State loses bid to stop Missouri River "spring rise"

State efforts to keep the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from causing a mini-flood on the Missouri River have failed in two courts. Attorney General Jay Nixon’s pleas have been rejected by a district judge and by a federal appeals court. State officials say the Spring rise will threaten levees damaged by floods last year.

Although the release of water from upstream reservoirs will cause a one-foot rise in the river at Kansas City and an estimated six-inch rise at Hermann, state officials argue the rise will only aggravate conditions that could be bad because of anticipated coming rains in the next week or so.