Brian Hauswirth, Author at Missourinet

Most government offices are closed in Missouri for Columbus Day

October 13, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Monday is Columbus Day, which is a federal, Missouri and county holiday.

Seal of Missouri

It’s one of ten federal holidays and is one of 12 Missouri state holidays. It celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.

Most federal, state and county offices will be closed on Monday, with the exception of emergency services such as the Missouri State Highway Patrol and county sheriff’s departments. County and federal courthouses are closed, and there will be no regular mail delivery.

Most banks and financial institutions will also be closed.

Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation into law in 1934, making Columbus Day a federal holiday. It’s been observed on the second Monday in October, since 1970.

40,000 expected to pack mid-Missouri town for popular pumpkin festival

October 11, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Thousands of people are expected to pack the tiny mid-Missouri town of Hartsburg for this weekend’s popular Pumpkin Festival.

Children enjoy the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival (2018 file photo courtesy of Festival website)

This is the 28th annual Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival. Festival treasurer and parade coordinator Jeri Cooper tells Missourinet they’re expecting about 40,000 people to attend the event, which takes place Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday morning’s parade begins at 9.

Hartsburg is in Boone County, between Columbia and Jefferson City. Its population is about 100.

The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival started in 1991 as a celebration of the pumpkin and the promotion for Hartsburg, which is known as “The Garden Spot of Boone County” for its rich Missouri bottom soil. Some of the most productive farmland in the state can be found there.

Hartsburg produces fruits and vegetables as well.

The event, including parking, is free. With thousands of vehicles coming into the small town, most people will park in area fields, and others park along the roadside. The festival will be operating trams and shuttles.

Organizers also encourage you to bring cash to the festival, since some vendors don’t access debit or credit cards.

Traffic will be heavy along Highway 63. Mizzou’s 108th Homecoming is also taking place Saturday in Columbia, with thousands of people heading there.

You can find more information about the pumpkin festival here.

Illegal gambling complaints in Missouri have almost quadrupled in one year

October 11, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri State Highway Patrol testified Thursday in Jefferson City that the number of complaints it’s received about illegal gambling has increased from 39 in 2018 to 145 so far this year.

Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Gaming Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, speaks during a hearing on August 22, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Most of those complaints are about alleged illegal slot machines. Highway Patrol Lieutenant Roger Phillips tells state lawmakers the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) only has two full-time investigators to handle these complaints.

“In recent months, we’ve had such a volume of complaints that we’ve had to pull investigators from other assigned duties to come and help investigate these complaints,” Phillips testifies.

The Patrol’s DDCC is the Patrol’s criminal investigation bureau’s investigative branch. Phillips testified Thursday before the House Special Interim Committee on Gaming.

Alleged illegal slots can be found in bars, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores.

The Missouri Prosecutors Association also testified at Thursday’s hearing. Prosecutors Association legal counsel Steve Sokoloff says the first criminal case in the state involving alleged illegal slots will go to trial in December in western Missouri’s Platte County.

“I think everybody is waiting to see once there’s a definitive statement I think you’ll find that there will be a lot more willingness to prosecute those cases,” says Sokoloff.

House Special Interim Committee on Gaming Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, predicts the alleged illegal slot machine issue will end up at the Missouri Supreme Court. Representative Shaul tells Mr. Sokoloff that whichever side loses the Platte County case will appeal.

“It’s a good chance it’s going to end up over here (across the street at the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City). There’s enough money on each side of this argument,” Shaul tells Sokoloff.

“They’re going to try anyway, let’s put it that way,” Sokoloff responds.

“Either side, win or lose, they’re both,” Shaul says. “Right,” Sokoloff responds.

Sokoloff tells lawmakers that all gambling is illegal in Missouri by the Constitution, unless specifically provided for.

State Rep. Jeff Shawan, R-Poplar Bluff, says prosecutors in his southeast Missouri district are dealing with more important violent crime issues than slot machines.

The Missouri Gaming Association describes the slot machines in gas stations and truck stops as illegal, adding that they bypass Missouri voters. The Gaming Association opposes legalizing the video lottery terminals, saying Missouri casinos generated $370 million in state tax revenue in 2018.

The Missouri Gaming Commission has testified that any illegal gaming machines used in Missouri negatively impact casinos and the state Lottery, reducing taxes and funding for education and veterans.

The House committee’s next hearing will be its fourth, and is scheduled for October 24 at the Statehouse. It will be on sports betting.

Thursday’s Missouri House hearing on alleged illegal slots expected to draw crowd

October 9, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri Prosecutors Association will testify Thursday in Jefferson City before a House gaming committee investigating the issue of alleged illegal slot machines.

State Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Noel, speaks at the August 22, 2019 Missouri House Special Interim Committee on Gaming hearing. State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, is behind him. (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

A large crowd is expected to attend the House Special Interim Committee on Gaming hearing, which begins at noon at the Statehouse.

The committee will hear testimony from Missouri State Highway Patrol Lieutenant Justin McCullough and from Missouri Prosecutors Association legal counsel Steve Sokoloff.

During the committee’s last hearing in September, Missouri Lottery Executive Director May Scheve Reardon testified that illegal slot machines are hurting public education in the Show-Me State. She says the I-44 corridor has many of them, and told lawmakers about one Lottery sales representative whose territory goes from St. James to Lebanon.

“Down that I-44 corridor in six months, her route alone was down $800,000. That’s an estimated $3.2 million sales lost for six months,” Scheve Reardon testified on September 5.

Alleged illegal slot machines can be found in bars, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores.

Committee Chairman Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, tells Missourinet that illegal slot machines cost Missouri education at least $50 million last year. He says the illegal machines “are everywhere” in the state and in his district in eastern Missouri’s Jefferson County.

“But I think what we have to worry about is not what happened last year, it’s what’s going to happen next year because this is not a plateau. We are going to continue to see the loss,” Chairman Shaul told Missourinet after the September hearing.

Missouri Gaming Commission Executive Director David Grothaus testified in August that any illegal gaming machines used in Missouri negatively impact casinos and the state Lottery, reducing taxes and funding for education and veterans. Grothaus has called for the state to develop a coordinated effort to stop illegal slot machines.

Grothaus notes there’s one pending criminal case in western Missouri’s Platte County, in the Kansas City area.

Thursday is also your first opportunity to testify before the committee, and House officials have encouraged those who want to testify to call ahead. The hearing is expected to last for two to three hours.

Anyone who wants to testify Thursday should call E.J. Fleischmann in Chairman Shaul’s office. That number is (573) 751-2504.

Libla: a user tax for Missouri transportation is still a conservative position (AUDIO)

October 8, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The chairman of the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee supports a gasoline tax increase, saying that our roads and bridges must be funded adequately.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor on January 10, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Senate photographer Harrison Sweazea)

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, chairs the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety committee. He tells Missourinet we’ve funded roads and bridges for 95 years in Missouri with a gas tax.

“Back in the day when I first became a Republican, a user tax was a conservative Republican position,” Libla says. “And I still believe so today. I think those who use the roads should help pay for them.”

Missouri’s 17-cent per gallon gas tax has remained the same since 1996. Voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase in November.

Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) notes Missouri has the seventh-largest infrastructure system, but ranks 49th in funding.

Libla, who represents eight southeast Missouri counties, emphasizes that local officials help to decide key projects.

“We have planning commissions all over this state, so it’s not just a few people deciding where a new road or a new intersection goes in or a new four-lane or whatever,” says Libla.

He says transportation is critical for both urban and rural residents, noting Missouri’s $88 billion agricultural industry is the state’s top industry.

Meantime, Chairman Libla says the heavily-traveled stretch of Highway 50 between California and Sedalia in mid-Missouri needs to be four-laned. He says it’s similar to some highways in his sprawling district.

“It’s two-lane, you have some people wanting to drive the speed limit, you have some who want to drive 15 mile (per hour) under it. And you get a lot of backup, people get impatient, so on and so forth,” Libla says.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) included the Highway 50 project from California to Sedalia in the August 2014 ballot measure known as Amendment 7, which was defeated at the polls. At that time, MoDOT estimated it would cost $122 million to four-lane that stretch.

MoDOT also notes that the central district planning partners have identified the next segment of Highway 50 as an unfunded priority. The segment, which is from California to Tipton, would cost about $44 million.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, which was recorded at the State Fair in Sedalia on August 15, 2019:

Missouri lawmakers to tackle Medicaid expansion issue on Tuesday

October 7, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House subcommittee will hear testimony on the issue of Medicaid expansion Tuesday at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Steve Helms, R-Springfield

The House Subcommittee on Health Care Reform will hold Tuesday’s hearing at 12:30.

Subcommittee chairman Steve Helms, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet his committee aim is to improve access to health care and make it more affordable for Missourians. Helms says the subcommittee is looking at ways to reduce costs for individuals.

Helms also tells Missourinet the subcommittee will issue a report to the full committee.

Medicaid expansion has primarily been a party-line issue in the Legislature, and Republicans currently control the House 113-43.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, opposes Medicaid expansion, saying it would take dollars out of the classroom. He notes it would require a ten percent match for the 90 percent draw down.

Speaker Haahr says Medicaid expansion “would blow a sizable hole in our general revenue budget,” because of the match.

Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, briefs Capitol reporters on September 11, 2019, along with Assistant Minority Leader Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis, and Minority Whip Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, shares Speaker Haahr’s position, because of the impact on the state budget.

House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, supports Medicaid expansion, saying 100,000 children have lost their Medicaid health care coverage. She says it’s an emergency.

Statistics provided by the state Department of Social Services (DSS) show the number of Missourians on Medicaid has decreased from 953,000 in August 2018 to 850,000 now.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, predicts state revenue will increase, if Medicaid expansion happens. Lavender is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Health, Mental Health and Social Services.

Lavender notes eight rural Missouri hospitals have closed in recent years.

Missouri’s Medicaid budget is now about one-third of the state’s approximately $29 billion operating budget.

Denial takes effect for daycare that wanted to open next to rural Missouri nursing home with sex offenders

October 6, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The state has rejected an application from a proposed daycare in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia that would have been 12 feet from a nursing home with numerous sex offenders.

State Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Dardenne Prairie (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communication}

A daycare facility called Lil Mouse wanted to open next to the nursing home. State Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) spokeswoman Lisa Cox told Missourinet on Friday that DHSS has denied the application, and Lil Mouse did not appeal. Because of that, the denial has become effective.

The controversy drew the attention of state lawmakers at the Missouri Capitol in April, when Four Seasons Living Center lobbyist Jack Dalton testified before the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee. Dalton noted the daycare wanted to open next to his nursing home, which has 17 registered sex offenders.

“Our response was ‘you got to be kidding me,’ Dalton testified in April. “That’s where you want to put children that you’re charged with taking care of?”

Dalton told stunned lawmakers in April that the daycare would have been 12 feet from his nursing home.

“And you’re going to build a swing set and a playground next door to this? And we’re not talking about across the street, we’re talking about across the sidewalk,” Dalton said in April.

Dalton testified that day that some of the 17 sex offenders who live at the Sedalia facility “may be more aggressive.”

During the April hearing, Dalton also called on state lawmakers to approve a bill that would give DHSS the clear authority to deny an application for a daycare license if it would be located within 1,000 feet of where registered sex offenders live or receive treatment.

State Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Dardenne Prairie, sponsored the 2019 bill. Dalton testified for Representative Hicks’ bill, which did not pass.

Thousands heading to rural Missouri town for popular apple festival

October 4, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

More than 30,000 people are expected to attend this weekend’s 40th annual Olde Tyme Apple Festival in mid-Missouri’s Versailles.

The Olde Tyme Apple Festival celebrates the fall harvest. This is Doris Hilty, innkeeper at Hilty Bed and Breakfast in Versailles (2018 file photo courtesy of Beenders-Walker Group)

The readers of “Rural Missouri” magazine have voted the Olde Tyme Apple Festival as the best annual festival in Missouri. Versailles has about 2,400 residents.

It commemorates the traditional fall apple harvest in the Versailles area. People drive from across Missouri to attend the festival, which includes treats like fresh-baked apple pies, apple dumplings and caramel apples.

The event begins Friday evening at 6 in downtown Versailles, with the apple dumplin’ and darlin’ contest.

Saturday’s events include a pancake breakfast from 6:30 to 9 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the numerous vendor booths open at 9 a.m. The Olde Tyme Apple Festival parade starts at 10 a.m. at the Morgan County R-II school, and there will also be a marching band contest. There will also be live music on Saturday, and a car show that goes all day.

Sunday’s events include a community worship service and a noon three-person scramble golf tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club.

Click here for the entire schedule of events.

Train service across north Missouri suspended, after Brunswick railroad bridge collapse

October 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

(News director Bob Ehle at Missourinet Moberly affiliate KWIX contributed to this story)

Norfolk Southern has suspended freight train service between northern Missouri’s Moberly and Kansas City, because of the collapse of the heavily-traveled railroad bridge over the Grand River in Brunswick.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)

Brunswick is a farming community, between Carrollton and Moberly.

The bridge washed out Tuesday evening, after a debris strike caused by heavy rain. Brunswick emergency management director Brent Dickerson tells our Moberly affiliate KWIX (AM 1230) that trains could be re-routed.

“I did talk to one of the (train) engineers and I believe that they’re trying to run the railroad tracks from like Mexico, Missouri around to a different rail just north of Marshall, between here and Marshall,” Dickerson says.

There were no injuries in the collapse. Chariton County authorities have set up barricades, to keep boaters away from the area.

“A lot of decisions to be made with the bridge, do they go up (or) down, do they move it a little bit or what,” says Dickerson. “The city is trying to work the best they can trying to keep everything open for them or if we need to close streets or whatever we need to do.”

Brunswick marine access remains closed for safety reasons. The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris helped cause the bridge to collapse. The logjam collapsed the train tracks.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.

Kehoe: “We’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response” on transportation (AUDIO)

October 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The state’s lieutenant governor says Missourians will have to decide whether a gasoline tax increase is needed.

Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe (left) and Governor Mike Parson wave to supporters at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park on September 23, 2019 (photo courtesy of Kehoe campaign)

Missouri’s 17-cent gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996. Last November, voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase.

At his campaign announcement last week at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park, Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) told the audience that a long-term solution is needed for transportation. Missourinet asked him that night if a gas tax increase is on the table. Kehoe says Missourians will have to decide that.

“As you know, our Hancock Amendment prohibits the Legislature from coming up with that solution, that’s probably a good thing most days,” Kehoe says. “So we’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response.”

Missourians approved the Hancock Amendment in 1980. It’s named after the late Springfield businessman Mel Hancock, who was elected to Congress several years later. The Hancock Amendment essentially requires voter approval before taxes can be increased by lawmakers, beyond a certain annual limit.

Kehoe says a long-term solution is needed, for the safety of Missouri families and for the reliability of our businesses.

“When you have the (nation’s) seventh-largest infrastructure system and you’re 49th in funding, it doesn’t take long to figure out you need a long-term solution. We’re all willing to listen to what Missourians think is the most reasonable approach to that, and then we’ll figure it out,” says Kehoe.

Lieutenant Governor Kehoe campaigned for Proposition D, the proposed gas tax increase, last fall. He spoke in September 2018 at the 84th annual Missouri Municipal League (MML) conference in Branson.

“What the mayors here (at the Branson conference) understand is they couldn’t run their city budgets and Missourians couldn’t run their household budgets if they didn’t have any extra income for 22 years straight,” Kehoe said that day.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has said that if voters had approved Proposition D, it would have generated about $288 million annually in new road and bridge funding.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, which was recorded on September 23, 2019 at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park: