For Wil Franklin, chief executive of KC CARE Health Clinic, Tuesday began with a blizzard of texts and emails. A sweeping plan to freeze federal grants and loans affected $5 million that his community safety-net clinic relies on. The online portal that community health clinics across the country use to access federal money was suddenly […]
Threat of federal funding freeze panics KC’s nonprofit health care community
Posted inState Government
Kansas joins effort to stop counting noncitizens in census, but communities fear damage
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach wants to stop counting noncitizens in the U.S. census. Counting unauthorized immigrants hurts states like Kansas, argues a lawsuit that Kobach joined. States like Texas and California have larger noncitizen populations. When counted, that means Texas and California get more Electoral College votes, more representation in Congress and a larger […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas is trying again to ban gender-affirming care for minors
Kansas lawmakers are trying to ban gender-affirming care for minors after several failed attempts. The proposal would ban puberty blockers, hormone treatments and gender-affirming surgeries, which are rare. State funds couldn’t be used for these operations and state agencies or employees couldn’t promote gender-affirming care for minors. Republicans keep reviving the proposal because they say […]
Posted inEducation
Religion, gender identity and elections: Missouri K-12 education bills to watch in 2025
Proposals include making school board elections partisan and posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
Posted inState Government
How could Trump’s second term affect reproductive health care in Missouri?
As President Donald Trump begins his second term, the landscape around reproductive health in the United States is dramatically different from when he first took office in 2017. Trump appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices during his first term, paving the way for the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now, as he takes […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas doesn’t pay every teacher for some work they have to do. That could change
Mentoring young teachers in Kansas is supposed to come with additional compensation, up to $1,000. The state runs a mentoring program where mentors are paid $1,000 for helping a first-year teacher, $500 for a second-year teacher and $250 for a third-year teacher. But Kansas regularly runs out of money for the program. And despite promises […]
Posted inState Government
Time for a change? Kansas considers ending daylight saving time
Kansas lawmakers may end daylight saving time, meaning no more changing clocks twice a year. Ending daylight saving time and sticking with standard time year-round would still mean it gets dark at about 5 p.m. in the winter. Under proposed legislation, Kansans would fall back an hour in November 2025 and never again shift them […]
Posted inHealth
In some Missouri counties, 911 doesn’t exist. Upgrades to emergency dispatching will change that
The average caller would never know, but dialing 911 during an emergency isn’t possible in several Missouri counties. While the call will go through, in parts of southeast Missouri, the number is instead rerouted to a traditional 10-digit landline. But that won’t be the case for long. Thanks to federal funds, 911 dispatchers and call […]
Posted inHealth
Regulators warn Blue Springs hospital that lab’s ‘deficient practices’ could put patients at risk
Regulators recently warned officials at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Blue Springs that “deficient practices” at its laboratory, including lax testing procedures and insufficient training, could endanger patients. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services informed hospital officials that they had found the lab to be in “immediate jeopardy,” the most severe level of […]
Posted inState Government
Cellphones, cursive and teacher pay: A round up of Missouri teaching and learning bills in 2025
Lawmakers across the aisle want to curtail students’ use of electronic devices in class.