The Beacon reports on the Missouri government to help bring depth, nuance and new ideas to our readers about how their tax money gets spent and about laws passed by their elected officials.
Every two years, county assessment departments in Missouri are tasked with calculating the values of hundreds of thousands of properties.
But unlike most states, county assessors in Missouri don’t have a number that could make the process quicker and more accurate — the price that buyers actually paid when they bought the property.
This is the last Super Bowl that Missouri will miss out on money from sports betting. Sports betting was approved by voters in November, but the rulemaking process to bring sports betting to Missouri still isn’t finished. It won’t be ready before the Chiefs play Sunday in the Super Bowl. And it likely won’t be […]
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 […]
The 2026 budget projection for Kansas isn’t great. The state is about $480 million short of funding all of its expenses. There’s no need to panic, though, said Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican. “There are many things that could change the projections,” he said. The state is not guaranteed to face a fiscal […]
Kansas Republicans are poised to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The bill bans puberty blockers, hormone treatment and gender-affirming surgeries until 18 years old. The proposal also prevents state employees who work with children from supporting someone’s transition, which Democrats say prevents teachers or social workers from even using a transgender child’s preferred name. […]
For Wil Franklin, chief executive of KC CARE Health Clinic, Tuesday began with a blizzard of texts and emails. A sweeping plan to freeze federal grants and loans affected $5 million that his community safety-net clinic relies on. The online portal that community health clinics across the country use to access federal money was suddenly […]
Proposals include making school board elections partisan and posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
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 […]
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 […]
Regulators recently warned officials at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Blue Springs that “deficient practices” at its laboratory, including lax testing procedures and insufficient training, could endanger patients. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services informed hospital officials that they had found the lab to be in “immediate jeopardy,” the most severe level of […]
