A state senator from southwest Missouri wrote to his constituents on Monday saying the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973 was worse than slavery. 

“What a horrible mark that is upon the history of our nation, surpassing the barbarism even of slavery,” Republican state Sen. Ed Emery wrote in a newsletter to the people living in his district around Nevada, Mo.

CAPE GIRARDEAU — A substitute teacher, a homemaker and a truck driver make up some of the eight jurors selected Monday to hear the first dicamba-related lawsuit to go to trial.

In Missouri’s bootheel, where farming is a major industry, it took several hours for U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. to weed out those with connections to herbicides, Monsanto or Bader Farms.

The trial centers around a lawsuit filed by the Dunklin County-based peach orchard, which is Missouri’s largest producer of the fruit. The farm’s lawsuit alleges dicamba-based weed killers repeatedly drifted from neighboring cotton and soybean fields, damaging more than 30,000 trees.

A state senator from southwest Missouri wrote to his constituents on Monday saying the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973 was worse than slavery. 

“What a horrible mark that is upon the history of our nation, surpassing the barbarism even of slavery,” Republican state Sen. Ed Emery wrote in a newsletter to the people living in his district around Nevada, Mo.

CAPE GIRARDEAU — A substitute teacher, a homemaker and a truck driver make up some of the eight jurors selected Monday to hear the first dicamba-related lawsuit to go to trial.

In Missouri’s bootheel, where farming is a major industry, it took several hours for U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. to weed out those with connections to herbicides, Monsanto or Bader Farms.

The trial centers around a lawsuit filed by the Dunklin County-based peach orchard, which is Missouri’s largest producer of the fruit. The farm’s lawsuit alleges dicamba-based weed killers repeatedly drifted from neighboring cotton and soybean fields, damaging more than 30,000 trees.

Democrats in the Missouri House say they’re confident voters will approve Medicaid expansion, and they want to strengthen other health care measures in 2020. 

In a press conference Monday, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, said the need for Missouri to expand Medicaid is vital, despite Republican efforts to kill the idea. 

“Since 2014, no fewer than seven rural hospitals have closed,” said Quade. “In no small part because the governor and Republicans have refused to expand Medicaid.”