Amid a flood of headlines from Washington, D.C., it can be difficult to keep track of what your elected officials are doing in the nation’s capital. For Kansans looking to keep in touch with their representatives in Washington, The Beacon created a quick contact list that includes the information you need to know. Kansas now […]
Meg Cunningham
Meg Cunningham is The Beacon’s rural health reporter. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism, where she covered state government and health. She spent roughly three years covering national politics, including the 2018 and 2020 elections, at ABC News in Washington. She’s spent over five years covering politics and policy, with the last three of those years focused on Missouri state government, developing expertise on state policy and agencies, democracy and representation, and health outcomes in Missouri. She grew up in the Kansas City suburbs.
Posted inHealth
‘It will be devastating’: Providers fear what Trump’s second term could mean for federal family planning funds
In a lawsuit last year, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued in favor of restricting access to abortion-inducing drugs. If they aren’t restricted, he said, the state could lose federal dollars due to a lack of teen pregnancies, leading to a decline in the state’s population. Now, amid funding cuts, executive orders and layoffs for […]
Posted inHealth
Missouri’s grocery shelves feel impact of bird flu
For some people in rural Missouri, soaring egg prices have little impact on their shopping habits. They have backyard chickens that save them the trouble of dealing with a nationwide shortage. But for those who don’t have access to a homegrown grocery store in their backyard, rising prices mean changes to their weekly shopping list. […]
Posted inHealth
Cigarettes, alcohol use dropping among Missouri teens
Missouri teens were less interested in cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana in 2024 than in previous years. Vapes were the most reported among teens when asked what they had used in the last 30 days, with 9.1% of respondents saying they used one. The results of the state Department of Mental Health’s Missouri Student Survey were […]
Posted inState Government
How could Trump’s second term affect reproductive health care in Missouri?
As President Donald Trump begins his second term, the landscape around reproductive health in the United States is dramatically different from when he first took office in 2017. Trump appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices during his first term, paving the way for the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now, as he takes […]
Posted inHealth
In some Missouri counties, 911 doesn’t exist. Upgrades to emergency dispatching will change that
The average caller would never know, but dialing 911 during an emergency isn’t possible in several Missouri counties. While the call will go through, in parts of southeast Missouri, the number is instead rerouted to a traditional 10-digit landline. But that won’t be the case for long. Thanks to federal funds, 911 dispatchers and call […]
Posted inState Government
Is 2025 the year Missouri eliminates its grocery sales tax?
Missouri is one of 10 states that impose a statewide sales tax on groceries. As the cost of food soared in recent years, states have moved to reduce or eliminate sales taxes on groceries. Kansas started this year without a state grocery sales tax after gradually reducing it in recent years. Illinois plans to eliminate […]
Posted inHealth
Even after voters, and now a judge, backed abortion rights, access in Missouri will remain difficult
Voters passed Amendment 3 in November to guarantee abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution. That kicked in Dec. 5. But that voter action followed decades of work by the General Assembly to regulate abortion into oblivion. So now state courts must reconcile those myriad regulations attacking abortion with the fresh constitutional amendment that promises access […]
Posted inState Government
Abortion, insulin prices and period products: Here are the Missouri health bills to watch in 2025
Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City in January ready to launch on dozens of health-related bills, including an effort to chip away at abortion rights approved last month by voters, limit how recipients can use government food assistance cards and eliminate the state sales tax on food. Legislation already filed for consideration for 2025 […]
Posted inHealth
Prescription delivery in Missouri faces delays under USPS rural service plan
CORRECTION (Dec. 9, 2024) This story originally misidentified a source as a Beacon board member. But Heidi Lucas told a Beacon reporter only that she knows one of The Beacon’s board members. We misheard her and incorrectly identified her as a board member. We failed to check the listing of our own board. A snowstorm […]