News

The president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City rode out a tornado in the basement of his official residence, which was severely damaged by the storm.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports President Jerald Woolfolk was not injured in the tornado overnight Wednesday.

Lincoln University spokeswoman Misty Young said the home appears to be uninhabitable. It was built in 1916 and bought by the university in 1965.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley says he is canceling his trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to return to Missouri to view damage left by strong storms.

Severe weather across the state overnight left three people dead and dozens injured.

The Republican said on Twitter Thursday morning that he was flying to Missouri to see the damage and do what he can to help.

Hawley had planned to visit the southern border this week with other members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

A "violent tornado" touched down in Jefferson City, causing heavy damage in Missouri's capital city as severe weather swept across the state overnight, causing three deaths and leaving many people trapped in the wreckage of their homes.

The service reported that a "confirmed large and destructive tornado" was observed over Jefferson City at 11:43 p.m. Wednesday, moving northeast at 40 mph (64 kph).

Protesters gathered at noon Tuesday in downtown Columbia and vowed action on the abortion law passed last week by the Missouri legislature.

House Bill 126 outlaws all abortions at eight weeks except in cases of medical emergencies, according to previous Missourian reporting. The bill has not yet been signed by Gov. Mike Parson, but he has said that he will sign the bill.

The 31st annual Salute to Veterans Celebration and Airshow, set to be held this weekend at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport, has been cancelled due to extreme flooding.

"The river is expected to crest tomorrow at over 2 feet past flood stage, rendering our show impossible," Salute to Veterans media chair Jessica Houston said in an email Tuesday.

The Columbia Municipal Court will add three full-time positions with appropriated funds in order to aid in the new parking ticket ordinance passed down from the Missouri Supreme Court. The Columbia City Council approved adding these positions and changing the current ordinance to align with the new rules during its Monday meeting.

Sen. Josh Hawley was set to introduce legislation Tuesday that would give internet users the ability to opt out of allowing their personal data to be tracked and collected, the latest effort in the Missouri Republican's broader campaign against big tech.

Hawley's Do Not Track Act is modeled after the national Do Not Call list, which allows people to opt out of telemarketing calls.

Hawley has not yet released the bill, but his office says it would allow internet users to opt out of tracking by cl icking a setting in their browsers or by downloading an app.

A federal prosecutor says authorities have recovered only 73 of the 654 guns stolen in Springfield in 2017.

Prosecutors say six men from Texas stole the guns by maneuvering several trailers into a United Parcel Service lot. The handguns and 12-gauge shotguns were being shipped from Beretta USA in Maryland to Bass Pro Shops in Springfield.

An intense storm system moved across the Southern Plains on Monday, spawning tornadoes that caused scattered damage and a deluge of rain but not the "particularly dangerous" twisters that forecasters had feared.

No injuries were reported.

Late Monday, the National Weather Service reduced the severe threat of violent storms to a small area of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. But it kept an area stretching from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Wichita Falls, Texas, under tornado watch — the level of threat just below a tornado warning — until 5 a.m. CDT Tuesday morning