Véronique LaCapra

A new report from the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council shows that the frequency of severe storms across the Midwest has doubled over the past 50 years.

The report analyzed precipitation data from more than 200 weather stations in eight Midwestern states.

It found that for the period from 1961 to 2011, the frequency of days with more than 3 inches of rain increased by upwards of 80 percent in both Illinois and Missouri, and by more than 100 percent across the Midwest as a whole.

A new report calls flood management on the Missouri River “outdated” and says it’s putting the public at risk.

The report by the environmental advocacy group American Rivers identifies the Missouri River as one of the ten most endangered in the country.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture is launching a new initiative to try to create some buzz about bees.

Agriculture Director Jon Hagler says “The Great Missouri Buzz Off” aims to educate Missourians about bees and beekeeping.

“Whether it be honeybees, or native bees, they’re so vital to our agriculture’s success, and to our horticulture’s success, and we have such amazing resources here in our state,” Hagler said.

Missouri is home to more than 400 species of bees, most of which pollinate native plants.

The minority business advocacy group MOKAN says the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is not doing enough to include local minority and female workers in its sewer upgrade projects.

MOKAN executive director Yaphett El-Amin says her group wants MSD to increase the transparency of its hiring practices and invest at least $23.5 million in worker training programs.

“By creating a qualified pool of minority and female workers we'll ensure that MSD has diversity on every project, not just some of them,” El-Amin said.

Unless MSD meets its demands, MOKAN is asking area residents to vote against a measure that would allow MSD to issue $945 million in bonds.

Warming temperatures may have you wanting to spend more time outdoors. But warm weather can mean more unhealthy air.

Susannah Fuchs of the American Lung Association says our region’s sunny, hot, nearly windless summer weather creates the perfect conditions for the formation of ozone – the main component of smog.

And Fuchs says we’re also hit hard by particulate pollution: “The very, very fine dust that can easily bypass the body’s natural defenses and get into lungs and even bloodstream and cause all kinds of respiratory effects and also cardiac effects."