Good Thursday 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 today throughout the Four States, just a slim chance of rain this afternoon after 4, highs today in the lower ‘70s. Cloudy tonight, with storms expected, lows in the lower ‘50s. We’ll start our Friday out with cloudy skies and a chance of rain tomorrow morning, but it should clear out by noon. Mainly sunny but mild on Saturday. Highs Friday and Saturday in the mid ‘60s.

• Some Kansas lawmakers are challenging a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the Kansas National Guard.

• Officials at Freeman Health System had encouraging news Wednesday about the continuing decline of COVID-19 patients.

• For much of the past two years, COVID-19 has been a ‘hot topic’ of healthcare reporting. Although we are now entering our second flu season in addition to continuing to deal with the Delta Variant of the coronavirus.

• Planned Parenthood says new state rules do not change any of their practices for Medicaid patients.

• Two workers at a state mental facility are facing more than a dozen charges each for helping a convicted sex offender escape.

• A new Missouri law will provide unpaid leave for survivors of domestic or sexual violence.

• Wet weather continues in southwest Missouri. Drew Albert, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Springfield, says remnants of Hurricane Pamela, which made landfall in Mexico, are responsible for the rainfall in the area since yesterday morning.

And now for our feature of the day,

• Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri’s Ozarks is where all of the Army’s military police go for training. That’s why the post is also the home of the Military Police Museum. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl reports for the 80th anniversary of MP’s becoming their own, separate corps, the museum is showcasing the history of uniforms and other artifacts from the division.

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 tomorrow.