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Medical marijuana distribution outlined as advocates speak out

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There are several steps ahead before the implementation of legalized medical marijuana after Tuesday’s passage by Missouri voters of Amendment 2.

The election results still need to be certified by the Secretary of State’s office before the law will become official, which is expected to take place around December 6. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will then develop regulations to implement the law, which will need to be completed by June 2019.

Amendment 2 was the only one of three measures to go before voters Tuesday that allows for home grow of marijuana – six plants for an individual and 18 for a caregiver.  A $100 fee will be charged for an identification card to cultivate marijuana.

Commercial cultivation in indoor lighted facilities will be limited to 2,800 plants with a $10,000 application fee and an annual $25,000 license renewal fee. Commercial dispensaries will be charged a $6,000 application fee, plus a $10,000 annual renewal fee.

Missouri joined Utah in passing medical marijuana usage Tuesday.  Michigan became the 10th state to pass recreational marijuana.

Mother of cancer victim speaks out on medical marijuana

Amy Aldridge, a Cape Girardeau mother in southeast Missouri, said she would have moved mountains to give her daughter, Sahara, relief from cancer treatments and wishes she had medical marijuana as an option to do so.

“If my daughter were here, she would be excited to share this news to tell everybody there’s hope going forward. Maybe somebody wouldn’t have to suffer like she did,” said Aldridge.

Aldridge said her daughter Sahara had a heart for others and giving spirit. But, after a 17-month battle with cancer, she passed away at just 13-years-old.

“If you’re a parent watching your child and you can’t fix it, you’re going to do anything you can to try and help,” said Aldridge. “Because you would take that burden on yourself in a heartbeat just to get it off the back of your child.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for the first time in June, approved use of a cannabis-based medicine, one that is a chemical compound in the cannabis plant called cannabidiol, or CBD.

The Kansas City Medical Society released a statement in mid-October stating it does not believe legalization of medical marijuana is in the best interest of the public and their health.  It contends the current level of research on cannabis in medicine is inadequate.

Likewise, the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association and the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons have gone on record as opposing the medical proposals. In its statement, the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society said it “opposes such measures until the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reclassifies marijuana to allow for increased scientific research.

Aldridge said she did everything she could to help daughter Sahara with extreme nausea from cancer treatments.  “It’s brutal to watch your child suffer from very little relief from those symptoms,” said Aldridge.

So, that’s why she supports the legalization of medical marijuana in Missouri.

“Why not. Why not,” said Aldridge. “Why wouldn’t you give somebody the opportunity to not be so sick and not to feel so bad and not to suffer so much. If you could quell that nausea, that’s a quality of life issue. Cancer’s not going away unless we find a way to cure it. And until we cure it, we have to find ways to deal with it.”

In honor of Sahara, Aldridge said she will advocate for anything that helps both kids and adults with cancer.  “And on behalf of all parents who have children facing these treatments right now, this gives hope to help deal with what’s an awful diagnosis to be given,” said Aldridge.

Now that Amendment 2 passed, Aldridge also said she’s looking forward to seeing what can be done with medical marijuana to help cancer patients and the research that will come along with it.

(Missourinet media partner KFVS-TV provided this report with additional reporting from Missourinet’s Jason Taylor)

Wife of Missouri KKK leader changes story about who killed her husband

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Frank Ancona (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

The wife of murdered Ku Klux Klan leader Frank Ancona of southeast Missouri’s Leadwood is now claiming that her son is “innocent” and that she was the one who pulled the trigger on her husband in February 2017.

Malissa Ancona initially told police that her son, Paul Edward Jinkerson, Jr. of Belgrade, shot her husband with a 9mm handgun. Last year, she agreed to testify against him.

According to a report, a recent letter sent from jail by Malissa Ancona to Judge Wendy Wexler Horn, states that the killer was her. She goes on to further state that she was under the influence at the time she spoke with detectives and couldn’t recall what exactly happened the night of the murder.

Both Mrs. Ancona and Jinkerson face charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

Malissa Ancona’s case has been set for April 2019 while Jinkerson’s will be held in May.

Courtesy of Missourinet affiliate KREI in Farmington

Missouri man accused of using stun gun on children

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Missouri man accused of using stun gun on children

A man from northwest Missouri’s Galt man has turned himself in on suspicion of using a stun gun to shock the children. The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office reports that Michael Lee King, 39, faces a felony charge of abuse or neglect of a child.

Court documents accuse him of causing children less than 18 years of age to suffer physical injury as a result of abuse by using a stun gun to shock children.

King’s bond is $15,000 cash only. He is scheduled for the Associate Division of circuit court November 13th.

Story is courtesy of Missourinet affiliate KTTN in Trenton

Missouri Midterm election report – end of election night (AUDIO)

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Voters supported the “Clean Missouri” amendment to the state constitution, but it’s likely to face a legal challenge. Brian Hauswirth and Bob Priddy discuss that and more as the Missourinet team wraps up an evening of live coverage of the 2018 midterm election.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway rallies to possibly retain her seat and is the only Democrat in statewide office once again. Missourians also voted to  increase the minimum wage and to legalize medical marijuana.

 

Listen to report:

 

 

Workers at struggling SE Missouri nail factory have message for President Trump

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President Trump touted his steel tariffs at his rally Thursday night in mid-Missouri’s Columbia, saying, “Billions of dollars will be flowing into our coffers.”

Workers at a struggling nail factory in southeast Missouri’s Poplar Bluff say they can not make it to the President’s rally 75 miles down the road in Cape Girardeau Monday, but they still want a chance to convince him to save their jobs.

Mid Continent Steel & Wire has lost close to 200 employees and more than 70 percent of its sales since the President’s steel tariffs took effect June 1.

Operations General Manager Chris Pratt says the company has completed every step in the tariff exclusion process but they’re still waiting on a response from the U.S. Commerce Department.

Pratt believes the nail factory is the “poster child” for exclusions and he wants the opportunity to prove it to the President face to face.  “We are not stopping,” Pratt said. “We’re going to fight this until the end. That is what I’d want to say to him. I’d want to bring my papers. I want to bring my evidence. You’re going to know from everything that we show you that we are the best case for exclusions and you’ll sign it and I want to be the guy to hand you the pen.”

Pratt also says the promises made to him and other nail factory employees is going to play a big factor in how he votes during the midterm elections next week.

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill visited the plant in June.

Republican Congressman Jason Smith, whose district includes the nail factory, has remains and enthusiastic an vocal supporter of the President and his trade policies.

(KFVS-TV contributed this report)

AAA: Death rate climbs 51% when teen drivers have teen passengers

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For years, the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States has been car crashes. But new data suggests the risk to teen drivers increases even more when they have passengers around their own age in the car.

AAA: Death rate climbs 51% when teen drivers have teen passengers

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds that when a teen driver has teen passengers in the car, the fatality rate for everyone involved in a crash climbs to 51%. In contrast, when older passengers (35 or older) ride with a teen driver, overall fatality rates decline by 8%.

“It’s kind of scary when you think about that and I just think these alarming stats just to go show how much parents and role models need to do a better job of setting a better example behind the wheel,” AAA spokeswoman Tiffany Wright says.

Wight says parents can make little changes that can make a big difference in keeping their teen drivers safe.

“Allow no more than one non-family passenger under the age of 20 to ride with that teen driver, maybe during the first six months of driving,” she says. “Practice with them. Practice driving with them in low-risk situations and gradually move up to situations that are a little more complex, we’re talking about highways, driving at night.”

Other suggestions offered by TeenDrivingAAA.com:
— Require teens to log at least 100 hours of supervised practice driving with a parent before driving solo.
— Use slightly different routes each practice session.
— Practice adjusting speed based on three factors: visibility, on-road traffic and different road conditions.
—Let your actions speak as loud as your words. Kids are always watching, even when you think they’re not. If you buckle up, they are more likely to buckle up, and if you speed, they will speed.

By Renee Sexton of South Carolina Radio Network

Missouri Rabbi reacts to mass shooting at synagogue in Pittsburgh

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Saturday’s shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh is hitting close to home for Jewish people in the Show-Me State.  News of the tragedy affected congregants at Temple Israel in southwest Missouri’s Rogersville.

Temple Israel in Rogersville (Image courtesy of KOLR-TV)

Rabbi Barbara Block told KOLR-TV last weekend’s attack will mean reviewing the synagogue’s security measures to help ensure that what happened in Pittsburgh doesn’t happen in Rogersville.  “To hear that a Jewish synagogue was attacked during a worship service and to hear that the killer yelled ‘all Jews must die’ of course hits close to home. It was horrifying to learn of,” says Rabbi Barbara Block.

One day after the shooting in Pittsburgh, Rabbi Block had to stand strong for her congregants during their Sunday service at Temple Israel.  “We don’t stop with sadness and grief, we recognize that we need to continue working to make the world a better place,” says Rabbi Block.

It’s a world that Rabbi Block believes is torn apart because of political tension and rhetoric she partially blames for the attack on innocent people worshipping.  “The divided political climate in this country has I believe contributed to a rise in overt acts against people who are different from the mainstream,” said Block.

Rabbi Block knows what it’s like to have parents who are different. They fled Austria to the United States during The Holocaust in hopes of escaping persecution; never imagining the murder of Jewish people would happen in America too.   “My parents were fortunate in that they were able to come to this country and the idea that the kind of hatred has arisen here is very disturbing,” Block said.

While Rabbi Block knows there’s no single solution to the violent racism in this country, she says a good start is to look past a person’s appearance and search their heart.  “I know that this man believed that Jews need to be killed and he was learning from websites and the white supremacists and I think, ‘What if he had gotten to know someone Jewish?  Might that have changed what happened?” says Rabbi Block.

Temple Israel in  Rogersville will be celebrating a milestone, its 125th anniversary this upcoming Sunday.

(Missourinet contributor KOLR-TV contributed this report)