Good Friday Morning, thanks for joining me for Up First in the Four States, from KRPS. I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro. Let’s first take a look at local weather,

Mostly sunny and warmer throughout the Four States today, highs near 90. Partly cloudy tonight, and calm, lows in the upper ‘60s. Sunny, hot and breezy tomorrow with winds Saturday up to 41 miles per hour, highs tomorrow in the lower ‘90s. Another day of mainly sunny skies Sunday, also a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms, highs Sunday in the mid ‘80s.

The head of the Johnson County Republican party has resigned after allegedly sexually assaulting a Wyandotte County Republican leader in August.

The Missouri Capitol Police are warning of a scam involving their department name.

They say scammers have been manipulating caller ID so that phone calls appear to be coming from Missouri Capitol Police.

Kansas lawmakers say requiring examinations of possibly abused kids and collecting more demographic info could help protect children in the Kansas foster care system.

This year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA opened up on October 1 to students hoping to attend college next year.

Attention All Southwest Missouri Writers ! A Writers’ Faire will take place tomorrow at the Joplin Public Library. After taking 2020 off due to the pandemic, Joplin Writers’ Faire is returning to the Joplin Public Library this year, in person.

A new Kansas State University study says some autonomous technologies can make the life of a farmer easier and improve their mental health.

Freeman Health System in Joplin on Thursday cut the ribbon on a new sleep center. According to the CDC, in 2014, Missouri was one of several states where between 32 and 34.9% of residents didn’t get at least seven hours of sleep a night.

A new housing report says that Kansas will stay a seller’s market into 2022.

And now our feature of the day,

More than 17,000 Missourians have applied for Medicaid since a judge ordered the state to implement voter approved expansion in August.

If you want to talk to me directly I’m on Twitter @morningsonkrps.

Thanks for joining me for the up first in the Four States podcast. I’ll talk to you on Monday.