Missouri

LEBANON, Mo. -- A program for children of low-income families is making some major changes and it blames the sequestration.  Head Start programs all over Missouri are cutting hours and maybe kids.   The Lebanon Head Start is under the umbrella organization called MOCA- Missouri Ozarks Community Action.  Eight counties and 14 head starts are part of MOCA.  Altogether, they have to absorb a $200,000 cut by the federal government, and it's not going to be painless. Leslie was playing with a bag full of plastic groceries on Monday.

Ellisville, MO. - "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" returns to KSPR later this spring. But producers are hosting a casting call for the next season of the show in St. Louis. The show features transformational specialist and author Chris Powell. Powell works with people who need help losing weight and getting healthy. A Missouri casting call for Season 4 of "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" is scheduled for Saturday, April 20th at Life Time Fitness in Ellisville, MO from 10 until 5. You can also submit a tape if you can't make it to the casting call.

Low-income seniors and disabled Missourians who live in rented homes could lose a state tax break under legislation endorsed by the state Senate.   Senators initially approved the legislation today. It would repeal the tax credit for more than 100,000 renters while leaving it in place for seniors and disabled people who own their homes. The tax credit was created in 1973, and was intended to offset a portion of people's local property taxes. But a tax credit review commission appointed by Governor Jay Nixon has recommended abolishing the tax break for renters.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A wide-ranging storm is burying thoughts of springtime weather across a number of Midwestern states under a blanket of snow and slush.   The National Weather Service says the storm is expected to dump 6 to 10 inches of snow over central Indiana before moving into Ohio.   The St. Louis area saw some of the highest totals, with as much as 14 inches in some areas by late Sunday. This is causing some delays at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A coalition opposed to a rezoning decision by Springfield City Council delivered a referendum petition to the City Clerk's Office on Monday morning.  The petition asks the City Council to reverse its decision or schedule a public vote on the issue. The coalition opposes a Walmart Neighborhood Market planned for the southwest corner of Grand Street at Campbell Avenue.   Walmart wants to buy Calvary Temple and surrounding properties for a grocery store, convenience store, and other retail buildings.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo -- Think of the criminal code as more of an encyclopedia of crime and punishment. The code defines what makes a crime, who commits it and what kind of sentence it deserves. Examples of what could change include a new class of crimes relating to marijuana and synthetic drugs, and raising the minimum age of the death penalty from 16 to 18. Lawmakers say it's still a work in progress, and you can still make a difference in how Missouri modernizes the state court system - even if you're not a lawyer.

Authorities say a Missouri woman who disappeared for four days with her four-year-old daughter wasn't kidnapped after all.    Instead, they say she spent that time smoking synthetic pot with her ex-husband in a low-rent motel in Kansas City. Authorities feared 28-year-old Rachel Koechner had been abducted by her former husband after she sent a text message Thursday to her boyfriend saying "help me. "      She's now being held without bond but has not been charged.  

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri State University officials have scheduled a 4:00 p.m. news conference to discuss the Lady Bears basketball program. The Lady Bears finished the 2012-2013 with a 14-17 record under head coach Nlya Milleson.  The Lady Bears lost in the first-round of the Missouri Valley Tourney 81-66 to Drake last week.  Milleson's Lady Bears won the regular-season Missouri Valley championship in 2011-2012 season, but failed to earn...

An Eastern Missouri couple is facing charges for allegedly keeping their autistic son in a makeshift cage. Prosecutors filed charges of endangering the welfare of a child on Friday against Victoria and Terry Smith, formerly of O'Fallon. An anonymous call tipped authorities in December 2010, when the boy was 6. When police, paramedics and a case worker responded, the boy's grandmother was watching him and five siblings. She led them to the basement, where the autistic child was in a 3-foot-by-6-foot crib covered with a plywood top and held together with bungee cords and zip ties.

OZARK, Mo. -- Some of Missouri's poorest people will be out hundreds of dollars a year while the state saves millions.  Tuesday, a Senate budget panel voted to eliminate a longtime tax break for low income seniors and those with disabilities who rent. Obviously the state is looking to cut everywhere it can and this one saves $57 million.  Recipients of the tax break shared heartfelt testimony with legislators in Jefferson City on Tuesday, pleading for lawmakers to keep the tax break.  We heard testimony right here in the Ozarks.  This is the hot water cooler conversation this Tuesday afternoon inside Paul Kamonda's Ozark house, only it's happening around the hot water heater.