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Mid-Missouri officers describe Operation T.O.Y.S. as a great event (AUDIO)

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About 100 law enforcement officers from nine agencies participated in the recent Operation T.O.Y.S. event in Jefferson City, where they took underprivileged children Christmas shopping.

101 underprivileged children in mid-Missouri participated in the Operation T.O.Y.S. event on December 15, 2018 in Jefferson City (Brian Hauswirth photo)

Operation T.O.Y.S. stands for “Take our youth shopping”. Jefferson City Police officer Les Martin, who coordinates the event, says 101 mid-Missouri children were selected.

“It was a big frenzy of fun, happiness and it brings tears to your eyes because you get to help those in need,” Martin says. “And really how better of a way that we can give back to our community than to give back to our kids.”

The convoy of police vehicles transporting the children to Walmart East on Saturday morning was more than one mile long on Highway 50.

Community donations funded the event, which included Santa Claus and McGruff. Officer Martin notes each child was able to purchase $150 in gifts at the Walmart.

“And each officer knows that if you go over that allotted amount, it’s going to come out of their (the officers) pocket. They do it freely, they always do it because they love the kids and they want to have fun,” says Martin.

Martin describes it as the “gift of giving.” A Missourinet reporter observed many of the children buying for their brothers, sisters and parents. Some of the children lacked winter coats and gloves, and bought those items.

Nine law enforcement agencies participated in the event, including Jefferson City and Holts Summit Police, along with Cole County Sheriff’s deputies. Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler, who also brought the Sheriff’s Posse, describes it as an awesome event.

“I never have a problem with getting volunteers for this, I never have an issue with getting volunteers for this program, so it’s really a good deal,” Wheeler says.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol also participated, along with Capitol Police, Lincoln University Police and officers from the Algoa, Jefferson City and Tipton Correctional Centers.

Sheriff Wheeler also thanks Central Bank and Walmart for their assistance.

 

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Jefferson City Police officer Les Martin, which was recorded on December 15, 2018 at Walmart East in Jefferson City:

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler, which was recorded on December 15, 2018 at Walmart East in Jefferson City:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Six months later, struggling Missouri company still awaits federal answers

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Mid Continent Nail Corporation in southeast Missouri Poplar Bluff has been waiting for the U.S. Commerce Department to make decisions on its exemption requests filed six months ago. The exclusions involve President Trump’s 25 percent tariff on foreign steel. Mid Continent gets its steel from its own parent company in Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Mid Continent Nail Corp.

Since the tariffs began in June, the nail factory has slashed some 200 jobs and business declined almost immediately by about 75 percent.

Mid Continent launched in 1987 and is one of the largest employers in Butler County and the second largest one in Poplar Bluff. Nine out of the state’s ten poorest counties are in southeast Missouri.

The company – the last major U.S. nail manufacturer – says soaring costs from the steel tariffs have raised the price of the raw materials it uses to make nails. The increased prices have steered customers to find cheaper nails in China, Taiwan, India and elsewhere.

The U.S. Commerce Department has slowly answered exemption requests – leaving the future of many of U.S. companies, including Mid Continent, in a troubling state.

Some Missouri lawmakers have urged the Trump Administration to quickly grant exemptions to the plant, but whatever pressure has been applied has not led to a successful conclusion thus far.

Poplar Bluff is located in Trump land. In 2016, the Republican president won Butler County by 79%.

During a stop in Kansas City this year, President Trump defended his trade approach by pleading for the public to “be a little patient” and contended that farmers would eventually be “the biggest beneficiary”.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri state offices to be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

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Missouri’s governor has signed an executive order that closes most state offices on Christmas Eve, which is Monday.

Governor Mike Parson signs an executive order closing most Missouri state offices on Christmas Eve (November 30, 2018 photo courtesy of the governor’s office)

Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, says he signed the executive order “so that our state employees will have time to celebrate and be with their loved ones.” The governor is also asking Missourians to pause to reflect on the important relationships in their lives.

The executive order closes most state offices on Christmas Eve, with the exception of emergency services such as the Missouri State Highway Patrol and prisons.

There are state offices in all 114 Missouri counties and in St. Louis City. More than 14,000 state employees work in Cole County, making state government the largest employer in Jefferson City.

Christmas Day, which is Tuesday, is also a Missouri state holiday.

Governor Parson signed the executive order on November 30. Here is his full statement: “As we begin the Christmas season with the lighting of the People’s Mansion, let us take time to rejoice, give thanks, and help those in need. May we also pause to reflect in the important relationships that we have in our lives. For it is our family and friends close to our hearts who make this a joyful season. With Christmas Eve falling on a Monday, I have signed Executive Order 18-11 declaring state offices to be closed on December 24, 2018, so that our state employees will have time to celebrate and be with their loved ones. From my family to yours, we wish everyone peace, joy, goodwill, and a very Merry Christmas.”

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

MU and Kansas City nonprofit offer $40 million scholarship program

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The University of Missouri and a Kansas City-based nonprofit have announced a $40 million scholarship program.

University of Missouri in Columbia

The new funding will support 800 additional scholarships at MU over the next several years, each worth $10,000 per year for up to five years, to Kansas City area students.

KC Scholars will contribute $20 million, while MU and the University of Missouri System will contribute $10 million each, for a total commitment of $40 million. KC Scholars was launched in 2016 by the Kauffman Foundation, an enterprise of the late Kansas City entrepreneur and Royals baseball team owner Ewing Kauffman.

The first students to benefit from the arrangement will enroll at the University of Missouri in Columbia in fall 2019. They applied earlier this year and were eligible but will only now receive the scholarships with the funding in place.

The new announcement is in keeping with the UM System’s Promise and Opportunity Scholarships program. Last September, UM System President Mun Choi announced that the system would invest $75 million in Promise and Opportunity Scholarships.

Choi thinks the partnership with KC Scholars is beneficial to MU and to students who are seeking scholarships. “We have been focused on creating pathways to success for students and stakeholders who want to invest in the University of Missouri,” Choi said. “The system’s investment in the KC Scholars program is another way for us to provide more opportunities for talented students to achieve their full potential.”

In order to qualify for the KC Scholars traditional scholarship, students must be juniors in high schools in one of six counties in the Kansas City region, have at least a 2.5 GPA and supply a financial need for additional support. The counties included are Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and Platte, Clay, Cass and Jackson counties in Missouri.

KC Scholars currently awards approximately 500 college scholarships annually to attend one of 17 partner colleges and universities in Missouri and Kansas, including MU.  46 KC Scholars awardees are enrolled at MU, the largest proportion of KC Scholars students at any college or university.

MU Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright thinks the partnership will enhance the ability of financially challenged students to gain access to scholarships. “KC Scholars works hard to provide financial assistance to students who want to attend college, and this partnership will ensure that even more students who qualify for KC Scholars will benefit from this important effort,” Cartwright said. We are dedicated to our pursuit of eliminating financial barriers for students from Missouri and the Kansas City region who want to come to Mizzou.”

Terry Bassham is president and CEO of Evergy, the holding company that owns the utilities Kansas City Power & Light and Topeka, Kansas based Westar Energy. Bassham, who is also a KC Scholars board member, notes the partnership will help strengthen the supply of qualified workers in the region. “The Kansas City-area business community recognizes that it goes a long way to help fill the workforce pipeline our economy desperately needs, said Bassham. “I am confident the region’s philanthropic community will step up to match MU’s $20 million.”

 

Columbia business leaders concerned about potential massive I-70 traffic backups near Rocheport bridge

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The Columbia Chamber of Commerce president is worried about the potential for massive traffic backups on I-70 in mid-Missouri, after the failure of Proposition D’s ten-cent gasoline tax increase in November.

A crew member inspects the I-70 Rocheport bridge in mid-Missouri (2018 file photo courtesy of MoDOT’s Sally Oxenhandler)

Columbia Chamber President Matt McCormick gasped, when he heard Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) director Patrick McKenna say Thursday that rehabilitation of the I-70 Rocheport bridge will cause three-hour backups “on a good day” and 25-mile backups to Kingdom City “on a bad day.”

“And I think that’s part of the challenge we have is the general public sometimes does not see those numbers and always hear those numbers,” McCormick tells Missourinet. “And it’s hard to put that in context also until you sit in one of those backups.”

Because of Proposition D’s defeat, MoDOT says it only has funding for a $15 million rehabilitation of the more than 3,000 foot long bridge, which was built in 1960. The agency says it would cost about $200 million to replace the bridge.

McCormick and other Columbia business leaders express concern about the impact of three to eight-hour traffic backups on I-70, when the Rocheport bridge is rehabilitated. The project is expected to start in about 2020.

“What that does to the possibility of those backups and what does that do to a community and how far people have to go to get around these things, and how hurtful that can be to your economy,” says McCormick.

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce, along with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of business and labor organizations, supported Proposition D.

McCormick describes I-70 as a “focal point” of business as well as moving goods and services across the nation.

Transportation is expected to be a key issue again during the 2019 legislative session, which begins on January 9 in Jefferson City.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

MoDOT director: rehabbing mid-Missouri bridge will cause three to eight-hour backups on I-70 (AUDIO)

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The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) director warned Thursday in Columbia about future massive traffic backups on I-70 in mid-Missouri, after the failure of a ten-cent gasoline tax increase on the November ballot.

Crews make repairs on the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge (2018 file photo courtesy of MoDOT’s Sally Oxenhandler)

MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna says the agency only has funding for a $15 million rehabilitation on the I-70 Rocheport bridge. He says that will mean lane closures for seven to nine months and three-hour backups on a “good day”, and 25-mile backups to Kingdom City on a “bad day.”

The rehabilitation is scheduled to begin in about 2020.

“The Rocheport bridge is over 3,000 feet long,” McKenna says. “This is an extraordinarily large and valuable transportation move across, it’s one of the touchpoints in the national infrastructure.”

McKenna says the bridge, which was built in 1960, should be replaced.

Missourians rejected the November ballot measure, called Proposition D, by about 173,000 votes. During the campaign, McKenna had said Proposition D was crucial for Missouri, adding that MoDOT has about $8 billion in unfunded needs.

McKenna also warned about the backups in October, during a speech in Jefferson City.

McKenna addressed several dozen business leaders and reporters Thursday at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce headquarters.

Business leaders, including Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Matt McCormick, gasped when they heard McKenna warn about the three to eight-hour backups.

McKenna says MoDOT doesn’t have the $200 million needed to replace the bridge, due to the Proposition D’s failure. He says the Rocheport bridge needs what is currently happening at the Champ Clark bridge in northeast Missouri – replacement.

“We’re about halfway through the complete reconstruction of that (Clark bridge), and what you’re seeing is what we ought to be doing with Rocheport. We ought to be building a replacement right next to it, getting the remaining service life out of the existing bridge,” says McKenna.

The Champ Clark bridge, which is in Louisiana, is 90 years old. As for the Rocheport bridge, McKenna has said it’s scheduled to receive its fourth rehabilitation in about 2020.

Transportation will likely be a key issue again during the 2019 session. Outgoing Missouri House Majority Caucus Chair Glen Kolkmeyer, R-Odessa, told Missourinet this month that talks had been happening “behind the scenes.”

Click here to listen to Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Director Patrick McKenna brief mid-Missouri reporters, including Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth, at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce on December 13, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

AAA rep: Missouri gas tax proposal’s ‘bait and switch’ language might have led to its demise

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The language could have led to the failure of November’s proposed fuel tax increase, according to AAA spokesman Mike Right. He tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly that Proposition D would have boosted the fuel tax by two and a half cents annually over four years.

Photo courtesy of MODOT

“A lot of people that I spoke with that actually voted no were concerned about the way the proposition was worded,” Right says. “Otherwise, they had no problem with the gas tax increase in terms of their additional spend or the need to have additional revenue. Their concern was a bait and switch.”

The measure asked voters if Olympic medals should be tax exempt for Missourians who win them and it would also have helped to fund State Patrol enforcement efforts.

He thinks the Legislature will make highway funding a key issue in the upcoming legislative session.

“We lost the election to increase the motor fuel tax at the November election, but that doesn’t solve the problem. We still have hundreds of millions of dollars of unmet needs in our Missouri highway system and they have to be addressed,” he says. “The Legislature can do some incremental things, but it’s not likely to have any dramatic impact on the overwhelming needs of the highway system.”

He says lawmakers could also choose to reword the ballot language and put the issue back before Missouri voters.

The session begins January 9 in Jefferson City.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Survey: 17% of Missouri businesses to add workers in first quarter of 2019

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Many Missouri businesses plan to add workers over the first three months of 2019. That’s according to a new survey by staffing firm ManpowerGroup. Spokesman Dave Wheeler says 17-percent of Missouri businesses expect to hire new employees between January and March.

Survey: 17% of Missouri businesses to add workers in first quarter of 2019

“As you compare that to fourth quarter of 2018, our current period, we were projected at 15 percent growth and we are going up to a 17 percent growth for fourth quarter,” Wheeler says.

Another 75 percent of Missouri employers say they plan to maintain current staffing levels over the first quarter of next year.

“This number is only offset by six percent of employers who plan to reduce payroll,” he says.

More than 12,500 businesses nationwide participated in the survey.

By Pat Curtis of Radio Iowa

Missouri GOP Senator alarmed by ‘right to work’ bill making quick return after major defeat

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In the August primary election, Missourians overwhelmingly opposed a “right to work” measure that would have banned workers from having to join a union as a condition of employment. State Senator Gary Romine, R-Farmington, says he’s disappointed his fellow Republicans and the governor are bringing back a “right to work” bill next year.

Senator Gary Romine, R-Farmington

“It’s frustrating because the citizens did speak in an astounding way – beating it by close to 70 percent. That’s a strong statement by the will of the people,” Romine tells Missourinet affiliate KREI in Farmington. “I’m disappointed that we’re going to be having to deal with this issue again.”

State Senator-elect Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, has filed the bill. He has filed similar measures during his previous days in the Missouri House of Representatives. Supporters of such laws contend that such labor regulations would improve Missouri’s economy and create jobs.

Opponents say a “right to work” law would lower wages for all Missourians, not just union workers. Romine, whose district includes a large number of union workers, has opposed making “right to work” the law of the land.

“I think the voice of the people is going to be very important at this point that they call their legislators,” says Romine. “It’s going to have to be interaction between the people and the legislators.”

A report by KSDK-TV in St. Louis says staff members in Governor Mike Parson’s office, including Policy Director Kayla Hahn, started looking at options before the August Right to Work ballot measure was rejected by voters. The TV station says it obtained nearly 80 pages of often redacted documents through an open records request that spell out the plans.

KSDK reports that one day before the August election, Hahn emailed Parson’s Chief of Staff Aaron Willard to discuss how municipalities in other states have passed local “right to work” statutes. She also provided links to “model ordinances” developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization funded by the Koch network that crafts legislation for mostly Republicans to introduce at the state and local level.

Nine days after the ballot measure was defeated, Governor Parson told reporters at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia that he would not make “right to work” a priority before the first of the year, saying, “The voters have spoken”.

The Missouri General Assembly will start a new session at the Capitol in Jefferson City on January 9 at noon.

Story written by Alisa Nelson, Jason Taylor and Missourinet affiliate KREI in Farmington

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Parson wants Missouri to be a national leader in preventing Medicaid fraud

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Missouri Governor Mike Parson, R, has announced the creation of a Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Task Force. He says safeguarding the integrity of the state’s Medicaid program is vital.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (at podium) announces the creation of a Medicaid fraud task force on December 7, 2018. Incoming Attorney General Eric Schmitt (left) and State Medicaid Director Todd Richardson (right) joined him (Brian Hauswirth photo)

The governor was joined at the Statehouse announcement on Friday by incoming Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, who says the program is intended for Missouri’s most vulnerable.

“Whether it’s the elderly veteran that’s receiving those (Medicaid) benefits or a disabled individual, it’s intended for them and it’s not intended for fraudsters. It’s not intended for criminals,” Schmitt says.

Missouri’s Medicaid program involves more than $10 billion of Missouri’s $28 billion operating budget.

Schmitt is expected to take over as attorney general on January 3.

The program, which is officially known as MO HealthNet, has a new director. Former House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, was appointed by Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) Director Steve Corsi, and began the new job on November 1.

Richardson says Governor Parson wants the Show-Me State to be a national leader in addressing Medicaid fraud. Richardson, who also participated in Friday’s announcement, says this will be an important part of his office’s efforts.

“Our responsibility as stewards of taxpayer dollars is to make sure that every single one of those tax dollars is being treated like we would treat our own,” says Richardson.

He reiterates his focus is on having a sustainable program that produces better health outcomes, rather than expanding the program. Richardson also emphasizes that preventing Medicaid fraud is a top priority.

“We intend to lead the nation in making sure that our Medicaid program has integrity, and that we are preventing and prosecuting every bit of fraud that happens in the system,” he says.

Missourinet asked Richardson if his office has enough investigators to look for Medicaid fraud. Richardson says they’ll be examining their resources, both in terms of people and technology.

Parson says task force members will work to find ways to prevent fraud through data analytics and deterrence measures.

About 935,000 Missourians are currently on Medicaid, and there are about 60,000 MO HealthNet-enrolled healthcare providers.

Outgoing Attorney General Josh Hawley says Medicaid fraud investigations have led to criminal charges in 29 cases during the past two years.

The Missouri Attorney General’s office has a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. You can report Medicaid fraud to that unit by calling 1-800-286-3932.

Copyright © 2018 Missourinet