child care

On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Missouri voters will decide on Amendment 1, which grants the legislature power to exempt childcare facilities from property taxes.

The federal subsidy can provide hundreds of dollars a month to help pay for the costs of child care. But only 12% of eligible Kansas families received the benefits — in part because many people still don't know it exists.

On August 6, Amendment 1 will ask Missourians to amend the state constitution to allow the General Assembly to pass a property tax exemption for child care providers.

Some Missouri day care centers have been forced to shutter as state subsidy payments remain backlogged due to glitches in a new system.

A state report found that 20 children under 5 died of fentanyl or in combination with other substances. It found that Children's Division investigators, who are tasked with following up on claims of abuse and neglect, “lacked essential procedures, missed warning signs and left vulnerable children at risk.”

In Missouri, a child must be born before a divorce can be finalized, and advocates fear this can keep people in domestic violence situations from being able to leave their abusers. Representative Ashley Aune of Kansas City introduced a bill earlier this February that would undo the statute.

Abortion is still legal in Kansas, with restrictions — but abortion opponents want Kansas lawmakers to enact laws to support anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers and put parents on the hook for child support starting at conception. We'll break down those and other reproductive policies working their way through the legislature this session.

Abortion opponents want the Kansas Legislature to increase funding for anti-abortion counseling centers, begin child support at conception and ask more questions of abortion patients.

The set of tax credits, which Gov. Mike Parson mentioned during his State of the State address, gained broad bipartisan support. But the legislation is likely to be opposed by members of the far-right Missouri Freedom Caucus.

Jennifer Heinemann and Michell Jones know firsthand the impact of Sister Berta Sailer, one of the co-founders of Operation Breakthrough, who died last week. "She was more like a mom, a mentor and my hero," Jones recalled.

Sister Berta Sailer, one of Kansas City's greatest advocates for disadvantaged chidlren, died last week at 87. In the 1960s, she opened an at-home day care that eventually grew to become Operation Breakthrough. Plus: A rural Missouri school district is one of the first in the U.S. to receive electric buses from a new EPA program.

Gov. Mike Parson highlighted bipartisan issues in his final State of the State address as Missouri governor, gaining him some praise across the aisle. The Republican governor shares his agenda and goals for the last year of his term.