JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators have passed a bill to renew a key Medicaid funding tax. Senators early Saturday morning voted 28-5 for the measure. The bill now heads to the House. It advanced after hours of debate over a proposed amendment to block government funding for Planned Parenthood. Some Republicans joined with…
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…
Three journalists with Al Jazeera who were tear-gassed during a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, after Michael Brown’s death in 2014 have settled a lawsuit with the county whose SWAT team fired the tear gas. The law firm that represented the Al Jazeera America journalists says St. Charles County agreed to pay $280,000. Ferguson became a…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Overdose deaths among Black Americans surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. In St. Louis, deaths among Black people increased last year at three times the rate of whites, skyrocketing more than 33%. Dr. Kanika Turner describes the soaring death rate as a civil rights issue as pressing as any other. The communities…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has found that a voter-approved ballot measure to expand Medicaid is unconstitutional. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem on Wednesday said the amendment unconstitutionally sought to force lawmakers to set aside money for the expansion. Under the Constitution, lawmakers can’t be forced to make appropriations unless…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators are back at the Capitol to work on a critical piece of Medicaid funding. Republican Gov. Mike Parson called lawmakers back to Jefferson City on Wednesday to pass a tax on medical providers. The tax draws down a significant amount of federal Medicaid funding. The tax wasn’t renewed…
(AP) — As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated. The state now leads the nation with…
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A southern Illinois man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for firing an automatic rifle while attending a child’s birthday party in 2020. Marco Orr of East St. Louis was sentenced Monday to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in April to unlawful…
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is calling lawmakers back into a special session to work out a deal on a critical piece of Medicaid funding. Parson announced in a tweet on Tuesday that he is calling a special session beginning noon Wednesday so lawmakers can pass a tax on medical providers that…
DE SOTO, Mo. (AP) — A suspect is dead after being shot in an exchange of gunfire with police in eastern Missouri. The shooting happened Tuesday morning in De Soto, a town of 6,300 residents about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation. Sheriff’s department spokesman Grant…