Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal and other minority Democrats hoped for more as they stalled consideration of the bill. 

Democrats attacked the bill for denying discrimination or harassment victims access to jury trials, for limiting damages and who could be sued, and making it harder for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing. 

Chappelle-Nadal settled for removal of limits on jury trials but could not change the part that victims have to have a higher level of proof to win.

Democrats still don’t like the bill.  the House has started work on its own version.

 AUDIO: Chappelle-Nadal 8:08

Debate on the bill has consumed most of this week’s floor time in the Senate.  Business groups claim courts have gone too far in making it easier for people to file employment discrimination suits.  Sponsor Brad Lager of Savannah wants to require those filing suit to prove discrimination was the motivating factor in their firing or lack of promotion.  The current standard requires only that it be a contributing factor.

                                        AUDIO: Lager :17 mp3

He says his proposal puts Missouri discrimination laws under the standard of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its 1991 amendments.

Democrats are tying up the bill, complaining the bill makes it too hard for employees to protect themselves from discrimination and tilts the system too much toward business.  Or as Senator Maria Chappelle Nadal of University City puts it.

                                        AUDIO: Chappelle Nadal :05 mp3

Democrats say Republicans don’t want to compromise on anything…so the Democrats won’t allow a vote on the bill.

                                 AUDIO  Keith  :09 mp3   

He and members of a joint legislative transportation oversight committee think voters don’t want a gas tax increase to pay for the work.  The department tells legislators it them to change state law so it can contract with a private company to pay for the rebuilding. The company would get its money back by turning 70 into a toll road, and doing so quickly.

                           AUDIO  Keith  :20 mp3

But critics charge the toll amounts to a four-billion dollar tax that will require a public vote. Missouri Trucking Association President Tom Crawford It’s a “very dangerous public policy” to let a private company tax motorists through highway tolls.

                             AUDIO: Crawford  :23  mp3

And Triple-A’s Mike Right says the plan sets up an unequal tax system. 

                                  AUDIO Right  :23  mp3

Another critic says the proposal allows a private entity to, in effect, tax motorists. Ron Leone, who heads the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association, says the legislature should not transfer some of its powers to the state highways and transportation commission.

                                        AUDIO: Leone  :29   mp3

Keith says department lawyers are sure the private partnership procurement effort would not require voter approval.   The legislature will have to change some laws before the effort can go ahead. 

We’ve consulted with service spokesman Valerie Welch in the St. Louis regional office to get straightened out.

interview with valerie welch 19:12 mp3

The closings of local post offices won’t start happening until after Christmas. There’s no specific date for closings to begin.

Those offices are serviced by regional sorting centers. Some of them–Cape Girardeau and Springfield, for example—will close in March and their duties will move to St. Louis and Kansas City. That will slow deliveries so that means existing delivery standards will be changing after March.

Welch says all of this is caused by a 25 percent drop in first class mail use. “We need people to write letters!” she says. “And the sad things is that kids today don’t know how to address a letter. /They don’t even know how to write one. They know how to instant text…and stuff like that. /But they really have no letter-writing skills and that’s kind of sad.”

She says the Postal Service is joining the electronic environment. She says its mobile aps are some of the most used mobile aps in the country. She says the postal services just has to get people used to using its aps and other online services so it can attract younger customers that have grown up in a mobile, electrictronic society.

Welch says the postal service has to do what a lot of traditional information delivery systems are doing—find a niche that’s profitable.

Hughes expects healthcare to undergo significant change in the next five to ten years because of the Affordable Care Act and all of its consequences. He also says there will be opportunities for state and local agencies to take advantage of federal support from that act—-and the foundation has some programs to leverage those funds.

He takes over for Dr. James Kimmey, the founding president of the foundation when it was formed in 2001. The Missouri Foundation for Health was formed to hold the assets of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Eastern Missouri when they switched from non-profit to for-profit status. It serves 87 counties and the city of St. Louis.

 Listen to teleconference with Kimmey & Hughes 19:19 mp3

The three to four hour sessions also teach how to spot fake ID cards, among other things, although agent Nancy McGee says the quality of fake identification cards is getting better. She says she and other agents are seeing more and more foreign businesses making more sophisticated fake ID cards. But she says it’s hard to replicate some of the built-in security features in every state’s drivers licenses.

She says servers are not obligated to confiscate the cards but they can. They’re also not required to keep records of those who try to get illegal access to alcohol. She says it’s up to local or federal prosecutors to seek out the makers of false identification cards.

Interview with Nancy McGee 12:45 mp3

The postal service says the closings are not done deals; the list is only of “possible” closings.

The service is considering closing about ten percent of its offices nationwide, saying the increase use of e-mail and the recession-caused decline in advertising mail produced a 58-million dollar financial loss last year.

List of possible closings after the jump:

• FERGUSON SAINT LOUIS 63135
• GWEN B GILES SAINT LOUIS 63112
• JEFFERSON MEMORIAL SAINT LOUIS 63101
• JORDAN W CHAMBERS SAINT LOUIS 63106
• ROCKBRIDGE ROCKBRIDGE 65741
• TRUXTON TRUXTON 63381
• WHITESIDE WHITESIDE 63387
• FLETCHER FLETCHER 63030
• GRUBVILLE GRUBVILLE 63041
• MAPLEWOOD SAINT LOUIS 63143
• ALDRICH ALDRICH 65601
• ARROW ROCK ARROW ROCK 65320
• BLACKBURN BLACKBURN 65321
• BLAIRSTOWN BLAIRSTOWN 64726
• CLARKSBURG CLARKSBURG 65025
• DEERFIELD DEERFIELD 64741
• DOVER DOVER 64022
• DUNNEGAN DUNNEGAN 65640
• EAST LYNNE EAST LYNNE 64743
• EMMA EMMA 65327
• FLORENCE FLORENCE 65329
• FORTUNA FORTUNA 65034
• FOSTER FOSTER 64745
• GILLIAM GILLIAM 65330
• HARWOOD HARWOOD 64750
• HENRIETTA HENRIETTA 64036
• HOUSTONIA HOUSTONIA 65333
• HUGHESVILLE HUGHESVILLE 65334
• JERICO SPRINGS JERICO SPRINGS 64756
• MALTA BEND MALTA BEND 65339
• MC GIRK MC GIRK 65055
• METZ METZ 64765
• MIAMI MIAMI 65344
• MILO MILO 64767
• MOUNDVILLE MOUNDVILLE 64771
• ROSCOE ROSCOE 64781
• SAINT THOMAS SAINT THOMAS 65076
• SYRACUSE SYRACUSE 65354
• CENTER SQUARE KANSAS CITY 64105
• CIVIC CENTER KANSAS CITY 64106
• HICKMAN MILLS KANSAS CITY 64134
• ALLENDALE ALLENDALE 64420
• AMITY AMITY 64422
• ARMSTRONG ARMSTRONG 65230
• BLYTHEDALE BLYTHEDALE 64426
• CLEARMONT CLEARMONT 64431
• CLYDE CLYDE 64432
• COFFEY COFFEY 64636
• COSBY COSBY 64436
• DE KALB DE KALB 64440
• DE WITT DE WITT 64639
• DENVER DENVER 64441
• FILLMORE FILLMORE 64449
• FRANKLIN FRANKLIN 65250
• GENTRY GENTRY 64453
• GLENWOOD GLENWOOD 63541
• GRAHAM GRAHAM 64455
• GUILFORD GUILFORD 64457
• HELENA HELENA 64459
• HUMPHREYS HUMPHREYS 64646
• JAMESON JAMESON 64647
• LACLEDE LACLEDE 64651
• LEVASY LEVASY 64066
• LIVONIA LIVONIA 63551
• MARTINSVILLE MARTINSVILLE 64467
• MC FALL MC FALL 64657
• MOORESVILLE MOORESVILLE 64664
• PARNELL PARNELL 64475
• PICKERING PICKERING 64476
• POLLOCK POLLOCK 63560
• PURDIN PURDIN 64674
• REA REA 64480
• ROSENDALE ROSENDALE 64483
• SUMNER SUMNER 64681
• TURNEY TURNEY 64493
• UTICA UTICA 64686
• WHEELING WHEELING 64688
• WINIGAN WINIGAN 63566
• WORTH WORTH 64499
• AVILLA AVILLA 64833
• BRUNER BRUNER 65620
• CEDARCREEK CEDARCREEK 65627
• FREISTATT FREISTATT 65654
• HURLEY HURLEY 65675
• NECK CITY NECK CITY 64849
• PONCE DE LEON PONCE DE LEON 65728
• POWELL POWELL 65730
• PURCELL PURCELL 64857
• STOTTS CITY STOTTS CITY 65756
• TIFF CITY TIFF CITY 64868
• WENTWORTH WENTWORTH 64873
• BIXBY BIXBY 65439
• BLACK BLACK 63625
• BLODGETT BLODGETT 63824
• BRAGG CITY BRAGG CITY 63827
• BRAGGADOCIO BRAGGADOCIO 63826
• BROWNWOOD BROWNWOOD 63738
• BUCYRUS BUCYRUS 65444
• CANALOU CANALOU 63828
• CATRON CATRON 63833
• DAISY DAISY 63743
• DUTCHTOWN DUTCHTOWN 63745
• ELK CREEK ELK CREEK 65464
• FREMONT FREMONT 63941
• GIBSON GIBSON 63847
• GIPSY GIPSY 63750
• GOBLER GOBLER 63849
• GRAYRIDGE GRAYRIDGE 63850
• HARDENVILLE HARDENVILLE 65666
• HARTSHORN HARTSHORN 65479
• HARVIELL HARVIELL 63945
• HOLLAND HOLLAND 63853
• HUGGINS HUGGINS 65484
• JADWIN JADWIN 65501
• KEWANEE KEWANEE 63860
• KNOB LICK KNOB LICK 63651
• LAKE SPRING LAKE SPRING 65532
• LOWNDES LOWNDES 63951
• MACOMB MACOMB 65702
• MILL SPRING MILL SPRING 63952
• MONTIER MONTIER 65546
• OLD APPLETON OLD APPLETON 63770
• OXLY OXLY 63955
• PEACE VALLEY PEACE VALLEY 65788
• PERKINS PERKINS 63774
• POWERSITE POWERSITE 65731
• REDFORD REDFORD 63665
• REYNOLDS REYNOLDS 63666
• RUETER RUETER 65744
• STURDIVANT STURDIVANT 63782
• SUCCESS SUCCESS 65570
• TALLAPOOSA TALLAPOOSA 63878
• TIFF TIFF 63674
• VANDUSER VANDUSER 63784
• WHITEOAK WHITEOAK 63880
• WHITEWATER WHITEWATER 63785
• ZANONI ZANONI 65784
• BRINKTOWN BRINKTOWN 65443
• CHERRYVILLE CHERRYVILLE 65446
• CLIFTON HILL CLIFTON HILL 65244
• DAVISVILLE DAVISVILLE 65456
• ELMER ELMER 63538
• EMDEN EMDEN 63439
• ETHEL ETHEL 63539
• EXCELLO EXCELLO 65247
• HOLLIDAY HOLLIDAY 65258
• HUNNEWELL HUNNEWELL 63443
• JACKSONVILLE JACKSONVILLE 65260
• LEONARD LEONARD 63451
• MORRISON MORRISON 65061
• NEWARK NEWARK 63458
• NOVELTY NOVELTY 63460
• OLEAN OLEAN 65064
• PLEVNA PLEVNA 63464
• PORTLAND PORTLAND 65067
• RENICK RENICK 65278
• REVERE REVERE 63465
• RUTLEDGE RUTLEDGE 63563
• SAINT PATRICK SAINT PATRICK 63466
• SANTA FE SANTA FE 65282
• SAVERTON SAVERTON 63467
• STEEDMAN STEEDMAN 65077
• STOUTSVILLE STOUTSVILLE 65283
• TEBBETTS TEBBETTS 65080
• WESCO WESCO 65586
• WILLIAMSTOWN WILLIAMSTOWN 63473
• WOOLDRIDGE WOOLDRIDGE 65287

Social Services director Ronald Levy leaves at the end of the month after more than two-and-a-half years in charge of the state agency that gobbles up about one-third of the state budget. But he has served at a time when state finances have remained less than they were four years ago.

Levy says the department has cut employees, has changed its internal processes, and has streamlined operations to cut internal costs so core services aren’t affected. He says many states have made drastic cuts in the safety net programs and in Medicaid, but Missouri has takena different approach that has protected core services and programs.

Levy will be taking his experience as head of social services to the graduate school at St. Louis University where he hopes to contribute real world experiiences to the academic information students will be getting.

Listen to Bob Priddy’s story. :58 mp3　

The government has relied heavily on private contractors  for security and construction projects in Iraq and in Afghanistan.  Senator McCaskill has headed a Homeland Security subcommittee almost from the start of her senate career looking into cost overruns, shoddy work, and lack of accountability by contractors.

She has turned her attention o Afghanistan now, saying the country must get every dime’s worth of work out of the contractors, especially when federal budget reductions are essential.  She note’s the president proposes 17 billion dollars in contracting for reconstruction work in Afghanistan..
“That’s a big number if our roads weren’t crumbling because we don’t have the money to fix them,” she says.  She says the number is “enormous” in the face of the nation’s financial problems.

McCaskill speaks during hearing. :24  mp3

She says it’s urgent that Congress consider whether these projects are essential to the United States mission.  And she says it’s time some from the defense department or the agency for international development admit being in charge of planning for the projects.

She hopes for better luck in a later hearing.\

     Butz plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, who chases con man Frank Abegnale Junior in a musical play based on the 2002 movie of the same name. The role in the movie was played by Tom Hanks.