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Black residents of Missouri had received roughly 4% of the total COVID-19 vaccines administered, despite making up 11% of the population, according to a new dashboard the state launched Tuesday.

The dashboard shed light for the first time on detailed demographic data and a county-by-county breakdown of where COVID-19 vaccines have been given to residents. And similar to Missouri’s demographic data on coronavirus cases — it’s incomplete.

Gov. Mike Parson has proposed transforming a shuttered northwest Missouri prison into a training ground for incoming correctional officers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Parson’s recently unveiled budget plan includes $671,714 to convert the idled Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron into an academy where would-be prison guards can get more real-world experience before being assigned to one of the state’s 20 lock-ups.

Nine mass vaccination sites operated by the Missouri National Guard are aiming to inoculate at least 18,000 residents statewide on Friday.

Missouri lawmakers and statewide elected officials will receive annual pay raises of 2.5% each year for the next two years, the first such raises to make it through the legislature since 2008.

The salary hikes come after the Missouri House of Representatives failed to pass a resolution Thursday that would have prevented the raises from going into effect. House members voted 97-11 to reject the increase, but that tally did not meet the two-thirds majority of the 163-member body required to pass.

JEFFERSON CITY — A bill to further regulate tobacco products and modify the Clean Air Act was read to the Committee for Seniors, Families, Veterans & Military Affairs Wednesday morning.

Sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, Senate Bill 124 would reaffirm the 2019 Tobacco 21 federal law that raises the legal age to purchase “certain tobacco, alternative nicotine or vapor products” to 21 years old.

A Missouri man who was accused of taking part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol was arrested Thursday.

FBI agents and Springfield police took Zachary Martin into custody without incident on federal charges of unlawful activities on Capitol Grounds, disorderly conduct and demonstrating in the Capitol building. No court documents have been posted yet on the case, and Patton said she didn’t know whether he had an attorney.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says businesses forced to temporarily shut down because of local COVID-19 mandates should get tax breaks.

Parson on Thursday told Missouri Press Association members and reporters that restaurants and other businesses shouldn't have to pay property taxes for times when they were ordered closed because of the pandemic. A Senate committee last week debated a tax credit bill that would make up for property taxes owed for periods when businesses are forced closed.

A Missouri health official says the state's poor ranking in getting residents a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine is partly due to “confusion” in the final days of the Trump administration and through the transition of power.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is making a last-moment change to his State of the State address because of coronavirus concerns.

The Republican governor had been scheduled to deliver his speech Wednesday in the House chamber, as is tradition. But Parson's office said he instead will speak in the Senate.

Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones says the governor was informed Wednesday morning that he would not be allowed to deliver the speech in the House because of coronavirus concerns.

A Missouri state employees' pension official has testified that a private equity firm being sued for allegedly mishandling retirement investments has hired a lobbyist who tried to influence legislators and put pressure on the pension.

The private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group hired a lobbyist after the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System filed its lawsuit in October.

Pension system executive director Ronda Stegmann testified in a court hearing last week that a lobbyist then tried to set up a meeting with her, two legislators and Catalyst executives.

Experts in all corners of Missouri are seeing room for optimism in the fight against the coronavirus thanks to a decline in new cases, decreasing hospitalizations and other factors.

Evidence suggests that the post-holiday spike is over, and things are improving. The seven-day average for new cases reported Tuesday was 27.2% lower than the previous seven-day average, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Hospitalizations remain high, but are declining.

A raise for Missouri statewide elected officials and lawmakers is close to taking effect.

Gov. Mike Parson announced a new COVID-19 vaccination dashboard Thursday evening. The dashboard includes data from health care providers across the state and is expected to be updated daily.

Providing public access to case data has been an unwritten rule throughout the pandemic, with cities and states posting extensive case statistics and interactive charts online. Most universities followed suit, releasing their own COVID-19 dashboards to share information with the public on the status of cases in campus communities. Having public access to information about the status of cases on campus allows students, faculty, staff and the larger community to better understand the influence of these institutions on COVID-19 in their counties. Yet not all dashboards are created equal.