Health

The Missouri Attorney General had led a lawsuit against the Biden administration's vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers. However, the Supreme Court upheld a federal mandate for some health care workers, which Missouri had also challenged.

The cities of Prairie Village, Mission and Roeland Park will all impose new citywide mask mandates beginning Tuesday, Jan. 18. But as with previous mandates, there are several exceptions.

School districts are closing due to COVID outbreaks and hospitals are being forced to delay procedures. “Before this surge is finished, omicron will be responsible for many deaths,” one health care leader says.

Legislator Crystal Williams says she received threats after introducing an ordinance that would restore some powers to the local health department. “Those people should feel ashamed of themselves,” she said.

Five months after a judge ruled Missouri must begin enrolling people in its newly expanded Medicaid program, only 20% of newly eligible residents have signed up. Health experts blame the slow start on the state's lack of outreach efforts.

The Board of Curators' decision not to require masks comes as the state experiences the worst COVID-19 infection rates it has seen since the start of the pandemic.

Missourians cannot currently order at-home PCR COVID-19 tests from the state due to a sharp increase in demand because of the omicron variant of the disease.

COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the metro, and hospital systems are showing strain as workers are out with the virus and inpatient cases increase.

Drug users who think they're taking one substance sometimes unknowingly take fentanyl that's mixed in to increase potency. Small doses of fentanyl can kill.

Soon after the start of the new semester, several school districts in Johnson County have re-instituted mask mandates after seeing high rates of COVID-19 transmission among students.

Coleman introduced a bill last year, modeled on the wildly controversial Texas law, allowing citizens to sue anyone who seeks out, provides, or helps someone get an abortion. The bill essential bans abortion as soon as cardiac activity is detected, as early as six weeks.

The Supreme Court cited a doctrine known as “constitutional avoidance,” which counsels against ruling on the constitutionality of a law if there are other grounds to resolve a case.