Missouri legislature passes a $49 billion state budget, with full funding for libraries

The budget includes a $2.8 billion plan to fully expand Interstate 70 to three lanes in each direction, funding for teacher raises as well as money for public libraries. It also has $50 million to go toward stadium improvements for the World Cup in Kansas City.
The Missouri legislature passed a state operating budget totaling almost $49 billion on Friday, which is roughly $1 billion more than what Gov. Mike Parson proposed earlier in the year.

That budget includes a $2.8 billion plan to widen Interstate 70 to a minimum of three lanes in each direction. An earlier version of the plan would have cost almost $860 million and would have widened the highway only in the St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City areas.