According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Missouri now has more than 40 diagnosed cases of monkeypox – and Boone County reported its first confirmed case yesterday.Now, while the case count and the community risk still remain fairly low – KBIA’s Rebecca Smith spoke with Nathan Koffarnus, the Assistant Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.They spoke about how the disease presents, how prepared we are as a state and what people can do to keep themselves and their communities safe.

In June, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and nearly immediately, Missouri followed suit – outlawed abortion in all cases except when a “woman” is experiencing a “medical emergency.”From the wording of legislation to the conversation about who is impacted, abortion access is generally viewed as a women’s rights issue. However, cisgender women aren’t the only stakeholders when it comes to how abortion connects to healthcare and bodily autonomy.

In June, the Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade and Missouri quickly followed suit and outlawed nearly all abortions in the state.While people usually consider this issue closely tied to religion – the National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis strives to protect the interests of women, children, and families.KBIA’s Katie Quinn spoke to Nancy Litz, the president of the organization about the Dobbs abortion decision and how it effects religious freedoms.

In June, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Missouri outlawed all abortions except in cases where the pregnant person’s life is at risk – with no exceptions for rape or incest.This has many advocates worried – especially those working in domestic and sexual violence prevention.I sat down with Matthew Huffman with the Missouri Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence to talk about how this recent decision could impact survivors in Missouri.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the BA.5 Omicron subvariant now accounts for the vast majority of cases in the United States, and the CDC also blames the strain for the upward trend in cases across the country.KBIA’S Rebecca Smith sat down with Dr. Laura Morris, the co-chair of MU Health Care’s COVID-19 vaccine committee and a rural family physician, to talk about how this subvariant is presenting differently and what people can do to protect themselves.

It has been just more than a week since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Missouri’s “trigger law,” which outlaws nearly all abortions in the state, was put into effect.On the day the decision was announced – Friday, June 24th – Mallory Schwarz, the Executive Director of Pro-Choice Missouri, and Chimene Schwach, the Vice President of the Missouri Family Health Council Board, sat down with KBIA’s Rebecca Smith to discuss where abortion rights in the state go from here.

The Commonwealth Fund's 2022 Scorecard on State Health System performance ranked Missouri as the worst state in the great plains region for COVID-19 response.

On Friday, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Missouri became the first state in the county to intact it’s trigger law, which outlaws abortion in all cases except when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.Just hours later, more than a hundred people gathered at the Boone County Courthouse for a somewhat informal protest – to be together, to grieve, to share their own experiences with abortion and talk about what steps people could take next.

A startup owned by a private equity firm acquired two rural hospitals in mid-Missouri and closed both shortly after.

So-called cryptic lineages may hold clues to better understand how the virus that causes COVID mutates to evade our immune systems.