Adam Allington

Missouri is one of a handful of states applying for some $2.4 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail projects that Florida rejected last month.

Governor Jay Nixon was in Kirkwood today to announce Missouri's application for nearly $1 billion in new funding.

In recent months, rail projects have  become politicized with many GOP lawmakers calling for states to refuse the funds.

Missouri farmers stand to benefit under a free-trade pact currently before Congress.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in St. Louis today to urge Congress to pass the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.

He said Missouri exports large amounts of pork and soybeans, products that have a ready market in South Korea.

With lower state taxes on gasoline, among others, Missouri is easily undercutting its border mate, Illinois, when it comes to the price to fill up.

One of the cardinal rules about interstate travel through the Midwest: "gas up before you hit Illinois." Illinois levies a hefty 42 cents per gallon tax on gasoline, among the highest gas taxes in the country.

Check out more of this feature on the Missouri-Illinois border wars for cheap gasoline by our own Adam Allington. It aired on Marketplace Morning Report earlier today.

Republicans are attacking Senator Claire McCaskill for failing to own up to her own rhetoric about openness and accountability.

The state Republican Party is calling on McCaskill to release tax records associated with a controversial airplane at the center of a tax and accounting scandal.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill admitted today that she has failed to pay up approximately $287,000 in back taxes on a personal airplane.

Problems with McCaskill's plane surfaced several weeks ago amid reports that her office improperly billed the government for travel to a political event.

McCaskill took responsibility for that mistake, but she admits that the perception of dodging taxes could hurt her chances for re-election in 2012.