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Agriculture Officials Pleased with Disaster Relief Package

May 31, 2007 By

Agricultural disaster assistance that was approved by Congress and signed by President Bush as part of the supplemental military spending bill is being praised by the state agriculture leaders.

Agriculture Director Katie Smith says the $3-Billion headed to states throughout the country will help both crop farmers and livestock producers as they recover from weather related setbacks of recent years. Smith hopes to see U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency get the checks turned around in short order. Smith won’t speculate on the amount of money Missouri will receive to address its losses.

The Missouri Farm Bureau is expressing its satisfaction, as well. A statement from President Charlie Kruse says, "We are pleased the United States Congress has answered agriculture’s call for emergency disaster assistance."

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With:

Cities Making Adjustments to New Wage Law

May 31, 2007 By

State lawmakers failed to act. Now cities are having to adjust to a minimum wage law with no exemption for public safety workers.

The state’s largest fire district, the Monarch Fire District in St. Louis County, has announced it is cutting salaries. Others are adjusting schedules in an effort to avoid huge overtime bills. The new minimum wage law approved by voters in November makes no provision for firefighters and others who routinely work long shifts. City officials say that oversight will cost them dearly unless they adjust.

Missouri Municipal League Deputy Director Richard Sheets says since the legislature failed to address the issue, cities must act. Sheets says cities cannot wait for the legislature to return to the issue next year. And he says cities will begin incurring liability once workers file for overtime pay. Sheets says many cities are adjusting schedules to keep the problem from affecting their budgets.

Sheets says the fix failed in the legislature when others interested in changing aspects of the law tried to piggy-back on the issue.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Highway Crash Statistics Count For Those Not on Highways

May 31, 2007 By

The crashes don’t often happen on the highway….but they are still count in the highway patrol’s traffic figures. Get hurt or killed riding an all-terrain vehicle miles from the nearest road….and you become a statistic for the highway patrol’s crash reports. Hospitals are required to report when victims of traffic crashes show up for treatment. Sometimes those crashes, even if they’re on a person’s private property, can lead to charges.

Patrol spokesman Tim Hull says the patrol is seeing a lot of ATV crashes involving alcohol…and a lot of them in which the riders do not have helmets on.

Hull says some crashes happen because riders over-estimate the capabilities of the vehicles.

ATV use on roads is limited to agriculture purposes. Operators are not required to have drivers licenses if they stay on private property. There’s no minimum age for the operator of them….

But Hull says drunks who wreck their ATVs can be arrested even if the incident happens on private property.  He says Missouri’s drunk driving laws do not require the offense to be committed on a road or street.

 

Dowlload Bob Priddy’s story (:59 mp3)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

State Clears Restaurant in Ballplayer’s Death

May 31, 2007 By

State officials say a two-week investigation has found no credible evidence that Mike Shannon’s restaurant served drinks to St. Louis Cardinals baseball player Josh Hancock, knowing that he was drunk.

Hancock died in a traffic crash April 29th in St. Louis. Hancock’s blood alcohol content was Point-157, twice the legal limit. The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control says it will take no administrative action against the restaurant’s license. The division has the authority to discipline establishments that knowingly serve alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person.

State officials say those interviewed described Hancock as drinking in moderation and talking with teammates and friends at the restaurant prior to his fatal accident.

 

Download/listen Chris Pilsic report (:35 MP3)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: , , ,

Only One Missouri Speller Remains

May 31, 2007 By

Only one of Missouri’s seven entrants in the National Spelling Bee remains after six rounds.  The contest resumes tonight in Washington, D. C.

Five Missouri contestants dropped out in the first four rounds.  St. Louis speller Caroline Rouse made it through today’s fifth round by spelling "beccafico," a European bird that is considered a table delicacy.  Connor Spencer of Independence advanced with "oroporphyrin,"   a byproduct of hemaglobin formation.

Spencer survived round six with "amphipneustic,"  which refers to the location of respiratory organs on certain insect larvae, but Rouse fell out of the competition on the word "cyclazocine," an analgesic drug that is used in treatments of drug addiction.

Spencer is one of 14 contestants remaining.  The championship rounds begin at 7 p.m. CDT on ABC.   

Spellcheck was used with this article but it did not know some of the words either. 

 

Filed Under: Human Interest
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