Religious leaders sue to block Missouri's abortion ban
A group of religious leaders who support abortion rights filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Missouri's abortion ban, saying lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don't share them. The lawsuit filed in St. Louis is the latest of many to challenge restrictive abortion laws enacted by conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. That landmark ruling left abortion rights up to each state to decide. Since then, religious abortion rights supporters have increasingly used religious freedom lawsuits in seeking to protect abortion access.
news.yahoo.comJudges vacate $5M Geico payout to woman who got HPV in car
Geico is off the hook, at least for now, from paying a Missouri woman $5.2 million because she said she contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the car of a man who is insured by the company. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously to overturn a lower courtโs ruling that favored paying the woman. Instead, the state Supreme Court judges said Maryland-based Geico should have had a chance to weigh in sooner and sent the case back to the lower court for further deliberation.
news.yahoo.comHearing sought for man facing execution who claims innocence
Attorneys for a Missouri man scheduled to be executed next month are seeking a new hearing, citing sworn statements they call โclear and convincing evidenceโ that he didn't kill his girlfriend and her three children. Leonard Taylor, 58, is scheduled to die by injection Feb. 7 for the 2004 killings of Angela Rowe, 28, along with her 10-year-old daughter Alexus Conley, 6-year-old daughter AcQreya Conley, and 5-year-old son Tyrese Conley. A spokesman for Bell said Monday that the request is being reviewed.
news.yahoo.comTransgender Missouri inmate executed for fatal stabbing
A Missouri inmate has been put to death for a 2003 killing, in what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the U.S. Amber McLaughlin was put to death Tuesday night, hours after Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined a clemency request.
Transgender Missouri inmate scheduled to be executed Tuesday
Nearly 1,600 death row inmates have been put to death in the U.S. since 1977, but an execution scheduled for Tuesday in Missouri would be the first of an openly transgender woman. Amber McLaughlin, 49, is set to die for stalking a former girlfriend and stabbing her to death nearly 20 years ago. With no legal appeals planned, McLaughlin's fate rests with Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who is weighing a clemency request.
news.yahoo.comUS may execute its first openly transgender woman
Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, Amber McLaughlin, 49, will become the first openly transgender woman executed in the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday for killing a former girlfriend in 2003. McLaughlinโs attorney, Larry Komp, said there are no court appeals pending. The clemency request focuses on several issues, including McLaughlinโs traumatic childhood and mental health issues, which the jury never heard in her trial.
news.yahoo.comMan denies role in killing that led to life term
A Missouri man seeking freedom after nearly three decades in prison for a murder he denies committing testified that he was with his girlfriend during crime, except for a few minutes when he left to sell drugs several blocks from the murder. (Dec. 15)
news.yahoo.comTransgender inmate on Missouri's death row asks for mercy
The first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S. is asking Missouri's governor for mercy, citing mental health issues. Lawyers for Amber McLaughlin, now 49, on Monday asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her. McLaughlin was convicted of killing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther on Nov. 20, 2003.
news.yahoo.comTakeaways: Abortion backlash in Kansas, Greitens' collapse
In one of the biggest days of this year's primary campaign season, red-state Kansas rejected a measure that would have made it easier to restrict abortion, and voters in Missouri repudiated a scandal-tarred former governor seeking a Senate seat.
Some Missouri hospitals briefly halt emergency contraception
A large Missouri hospital chain briefly stopped providing emergency contraception amid confusion over whether the stateโs abortion ban could put doctors at risk of criminal charges for providing the medication, even for sexual assault victims.
EXPLAINER: How platforms dealt with 'RINO hunting' video
When a GOP Missouri U.S. Senate candidate released a video Monday in which he cocked a gun after calling for a hunt of fellow Republicans who he believes are โRINOs,โ or Republicans in Name Only, Facebook scraped it off its platform within a few hours.
Execution of Missouri man just the 5th in US this year
A Missouri man who killed a couple during a robbery at their rural home nearly 26 years ago has been put to death, even as another state has halted executions that have become increasingly uncommon in the U.S. Carman Deck was executed Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
Kansas City woman charged in gruesome death of 6-year-old son, authorities say
A Kansas City woman is in custody after authorities allege she decapitated her 6-year-old son. The Jackson County Prosecutorโs office said 35-year-old Tasha Haefs is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action after her sonโs body was found at the family home late Tuesday.