Audio

Missouri healthcare experts say more expensive Affordable Care Act insurance plans are leading some to choose different coverage.Open enrollment started November 1, but the current government shutdown is largely due to a fight over whether enhanced subsidies to offset ACA insurance premiums will be approved for 2026.The enhanced subsidies are largely a creation of the Joe Biden White House, and allow households earning up to 400% of the federal poverty limit to qualify. Passed as part of the 202...

University of Missouri researchers have developed a new AI-powered chatbot, called the Work Zone Assistant, that helps organizations and workers follow federal safety regulations in traffic work zones.The main goal of the chatbot is to maximize safety for motorists and construction workers by assisting workers with tasks, such as properly distributing signs and cones in work zones, positioning flaggers and setting temporary speed limits.Praveen Edara is the chair of the Department of Civil Engin...

The Drug Enforcement Administration is holding its biannual National Take Back Day on Saturday, Oct. 25. It allows for people to anonymously dispose of drugs that are legal, prescribed and unwanted at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and other police departments around Missouri.National Take Back Day started in August 2010. According to the DEA, the organization holds the event to make sure prescription drugs don’t get into the wrong hands. Irina Butler is the executive director for the Pharmac...

A University of Missouri researcher has won a nearly $2 million National Institutes of Health grant to study new materials which could be used in orthopedic spine surgery. The research will focus on recruiting and turning stem cells into bone cells for the spines of humans, cats and dogs.Principal Investigator Bret Ulery says this type of therapy would be better than existing spinal fusion techniques which use metal rods, screws and plastics.“What we're trying to do is actually deliver cues that...

Columbia Public Schools students are grappling with the new cellphone usage ban that Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law in July.The law prohibits cellphone use across K-12 education. Many school districts already had phone bans in place, but the new law requires more restrictions, including no cellphone use in hallways, during lunch and study halls.Noelle Gilzow is the president of the Columbia chapter of the Missouri National Education Association and a biology teacher at Hickman High Sch...