough in expanding abortion access. So when voters approved Amendment 3 — which lifts Missouri’s near-total […]

When my dad was a kid, his favorite baseball player Roberto Clemente couldn’t stay at the same hotels or eat at the same restaurants with his white teammates when the Pittsburgh Pirates were on the road. Only seven years before I was born, women demanded and won their right to bodily autonomy at the U.S. […]

Some venture capital investors, who have funded the tech boom in Silicon Valley and beyond, say they are excited by the prospect of a lighter regulatory environment under a new Trump Administration than they saw under President Joe Biden. But they warn that Trump policies that will benefit many technology companies may come at a […]

Trevor Hawkins, an attorney at Legal Aid of Arkansas, remembers how busy his job got when the state for a time imposed work requirements on Medicaid recipients: His office was swamped with frantic phone calls from people who said they couldn’t comply with the new rule because they weren’t healthy enough to work or had […]

The 2024 election results created complicated new realities for reproductive rights in the U.S., with Americans even in a few red states overwhelmingly voting to protect the right to have an abortion while also overwhelmingly electing anti-abortion representatives in state houses, courts, Congress and the White House. With a Republican trifecta coming to the nation’s capital in […]

Republicans are currently on track to win control of the presidency, the U.S. House of the Representatives, and the U.S. Senate — which is sometimes referred to as a trifecta. This does not mean that Republicans will have an easy time keeping Donald Trump’s many campaign promises. Under the rules of the Senate, if just […]

President-elect Donald Trump ordered congressional Republicans on Wednesday to block a broadly popular bill to protect press freedoms, likely ending any chance of the U.S. Senate clearing the legislation. The measure would limit federal law enforcement surveillance of journalists and the government’s ability to force disclosure of journalists’ sources, codifying regulations the Department of Justice has […]

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday evening he plans to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his newest pick for U.S. attorney general. Trump’s announcement came just hours after another Floridian, former Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew as Trump’s expected nominee for the country’s top law enforcement job. Gaetz was tapped to be nominated […]

The trustees of Missouri’s largest state employee retirement system voted Thursday to prohibit the use of pension funds for political contributions. The Missouri State Employees Retirement System board, responding to donations made this year by two smaller systems, made it the responsibility of the executive director to make sure money doesn’t flow into campaigns for […]

WASHINGTON — Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz announced Thursday he’s withdrawing as President-elect Donald Trump’s planned nominee for attorney general days after securing the appointment. Gaetz’s path to Senate confirmation was highly unlikely following years of investigations about alleged drug usage and payments for sex, including with an underage girl. He submitted his resignation to […]

WASHINGTON —  The 2025-26 form to apply for federal student aid is now available to all students and families, the U.S. Department of Education said Thursday. The department used a staggered approach to launch the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — to address any issues before the form became available […]

State officials’ hopes of rolling back Jackson County property assessment increases are floundering after a circuit court judge dismissed a lawsuit by the State Tax Commission on Wednesday.  The commission in August ordered Jackson County to reverse most of its 2023 property valuations, arguing they had been performed illegally and resulted in huge increases in […]

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s request for nearly $100 billion in natural disaster response and recovery funding is on track to sail through the U.S. Senate after both Republicans and Democrats expressed strong support during a Wednesday hearing. Members of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, however, voiced concerns with how the federal government prepares for […]

The outcomes of seven ballot measures in Arizona, California and Colorado reflect the stricter approach to crime that’s been seen across much of the country recently, with voters and policymakers driven by concerns over rising retail theft, homelessness, fentanyl misuse and challenges in police recruitment and retention. Voters have decided in recent years that they […]

The not-for-profit group originally set up to pay for Gov. Mike Parson’s 2021 inauguration gave $150,000 this week to the political action committee that helped get him elected. Parson is leaving office due to term limits and has said repeatedly that he does not intend to be a candidate for public office again.  The PAC, […]

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats largely reserved judgment Wednesday on President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Linda McMahon as his nominee for Education secretary, even as they raised concerns about Trump’s plans to eliminate the department. In interviews Wednesday, Democrats in the U.S. Senate mostly did not raise the sorts of objections to McMahon — the co-chair of […]

A Cole County judge on Tuesday ordered the Missouri Department of Social Services to pay more than $115,000 in legal fees and a $5,000 penalty for “knowingly and purposefully” violating the state’s open records law. In September, Judge Jon Beetem determined that the department violated the Sunshine Law by wrongfully withholding public records based on […]

Imagine two fields, side-by-side. One grows genetically modified corn, the seed bought from a major firm. The other grows organic where the farmer stresses about cross-contamination. The company that produced the neighbor’s corn seed has patented its product, restricting its use. If the grower’s corn intermingles with the neighbor’s, the organic farmer worries about being […]

The Federal Reserve’s second consecutive key rate cut could mean more than just lower borrowing costs for the average consumer — state and local governments stand to benefit, too. Lower interest rates may bring changes for housing development, tax revenue, debt refinancing and bread-and-butter projects like roads, water and sewer, state and local government officials […]