May 20, 2013

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House holds first hearing on proposed bond issuance (AUDIO)

February 6, 2013 By

The Committee that will put together the state House’s version of a bonding proposal has heard its first testimony.

From right, the new House Appropriations Committee on Infrastructure and Job Creation's Chairman Chris Kelly and Vice-Chairman Lincoln Hough listen to the committee's first testimony. (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.)

From right, the new House Appropriations Committee on Infrastructure and Job Creation’s Chairman Chris Kelly and Vice-Chairman Lincoln Hough listen to the committee’s first testimony. (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.)

The proposal, HJR 14, has been introduced at $950 million dollars and is described as identical to one introduced in the Senate by Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia). Lawmakers say that figure could change however, either higher or lower.

The measure is sponsored in the House by Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka), who says it will change dramatically before it goes before voters.

“This is simply a starting off point. I’m sure this bill will undergo a lot of different changes and revisions throughout the process. We will have to marry it with whatever comes out of the Senate, so I would ask everybody to keep an open mind and be patient as we work through this. This is an extremely critical opportunity for our state but it is one that I think could result in a really bold and bright future for Missourians.”

Mental Health Department a no-show

In talking about possible targets for proceeds from a bond issuance, Jones, Governor Jay Nixon, Committee Chairman Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) and others have all said Fulton State Mental Hospital is likely to be included. Yet at Tuesday’s hearing the agency that oversees that facility, the Department of Mental Health, was not present as scheduled.

Kelly says he is disappointed the Nixon administration did not see fit to discuss the needs at Fulton, but says the no-show doesn’t hurt that hospital’s chances to be a priority.

“We all know the need is there, and it’s ridiculous to think about punishing the mental health patients because the administration doesn’t articulate it.”

Lawmakers will have to come to agreement on how much to spend on Fulton. Some have said a total replacement is needed, while others say that probably won’t happen.

It is estimated that a new mental health facility would cost about $211 million. The current language of the proposal says no more than $250 million will be used for construction of state buildings and $40 million of that must be used for parks and park facilities.

Mixing transportation with other needs

The hearing was held on the same day that a 10-year, one-cent sales/use tax proposal was introduced by Senators Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) and Ryan McKenna (D-Crystal City) and Representative Dave Hinson (R-St. Clair) to support transportation. Kelly hopes the two issues can compliment each other.

“I believe that ultimately we can only have one proposal and I hope we find a way to comfortably combine the highway proposal and the general revenue proposal, and I believe we can do that.”

Jones says the two discussions could become one, but says he would rather see a revenue-neutral option to support transportation.  Some transportation projects could also be included in the bond package.

Much of the testimony came from some of the state’s colleges and universities, who told the committee how great their backlog of needs has grown.

University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe testifies on HJR 14, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Jones (right). (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.)

University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe testifies on HJR 14, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Jones (right). (Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.)

University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe tells lawmakers, his campuses could use all the $950 million being considered, and more.

“Because we’ve been chosen to invest scarce resources in mission-critical areas like education today we have a $1.3 billion backlog of renovation and repair projects on all four of our campuses.”

Wolfe says state support from the bonding package would encourage donors to the University system to accelerate their investments.

Missouri Parks Association board member Mike Sutherland told the Committee there are about $400 million in capital improvement needs at the state’s parks and historic sites.

Kelly cautioned those at the hearing that no one will get everything they want.

“Every single one of us will be disappointed, but every single one of us will also be delighted. There’s no way that we can do everything that we need to do but we can do some very good things and move our economy forward.”

See our earlier stories on bonding in the 2013 session.

No one testified against the proposal, which Vice-Chairman Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield) says shows there is bi-partisan support across the state for the issuance of bonds. One urged lawmakers to make sure to identify cost savings or a new revenue source to fund the debt service on bonds, to protect other state services like K-12 education, higher education and public safety.

Jones told the committee taxpayers will be protected under the proposal.

“By specifying that the proceeds from the sale of the bond can be only used for projects that meet the criteria of this legislation. Most notably that criteria will first be established by this committee. Additionally the revenue placed in the Fifth State Building Fund, as we’re commonly referring to this bill, can only be used to pay off the principal and interest of the bond.”

He encouraged the committee to investigate a “more official mechanism,” a sort of “taxpayer watchdog,” to watch the projects as they move forward.

As for when the bond proposal might be ready to go to voters, Kelly says he would like to see it done this year but says it’s an “organic” process. Jones says he knows development will take time.

“I am under no delusions that this is going to be an easy process, so I start with the premise that this may be a 2-year project.”

AUDIO:  House Speaker Tim Jones presents HJR 14, Missouri Fifth State Bonding Issue, 6:38

AUDIO:  University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe testifies on HJR 14, 6:30

Filed Under: Featured, Legislature, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Japanese beetle population to rise in the state (AUDIO)

January 23, 2013 By

Researchers at the University of Missouri say Japanese beetle populations throughout the state are likely to increase in the coming year.

Entomologist Wayne Bailey with the University of Missouri says the imported beetles, are some of the most aggressive bugs that feed on plants such as flowers, shrubs and trees; and corn and soybean crops. He says most of the damage by the beetles is during their peak months of June and July.

“We do have grubs underground at this time and what is happening is that population moves to the west,” he says. “It tends to build exponentially, so if you have 20 (beetles) in an area, then you might have 200 and then 2,000 and before you know it, 20,000.”

Bailey says the beetles were originally imported in 1916 and has made its way in to the state since 1934; but they’ve mainly stayed in the St. Louis area…until they began to move west about 15 years ago. “And so, in Columbia, we didn’t have a lemon tree in town I don’t think last year that wasn’t stripped by the adult beetle feeding,” he says. “We’re seeing this all the way now to Kansas- Wyandotte County in Kansas has its first report.”

He says the beetles’ adult lifespan only lasts six weeks, and says the beetles can be sprayed to be killed as adult beetles but they often feed in very large groups, which might make it difficult to get rid of them.

 Adult Japanese beetles are measured to be a half-inch long with a metallic green and bronze- or copper-colored wings.

AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:00)

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation, Featured, News Tagged With: ,

MU policy analyst looks ahead to 2013 Farm Bill debate

December 31, 2012 By

The Director of the Food and Agricultural Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri says the fiscal cliff was at one time thought to be a driver that might get a Farm Bill done quickly. That didn’t happen, and now Pat Westhoff says the next deadline is several months away.

Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute Pat Westhoff

Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute Pat Westhoff

“It’s probably going to be some time in late spring, I would speculate now, before we’d ever get everything all put together for a final farm bill. There’s a chance we might approve a one-year extension of current provisions of some kind before that.”

Westhoff says there is one thing that could change in farm policy that would impact crops grown in 2013.

“Many people speculate there might be a cut in direct payments as a way to reduce the overall budgetary cost of farm programs, even absent an agreement about a longer-term farm bill.”

If direct payments are eliminated, Westhoff says something might take their place.

He says a lot of concern exists over crop insurance, but he says major cuts in that program are not likely.

“We are going to see the government costs to the crop insurance program for the current fiscal year. That will probably draw some attention and there may well be proposals to make cuts in that program, but if this year’s debate is any indication there is a lot of support for the crop insurance program in Congress and I would personally be surprised if there were major cuts made in that program.”

Westhoff notes, with the same lawmakers in place that were a part of the 2013 farm bill debate, many of the farm bill proposals will be very similar to what was discussed in 2012.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Featured, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

MU Researcher identifies three new species of venemous primate

December 27, 2012 By

A University of Missouri researcher hopes her work to sort out four species of primates will help to save them.

One of the newly identified species of slow loris is the Nycticebus kayan. (Photo credit: Ch'ien C Lee)

One of the newly identified species of slow loris is the Nycticebus kayan. (Photo credit: Ch’ien C Lee)

The slow loris has large, brown eyes like its relative the lemur, a second, serrated tongue and an extra vertebrae that makes it very limber.

On the Indonesian island of Borneo, doctoral student Rachel Munds and her colleagues determined that what was thought to be one species of slow loris is actually four different species. The team observed differences in body size, fur thickness, habitat and facial marking among the island’s loris population.

Munds says all four species are threatened by humans through deforestation, trade as pets and uses in traditional medicine by the native population.

She says lorises do not make good pets.

“They’re nocturnal, we don’t really know exactly what they eat, they are social … and when you take them out of the wild the people who capture them often rip their teeth out because of that venomous bite that they have.”

In one example of lorises being endangered by traditional Asian medicines, study co-author Anna Nekaris says the tears of the big-eyed loris are thought to be useful to treat eye diseases in humans. In some cases the way those tears are extracted involve skewering the animal and burning it alive.

Nekaris says popular internet videos of lorises doing things like holding umbrellas or eating with forks are also misleading in their innocence. She says lorises in these videos are desperate to hold something, as they would normally spend their whole lives in trees clutching to branches.

Munds hopes the distinction between the four species will earn each one endangered status.

“Because we only thought there was one loris species on Borneo, that species was originally presumed to be vulnerable, but when you divide a species into four, all of a sudden you’re looking at a totally different story because now there’s four species on Borneo, each with their particular habitats, and it makes them probably … possibly endangered. We haven’t actually changed their conservation status yet, but there’s a good chance that they would be endangered.”

Munds says she will follow-up her work with a genetic study at the University of Missouri.

　

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Featured, News Tagged With: , , , ,

MU Professor: Supreme Court decision on affirmative action could have broad impact

October 9, 2012 By

The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a case tomorrow that could impact admissions at the University of Missouri and institutions nationwide.

The Supreme Court of the United States (photo courtesy, Britannica.com)

The Court will hear the case of an applicant to the University of Texas who says her application to the University of Texas was rejected because she is white. The case of Abigail Fisher could lead to significant changes, or the throwing out of affirmative action.

University of Missouri Professor of Higher Education Roger Worthington says the Court could also revisit at 2003 ruling that most institutions operate under now.

“The Grutter case against the University of Michigan in 2003 that set forth, or more clearly specified the provisions under which race conscious admissions were allowable in higher education.”

He says outcomes could include “either altering key principles of that earlier decision, supplanting the Grutter decision with a different doctrine rising from the Fisher case or potentially strike down affirmative action altogether.”

Some analysts are predicting the Grutter ruling will be striken down or at least substantially changed. Worthington says there are several reasons to think that, beginning with the makeup of the Court now compared to nine years ago.

“The typical swing justice is Justice (Anthony) Kennedy, who actually has a fairly clear record of ruling not in favor of affirmative action practices, so he’s likely to side with the more conservative justices, where he kind of goes back and forth between siding with the conservative and the more liberal justices on the court in different decisions. Also, with Justice (Elena) Kagan having recused herself, there will not be nine justices ruling on the case, there will only be eight.”

Worthington says with a lingering economic crisis, the nation’s population shifting toward a majority-minority population and what he calls an “eroded” education system, affirmative action is important for how the U.S. performs internationally.

“In my view, a dismantling of affirmative action at this time with that perfect storm of issues in front of us will ultimately become yet another setback for the nation in our effort to regain prominence in the global economic marketplace.”

Worthington says research in recent decades has supported affirmative action. “Higher education in the context of diversity benefits all students. That’s not just the students who are gaining admission based on affirmative action principles, but students who are not benefitting from affirmative action through the admissions process but benefit more broadly from the diversity that occurs through a diverse institution.”

AUDIO:  Mike Lear interviews Professor Roger Worthington, 13:33

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education, Featured, News Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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