(AP) — A new monthly survey of business leaders suggests the economy continues growing at a strong pace in nine Midwest and Plains states. The overall index for the region crept up to 73.5 in June from May’s already strong 72.3 reading. Any score above 50 suggests growth. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and seven Democrats to a new select committee to investigate the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will lead the panel. The new committee will investigate what went wrong when hundreds…
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction. It is a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian once known as “America’s Dad.” The state Supreme Court said Wednesday that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to…
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says the state wants to increase the vaccination rate for COVID-19. The state’s rate that lags behind the rest of the nation and Missouri is in the midst of a big spike in cases and hospitalizations. Missouri reported 854 newly confirmed cases Wednesday, one of the largest one-day totals since February.…
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — After nearly two years of renovations, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, is ready to welcome visitors again. The museum looks similar from the outside, but the inside has been completely reimagined in how it presents Truman’s story and his legacy for the modern world. The nearly $30…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri’s rivers are rising, and with heavy rain possible through most of the week, parts of the state are under flood warnings and flash flood watches. Minor flooding is already happening Monday at several points on the Missouri River. Damage is minimal, though several roads and streets are under water. The…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department says the U.S. military conducted airstrikes against what it says were “facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups” near the border between Iraq and Syria. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby says the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. Kirby says…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, whose dying gasps under Chauvin’s knee led to the biggest outcry against racial injustice in the U.S. in generations. The punishment handed out Friday fell short of the 30 years that…
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri Board of Curators has rejected a proposal to add contextual information to a statue of Thomas Jefferson on the Columbia campus. The curators voted 7-1 Thursday to disregard a task force recommendations that came after Black students and organizations pushed to have the statue removed because Jefferson…
NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court has suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race. An attorney disciplinary committee said in its motion to suspend Giuliani’s license that there was “uncontroverted evidence” that Giuliani…