Missouri News

Paying for day care is one of the largest expenses per month for families. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average cost of infant child care in Missouri is about $800 a month.

When Alana Marie was growing up in Hazelwood, she listened to stories of her father’s happy childhood in nearby Kinloch during the 1970s and '80s. 

By the time she was born in 1990, Kinloch had deteriorated. Now, the African American city that formerly boasted thousands of residents is home to just a few hundred.  

Marie’s curiosity about the family’s roots drove her to make a documentary about the once-vibrant city. Its demise came after schools were desegregated in the 1970s and the Kinloch school system closed.

The number of drug-related deaths increased by 16% last year, as fatal overdoses declined by an estimated 5.1% nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Missouri is one of 17 states that saw a rise in drug-related deaths last year. In 34 states, the number of deaths declined. Only Delaware had a higher increase over the previous year, at 16.7%.

Commercial artist Matthew Hawkins is in his mid-40s and feeling like more of his life is behind him than ahead of him. So, he took some time off from his paying art jobs to nail down a personal project he’s worked on for the past four years.

Inside the Rabbit Hole, a national museum celebrating children's literature set to open in North Kansas City in March 2020, visitors will encounter something unexpected. 

Past the two-story front door, limestone steps will lead down into the burrow of a magical creature named Fox Rabbit. 

The past president of the Lee’s Summit school board says it will be hard for the district to attract qualified superintendent candidates after parting ways with the last two leaders.

“We are not a desirable destination district for quality candidates if they can expect to get treated the same way the community has treated superintendents in the past few years,” Terri Harmon, who was on the school board when Dennis Carpenter was hired in 2017, wrote in a letter to current board members this week.

On Tuesday, July 30, Sarah Fenske will officially take the helm as host of St. Louis Public Radio’s signature talk show St. Louis on the Air. With the show entering its 24th season, Fenske says she's both humbled and excited to join a show with such a long legacy.

Whether you listen to the show daily or occasionally, here are five reasons why you should make St. Louis on the Air, with Sarah Fenske as host, a regular part of your media routine: 

Missouri is prepping for the 2020 census and working to make sure that everyone is counted. 

The data that will be collected is used to provide an official count of the United States' population, but also ensures each state is fairly represented. Population helps determine the amount of federal money allocated to each state, as well as the number of congressional districts. 

A decade ago, when the last census was taken, Missouri lost billions of dollars in federal funding and a U.S. congressional seat due to an apparent undercount. State demographer Matt Hesser said that shouldn’t be the case in 2020. 

The latest episode of Politically Speaking features state Rep. Doug Clemens talking to St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O'Donoghue and Jason Rosenbaum about his first impressions of legislative life.

The St. Ann Democrat represents the 72nd House District, which takes in portions of Maryland Heights, St. Ann and Breckenridge Hills. He was first elected to his post in 2018.

In the early 1990s, a man abducted and murdered at least three women from south St. Louis. This man is known as the package killer, and the three murders remain cold cases nearly 30 years later.

Ryan Krull, Riverfront Times contributor and University of Missouri-St. Louis assistant teaching professor, investigated the details of these cold cases over the past year. His reporting found that there are a lot of factors that make it harder to solve a murder when the victim is a sex worker, which was the case for two of the three package killer murders.

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled on the City of St. Louis’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. The decision went mostly in the reporter’s favor and allows the lawsuit to proceed.

Now based in Washington state, journalist Mike Faulk filed the suit following a September 2017 protest related to the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley. Faulk was reporting on the protest when he alleges police officers unlawfully assaulted and arrested him.

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin went behind the headlines to talk with Faulk about where things stand.

Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts says he will not run for re-election in 2020, opening the door to a parade of candidates announcing a run or considering jumping into the race to replace him. Multiple Republicans are eyeing the seat, and it could be the first time Democrats have a competitive U.S. Senate primary since the 1990s.

Here’s the rundown of who’s seeking the seat in Washington: 

Florencio Millan, the undocumented Mexican immigrant whom immigration agents dragged out of his car after breaking its window, was deported to Mexico on Wednesday just two days after he was arrested.

Cheyenne Hoyt, his girlfriend and the mother of his two children, told KCUR that Millan called her Wednesday evening and said he had been flown to Brownsville, Texas, and then transported just over the border to Matamoros, Mexico.

Kansas City has long been a prime example of state tax incentives gone awry — the question now is if Kansas and Missouri can change the dynamic with a new agreement.

“Corporate welfare. It's a race to the bottom. It's wasteful spending. All of those really are true," says Angela Andreson Smart, vice president of the Hall Family Foundation in Kansas City.

She started using drugs at 16. After moving around the country and trying to quit several times, she came back to St. Louis four years later, hoping for a fresh start. 

After a few months, B. started using again. She has borderline personality disorder, a mental illness that makes it difficult to regulate emotions. She used drugs, mostly illegal opioids, to deal with the mental pain. 

Last winter, she had a chest cold and went to an urgent care center to get a steroid shot. After an exam, a nurse called her over and explained she couldn’t get the medicine, because it might harm her baby. Soon, she would need help with prenatal care and overcoming her addiction, the kind of treatment a Washington University clinic provides.

Between the time they’re born and age 3, babies’ brains are literally mapping, making the connections they’ll need to learn later on.

In fact, 80 percent of a child’s brain develops in the first three years.

As the deadline for Jackson County residents to file property tax appeals with the Board of Equalization approaches, neighborhood leaders worry the damage caused by such a contentious and confusing process will have lasting consequences for people in their communities.

Alan Young, who cofounded the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council with his wife, says folks in his part of town are going through a flood of emotions right now, primarily fear.

The Old Town Farmers Market draws people seeking fresh, local produce to Belleville’s downtown every Saturday morning. 

Food stands line a block of South Charles Street offering fresh meats, eggs, vegetables and fruits, and a steady stream of patrons checks out the options six months of the year.

Now the popular farmers market hopes to attract a new set of customers: SNAP users. 

On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin delved into a variety of recent local and national stories pertaining to the law.

The conversation will touch on the just-ended U.S. Supreme Court term and the frequent correspondence between the White House and the Court; the cease-and-desist letters a Philadelphia bar has sent to St. Louis companies benefiting off of marketing the phrase “Play Gloria!”; and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s decision to file a motion to dismiss a murder case. Her office believes the local man at the center of it was wrongfully convicted of murder. 

A lawsuit filed in Jackson County circuit court earlier this month says the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District mishandled a sexual assault that was reported at one of the middle schools.

According to court documents, a female student identified as Jane Doe was raped in the boys' bathroom off the gymnasium at Bernard Campbell Middle School after school and sports practices on December 1, 2017.

Updated at 11:30 a.m., July 26 with details about route changes — 

From the announcement of MetroBus service shifts coming this fall, to record-setting MetroLink ridership the day of the St. Louis Blues parade last month, to security challenges, the past year and a half has proved to be a pivotal time for Metro Transit. 

On Thursday, Metro Transit announced its final plans to overhaul its Missouri-side bus services in the St. Louis region. The plan, based on rider feedback and several years of studies, underwent multiple revisions in 2018. The changes will begin taking effect Sept. 30.

The developments have daily implications for area residents who depend on public transportation.

Kansas City knitters and crocheters are not immune to the ugly politics often associated with social media — though this may surprise anyone hanging onto the idea that only sweet old ladies knit.

At the end of June, a website called Ravelry banned users who actively voice their support for President Trump.

The site serves as a social space for 8 million fiber art enthusiasts, that is, people who make things with yarn.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller is appearing in two separate hearings before the House judiciary and intelligence committees.

Though Mueller has said his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is his testimony, lawmakers have insisted that he testify in person.

Watch the proceedings live.

If you look closely, you’ll notice something odd tucked into the hills of Castlewood State Park: crumbling concrete ruins.

Listener Joel Verhagen had an inkling that the area might have an interesting past, so he decided to ask our Curious Louis series: What was Castlewood State Park before it was a park?

That’s how the two of us end up hiking along a gravel path at Castlewood on a blazing hot afternoon. We're making our way along the bluff overlooking the Meramec River when we spot something hidden in plain sight — a moss-covered staircase to nowhere.

St. Louis residents had a chance Tuesday to weigh in on the city’s new economic development strategy.

Timetria Murphy-Watson was one of a few dozen people to cycle through an open house at Vashon High School in the near north JeffVanderLou neighborhood.

The St. Louis Development Corporation and a team of consultants set up six stations for residents to provide targeted feedback on matters such as the barriers they face in the job market and what equitable development means to them.

Updated July 24 — Members of the Missouri House Special Committee on Criminal Justice convened a public hearing in the St. Louis County Council chambers Wednesday to engage with the community about the racial disparities found in the latest Vehicle Stops Report.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, the committee chair, opened the hearing with his reflections on the report, released in June. Dogan quickly opened the floor to the public, including testimony from community members, policy directors, law enforcement agents and business owners. 

Dennis Carpenter, the embattled Lee’s Summit superintendent who clashed with the school board over an equity plan, has resigned.

Carpenter, the district’s first black superintendent, received a one-year contract extension in March and will leave with $750,000, a portion of which will be paid by insurance. Details of the agreement have not been released yet.