State News

A federal appeals court is deciding the fate of a Missouri law that puts sweeping restrictions on abortions, and a focal point of oral arguments Tuesday was a provision prohibiting abortions based solely on a Down syndrome diagnosis. The law adopted in 2019 would ban abortions at the eighth week of pregnancy. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Ben & Jerry's latest ice cream flavor is supporting a new approach to policing, a proposal sponsored by Democratic U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis. The Vermont-based company on Monday launched the flavor Change is Brewing. The limited-batch offering features the flavor of cold brew coffee ice cream with swirls of marshmallow and fudge brownies. The company, at a news conference, also announced support for Bush's legislation, the People's Response Act...

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri official is asking the state Supreme Court to suspend the law licenses of a St. Louis couple who gained national attention last year when they waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their home. Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, in a court filing reported by KCUR-FM, cited Mark and Patricia McCloskey's guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the June 2020 encounter. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Even after his death, a Kansas City-area police officer has helped a fellow officer in a time of need. Independence officer Blaize Madrid-Evans was fatally shot by a suspect Wednesday. The suspect also died in the shootout. Madrid-Evans was 22 and graduated from the police academy just two months ago...

ST. LOUIS — Nursing homes in Missouri with the vast majority of staff vaccinated tend to have strikingly lower rates of COVID-19 cases among residents, according to federal records, a trend that may offer broader lessons about the virus and how it can be slowed...

Audio from an inquest into the shooting death of Derontae Martin offers widely conflicting accounts of how the young Black man died inside a rural Missouri home during a party in April. One witness said someone confessed to killing Martin; another said he saw Martin shoot himself...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri's decision to allow open containers of alcohol in vehicles forces the state to divert millions of federal dollars intended for road construction to safety programs, according to a public radio report. The state's policy of letting passengers drink in moving vehicles violates federal safety laws. Because of the violation, Missouri has moved about $370 million in highway construction funds to safety programs since 2001, KCUR-FM reported...

ST. LOUIS — The knock on the door Kristen Bigogno has long dreaded finally arrived Friday — two St. Louis deputies came to evict her, joined by a couple of other men there to change the locks on the apartment. The eviction was months in the making, yet it felt sudden to Bigogno. The judgment against her was last winter, but thanks to a national moratorium, she got a reprieve that ended with a Supreme Court ruling last month...

ST. LOUIS — Thousands took part in a procession for a Marine from Missouri who was among 13 service members killed in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. The Missouri State Highway Patrol closed down some interstates Thursday as a Humvee military hearse carried the casket of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery for a private burial...

WASHINGTON — A Missouri man who posted on Snapchat and Facebook that he was inside the U.S. Capitol during the deadly riot Jan 6 has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Twenty-nine-year-old Nicholas Reimler of Valley Park in St. Louis County admitted Friday to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. As part of the plea agreement, two other misdemeanor charges were dropped...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri's health department is drawing up new guidelines to help schools keep children from catching COVID-19, the agency's new director said Thursday. The agency's new guidance will provide a clearer path for how schools can keep children from getting sick or needing to quarantine, and communities will be able to tailor it to their needs, director Don Kauerauf said...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri's Republican attorney general, Eric Schmitt, sued China over the coronavirus. He signed on to a failed lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Now, as he positions himself for a Senate run, he's turning his attention closer to home and suing to stop mask mandates in the state's liberal cities and Missouri schools...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — All of Gov. Mike Parson's vetoes will stand, despite efforts Wednesday by some lawmakers to force their priorities into law during a short session focused on vetoed bills. Missouri's GOP-led Legislature can reverse vetoes on bills and budget items with a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers, but lawmakers typically avoid voting to overturn vetoes made by a governor of the same party...

A Missouri officer who graduated from the police academy two months ago was shot and killed by a man being sought on burglary and theft charges, authorities said. The suspect also died in a shootout with officers. Independence officer Blaize Madrid-Evans, 22, was hospitalized with critical injuries following the Wednesday morning shooting and later died, the Independence Police Department said late Wednesday...

FESTUS, Mo. — A homeowner fatally shot a man who apparently was trying to break into his home early Thursday, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said. Jefferson County sheriff's deputies who were called to a home near Festus about 1:40 a.m. Thursday found 36-year-old Wayne D. Roam of House Springs dead on the porch, according to court documents...

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- An Independence, Missouri, police officer is hospitalized with critical injuries and another man is dead after a shooting Wednesday morning. Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Andy Bell said two officers went to a residence in Independence about 11:30 a.m. in response to a call to dispatch and were met by a man who fired a handgun at the officers...

COLUMBIA, Mo.-- Two lawyers are demanding the removal of two courthouse murals in Columbia showing a white man pointing a gun at a Native American man, shirtless Black men chained by their ankles, and white men being hanged and whipped. Gary Oxenhandler and Rusty Antel say the artwork in the Boone County Courthouse, which was painted by Sidney Larson in 1994, has been "personally and professionally upsetting," The Columbia Missourian reported Tuesday...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri's K-12 students did worse in all subject and grade-level statewide tests during the coronavirus pandemic, data released Tuesday show. Roughly 45% of public school students scored at least proficiently at English in the 2020-2021 school year, according to results provided by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. That's down from the closer to 49% of students who tested that well in the 2019 school year...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- A Missouri cave containing Native American artwork from more than 1,000 years ago was sold at auction Tuesday, disappointing leaders of the Osage Nation who hoped to buy the land to "protect and preserve our most sacred site." A bidder agreed to pay $2.2 million to private owners for what's known as "Picture Cave," along with the 43 hilly acres surrounding it near the town of Warrenton, about 60 miles west of St. Louis...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri State Museum employees tried to defend an LGBTQ history exhibit to state officials before it was removed from the state Capitol after being displayed only four days, according to emails between museum and state officials...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans on Tuesday named suburban St. Louis Rep. Dean Plocher as their next pick for Missouri House speaker. The full Missouri House must vote on GOP Speaker Rob Vescovo's successor during the 2023 session. But Republicans have a sizable majority, and the GOP's designee is expected to be officially elected by the full House...

ST. LOUIS — A member of Washington University's student government placed nearly 3,000 U.S. flags meant to commemorate victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in trash bags, prompting an investigation by the school. The university's chapter of College Republicans had placed the 2,977 flags on Mudd Field at the school's campus in St. Louis to honor Saturday's 20th anniversary of the attacks...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is considering calling a special legislative session to challenge President Joe Biden's plan to require COVID-19 vaccination or testing for many workers. Parson told the Kansas City Star in an interview Friday that Missouri will oppose the White House initiative on “multiple fronts.” He didn't elaborate but left open the possibility of a special session...

ST. LOUIS -- The epicenter of Missouri's COVID-19 outbreak has shifted to the state's southeast, and no place is getting hit harder than Sikeston. The town of 16,000 residents about 145 miles south of St. Louis sits in Scott and New Madrid counties. State tracking Thursday showed those counties had the worst rates of new COVID-19 cases over the past seven days. Eight of the nine hardest-hit counties over the past week are in the southeastern corner of the state...

Thousands of Missouri children have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the new school year began, and at least one rural school closed for cleaning after an outbreak. A map on the state's COVID-19 dashboard breaks down virus cases among people aged 5 to 19 within each school district's geographic boundaries, including non-public school children who live within the district. ...

ST. LOUIS — Several people have been treated in Missouri emergency rooms after taking the parasite drug ivermectin, even as experts warn of dangerous side effects and a lack of proof it helps treat COVID-19. Dr. Steven Brown told KMOV-TV cases of ivermectin toxicity have occurred at Mercy hospitals across the state. Brown is a virtual care physician for Mercy...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is urging the General Assembly to prohibit local election workers from helping absentee voters correct mistakes, a move that would mean some votes aren't counted. "We would like to see legislation that does not allow for curing of absentee ballots," Deputy Secretary of State Trish Vincent told the House Elections Committee recently. "Curing" is a common term for fixing errors...

Children are making up an increasing number of patients filling Missouri hospitals during the summer COVID-19 surge, and some doctors worry the return to school will lead to more illnesses. The fast-spreading delta variant combined with low vaccination rates across Missouri to create a new wave of the COVID-19 outbreak beginning in June and still persists. One difference this time: Children are more prone to get sick...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Democrat state senator has demanded an explanation after an exhibit on the gay rights movement in Kansas City was removed from the state Capitol following Republican complaints. Kansas City Sen. Greg Razer, the only openly gay member of the Missouri Senate, said Thursday he was "appalled" when he was told the exhibit, "Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights," had been removed from the Missouri State Museum at the Capitol...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri man who has been in prison for more than 40 years for a triple murder many legal and political officials believe he did not commit will have to wait several more weeks before a court hearing that could lead to his release...

A Missouri judge on Tuesday refused to reinstate federal unemployment benefits that were cut in June when Gov. Mike Parson pulled out of several programs, saying the court "would not substitute its judgment" for that of the governor. The ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem came a day after lawyers representing Missouri residents who lost the jobless benefits asked for reinstatement with back pay that, for some people, could have amounted to $1,500...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri has been among the states hit early and hard by the delta variant of COVID-19, but there are some signs of improvement. The state's COVID-19 dashboard Tuesday showed 2,146 people hospitalized with the virus. That's still more than three times the number hospitalized at the start of June, but it's down from 2,463 hospitalizations Aug. 19...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is sending about 300 National Guard soldiers to help Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida, Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday. Missouri soldiers are scheduled to provide humanitarian aid, equipment, debris removal and other general assistance for at least two weeks...

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to halt the October execution of a man convicted of a triple killing who claimed his intellectual disability made him ineligible for the death penalty. Ernest Lee Johnson, 61, is scheduled to die by injection Oct. 5 at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It would be the first execution in Missouri since convicted killer Walter Barton was put to death in May 2020...

WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) — One of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan was a Marine who grew up in the St. Louis area. KMOX Radio reports that 20-year-old Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz of Wentzville, Missouri, was among those killed Thursday. His father, Mark Schmitz, said Marines came to his home at 2:40 a.m. Friday to confirm his son's death...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Federal prosecutors in Missouri have charged 19 restaurant owners and managers -- most living in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma -- accusing them of a racketeering scheme to hire and employ immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The indictments unsealed Wednesday charges the defendants with counts ranging from fraud and conspiracy to money laundering and illegal use of Social Security numbers. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A woman involved in a fatal crash in Kansas City told investigators she had been fleeing gunfire when she ran a red light and crashed into another car, police there said. The crash happened earlier this month on the morning of Aug. 3 at an eastern Kansas City intersection, police said. Thee woman was driving east on Truman Road when she ran a red light and slammed into a northbound car, according to investigators...