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By Missouri Independent via My Courier-Tribune Dean Plocher’s last year as speaker of the Missouri House wasn’t supposed to go this way. The Republican from Des Peres was riding high at the end of the 2023 legislative session, able to point to big wins while pinning any disappointments on continued dysfunction in the state Senate.

By Metro Creative The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 3,522 people were killed by distracted driving in 2021. Distracted driving also poses a significant threat in Canada, where the Canadian Automobile Association reports 47% of the nation’s drivers admit to typing or using voice-memo features to send a message while driving. Various behaviors

By Metro Creative On lazy weekend mornings or when entertaining a crowd, it may be more fitting to serve brunch rather than breakfast or lunch. Brunch enables guests or family members to sleep in a little later. Plus the filling combination of menu items can keep people satisfied until dinner later on in the evening.

By Associated Press MANHATTAN, Kan. — Tylor Perry scored 29 points and made six 3-pointers, Cam Carter added 19 points and Kansas State let a 25-point lead slip away before beating West Virginia 94-90 in overtime on Monday night. Kansas State (17-11, 7-8 Big 12 Conference) set an NCAA single-season record with its seventh overtime

By Associated Press MIAMI | Emergency crews responded Monday after a letter containing an unidentified white powder was sent to the Florida home of Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President and GOP front-runner Donald Trump. A person familiar with the matter said that results on the substance were inconclusive, but officials do

By Associated Press WASHINGTON | An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force has died after he set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.” The 25-year-old airman, Aaron Bushnell, of San Antonio, Texas, died from his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department

By Associated Press LOS ANGELES — After a winter barrage of award shows — the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Grammys — the grandaddy of them all, the Academy Awards, are around the corner. The 96th Oscars may be a coronation for “Oppenheimer,” which comes in with a leading 13 nominations, though other films, including

By Missouri Independent via My Courier-Tribune In September, the mom of a 4-year-old boy made national news when she used ChatGPT to diagnose her son’s pain, teeth grinding and leg dragging, a diagnosis that had eluded 17 doctors over three years. It’s an increasingly common scenario: Patients are looking to artificial intelligence for health care

By The Center Square via My Courier-Tribune A Missouri House committee will hold hearings Tuesday on changing the income tax deductions for private pensions and repealing a tax on bingo cards. The Ways and Means committee, led by Rep. Mike McGirl, also will vote on a bill to change the tax credit for contributions to

By Associated Press HOUSTON — Body camera footage released by Houston police on Monday showed off-duty police officers with weapons drawn as they confronted a woman who opened fire at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch earlier this month before she was gunned down. The footage also showed blurred images of the shooter’s young son,

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will make dueling trips to the U.S-Mexico border on Thursday, as both candidates try to turn the nation’s broken immigration system to their political advantage in an expected campaign rematch this year. Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cast doubt Monday on state laws that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. The cases are among several this term in which the justices could set standards for free speech in the digital age. In

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — For the third time in five years, senators will be sworn in as jurors for an impeachment trial. But the chamber is expected to spend far less time on the charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas than the ones brought against former President Donald Trump — or maybe no

By Associated Press Texas rose to its highest ranking in more than a year in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday after another week of shakeups amongst the top teams. The Longhorns moved up two spots to No. 3 after four of the top seven teams lost at least one game last

By Associated Press Now it is Houston’s turn at the top of The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll. The Cougars moved to No. 1 for the first time this season in Monday’s latest poll, climbing one spot to end the six-week stay of reigning national champion Connecticut. Houston (24-3) became the fifth

By Associated Press On the same night Caitlin Clark was adding to her NCAA women’s basketball scoring record before a packed house in Indiana, and a national audience on television, the Iowa sensation was losing ground to the most prolific active scorer in her sport. In a gymnasium smaller than those of many high schools,

By Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s parliament voted Monday to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO, ending more than 18 months of delays that frustrated the alliance as it sought to expand in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The vote, which passed with 188 votes for and six against, was the culmination of

By Associated Press LOS ANGELES — A former FBI informant charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family must remain behind bars while he awaits trial, a judge ruled Monday, reversing an earlier order releasing the man. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II in Los Angeles ordered Alexander Smirnov’s detention days

By Associated Press NEW YORK — Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s New York hush-money criminal case asked a judge Monday to impose a gag order on the former president ahead of next month’s trial, citing what they called his “long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about people involved in his legal cases. The Manhattan

By Associated Press NEW YORK — President Joe Biden said Monday that he hopes a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that would pause hostilities and allow for remaining hostages to be released can take effect by early next week. Asked when he thought a cease-fire could begin, Biden said: “Well I hope by the beginning

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Inflation has changed the way many Americans shop. Now, those changes in consumer habits are helping bring down inflation. Fed up with prices that remain about 19%, on average, above where they were before the pandemic, consumers are fighting back. In grocery stores, they’re shifting away from name brands to

By Associated Press NEW YORK — This year looks to be a much better one for the U.S. economy than business economists were forecasting just a few months ago, according to a survey released Monday. The economy looks set to grow 2.2% this year after adjusting for inflation, according to the National Association for Business

By Associated Press NEW YORK — U.S. stocks edged back from record levels Monday as they head for the final stretch of what looks to be their latest winning month. The S&P 500 slipped 19.27 points, or 0.4%, to 5,069.53 after closing last week at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.30,

By USDA-MO Dept of Ag Market News RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total This Week: 281,800 40,200 57,900 379,900 Last Week: 247,300 52,700 6,700 306,700 Year Ago: 188,200 61,700 6,000 255,900 Compared to last week, steers and heifers sold 3.00 to 7.00 higher. Demand reported as good to very good in most locations this week, especially

By James D. Long University of Washington The Conversation via AP The death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, announced on Feb. 16, 2024, lays bare to the world the costs of political persecutions. Although his cause of death remains unknown, the 47-year-old died while serving a 19-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony. “Three days

By Associated Press NEW YORK — When her cellphone’s service went down this week because of an AT&T network outage, Bernice Hudson didn’t panic. She just called the people she wanted to talk to the old-fashioned way — on her landline telephone, the kind she grew up with and refuses to get rid of even