Public News Service

The Iowa Legislature faces a deadline this week on a series of bills that seek to clean up the state's rivers and streams.

Bills which would allow Waymo driverless taxis to operate in Missouri have cleared their first hurdle in the state House. After clearing a House committee in January, the pair of bills now heads to the full Missouri House for debate.

A bill now in the Iowa Legislature would allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor's degree programs. Private colleges are opposed to the measure, saying such a move amounts to taxpayer-funded competition.

Iowans have elected the first Black woman to the state Senate. Republicans were hoping to regain a supermajority in the Senate after the death of a veteran lawmaker.

Missouri’s drinking water has an unlikely guardian: a tiny endangered fish found only in Perryville’s cave system. The nearly matchstick-sized grotto sculpin depends on fragile underground streams and The Conservation Fund stepped in to protect its habitat by buying land at risk from St. Louis’ expansion.

As the cost of Thanksgiving rises for Missouri families, one Branson nonprofit is ensuring no one goes without a holiday meal or the company to share it.Missouri's food insecurity rate is around 13%, leaving many households struggling to afford a traditional meal. In Branson, the need is especially great among the many residents living in extended-stay motels with no way to even cook.

Missouri’s child poverty rate could climb sharply as pandemic-era supports and food assistance programs expire, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Almost 15% of Missouri children already live in poverty and nationally, the report found, without programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the number could reach one in four.

As federal cuts force schools to scale back electives – and Missouri faces an $84 million gap in delayed federal funding – an advocate for after-school learning says STEM programs are emerging as a way to keep students learning and future-ready.

A new report from a farm industry alliance showed high-tech ag practices in Iowa and the Midwest do not reduce pesticide and fertilizer use as much corporate ag operations suggest. Instead, some small farmers say precision agriculture takes a one-size-fits-all approach to the state's diverse croplands.

What started on Labor Day in Kansas City and St. Louis is now headed to the Missouri Capitol, where labor and community groups plan to protest on Wednesday, what they call an illegal attempt by lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map.