MoInd 📰

Recently, Missouri’s senior senator introduced the American Worker Rebate Act which promises “at least” $600 per adult and dependent child funded by revenue from President Donald Trump’s new tariffs. The proposed legislation represents a dangerous fiscal misstep that threatens to worsen inflation while squandering a rare opportunity to address America’s mounting debt crisis. Hawley’s proposal […]

WASHINGTON — Judges on the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit questioned the legality of President Donald Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs Thursday as the White House pushes on with its Aug. 1 deadline for import taxes at levels not seen since the 1930s. The case originated from consolidated lawsuits brought by a handful of […]

The bill authorizing state support for professional sports stadiums is unconstitutional because it grants public aid to private interests and combines widely different and unrelated subjects, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by two state lawmakers. State Sen. Mike Moon, a Republican from Ash Grove, and state Rep. Bryant Wolfin, a Republican from Ste. Genevieve, […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Thursday largely rejected Trump administration proposals to slash funding for education programs, medical research grants, health initiatives and Ukraine security assistance. Instead, senators from both parties agreed to increase spending in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026, as well […]

Only a dozen states have laws establishing suicide prevention offices or coordinators, and just 11 have task forces or committees dedicated to suicide prevention efforts, according to a new report. The report comes amid sweeping cuts at federal agencies that offer mental health support. They include significant slashes in staffing and funding at the nation’s […]

When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, he gave state leaders — not federal regulators — the power to decide whether and how to participate in the first-ever national tax credit scholarship program. That decision now looms largest in blue states, where Democratic governors and lawmakers must weigh whether to reject the law outright on […]

The possibility of a “whites-only” organization from Arkansas expanding into Missouri has inspired bipartisan outrage from state lawmakers and local officials who decry the group as racist and antisemitic.  The private membership association, called Return to the Land, owns 160 acres in northeast Arkansas, according to its website. Jews and non-whites are explicitly banned from membership.  The […]

Members of both parties on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee chastised a U.S. Department of Agriculture official Wednesday for not consulting Congress before proposing to shift thousands of jobs out of the Washington, D.C., area. USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Alexander Vaden defended the sweeping proposal, which Secretary Brooke Rollins announced with a five-page memo last week, saying […]

The top elected official in Missouri’s largest county was indicted Wednesday on four criminal charges for allegedly misusing public money to oppose passage of an April ballot measure. The indictment, secured by Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office acting as special prosecutor, accuses St. Louis County Executive Sam Page of spending public funds on a flyer […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday began charting a little-known legal path to force President Donald Trump’s administration to release the investigative files on the now deceased Florida sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, […]

Cattle farms and feedlots in Missouri today are populated by cows that are a far cry from those that roamed pastures 80 or 90 years ago. Cattle back then were referred to as “buckle cows” – named that way because they only went about as high as a rancher’s belt buckle. But in the 1950s, […]

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Amid a summer swelter last week, more than 80 people crowded into a trendy gastropub in downtown Pittsburg, Kansas, for cold drinks and hot talk. The subject? Democrats. After disappointing results in November, Kansas state House Democrats are touring the Republican-leaning state, trying to improve relationships and set the stage for a […]

States led by Democrats should resist the temptation to conduct their own mid-decade redistricting in response to Republicans in the Texas Legislature moving to redraw U.S. House lines before the 2026 elections, officials with the nonpartisan election integrity group Common Cause said on a press call Tuesday. While blasting Texas Republicans’ effort to remake congressional […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency submitted a proposal Tuesday to rescind a 2009 finding that has provided the foundation for the agency’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, drawing strong opposition from Democrats and climate groups. Administrator Lee Zeldin said the EPA would scrap what is known as its endangerment finding, established […]

WASHINGTON — The massive tax and spending cuts package signed into law by President Donald Trump earlier this month will affect not only Latinos using federal safety net programs but also those living in communities vulnerable to environmental pollution, Democrats and advocates said during a Tuesday virtual press conference. The president’s domestic policy agenda bill that congressional […]

An ethics complaint alleging a GOP state senator from Grain Valley was using his church as a political action committee has been formally dismissed.  The Missouri Ethics Commission determined the allegations against New Covenant Ministries and state Sen. Joe Nicola were unfounded, dismissing them at a meeting earlier this month.  Brad Ketcher, a Democrat attorney […]

Nonprofit organizations that provide refugee services in Missouri are pivoting to diversified financial strategies to reduce their dependency on government funding. These organizations are now focusing more on expanding community-based crowdfunding and scaling up revenue-generating programs to address anticipated financial gaps and ensure continued support for refugees. City of Refuge, a Columbia-based nonprofit that provides services […]

Who’s funding a state’s tax credit program for private school tuition is no longer available through Missouri’s transparency portal, following a decision by the State Treasurer’s Office to permanently remove the information. Donors and their contribution amounts were available July 2, 2024, when The Independent accessed the information and published a report three days later […]

The majority of Missourians can vote for something, but the elected officials we send to Jefferson City are bold and brazen enough to cave to special interests, lobbyists or their own self-interests and undo the people’s votes. Why should we let them undo the laws and policies we approve? Left unaddressed, it gives tacit approval […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and European Union leaders announced a trade framework over the weekend, just days ahead of Trump’s self-imposed Friday deadline to increase import taxes and his emergency tariffs come under scrutiny in federal appeals court Thursday. Under the agreement, a 15% tariff will be applied to all products, with some exceptions, […]