Rachel Lippmann

Though he says a government shutdown would be "tragic," Missouri Democrat William Lacy Clay says he doesn't expect Republicans and Democrats to be able to reach an agreement on a budget for this year before a temporary spending plan expires next Friday.

The extension is the sixth since the federal budget expired in September 2010. And Clay says the U.S. House is in "total disarray," with Congressional Republicans choosing to advance policies simply to hurt the Obama administration.

The battle over who will control the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has entered the theater of the courtroom.

Legislative efforts to give the city's Board of Aldermen direct oversight of the department have stalled. (It's currently governed by a five-member board, four of whom are gubernatorial appointees. The mayor is always the fifth).

An audit released today finds that several state agencies in Missouri have not adequately kept track of how federal stimulus dollars are being spent.

The state has spent about $2.6 billion in money received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

U.S. intervention in Libya was necessary, but exposes "obvious inconsistencies" in the country's foreign policy, says Missouri Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan.

Carnahan says he's pleased that President Obama attempted to limit U.S. involvement in the intervention and is glad that international allies are involved.