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Advocates for immigrants sue to stop courthouse ICE arrests

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — Immigration advocacy groups sued the Trump administration Wednesday for dismissing cases in immigration courts in order to place immigrants in expedited removal for swift deportations without judicial review. As the White House aims to achieve its goals of deporting 1 million immigrants without permanent legal status by the end of the year and […]
Ariana Figueroa

AI data centers are using more power. Regular customers are footing the bill

1 month ago
Regular energy consumers, not corporations, will bear the brunt of the increased costs of a boom in artificial intelligence thatĀ has contributed to a growth in data centers and a surge in power usage, recent research suggests. Between 2024 and 2025, data center power usage accounted for $9 billion, or 174%, of increased power costs, a […]
Paige Gross

Many medical treatments could be affected by Supreme Court transgender ruling

1 month ago
The justices’ reasoning in the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on youth gender-affirming care could have much broader implications, perhaps opening the door to state restrictions on health care for other groups of people, experts say. The ruling could give states leeway to make rules on any other sex-related treatment — potentially […]
Nada Hassanein

US Senate Republicans vote to claw back funding for NPR, PBS, foreign aid programs

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate agreed to legislationĀ early Thursday that will cancel $9 billion in previously approved funding for public broadcasting and various foreign aid accounts, another victory for the Trump administration.Ā  TheĀ 51-48 mostly party-lineĀ vote at about 2:30 a.m. sends the bill back to the House, where GOP lawmakers in that chamber would have to […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri lawmakers begin dive into property tax problems

1 month ago
Missouri’s snarled property tax system needs to be fixed or the courts will — again — step in, the vice chairman of the Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Property Tax Reform warned Wednesday. State Rep. Rodger Reedy, a Republican from Windsor, said he was just 20 years old and a newly appointed deputy assessor […]
Rudi Keller

GOP members of US Senate protest Trump freeze of $6.8B in school funding

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — Republican members of the U.S. Senate called on Office of Management and Budget Director Russ VoughtĀ in a letter Wednesday to release theĀ $6.8 billion in funds for K-12 schools that the Trump administration is withholding. The letter marked a major friction point between President Donald Trump and influential lawmakers in his own party as […]
Shauneen Miranda

Thousands of delayed federal transportation grants will get paid out, secretary pledges

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged patience Wednesday from Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who asked about a backlog of approved grants the department has yet to pay out to state and local governments. Duffy, in his first appearance before the panel, said former President Joe […]
Jacob Fischler

Travel time, costs for abortions increased after state bans, researchers find

1 month ago
Travel costs for abortions and delays in care have increased in the wake of state abortion bans, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco surveyed more than 800 people across 14 states that implemented bans on abortion after the U.S. Supreme […]
Anna Claire Vollers

More ā€˜Alligator Alcatraz’ centers to be built by states flush with cash, experts predict

1 month ago
WASHINGTON — Former top immigration officials from the Biden administration warned Tuesday that billions for immigration enforcement signed into law earlier this month will escalate the rapid detention and deportations of immigrants. During a virtual press conference with the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, the former Department of Homeland Security officials said they expect to […]
Ariana Figueroa

US Senate Republicans advance bill stripping funds from NPR, PBS, foreign aid

1 month 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night moved one step closer to canceling $9 billion in previously approved funding for several foreign aid programs and public broadcasting after GOP leaders addressed some objections. Nearly all the chamber’s Republicans voted to begin debate on the bill, though Maine’s Susan Collins, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Alaska’s […]
Jennifer Shutt

Missouri auditor says treasurer put $35 million into wrong state fund

1 month 1 week ago
Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek improperly deposited almost $35 million in interest on a fund for improving Interstate 70 instead of putting it in the general revenue fund, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in a report issued Tuesday. The audit said that the interest, although earned on the road improvement funds, should have gone into […]
Rudi Keller

Education Department in the middle of a growing tug-of-war between Trump, Democrats

1 month 1 week ago
WASHINGTON  — The U.S. Department of Education has emerged as central in the struggle over control of the power of the purse in the nation’s capital. Democrats in Congress are pushing back hard on the Trump administration’s freeze of $6.8 billion in funds for after-school programs and more at public schools, some of which open […]
Shauneen Miranda

Anthem, University of Missouri reach agreement on health care coverage

1 month 1 week ago
A little more than two weeks after telling a state Senate committee they have ā€œnever been closeā€ to an agreement, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and University of Missouri Health Care have restored a network arrangement suspended since April 1. The failure to reach an agreement before the previous contract expired left about 90,000 […]
Rudi Keller

Michigan AG leads coalition urging passage of legislation to curb ā€˜unscrupulous’ ICE tactics

1 month 1 week ago
An effort is being co-led by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to urge passage of legislation that seeks to generally prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identity and requiring them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia. The coalition of 21 attorneys general sent a letter Tuesday to members of Congress, […]
Jon King