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Half of Missourians have faced recent medical debt, survey finds

6 months 3 weeks ago
Two of every five Missouri adults owe money to medical providers, according to a survey published Tuesday by the nonprofit Missouri Foundation for Health. Those debts include unpaid fees for services ranging from lab tests and doctors’ visits to emergency treatment and dental care. Often, the bills are from one-time or short-term medical expenses, the […]
Clara Bates

Failed GOP attempt to keep abortion off Missouri ballot could foreshadow fight to come

6 months 3 weeks ago
Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure.  Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri’s Nov. 5 ballot.  “What a long strange trip it’s been,” said Michael Wolff, […]
Anna Spoerre

View politics with good old common sense: cowboy commentator Will Rogers’ wisdom for 2024

6 months 3 weeks ago
For those trying to come to terms with a particularly tumultuous election year full of deep divisions, ideological invective and personal insults, guidance can come from a historical figure whose insights into American politics still prove useful. As I chronicle in my new book, “Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers And The American People,” Will Rogers stood […]
Steven Watts

Marcellus Williams executed after U.S. Supreme Court rejects final appeal

6 months 3 weeks ago
Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise […]
Rudi Keller

Trump immunity decision splits U.S. Senate panel along partisan lines

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Stark polarization was on display Tuesday as U.S. senators argued whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision effectively crowns the president “a king” or aligns with the history of the office. In the first congressional hearing on the court’s July decision, lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary debated and […]
Ashley Murray

Gaps in FAFSA rollout are closing, watchdog tells U.S. House panel

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Months after the rollout of the streamlined form to apply for federal financial student aid faced a series of highly publicized hiccups that prompted processing delays and frustrated students and families, a government watchdog offered some additional explanation Tuesday of what went wrong and recommendations for the U.S. Education Department going forward. Members […]
Shauneen Miranda

GOP senator blocks resolution stating the right to emergency care includes abortion

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats attempted to pass a resolution Tuesday addressing abortion access in emergency medical situations, but Republicans blocked it from moving forward. The floor action followed months of unsuccessful attempts by congressional Democrats to approve legislation on various reproductive rights, including access to birth control and in vitro fertilization. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., […]
Jennifer Shutt

Harris says she’d back an elimination of the filibuster to restore abortion rights 

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Tuesday during a radio interview that she supports changing a Senate procedure in order to codify the right to an abortion. Vice President Harris said she is in favor of ending the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, known as the filibuster, to advance abortion rights legislation. But […]
Ariana Figueroa

In the tightest states, new voting laws could tip the outcome in November

6 months 3 weeks ago
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Some voters are already casting early ballots […]
Matt Vasilogambros

Cancer victims implore U.S. House to take up compensation for radiation exposure

6 months 3 weeks ago
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is holding up compensation for generations of Americans who developed cancer after exposure to the nation’s nuclear weapons program, several members of Congress said Tuesday.  At a news conference in Washington, D.C, U.S. House members and Senators stood beside advocates from Missouri and tribal nations in the southwest who have […]
Allison Kite

New stopgap bill in Congress would postpone shutdown deadline to December

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve legislation this week that will give lawmakers until mid-December to broker agreement on the annual government funding bills that were supposed to become law before the end of this month. The stopgap spending bill, also known as a continuing resolution, has the broad bipartisan support it needs […]
Jennifer Shutt

School shooting damage lasts for years, survivors tell panel of U.S. House Democrats

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — The devastating effects of school shootings continue well after shootings occur, according to survivors, experts and educators who spoke at a roundtable U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee Democrats held Monday. Democrats scheduled the discussion after the recent school shooting in Georgia, where two students and two teachers were killed. Witnesses told the […]
Ariana Figueroa

The Deciders: The issues and states that will determine who wins the White House

6 months 3 weeks ago
Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country. It’s been a wild few months in the presidential race: President […]
Kevin Hardy

Key GOP Senator deflates GOP hopes for Nebraska winner-take-all in 2024

6 months 3 weeks ago
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Republican push to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes and boost former President Donald Trump ran into political reality Monday as a key lawmaker, State Sen. Mike McDonnell, announced he won’t support the change. McDonnell, of Omaha, said he had heard from people passionate about the issue who live […]
Aaron Sanderford

Battling experts: Qualifications of witnesses a key in Missouri gender-affirming care case

6 months 3 weeks ago
A case that will determine whether Missouri can continue restricting adolescents’ access to gender-affirming care began Monday in Cole County Circuit Court. The plaintiffs — which include transgender minors, gender-affirming care providers and loved ones — will argue that medical treatments for gender dysphoria are “safe and effective,” attorney Omar Gonzalez Pagan said in opening […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Harris presses Trump to debate again, and Democrats launch ‘chicken’ billboards

6 months 3 weeks ago
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is chiding GOP nominee Donald Trump for not agreeing to another presidential debate before voting ends Nov. 5, though he doesn’t appear inclined to change his mind. “Let’s have another debate,” Harris, the Democratic candidate, said Sunday. “There’s more to talk about and the voters of America deserve to […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri Supreme Court rejects death row inmate’s appeal, allowing execution Tuesday

6 months 3 weeks ago
The execution of Marcellus Williams will proceed Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a decision rejecting efforts to show  a potential juror in his murder trial was excluded based on race. After hearing arguments Monday morning in an expedited appeal, the court unanimously ruled that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell had not […]
Rudi Keller

Safe storage and minimum age gun laws would curb violence, study says

6 months 3 weeks ago
The deadliest school shooting in Georgia history occurred earlier this month when a 14-year-old gunman, armed with a military-style rifle, killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, a city about an hour northeast of Atlanta. And on Sunday, former President Donald Trump was the target of […]
Amanda Hernandez