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Looking for a great film to see the weekend of June 14-17?

Up to Date's indie, documentary and foreign film critics share their three favorites showing on area screens.

Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, a Republican from Eureka, has created another interim committee, this time to examine how well state agencies respond to citizens who use their services.

The Interim Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency's first priority will be looking into the Department of Social Services.  The committee will be chaired by State Representative Sue Allen, a Republican from Town and County.  Allen also chairs the subcommittee that writes the budgets for DSS and for the departments of Health and Senior Services and Mental Health. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that segments of naturally-occurring human genes cannot be patented. The ruling may change the focus of genomic research, but it won't stop it.

Professor Andrew Torrance specializes in biotechnology patent law at the University of Kansas. He says the ruling falls hardest on companies that have invested billions of dollars, hoping to profit from patents on human gene fragments like those that help reveal a person’s risk for breast cancer.

The Kansas City council looks at how to pay for the bus service.  Governor Sam Brownback stopped in Overland Park to sign a tax bill.  High beef prices in the super market are the result of a multi-year drought.

Council Committee Studies Bus Funding And Role Of ATA Board

If you’ve experienced sticker shock shopping for ground beef or steak recently, be prepared for an entire summer of high beef prices.

Multi-year droughts in states that produce most of the country’s beef cattle have driven up costs to historic highs. Last year, ranchers culled deep into their herds – some even liquidated all their cattle – which pushed the U.S. cattle herd to its lowest point since the 1950s.