Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are part of an emerging “extreme heat belt” that could deliver more scorching days within 30 years. So far, there’s no unified plan to make our dwellings safe in the dangerously high temperatures to come.

Officials agree that clearing the backlog at Missouri’s Children’s Division won’t be easy or quick. “I think this is a business decision when it comes down to it," says one Lee's Summit lawmaker. “If we value the children of Missouri, we have to do more.”

As the nation learns more about the raid of the Marion County Record, staffers at the publication keep working while advocates for press freedom offer support and demand answers from the local police.

On Friday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that dismayed millions of people who were hoping for debt relief through President’s Biden program. Many of those borrowers live in the Midwest states that brought the case to the high court.

Legislatures in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, passed new laws decried by LGBTQ+ communities and their allies. Still, the month of June brought exuberant Pride celebrations around the region.

For two years, federal funds have been available for states to extend postpartum health care from two months to a full year for moms on Medicaid. The policy is popular across the Midwest, with Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska all adopting an extension. Iowa remains hesitant.