By Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO – Temperatures are forecast to fall in the Kansas City region. Anyone venturing outside will meet a brutal combination of weather conditions.

Snow crews and public officials metro wide expect to be working well into the weekend as temperatures drop below zero and winds pick up.

Missouri lawmakers will join thousands of school students who are enjoying a "snow day" today because of the snow and bitter cold across much of the state.

Overland Park, Kansas – As it continued to blizzard well into Wednesday night and Thursday morning, snow crews and public officials metro-wide were saying they thought they'd be working into the weekend. Temperatures are supposed to drop below zero while winds are expected to pick up.

Kansas City, MO – A city council committee deferred to civil rights leaders yesterday, and scrapped Mayor Funkhouser's plan to create a citizens' oversight committee to look into dress code discrimination and other violations of the public accommodations ordinance.

The man who lost to Funkhouser in the last election, Alvin Brooks, led a delegation whose size was shrunk by the snowy weather.

Brooks said he represented a sizable group of civil rights, community and religious leaders, whom he named as he enumerated their organizations.

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

Jefferson City, MO – The former state Department of Natural Resources official who took the blame for delaying the release last year of E. coli test results from the Lake of the Ozarks defended his actions before a Missouri Senate committee.

By Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO –
The Kansas City region is facing another onslaught of unusually severe weather today and tonight.

Two Kansas state senators hope to create a "rainy day" fund to help with future budget problems.

The ongoing budget shortfall in Kansas has prompted the Kansas Department on Aging to suspend some of the services that help frail elders continue to live in their own homes.

Lawrence, KS – The ongoing budget shortfall in Kansas has prompted the Kansas Department on Aging to suspend some of the services that help frail elders continue to live in their own homes. Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson reports.

Find out more about the Kansas Health Series on Kansas Public Radio here.

The story below aired during the 7 a.m. newscast Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 in error. The story is in fact several years old and was brought up as current due to a glitch in our computer system.

Lawrence, KS – Two Kansas state senators hope to create a "rainy day" fund to help with future budget problems. Topeka Democrat Laura Kelly and Leawood Republican John Vratil unveiled a proposal that would amend the state's Constitution. Vratil says the change would require the state to put money aside during good economic times and essentially save it for a rainy day.

Springfield, MO – Governor Jay Nixon says he wants to create a more level playing field for businesses that have been in Missouri for several years.

He stopped in Springfield and Kansas City today to outline his new "Missouri First" proposal. That proposal will be considered during the 2010 legislative session, which begins tomorrow.

The Missouri First program would allow the state to raise the cap on tax credits and other incentive programs for companies that choose to expand in-state instead of moving elsewhere.