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Ponzi scheme won’t hurt Missouri prisons

January 29, 2009 By

The $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme Wall Street’s Bernanrd Madoff is accused of will NOT affect Missouri’s Department of Corrections as it will other states’.

The JEHT Foundation — Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance — was a big investor with Madoff and will fold at the end of the month. Among the funds lost are millions of dollars earmarked for corrections-related projects in other states.

Click the audio link to hear Angie Morfeld with the Department of Corrections explaining how Missouri prisons dodged the bullet.

morfeld

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Jennies third in softball poll, highest MO. school in MIAA

January 29, 2009 By

The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association softball coaches are split regarding who the favorite is to win the conference championship according to their 2009 Preseason Poll.

Defending MIAA regular season and tournament champion Emporia State and conference newcomer Nebraska-Omaha finished deadlocked atop the survey with 94 points each.

The Hornets, NCAA Division II runner-up last season, picked up five of a possible 10 first-place votes (coaches are not allowed to vote for their school), while the Mavericks collected four top votes.

The Central Missouri Jennies scooped up the two remaining first-place votes and finished third in the poll with 84 points.

More ties could be found lower in survey, as Northwest Missouri State and Washburn each finished with 66 points for shares of fourth place, while Missouri Western and Pittsburg State each ended up with 51 points and tied for sixth.

Truman was eighth in the poll with 36 points, and was followed by two schools sporting new head coaches for 2009.

Fort Hays State, with Julie Lemaire now in the dugout, placed ninth with 29 points. Missouri Southern, now led by Bill Gray, was five points back with 24. Southwest Baptist rounds out the list with 10 points.

ESU, ranked No. 25 in the NFCA Preseason Top 25, returns plenty of offense. All-America junior INF Miranda Campbell (.404-17-58) who led the Hornets in batting and home runs last season, is back along with senior UT Shelbe Hughes (.349-4-30) and senior INF Jennifer Dace (.319-11-57). Emporia State will be looking to senior RHP Megan Dennis (12-6, 3.21 ERA) to bounce back after being affected by a knee injury last season.

UNO returns five starters among the non-pitchers, and will have two pitchers back entering into its debut season in the MIAA. Junior C/INF Treightin Yates (.335-3-24) is the Mavericks top returning hitter, while sophomore LHP Beth Haley (20-8, 1.95 ERA, 3 Sv.) was the North Central Conference’s Freshman of the Year in ’08. UNO received votes in the national preseason survey.

UCM, 19th in the NFCA poll, has the MIAA’s leader in ERA and strikeouts in senior LHP Megan Leonard (20-9, 1.07 ERA, 5 Sv., 9.54 K/7). Junior OF Tarese Ely-Myers (.351-13-48) was the Jennies’ top hitter last season and leads four returning starters among non-pitchers.

The MIAA will compete in the NCAA Division II South Central Region for baseball with the Lone Star and Heartland conferences this season.

2009 MIAA Softball Preseason Coaches Poll
   School                     1. Emporia State (5)           
     Nebraska-Omaha (4)          
 3. Central Missouri (2)        
 4. Northwest Missouri State    
     Washburn                    
 6. Missouri Western            
     Pittsburg State             
 8. Truman                      
 9. Fort Hays State             
10. Missouri Southern           
11. Southwest Baptist           

Filed Under: Sports

Amtrak service gets new name, promises better service

January 29, 2009 By

Missouri River Runner is the new name for the state supported Amtrak trains between St. Louis and Kansas City.
The name was submitted by Keith Kohler of Glendale and received 37 percent of the public vote in a contest hosted by Amtrak out of the five finalist names.
MoDOT and Amtrak sponsored the "Name the Train" contest in celebration of 30 years of state-supported passenger rail across Missouri, as well as major servce improvements in the works, says MoDot officials.
Brian Weiler, Multimodal Operations Director, says the service has been criticized as being unreliable in years past and that MoDOT has gotten the message "loud and clear."
He says bottleneck problems along the Gasconade River have been solved and ground will be broken for improvement projects in California, Mo., this spring.

Click here for more information .

Listen/download interview with Brian Weiler, MoDOT. [MP3]

Filed Under: Transportation Tagged With: ,

SBU’s King D-II stat champ for receptions

January 29, 2009 By

Southwest Baptist University wide receiver Johnnie King earned the 2008 NCAA Division II statistical championship for receptions per game.  King, a junior from St. Louis, Mo., caught 89 passes in 10 games for an average of 8.9 per contest.

He had 1120 yards receiving and nine touchdowns to lead the Bearcats, after transferring from Oklahoma Panhandle State.  This was the second straight year an SBU wide receiver earned the honor. King joins Nick Smart, who led the nation in 2007 with 13.0 catches per game after his all-division record-setting season of 143 catches.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Bearcats fall to Washburn

January 29, 2009 By

Washburn committed 24 turnovers but shot over 50% to beat Northwest Missouri State 71-65.  Northwest (9-10, 4-8) turned in its worst shooting performance since mid-December at 36 percent. The Bearcats were 5-of-21 from behind the arc.

Washburn trailed 29-28 at the half, but held the Bearcats to one basket in nearly eight minutes to start the second stanza. Paul Byers began the half with a three and the Ichabods didn’t trail the rest of the way.

Northwest climbed within two in the closing minute on a three-pointer by Hunter Henry. Washburn went 6-of-6 from the line in the final 18 seconds to seal the win.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,
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