Missouri
Missouri’s Parson signs laws for new moms’ health care, ban on texting while driving
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Parson approved extended Medicaid health care for new mothers and a ban on handheld phone use while driving when he took final action on remaining bills last week.
Parson already signed a close to $52 billion state budget that includes billions in funding to expand Interstate 70 across the state. He also approved limits on access to transgender health care and a ban on transgender girls and women competing with other female athletes in school sports.
Parson signed most of the remaining bills passed by the GOP-led Legislature this year, with the exception of a measure to pay wrongfully convicted prisoners for their time behind bars.
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POSTPARTUM MEDICAID
Lower-income new mothers will get a full year of Medicaid health-care coverage in Missouri under legislation signed by Parson. Missouri joins a growing list of Republican-led states that previously balked at Medicaid expansions but are now joining Democratic states in providing 12 months of coverage — instead of the typical 60 days — after women give birth.
SENIOR TAX BREAKS
Missouri’s senior homeowners could be spared from rate hikes on property taxes under a bill signed by Parson. Beginning in September, counties can approve property tax breaks for people age 65 and older. The measure also ends state taxes on Social Security benefits.
TEXTING WHILE DRIVING
Parson approved a ban on phone use while driving, which covers holding a phone, making calls and reading messages. Using phones for navigation, emergency calls and listening to podcasts or music will be allowed, as well as hands-free phone use. The law takes effect in 2025. Until then, violators will only be given a warning.
WELFARE BENEFITS
Workers who receive raises no longer will be cut off from food stamps and welfare benefits if a program signed by Parson is implemented. The law, which depends on permission from the federal government, would allow reduced aid proportionate to workers’ raises. The idea is that taking away benefits punishes workers for getting promoted, which might encourage people to stay in lower-earning jobs.
WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Parson vetoed one bill: legislation that would increase pay for people who were wrongfully convicted for time spent unjustly in prison and make it easier to clear past criminal records. In a letter explaining his decision, Parson said taxpayers statewide should not have to pay for decisions made by local juries, judges and prosecutors dealing with wrongful convictions. He also wrote that proposed changes to criminal records could allow sexual exploitation of a minor and promoting child pornography — newer offenses under Missouri law — to be wiped from offenders’ records.
Substance use disorder can have temporary or lasting effects on your physical, mental, and social health. Missouri 988 can point you or a loved one in the right direction.
During Mental Health Awareness Month, it is critical to understand the resources available if you or a loved one is leaning on substance use.
Jean Sokora, Dunnica Sobering Support Center Program Director, joins Cameron Conner on Show Me Today to discuss the impacts of substance use disorder.
This sponsored interview is in collaboration with Missouri 988.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court opened the door Tuesday to abortions being halted again in a tumultuous legal saga after voters struck down the state’s abortion ban last November.
The state’s top court ruled that a district judge applied the wrong standard in rulings in December and February that allowed abortions to resume in the state for the first time since they were nearly completely halted under a ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In Tuesday’s two-page ruling, the court ordered Judge Jerri Zhang to vacate her earlier orders and re-evaluate the case using the standards the court laid out.
The state emphasized in their petition filed to the state Supreme Court in March that Planned Parenthood didn’t sufficiently prove women were harmed without the temporary blocks on the broad swath of laws and regulations on abortion services and providers. On the contrary, the state said Zhang’s decisions left abortion facilities “functionally unregulated” and women with “no guarantee of health and safety.”
Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, said he was “extremely excited” by the Supreme Court order.
“This means that our pro-life laws, which include many health and safety protections for women, will remain in place,” Lee said. “How long they will remain we will have to see. But for right now, we would expect that Planned Parenthood would stop doing any abortions until the court rules otherwise.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, police arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting that happened on the streets of Westport at the start of the Memorial Day weekend.
30-year-old Marquis Ponder is facing charges related to the homicide, according to the police department.
‘We have to do better’: 3 shootings in Kansas City, Missouri over holiday weekend
Two men got into an argument outside a smoke shop Friday afternoon on Broadway Boulevard. The argument ended in gunfire, adding another homicide to this year’s count in Kansas City.
Police identified the victim as 30-year-old Levon Quinn.
There have been 63 homicides in the first five months of 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.
“This is Westport, this is a very busy area,” KCPD Public Information Officer Alayna Gonzalez said on Friday after the shooting. “It’s very heavily traveled, there’s a lot of surveillance footage.”
Al Miller
That surveillance video has been going around on social media sites.
It shows a man, believed to be the 30-year-old Quinn, leaving a business, Dr. Smoke.
He got into an argument with another man. Quinn turned away to leave when the other man pulled out a gun and shot the victim.
The suspect in the video, believed to be Ponder, ran away as the victim got into his car.
Police say Quinn attempted to drive to the hospital, but he crashed into a motorcyclist along Mill Creek Parkway.
He died by the time officers got to him. The motorcyclist was reported to be okay.
“I do find it interesting that somebody would think an area that is as busy and heavily populated as [Westport] would think that an argument escalating into gunfire would even be worth a Friday evening,” Officer Gonzalez said.
Police arrested 30-year-old Ponder later Friday night, charging him in connection with the homicide.
The metro saw shootings on Saturday and Sunday, too. An argument on Troost and 56th on Saturday evening ended with one man dead and two people hospitalized. A shooting in the Crossroads on Sunday morning left one person with life-threatening injuries.
“Arguing and escalating to gun violence is completely unnecessary,” Officer Gonzalez said. “We have to do better.”
This weekend’s violence comes as KCPD is working to crackdown on crime, including illegal street racing and sideshows, in entertainment districts.
The department stated they issued 35 citations, six custodial arrests and towed six vehicles in entertainment districts like the Crossroads and Westport over Memorial Day weekend.
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KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.
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