Melissa Ferrer Civil found community, and a path toward better mental health, through poetry. Now, she’s spreading the good word.

Converted from a former hotel, the St. Louis University facility acts as a field study to learn more about the flu. But you can’t check out anytime you like, because you’ll be infected with influenza.

Kansas legislators passed a law this year that bans gender-affirming treatments for young transgender people. Plaintiffs say it violates fundamental rights in the state constitution.

Advocates say the leaked budget cuts, if implemented, would undo decades of progress for the rights of people with disabilities.

The Missouri Supreme Court reinstated several anti-abortion laws, even though abortion rights are now protected in the state constitution, and sent the issue back to a Kansas City judge. But abortion services remain available at clinics on the Kansas side of the metro.

Two rulings from a Kansas City judge had allowed abortions in the state to resume while a challenge to its near-total ban proceeded to trial.

Timothy Beckmann was arrested in late September but had not been convicted of any crimes yet. He was found dead Monday at the Jackson County Detention Center, months after being ordered into the custody of the Department of Mental Health.

The YMCA of Greater Kansas City closed operations at a Head Start center near Swope Park today, after closing three others earlier this month. Officials say staffing levels were insufficient to serve the 289 children enrolled in the program.

Kansas averages 25 dangerously hot days per year. That’s 10 more than it would in a world without climate change, according to the report.

Factors as far away as the Caribbean Sea and as nearby as the cornfields of Iowa can bring on that muggy, sticky feeling. For people with certain health conditions, it’s more than an annoyance.

After debates where local dentists made the case that fluoridated water was a crucial part of dental health, and out-of-town opponents argued it was dangerous, Rolla City Council has postponed a vote on a measure to remove fluoride from the drinking water.

“The next three and a half years are going to continue to be very bumpy” for the reproductive rights movement, says Kathryn Boyd of Trust Women in Wichita. “We just have to be ready.”