State News

A bill restoring the commission's authority cleared the legislature before it adjourned last week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 71 percent of the corn crop in key grain states is sowed.

Missouri Task Force 1 is the fourth-closest team to Moore, Okla., and has been put on alert. The task force has readied a team of 80 people, which can deploy in a few hours should it be asked to respond to the situation in Moore.

Fueled partly by rebuilding from a 2012 tornado that damaged some businesses on the city's main entertainment strip, new construction in 2012 was valued at $69.8 million and has reached $23.5 million through April of this year.

Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said he is considering appointing at least three committees to study issues before the 2014 session.

Republican leaders declared the session "historic" and "monumental," but the success depends on decisions of Gov. Jay Nixon.

One ticket was sold in St. Louis and another in the southeast Missouri town of Doniphan.

When lawmakers left town on Friday they had soundly defeated Gov. Jay Nixon's plan to expand Medicaid coverage to 260,000 adults by using almost $900 million from the federal government.

State lawmakers wrapped up their annual session Friday without passing a proposed 1-cent sales tax for transportation or a state bonding package. Both would have required voter approval had they cleared the legislature.

Thirty-one-year-old Stephanie Wiebold of Meta was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to careless and imprudent driving.

The budget approved by the Joplin school's Board of Governors on Thursday includes expenses of $76.4 million, with expected revenues of $74 million.

The statue, which had been missing from its pedestal at Indian Foothills Park for more than a year, was returned to the park Friday.

Squeezed by a poor economy, Missouri has come up short in its Amtrak payments since 2010. State transportation officials say they owe Amtrak more than $2 million in overdue payments for this year's service.

The Kansas City museum's Constellation, or "Connie," is one of only a handful of the 856 that were built and is still airworthy — with a little work. The museum is planning to fly it on April 17, 2014.

Baron Calmese was arrested in July after he took more than $500 from his nephew's piggy bank to use for drugs and prostitutes.

Children from four Chesterfield elementary schools will showcase their creativity by decorating the blades of snow plows.

Courtney is one of hundreds of new moms in Buchanan County attempting to balance her school work, social life and her baby's needs.

Republican legislative leaders already were declaring the session a success.

Legislation would require education officials to seek grants and donations to help children with special needs such as autism.