The revolving door continues to turn at the Washington office of Kansas City Congresswoman Karen McCarthy in Washington. Her latest chief of staff is leaving after a month. Matt Nerzig says he has finished the job he was asked to do. McCarthy has lost or dismissed nine employees since the end of March and has had 105 employees in eight years. She usually maintains a staff of 14.
Division Of Family Services Split Goes Into Effect Today
August 28, 2003 By
A major change is taking place in the state’s largest department in response to heated criticism over the past year. Today, the Division of Family Services within the Social Services Department is split into two new divisions: the Children’s Division and the Family Support Division. Criticism of the state has grown of late, reaching a peak upon the death of Dominic James while in the care of state-approved foster parents. State Social Services Director Steve Roling says little will change on the outside. Roling has been on the job five months. He says he has found the old DFS had good workers, though they are overworked and underpaid and under extreme scrutiny, scrutiny he claims he doesn’t mind. The new Children’s Division will concentrate on the foster care system, those disputes which force the state to remove children from their home. The Family Support Division provides assistance to families as well as identifies and locates fathers. The collection of child support now will be handled by the Revenue Department.
St. Louis Hosts U.S. Senate Hearing On Prescription Drugs
August 28, 2003 By
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging has taken its operations on the road – to St. Louis – to get some input from Missouri senior citizens on federal lawmakers’ efforts to strengthen Medicare and pass a prescription drug benefit plan. Senator Jim Talent, a member of the Committee, says we could see that federal drug bill passed by Congress this Fall. Missouri has its SeniorRX Program, which allows senior citizens to enroll in a plan lowering prices on prescription drugs. But state officials have already said that program will cease to exist in its current form once a federal program comes into being.
Conservation Department Learns More About Mountain Lion Killed In Mid-Missouri
August 28, 2003 By
State conservation officials believe a mountain lion hit and killed along a road in Central Missouri this month is a bit younger than first thought. But, they still don’t know where it came from. When it was first discovered about three weeks ago, the cougar was believed to be two and a half to three years old. Now, State Conservation Department resource scientist Dave Hamilton says the mountain lion was probably about a year to a year and a half old. Plenty of time Hamilton believes for the mountain lion to have walked from areas where there are more of the big cats, Colorado or perhaps South Dakota, although he does not totally rule out it is a Missouri-born cougar. He does rule out the chance that it was brought in by any government conservation agency either federal or state. However, Hamilton does admit animal release experiments in other states have been kept quiet in the past. Hamilton says an individual could have released the mountain lion but he says we might never know its origin.
