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Small business owners from rural America urge Congress to keep clean energy tax credits

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — Small business owners and community leaders from rural regions in Western states including Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah pressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to preserve clean energy tax credits on the chopping block in the Republicans’ “one big beautiful” mega-bill, now in the Senate. The suite of […]
Ashley Murray

Democratic US Sen. Alex Padilla of California cuffed, shoved out of Noem press event

3 weeks 1 day ago
Federal law enforcement officials forcibly removed and handcuffed U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla at a Thursday press conference in Los Angeles by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid multi-day protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The scuffle between law enforcement, including an officer wearing a jacket with an FBI logo, and a United States senator represented […]
Ariana Figueroa

‘Pure emotion’ frequently drives debates on sports stadium deals

3 weeks 1 day ago
In promoting his bill to fund professional sports stadiums, Missouri Republican state Sen. Kurtis Gregory warned about the potential hit to jobs and tax revenues if the state were to lose a team. But during Missouri Senate debate last week, he acknowledged that pride was also a prime motivator in his efforts to make hundreds […]
Kevin Hardy

St. Louis therapist offers psychedelic-assisted therapy in Oregon and Colorado

3 weeks 1 day ago
Kate Schroeder’s journey began seven years ago when one of her therapy clients brought up the idea of using psilocybin — also known as magic mushrooms — to help treat post traumatic stress disorder.  “I had a pretty immediate, almost visceral ‘no’ inside of me to the thought of mixing psychedelics with therapy,” said Schroeder, […]
Rebecca Rivas

US Senate GOP tries to ease the pain for states in sharing costs of SNAP benefits

3 weeks 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans will propose more moderate changes to the major federal food assistance program than their House counterparts, Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman said Wednesday, detailing a provision in a giant tax and spending cut bill that would penalize states less harshly than the House GOP version. The Agriculture section of the […]
Jacob Fischler, Jennifer Shutt

Missouri special session ends with passage of KC stadium funding, disaster aid

3 weeks 2 days ago
The Missouri House closed the special legislative session Wednesday with votes to finance professional sports stadiums in Kansas City and provide tornado relief for St. Louis. Three special session bills, already approved in the state Senate, are now in the hands of Gov. Mike Kehoe. He is expected to sign them quickly, putting the decision […]
Rudi Keller

Tanks, choppers descend on D.C. in prep for Army anniversary parade, Trump birthday

3 weeks 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — More than 100 heavy-duty military vehicles and weapons systems will parade down Constitution Avenue in the nation’s capital Saturday, just days after President Donald Trump ordered troops to Los Angeles to quell mostly nonviolent protests against deportations. The display, on the date of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and Trump’s 79th birthday, will […]
Ashley Murray

Trump-backed pesticide report led by RFK Jr. draws fire from agrichemical industry

3 weeks 2 days ago
A new report linking pesticide overuse to children’s health issues has ignited a battle within President Donald Trump’s circle of support, pitting powerful agrichemical giants against some organic food advocates. Last month, the Make America Healthy Again commission, chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., published a report on declining childhood […]
Ben Felder

How client advocates are quietly reshaping criminal defense

3 weeks 2 days ago
In September 2023, Ashley, a 29-year-old mother of two who grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, was facing child abuse and neglect charges in a criminal case related to substance use. Her arrest led to her being separated from her youngest daughter. But instead of receiving jail time, Ashley was connected with a […]
Amanda Hernández

Stadium bill, disaster aid sail through Missouri House committees

3 weeks 3 days ago
The special session bills to fund professional sports stadiums in Kansas City and provide disaster relief to St. Louis passed House committees easily on Tuesday, setting up final votes that will send them to Gov. Mike Kehoe. There were no changes from the Senate-approved versions as the stadium financing bill passed the House Economic Development […]
Rudi Keller

Pentagon sets price tag for 60-day Los Angeles troop deployment at $134 million

3 weeks 3 days ago
The Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles will cost the federal government about $134 million, a Pentagon budget official said Tuesday, as the response to the protests further divided officials in California and Washington, D.C. The situation in the country’s second-largest city captured […]
Jacob Fischler

Missouri Supreme Court rejects transgender student’s sex discrimination claim

3 weeks 3 days ago
In a 5-2 ruling Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected a transgender student’s claim that he faced sex discrimination when the Blue Springs School District denied him access to single-sex locker rooms and bathrooms. The case did not seek a ruling on the constitutionality of school districts barring transgender students from sex-designated spaces. Instead, it […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Trump’s steep proposed cuts to medical research funding draw bipartisan flak

3 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya testified Tuesday that he will work with Congress to potentially reverse a steep cut to the agency’s funding the White House proposed earlier this year in its budget request. Bhattacharya told highly critical Republicans and Democrats on the Senate panel that writes the NIH’s annual spending […]
Jennifer Shutt

Amid LA protests, senators raise questions about safety at Olympics, World Cup

3 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — Members of a Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee panel Tuesday probed witnesses about how the federal government can ensure public safety at major international sporting events such as the Olympics and World Cup. The hearing came at the same time as protests in Los Angeles over the administration’s immigration crackdown and shortly […]
Ariana Figueroa

Five questions and answers about reconciliation in the U.S. Senate

3 weeks 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — Republicans in the U.S. Senate will spend the next couple weeks defending the party’s “big beautiful bill” against Democratic criticisms and attempting to pass a final version that can win 51 votes. Reconciliation, the name for the process under which the massive bill is being considered, comes with a lot of rules in […]
Jennifer Shutt

Kehoe signs into law Missouri bill voiding NDAs in child sex abuse cases

3 weeks 3 days ago
Legislation to void non-disclosure agreements in child sexual abuse cases was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The bill has been called “Trey’s Law,” referring to the late Trey Carlock, who died by suicide in 2019 after being sexually abused by Pete Newman at the Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps. Trey’s sister, Elizabeth Carlock, said […]
Clara Bates

Trump allows FEMA aid for St. Louis tornado recovery

3 weeks 3 days ago
Missourians who lost homes or other property during the May 16 tornado in St. Louis or storms that struck Scott County on April 29 are now eligible for federal disaster money. Gov. Mike Kehoe announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump  had approved his request for disaster declarations for the storms the day before, making federal […]
Rudi Keller