(AP) The U.S. stands at the brink of 500,000 deaths from the coronavirus. A year into the pandemic, America’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, calls the looming milestone horrible and historic. The running total of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, was about 498,000 on Sunday. That’s roughly the population of …
New center works to reduce recidivism for local convicts
A new program in mid-Missouri is trying to keep people convicted of a crime from going back to prison. The Re-entry Opportunity Center (ROC) opened about a year ago in Columbia. It provides resources to people just released from prison, so they don’t go back. D’Markus Thomas-Brown with ROC says there is a risk to …
Hospitals confront water shortages in winter storm aftermath
(AP) — Hospitals across the South are grappling with water shortages as the region carries on with recovery efforts in the wake of a devastating winter storm. Meanwhile, the weather offered a balmy respite — temperatures as high as the mid-60s in Houston. At the height of the storm, hospitals were left scrambling to care …
Missouri congressman sees progress in race relations
Missouri congressman Emanuel Cleaver says there are still serious problems in race relations in the U.S. But the Kansas City Democrat says each generation is gradually improving things. “We would be making a terrible mistake to say that progress has not been made, because it has.” Rep. Cleaver, Kansas City’s first Black mayor and a …
Moberly woman accused of Columbia murder due in court
Another court date for Angelica Benitez was scheduled for Monday morning. Benitez is the Moberly woman accused of killing a Jefferson City man in the Columbia Clark Lane McDonald’s drive-thru line last December. The body of 25-year-old Marqukis Hayes was found in an abandoned truck near St. Louis a couple days later. Benitez, 29, is …