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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Restrictions on medical care for transgender minors are up for debate in the South Carolina House on Wednesday, as a slew of like-minded proposals receive discussion in a Missouri legislative committee. The measures' consideration highlights the continued interest among conservative lawmakers in targeting issues impacting transgender residents after last year's wave of high-profile bills. South Carolina is one of the few Southern states without a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. At least 22 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and many of those states face lawsuits. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Persons: Mike DeWine’s, ___ Ballentine, Mo . Pollard Organizations: COLUMBIA, South Carolina House, Republican, Ohio Senate, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: South, Missouri, South Carolina, Jefferson City, Mo

Ballot summaries are used on Missouri ballots to help voters understand sometimes lengthy and complex constitutional amendments and policy changes. “We stand by our language and believe it fairly and accurately reflects the scope and magnitude of each petition,” Ashcroft said in a statement. A measure to ensure abortion access is on the November ballot in Ohio after withstanding legal challenges from opponents. Voters in every state with an abortion-related ballot measure since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, effectively making abortion access a state-by-state question, have favored the side supported by abortion rights supporters. ——-Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas and Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Persons: ”, State Jay Ashcroft, ” Ashcroft, Andrew Bailey’s, Emily Wales, “, Roe, Wade, Heather Hollingsworth, Geoff Mulvihill Organizations: COLUMBIA, —, Republican, Western, Appeals, State, “, Voters, Supreme, Associated Press, NORC, for Public Affairs Research Locations: Mo, Missouri, Plains, ” Missouri, Ohio, Maryland, New York, Arizona , Florida , Nevada, South Dakota, Iowa , Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, U.S, Mission , Kansas, Cherry Hill , New Jersey

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced Monday he will drop his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley in 2024, and will instead make a run at a fellow Democrat — U.S. Rep. Cori Bush. Bell, 48, will oppose Bush in the 2024 Democratic primary for Missouri's 1st Congressional District seat that covers St. Louis and part of St. Louis County. Two years earlier, Bell pulled an equally surprising upset when he unseated Bob McCulloch as St. Louis County prosecutor. On Oct. 11, McCaskill posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story headlined, “St. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson, who later resigned.

Persons: — St, Wesley Bell, Sen, Josh Hawley, —, Cori Bush, Bell, Bush, Louis, ” Bell, Michael Brown, William Lacy Clay, Bob McCulloch, Hawley —, I’ve, wasn't, Steve Roberts, Democratic U.S . Sen, Claire McCaskill, McCaskill, Louis ’ Cori Bush, ”, ” McCaskill, Lucas Kunce, Hawley, Ferguson, Darren Wilson, Brown, Critics, McCulloch, Wilson, St Organizations: LOUIS, —, Republican U.S, — U.S . Rep, Democratic, Missouri's, Congressional District, Democrat, Democratic U.S ., Twitter, Louis Post, Dispatch, Democratic Senate, Marine, Ferguson City Council, U.S . Department of Justice, Republican Locations: Louis, St, Louis County, Israel, Ferguson , Missouri, Missouri, Washington, “ St, Ferguson

☆ Justices Reject, for Now, Missouri’s Effort to Override Federal Gun Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Adam Liptak | More About Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court refused on Friday to reinstate an expansive Missouri law that restricted state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal gun laws and allowed private lawsuits against law enforcement agencies that violated the state’s understanding of the Second Amendment. The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications asking them to intervene in an early stage of litigation. An appeal of a judge’s ruling striking down the law will proceed, and the case could again reach the Supreme Court after that appeal is decided. The Missouri law, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, was enacted in 2021 and had several unusual provisions. One declared various kinds of federal laws — including ones requiring the registration of weapons and making gun dealers keep records — to be “infringements on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.”A second provision prohibited the state from hiring former federal employees who had enforced such laws or given “material aid and support” to efforts to enforce them.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, ” Locations: Missouri

Missouri officials struck back at one of the clinics that unsuccessfully challenged new state restrictions on gender affirming care, accusing the clinic in a lawsuit of failing to provide proper care for transgender minors even before the new law took effect. Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, has opposed bans on gender-affirming care for minors and supported their access to medical care when treatments are administered appropriately. Doctors who treat transgender patients say those decades of use are proof the treatments are not experimental. Critics of providing gender-affirming care to minors have raised concerns about children changing their minds. Yet the evidence suggests detransitioning is not as common as opponents of transgender medical treatment for youth contend, though few studies exist and they have their weaknesses.

Persons: Andrew Bailey, didn't, Bailey, Louis Children’s, detransitioning Organizations: Republican, St, Southampton Community Healthcare, Southampton, Washington University Transgender, Louis Children’s Hospital, University of Missouri Health Care, American Medical Association, Drug Administration, FDA Locations: Missouri, Louis, Columbia

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri clinic will stop prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors for the purpose of gender transition, citing a new state law that the clinic says “creates unsustainable liability” for health care workers. The center will continue to provide education and mental health support for minors, as well as medical care for patients over the age of 18. “However, Missouri’s newly enacted law regarding transgender care has created a new legal claim for patients who received these medications as minors. Most adults will still have access to transgender health care under the law, but Medicaid won’t cover it. Missouri is among nearly two-dozen states to have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

Persons: Louis Children's, Mike Parson, Parson, Shira Berkowitz, Andrew Bailey, “, ”, ” Berkowitz, Louis, Jamie Reed, Sen, Josh Hawley, Bailey, ___ Ballentine Organizations: LOUIS, —, Washington University Transgender, St, Louis Children's Hospital, Gov, American Medical Association, Republican U.S, GOP Locations: Missouri, St, Jefferson City , Missouri

(AP) — Abortion advocates asked a judge on Monday to rewrite what they call misleading descriptions of several constitutional amendments on abortion rights that voters could see on Missouri’s 2024 ballot. Missouri is among several states, including Ohio, where abortion opponents are fighting efforts to ensure or restore access to the procedure following the fall of Roe v. Wade last year. In Missouri, summaries of proposed constitutional amendments are provided on ballots to help voters understand what the measures would do. Ballot measures on abortion could also be put before voters in 2024 in states including Arizona, Maryland, New York and South Dakota. In all of them, including generally conservative Kansas and Kentucky, the abortion rights side prevailed.

Persons: Roe, Wade, State Jay Ashcroft, Tony Rothert, Jason Krol Lewis, Lewis, Rothert, Andrew Bailey, Scott, Fitzpatrick, Bailey, —, Geoff Mulvihill Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, —, State, Supreme, Republican, Missouri Supreme, Associated Press Locations: Mo, Missouri, Ohio, U.S, Arizona , Maryland , New York, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Cherry Hill , New Jersey

☆ Jake Kleinmahon: One of Louisiana's only pediatric cardiologists has left the state over anti-LGBTQ legislation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Nicquel Terry Ellis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

courtesy Jake KleinmahonBut this past spring the Republican-led state legislature passed a series of controversial bills that targeted the LGBTQ community. Many of the laws enacted have been met with legal challenges from advocacy groups and LGBTQ families. In Louisiana, Kleinmahon said he lobbied against the laws, calling state lawmakers and writing letters to the state’s senate education committee. “It really showed that they just don’t care,” Kleinmahon told CNN. courtesy Katherine SasserThe challenge of movingBut relocating across the country hasn’t been an easy decision, LGBTQ families told CNN.

Persons: Jake Kleinmahon, Tom, ”, Kleinmahon, “, ” Kleinmahon, John Bel Edwards, Edwards, Terry Schilling, Schilling, ” Schilling, Tony Rothert, Rothert, ” Rothert, Cathryn Oakley, hasn’t, Oakley, ” Oakley, ” Katherine Sasser, Sasser, ” Sasser, Katherine Sasser Organizations: CNN, Tulane University, “, Mardi Gras, Republican, Human Rights, ” Louisiana Democratic Gov, HB, American Civil Liberties Union of, Columbia, University of Missouri Locations: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, Missouri, Denver, Long, , New York

☆ Judge Allows Missouri’s Ban on Youth Gender Medicine to Take Effect
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Azeen Ghorayshi | More About Azeen Ghorayshi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under Missouri’s law, clinicians will not be allowed to treat any minor who is not already receiving gender transition care, which includes drugs that suppress puberty; hormone treatments with estrogen or testosterone; and, in rare cases, surgeries. The law will also affect transgender adults, as it bans Medicaid coverage of gender transition care for people of all ages in the state. Ms. Reed filed an affidavit about her experience in February and testified on Tuesday in favor of the ban. Chloe Cole, a 19-year-old who has frequently testified to state legislatures about regretting gender treatments she received as a younger teenager in California, also testified on behalf of the state of Missouri against the injunction. The plaintiffs in the legal challenge include three transgender minors who are seeking medical care to transition and will no longer be able to do so once the law is in effect.

Persons: Jamie Reed, Reed, Chloe Cole Organizations: Doctors, Williams Institute, School of Law Locations: California, Missouri

☆ How a Small Gender Clinic Landed in a Political Storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Azeen Ghorayshi | More About Azeen Ghorayshi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The small Midwestern gender clinic was buckling under an unrelenting surge in demand. Last year, dozens of young patients were seeking appointments every month, far too many for the clinic’s two psychologists to screen. Opened in 2017 inside a children’s hospital affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis, the prestigious clinic was welcomed by many families as a godsend. But as the number of these patients soared, the clinic became overwhelmed — and soon found itself at the center of a political storm. advocates have pointed to parents who disputed her account in local news reports and to a Washington University investigation that determined her claims were “unsubstantiated.”

Persons: Louis, —, Jamie Reed, Reed’s, ” Organizations: Washington University, Republican, L.G.B.T.Q Locations: St, Missouri

☆ Analysis-New anti-ESG rule in Missouri offers US Republicans another path away from 'wokeness'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

(Reuters) - A new Missouri securities rule offers a template for Republican U.S. state officials who want to advance an “anti-woke” business agenda even as such ideas struggle for legislative backing. Ashcroft acted after Republican lawmakers failed to pass a similar measure during the state’s legislative session that ended on May 12, amid infighting over which bills should be prioritized. Concerns over costs, bureaucracy and economic fallout led to bills stalling or passing in weakened form even in so-called red states, where Republicans dominate state government. Several corporate attorneys said other Republican officials may adopt Ashcroft’s playbook and act on their own. According to a spokesperson, Ashcroft initiated the rulemaking before the legislative session began, essentially as a backup plan in case lawmakers did not act on the same idea introduced in January.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, John “ Jay ” Ashcroft, Ashcroft, “, ” overreach, Ashcroft’s, ”, Beth I.Z, Boland, Lardner, Larry Fink, ’ Ashcroft, ” Ashcroft, can’t, Dan Mehan, Lance Dial, Chuck Gray, West, Ron DeSantis, Walt Disney Organizations: Reuters, Republican U.S, REUTERS, Merriam, Webster, Strategy, “, Foley, Republicans, Morningstar, BlackRock, state’s, Representatives, Republican, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Missouri, Florida Locations: Missouri, Appleton City , Missouri, U.S, Boston, Wyoming, ESG

☆ Missouri Governor Says Execution Will Proceed After Jurors Waver on Death Sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Julie Bosman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a clemency petition sent to Mr. Parson last month, several jurors who had voted to sentence Mr. Tisius to death said they now believe life imprisonment was appropriate. Mr. Tisius’s lawyers had also argued that another juror from the sentencing trial was unable to read, a requirement under Missouri law for jury service. Mr. Tisius’s legal appeals have been exhausted. That left the possibility that Mr. Parson would step in and halt the execution. A former sheriff, Mr. Parson was seen as unlikely to commute the sentence.

Persons: Mike Parson, Michael Tisius, Mr, Parson, Tisius, “, ” Mr, Catholic Church — Organizations: Republican, U.S, Supreme, American Bar Association, Missouri State Public Defenders, European Union, Catholic Church Locations: Missouri, Randolph County, The State

☆ Missouri Lawmakers Pass Bill to Ban Transition Care for Minors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Background: Transition care was already in flux in MissouriThe vote on Wednesday was not the first attempt to limit transgender care in Missouri this year. Why It Matters: New limits are emerging across the countryThe Missouri bill comes amid a national blitz of Republican legislation targeting transition care for transgender youth. The rapidly changing legal landscape has placed transition care out of reach for many transgender children in the Midwest and South, infuriating L.G.B.T.Q. Several states bordering Missouri — Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma — have passed new limits on transition care for minors this year. An attempt to ban care for minors in Kansas failed when lawmakers did not muster enough votes to override the Democratic governor’s veto.

☆ Kim Gardner, Top Elected Prosecutor for St. Louis, Is Resigning
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Shannon Najmabadi | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner says she has faced attacks on her prosecutorial discretion since her first day in office. Photo: David Carson/Pool St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Associated PressKim Gardner , the top elected prosecutor in St. Louis, said Thursday she would resign effective June 1. The decision from Ms. Gardner, the city’s first Black circuit attorney, comes as she has faced months of criticism from lawmakers and other officials over what they termed dysfunctional prosecutions and crime levels in one of Missouri’s most-populous cities.

☆ Embattled St. Louis Prosecutor to Resign Amid Effort to Disqualify Her
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The chief prosecutor in St. Louis, who made history as the first Black woman to hold the post but faced widespread criticism for her handling of violent crime, said on Thursday that she would resign on June 1. The prosecutor, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, a Democrat, was facing an effort by Missouri’s attorney general, a Republican, to remove her from office. Her resignation means the governor, also a Republican, can appoint a replacement to serve as the lead prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has long struggled with high crime rates and disinvestment. In recent months, Attorney General Andrew Bailey accused Ms. Gardner of overseeing an office that failed at its most basic tasks, with warrant applications that went unreviewed for months and overburdened assistant prosecutors who sometimes failed to show up for court. Mr. Bailey said on Thursday that there was no reason for Ms. Gardner to stay until June, and that his office was “undeterred with our legal quest to forcibly remove her from office.”“Every day she remains puts the city of St. Louis in more danger,” said Mr. Bailey, who has asked a judge to remove her.

☆ Opinion | Republicans Did Something Most People Don’t Like, So They’re Changing the Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There’s still room for innovation, however, and in the past year Republicans have opened new fronts in the war for minority rule. One element in these campaigns, an aggressive battle to limit the reach of the referendum process, stands out in particular. It’s an abrupt change from earlier decades, when Republicans used referendums to build support and enthusiasm among their voters on both social and economic issues. If they get their way, the measure could go to voters in an August special election (previously, Ohio Republicans had opposed August special elections). One proposal would require 60 percent of the vote; the other two would require a two-thirds vote.

☆ How the U.S. Clean Air Act lets closed coal plants keep polluting for years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Tim Mclaughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Under the federal program, states distribute a certain number of allowances to power plants annually. Reuters found dozens of other examples of coal plants using credits from closed facilities to help comply with pollution rules over the past five years. During the 2021 ozone season, New Madrid’s pollution was five times higher than average among coal plants participating in the NOx-reduction program, EPA data show. RED-STATE PROTESTSUtilities and lawmakers in Republican-controlled states have pushed hard against curbs on coal pollution, including the EPA’s latest NOx-reduction regulations. But even at that price, NOx allowances will find buyers among coal plants, including those that operate at high pollution rates.

☆ Many States Are Trying to Restrict Gender Treatments for Adults, Too
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Azeen Ghorayshi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Missouri this month became the first state in the country to severely restrict gender treatments for people of all ages, following a series of quieter moves across the country that have been chipping away at transgender adults’ access to medical care. Last year, Florida joined six other states in banning Medicaid from covering some form of gender care for transgender people of all ages. These bans affect an estimated 38,000 beneficiaries of the public insurance program, according to the Williams Institute, a research center at U.C.L.A.’s law school. And in at least five states, Republican legislators have proposed bills that would abolish gender care for minors as well as young adults. The rule also said that patients should not receive gender treatments until any mental health issues are “resolved.”

☆ Ralph Yarl shooting: The White homeowner accused of shooting a Black teen who rang his doorbell turns himself in to face criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Nouran Salahieh Taylor Romine Holly Yan | Nouran Salahieh | Taylor Romine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Andrew Lester faces two felony charges – assault in the first degree and armed criminal action – in the April 13 shooting of Ralph Yarl. While he was hospitalized, Ralph told police he did not pull on the door, according to the document. Charlie Riedel/APLester opened the interior door and “saw a black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle,” Lester told police. While the teenager was still on the ground, the man then fired again, shooting him in the arm, Ralph told police. Crump likened Ralph’s shooting to the shootings of 17-year-old Martin in Florida and 25-year-old Arbery in Georgia.

☆ Bans on Transition Care for Young People Spread Across U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Francesca Paris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Florida’s state medical boards also issued a rule last year prohibiting doctors from offering gender-affirming care to new patients under 18. Though not a law, the decree has the same effect of ending care. Two more state legislatures, in Oklahoma and South Carolina, have successfully pushed major hospitals to stop providing gender-affirming care for minors by linking the care to the use of public funds. And hospitals have faced significant harassment for providing gender-affirming care in the last few years. Republican state legislators have called gender-affirming care experimental and harmful, and say that children are not mature enough to make permanent decisions.

☆ On a Night of Surprises, Princeton—but Not Kansas—Reaches the Sweet 16
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Laine Higgins | Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Princeton players celebrate after the team’s win over Missouri. Princeton University is known for harvesting Nobel Prize winners from its hallowed academic halls, but March Madness has turned out to be a proving ground for the idea that the institution’s smarts extend to the basketball court. 15 seed Princeton exploited seventh-seeded Missouri’s weakness on the glass to pull off a dominant 78-63 win on Saturday in Sacramento in the South Regional, somehow topping their historic upset over No. It was the largest margin of victory for a 15-seed in the NCAA tournament ever. In both wins, Princeton cleverly lasered in on and exploited its more highly-regarded opponents’ biggest weaknesses.

☆ Missouri’s Gun-Rights Law Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The federal government sued Missouri last year, arguing its gun-rights law impeded criminal law-enforcement operations in the state. A federal judge ruled that Missouri’s sweeping gun-rights law is unconstitutional, in a win for the federal government, which said the law hurt criminal investigations. The 2021 legislation, known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, made it illegal for state or local officials to cooperate with federal agents to enforce orders, rules or laws that go against the Second Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.

☆ St. Louis-Area Estate With a Carwash Sells for $13 Million, Becoming One of Missouri’s Priciest Homes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Libertina Brandt | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Be the first to know about the biggest and best luxury home sales and listings by signing up for our Mansion Deals email alert. A St. Louis-area home with a carwash has sold for $13 million, making it one of the priciest sales ever recorded in Missouri, according to listing agent Stephanie Oliver of Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty.

☆ Amber McLaughlin, the first openly transgender person to be executed in the U.S., dies by lethal injection
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Doha Madani | The Associated Press | Doha Madani Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. Pronouns | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Amber McLaughlin, the first openly transgender woman to be executed in the U.S., died by lethal injection Tuesday night in Missouri. McLaughlin later led police to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis where Guenther's body had been dumped. She suffered from depression, according to the clemency petition. Advocates also expressed concern that McLaughlin would be put to death even though the jury was not unanimous. McLaughlin began her transition in prison about three years ago, according to a fellow inmate and friend, Jessica Hicklin.

☆ Deer Disease Threatens Herds Across the Country
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Ben Kesling | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Chronic wasting disease arises from pathogens that lead to brain damage in deer, elk and moose. During Missouri’s rifle-hunting season, state conservation officials in more than two dozen locations spend 12 hours a day removing and testing lymph nodes from the heads of deer carcasses brought in by hunters. They are looking for chronic wasting disease, a deadly and incurable condition on the rise across the country. “It’s a growing problem,” said Erin Shank, a biologist at the Missouri Department of Conservation. “It’s going one direction and it’s not the direction we want it to go.”

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