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Severe weather is expected this weekend in southeast Missouri. A former St. Louis area priest is accused of child sex crimes. Alisa Nelson reports.
Raffle tickets sell like hot cakes for chance to implode Missouri bridge
An eastern Missouri bridge will come tumbling down in March by the winner of a raffle to benefit a St. Louis County organization. The lucky person gets to press the magic button that makes the structure collapse along Highway 47.
Photo courtesy of Backstoppers
Marschel Wrecking, LLC in Fenton is organizing the fundraiser for BackStoppers. The non-profit launched on September 11, 1959 to help families of first responders who have been severely injured or died in the line of duty.
BackStoppers advisory board member Jeff Backhaus says the community support has been unbelievable. More than $2,000 worth of raffle tickets have already been sold.
“If one of us do not come home after a shift, that’s a huge relief for us going into work and doing our jobs on a daily basis to know that our families are taken care of,” he says.
The bridge connects Franklin and Warren Counties. The new one has already been built and is open next to the bridge that will be coming down soon.
Backhaus says he’s happy with every penny raised.
“Who gets to push a button to blow the bridge up? How often does that happen? Everybody thinks it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he says. “It’s something neat. It’s something unique. It doesn’t happen every day.”
BackStoppers supports about 80 families and its annual payout is about $1.3 million in survivor benefits.
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Group reports number of hate groups climb in Missouri
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a national legal advocacy group specializing in civil rights, says it has found 24 hate groups in the Show-Me State in 2018. The previous year, the organization found 18. The nonprofit shows Missouri has hate groups including two anti-Muslim, three neo-Nazi, one Ku Klux Klan, six black nationalists, one Christian identity, three white nationalists and one skinhead.
Of Missouri’s eight neighboring states, the center says the Show-Me State has more hate groups than any of them except for Illinois and Tennessee.
Nationwide, the center shows 1,020 hate groups in 2018, an increase from 954 in 2017.
The organization’s findings could be lower than the actual figures. Many hate groups keep a low profile and depend on websites, social media and chatrooms to spread their message and recruit members.
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Growing cat litter demand prompts Missouri factory expansion
Growing cat litter demand prompts Missouri factory expansion
Nestle Purina says it plans to expand its Bloomfield Tidy Cats litter factory in southeast Missouri and add about 30 jobs there by mid-2020. The company plans to invest $115 million in the expansion, which will include a 110,000-square-foot processing and packaging facility.
Purina says the factory will “significantly increase” the production of Tidy Cats LightWeight cat litter and Tidy Cats scoop cat litter. It cites Tidy Cats litter sales growing by 18 percent over the past four years.
The Bloomfield factory, which opened in 1976, currently includes a 500,000-square-foot factory that employs more than 340 people in the southeast Missouri region.
Purina employs more than 3,500 people in Missouri. It also has a presence in Springfield, St. Joseph and St. Louis, where the company has been headquartered for 125 years.
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Missouri works to develop computer science standards for K-12 schools
A work group made up of educators and parents is creating computer science standards for Missouri’s K-12 public schools. The new measures are a result of the 2018 passage of House Bill 3.
The legislation, passed during last September’s special session of the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, teaches career awareness to middle schoolers about STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. It also lets high schoolers swap a math class with a computer science class for graduation.
Missouri works to develop computer science standards for K-12 schools
During a hearing in Jefferson City this week, one of the work group members said the standards being developed would not require a computer to learn. They could be studied through what is referred to as “unplugged activities”, which involve critical thinking and understanding algorithms.
Since technology is a major part of everyday life for many Missourians, work group members could integrate computer science learning across other subjects, especially in elementary school. Higher level courses in middle and high school could be offered separately.
High school computer science teacher Burdett Wilson says one of the national trends is to turn high school computer science classes into courses for college-bound students.
“One of my big concerns, as a teacher, is about half of my students go directly to work out of high school. The other half then go to college,” he says. “I teach students every day who will never go to college.”
Wilson launched a computer science program about five years ago at Macon Area Career and Technical Center in northern Missouri. His computer programming courses are made up of mostly high school juniors and seniors.
The school partners with an IT outsourcing company across the street. The company takes people without computer experience and teaches them the ropes in an eight week boot camp. The top students of each class then work for the company.
Wilson says state computer science instruction should be geared toward giving students real world skills, not necessarily for those strictly going to college.
“What I have found, and this is what most college professors tell me, is the students I’m sending them are one year, two years ahead of everybody else that comes into the computer science programs,” Wilson says.
He cites a student who worked for the partnering IT company for two years. With the student’s high school diploma and job experience, he was offered a $65,000 a year data job in St. Louis.
Another student who struggled with learning took a job right out of high school.
“He came back and said ‘Mr. Wilson, I’m so excited. I’m making more (money) than my mom.’ His mom worked two jobs and she worked really hard to get him through high school. It is so exciting,” says Wilson. “I had two students both of them graduated with their Associates Degrees this year and they are making $70,000 a year. They are making a lot more than their teacher.”
Wilson says the state should not “pigeon hole” the program for college-bound students only.
“We have a chance to have hundreds and thousands of students that have great careers,” he says. “We’re very excited about the idea of having computer science standards, but we’re hoping that it is aimed at those students who would not necessarily be college students. It could change their life.”
Wilson’s assertion is one similarly shared by Governor Mike Parson, who wants more state focus on workforce development.
The work group plans to give its recommendations to the State Board of Education in May and then would be subject to approval by the panel. If endorsed, the standards would take effect in the 2019-20 school year, per state statute. Districts would then develop their own curriculum to align with the standards.
The public comment period about the standards is open through March 11. Click here to view the proposed standards and submit a comment.
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Missourinet 5 p.m. Newscast for Feb. 20, 2019
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A state investigation has been launched about an alleged fight club incident at a Missouri daycare. Missouri’s Department of Revenue head admits to dropping the ball on communicating a tax error. Alisa Nelson reports.
Missouri attorney general launches investigation into daycare’s ‘fight club’ allegations
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has launched an investigation into an alleged “fight club” incident at a St. Louis daycare in 2016. Schmitt, a Republican, says footage of the instance shows children as young as three punching each other repeatedly at Adventure Learning Center on Gravois while two teachers jumped up and down excitedly.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt
“Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and any attempts to harm them in any way will not be tolerated,” Schmitt says in a press release. “My job is to protect all 6 million Missourians, and my office will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who seek to harm others.”
The video was originally obtained by St. Louis television station KTVI.
The Attorney General’s Office says it will look at documents received from its civil investigative demand, review the facts, and determine if there is any further action the office can take.
Schmitt’s investigation is separate from St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s probe of the incident.
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Missourinet 5 p.m. Newscast for Feb. 19, 2019
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Whiteout conditions are expected in Missouri. Advocates fighting against gun violence rallied today at the state Capitol. Alisa Nelson reports.
Mizzou student diagnosed with tuberculosis; Others might need testing
A Mizzou student has been diagnosed with tuberculosis, otherwise referred to as TB. MU spokesman Christian Basi tells Missourinet the student left the Columbia campus immediately after testing positive for the infectious disease.
Photo courtesy of Mizzou
“The Boone County Department of Public Health is in very close contact with the individual and we also have had contact with him,” says Basi. “They are receiving regular updates on how things are progressing with him.”
MU officials, including those from Student Health and University Physicians, are working closely with the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services as they identify additional individuals who might need testing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TB is most often spread when someone with active tuberculosis of the lungs coughs near others – spreading the bacteria through the air. It is not spread by touching surfaces or by sharing food or drinks.
“Our health officials have advised us that there is no current concern about exposure,” Basi says. “Once the individual has left the campus and left the area, there is no additional concern about additional exposure to anyone.”
Due to health care privacy laws, few details can be released about the individual. Whether the student lived on campus was not disclosed.
“That’s not something that I can provide because we could wind up with identification of the student,” says Basi.
About 6,300 of Mizzou’s 30,000 students live in dorms or Greek houses.
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Missourinet 5 p.m. Newscast for Feb. 18, 2019
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A Mizzou student has tested positive for tuberculosis. Missourians are getting ready for another winter front. A Missouri school district has 19 missed days from bad weather this year. Alisa Nelson reports.