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Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden was in Kansas City over the weekend on what he called “a labor of love."

Holden was in town to greet the first group of Chinese students who will participate in Missouri Boys State and Girls State this year. In total, there'll be 37.

The annual summer sessions give young people an opportunity to learn about American government and actually run a simulated state government.

The UMKC School of Medicine will start accepting applications for a new physician assistant master's degree program. This follows the governor recently signing a bill that would allow physician assistants to operate more independently.

Under the law signed by Gov. Jay Nixon last month, physician assistants in Missouri will only need to be supervised by a physician four hours for every 14 days on the job. Previously, they needed to be supervised two thirds of their time.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that kids can transfer out of unaccredited school districts. And Governor Sam Brownback welcomed more Kansas income tax cuts. Those are two of the top stories on KCUR's Saturday News Review.

Brownback signs tax cut bill in Overland Park

Saundra Hayes lives in Manheim Park and she, along with her neighbors, is working hard to revitalize her neighborhood.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators voted unanimously Thursday to extend employment benefits to same sex couples employed by the UM System.

“Effectively, more and more employers and institutions such as the University of Missouri System realize you need to have these types of benefits in order to remain competitive in a state environment,” said AJ Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO – a Missouri LGBT rights group that has been advocating for this change.

Looking for a great film to see the weekend of June 14-17?

Up to Date's indie, documentary and foreign film critics share their three favorites showing on area screens.

Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, a Republican from Eureka, has created another interim committee, this time to examine how well state agencies respond to citizens who use their services.

The Interim Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency's first priority will be looking into the Department of Social Services.  The committee will be chaired by State Representative Sue Allen, a Republican from Town and County.  Allen also chairs the subcommittee that writes the budgets for DSS and for the departments of Health and Senior Services and Mental Health. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that segments of naturally-occurring human genes cannot be patented. The ruling may change the focus of genomic research, but it won't stop it.

Professor Andrew Torrance specializes in biotechnology patent law at the University of Kansas. He says the ruling falls hardest on companies that have invested billions of dollars, hoping to profit from patents on human gene fragments like those that help reveal a person’s risk for breast cancer.

The Kansas City council looks at how to pay for the bus service.  Governor Sam Brownback stopped in Overland Park to sign a tax bill.  High beef prices in the super market are the result of a multi-year drought.

Council Committee Studies Bus Funding And Role Of ATA Board

If you’ve experienced sticker shock shopping for ground beef or steak recently, be prepared for an entire summer of high beef prices.

Multi-year droughts in states that produce most of the country’s beef cattle have driven up costs to historic highs. Last year, ranchers culled deep into their herds – some even liquidated all their cattle – which pushed the U.S. cattle herd to its lowest point since the 1950s.

A city council committee continues to delve into how to finance the Area Transit Authority yesterday.

Most of this week's ATA funding committee meeting was spent speculating on the size of the funding shortfall as a streetcar system and other expenses bite into transit tax revenues that may or may not increase.

Last month, as we all know, a series of tornadoes devastated areas around Oklahoma City, with dozens killed and hundreds injured over several days of storms.

Among the casualties were three men who were well known in the meteorological community and, indeed, to television audiences: Storm chasers Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young were doing interviews and sending back footage the day of the EF-3 El Reno storm that changed direction on them and killed them.

In light of these tragic events we wonder, just what is a storm chaser anyway?

He is the original superhero of modern times and this year fans around the world celebrate the 75th birthday of Superman.