State News

ST. LOUIS -- Perhaps the owner had no gall-stone brown or French berry yellow. Or kept the book only for pressing plants. Whatever the reason, light use may have helped preserve a rare, early coloring book found in the Missouri Botanical Garden's library. Noticed just last month, the book predates by 100 years what has been cited as the first coloring book...

ST. LOUIS -- Ferguson, Missouri, is making progress in the effort to end racial bias in police and court practices, but the city needs to be more transparent, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice told a federal judge Thursday. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry heard an update on a consent agreement reached in 2016. The St. Louis suburb has been under scrutiny since the August 2014 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri circuit judge said Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office wrote a confusing and grammatically incorrect summary of a referendum to repeal right to work. A summary is meant to help voters understand ballot measures. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens says he prefers a ramped-up House version of a bill to tighten state abortion laws. Greitens told reporters Thursday in Jefferson City he supports the latest House iteration, which has more stringent restrictions than senators initially had approved. ...

NIXA, Mo. — After years of delays, construction has begun on what will be the largest solar farm in Missouri. The 72-acre project, with more than 33,000 solar panels, will be built in Nixa. A groundbreaking is scheduled for Tuesday. The Springfield News-Leader reported the city of Nixa will buy all the power generated by the farm, which is expected to provide about 9 percent of the city’s yearly power demand. ...

ST. LOUIS — Friendly fire is blamed in the injury to a St. Louis police officer. Officers were following three suspects in a stolen car Wednesday night when shots were fired at police, prompting an exchange of gunfire. An off-duty officer came out of his home to help. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley on Wednesday filed suit against three large pharmaceutical companies, saying their "campaign of fraud and deception" led to a startling opioid crisis in the state. Hawley, a Republican, filed suit St. Louis Circuit Court, naming Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Hawley said at a news conference the suit will seek "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages and civil penalties...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri faces billions of dollars in revenue losses from unredeemed tax credits and the economic benefits of credits have been overstated by state agencies, according to a report released Wednesday by Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway...

ST. LOUIS -- A Supreme Court ruling this week could have a "chilling effect" on the many lawsuits filed in St. Louis claiming talcum powder causes a deadly form of cancer in women, including cases under appeal in which stricken women and their survivors have been awarded more than $300 million, experts said Tuesday...

ST. LOUIS — Organizers of a renovation project on the Gateway Arch grounds in St. Louis say the opening of a museum and expanded visitor center will be delayed until summer 2018. The Gateway Arch Park Foundation on Tuesday announced the Museum of Westward Expansion and the expanded visitor center won’t be completed by the end of this year as expected. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A lawmaker says Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will sign his bill to ban people convicted of sex offenses against children from coming within 500 feet of children’s museums. Cassville Republican Sen. David Sater said Wednesday he’s meeting with Greitens for a bill signing today in Jefferson City. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Aspiring Missouri college police officers will face the same training as other future cops under a bill signed by the governor. Republican Gov. Eric Greitens on Tuesday signed the legislation. Current law calls for at least 320 hours of training for college police compared to at least 470 hours for most other aspiring officers. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri System president Mun Choi wants the university to rescind an honorary degree given to Bill Cosby nearly 20 years ago. The system’s board of curators will vote Friday on Choi’s recommendation. A university staff memo sent to the curators states sexual-assault allegations against Cosby are “incompatible” with the honorary doctorate in humane letters given to him in 1999. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Zoo said a 31-year-old male chimpanzee died in an accidental fall from a tree. The zoo said Wednesday the chimp, called Bahati, climbed a tree while interacting with other chimps. He fell to the ground after grabbing a dead branch and died from injuries from the fall...

ST. LOUIS -- A 4-year-old girl who refused to settle down on her cot during preschool naptime was bound with duct tape at a church-run center in suburban St. Louis, according to a lawsuit filed by the girl's parents. The lawsuit against Zion Lutheran Learning Center in Valley Park, Missouri, alleges the school disciplined but didn't fire the teacher who allegedly taped the child's legs together, and a supervisor laughed off the incident. The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $25,000...

ST. LOUIS -- A federal judge Tuesday approved a settlement in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old, whose fatal shooting by a white police officer nearly three years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, set off months of protests...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri House members Tuesday passed legislation to tighten state abortion regulations, including provisions to require annual inspections of clinics and give the state attorney general new authority to prosecute violations of abortion laws...

ST. LOUIS -- State versus state battle lines are being drawn across the Mississippi River, with a top Missouri official urging Illinois regulators to back away from a plan allowing higher levees that could push more floodwater to the Missouri side of the river...

ST. LOUIS -- The city of St. Louis temporarily will be prevented from removing a Confederate monument from a city park after a circuit court judge issued an injunction until a hearing is held next month to determine who owns the structure. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker on Monday issued the injunction and set a July 6 hearing for arguments over whether the city or the Missouri Civil War Museum owns the 38-foot-tall granite monument, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri House members meeting during a special session to consider new abortion restrictions sought Monday to restore some of the most divisive proposals senators stripped from a bill to increase its chances of becoming law. The House Children and Families Committee advanced many of the provisions sought by GOP Gov. ...

STEELE, Mo. -- Another small earthquake has rattled parts of Southeast Missouri along the New Madrid fault. The U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquakes Hazards Program said the earthquake with a magnitude of 2.7 rumbled at 4:26 a.m. Monday, centered near the small town of Steele in the Missouri Bootheel region...

ST. LOUIS -- The fight over ownership of a Confederate monument in St. Louis is moving to the courts. The Missouri Civil War Museum sued the city of St. Louis on Friday over ownership of the monument. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported the lawsuit was filed hours after the museum sent a letter to Mayor Lyda Krewson, offering to remove the monument by next Friday for free if the city acknowledged the museum owns it. A portion of the monument recently was removed...

SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. -- Bigger boats driving at higher speeds are causing rocky waters on the Lake of the Ozarks. The issue isn't new at the lake, but residents and business owners said the bigger boats -- and their wakes -- are causing thousands of dollars in damage to docks and the shoreline and making the lake less peaceful for residents, The Kansas City Star reported...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri plans to work with a new organization to encourage more people to adopt research animals, a move that comes as the university is being sued by another organization seeking records on dogs and cats it uses in research...

NEVADA, Mo. -- A former inmate alleges in a lawsuit he was paraded naked through a southwest Missouri jail and had buckets of water thrown at his face by a jailer who later was charged with shooting an assault rifle at deputies. The lawsuit Harry Foreman filed this month in Vernon County is the second in recent weeks alleging misconduct at the county's jail...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- In September, Brett and Betsy Miller -- both planning to retire after raising two children and teaching for three decades -- sold their Springfield house. They planned to downsize into a bungalow-style home. An architect drew up custom plans...

CHICAGO -- During the 2 1/2 years Illinois has gone without a state budget, the previously little-known office of comptroller has had the unenviable job of essentially sitting at the kitchen table, trying to figure out how to pay the bills. Like any household, there are some items that must be paid first. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers' frustrations with Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and his constant criticism of "career politicians" in the state Capitol are boiling over during a special legislative session he called on abortion. Senators spent hours at the start of the session Monday complaining about the governor, and a bipartisan coalition is calling for a legislative investigation of him over a campaign-finance reporting violation...

LAS VEGAS -- A man suspected of killing his young daughter, leaving the body in an abandoned property in Illinois and forcing his wife into prostitution in Las Vegas was charged Friday with abusing two other daughters kept captive in an apartment. Jason Scott Quate was not asked to enter pleas during his arraignments on 34 felony counts of child sexual assault, abuse, lewdness and possession of pornography...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri senators early Thursday morning passed legislation to require new abortion restrictions, such as annual health inspections of clinics, and to overturn a St. Louis ordinance that bans discrimination based on the procedure...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis officials and the Missouri Civil War Museum are fighting over who owns a divisive Confederate monument. The museum's executive director, Mark Trout, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the United Daughters of the Confederacy signed over the monument rights to the museum Tuesday...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Eric Greitens has enacted a new law allowing utility regulators to approve lower electricity rates to lure metal manufactures to Missouri. Greitens said Thursday he has signed legislation that had been passed last month during a special session he called. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is among governors meeting with President Donald Trump. Greitens’ spokesman Parker Briden said Thursday that Greitens will be in Washington, D.C. He and seven other governors are meeting with Trump to discuss workforce development as part of the president’s weeklong focus on the issue. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources must pay a $5,000 fine for violating the Sunshine Law after it took members of the Clean Water Commission on a tour of hog farms without proper public notice. Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce on Wednesday ordered the department to pay the fine to the Cole County School Fund. ...

FULTON, Mo. — Prosecutors are reviewing evidence in the case of a 31-year-old developmentally disabled Missouri man whose body was found encased in concrete. Fulton police chief Steve Myers said he believes prosecutors will decide what charges to file in the coming weeks. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri System president is laying out plans to improve the Columbia campus' enrollment and public image. President Mun Choi spoke to the Regional Economic Development Board of Directors on Wednesday, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri plans to close a bed-and-breakfast that has been a business and a way to educate hospitality students for more than 20 years. The Gathering Place Bed & Breakfast, across from the Columbia campus, will close in December. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former teacher’s assistant has pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography after admitting he placed a pen camera in the bathroom of a southwest Missouri elementary school. Federal prosecutors said 20-year-old Dalton Cole Sherman of Buffalo pleaded guilty Tuesday. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Supporters and opponents of abortion rallied Wednesday at the Missouri Capitol as a special session of the Legislature considered new restrictions in a state that already has some of the nation's toughest abortion laws. Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, who called state lawmakers back to the Capitol for the second special session this summer, led an anti-abortion rally in support of proposed new measures such as mandatory annual health inspections of clinics...

LAS VEGAS -- A mother jailed in Las Vegas awaiting transfer to Illinois to face charges of concealing the death of a child whose body was found in a garage at an abandoned St. Louis-area property had been named in criminal warrants in two Illinois counties, according to documents obtained Wednesday...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A 26-year-old man whose friend tumbled off the roof of his sport utility vehicle and died as he drove along a central Missouri road at 35 mph has been charged with a felony. The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Jacob Gerhard of Moberly was charged Friday with causing a death while driving while intoxicated. No attorney is listed for him in online court records...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A panel of Missouri senators Tuesday advanced legislation to create new abortion regulations -- including annual inspections of clinics -- requested by Republican Gov. Eric Greitens in his call for a special session focused solely on abortion laws...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman who had Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens' backing when she sued a state agency for employment discrimination is asking the Republican to veto a GOP-backed bill that would make such lawsuits more difficult. Greitens took a break from the campaign trail last summer to testify on behalf of Pat Rowe Kerr and congratulated the former Missouri Veterans Commission employee after she won a nearly $3 million verdict, The Kansas City Star reported. ...

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Members of Missouri's congressional delegation are renewing efforts to designate the Mississippi River town of Ste. Genevieve as a national historic site. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and Republican Rep. Jason Smith on Monday introduced legislation to establish the Ste. Genevieve National Historic Site and designate it as part of the National Park Service...

IRONTON, Mo. -- With concerns about bats literally falling from the ceiling, a rural Missouri county's prosecuting attorney's office has decided to relocate. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the Iron County prosecutor's office moved to the courthouse Thursday. It previously was housed in a former sheriff's residence attached to the historic jail that opened in 1867...

ST. LOUIS — The long-debated issue of horse-drawn carriages on St. Louis streets has resurfaced as the businesses lack enforcement of regulations. Local lawyer Dan Kolde recently saw a horse slowly pulling a carriage among the sea of cars during rush hour, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. He contacted the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission to ask why they weren’t enforcing a city rule that prevents horse carriages from running during rush hour...

ST. LOUIS -- The father of a 6-year-old girl whose body was found in an Illinois garage admitted killing her and concealing the body, according to a police report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Jason Quate, 34, and his wife already are charged with concealment of a homicidal death after remains were found June 6 in the garage behind a vacant and dilapidated home in Centreville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Homicide charges have not been filed. An investigation continues...

NEW YORK -- A former journalist pleaded guilty Tuesday to cyberstalking and making fake bomb threats, admitting he threatened Jewish organizations and made "false and salacious" allegations about an ex-girlfriend to her employer to disrupt her life...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed a bill aimed at averting a scenario in which Missouri residents could have been turned away at airports for lack of valid identification...

CENTERVILLE, Mo. -- A 19-year-old man is dead after drowning at a popular park in Southeast Missouri. Authorities said 19-year-old Christopher Watson of Farmington, Missouri, was trying to swim across the Black River at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park on Sunday evening when he went under the water and did not resurface. His body was found a couple of hours later...