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Health departments were thrust into the spotlight by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three years later, they're still dealing with the coronavirus, and planning for what might happen next. Plus: Experts say a merger between St. Luke's in Kansas City and St. Louis' BJC HealthCare could mean hospital patients pay more.
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Elderberries are native to Missouri and the Midwest, and became commercial grown only within the last two decades. But now the industry is wondering whether they'll stay a small, niche crop or turn into something bigger. Plus: It's tick season, and not just in rural areas.
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Missouri will now extend Medicaid benefits for new mothers from 60 days to a full year postpartum. Supporters of the new law say that without the extension some health problems could go untreated. Plus: There is only one facility in Kansas that deals with runaway foster kids. But critics of the program say it is only making the situation worse.
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Republican state Sen. Holly Thompson of Scott City sponsored legislation to decriminalize the harm reduction tool. She hopes this will help lower opioid overdoses.
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The bill would have clamped down state public health officials' ability test and quarantine Kansans for infectious diseases.
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With bills limiting gender-affirming care and trans sports participation on their way to Gov. Mike Parson, some transgender Missourians are packing up and moving to other states. Plus: How an unlikely feathered friend changed one Kansas City homeless man's life.
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The federal public health emergency over COVID, declared in 2020, came to an end on May 11. Health officials say the expiration of the order means that vaccines and tests are no longer being provided free from the federal government.
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In Missouri, the average person born in 2021 could expect to live to be 74.6 years old, a whole three years younger than the average age 10 years ago. The state’s drop is part of a nationwide decline, though the life expectancy in Missouri is lower than the United States average.
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Missouri's attorney general issued an emergency ruling broadly restricting transgender health care. A political reporter describes the challenges to the ruling and a transwoman living in the state describes the fear and uncertainty of within the trans-community.
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Transgender advocates say the rules are unprecedented restrictions on adults’ ability to get hormone therapy and gender transition surgery.
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It's harder for Kansans to get liver transplants than it used to be, highlighting inequities in a system that doctors say has always been unfair.
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Advocates for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse say that events revolving around alcohol consumption, like the Super Bowl or NFL Draft, can escalate violence against women.