The fifth National Climate Assessment says a warming climate, increasingly extreme weather and drought are threatening the Midwest’s economy and health.

Missouri and Iowa show little progress in cutting their rates of new cancer cases, according to the latest American Lung Association report. Nebraska and Kansas saw rates of new cases remain below or at the national average.

A poll from the Middle West Review asked respondents from 22 states whether they consider themselves Midwesterners. The geographic sample included states not usually listed as part of the region.

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are part of an emerging “extreme heat belt” that could deliver more scorching days within 30 years. So far, there’s no unified plan to make our dwellings safe in the dangerously high temperatures to come.

As the nation learns more about the raid of the Marion County Record, staffers at the publication keep working while advocates for press freedom offer support and demand answers from the local police.

On Friday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that dismayed millions of people who were hoping for debt relief through President’s Biden program. Many of those borrowers live in the Midwest states that brought the case to the high court.

Legislatures in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, passed new laws decried by LGBTQ+ communities and their allies. Still, the month of June brought exuberant Pride celebrations around the region.

For two years, federal funds have been available for states to extend postpartum health care from two months to a full year for moms on Medicaid. The policy is popular across the Midwest, with Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska all adopting an extension. Iowa remains hesitant.

As wildfires burn in eastern Canada, smoke and pollutants drift over the heavily impacted Northeast and into the Midwest. Poor air quality levels in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, may be hurting people with more sensitive breathing conditions.

Worrying about paying bills and potential eviction are just two of the many stressors that come with renting on a low income in Omaha, where affordable housing is in short supply.