State News

OZARK, Mo. -- Springfield's yoga community is speaking out after a pastor at an Assemblies of God megachurch warned Christians to avoid the popular activity because he claims it has "demonic roots." Pastor John Lindell told worshippers last month at James River Church in Ozark that yoga positions were "created with demonic intent" and called Hinduism demonic, the Springfield News-Leader reported. The church is known to have a congregation of more than 10,000, according to a 2016 report...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The University of Missouri-Kansas City is expanding its investigation of a professor after a Kansas City Star story revealed allegations he coerced students to perform personal favors, including watching his dog and acting as waiters and busboys...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Wisconsin man was convicted Friday in the stabbing death of a Missouri woman who forced her daughter for years to pretend to be disabled as part of a fraud scheme. Nicholas Godejohn, 29, of Big Bend, Wisconsin, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of first-degree murder. He will be sentenced in February...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The State Board of Education is set to pick Missouri's next top K-12 education official. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the board interviewed the top four candidates for education commissioner Monday. Board president Charlie Shields told the newspaper an announcement of the board's pick might not come until later this week...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Zoo has euthanized a 55-year-old chimpanzee because her health was failing. The zoo announced Monday in a Facebook post the chimp, named Blackie, died Friday. Born in Africa, she came to the Kansas City Zoo in 1966. She has eight offspring and is a grandmother...

SAVANNAH, Mo. -- A cat owner in northwestern Missouri is crafting makeshift shelters to help keep stray cats warm during the winter months. Savannah resident Lindy Anderson built the temporary shelters out of Styrofoam coolers, which she stuffed with straw and fitted with a cat-sized cutout entryway, the St. Joseph News-Press reported. Anderson is giving the small shelters away for free...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A cancer-causing chemical that leaked from a closed industrial site near the Springfield airport is appearing in the Fantastic Caverns tourist stop. Litton Systems used the chemical -- trichloroethylene (TCE) -- to remove grease from metal parts when it manufactured circuit boards near the airport beginning in the 1960s. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A report by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank states farm income is continuing to decline within its district. The Fed said the third-quarter report released last week was the 19th straight survey in which most bankers indicated farm income was on the decline. Bankers also were slightly less optimistic looking ahead, citing concerns over low prices for crops...

MANCHESTER, Mo. -- A Missouri substitute teacher is seeking answers after claiming he was banned because he thanked students for saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Jim Furkin has worked as a sub for about a decade in St. Louis County's Parkway School District, mostly at Parkway South High School, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A police association that focuses on adding diversity and fighting discrimination is trying to gain a foothold within the St. Louis County Police Department, but its leaders claim the police chief is blocking its path. The Fraternal Order of Police is the collective bargaining unit for 860 rank-and-file officers in the county surrounding St. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City health officials allowed a group of volunteers to feed the homeless in parks across the city a week after some health inspectors threw home-cooked chili, sandwiches and soup into trash cans and poured bleach on some of the food...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday named fellow Republican state Treasurer Eric Schmitt to replace U.S. Sen.-elect Josh Hawley as the state's next attorney general. Schmitt's appointment leaves another vacancy in an elected statewide office for Parson to fill, which the governor said he's in the process of doing. Nearly half of Missouri's statewide executive officeholders have been appointed and not elected to their seats...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A southern Missouri teacher who oversaw a history class presentation in which a ninth-grader dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan has apologized for a "lapse of judgment" and is suspended indefinitely, the superintendent of the predominantly white district said Tuesday...

MERRIMACK, N.H. -- Anheuser-Busch says the famed Budweiser Clydesdales will no longer train in New Hampshire. The brewing company said the horse training facility at the Merrimack brewery is being relocated to a state-of-the-art breeding facility near Boonville, Missouri. Anheuser-Busch corporate communications director Samantha Roth told WMUR-TV the move will allow the training team to be closer to young Clydesdales and begin training earlier...

ST. LOUIS -- A memorial to St. Louis area service members who have died in war was mostly neglected and ignored for years -- but not anymore. The memorial, which was erected in 1936 and dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, has undergone a two-year, $30 million renovation more than doubling its exhibit space, added air conditioning, new wiring and more assembly spaces...

ST. LOUIS -- The ride-hailing company Uber instituted a new guideline prohibiting drivers from broadcasting passengers' images amid privacy concerns after a St. Louis-area driver posted hundreds of videos. The new guideline was put in place at the end of September, an Uber spokesman said Thursday. It allows drivers to use video cameras, dash cameras and other recording devices for security purposes -- but not to broadcast them...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The captain of a tourist boat that sank in southwest Missouri and killed 17 people, including nine members of an Indiana family, didn't tell passengers to put on flotation devices or prepare them to abandon ship even after waves crashed into the boat during a severe storm, according to an indictment released Thursday...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Thirty-three priests or religious brothers in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, have been "credibly accused" and/or removed from the ministry over sexual abuse of minors, the bishop of the central Missouri diocese said Thursday...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri has joined the long list of states allowing medical marijuana, but it'll likely be late next year at the earliest before people with cancer, HIV and other serious ailments will be able to obtain it. Missouri became the 31st state to approve medical marijuana when voters Tuesday approved Amendment 2 ...

CHICAGO — Missouri voters were sharply divided over the state of the nation as they cast ballots in the midterm election Tuesday, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate. About half of the state’s voters said the country is on the right track, while the other half said it’s headed the wrong way, AP VoteCast found. The state’s voters did agree on something: they didn’t like the way Congress is doing its job — 73 percent said they disapprove...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri House Republicans have nominated a suburban St. Louis lawmaker to take over as the chamber's second-ranking official. House Republicans met Wednesday at the Capitol, a day after retaining a supermajority in the general elections...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- About 58 percent of Missouri's registered voters turned out to cast ballots in Tuesday's elections. The preliminary figures reported Wednesday by the secretary of state's office would mark the highest turnout in a presidential midterm election since a 59 percent rate in 1994...

WASHINGTON -- Hearing his first arguments in a death penalty case, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh seemed open Tuesday to the arguments of a Missouri inmate who says his rare medical condition could result in severe pain if he is executed by lethal injection...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Conservation officials say more than 7,300 feral hogs have been killed in Missouri in the first nine months of the year. The Springfield News- Leader reported the highest density of feral hogs is in the southeast part of the state. ...

BRANSON, Mo. -- Records show a water pump had been replaced with a less powerful system in a tourist duck boat that sank in a Missouri lake, killing 17 people. The Kansas City Star reported the original Higgins pump, which is capable of removing as much as 250 gallons of water per minute from the bottom of a boat, was replaced with two less powerful electric pumps in the boat that sank in July at Table Rock Lake in the Branson area...

ST. LOUIS -- A new effort in St. Louis seeks to transform public space into works of art. The Regional Arts Commission, Downtown St. Louis Inc. and Explore St. Louis last week unveiled plans for an initiative that seeks to use artwork to support downtown's growth as an "inclusive and culturally vibrant" anchor for the region...

ST. LOUIS -- A leading grocer in the St. Louis area is expanding its partnership with a San Francisco robotics company to place more retail inventory robots into its grocery aisles. Schnuck Markets is working with the firm Simbe Robotics to roll out the aisle-scanning robots, known as Tally, at four more stores in the next month, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Schnucks officials began operating the Tally robots several months ago in Ballwin, Des Peres, Webster Groves and Chesterfield...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri voters have a long track record on proposed tax hikes best summarized by one word: No. Yet organizers of the "Yes on D" campaign to raise Missouri's gas tax by 10 cents a gallon believe this may be the year when voters finally consent...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley on Wednesday did not say whether he supports President Donald Trump's calls to end the right to citizenship for babies born to non-U.S. citizens on American soil but said he backs stopping "chain migration."...

ST. LOUIS -- Two teenagers are charged in juvenile court with murder and attempted robbery in the death of a retired St. Louis police sergeant. A 16-year-old boy was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder and attempted first-degree robbery. A 15-year-old boy faces the same charges plus tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest...

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis day care center is under fire after a video surfaced showing preschoolers punching each other in what appeared to be a fight club organized by teachers. KTVI-TV obtained video taken at Adventure Learning Center in December 2016. It shows small boys wearing oversized green Incredible Hulk fists punching each other, including in the head. At one point, a teacher jumps up and down in apparent excitement...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A woman who reported a 4-year-old Missouri boy missing about a week before the child's body was found was charged Wednesday in his death. Quatavia Givens, 26, was charged with neglect or abuse of a child resulting in death. Investigators said Givens was caring for Darnell Gray on Oct. 24 at a Jefferson City housing complex while his father was a work. She reported him missing the next morning, prompting an intense search before his body was found Tuesday in Jefferson City...

ST. LOUIS -- Authorities are investigating the death of a Ferguson protester's son as a suicide, although a message on social media posted by his mother has sparked assertions it was a lynching. Melissa McKinnies, who was active in the St. Louis suburb after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, posted the Facebook message, saying "They lynched my baby."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Appeals court judges Tuesday said a lawsuit can move forward that alleges Missouri lawmakers didn't spend enough money on implementation of a new voter photo identification law and it consequently should not be enforced. The decision by the Western District Court of Appeals panel reversed a circuit court judge's January ruling to dismiss the case, meaning the legal challenge can continue...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Republicans are not in danger of losing control of the state Legislature in this year's election but said they are concerned about losing about a dozen legislative seats around the state's metropolitan areas. If enough of those districts switch to Democrats, the Republican party could lose its super majority in the Legislature, meaning Republicans would be unable to override gubernatorial vetoes on a party-line vote, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Mike Parson has signed a bill to allow high schoolers to apply a computer science credit toward math, science or practical art credits needed for graduation. Parson signed the bill Tuesday. It takes effect Dec. 18. The legislation also calls for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to roll out an online course intended to boost career awareness for science, technology, engineering and mathematics professions. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A recent report from a real estate information firm states the St. Louis area has one of the highest shares of vacant houses in the country. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported California-based ATTOM Data Solutions found an estimated 5.9 percent of St. Louis' housing stock was vacant, totaling about 4,730 houses...

ALTON, Mo. -- A deer testing positive for chronic wasting disease was found only 25 miles from Peck Ranch, which houses an elk herd reintroduced to Missouri at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Missouri Department of Conservation reported last week the deer tested positive for the disease, which is contagious and always fatal to deer, elk and similar animals...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Springfield baby born without a skull or facial bones has turned 1 year old this month, far outliving what doctors predicted for a child born with the extremely rare malformation. Jessica and Tom Masterson were told by doctors their baby likely wouldn't survive the pregnancy, but despite all odds, their son Owen was born Sept. ...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The world's largest pork company said it's going whole-hog on converting powerful pig poop gases into power. Smithfield Foods said it is expanding to farms across North Carolina, Utah and Missouri a pilot program that traps methane and burns the gas to generate electricity...

ST. LOUIS -- The leader of the St. Louis Zoo says passage of a sales tax proposal in St. Louis County could lead to creation of a new zoo facility with safari drives, kayaking, ropes courses and other amenities. County voters Nov. 6 will consider a ballot measure that would increase sales tax by one-eighth of a cent, adding about an extra 12 cents to a $100 purchase...

SEDALIA, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Highway Administration are funneling $2.3 million into connecting the final gap along the Katy Trail State Park. The City of Sedalia recently received a $1 million grant from the federal agency's recreational trails program to convert portions of city roads and sidewalks into a new trail path, the Sedalia Democrat reported. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- President Donald Trump is scheduled to be in Missouri this week for a campaign rally. The rally is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Columbia Regional Airport. Trump has made several appearances in Missouri in support of Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is running against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill in one of the nation's most closely-watched races...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's health department said it mailed more than 10,400 letters to notify people there was a security breach of personal information. According to a Friday release from the Health and Senior Services Department, the 2016 breach included names, dates of birth and in some cases Social Security numbers. The health department discovered the breach in August...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley blamed Democrats for a vitriolic political climate without offering any criticism of President Donald Trump during a Thursday debate with Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. The debate hosted by KMBC-TV in Kansas City marked the final time the two squared off before the Nov. 6 election, when the Missouri race could be pivotal to party control of the U.S. Senate...

AP-MO--Boy Assaulted-Social Media,130 Teen charged with felony in assault that was caught on video INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) -- A 17-year-old Missouri boy has been charged with pointing a gun at the head of a kneeling 13-year-old after a video of the incident was widely shared on social media...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A former Kansas City fire captain faces more charges for allegedly selling guns to felons. The Kansas City Star reports that grand jury indictment returned Wednesday in the case against 53-year-old James Samuels contains five additional counts of selling a firearm and ammunition to a prohibited person. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A Columbia woman who admitted to health care fraud in the case of a man whose body was found encased in concrete has surrendered her nursing license. Forty-nine-year-old Melissa Denise DeLap pleaded guilty in August to health care fraud in connection with the death of Carl DeBrodie of Fulton, whose body was found in April 2017...