Politics

The Missouri House has given first-round approval to legislation restricting lawsuits that stem from some crimes committed at businesses.

Newspaper publishers in Missouri could have to pay more to buy paper, ink and other supplies under a measure that has been endorsed by a House panel.

In a 7-5 vote Wednesday, the House Tax Reform Committee backed a proposal to eliminate sales tax exemptions on newspaper equipment in order to help fund state aid to the blind.

The Senate's only doctor continued to block a vote on a plan to create a prescription drug monitoring program for the state.

The Missouri House has given first-round approval to the state budget for next year.  As St. Louis Public Radio’s Marshall Griffin tells us, Republican leaders pushed through their plan to restore higher education cuts proposed by Governor Jay Nixon by refusing to fund a program for blind residents.

Sixty-two percent of working-age women have jobs, but they still earn just 74 cents on the dollar, compared to men. But that disparity varies by region; in some rural counties, women earn fully half what men do. In this week's Health & Wealth update, a new report on how women in Missouri are faring in health, work, education, and civic engagement. With a state legislature that's three-quarters men, will lawmakers do anything about the disparities?