Governor Jay Nixon (D) is planning to host a meeting next week with Missouri lawmakers to broker an agreement on an economic development bill.

The State House and Senate adjourned in May without passing legislation that would have created several new tax breaks, among them a proposal that would have provided $360 million in incentives to transform Lambert Airport in St. Louis into an international air cargo hub.

Officials in four eastern Missouri counties are working together to try and pass ordinances in each of the counties requiring a prescription to purchase a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that leaders of St. Charles, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin counties have agreed to seek passage of countywide ordinances that would cover both unincorporated areas and municipalities.

Missouri is getting more money to put people who have lost their jobs to natural disasters back to work helping with the cleanup.

The Disaster Recovery Jobs Program was created last month with funding from the federal Workforce Investment Act. The state used an initial allocation of nearly $6 million to hire 400 people for recovery work from the May 22 tornado in Joplin.

Gov. Jay Nixon said Thursday that Missouri now has an additional $13.9 million for the program.

A major state employee union has asked an arbitrator to decide whether Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn can cancel scheduled raises for thousands of workers.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sought the ruling Thursday. Quinn announced last week he was canceling the $75 million in raises to help deal with the state's budget crisis.

A former St. Louis Democratic political operative has been indicted in connection with a 2008 Clayton bombing that injured a lawyer.

After nearly a three-year investigation federal attorneys are accusing Milton “Skip” Ohlsen III of trying to kill his ex-wife’s divorce attorney.  

Ohlsen is already serving time on unrelated charges for mortgage fraud and illegal possession of a firearm.

A lawsuit is seeking to strike down a proposed constitutional amendment allowing a photo identification mandate for Missouri voters.

The measure passed the Missouri General Assembly this session and is scheduled to go before voters in November 2012.

It would ask voters to amend the state Constitution and allow lawmakers to enact early voting laws and photo ID requirements.

Ameren's plan to dump coal waste moves forward

Ameren’s plan for a coal waste dump in an eastern Missouri floodway  has moved a step forward.

Ameren operates a power plant along the Missouri River in the Franklin County town of Labadie and dumps coal ash into two ponds. Those ponds are near capacity and Ameren wants to fill the river bottom with coal waste and surround it with a 20-foot-tall levee.  

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has vetoed legislation that would have given residential care centers two more years to install sprinkler systems.

In 2006, 10 residents were killed in a fire at a group home in Anderson that did not have a sprinkler system.

Amtrak is extending the suspension of one its two daily round trips between St. Louis and Kansas City because of continued flooding along the Missouri River.

The suspension took effect July 2 and had been scheduled to expire at midweek. But the passenger train service said Wednesday the change remains in effect at least through Saturday.