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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey went looking for complaints about gender-affirming health care last year. He got something else: Thousands of complaints about Bailey and the tip line itself.
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More than two-thirds of local governments had not spent any of the funds they received from suing drug companies and distributors over the opioid crisis. Missouri law requires that the money be used for treatment, prevention and other addiction abatement.
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Missouri faces a backlog of child abuse and neglect investigations — the Kansas City region has the most, with 3,036 cases that have been open for at least 46 days. With a shortage of investigators at the state's Children’s Division, lawmakers consider hiring private contractors to help.
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With about 85 members, including individuals with just a single plant as well as those with acres of land, Kansas City Black Urban Growers, or KCBUGS, works to address obstacles faced by Black farmers and improve community health.
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Opioid settlement payouts will be made to thousands of communities across the country over 18 years. Payouts in the Kansas City metropolitan area so far have ranged from $2.4 million to Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City to $4,500 to Westwood, Kansas.
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Representatives from Illinois, Kansas and Missouri are part of the caucus behind a package of bills that would promote healthy outcomes for Black mothers, who die from pregnancy-related causes at far higher rates than women of other races.
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There are thousands of different wild mushrooms in Kansas and Missouri, but the morel stands alone when it comes to popularity. It’s a healthy, tasty snack that offers a chance to disconnect from the day-to-day.
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An abortion rights group has raised millions of dollars and recruited a large number of volunteers for an amendment to legalize abortion up to fetal viability. But unless Missouri's Secretary of State uses an unusual procedure to speed up counting petition signatures, it won't make it on the August primary ballot.
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According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, motorcycle fatalities have increased 47% since 2020. Last year was Missouri's deadliest on record, with 174 motorcycle deaths.
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Missouri banned gender-affirming health care for minors, and Kansas could follow suit this spring. So families are forced to move to other states or travel hundreds of miles, sometimes with the help of a growing network of groups determined to make the care available.
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Missouri Democrats filibustered for more than 11 hours to try and block the bill, which they say will hurt low-income and disabled patients. The legislation would make it financially difficult for Planned Parenthood clinics in the state — which do not provide abortions — to provide health services for Medicaid recipients.
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Lobbyists and legislators have been pushing for years to eliminate copays for supplemental and diagnostic breast cancer screening, which other Midwest states have already done. Advocates say they create cost barriers that can lead to late diagnosis.
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Missouri was one of only four states, along with Georgia, Iowa and Texas, that saw an increase in infant mortality between 2021 and 2022, according to federal data. And Black women are dying at much higher rates than their white counterparts.
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Delta-8 THC products — including a large variety of drinks that are popular at bars and available at gas stations throughout the state — can be sold in Missouri stores because they are made from hemp, which is federally legal.