Top Stories:  Police in Kansas City arrested a pair of suspects early this morning after a standoff that lasted nearly 11 hours.  The standoff ended just before 2 a.m. after it started when police saw people wanted for a crime in a vehicle and one of them ran into a residence.  And police say a drug deal gone bad lead to a man being pistol-whipped, robbed and locked in a bathroom at a park in Brentwood near St. Louis yesterday.  Officers say the drug seller then got into the buyer’s car and drove off. \

Top Stories:  Doctors say a seven-year-old boy from Independence near Kansas City is doing better than expected after being attacked by another boy at an apartment complex.  WDAF reports the child could take three years to recover from his injuries which will require skin grafts.  And the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis County might be one for the record books.  Law enforcement officials tasked with keeping crowds safe estimated there were at least 55,000 people at Bellerive yesterday.

The Missouri Farm Bureau endorsed Attorney General Josh Hawley for the United States Senate Friday.

Josh Hawley – R – with reporters after speaking to the Missouri Farm Bureau 8-10-2018

In a statement, the organization said the Columbia Republican understands the threat that increased regulation poses for Missouri farmers.

Both Hawley and Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill addressed Farm Bureau members at a gathering in Jefferson City prior to the announcement.

Hawley won the endorsement of the state’s largest agricultural organization by an overwhelming 82-4 margin in a vote of its trustees.  Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst said Hawley had worked in the best interests of farmers against potent outside opposition.

“Josh Hawley has continuously proven his leadership and dedication to the people of Missouri by taking on ‘the big and the powerful,’ but even better, he has proven he is dedicated to protecting our farms and family businesses,” said Hurst. “He is a proven leader and will be a tremendous addition to the U.S. Senate.”

Hawley may have sealed his endorsement in the first few minutes of his speech.  In its statement, the Bureau praised him for bringing litigation against the Waters of the United States rule and a California law restricting egg sales.  Hawley mentioned both lawsuits as being among his accomplishments in Missouri state government.

Senator Claire McCaskill – D – with reporters after speaking to the Missouri Farm Bureau 8-10-2018

President Trump’s administration discontinued the Waters of the U.S. rule under former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt in January.

Hawley led a dozen states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the California law which requires any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in cages.  California voters approved a ballot measure in 2008 requiring the specific treatment of chickens, which gave farmers until 2015 to comply.  That lawsuit is ongoing.

The Farm Bureau’s overwhelming embrace of Hawley also may have to do with a strained association between Senator McCaskill and the organization.  Bureau President Hurst told Missourinet Friday that McCaskill never returns his calls and that he and the organization don’t have a good relationship with her.

Strains in their association may have been reflected in McCaskill’s opening remarks before the group where she stated she had been repeatedly asked why she was bothering to speak to them.  She also said she had been told by advisors to bypass the event.

The two-term Senator noted that six years ago she ran against a candidate that had never voted for a farm bill, yet he still got the endorsement of the Farm Bureau, referring to former Republican Congressman Todd Aikin.

Before taking questions from the audience, McCaskill told the farm bureau members that President Trump is hurting farmers through his tariffs and rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

“The damage that is being done to Missouri agriculture is inexcusable,” said McCaskill.  “This is not temporary pain.  This is permanent damage to markets.”

Hawley mentioned that President Trump had encouraged him to run for the Senate seat and often aligned himself with the administration’s priority of deregulation.  At one point, he promised to break apart federal agencies such as the EPA.

“We need to completely and fundamentally rewrite the administrative state’s ability to put rules on you and on our farmers all across the state,” Hawley said.  “Dismantling this unelected bureaucracy will be one of my top priorities if I’m elected.”

Hawley made several other bold pronouncements to the gathered group of farmers.  He said he would attempt to abolish the Senate practice of allowing filibusters while criticizing McCaskill and her Democratic colleagues for blocking President Trump’s nominees for government posts.

He also criticized McCaskill for failing to endorse a plan from the Trump administration to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census.  “If we don’t ask who is a citizen and who’s not, we’re going to lose electoral votes and political clout in this state to California, and to these other states,” said Hawley.  “I don’t know how a Senator from Missouri can support that position.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is currently suing the Trump administration, arguing that the question would make noncitizens reluctant to participate in the census.

Hawley also defended President Trumps tariffs as he has while campaigning across the state recently.  The Audience of Missouri farmers did not respond negatively to that support as have other farmers, including at some McCaskill campaign stops.

Farm Bureau members chose to quiz McCaskill about her opposition to the tariffs.  McCaskill defended the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in response to one member’s claim that nothing has worked to make China trade fairly with the U.S.

“TPP was close, because do you know what TPP was going to do?  It was going to cut China out and it was going to give us a dominant standing in Asia,” said McCaskill.  “And guess what China is doing now?  Trying to get into TPP because we got out.”

McCaskill defended herself when criticized over her vote against Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch and said she would ask the current nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, about dark money, health care protections and corporate consolidation.

She said $50-$70 million of dark money would be spent on the Senate race, acknowledging that a portion of it would be directed to help her campaign.

Hawley stressed the importance of building the border wall President Trump has demanded.  He fielded one critical question about the need for migrant farm workers, which he said could be addressed through the country’s visa program.

Both Hawley and McCaskill were given a half hour to speak to and interact with Missouri Farm Bureau members.  Trustees who were selected by their county farm bureau associations then voted resoundingly to endorse Hawley.

Top Stories:  The Country Club Plaza shopping center in Kansas City is now a “no ride zone” for Bird Scooters.  KMBC reports the ban was issued at the request of Plaza management over the electric sidewalk scooters for rent that are showing up in cities around the country.  And a man was arrested last night in connection to a murder that occurred on Sunday In Springfield.  KOLR reports that sheriff’s deputies assisted police and the U.S. Marshall in the arrest of the suspected in the killing of 32-year-old Marcus Gilbert.

Both Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Josh Hawley face handicaps that could hamper them heading into November’s U.S. Senate election.

Senator Claire McCaskill, D, speaks at her Columbia campaign headquarters August 7th, 2018

They both face challenges that could be seen as shortcomings.  Hawley is an inexperienced politician, having been elected to his first public office as state Attorney General in 2016.  McCaskill, who calls herself the underdog, is a vulnerable Democrat in a heavily Republican state.

Further complicating the battle is a trade war that’s impacting Missouri’s farmers and manufacturers.  The price of soybeans has dropped 20% since President Trump imposed tariffs on China.  His administration announced $12 billion in aid to farmers last month to help offset their losses, but no funds have been disbursed yet and it’s not known if the money would be sufficient.

Some Missouri manufacturers have also expressed vocal displeasure with the 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminum.  Mid Continent Nail Corporation in Poplar Bluff has laid off 78 temporary employees and faces complete closure in September due to the trade war.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the state could lose $880 million because of the tariffs.

McCaskill opposes the tariffs and is routinely visiting publicly with farmers and manufacturers who have been complaining about the tariffs.

Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Josh Hawley

Hawley has been vigorously supporting the tariffs and says the President should continue to press forward to force China into a better trade deal with the U.S.

Missouri’s Republican Senator Roy Blunt who sides with President Trump’s position 96% of the time, joined 87 other Senators including McCaskill last month in voting to condemn the tariffs.

Hawley has been endorsed by President Trump, who stumped for him at a Veterans of Foreign Wars event in Kansas City last month.  He could be in the difficult position of balancing the interests of Missouri farmers and manufacturers while not wavering on support for President Trump’s policies.

After being conspicuously missing at speech President Trump gave in Springfield in August of last year, Hawley wrote opinion piece published by Fox News supporting Trump’s tax-cut initiative that Congress eventually passed.  Hawley has since refused to criticize any move or comment made by Trump.

McCaskill’s biggest problem in the upcoming election is the fact that she’s a Democrat.  Trump carried the state by 19 points in the same 2016 election in which all five statewide offices in play were swept by Republicans.

McCaskill often points out that she breaks with the Democratic Party on a number of issues and stresses that she works across the aisle.  While speaking at a campaign gathering in Columbia Tuesday, she said compromise is an important part of the U.S. democracy.  “We’ve got to hold the middle, find things we can agree on that will make your lives better,” said McCaskill.

McCaskill is considered by a number of national political experts to be one of the most, if not the most vulnerable Democratic Senator running for reelection this year in a state carried by Trump.

Her prospects in 2012 were also thought to be dim.  That year, McCaskill spent $1.7 million on a “dog whistle” ad using reverse psychology, telling voters not to vote for the ultra-conservative Todd Aiken, in an effort to aid him in securing the Republican nomination.  The effort was successful, and Aiken imploded in the general election after indicating in a statement that women can’t get pregnant from being raped.

This year, McCaskill is faced with the obstacle of having to choose whether to support the President’s Supreme Court nominee, Bret Kavanaugh, with a Senate confirmation vote likely to take place just before November’s election.

She voted against Trump’s previous high bench choice, Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed last year.  Hawley has been pressing McCaskill to announce whether she’ll back Kavanaugh.  The former Missouri State Auditor has said she’s meeting with Kavanaugh on August 21st and said she’ll decide after that point.

As far as finances go heading toward the election, Hawley has had a much tougher time raising money.

For the Senate race, his campaign had received roughly $5.3 million and had almost $3 million cash on hand at the end of the last reporting period in mid-July.  During the same time period, McCaskill raised almost $21 million, spent nearly $15 million and had about $6.65 million on hand.

Hawley has said more than 80% of McCaskill’s financing comes from out of state while McCaskill claims outside dark money sources are spending $10 for every $1 Hawley spends on his election.

Top Stories: Mark Mantovani, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary for St. Louis County Executive to incumbent Steve Stenger, says he won’t challenge the outcome.  But in a letter, he said his campaign believes there are enough outstanding and uncounted provisional ballots that could change the results.  And 85% of the topsoil in Missouri is currently rated short to very short of moisture, which is among the top three in the nation.  KMIZ reports the condition is a growing concern as the state continues to deal with one of the driest summers since 2012.