Although the cable series “Ozark” helped put the Lake of the Ozarks on the national map, it was filmed in Georgia. Production companies look for a state that offers generous tax incentives. ... Read More »
Missouri officials criticize drag show attended by Columbia middle schoolers
A drag show seen by middle-school students in Columbia is drawing criticism from parents and state officials. At the annual Columbia Values Diversity Breakfast, timed to be near the Martin Luther King ... Read More »
100 waiting families
Experts estimate that there are around 2 million hopeful adoptive families in the US who are waiting to adopt a baby. However, annually only around 20,000 babies are placed for adoption privately ... Read More »
Former news anchor Mark Alford raises more than $200,000 in congressional bid
Mark Alford, the former Fox 4 News anchor running for Congress in Missouri’s 4th District, has raised more than $200,000 in less than three months. Alford, who left the station late last ... Read More »
COVID Mandates costly in Jackson County
Looking back on 2021, there were many confrontations with local governments over COVID. One of the most highly publicized was Rae’s Café in Blue Springs which refused to comply with Jackson County ... Read More »
Dozens of education bills await Missouri legislators as new session begins
Education is a hot topic in Missouri as the 101st General Assembly’s Second Session begins this week. More than 100 bills concerning education awaited lawmakers as they returned to Jefferson City on ... Read More »
New MOScholars program will provide tuition assistance for low-income Missouri families
School choice remains a hot topic in the Missouri Legislature, with the new session starting in early January. Republican state Rep. Phil Christofanelli of St. Peters recently wrote an opinion piece for ... Read More »
Columbia, Mo. tackles its violent crime as elections loom
Columbia is gaining a reputation as one of Missouri’s most violent cities. The deep blue city, an outlier in an otherwise deep red central part of the state, has dealt with a ... Read More »
Public-private partnership leads to more than 100 human trafficking arrests
A local Kansas City area organization, DeliverFund, provided support to a multistate operation to stop human trafficking. Operation United Front resulted in 102 arrests and the rescue of 47 victims and sex ... Read More »
Missouri AG files suit to reverse school mask mandates
For many area students, face masks are as much a part of back-to-school supplies as backpacks and notebooks. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, however, has filed a class-action lawsuit in an effort ... Read More »
Census shakes up Missouri town population rankings
The 2020 Census has big winners and losers in Missouri’s municipal population rankings. St. Louis is again the biggest loser, dropping below the population it counted just after the Civil War in ... Read More »
Bill providing tax credits for private school scholarships passes Missouri legislature
The Missouri Legislature has passed a bill that would allow donors to receive tax credits for donations to students to attend private K-12 schools in the state. The bill is awaiting Gov. ... Read More »
Hundreds of events will celebrate Missouri bicentennial
Missouri Statehood Day on Aug. 10 will mark 200 years since the Missouri Territory became the 24th state of the union. More than 200 bicentennial events are taking place this year, with ... Read More »
Absentee ballots could cause long Missouri election night
A Missouri political science professors is expecting a long election night as absentee votes are counted. In previous elections, Missouri counties posted absentee ballot results first. For Tuesday’s general election, that practice ... Read More »
Election officials gearing up for expected high turnout
Missouri officials are preparing for a challenging Election Day on November 3 because of some Covid restrictions and expected high voter turnout. Tammy Brown, director of the Jackson County Election Board, said ... Read More »
MU prof relieved of teaching duties after joke offended student from Wuhan
A business professor at the University of Missouri said he was relieved of teaching duties because of a joke he made to a student in Wuhan, China, in an online class, Voice ... Read More »
Special House session today will address rising crime rate in Missouri
The Missouri House will meet today in a special legislative session called by Gov. Mike Parson to address the state’s rising crime rate. Unlike the state Senate, the House has broken proposed ... Read More »
Gov. Mike Parson announces phase two of Missouri reopening plan
Gov. Mike Parson says the state of Missouri is open for business – or at least closer than it has been since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. As of Tuesday, the ... Read More »
Missouri’s Tuesday elections will be the ‘cleanest’ ever for voters
Pandemic or not, many Missouri residents will be voting on local issues in elections on Tuesday. Gov. Mike Parson told those voters to put their personal safety first. “I hope people feel ... Read More »
Incoming Missouri House education chair is supporter of school choice
Proponents of school choice again will have an ally in Jefferson City during the 2020 legislative session. The new Missouri House education committee chairman is focused on educational choice and says the ... Read More »
Protests at University of Missouri in 2015 helped foster rise of conservative organizations
Physics teaches that every action causes an opposite reaction. That may be the case with the protests that roiled the University of Missouri campus in 2015. Reaction to the protests is one ... Read More »
Several local communities rank high in survey of family-friendly Missouri cities
Missouri boasts a number of great places to raise a family, but its two largest cities are not among them. Kansas City ranked 71st in a recent WalletHub survey, while St. Louis ... Read More »
Columbia man sentenced to federal prison for Molotov cocktail attack on Planned Parenthood
Wesley Brian Kaster of Columbia, Mo. will face five to 21 years in prison after admitting that he threw a Molotov cocktail inside the Columbia Planned Parenthood building in February. He entered ... Read More »
St. Louis faith leaders push for changes in Missouri juvenile sentencing guidelines
Seventeen-year-old offenders automatically are prosecuted as adults in Missouri. A group of faith leaders is trying to change that and give prosecutors discretion in filing charges against juvenile suspects, according to KSDK-TV. ... Read More »
University of Missouri backs off ultimatum made to The Crossing church after sermon controversy
The fallout continues from the decision by Ragtag Cinema and the True/False Film Festival in Columbia to cut ties with The Crossing church because of a recent sermon about gender. The University ... Read More »