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Fox News: Lawmakers race to stop ‘next fentanyl crisis’ with crackdown on nitazenes synthetic opioids; Schmitt introduces DETECT Nitazenes Act

Westplex Talk (104.5 FM): Brad & John Show, Friday: Nitazenes, 7-OH and preview of tomorrow’s Eapen Thampy interview re: 2026 ballot initiative (link opens at 9:55 mark)

Westplex Talk (104.5 FM): Brad & John Show, Thursday: Missouri beef prices and a cattleman’s $1/lb. coupon idea; welfare work requirements; MoDOT on highway fatalities

Brownfield Ag News: U.S. cattle industry braces for impact as Mexican imports loom; thoughts from Joplin Regional Stockyards’ Jackie Moore

Missourinet: Missouri farm income expected to rise in 2025 compared to 2024, then drop in 2026; insights from researcher Danyelle Chinn of Missouri’s Rural and Farm Finance Policy Center

Fox 2 St. Louis: Missouri’s legal cannabis industry targets unlicensed hemp sales

97.1 FM: Marc Cox Morning Show: U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison with a shutdown update

JCNT: Local Head Start program funding unaffected by shutdown

Missourinet: Kansas City Mayor says shutdown impacts at airport minimal, not counting flight delays

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis County officials ask for diaper, formula donations as federal shutdown drags on

P-D: Food drives launch across St. Louis area as region braces for halt in SNAP (avoid stltoday paywall by reading archived version here)

P-D: Sen. Doug Beck (D-South St. Louis County) blasts Kehoe over SNAP cutoff, wants him to lobby Trump (avoid stltoday paywall by reading archived version here)

X.com: Democratic campaign strategist Chelsea Rodriguez: “October 31, 2025: Missouri Dem Party officially buys $600k building in Jeff City with 2 staff who don’t live there & replaced the comms director with a consultant”

X.com: Democratic campaign strategist Chelsea Rodriguez: “Why can the GOP put up these (fundraising) numbers? They have real infrastructure and staffing. If you don’t know how staff gets you here, hire some. #moleg”

Westplex Talk (104.5 FM): Brad & John Show, Friday: Will Missouri Democrats accept – or ignore – Chelsea Rodriguez’s hard truths about fundraising and staffing priorities? (link opens at 14:10 mark)

NEW on johncombest.com: The late D.J. Wilson’s (RIP) 2002 Riverfront Times profile on Missouri Democratic fundraising powerhouse Joyce Aboussie

Joyce Aboussie profile, Part 5: Fundraising machine and mystique

Joyce Aboussie profile, Part 6: Gerrymandering Missouri congressional districts

Westplex Talk (104.5 FM): Brad & John Show, Friday: Former St. Louis County Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway says she is a (literal) witch; the one (1!) simple trick to pass women’s “OMG I’m so *crazy*!!!” mental fitness test (link opens at 3:45 mark)

St. Louis Public Radio: Public pushes back on Ameren’s plan to build new gas plant, in part for data centers

JCNT: Cold Weather Rule takes effect Saturday

JCNT: At Missouri Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit, public cybersecurity experts hear from ethical hacker

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri attorney general says St. Louis sheriff’s office should be abolished

P-D: Interim St. Louis sheriff pledges focus on basic duties — and says he’d stay on (avoid stltoday paywall by reading archived version here)

St. Louis Public Radio: Legal Roundtable of former St. Louis Judicial Commissioner Erica Slater, former Chief Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Missouri Nannette Baker, Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Wolff, tackles Missouri redistricting, Roundup cancer lawsuit and more

KC Star’s Joel Mathis: Schmitt claims ‘Arctic Frost’ is worse than Watergate — let’s debunk that (avoid KC Star paywall by reading free syndicated version on MSN here)

MSNBC’s “Maddow Blog” writer Steve Benen: Schmitt and other Republicans exaggerating the importance of Arctic Frost

P-D op-ed: Joe Regenbogen: Why pre-school should be available to all Missouri kids (avoid stltoday paywall by reading archived version here)

P-D op-ed: The Marshall Project’s Jess Bogan: ‘Lost’ in Missouri jail cells: Backlog soars for people found mentally unfit for trial (avoid stltoday paywall by reading archived version here)

Amazon.com: John Combest: Stalking, Harassment, Internet Trolling: A Guide to Recovering and Rebuilding After Online Attacks – available in paperback and Amazon Kindle (note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Barnes & Noble author page: John Combest books

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