St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Anheuser-Busch stock climbs after Trump endorses Bud Light. ‘Not a Woke company’

ST. LOUIS — Anheuser-Busch InBev stock prices are inching closer to what they were last year before sales tanked, thanks at least in part to a recent endorsement by former President Donald Trump.

Trump praised the company on social media on Tuesday, helping push Anheuser-Busch stock prices up about $2, or almost 3%, that day. And they have continued to increase, closing at $65.61 on Thursday, close to last year’s high of $67.09 a share.

Still, experts say it is too early to tell if Trump’s seal of approval will impact beer sales.

Senate Republicans block rape and incest exceptions for Missouri abortion ban

Despite recent blowups among Republicans in the Missouri Senate, the majority party remained unified Wednesday to block a Democratic effort to legalize abortion in cases of rape or incest.

After Republicans opened debate on a plan to ban Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood, Democrats responded with amendments aimed at loosening Missouri's near-total abortion ban.

Missouri since June 2022 has only allowed abortions in medical emergencies.

Illinois congressional contest reflects broader split in GOP

FLORA, Ill. — As Ruthie Welty waited for her coffee at Common Grounds Coffee Lounge last month, she thought about who she’ll vote for in the upcoming Republican primary election for the U.S. House. Her options are a conservative incumbent who sees bipartisanship as necessary to making government work, and a far-right challenger who says he’s willing to shut government down to advance his agenda. But the 76-year-old military veteran from rural southeast Illinois had one dominant feeling about the race. “I hate to see Christian Republicans going against each other,” Welty said. The contest in th...

Missouri's lifetime food-stamp ban for drug felons is cruel and counterproductive

As Missouri lawmakers embark on yet another legislative session sure to be defined by right-wing extremism and entrenched partisanship, positive exception has arisen regarding, of all things, public assistance: A bipartisan proposal would finally end a cruel and counterproductive lifetime ban on food stamp eligibility for people with felony drug convictions in their past. Technically, the state modified that ban a decade ago, but under such onerous restrictions that it effectively still prevents almost anyone with a felony drug record from accessing the federal-state Supplemental Nutrition Foo...

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush joins Rashida Tlaib in supporting South Africa's case against Israel

WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib in a joint statement issued Thursday that voices support for South Africa's current case against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

In arguments before the United Nations' top court Thursday, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and pleaded with the United Nations' top court on Thursday to urgently order a halt to the country's military operation. Israel has vehemently denied the allegations.

Court ruling barring Trump from the ballot could end up making him stronger

For those who recognize Donald Trump as the looming threat to democracy that he so clearly is, the news out of Colorado on Tuesday might sound unambiguously positive. The state’s supreme court ruled that Trump can be barred from next year’s Colorado presidential primary, based on the argument that he committed insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and is therefore ineligible to become president. Yet as dangerous as Trump is, we must express some discomfort with this development. Whatever constitutional validity the court’s ruling may or may not have will be determined as the legal process continues pl...

A proposal to hand-count ballots promotes a false and dangerous narrative

To those who grumble that Jan. 6, 2021, is ancient history and everyone should just move on already, we offer rebuttal in the person of Missouri state Sen. Denny Hoskins. The Warrensburg Republican, who is in the running next year to become the state’s top election official, has filed legislation to require hand-counting of the state’s roughly 3 million ballots. His backward rationale is that it would make voting more secure and accurate. In fact, all serious data indicates the opposite is true — unless, of course, you’re fully vested in the MAGA-manufactured myth that ballot-counting machines...

House Republicans' empty impeachment inquiry cheapens an important process

The move by House Republicans Wednesday to formally open an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden was perhaps predictable back in January 2021 — with then-President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol — or even as far back as December 2019, with Trump’s first impeachment, for trying to strong-arm Ukraine’s government into helping him win reelection. But that predictability doesn’t make the GOP’s Biden impeachment inquiry any less of a cynical, pathetic stunt. Though Wednesday’s vote made the process official, House Republicans have alr...

From Missouri to Texas, the wages of forced-birth fanaticism

Anyone who still doesn’t understand that the newly empowered forced-birth movement is inherently oppressive, cruel and at times literally life-threatening to women should look carefully at what elected officials are trying to do today in Missouri and in Texas. In Missouri, state lawmakers have filed legislation that would give full legal rights of personhood to fertilized eggs — meaning women who end their pregnancies at any point, for almost any reason, could face murder charges and, potentially, the death penalty. And a Texas woman’s quest to end a pregnancy that is medically nonviable and h...

US Steel closes Illinois furnace 'indefinitely,' warns 1,000 of layoffs

GRANITE CITY, Illinois — The last operating blast furnace at U.S. Steel's plant in Granite City will remain idled indefinitely, the company said Tuesday, extending a closure first billed as temporary. The company on Tuesday also notified 600 additional employees that they might lose their jobs. U.S. Steel spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski, however, said the company only expected to lay off a portion of those. And a local union official said he thought the plant would keep operating with the same number of workers, at least for now. The fate of the Granite City plant has been in question since last ...

'These kids need us': 30 kids adopted in one day at courts celebration

CLAYTON, Mo. — Mary Thomas fought back tears Saturday when she was asked before a packed St. Louis County courtroom if she and her husband were prepared to raise the three kids sitting by her side as their own. "Absolutely, yes," she said with emotion. She held the youngest, Hanzi, in her arms. The 4-year-old girl dressed in a long party dress decorated with red flowers perked up when she heard her name read in the court. "That's me!" she said. Hanzi and her siblings were among 30 children who had adoptions finalized Saturday in the St. Louis County Courthouse as part of the county's first Nat...

It's not too late for GOP to dump Trump and pick Nikki

It is time for Republicans who care about foreign policy, are hawkish on national security, or who want to win back the White House to get behind Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador has what it takes to keep America safe. What she does not have is enough support from Republican primary voters. Haley’s campaign comes at a time when GOP voters are increasingly isolationist, prefer personality over policy and seem soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Can Haley land her message of carrying a big stick, following in the footsteps of the 26th president of the Unite...

Sen. Scott’s exit leaves Haley as the only rational Trump alternative

Given Donald Trump’s stubborn standing atop polls of Republican voters, there may be no more meaningless exercise in futility right now than even talking about the rest of the GOP presidential field, let alone tentatively backing one candidate in that field. Still, a lot could happen between now and the bulk of the primaries this spring: Trump could be criminally convicted, or his age and health could become an issue, or (perhaps least likely) his supporters could come to their senses. You never know. So it’s worth noting that Sen. Tim Scott’s withdrawal from the primary contest, while disappo...

Weedkillers are hitting Missouri and Illinois forests. And they’re killing trees.

NASHVILLE, Illinois — Agricultural weedkillers are slowly killing trees across Missouri and Illinois, scientists, state workers and landowners say. Landowners say 200-year-old oaks have gotten sickly. State conservation workers are documenting trees with curling leaves and forests with thinning canopies. Scientists have studied hundreds of trees and found widespread evidence of chemicals in their leaves. The signs are spreading across the region, from farms to conservation areas to some of Illinois’ largest forests. Many affected trees have already died or been logged, and experts and property...

For the sake of the nation, Mr. President, please bow out

Two news stories this week offer a dire assessment of America’s current political moment. One is a Washington Post report on former President Donald Trump’s vengeful plans to use the federal government to persecute his critics should he return to office — plans that include deploying the U.S. military against American citizens on American soil. The other is a New York Times/Siena College poll that shows this aspiring dictator beating President Joe Biden in next year’s election in five of the six battleground states that Biden narrowly won in 2020. This despite a recovering economy, despite Bid...