By Jason Hancock | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning,

Our top story this morning is an exclusive from Annelise Hanshaw, who found student data tied to Missouri’s private school voucher program inadvertently accessible on the State Treasurer’s Office website. The discovery raises fresh questions about oversight, transparency and whether the office running a fast-expanding program is keeping up with its basic responsibilities.

Elsewhere, the Missouri House passed two bills aimed at the digital world and sex-segregated spaces, both pitched as protective measures and both carrying broader consequences than the slogans suggest.

(Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)

by Annelise Hanshaw

The data included students' names, their parents' email addresses, scholarship funding amounts and the schools they attend. After being notified by The Independent, the treasurer’s office removed the records from its website.

(Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor)

by Steph Quinn

The House is trying to build Missouri’s first real AI guardrails even as federal pressure has made states wary of moving too far, too fast.

(Tim Bommel/House Communications)

by Annelise Hanshaw

House Republicans advanced a bill framed as a safety measure, but Democrats warned its reach goes well beyond bathrooms and could invite costly fights over who belongs where.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images).

COMMENTARY

by Priya Pal

If public dollars are used to support services related to health, those services should meet the same standards required of the healthcare system they resemble. Anything less puts patients at risk and asks taxpayers to fund that risk.

NATIONAL HEADLINES

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