News

A long-time St. Louis attorney and civil rights activist is this year's recipient of the top award from the NAACP.

Frankie Freeman will receive the 96th Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in July.

She was honored Wednesday on the floor by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who called the medal an appropriate recognition of Freeman's 60-plus years of civil  rights activism.

If you were planning on going swimming at three specific Missouri state beaches sometime soon, you may want to make other plans.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources says "bacteria levels higher than those recommended for waters used for swimming" are the reason behind the temporary closing of beaches at:

• Grand Glaize Beach, also known as Public Beach #2, at Lake of the Ozarks State Park
• Public beaches at Mark Twain State Park
• Public beaches at Harry S Truman State Park

Rising water levels on the Missouri River are expected to swamp hundreds of thousands of acres of crops and halt barge traffic. 

The threat of decreased crop acreage in the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri is driving prices for corn and soybeans on Wednesday.

Ron Plain is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri.  He says flooding along the Missouri River could be devastating for bottomland farmers. 

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill says she and her colleagues will take a close look at the way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the Missouri River at the end of the flooding season.

Rising waters have already forced evacuations in the Dakotas and Iowa. The floods are due partly to the release of water from huge reservoirs located near the headwaters of the river.

McCaskill says every year, there are questions about the Corps' decision. But overall, she says the agency has done the right things this year.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has directed the National Guard to coordinate efforts against flooding along the Missouri River and its tributaries.

Nixon issued an executive order Wednesday allowing the Missouri National Guard to work with local police and emergency management agencies to ensure that people's homes and property are protected.