JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are back to work. The GOP-led Legislature opened its annual session Wednesday. Republican leaders say making it harder to amend Missouri’s Constitution is a top priority in this year’s legislative session. Republicans now must decide whether to make it more challenging for residents to put policies to a…
TROY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri deputy who investigated a murder case that became the subject of an NBC show starring Renee Zellweger is now accused of harassing and stalking a detective who was investigating him for potential misconduct. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Mike Merkel was charged Tuesday and accused of photographing…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Texas man has admitted that he helped steal $1.2 million from a Missouri woman in a romance scam. Federal prosecutors said 37-year-old Rotimi Oladimeji admitted during a plea hearing Monday that in August 2019 he and others began communicating with a St. Louis woman who had created an online dating…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The judge presiding over a hearing to determine if a Missouri man’s murder conviction should be overturned questioned if police and prosecutors “were in a little bit of a rush” to convict Lamar Johnson. St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason is presiding over a hearing on an effort to vacate Johnson’s…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis officials have chosen the Wilmington, Delaware, police chief to lead its police department. Mayor Tishaura Jones announced Wednesday that Robert Tracy has been chosen as the St. Louis department’s new leader. Tracy has nearly 40 years of law enforcement experience. Before being named Wilmington police chief, he worked in…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A hearing has begun that will decide whether to overturn the conviction of a Missouri man who has spent nearly three decades in prison for a murder that two other people have since confessed to committing. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is backing Lamar Johnson in his effort to vacate…
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has asked a judge to sanction St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, accusing her of concealing evidence in her effort to vacate the conviction for a man who has spent nearly 30 years in prison for murder. Lamar Johnson was convicted in 1994 of killing 25-year-old Marcus Boyd in an…
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — The ACLU of Missouri is suing a suburban Kansas City school district over its policy of automatically removing any library material from school libraries after it is challenged. Under the current policy of the Independence School District, a library material is removed until a committee evaluates it and the school board…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A plan to divide more than a half-billion dollars in settlement money for the departure of the NFL’s Rams from St. Louis has received final approval. On Wednesday, the board of the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Authority, which owns the domed stadium where the Rams played before leaving for…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri agriculture officials say nearly 9,000 laying hens were killed after confirmed cases of bird flu were found on a farm in Webster County. The Missouri Department of Agriculture said in a news release that it is the 11th case of bird flu found in the state this year. Agriculture…