Jodi Fortino

Missouri’s state board of education decided to provide schools with optional guidelines on social-emotional learning to help them cope with worsening student behavior. Commissioners are concerned about potential political pushback to the learning standards, which have been criticized by conservatives.

Students in the Independence School District will only be in class four days a week next year. It's the largest school district in Missouri to make the switch amid chronic teacher and staffing shortages.

The schedule change is designed to boost recruiting and keeping staff as schools across the country struggle with teacher shortages.

Art Smith, the parent of a nonbinary child, said the the Independence School District’s removal of a book including a non-binary character makes it hard for kids like his to feel welcome. Other parents say the book isn’t age-appropriate.

Federal officials are responding to Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Many Democrats have called for more restrictions on gun access. While Republican lawmakers have condemned the shooting, critics have quick to point out the tight relationships these lawmakers have held with the NRA.

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said he issued the condition after Attorney General Eric Schmitt directed health authorities and school districts to stop their COVID mitigation efforts.

Low-income homeowners are often the target for city code violations. Nonprofits in Kansas City are asking to move away from a punitive code system and toward a restorative one driven by the community.

Some Missouri lawmakers are "appalled" after an exhibit documenting the history of the LGBTQ rights movement in Kansas City was removed just days after it was installed in the state capitol.

Local hospitals are turning away transfer patients as they face a dwindling number of beds and staffing shortages.

The Kansas City health department says it now faces "lots of extra steps" when it comes to issuing pandemic-related orders under a new Missouri law.