State News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A former prosecutor and chairman of Missouri's Democratic Party who once was considered a potential candidate for statewide or national office was sentenced Wednesday to more than two years in federal prison for misusing campaign funds for trips, fine wine and political activities...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The longtime superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has resigned after two former students alleged he acted inappropriately between 20 and 25 years ago. Leon Witt, who has been superintendent of the schools for 15 years, resigned last week. ...

ST. LOUIS -- More than a dozen people arrested in a police "kettle" during a 2017 protest in St. Louis are suing the city, police officers and their supervisors, alleging they were roughed up, pepper sprayed and illegally detained. Federal lawsuits were filed Monday, a year to the day after the Sept. 17, 2017, downtown protest. It was among several demonstrations following the acquittal of white former police officer Jason Stockley in the shooting death of a black suspect...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway said Monday cities and counties skipped out on collecting an extra $698,000 in fees that could have gone to domestic violence shelters last year, part of a larger local funding problem for shelters she said means fewer victims get help...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri judge Friday ordered a redistricting measure to be knocked off the November ballot, a win for Republican critics of the proposal to tie state legislative seats to the parties' share of the statewide vote. Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled the ballot initiative unconstitutionally addresses multiple topics and directed the secretary of state to remove it from the Nov. 6 ballot...

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Hawley pushed hard at a debate Friday to paint Claire McCaskill as "another Washington liberal," a phrase he repeated over and over, while the incumbent Democrat touted herself as a moderate compromiser...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers passed bills during a special session Friday aimed at expanding courts for people struggling with addiction in the state and encouraging high school students to take computer science classes. Senators voted 28-1 in favor of a measure to allow high school computer science credits to count toward a math, science or practical arts credit needed for graduation. ...

XENIA, Ohio -- The Agriculture Department says Bob Evans Farms is recalling nearly 47,000 pounds of pork sausage links because it might contain pieces of plastic. The items have establishment number "EST 6785" and were sold in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The fate of a Missouri nail manufacturer suffering under President Donald Trump's steel tariffs has put Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley in a bind between his support for the president's trade strategy and a local plant that says it could be forced to close...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers failed in a bid Wednesday to override several line-item budget vetoes affecting services for critically ill patients, troubled youths and the deaf after senators declined to challenge the decisions made by Gov. Mike Parson...

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. -- A 10-year-old Missouri boy is recovering after he was attacked by insects and tumbled from a tree, landing on a meat skewer that penetrated his skull from his face to the back of his head. But miraculously, that's where Xavier Cunningham's bad luck ended. The skewer had completely missed Xavier's eye, brain, spinal cord and major blood vessels, The Kansas City Star reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers returned to the state Capitol on Monday for a special session on bills vetoed by Gov. Mike Parson, including ones on drug treatment courts and education in science, technology, engineering and math. Parson called the Republican-led Legislature back to consider fixing problematic language that led him to veto the two bills in July...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The theft of more than 20 firearms at a Fenton, Missouri, gun store recently was the latest in an increase in such robberies at gun stores in Missouri and Illinois, according to federal officials. Figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives show there were at least eight gun store burglaries last year in St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties, including an April 2017 heist at the Hazelwood Cabela's...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is asking for more time to comply with stricter identification requirements under the Real ID Act. KMBC-TV reported the current extension ends Oct. 10. At issue is a federal law with tougher proof-of-identity requirements needed at airports, some federal facilities and military bases...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri officials are on the hunt for the Christmas tree to grace the lawn of the Governor's Mansion. The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported the Missouri Department of Conservation is asking landowners, homeowners, businesses and communities that may have possible candidate trees to contact the department...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Opponents heavily outspent supporters of a so-called right-to-work law overwhelmingly rejected by Missouri voters in the August primary elections. New financial reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission show the opposition led by unions spent almost $17 million through a campaign committee called We Are Missouri and through independent expenditures...

GALLATIN, Mo. -- Federal prosecutors say two men are facing federal charges after nearly 2,500 marijuana plants valued at $10 million were discovered growing in rural northwest Missouri. The men, 44-year-old Sergio Medina-Perez and 27-year-old Miguel Pulido-Maldonado, were charged Wednesday with manufacturing or distributing more than 1,000 marijuana plants...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At least 18 dilapidated Kansas City structures that sold for a dollar two years ago have been renovated into livable homes. The houses were part of the 2016 "dollar house" experiment run by the Kansas City Land Bank, which controls abandoned properties that don't find buyers, The Kansas City Star reported...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Washington, D.C.,-based not-for-profit donated $3 million during the weekend to a political action committee supporting an effort to increase Missouri’s minimum wage to $12 an hour. The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money not-for-profit that isn’t required to reveal its donors, donated $500,000 last year and $500,000 in May to a PAC called Raise Up Missouri. ...

ST. LOUIS — Gov. Mike Parson said he is “deeply concerned” about St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s exclusion list of police officers. Gardner said last week her office drew up a list of 28 police officers who will not be permitted as primary witnesses in criminal cases. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals has tossed out a lawsuit seeking to keep a proposed 10-cent gas tax increase off the Nov. 6 ballot. Appeals court judges Tuesday ruled the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the measure is premature. ...

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man is the new tenant of a tiny apartment with a unique layout — the kitchen and bathroom are in the same place. Yep. The toilet, bathtub, oven and sink are all in one room. The 200-square-foot apartment is in St. Louis’ tony Central West End. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Springfield artist is covering racist tattoos for free to try and give people who've had a change of heart a second chance. Tattoo artist Justin Fleetwood announced last month he was offering the free service, The Springfield News-Leader reported. Fleetwood said he's been surprised by the amount of interest...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri judge is blocking portions of a new state law on meat inspections from taking effect. The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported Cole County Circuity Judge Jon Beetem temporarily blocked the law from being implemented. The order runs through Sept. 15...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri judge has tossed out a court challenge that sought to remove a medical marijuana initiative from the November ballot. Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce in a Friday ruling dismissed the lawsuit. It was filed by another medical marijuana initiative organizer who is trying to remove two other competing proposals from the ballot...

ST. LOUIS -- Supporters of a mentally challenged woman convicted in two states in the 1994 kidnapping and killing of two elderly women say she was actually a victim of the men involved in the crime and are pushing for her release. They've persuaded one state -- Missouri -- to grant Angel Stewart parole. But things are more complicated in Iowa, where Stewart is serving a life-in-prison sentence that does not include the option for parole...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republican-aligned attorneys urged a judge Friday to block people from voting on a Missouri ballot measure that could upend political power at the Capitol by requiring state legislative districts to be drawn to achieve "partisan fairness" and "competitiveness."...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City officials will revisit a panhandler ordinance after the proposal sparked a debate at a city hearing. The ordinance reviewed at a public hearing Thursday was introduced last week as a pedestrian safety measure, The Kansas City Star reported. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The top prosecutor in St. Louis said Friday her "exclusion list" of officers who will not be permitted as primary witnesses in criminal cases was requested by the police department itself. Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's list of 28 officers, announced Thursday, raised concerns from police union leaders and Missouri Attorney Josh Hawley. Gardner has not detailed what specifically landed the officers on the list, citing only credibility issues...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Attorney General Josh Hawley is suing the owners and operators of a tourist boat that sank in Missouri, killing 17 people. Hawley filed the lawsuit Friday. He alleges the owners and operators of the Ride the Ducks tours put profits above people's safety. His office is suing under the state's consumer-protection law...

ST. LOUIS -- A Christopher Columbus statue in a St. Louis park is being called into question about a year after a Confederate monument was removed from another park in the city. A commission is being formed to review whether the 130-year-old statue belongs in Tower Grove Park, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The panel will include historians, art experts, and representatives of Italian-Americans and Native Americans in St. Louis, said David Lauber, the park's director of development...

JOPLIN, Mo. -- A 24-year-old man is charged with first-degree murder after a shooting death at a Joplin motel. The Jasper County prosecutor filed a first-degree murder charge Thursday against Kosaksy Phillip, of Joplin, in the shooting death of 33-year-old Diamond Bradley...

ST. LOUIS -- The top prosecutor in St. Louis has established what she calls an "exclusion list" of 28 city police officers and is reviewing all open cases in which those officers were essential witnesses, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney's office said Thursday...

ST. LOUIS -- U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat in a decidedly Republican state, is seizing on an issue she believes resonates in even the most conservative corners of the state -- the financial future of the lowest wage earners. The two-term incumbent campaigned Thursday in St. Louis, where she celebrated the resounding defeat of a so-called right-to-work measure earlier this month and touted the value of raising the minimum wage...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A dog that disappeared from his southern California home and mysteriously wound up in Missouri has been reunited with his owner with the help of a chain of volunteers. The Kansas City Star reported the Bernese mountain dog, named Topper, was brought into the city shelter in July after a Kansas City police officer suffered a "minor bite" during an arrest. Topper's microchip led staff to his owner, Tom Huffman of El Cajon, California...

MARYVILLE, Mo. -- Authorities said lightning bolt struck and killed a northwest Missouri man as he was fishing. Maryville Public Safety said authorities found 35-year-old Ryen Browning, of Maryville, dead around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when they responded to a call at the City Reservoir. Browning was struck while fishing from the bank of the reservoir...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The U.S. Coast Guard has found probable cause the sinking of a tourist boat on a Missouri lake last month killing 17 people "resulted from the misconduct, negligence, or inattention to the duties" by the captain of the boat, according to a court motion filed Wednesday by federal prosecutors...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Dozens of new Missouri laws took effect Tuesday. Here's a rundown of new legislation now on the books: Watercraft drivers now face lower fines of $25 for speeding in no-wake zones and life-jacket violations. Previously, those violations could lead to $137 fines, but lawmakers argued law enforcement rarely issued fines because they were so high...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, wants to do away with a provision in the federal tax code that bars religious organizations and pastors from endorsing or opposing political candidates...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Unions representing teachers and other public employees sued Monday to try to block a new Missouri law they claim imposes "a raft of harsh restrictions" that "effectively eviscerates" their right to organize and bargain on behalf of employees...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Vegetarian food-maker Tofurky filed a lawsuit Monday in Missouri seeking to defend its right to describe its products with meat terminology such as "sausage" and "hot dogs," as long as the packaging makes clear what the ingredients are...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A Missouri couple have created an online map showing where there are bathrooms suitable for people with disabilities who need assistance from a caregiver. David Nykodym, a professional geographic information system specialist, and Christina Ingoglia, an associate professor at Columbia College, began working on the tool last month, The Columbia Missourian reported...

CAMERON, Mo. -- The State of Missouri plans to help fund temporary emergency water pipelines in two parts of northwest Missouri. Gov. Mike Parson met Friday with local officials to discuss $77,000 in emergency funding to address the drought's impact on drinking water supplies in Cameron and in Caldwell County...

ST. LOUIS -- An invasive beetle deadly to ash trees is showing up in new areas of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation this month reported the emerald ash borer has been found in 11 more counties so far this year, bringing the number of affected counties to 53...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri high schools and universities are working to ensure students' college plans remain on course. An estimated 200,000 students nationally experience "summer melt," a term meaning they're derailed before even arriving to college, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Sandra Karsten will soon lead the state Public Safety Department. Karsten announced she will retire Sept. 1 from the Highway Patrol. She will take over as acting public safety director when Drew Juden leaves the post at the end of the month...

ST. LOUIS -- The man fatally shot near a light rail station in St. Louis was a government media relations official struck by stray gunfire from a dispute he had nothing to do with. Police say 48-year-old Craig LeFebvre was killed Tuesday night in a shooting at the MetroLink station on South Grand Boulevard, near St. Louis University. LeFebvre was the spokesman for the St. Louis County Health Department...

ST. LOUIS -- Victims of clergy sexual abuse are calling for a wide-scale investigation of sex-crime allegations against Catholic priests in Missouri, and whether the church participated in a cover-up. One victim, a woman whose son killed himself after being abused as a teenager, and an attorney for other abuse victims spoke Wednesday outside the St. ...