State News

O'FALLON, Mo. -- The new surge of the coronavirus was evident in Missouri on Thursday, with record hospitalizations in St. Louis and Columbia, and the Kansas City metropolitan area experiencing its worst month ever for COVID-19 deaths. The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force late Wednesday reported 72 hospital admissions in one day, the most since tracking began in April. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A data-entry problem that skewed hospitalization numbers in Missouri for more than a week was fixed Monday and the new data showed hospitalizations were still increasing. Last week, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service's coronavirus dashboard had a message stating the number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 had been underreported since Oct. ...

KIMMSWICK, Mo. -- A lemonade jar, about a quarter-full of cash, sits on an entryway table at the Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery. "Any donations are appreciated," reads a hand-written sign taped to the glass. The restaurant is famous for its towering caramel-apple-pecan pie, and draws diners from across the region. But the jar isn't for the restaurant, its waiters or diners. The Blue Owl is trying to help its town survive...

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri agency that handles unemployment claims saw its staffing slashed by nearly 40% in recent years before this spring's surge in claims amid the coronavirus pandemic strained the system. Emails obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch through a Sunshine request show Missouri's unemployment office was overwhelmed by tens of thousands of daily phone calls, scrambled to get its online system back up after outages and was forced to pull in workers from other departments to handle the volume.. ...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- With the number of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization rising at alarming levels, Missouri and perhaps a handful of other states are unable to post accurate data on COVID-19 dashboards because of a flaw in the federal reporting system...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's coronavirus diagnoses came about a week after he visited a state office building despite being warned about an outbreak among workers, emails show. The emails obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch show that a public relations officer at the Department of Commerce and Insurance asked Parson's spokeswoman whether the governor wanted to move forward with Sept. ...

It didn't take long for the Kansas City area's first medical marijuana dispensary to sell out It didn't take long for the Kansas City area's first medical marijuana dispensary to sell out. The Kansas City Star reports that Fresh Green dispensary in Lee's Summit opened Monday and was sold out by the end of the day Tuesday. With only a small number of people allowed inside at one time, the wait to get in was long...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- A leading coronavirus expert in St. Louis is warning that hospital workers are "over-worked and demoralized" after months of battling the coronavirus, and the worst may be yet to come. Dr. Alex Garza of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said hospitalizations are getting higher and intensive care unit beds are filling up at a time when the flu season is about to create even more strain on the health care system...

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- A Missouri man accused of killing two brothers from Wisconsin admitted to authorities that he disposed of the bodies but denied killing the men, a prosecutor told a judge Tuesday. Garland Nelson, of Braymer, was charged last year with two counts of abandoning a corpse and first-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old Justin Diemel and 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel of Shawano County, Wisconsin. ...

Missouri residents who want to vote remotely in November's elections will have to have their ballots notarized unless they meet specific criteria, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, who argued this week the state should make it easier for everyone to vote during the coronavirus pandemic...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri continued to report record numbers of coronavirus cases over the weekend and the rate of positive cases remains high across the state. On Saturday, the state reported a record 2,357 new cases of COVID-19, according to its online virus tracker. Sunday's increase of 1,768 cases was smaller but still substantial. The state now has 156,696 cases of the virus and 2,582 deaths since the pandemic began...

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — An 11-year-old who was upset about being grounded was fatally struck by a car after writing a note explaining he was running away from his suburban St. Louis home, his mother said. Zaelynn Wiseman walked about 2 miles before he was hit Tuesday while trying to cross Interstate 270 during a busy morning rush hour in Maryland Heights, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri is outsourcing contact tracing to private companies as part of the effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday that the state this week approved contracts with nine companies to help track down people who may have been in contact with those who test positive for COVID-19...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's state fire marshal on Tuesday encouraged people to avoid outside burning amid a statewide drought that has gripped the state for several weeks. Fire marshal Tim Bean said in a news release that under the current dry conditions, even a small outdoor fire can get out of control and spread rapidly...

O'FALLON, Mo. — With the election just three weeks away, a federal appeals panel in St. Louis is expected to rule soon on whether Missourians casting mail-in ballots can drop them off in person, despite a state regulation requiring them to be received through the mail...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Two days after a "database extract error" incorrectly showed a massive one-day increase in coronavirus cases in Missouri, the problem remains unresolved, a state health official said Monday. On Saturday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, which would be nearly 3,000 more than the previous record for a single day. ...

ROLLA, Mo. — A St. Louis businessman and his wife have donated $300 million to a foundation to support Missouri University of Science and Technology in what the university said is believed to be the largest single gift to a higher education institution in Missouri...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and his Democratic opponent spent much of a candidate forum on Friday sparring over the governor's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Parson and Democratic candidate Nicole Galloway, along with Libertarian candidate Rik Combs and Green Party candidate Jerome Bauer, spoke at the forum in Columbia hosted by the Missouri Press Association and KOMU-TV...

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri will release about $133 million in funding to support critical services — including $61.5 million in CARES Act funding for primary and secondary schools and $26 million for higher education — because the state's economy is weathering the coronavirus pandemic better than forecast this summer, Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday...

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett signed a 2006 newspaper ad sponsored by an anti-abortion group in which she said she opposed "abortion on demand" and defended "the right to life from fertilization to the end of natural life." The ad, which had more than 1,200 names attached to it, appears to be the most direct expression of Barrett's opposition to abortion and is sure to intensify debate that she would vote to restrict, if not overturn, abortion rights if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court.. ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police who shot Breonna Taylor announced themselves as law enforcement before entering her apartment, according to grand jury testimony that was among hours of audio recordings released Friday. "We knocked on the door, said police, waited I don't know 10 or 15 seconds. Knocked again, said police, waited even longer," Louisville, Kentucky, police Lt. Shawn Hoover said in an interview recorded March 13, the same date Taylor was shot, and later played for the grand jury...

A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a federal rights lawsuit filed by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and blasted her claims she was the victim of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her from office. Gardner, the city's elected prosecutor, claimed in the suit "entrenched interests" were intentionally impeding her efforts to reform racist practices that have led to a loss of trust in the criminal justice system. ...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson announced Thursday that trick-or-treating will still be allowed on Halloween this year, but city health officials are advising precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. St. Louis Health Department director Dr. Frederick Echols said social distancing and face-mask requirements will be in effect on Halloween...

ARNOLD, Mo. -- Twenty-seven years after the owner of a suburban St. Louis liquor store was killed, police believe they've finally solved the case. Loril Harp, 68, now the resident of a St. Louis nursing home, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the 1993 killing of 40-year-old Steven Weltig at the victim's store in Arnold, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

NEW YORK -- After months of avoiding direct contact with voters because of the pandemic, Joe Biden's campaign is about to launch in-person canvassing efforts across several battleground states. The decision comes amid growing concern from Democratic officials on the ground in key states who fear that Biden has been giving a significant advantage to President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, who have been aggressively courting voters at their doorsteps for months. ...