State News

A company in Joplin that works with explosives is expanding due to a $15 million contract with the Defense Department. The expansion is expected to bring dozens of new jobs.

Health officials to call for vaccinations as the number of whooping cough cases, especially in children 14 and younger, have risen in St. Louis County.

The Police Board voted to strip funding on the gun buyback program aimed to reduce the number of guns on the streets.

The resignations of more than half the staff were triggered by arguments with an officer regarding equipment spending.

The owner of Greenleaf LLC in Neosho pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally distributing pesticides. He will have to pay a $200,000 fine for distributing more than 2 million pounds of pesticides and rodenticides with altered or removed labels.

The uncertain future of Detroit's Big Three automakers stoked selling for investors, causing both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 to slip to 2003 levels.

A day after being selected to head the Office of Administration by Jay Nixon, Kelvin Simmon cut his ties with the lobbyist group Swope Community Enterprises.

The former rivals met to discuss state audits, transportation projects and security issues.

A decrease in tax revenue could mean a $73 million shortfall for the Missouri Department of Transportation this fiscal year.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder urged the governor to call a special session after the Nov. 4 election to help Missourians struggling to pay their utility bills.

Derrick Luster was sentenced Wednesday, two days after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He was originally charged with first-degree murder.

The project will involve 19 financial institutions, local government and nonprofit organizations.

The group, called Moratorium Now!, plans to deliver the petition to Governor-elect Jay Nixon and legislative leaders. They propose to study Missouri's execution system, focusing on the cost of using the death penalty and ways to ensure it is used fairly.

A sheriff in southwest Missouri has given a pregnant defendant a jail pass, refusing to hold her for fear of a medical risk.

A plea hearing for the mother and stepfather of a 4-year-old southeast Missouri boy who died from an infection in 2005 is rescheduled to Dec. 1.

But the Missouri secretary of state waits to receive official election results from some of the state's most populous jurisdictions.

St. Louis locals are being gripped by the Anheuser-Busch brewery takeover. The $52 billion Belgium-based InBev buyout of the firm closed Tuesday. 

The 49-year-old Missouri woman is being charged with Myspace taking part in an online hoax that allegedly caused the suicide of a teenage neighbor, Megan Meier.

Casino companies are all grappling with the rough economy, but smaller operators might be less likely to survive, the American Gaming Association's leader said Tuesday at a conference.