Tag: missouri

Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper in Troop G charged with rape

A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper in Howell County is accused of raping a woman.

Ethan Minge pleaded not guilty to a second-degree rape charge. Minge serves Troop G based in Willow Springs.

Investigators say a woman claimed Minge went to her home in West Plains in July and pushed her on her back and had sex with her even after she told him no. Investigators say the victim claimed Minge apologized the next day. Investigators say she reported it months later.

Lieutenant Eric Brown with the Highway Patrol’s public information division sent KY3 a statement that reads, in part, “We are aware of the arrest of Trooper Minge. Trooper Minge is on administrative leave with no pay.”

Minge is scheduled to be in court later this month.

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Missouri Locks the Web Behind a “Harmful” Content ID Check

Starting November 30, 2025, people in Missouri will find the digital world reshaped: anyone wishing to visit websites containing “harmful” adult material will need to prove they are at least 18 years old by showing ID.

This new requirement marks Missouri’s entry into the growing group of US states adopting age verification laws for online content. Yet the move does more than restrict access; it raises serious questions about how much personal data people must surrender just to browse freely.

For many, that tradeoff is likely to make privacy tools like VPNs a near necessity rather than a choice.

The law defines its targets broadly. Any site or app where over one-third of the material is classified as “harmful to minors” must block entry until users confirm their age.

Those who do not comply risk penalties that can reach $10,000 a day, with violations categorized as “unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practices.”

To meet these standards, companies are permitted to check age through digital ID systems, government-issued documents such as driver’s licenses or passports, or existing transactional data that proves a person’s age.

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Murder suspect who killed himself in jail, linked to disappearance of TV anchor, was ‘possible serial killer’: sheriff

An EMT who died by suicide in his jail cell and was named a person of interest in the disappearance of a TV anchor was found responsible for the 2006 killing of a Wisconsin woman, according to authorities, who suspect he may have been a serial killer.

Christopher Revak, who killed himself in 2009 inside a Missouri jail cell, would be charged with the murder of 21-year-old Deidre Harm if he were still alive, according to a letter posted on Facebook from Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett.

“I consider this case closed,” Barnett wrote.

“I believe I had enough to charge and, if Mr. Revak were still alive, win at trial,” he said in the memorandum.

Harm, a single mother in Wisconsin Rapids, disappeared on June 10, 2006, after going out to a bar with her friends.

Revak, a former EMT and Wisconsin native, had been visiting family in the area when the young mother vanished, authorities said.

Her remains were found five months later in a wooded area five miles away from the bars downtown.

“This may provide some closure for many, but won’t bring Deidre back,” the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Rapids Police said in a joint statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers will always be with Deidre’s family.”

Revak died by suicide in his jail cell in July 2009, only one day after being charged with second-degree murder for the death of mom of three Rene Williams.

Williams, 26, was last seen in a Missouri watering hole where she worked as a bartender. Revak had also been in the bar that evening, FOX 9 reported.

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The Rise and Mysterious Fall of Cahokia: Researchers Unearth New Secrets of America’s Greatest ‘Lost’ Ancient Megacity

For centuries, the sprawling earth mounds of Cahokia have stood as silent remnants of a massive, lost American city. Once the largest and most influential urban settlement north of Mexico, this pre-Columbian metropolis near modern-day St. Louis mysteriously flourished, and then vanished, hundreds of years before European colonists arrived. 

Now, a team of researchers has uncovered new clues about Cahokia’s rise and decline, thanks to a single massive wooden monument that once towered over the landscape.

In a study published in PLOS ONE, scientists from the University of Arizona and the University of Illinois used advanced tree-ring dating and isotope analysis to determine that a monumental wooden post known as the “Mitchell Log” was cut around 1124 CE, at the height of Cahokia’s power. 

The analysis also revealed something unexpected and fascinating. The enormous bald cypress tree was not local. It had been transported at least 110 miles (180 kilometers) to the site, likely from southern Illinois or even farther south along the Mississippi River.

This finding reshapes our understanding of Cahokia’s reach and organization. The massive log, originally part of a towering 60-foot (18-meter) ceremonial post, offers a rare and significant timestamp for when the city’s influence stretched across the Midwest and South.

“The date, provenance, and context of the Mitchell Log establish a historical datum for the peak influence of the Cahokia polity,” the researchers write. “[It also] prompts new questions about the long-distance transport of thousands of other such marker posts.”

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Food desert spreads in America’s barbecue capital as more grocery stores close creating ‘worrying bubble’

It’s known as the barbecue capital but grocery stores closing on both sides of Kansas City have created food deserts.

A Sun Fresh grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri closed in August, and six miles away in downtown Kansas City, a Merc Co+op grocery store will shutter at the end of the year. 

Both stores were the only nearby places for residents to get fresh and healthy groceries as opposed to processed and fast food. 

The stores were in historically redlined neighborhoods, and residents from those areas who still want to buy fresh groceries will be forced to travel at least a mile in both directions and transport heavy bags of food on public transportation.  

Kristina Bridges, a research assistant professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center’s department of family medicine and community health, explained that you live in a food desert if you can not get to a full service grocery store easily.

She told The Beacon: Kansas City that the University of Kansas’s Medical system has been mapping food insecurity among its patients since 2017 and found a strong correlation between historic redlining and rates of type-2 diabetes and food insecurity in those neighborhoods. 

‘We have big food insecurity bubbles, big Type 2 diabetes bubbles,’ she said. 

‘They were north, where downtown KC and the Merc is, and the east side where the Sun Fresh was. If we pull out our old redlining maps, it’s exactly the same pattern.’

The correlation between food insecurity and redlining has led some to label the problem as ‘food apartheid’ instead of food desert, because deserts occur naturally and they contend the problem was actually created by man-made systems. 

Chronic diseases such as type-2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension are more common in food deserts.

Bridges said even some doctors need to be educated as she had an experience where a medical practitioner told her he didn’t believe food insecurity was an issue because, ‘his patients were all fat.’

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Obama Mask Rodeo Clown Banned for Life, Dems Claim Racism

On Tuesday, a rodeo clown who wore a mask of President Obama at the Missouri State Fair was banned for life. The clown had asked the crowd if they wanted to see Obama run down by a bull. Fair organizers quickly dubbed the stunt “unconscionable,” and looked to cancel their contract with the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association. According to a statement from the Missour State Fair Commission, the performance was “inappropriate and not in keeping with the Fair’s standards.” One witness described the scene as “some kind of Klan rally.”

The announcer at the event, Mark Ficken, is attempting to clear his name from accusations that he asked if the crowd wanted to see Obama run down. “Unfortunately, in this day of internet piling on, once an outlet published an incorrect statement of facts, the erroneous attribution to my client of comments made by a rogue rodeo clown went viral,” Ficken’s lawyer said. Meanwhile, the clown, identified as one Tuffy Gessling, posted on Facebook: “I am sorry, I never ment [sic] to offend anyone I ment [sic] no disrespect to anyone for the joke or jokes I may have said at the rodeo, once agian [sic] I never ment [sic] to offend or hurt anyone’s feelings.” Missouri State Fair’s board says that rodeo clowns and other contractors must now undergo sensitivity training.

Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) expressed his amazement that “in 2013 such hatred, intolerance and disrespect towards the President of the United States could take place at the Missouri State Fair… Our fair is supposed to showcase the best of Missouri, instead, it showed an ugly face of intolerance and ignorance to the world.” Rep. Steve Webb (D-MO) added, “Sometimes apologies just won’t do. While I do not believe this represents all of rural Missouri, the racial undertones of a taunted rodeo clown dressed as our nation’s first black president is what the nation woke up to this morning. It’s time for all of us, from both rural and urban areas, to fight this type of sentiment with a united front. Leaders of this state need to do more than accept a pressured apology.” Webb wants Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) to cancel a ham breakfast at the State Fair.

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Missouri House OVERWHELMINGLY Passes New Congressional Map — Slashes Democrats Down to Just ONE Seat

The Missouri House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, passed a sweeping new congressional map that will likely reduce Democratic representation to just one seat in the U.S. House delegation.

The revolutionary “Missouri First” map promises a fierce partisan restructuring ahead of the 2026 midterms.

In a 90-65 vote, GOP legislators approved a redistricting plan that dismantles the Democrat stronghold of the 5th District, anchored in Kansas City, and partitions it across adjacent rural Republican-dominated districts, according to AP News.

Republicans are poised to secure seven of the state’s eight congressional seats.

Missouri Independent reported:

Gov. Mike Kehoe called the legislature back into session after weeks of pressure from the President Donald Trump for GOP-run states to redraw congressional districts to ensure more Republican seats before next year’s midterm elections.

In Missouri, the effort targeted the 5th District, currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, by carving it up and dispersing its voters into three districts that give Republicans an electoral advantage in seven of the state’s eight congressional districts.

“This is a superior map,” said state Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican sponsoring the proposed new congressional map. “It better represents the state of Missouri.”

In addition to the gerrymandered map, Republicans also took aim at the citizen initiative petition process. The House approved a plan Tuesday that would require constitutional amendments put on the ballot by Missouri voters to attain both a simple majority statewide and a majority in all eight congressional districts in order to pass.

Based on last year’s election results, that change would mean as few as 5% of voters could defeat any ballot measure. The proposal would also ban foreign contributions to initiative petition campaigns…

If it passes the Senate, the issue would go on the statewide ballot in 2026 and require a simple majority to approve.

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Trump’s DOJ Seeks Access to Voting Equipment Used by Missouri Clerks Following 2020 Election

Two Missouri clerks reported they were contacted by the Trump Department of Justice recently. The DOJ is seeking access to election machines used by the clerks in the 2020 election.

The two county clerks were contacted in recent weeks by Andrew McCoy “Mac” Warner, a Trump DOJ official.

According to far left Missouri reporter Jason Hancock at NPR the two clerks were identified as Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis and McDonald County Clerk Jessica Cole.

Jasper County is a rural southwestern county in Missouri on the border with Kansas. It’s largest city is Joplin, Missouri. And the county seat is in Carthage, Missouri. This is a VERY red area in the Show Me state that went for Trump in 2020 72% to 26% to Joe Biden.

McDonald County is located in the southwest corner of southern Missouri. The county seat of this rural county is Pineville. McDonald County voted for President Trump 82.3 percent to 15.9 percent for Joe Biden.

President Trump won the former bellwether state by 15.4 percentage points in 2020 – it was too big to steal.

The Trump DOJ reportedly wants access to the voting machines in these two counties to physically inspect and possibly take into custody.

Charlie Davis told Jason Hancock that he was also contacted by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft about the machines.

Davis said he replaced the machines after the 2020 election.

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Missouri Governor Calls Special Session For Redrawing Congressional Map

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe announced on Aug. 29 that he was calling state lawmakers back to the capital for a special session tasked with redrawing the congressional district lines ahead of the 2026 election.

His announcement came just hours after fellow Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Texas’s new congressional voting map, setting the stage for the GOP to gain five more seats in the House of Representatives.

Scheduled to begin Sept. 3, T.J.Muscaro reports for The Epoch Times that Missouri’s redistricting also appears to give Republicans help in the coming midterms, as Kehoe’s proposed map looks to stretch a Kansas City-area district – currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver—into Republican-leaning rural areas.

“Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government,” Kehoe said in a statement.

Cleaver is one of two current Democratic-controlled districts in the state. The other is in St. Louis, held by Rep. Wesley Bells. There are six total congressional districts in Missouri.

Cleaver decried the decision to alter his district in a statement.

“This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines; it will silence voices. It will deny representation,” he said.

The state’s Democratic House Minority Leader Ashley Aune also spoke out against the change, accusing Kehoe of looking to “steal a congressional seat for Republicans.”

However, Missouri Democrats are unlikely to stop their Republican colleagues from passing the new map.

While they could filibuster in the Senate, Republicans have procedural means to shut it down, and the number of Democrats is too small for their absence to prevent a quorum.

Meanwhile, California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking voters to approve a new congressional map that seeks to help his party win five seats as a response to Texas’s new map favoring Republicans.

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After millions of taxpayer dollars and months of crippling issues, city-funded grocery store in Missouri abruptly closes its doors

When those who don’t know history inevitably repeat it, the greatest offense is not their profound ignorance (which is seriously painful), but it’s that their obliviousness has real consequences for those of us who know better.

Government by its very nature is, at best, a “necessary evil,” and in its worst state, “an intolerable one.” And, leftist ideologies, like communism, certainly fall under the “worst state” category.Now, after millions and millions of taxpayer dollars and months of issues—like completely bare shelves, a “rancid odor” that filled the store, and rampant crime—one of the nation’s only taxpayer-funded grocery stores has closed up shop, citing circumstances “beyond our control,” offering no further explanation. (Hint: It’s the s**t idea, that’s the circumstance that caused the closure, and it is within control: don’t think like a dummy.)

Have government-run grocery stores ever been tried? Yes, of course.

The Soviet Union had an expansive network…and these were characterized by long lines, empty shelves, and rations. This era of history also includes the Ukraine famine of the 1930s, which saw the starvation of millions of souls after Joseph Stalin collectivized the farms.

Mao’s communist China was responsible for one of the “greatest man-made disasters” in history when his regime bungled food distribution so badly that tens of millions (some estimates put the number upwards of 55 million) of his own people starved to death in what’s known as the Great Chinese Famine.

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