Midwest Newsroom

The U.S. Department of Labor said a company hired to clean meatpacking plants may have used children to work potentially dangerous jobs at facilities in Nebraska and Missouri.

Midwestern states, including Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, exceed the national average of detectable levels of lead in the blood of children. The Environmental Protection Agency released a new plan to reduce lead exposure.

Once a Democratic stronghold, the northeast Missouri-based 18th District turned to Republicans thanks to national realignment and perhaps conservative media.

The visits from law enforcement didn’t result in any actions, but they highlight the potential stakes of Missouri’s new law criminalizing certain books in schools.

For decades, corn detasseling was a customary summer job for teenagers in Nebraska and the rest of the Corn Belt. In recent years, however, agriculture companies are relying more on migrant labor to do this work through a visa program meant to supplement the local workforce.

A company called Nexgen Silica hopes to build a mine in St. Genevieve County. Residents who live with the toxic legacy of lead mining worry history could be repeating itself.

A $1.2 billion plan dubbed the Gateway South Project would see the land south of the St. Louis Arch grounds transformed into entertainment, residential, recreation and industry space.

The North Omaha Station, a coal burning power plant, was supposed to stop burning coal next year. But its owner wants an extension to keep burning coal for three more years.

With a fraction of millions of American Rescue Plan Act dollars allocated or spent, the city and groups serving the homeless face each other across a divide of paperwork and procedures.

Filed by attorney Chuck Hatfield on behalf of three plaintiffs, the lawsuit names the Judicial Redistricting Commission and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft as defendants. The commission created the map and Ashcroft implemented it for this year’s elections.