News

Mizzou Botanic Garden has signed a pledge to stop the spread of invasive species. The garden ceremoniously removed the first of eight Callery pear trees from the landscape of Anheuser-Bush Natural Resource Building Friday. This species has spread rapidly amongst Missouri’s natural communities and endangers the native ecosystem.  Forestry Field Program Supervisor Brian Schweiss said invasive species can crowd out both native species and native habitats.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a plan to clean up waste from a century of lead mining in southeast Missouri, but tourism businesses and environmentalists have concerns about it for differing reasons.

The Old Lead Belt is centered in St. Francois County, where lead- and zinc-mining operations existed from 1864 to 1972.

Waste known as tailings was left behind and littered the landscape and waterways including the Big River and Flat River.

Hallsville added new events to help grow the Second Annual Funfest this weekend.

Hallsville used to have a heritage festival in the summer- but decided to make it a carnival during the fall.

Event organizer Eric Adkins said the carnival is about bringing the community together.

ST. LOUIS — Missouri's Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley opposes a federal provision that bars religious organizations from political endorsements, and his upcoming appearance at a Baptist university may provide a test case for the future of the measure.

Hawley, the state's attorney general, is scheduled to speak Wednesday during chapel at Hannibal-LaGrange University, a 900-student college in Hannibal, 115 miles north of St. Louis.

KANSAS CITY — A coalition of nonprofit groups that has registered more than 87,000 new Missouri voters — most of them black residents — says it is not working for Sen. Claire McCaskill, but its effort could help her campaign against Republican challenger Josh Hawley.

Democratic candidates running for state representative in three Missouri districts fielded questions about student debt, medical marijuana and campaign finance at a forum organized by MU’s Graduate Professional Council Thursday.

Folk musicians CATHY BARTON and DAVE PARA perform "The Waters of Tyne" (3:32) on guitar and mandolin. September 28, 2018

A new partnership with a nationally known environmental non-profit is bringing changes to Columbia’s bus system. To protect funding for paratransit services in the city…City Council members recently voted to reduce regular routes for the short term. But the City’s plan for the long term is expected to bring significant savings and improvements to public transit for its users. 

Steve West, the Republican challenger for Missouri’s 15th House District in North Kansas City, has made headlines recently for his incendiary claims regarding Jews, homosexuality and Muslims, among other things.

"'Participate in Discovery' is an opportunity for individuals who live in the state of Missouri to identify themselves as being interested in being contacted to participate in research studies at the University of Missouri." -- SARA GABLE, University of Missouri School of Medicine | Also, LORETTA SCHOUTEN tells us that after 14 years, Youth Empowerment Zone is now CoMo Youth Works. Why the change? Loretta says a decision was made to refocus heavily on the mission of job readiness. (4:33) September 27, 2018

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, Christine Blasey Ford, are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Watch the proceeding live.

A recent MU study has found that social groups can affect an individual’s ability to tell fact from fiction online.

The study asked four groups of people to answer different questions about the history of MU’s campus. Isa Jahnke, the supervisor of the study, said although each test group had equal access to the internet, groups that worked individually were more successful than groups that worked together.

A St. Louis official who joined protests after a white police officer was acquitted of murder last year in the shooting of a black man is suing over the police response to the demonstrations.

Democratic Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green alleges in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that police used tear gas on her without justification on Sept. 15, 2017 , following a demonstration after former Officer Jason Stockley was acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith.

Public health professionals spoke to local legislators and political candidates about the new e-cigarette called Juul at a public forum this week.

Panelists at the youth community coalition meeting on Tuesday said that many teens in the area have started using Juuls, despite the fact that they can only be purchased by people over the age of 21 inside Columbia city limits.

Juuls can be particularly dangerous because many of the users do not know what is truly being used with the product.

Screenshots of text messages show former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens' staff used a message-deleting app on their personal phones to discuss government business with each other and people outside the governor's office, according to a published report.