Uncategorized

LOS ANGELES — More than a thousand homes, businesses and other buildings had burned and at least two people were dead at mid-day Wednesday in wildfires scorching communities across Los Angeles County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory. In Pacific Palisades, the Palisades fire had charred more than 5,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, burning down to Pacific Coast Highway where it engulfed homes along the iconic stretch.

JEFFERSON CITY — One incoming state senator wants to crack down on motorists camping in the left lane of the highway.

NEW YORK — Lawyers for Donald Trump petitioned a New York appeals court on Tuesday to throw out the guilty verdicts against him before his sentencing later this week in a last-ditch attempt to close the book on his criminal hush money case before he takes office. The filing to the First Department, Appellate Division appeals court came a day after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan denied a defense request to halt Trump’s sentencing from going forward Friday as Trump appeals various decisions upholding the guilty verdicts against him.

Mid-Continent Public Library’s annual Winter Reading Challenge kicks off Thursday and runs through March 15.

Russia rejects Trump call for Ukraine truce

Missouri’s Division of Cannabis Regulation this week proposed new rules for its marijuana microbusiness program designed to combat predatory practices during the application process.

Congress is racing to avert a government shutdown as soon as the weekend with a sprawling stopgap spending bill that includes billions in hurricane aid along with handouts to farmers and a host of other seemingly unrelated priorities.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Two Missouri lawmakers want to repeal a ban on firearm silencers like the one allegedly used in the hitman-style murder of a health insurance executive earlier this month in New York.