Missouri

The annual Christmas Bird Count runs from Wednesday through Jan. 5. The longest-running citizen science tradition in the nation, it will allow bird watchers to see if there is decline in bird species across the St. Louis region due to avian influenza and global warming.

The drought affecting the Midwest has revealed an extra 1,100 feet to a cave in the Missouri Ozarks at Smallin Cave, a registered National Historic Place.

Missouri on average took 41 days to process a Medicaid application in September for the eligibility group which includes low-income children, pregnant people, families and adults.

The city of Kimmswick was depending on a port recently opened to riverboats to boost its economy, but with Mississippi River water levels near record lows, few of the boats are stopping there.

Noble Health, a three-year-old private equity-backed startup, acquired Audrain and nearby Callaway Community Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic. Facing staggering debt, lawsuits and two federal investigations, it sold the hospitals to a Texas-based Platinum Health Systems. This month, Platinum Health told hospital workers they no longer had jobs.

The visits from law enforcement didn’t result in any actions, but they highlight the potential stakes of Missouri’s new law criminalizing certain books in schools.

A federal emergency declaration that has allowed children to receive continuous Medicaid coverage throughout the pandemic could end soon, and health providers are worried.

The U.S. Labor Department investigates Noble Health after former employees of its shuttered Missouri hospitals say the private equity-backed owner took money from their paychecks and then failed to fund their insurance coverage.

What was supposed to be a caving excursion in Missouri turned into a rescue mission after a dog was found curled up and malnourished about 500 feet into the cave system.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson formally requested federal assistance for people affected by devastating flash floods last week in St. Louis.