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Uber-style rides seen as a tool for public transit in rural and urban Missouri
For about as long as passengers have stepped onto buses, public transportation in most of Missouri has meant fixed routes and schedules. The idea of on-demand, point-to-point service as a public amenity was unheard of. Today, those rides are being offered in Kansas City and St. Louis. Smaller Missouri cities are mulling whether microtransit — […]
Suburbs braced to use the legislature to block a south Kansas City landfill
Subdivisions, restaurants and retail shops pop up around Lee’s Summit and Raymore amid rising property values as single-family homes spread across what was farmland just a few years ago. But residents say a proposed 430-acre landfill could threaten that growth. And they’ve rallied together to block it — raising money and deploying lobbyists to get […]
Missouri uses power of the pocketbook to prevent divestment in Israel
Inside every major contract Missouri signs with a business sits a clause about boycotting Israel. All but the smallest companies have to agree not to participate in any movement that aims to boycott, divest from or sanction companies in Israel. Missouri isn’t alone. At least 36 other states have anti-BDS (boycott, divest or sanction) measures […]
Missouri counties want to freeze seniors’ property assessments, but aren’t sure they can
The freezing of property tax assessments for Missourians 62 and older looks, at best, fuzzy. The state adopted a law this year that lets counties give that property tax assessment freeze when homeowners become eligible for Social Security. And it allowed counties to throw in a yearly tax credit to give older residents even more […]
Missouri prisoners say food went from bad to worse when contractor took over
Missouri volunteer prison labor tends gardens that yield about 100 tons of fresh produce a year. For the most part, that food goes to local charities. The prisoners who grow it complain they get little fresh food. Instead, they get a lot of bologna. They say they’re served portions they consider too small and unappetizing. […]
The pandemic put Missouri mothers at greater violence risk — especially if they were Black
Social isolation during the pandemic put Missouri’s Black moms in greater danger that their partner would kill them. A report from the state’s maternal mortality review board found that from 2018 to 2020, homicide was the third-leading cause of death for Missouri moms. Black women made up 75% of those deaths. Among those homicides, guns […]
Missouri groups look for the strongest abortion-rights ballot measure voters would back
The fight over the Missouri abortion ban begins with language. Eager to once again legalize the procedure in the state after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year made way for the General Assembly to ban it, abortion-rights supporters have been floating 11 versions of a petition to ask voters for a change in November […]
Missouri’s secretary of state reins in environmentally minded investing
During the 2023 legislative session, Missouri lawmakers looked to follow the lead of other Republican-led states by curbing environmentally minded investing practices, which they disparaged as “woke.” The attempt to ban state involvement with banks that prioritize climate action or other socially driven investments fell by the wayside. That failure came as a relief to […]
‘We’ve got hell coming’: Missourians in state prisons fear consequences of summertime heat
As heat waves sweep across the Midwest, incarcerated people in Missouri are increasingly afraid of the rising temperatures inside prisons. They live in concrete buildings that retain heat. People share close quarters, making cooling all the more difficult. As Earth’s temperatures reach their hottest recorded numbers this summer, people incarcerated in Missouri’s prisons describe conditions […]
Missouri has a $500k incentive for urban farmers — if growers can figure out how to get it
News that the Missouri legislature has authorized $500,000 for urban farming grants ought to be welcomed by small growers like Darian and Nicolette Davis, who run an orchard in Kansas City’s Swope Park to provide fresh fruit to their community. The couple hatched the idea of the Kansas City Urban Farm Co-op during the unrest […]
‘They don’t know why they were shot’: MU study shows youth wounds mainly from stray bullets
With gun injuries now the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the United States, parents and communities are seeking new strategies to keep children safe. That’s especially the case in places like Kansas City, where children too often become innocent victims of a larger gun violence epidemic. Young people are now more […]
What state control could mean for the St. Louis Police Department
This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon. In a vote watched closely in Kansas City, Missourians approved a statewide ballot measure in 2012 to return control of the St. Louis Police Department to the city itself. Just over a decade later, the Missouri legislature is debating multiple pieces of legislation to reverse […]