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Trump cites national security concerns for considering tariffs on automakers. McCaskill calls the reason ‘a stretch’.

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President Donald Trump has set his sights on foreign automakers and auto parts for another round of potential tariffs. As part of Trump’s ongoing trade war, he cites national security threats for considering the tariffs. During a committee hearing this week in Washington, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, says she’s baffled by the Republican President’s reason.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill speaks to reporters at Missouri Farm Bureau headquarters in Jefferson City on August 10, 2018 (file photo from Jason Taylor)

“It’s a real head scratcher that this administration is doing this under 232 – national security. It seems to me that this is a stretch on national security,” she says.

McCaskill says the tariffs could backfire on Missouri because auto manufacturing plays a critical role here.

“We are a major auto hub in Missouri. We have over 10,000 members of UAW employed at General Motors, Ford and Toyota. We are the birthplace of the Ford- 150, which we are very proud of, along with the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon. 167,000 is the estimate of workers we have in Missouri associated with the manufacturing of automobiles—so it is a big deal to my state how we handle this,” says McCaskill. “So far, these tariffs are impacting farmers in my state, workers in my state, and consumers in my state—all negatively.”

Of the latest $200 billion in tariffs, McCaskill says the trade war has already cost Missouri jobs and hurt farmers and ranchers.

“I don’t understand why we’d dramatically escalate it,” she says.

McCaskill has sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce relaying concerns that Missouri manufacturing and agriculture leaders raised during a roundtable she held this month in St. Louis.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Richardson and Mitten pleased with Missouri Legislature’s special session

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There is bipartisan praise from Missouri House leaders about the Legislature’s passage of two key bills during the special session.

State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, speaks about STEM education on the Missouri House floor on September 12, 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The bills involve expanding treatment courts and STEM education.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, says both are important.

“These were things that we worked very hard on in the regular session,” Richardson says. “We really applaud Governor Parson’s leadership in identifying these as priorities and worthy of a special session, and we’re really pleased that he called the General Assembly back for the purpose of getting these done.”

House Minority Leader Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis, also praises the passage of both bills.

Lawmakers have approved a bill expanding Missouri’s treatment court system to all counties.

The other bill establishes a statewide STEM career awareness program.

Governor Mike Parson (R) has not scheduled bill-signing ceremonies yet.

State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, sponsored the STEM bill, which allows the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create a “STEM career awareness program” for students in grades six through eight.

“I think that’s a really, really important piece, enabling kids to have more opportunities to get a substantial education while they’re in high school and in middle school now,” says Fitzwater.

STEM bill supporters, including State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, say many of today’s computer science jobs go unfilled because not enough students have been trained for the positions.

Speaker Richardson says Missouri must have a trained, educated workforce to compete for 21st century jobs.

Meantime, the top Democrat in the Missouri House is praising the Legislature for passing a bill to expand the treatment court system to all counties.

House Minority Leader Mitten notes U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) spearheaded the creation of Missouri’s first drug treatment court in 1993, when she served as Jackson County Prosecutor.

“I think that it’s a great opportunity to pay homage to Senator McCaskill for her fine work in trailblazing on this piece,” Mitten tells the Capitol Press Corps.

Mitten notes the House approved the bill 141-1.

Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Zel Fischer told lawmakers in January that 15 counties had no access to any type of treatment court.

Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chairman Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, says treatment courts work.

He echoes Mitten’s comment about the bill’s bipartisan support.

Chairman Dixon says nearly 25 percent of Missouri prisoners are incarcerated for convictions relating to drug and alcohol abuse.

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Parson says Microsoft’s new St. Louis technology center will help retain more Missourians

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(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

St. Louis is home to the newest Microsoft Technology Center, which means about 150 new jobs for the Gateway City.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson speaks at a ribbon-cutting for the new Microsoft Technology Center in St. Louis on September 19, 2018 (Jill Enders photo)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday morning for the 29,000 square feet state-of-the-art facility, which is located in the Cortex innovation district in the Central West End.

Governor Mike Parson (R) spoke at the ceremony.

“It’s a big important reason we had that special session (in Jefferson City) was for STEM, on the computer science, the engineering, the math, all the things that we got to do for the future of Missouri,” Parson says. “And as I sit here today and listen to people talk, I understand how important that is that we get it right.”

Missouri lawmakers approved the STEM legislation last week.

State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, and State Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, sponsored the bill, which establishes a statewide STEM career awareness program.

It allows the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create a “STEM career awareness program” to increase STEM career awareness among students in grades six through eight.

Microsoft, which is based in Washington State, in investing about $50 million into the new facility.

Governor Parson tells reporters he believes the new center will keep and attract more people to the Show-Me State.

“We don’t want Missourians to be leaving our state,” says Parson. “But if we have those good jobs that pay good money and they’re tech jobs and what the demands are going to be, people have more of an opportunity to stay here in Missouri and I believe they’ll take advantage of that and stay here and we’ll become a better state for it.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson (D) and several Microsoft executives joined Governor Parson for the ceremony.

Mayor Krewson describes Parson as a governor “who understands that we have to work together.”

This is the 15th Microsoft Technology Center in the nation.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

UPDATE: Trump’s visit to Cape Girardeau cancelled due to expected Hurricane Florence (AUDIO)

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UPDATE: President Donald Trump’s campaign has announced that Hurricane Florence has led to the cancellation of Thursday’s planned trip to southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau. A statement from Trump for President Inc. Chief Operating Officer Michael Glassner reads: “Regrettably, we must cancel the planned Make America Great Again rally in Cape Girardeau, Missouri this Thursday. With Hurricane Florence on its way, we determined that this is the safest decision.”

HERE IS OUR ORIGINAL STORY FROM TUESDAY MORNING:

A southeast Missouri congressman says President Donald Trump (R) is expected to focus on the economy and Missouri’s U.S. Senate race during his visit to Cape Girardeau on Thursday.

The Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau (photo courtesy of Southeast Missouri State University)

President Trump is scheduled to speak Thursday evening at 7 at the Show Me Center.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, describes it as one of the biggest arenas in southeast Missouri.

“I told the president, I was like you come to southeast Missouri, we will fill the arena and will make you very proud,” Smith says.

Southeast Missouri State University communications director Ann Hayes tells Missourinet the Show Me Center can accommodate about 7,300 people.

Smith, who represents 30 counties in southeast and southern Missouri, will be flying on Air Force One Thursday with President Trump. Air Force One will be landing at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The president is expected to urge Missourians to defeat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D), who is seeking her third term in Washington.

President Trump will campaign for GOP Senate nominee Josh Hawley, who’s currently Missouri’s Attorney General. Congressman Smith tells Missourinet he also supports Hawley.

“I need another partner up here (in Washington) that helps back the president,” says Smith. “(Judge Neil) Gorsuch was a great appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was unfortunate that (Senator) Claire McCaskill voted against him.”

Missourinet has reached out twice to Senator McCaskill’s campaign about Congressman Smith’s comments, and they have not responded yet.

Smith says President Trump is also expected to discuss the economy on Thursday. He says the 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” has created about 1.5 million new jobs. Smith is an original author of the bill.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, has said the bill provides tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires, and not enough for working families.

The president’s visit Thursday to Cape Girardeau highlights how southeast Missouri has changed from blue to red in the last 35 to 40 years. When Republican Bill Emerson was elected to Congress in 1980, all of the state senators in southeast Missouri were Democrats, and there was only one GOP state representative.

Smith notes that in 2018, State Rep. Ben Harris, D-Hillsboro, is the only Democrat from southeast Missouri in the Legislature.

“You know when I first got elected a couple of years ago (2013) to Congress, we had six Democratic state reps and it has just gradually went that way,” Smith says.

He says “the Democratic Party left the people of southeast Missouri.”

Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Webber, who served eight years in the Missouri House representing Columbia, made recruiting Democratic candidates in rural Missouri, including southeast Missouri, a priority for 2018.

As for Smith, he describes southeast Missouri as “Trump Country”, and predicts the Show Me Center will be packed on Thursday.

This will be the fourth presidential visit to Cape Girardeau, and the first since Democrat Bill Clinton spoke at Capaha Park in 1996. President William Howard Taft spoke in Cape Girardeau in October 1909. Smith’s office tells Missourinet Taft arrived by steamboat.

Press accounts in Cape Girardeau say President Taft arrived with his Vice President James Sherman, 177 members of Congress and several governors who were traveling down the Mississippi River to discuss the effort to develop the river’s shipping channel.

President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Show Me Center in 1988.

Many others have visited the town, including former President Jimmy Carter, after he left office.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, which was recorded on September 6, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri’s Parson: “We are behind on workforce development”

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(Missourinet St. Louis reporter Todd Sauter contributed to this story)

Missouri’s governor spent the entire day Friday in St. Louis, where he called for mutually-beneficial city and state partnership opportunities.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James (left), Missouri Governor Mike Parson and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson listen as SBA Administrator Linda McMahon briefs them at T-REX in St. Louis on September 7, 2018 (Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

Gov. Mike Parson (R) spent the day with St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Kansas City Mayor Sly James, who are both Democrats.

“Since I’ve become governor, I’ve traveled all over the state and had meeting after meeting with leaders from all parts of the state of Missouri to find out what are the two most important issues that we feel like is facing the state of Missouri,” Parson says.

Parson says those two issues are infrastructure and workforce development. The governor did not mince words about how Missouri has performed.

“And we are behind on workforce development, there’s no other way to sugarcoat that,” says Parson. “We have not done a good job of making sure our workforce is ready.”

Parson and the two mayors also toured schools Friday and a non-profit startup incubator called T-REX, which provides early-stage entrepreneurs with low-cost enterprise space.

The three were joined at T-REX by U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Linda McMahon. The SBA administrator is a member of President Trump’s Cabinet. The SBA website notes there are about 30 million small businesses in the United States.

Parson, Krewson and James also toured a new apartment complex called Nathaniel Rivers, which is aimed at addressing chronic homelessness.

The governor also addressed the St. Louis Board of Aldermen on Friday.

Parson has signed a proclamation to convene a special session in Jefferson City that will start Monday.

The special session will focus on the passage of computer science course access and STEM education, along with the expansion of treatment courts in Missouri.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri’s governor to address the St. Louis Board of Aldermen on Friday

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Missouri’s governor will spend the entire day Friday in heavily Democratic St. Louis, visiting schools and addressing the Board of Aldermen. Governor Mike Parson, R, will spend the day in St. Louis with Mayor Lyda Krewson and Kansas City Mayor Sly James. Krewson and James are both Democrats.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (left) sits next to U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at the Gateway Arch rededication ceremony in downtown St. Louis on July 3, 2018 (file photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

Parson is scheduled to address the Board of Aldermen at 10 am Friday.

Governor Parson and Mayors Krewson and James will also visit Roosevelt High School and Ranken Technical College, as well as a non-profit startup incubator called T-REX. The T-REX website says it provides early-stage entrepreneurs with low-cost enterprise space. It says T-REX has created 3,497 total jobs in St. Louis since 2011.

Parson and the two mayors will hold a 1:30 press conference at Ranken Tech, and they’ll finish the day by meeting with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board.

The governor’s theme is expected to be continuing to work to bridge Missouri’s urban-rural divide.

Governor Parson has also said that Missouri’s mayors, urban and rural, are focused on transportation and infrastructure.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Governor Parson: STEM education and Missouri drug treatment courts are related

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(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

Missouri’s governor said the upcoming special session is crucial to the future of the Show-Me State.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson speaks to reporters at the Launchcode Mentor Center in St. Louis on September 4, 2018 (Jill Enders photo)

Governor Mike Parson (R) traveled the state on Tuesday to speak on the issues of STEM education and expanding drug treatment courts, which will be the focus of next week’s special session. He stopped at LaunchCode Mentor Center on Delmar in St. Louis, a non-profit that provides training for tech careers.

Parson told reporters STEM education and drug treatment courts are related.

“Believe it or not those drug courts are going to play a part in workforce development, cause what we should be trying to do instead of sentencing people to prison, we should be figuring how to get them cleaned up and how do we get them into the workforce and how do we put them to work,” Parson said.

Parson called on lawmakers to pass legislation focusing on computer science course access and STEM education.

The GOP governor was joined at LaunchCode by Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, and House Minority Leader Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis, highlighting bipartisanship.

The special session will start on Monday and is expected to end next Friday, which is September 14. To save money, it will be held in conjunction with the annual veto session. The logistical details are still being worked out.

Governor Parson also made stops Tuesday in Springfield and in Hannibal.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Report ranks Missouri 26th in overall child well-being

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The 2018 Kids Count Data Book from a national child welfare organization shows Missouri has slightly improved in most areas from the previous analysis. The evaluation is from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and is compiled through secondary data from the Missouri’s partner data collection agencies as well credible national entities, such as the U.S. Census Bureau.

Report ranks Missouri 26th in overall child well-being

The report ranks Missouri 14th in economic well-being based on things like the number of children living in poverty, kids whose parents lack secure employment, those living in households with high housing cost burden and teens not in school and not working.

The assessment also places Missouri 23rd in education. It weighed factors including the number of fourth-graders not proficient in reading, eighth graders not proficient in math and high school students not graduating on time.

The report puts Missouri 33rd in the health of its children based on the number of kids without health insurance, child and teen deaths and teens who abuse alcohol and drugs. The one area that Missouri showed a slight decline was the low birth weight of babies.

Missouri also ranks 28th in the report’s evaluation of family and community. It considers children in single-parent families, kids in families with the head of household lacking a high school diploma, children living in high-poverty areas.

To see the data book, click here.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Steel mill planned for rural Missouri town to begin taking applications Friday

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(News director Jeff Spalding at Missourinet Sedalia affiliate KDRO contributed information to this story)

Applicants who hope to work at a large steel mill being built in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia can start applying online early Friday morning.

Executives from Charlotte-based Nucor made the plant announcement at the State Fairgrounds on November 21, 2017 (file photo courtesy of State Senator Denny Hoskins)

North Carolina-based Nucor plans to begin construction of the rebar micro mill in Sedalia in September.

Company executives traveled to Sedalia to make the announcement in November.

Nucor says the 250 new jobs will pay an average salary of $65,000.

Missourinet Sedalia affiliate KDRO (AM 1490) reports job applicants can begin applying for the jobs on Friday at 6 a.m.

Applicants will need to go to www.jobs.mo.gov/nucor to apply. Company executives are encouraging applicants to file early.

KDRO reports the hiring process is expected to be completed by November, and that the plant should be fully operational by the end of 2019.

Dirt work is already underway at the facility.

When the company made the plant announcement in November with former Governor Eric Greitens, executives noted that rebar supply to the Kansas City and upper Midwestern markets currently travels long distances, giving the planned mill in Sedalia a logistical advantage.

“This rebar micro mill project is consistent with our long-term strategy for profitable growth and builds on our position as a low-cost producer,” Nucor CEO John Ferriola announced in a November statement. “Strategically positioning this micro mill in the Kansas City area will give us a sustained cost advantage over other domestic steel producers supplying rebar from outside the region.”

The Charlotte-based company also noted that the Sedalia location would allow them to take advantage of the abundant scrap supply in the immediate area.

Nucor’s website notes the company is also North America’s largest recycler.

Former Governor Greitens and Ferriola made the November announcement at the State Fairgrounds.

Ferriola told the audience that day that Sedalia is a family town.

“Small shops, shopkeepers, family-owned businesses. And I was really happy to see that kind of a town. To me it exemplifies what Nucor is all about,” Ferriola said in November.

The steel mill is also expected to create 450 temporary construction jobs in Sedalia.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Cleaver: Missouri’s governor has changed the tone in Jefferson City (AUDIO)

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A Missouri congressman who’s a Senior Whip in the House Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill is praising Governor Mike Parson’s (R) approach and tone.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver speaks to Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth at the State Fair in Sedalia on August 16, 2018 (photo by Ashley Byrd)

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, says the governor called him in June after Parson was sworn-in to request a meeting. Cleaver says they had a great discussion.

“He told me some of the things that I like to hear, which is he’s not into trying to separate people on the basis of politics. He wants to work with people to make good things happen,” Cleaver says. “And I said Governor you’re singing my song.”

Congressman Cleaver tells Missourinet it’s the first time a governor had requested a meeting with him, adding that it meant even more to him because Parson is a Republican.

“And then when he (Governor Parson) told me that he was going to put a list together of things that he wanted to do, and infrastructure was one of them, I said governor you and I are going to have a partnership,” says Cleaver. “You can expect all the support you need from me.”

Cleaver is critical of what he describes as America’s “poisonous political atmosphere.”

He also notes Parson’s approach is much different than former Republican Governor Eric Greitens. Cleaver says tone can both alienate and attract.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (right) hosted a drought meeting with farmers in Richmond on August 8, 2018 (photo courtesy of Congressman Cleaver’s office)

“This governor can do something that maybe the federal government can mimic,” Cleaver says. “Number one, I think infrastructure, but number two, he’s not nasty. He’s not throwing out verbal bombs anyplace.”

Cleaver met with Governor Parson at the State Fair in Sedalia this month and earlier this summer at the Statehouse in Jefferson City. Infrastructure and drought relief are top priorities for both men.

In addition to Kansas City, Cleaver also represents heavily-rural Lafayette, Ray and Saline counties in western Missouri. Cleaver says the drought has impacted farmers, especially cattle farmers, in his district. He hosted a meeting earlier this month in Richmond about drought assistance, and has written a letter to the governor in support of a community development block grant for water towers.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, which was recorded on August 16, 2018 in Sedalia:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet