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Lawmakers just returned to the Statehouse after a break, but already it looks like a disagreement on taxes could push the session past the 80 day deadline. To meet the 80 day mark they'd have to be done early next week, but House and Senate Republicans disagree on whether to extend a temporary sales tax increase. It's set to expire later this year, and House leaders want to let it end as planned.

Former president Bill Clinton was in Kansas City to receive the 2013 Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award, which is presented every year on President Truman's birthday.

Clinton told the 1,000 persons attending the luncheon that the award was a fitting reminder of a president who was an active force in creating the United Nations and the Marshall Plan.

Programs for HIV and AIDS face an uncertain future as the federal healthcare overhaul goes into effect.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon threatens layoffs over an ongoing dispute with the legislature about the DMV.  The mother of a missing toddler was identified as one of three murder victims found on a farm near Ottawa, Kansas.

Missouri ranks among the bottom third of states when it comes to its overall well-being. Meanwhile, the Kansas City region has room for improvement. That’s according to the latest data from the polling group, Gallup.

More is being learned about three people found murdered in rural Franklin County, Kansas and a missing 18-month-old girl.

Let the cat out of the bag.

The cat’s pajamas.

Cat got your tongue?

Curiosity killed the cat.

These are just a few of the saying about cats that show how entrenched they are in our everyday lives. But even as wonderful as cats may be sometimes the relationship between pet and human can be strained.

The Governor's Chief of Staff,  Landon Fulmer, will visit the state Democratic Caucus on Thursday to explain, again, why Governor Brownback has requested $202 million in additional bonds for the proposed top security lab in Manhattan.

Across the country, software geeks are building multi-platform applications to do all sorts of things. Among them, apps to encourage civic engagement and help cities run more efficiently.

Code for America, a non-profit out of San Francisco, is out front in this effort. The organization has fellows working in nine cities nationwide.  They're focusing on ways to make government work better for everyone.

Missouri House and Senate budget negotiators have crafted a final version of next year's state budget.

The nearly $25 billion spending plan includes a $66 million increase for K-12 schools, and a $25 million hike for state universities and community colleges.  It still does not include the Medicaid expansion proposed by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon, which disappointed committee member and State Senator Kiki Curls, also a Democrat, from Kansas City.

Republicans in the Missouri Senate have scaled back a proposal to cut state taxes in order to emulate tax cuts in neighboring Kansas and Oklahoma.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has strongly objected to the bill's sales tax hike, saying it would hurt the poor and elderly the most.  That provision has been dropped.  

House Bill 253 would now cut the personal income tax rate by half a percentage point and the corporate rate by three points, and phase them both in over the next 10 years. 

Over the last decade, it's estimated nearly 30 toy and doll museums closed across the United States. The Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City provided an update yesterday on its capital campaign to sustain the museum and its collection.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants lawmakers to extend a temporary sales tax hike as a way to fund the state's universities.

The governor says cuts to higher education would be a momentum-killer at a time when he thinks a lot of positive things are happening in Kansas. Lawmakers are hesitant to extend the sales tax hike, which was approved in 2010 on the condition that it would expire July 1 of this year.

Following a tour of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Salina, Brownback called the facility a great place to invest.

The investigation continues into three bodies found on an Ottawa Farm.  The Missouri legislature considers tax cuts and approves a final version of the state budget.  Kansas Governor Sam Brownback calls for extending a sales tax to pay for higher education.

Looking back, desegregating the military seems like the obvious thing to do, but in the 1940s and 50s, it wasn't so clear for Harry Truman.