Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, now a leading Republican Senate candidate, was physically abusive and demonstrated such “unstable and coercive behavior” that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms, according to new allegations from his ex-wife revealed in court records.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement.

The court order said that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had no clear authority from Congress to enact the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled and poor.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who admitted burying his wife’s body and misleading authorities for more than a year about her whereabouts was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder.

A jury found Joseph Elledge guilty in the killing of 28-year-old Mengqi Ji, whom he married after she moved to the U.S. from China to study at the University of Missouri.

Elledge reported Ji missing in October 2019, prompting months of extensive searches. Her remains were found in a park near Columbia, Missouri, in March.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Attorneys general in 11 states filed suit Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees.

The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — After water levels at a California dam fell to historic lows this summer, the main hydropower plant it feeds was shut down. At the Hoover Dam in Nevada — one of the country’s biggest hydropower generators — production is down by 25%. If extreme drought persists, federal officials say a dam in Arizona could stop producing electricity in coming years.

(AP) --- COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans.

The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of the school year, delayed the return to offices and demoralized health care workers.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican attorney general, Eric Schmitt, sued China over the coronavirus. He signed on to a failed lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Now, as he positions himself for a Senate run, he’s turning his attention closer to home and suing to stop mask mandates in the state’s liberal cities and Missouri schools.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — An avowed anti-Semite who shot three people to death at two suburban Kansas City Jewish sites in 2014 is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence, saying he should not have been allowed to represent himself at trial.

The appeal from Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. is scheduled to go before the state Supreme Court on Monday. He was convicted of one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, and assault and weapons charges in August 2015.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri authorities say they believe that human remains first spotted by someone out walking in a state park Thursday afternoon are the body of a Chinese woman who has been missing since October 2019.

The skeletal remains, some clothing, a driver’s license and some credit cards with Mengqi Ji Elledge’s name on them were found in a remote area of Rock Bridge State Park in Boone County. Columbia Mayor Brian Treece and Columbia Police Chief Geoff Jones announced the findings Thursday evening.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Responding to concerns from state officials, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that states can cut taxes without penalty under a new federal pandemic relief law — so long as they use their own funds to offset those cuts.