News

The early morning earthquake that rattled much of Southeast Missouri on Tuesday morning caused little damage. The 4.0 magnitude quake was centered near East Prairie, Missouri.

A House committee heard a bill Tuesday allowing kids from unaccredited school districts to attend non-public schools.

An angry email that named four Missouri state senators and mentioned an Arizona congresswoman who was shot and wounded last year has been traced to an eastern Missouri resident.

The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, or MOSIRA, has been ruled unconstitutional by a Cole County judge.

The average medical school student graduates with close to $160,000 in debt. That heavy burden is one reason why there is a long-running shortage of primary care doctors in rural America. More and more graduating students choose higher-paying specialties over rural primary care. In this weekly update, a new pilot program helps medical students pay off loans as soon as they start residency, so it's easier to choose a lower-paying, but possibly more fulfilling career path.

Eleven states have been issued waivers from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but Missouri was not one of them.  But as Maria Altman reports, the State Board of Education is trying to change that.

Missouri House members have voted to reject a tax plan that would increase property taxes for the best farms.

Property taxes for farms are based on the land's "productive value." Farms are divided into eight groups based on land quality, with the best in Grade 1 and the worst in Grade 8. The Missouri Tax Commission has recommended increasing productive values for the four highest grades.

The property tax changes for 2013 and 2014 take effect unless the Legislature approves a resolution to reject them. House members voted 117-39 on Tuesday to reject the tax proposal.

House member Casey Guernsey, a Republican from Bethany, says flooding and natural disasters have caused problems for agriculture. He says it is a bad time for a tax increase on farmers.

Eight hundred and seventy one high school students suffered concussions during last fall, according to a new survey conducted by the Missouri State High School Activities Association. Unsurprisingly, 75 percent of those concussions happened to football players.  State lawmakers made this survey mandatory last year, so there isn’t any previous data with which to compare it.

Scientists researching complex topics often come up empty-handed when it comes time to explain their findings. It’s hard to distill years of intricate, complex research into tiny bytes a layman can understand.

Sparked by past events around the nation, one Missouri senator is trying to make disrupting a house of worship punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a three hundred dollar fine for first time offenders.