The Gateway

Missourians will vote on an amendment to put abortion rights in the state Constitution, after the Missouri Supreme Court put it back on the ballot. STLPR’s Brian Moline and Jason Rosenbaum discuss. Plus -- Jazz musician Esperanza Spalding says she’s a perfect fit for this weekend’s Music at the Intersection festival. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin spoke with Spalding about her expansive style.

The Missouri Supreme Court will meet this morning to decide if an amendment to the state constitution that would protect some abortion rights will go in front of voters.

The shooting death of Sonya Massey by a Sangamon County Illinois Sheriff’s Deputy in July has prompted nationwide outrage. Massey, an unarmed Black woman, was shot and killed by Sean Grayson in her central Illinois home in July after she called for help. But as Farrah Anderson reports, Massey’s death wasn’t Grayson’s first issue as a police officer.

Agriculture is a notoriously tough career path. Farmers need to be able to take care of crops, livestock and a business. As Jana Rose Schleis reports from Sedalia, youth agricultural groups are now teaching members how to manage both animals and money.

The Missouri Department of Revenue updated the process that Missourians must go through to change gender markers on a state ID. A new rule requires either a court order or proof of gender reassignment surgery. But as Anna Spidel reports: advocates, health law experts and LGBTQ+ Missourians say the new regulations could create serious problems for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people in the state.

When Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft blocked Governor Mike Parson’s emergency order banning the sale of hemp-derived drugs, he delayed the ban by at least six months.

As Harshan Ratanpal reports, the looming ban leaves farmers and businesses in Missouri’s hemp industry holding their breath.

When someone wants to add chicks to their backyard farm or populate a larger operation, they often order from hatcheries. For the past 100 years, those hatcheries have used the U.S. Postal Service to ship live baby birds around the country. Increasingly, customers and suppliers say slow deliveries are causing birds to arrive dead. The Midwest Newsroom’s Kavahn Mansouri investigates.

The Western U.S. has seen decades of disputes over water. Now climate change could bring more water scarcity to the Midwest. That’s left states like Missouri wondering if the thirst for water could be headed this way. St. Louis Public Radio’s Kate Grumke reports.

The Mark Twain National Forest includes more than 1.5 million acres of land across southern Missouri and hosts more than half a million visitors a year. Vince Keeler is the new forest supervisor as of this month. He sat down with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl to talk about his vision to manage the land in terms of conservation and recreation.

61 years ago this week—the Jefferson Bank protests paved the way for the region’s very own civil rights movement. St. Louis Public Radio’s Marissanne Lewis-Thompson reports the demonstrations are the center of the new play “We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jefferson Bank Protest.”