Midwest
Missouri lawmakers vote to expand tax credit-backed private school scholarships
Missouri lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill to expand private school scholarships statewide, an effort made possible by extensive compromises including a commitment to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on public schools.
The GOP-led House voted with a bare-minimum margin of 82-69 to send the measure to Republican Gov. Mike Parson. If signed, it would offer up to $6,375 per child for expenses including tuition, textbooks, tutoring, transportation, extracurriculars and summer school.
The bill’s passage is a victory for advocates who have struggled for years to expand access to charter schools, virtual schools and private schools in Missouri. Worries about taking away resources from traditional kindergarten-12th grade public schools have been bipartisan.
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The heart of the legislation is the expansion of Missouri Empowerment Scholarships Accounts, which low-income families can draw from. The money will come from private donors, who in return get tax credits.
“This is a victory for parents who want more control over their children’s education and for students who will now have more avenues to achieve their full potential,” Republican Rep. Phil Christofanelli said in a statement.
The current scholarship program limits recipients to residents of the state’s largest cities and to families who make less than 200% of the federal poverty level, which works out to $62,400 a year for a family of four.
The bill passed Thursday would raise the cap to 300%, or $93,600 for a family of four. Public school students who need extra help through individualized education plans would get some additional scholarship money under the new law.
Moon rises over the afternoon sun-lit Missouri state capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The legislation increases the cap on tax credits for the private donations from $50 million to $75 million per year, to help pay for a possible influx of students.
To gain support from lawmakers focused on helping traditional public schools, senators included money to raise minimum teacher salaries to $40,000 a year and adjusted the state’s formula for funding public schools, a change expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars more to public education over time.
Several House Democrats cautioned that the state might not have enough revenue in future years to provide the massive influx in funding to public schools that the bill commits to.
“While the voucher expansion is essentially guaranteed, the promises to public schools depend on additional funding the state isn’t expected to have and future lawmakers aren’t required to provide,” House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade said in a statement.
Another provision would allow charter schools in Boone County, where Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden lives. The bill also would require public votes to approve a school district’s switch to four-day school weeks and incentivize schools that maintain five-day weeks.
This issue supporters call “school choice” has divided lawmakers beyond typical Republican-Democrat lines in Missouri.
GOP legislators from rural districts have opposed allowing charter schools in their areas for years, fearing they could draw students away from traditional public schools seen as the backbone of their communities. Some Democrats, meanwhile, want students in underperforming urban schools to have more options.
And some conservatives lobbied against more regulations for homeschoolers and private schools. One activist handed out “dog poop” brownies before the vote, suggesting that unwanted provisions could ruin what might otherwise be a nice treat.
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Elon Musk poised to return to political spotlight
Former Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley and former Biden White House official Meghan Hays discuss Elon Musk’s suggestion that he will resume funding GOP politicians ahead of the midterms on ‘America Reports.’
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Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk gave a strong response to a perceived threat on his life by a Somali TikToker after she said on a livestream, “He [is] about to die.”
In a viral livestream posted by a since-deleted account, a Somali TikToker who went by the name “Dowza.z” said in reference to Musk, “I wouldn’t worry too much about him, he about to die.”
Though the streamer switched back and forth from speaking in Somali and English, her statement on Musk was said in English. She was discussing Musk’s recent criticisms of Somali-run businesses engaged in rampant fraud in Minnesota.
The comment prompted immediate backlash from conservatives who took the statement as a threat to Musk’s life.
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Elon Musk looks on in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Musk himself appeared to take the statement as a threat, responding to the video in an X post in which he wrote, “Then it is war.”
Popular conservative account Libs of TikTok also commented on the clip, saying the FBI “should definitely look into this.”
X account DogeDesigner wrote, “Protect Elon Musk at all costs.”
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty wrote, “When fraud is exposed – it’s always the fraudsters who yell and complain the loudest. Their THEFT will come to an end.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee posted on his personal X account, “Deport her immediately,” adding, “She shouldn’t be here.”
The Trump administration and lawmakers have launched probes into Minnesota’s “Feeding Our Future” $250 million fraud scheme that allegedly targeted a children’s nutrition program the Department of Agriculture funded and that Minnesota oversaw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Agents with the Department of Homeland Security in a Minneapolis store. The agency on Tuesday said it had launched an operation to identify, arrest and remove criminals who are suspected of fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)
At least 77 people have been charged in that scheme, which took advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to waive certain Federal Child Nutrition Program requirements.
Likewise, another fraud scheme in the state stems from the Housing Stability Services Program, which offered Medicaid coverage for housing stabilization services in an attempt to help those with disabilities, mental illnesses and substance-use disorders receive housing.
The bulk of those charged are part of Minnesota’s Somali population, prompting Trump to announce in November that he was ending the Temporary Protected Status for Somali migrants in Minnesota that offers protection against deportation.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that it was spearheading a major operation to arrest and remove those involved in the fraud.
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Elon Musk walks along the Colonnade after arriving with President Donald Trump on Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
Musk has been highly vocal about the fraud being uncovered in Minnesota, repeatedly calling attention to it on his official X account, which has over 230 million followers.
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In a post on Saturday, Musk said the fraud scheme going on in Minnesota is “one of many” and that while leading the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump, his team “found hundreds of fraud schemes.”
“There was massive fraud in every government program, especially Federal funds sent as block grants to the states,” said Musk.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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A situation believed to involve a barricaded suspect in Ypsilanti has resulted in evacuations for some neighbors and shelter-in-place orders for others as authorities attempt to bring an end to the standoff.
Police were seen inside the home Monday morning, but the suspect involved has not left the building.
Neighbors told CBS Detroit the circumstances began with a wellness check around noon Sunday. Since then, multiple law enforcement vehicles, including a SWAT team, have been in the area.
The street is closed to traffic in the meantime.
CBS News Detroit has a crew on scene. Additional details will be provided on air and online when they are available.
Milwaukee’s real estate market likely ended 2025 in much the same place as 2024, real estate analysts say.
A report from the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors released in December estimated that total home sales in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties will remain flat from 2024.
In Milwaukee County, home sales were down 9.2% in November 2025 compared to November 2024, according to the report.
Still, year-to-date home prices in the four-county Milwaukee metropolitan area rose 7.7% to an average of just over $431,000, the report says.
Here are a few of the oldest homes recently sold in Milwaukee, according to Milwaukee Metropolitan Multiple Listing Services data:
1913 Milwaukee bungalow sells for $365,000
A 113-year-old bungalow on South Wentworth Avenue in Milwaukee sold for $365,000 on Dec. 22.
The 1,500-square-foot home has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to the listing from Tom Horigan with Realty Experts, and it sits on a 0.11-acre lot.
The home features hardwood floors, a built-in buffet and leaded glass windows but updated home and garage roofs, according to the listing. It also has an enclosed front porch.
19th-century Bay View home sells for $295,000
A 1,250-square-foot Milwaukee home built in 1890 sold for $295,000 on Dec. 22.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is located on East Euclid Avenue in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, according to the listing from Alexis Ruzell with Coldwell Banker Realty. It sits on a 3,050-square-foot lot.
The home features wood flooring and a second-story bedroom leading to an elevated porch, according to the listing.
Another century-old bungalow sells for $475,000
A bungalow on North 39th Street in Milwaukee’s Roosevelt Grove neighborhood sold for $475,000 on Dec. 23.
The home was built in 1922 on a 0.96-acre lot with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to the listing from Kendrick Taylor with Keller Williams Realty. It spans 2,250 square feet.
The home features a modern kitchen with quartz countertops and a dry bar in the living room, according to the listing. It also includes a finished lower level.
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