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Missouri Supreme Court strikes down 2022 vote on KC police funding, citing faulty fiscal noteThe Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday took the unusual step of striking down a 2022 voter-approved constitutional amendment that required Kansas City to spend a larger percentage of its money on the police department, and ordered that the issue go back before voters in November...
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Family of a Black teen who was shot after ringing the wrong doorbell files lawsuit against homeowner (4/30/24)The family of a Black teenager who was shot by a white homeowner when he mistakenly went to the wrong Kansas City address filed a lawsuit Monday, described by the family’s attorney as an attempt to put pressure on the criminal trial later this year. ...
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Ethics committee dismisses complaint against Missouri speaker (4/30/24)JEFFERSON CITY — A panel of lawmakers dismissed Monday an ethics complaint against Speaker Dean Plocher, breaking from a Republican who argued that Plocher used his power as the House leader to block an investigation. Members voted 7-2 to dismiss allegations against Plocher for misuse of taxpayer dollars, using his influence to push a pricey contract with a company with ties to his employer and retaliating against staffers who raised complaints. One Democrat voted present. ...
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Arkansas officials say a Missouri doctor whose body was found in a lake died by suicide (4/26/24)The death of a highly regarded Missouri emergency room doctor whose body was found 11 months ago in a northwest Arkansas lake has been ruled a suicide, Arkansas authorities said Thursday, in a case that fueled social media speculation about whether his disappearance had been tied to his cryptocurrency dealings...
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Kansas man sentenced to 10 years for crash that killed officer, pedestrian and K-9 last February (4/26/24)KANSAS CITY -- A man who sped through a red light in Kansas City and crashed into a patrol car has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of an officer and a bystander. Jerron Lightfoot, 20, of Tonganoxie, Kansas, said he was "truly sorry and never intended to hurt anyone" before he was sentenced Wednesday...
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Amendments to Missouri Constitution are on the line amid GOP infighting (4/26/24)JEFFERSON CITY -- Republican Missouri lawmakers are divided over how far to go with a ballot measure that would make it more difficult for future voters to amend the state constitution. The GOP-led House on Thursday amended a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would raise the vote threshold needed for all constitutional amendments going forward...
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Missouri's GOP lawmakers vote to kick Planned Parenthood off Medicaid (4/25/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill to ban Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, a move they have tried for years in a state where almost all abortions are banned. The bill, approved 106-48 Wednesday in the House, aims to make it illegal for Missouri’s Medicaid program to reimburse Planned Parenthood for health care services to low-income patients, such as pap smears and cancer screenings. ...
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2021 death of young Black man at rural Missouri home was self-inflicted, FBI tells AP (4/25/24)ST. LOUIS — A federal investigation has concluded that a young Black man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a rural Missouri home, not at the hands of the white homeowner who had a history of racist social media postings, an FBI official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ...
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Missouri House backs legal shield for weedkiller maker facing thousands of cancer-related lawsuits (4/25/24)JEFFERSON CITY — The manufacturer of a popular weedkiller won support Wednesday from the Missouri House for a proposal that could shield it from costly lawsuits alleging it failed to warn customers its product could cause cancer. The House vote marked an important but incremental victory for chemical giant Bayer, which acquired an avalanche of legal claims involving the weedkiller Roundup when it bought the product’s original St. Louis-area-based producer, Monsanto. ...
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Missouri lawmakers again try to kick Planned Parenthood off Medicaid (4/23/24)JEFFERSON CITY -- Lawmakers in Missouri are trying to defund Planned Parenthood by taking it off Medicaid rolls, even for the most basic of health care services. It's a move they've tried for years in a state where almost all abortions are banned. House Republican Majority Leader Jon Patterson on Monday said the chamber will send the bill to GOP Gov. Mike Parson's desk this week...
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A man gets 19 years for a downtown St. Louis crash that cost a teen volleyball player her legs (4/20/24)ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for causing a downtown accident that resulted in the amputation of the legs of a teenage volleyball player from Tennessee. Daniel Riley, 22, was convicted last month of second-degree assault, armed criminal action, fourth-degree assault and driving without a valid license. Judge Michael Noble on Thursday followed the jury's recommendation in sentencing Riley to 19 years, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...
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Missouri lawmakers back big expansion of low-interest loans amid growing demand for state aid (4/19/24)JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to significantly expand a low-interest loan program for farmers and small businesses, in a move that reflects strong consumer demand for such government aid amid persistently high borrowing costs...
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Missouri lawmakers expand private school scholarships backed by tax credits (4/19/24)JEFFERSON CITY -- 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. ...
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Judge awards $23.5 million to undercover St. Louis officer beaten by colleagues during protest (4/16/24)ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A St. Louis judge on Monday awarded nearly $23.5 million to a former police officer who was beaten by colleagues while working undercover during a protest. Luther Hall was badly injured in the 2017 attack during one of several protests that followed the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a former St. Louis officer, on a murder charge that stemmed from the shooting death of a Black man...
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As his trans daughter struggles, a father pushes past his prejudice. 'It was like a wake-up' (4/12/24)SMITHVILLE -- Before his transgender daughter was suspended after using the girls' bathroom at her Missouri high school. Before the bullying and the suicide attempts. Before she dropped out. Before all that, Dusty Farr was -- in his own words -- "a full-on bigot." By which he meant that he was eager to steer clear of anyone LGBTQ+...
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Federal appeals court hears arguments on nation's first ban on gender-affirming care for minors (4/12/24)ST. LOUIS -- Arguments before a federal appeals court that is considering whether to reinstate Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for minors focused Thursday on whether it and similar restrictions adopted by two dozen states discriminate on the basis of sex...
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Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice surrenders to police on assault charge after high-speed crash (4/12/24)GLENN HEIGHTS, Texas. -- Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice surrendered to police Thursday on charges including aggravated assault after he and another driver of a speeding sports car allegedly caused a crash involving a half-dozen vehicles on a Dallas highway last month...
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Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice facing aggravated assault charge after high-speed crash in Dallas (4/11/24)DALLAS -- Dallas police said Wednesday that Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice faces charges including aggravated assault after he and another speeding driver of a sports car caused a chain-reaction crash on a Dallas highway. Police said that arrest warrants have been issued for the 23-year-old for one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury. ...
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Mountain goat stuck under Kansas City bridge survives rocky rescue (4/10/24)An escaped mountain goat that somehow got stuck under a Kansas City bridge has survived a rocky rescue effort and now may be reunited with the owners who suspect he was stolen from their farm two months ago. "It's the story that captured the hearts of Kansas City," said Tori Fugate, of the KC Pet Project, a nonprofit that handles animal control for the city and operates shelters. "Forget a solar eclipse. We were on goat watch."...
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Missouri man executed for killing his cousin and her husband in 2006 (4/10/24)BONNE TERRE -- A Missouri man was executed Tuesday for killing his cousin and her husband nearly two decades ago in an attack that left the couple's 4-year-old daughter home alone and unharmed. Brian Dorsey, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after a single-dose injection of the sedative pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Karen Pojmann, communications director for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said in an email. ...
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Oklahoma judge orders Kansas City Chiefs superfan 'ChiefsAholic' to pay $10.8M to bank teller (4/10/24)OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma judge ordered a Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as "ChiefsAholic" who admitted to a series of bank robberies to pay $10.8 million to a teller who was assaulted with a gun, though attorneys say the teller may never collect any money...
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Missouri governor denies clemency for man scheduled for execution Tuesday (4/9/24)ST. LOUIS -- Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Monday denied clemency for Brian Dorsey one day before the inmate's scheduled execution for killing his cousin and her husband nearly two decades ago. The governor's decision is "devastating," said Megan Crane, Dorsey's attorney, in an email. ...
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St. Louis-area residents make plea for compensation for illnesses tied to nuclear contamination (4/8/24)Karen Nickel has been dealing with lupus and other illnesses for years, illnesses she blames on childhood exposure to a suburban St. Louis creek where Cold War-era nuclear waste was dumped decades ago. It’s time, she said Friday, for the federal government to start making amends. ...
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Condemned inmate could face 'surgery without anesthesia' if good vein is elusive, lawyers say (4/8/24)ST. LOUIS — Missouri's execution protocol allows for “surgery without anesthesia” if the typical process of finding a suitable vein to inject the lethal drug doesn't work, lawyers for a death row inmate say in an appeal aimed at sparing his life. ...