Politics

Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is taking aim at Republican challenger Todd Akin with a new series of TV ads featuring rape survivors upset about Akin's position on emergency contraception.

The Missouri state auditor released a report Wednesday on the state’s Public Defender system.

Among the findings: public defenders need to better track the hours they spend on each case and update the standards they use to determine what’s the appropriate caseload.

Auditor Tom Schweich says Public Defenders have relied on national standards that are out-of-date.

Some families who lost their homes in the Joplin tornado have been given a seven-month extension to stay in government housing, but it will no longer be free.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted a request to keep its temporary housing units in Joplin until June 9, 2013. The trailers had been scheduled to be removed on Nov. 9, when the eligibility for free housing expires.

The farm bill expired at the end of September and lawmakers didn’t pass a new one, thanks largely to election-year politics. Despite the partisan bickering in Washington, though, many in farm country are working together to keep their concerns on the front burner.