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Severe weather is expected this weekend in southeast Missouri. A former St. Louis area priest is accused of child sex crimes. Alisa Nelson reports.
Southeast Missouri could see severe weather Saturday; snow expected in far northwest Missouri (AUDIO)
The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis says strong to severe thunderstorms are possible Saturday and Saturday night across parts of southeast Missouri.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis says severe storms and isolated tornadoes are possible in southeast Missouri on February 23, 2019 (map courtesy of NWS St. Louis Twitter)
NWS meteorologist Melissa Byrd expects wind gusts of close to 40 miles per hour in places.
“As far as any kind of severe weather, we could see some isolated strong to severe storms tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and tomorrow evening, especially over portions of southeast Missouri and southern Illinois,” Byrd says.
Towns like Cape Girardeau, Dexter, Farmington, Perryville and Sikeston could see storms Saturday, and Byrd says isolated tornadoes are possible.
She says the thunderstorms are expected to develop, when the atmosphere destabilizes ahead of a strong cold front.
“Well we got warmer air moving into the region with a lot of moisture and instability which would help to generate thunderstorms,” says Byrd.
Meantime, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Pleasant Hill says motorists traveling in far northwest Missouri could see slick roads and some blowing snow on Saturday, northwest of I-35.
The NWS says heavier snowfall is expected in southeast Nebraska, southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri towns like Tarkio.
NWS meteorologist Jared Leighton tells Missourinet that northwest Missouri’s Atchison County is projected to receive two to five inches of snowfall on Saturday, while other parts of far northwest Missouri could receive a dusting to two inches.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and National Weather Service (NWS) St. Louis meteorologist Melissa Byrd, which was recorded on February 22, 2019:
Raffle tickets sell like hot cakes for chance to implode Missouri bridge
An eastern Missouri bridge will come tumbling down in March by the winner of a raffle to benefit a St. Louis County organization. The lucky person gets to press the magic button that makes the structure collapse along Highway 47.
Photo courtesy of Backstoppers
Marschel Wrecking, LLC in Fenton is organizing the fundraiser for BackStoppers. The non-profit launched on September 11, 1959 to help families of first responders who have been severely injured or died in the line of duty.
BackStoppers advisory board member Jeff Backhaus says the community support has been unbelievable. More than $2,000 worth of raffle tickets have already been sold.
“If one of us do not come home after a shift, that’s a huge relief for us going into work and doing our jobs on a daily basis to know that our families are taken care of,” he says.
The bridge connects Franklin and Warren Counties. The new one has already been built and is open next to the bridge that will be coming down soon.
Backhaus says he’s happy with every penny raised.
“Who gets to push a button to blow the bridge up? How often does that happen? Everybody thinks it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he says. “It’s something neat. It’s something unique. It doesn’t happen every day.”
BackStoppers supports about 80 families and its annual payout is about $1.3 million in survivor benefits.
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Missourinet Morning News 2-22-2019
Congressional Democrats claim Missouri’s military construction projects could be in jeopardy. Bill Wise reports.
Group reports number of hate groups climb in Missouri
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a national legal advocacy group specializing in civil rights, says it has found 24 hate groups in the Show-Me State in 2018. The previous year, the organization found 18. The nonprofit shows Missouri has hate groups including two anti-Muslim, three neo-Nazi, one Ku Klux Klan, six black nationalists, one Christian identity, three white nationalists and one skinhead.
Of Missouri’s eight neighboring states, the center says the Show-Me State has more hate groups than any of them except for Illinois and Tennessee.
Nationwide, the center shows 1,020 hate groups in 2018, an increase from 954 in 2017.
The organization’s findings could be lower than the actual figures. Many hate groups keep a low profile and depend on websites, social media and chatrooms to spread their message and recruit members.
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Sundvold praises value of UM System’s four campuses; weighs in on NCAA’s sanctions (AUDIO)
Students, faculty and staff from the University of Missouri (UM) System showcased exhibits on various topics during Thursday’s UM System legislative day at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.
UM Board of Curators Chair Jon Sundvold of Columbia (June 2018 file photo courtesy of the UM System)
The event drew numerous Missouri state lawmakers from both parties, in both chambers. Mizzou football coach Barry Odom and Tiger women’s basketball coach Robin Pingeton also attended.
The UM System has campuses in Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla and St. Louis, with a total enrollment of about 73,000, according to its website.
The chair of the UM Board of Curators says the NCAA’s penalties against Mizzou are unfair. Former Mizzou basketball star Jon Sundvold spoke to Missourinet in the Capitol Rotunda, during the event.
“The reason a university has compliance is to find things that are wrong at times,” Sundvold says. “They (Mizzou) did, they corrected, they penalized, all the things you’re supposed to do the NCAA said you did it right, and then all of a sudden you get another penalty.”
Sundvold tells us Mizzou has good attorneys. He hopes the appeals process moves quickly but says he knows it won’t.
The NCAA found that a former Mizzou tutor violated ethics and academic conduct by providing extra benefits while working with 12 student-athletes.
The NCAA’s decision has been blasted by members of Missouri’s congressional delegation and by Missouri lawmakers in Jefferson City.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) wrote a letter on Tuesday to the NCAA, describing the punishment as “one that is harmful to the coaches, student-athletes and staff who had nothing to do with the actions of a sole individual.”
Blunt’s letter says the NCAA’s own report found that the violations were performed by a rogue tutor, and that Mizzou took immediate action to rectify the issue.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, who represents Columbia on Capitol Hill, blasted the sanctions earlier this month during an interview with Missourinet. Hartzler, a Mizzou graduate, supports MU’s appeal and hopes the sanctions are overturned.
The penalties include a 2019 postseason ban for the football program.
Meantime, Sundvold is impressed with everything he saw in the Capitol Rotunda Thursday, especially the exhibits.
“We are the state university right, I mean we’re just not one of the schools. And when I travel the country, the pride and joy of most states is their state university,” says Sundvold.
Missouri lawmakers were able to see exhibits on projects involving the opioid crisis and STEM education. They also viewed exhibits on the UM System’s precision medicine initiatives. Lawmakers also learned how Mizzou assists communities with retaining their workforce.
Chairman Sundvold, who played nine NBA seasons and is a national television college basketball analyst, tells Missourinet the event demonstrates the value of the UM System’s four campuses to the state.
“Everybody understands what the success of our university means at each of the campuses, and what it means to in research, what it means to people around the state,” Sundvold says.
Also on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, announced the formation of a new bipartisan UM System caucus.
Senator Rowden, Representative Razer and UM System President Dr. Mun Choi briefed reporters at the Statehouse. There are more than 50 alumni of the UM System in the Missouri Legislature.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and UM Board of Curators Chair Jon Sundvold, which was recorded on February 21, 2019 in the Statehouse’s third floor Rotunda in Jefferson City:
Growing cat litter demand prompts Missouri factory expansion
Growing cat litter demand prompts Missouri factory expansion
Nestle Purina says it plans to expand its Bloomfield Tidy Cats litter factory in southeast Missouri and add about 30 jobs there by mid-2020. The company plans to invest $115 million in the expansion, which will include a 110,000-square-foot processing and packaging facility.
Purina says the factory will “significantly increase” the production of Tidy Cats LightWeight cat litter and Tidy Cats scoop cat litter. It cites Tidy Cats litter sales growing by 18 percent over the past four years.
The Bloomfield factory, which opened in 1976, currently includes a 500,000-square-foot factory that employs more than 340 people in the southeast Missouri region.
Purina employs more than 3,500 people in Missouri. It also has a presence in Springfield, St. Joseph and St. Louis, where the company has been headquartered for 125 years.
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Missourinet Morning News 2-21-2019
A workgroup is looking at the best way to help students start a computer career. Bill Wise reports.
Missouri works to develop computer science standards for K-12 schools
A work group made up of educators and parents is creating computer science standards for Missouri’s K-12 public schools. The new measures are a result of the 2018 passage of House Bill 3.
The legislation, passed during last September’s special session of the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, teaches career awareness to middle schoolers about STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. It also lets high schoolers swap a math class with a computer science class for graduation.
Missouri works to develop computer science standards for K-12 schools
During a hearing in Jefferson City this week, one of the work group members said the standards being developed would not require a computer to learn. They could be studied through what is referred to as “unplugged activities”, which involve critical thinking and understanding algorithms.
Since technology is a major part of everyday life for many Missourians, work group members could integrate computer science learning across other subjects, especially in elementary school. Higher level courses in middle and high school could be offered separately.
High school computer science teacher Burdett Wilson says one of the national trends is to turn high school computer science classes into courses for college-bound students.
“One of my big concerns, as a teacher, is about half of my students go directly to work out of high school. The other half then go to college,” he says. “I teach students every day who will never go to college.”
Wilson launched a computer science program about five years ago at Macon Area Career and Technical Center in northern Missouri. His computer programming courses are made up of mostly high school juniors and seniors.
The school partners with an IT outsourcing company across the street. The company takes people without computer experience and teaches them the ropes in an eight week boot camp. The top students of each class then work for the company.
Wilson says state computer science instruction should be geared toward giving students real world skills, not necessarily for those strictly going to college.
“What I have found, and this is what most college professors tell me, is the students I’m sending them are one year, two years ahead of everybody else that comes into the computer science programs,” Wilson says.
He cites a student who worked for the partnering IT company for two years. With the student’s high school diploma and job experience, he was offered a $65,000 a year data job in St. Louis.
Another student who struggled with learning took a job right out of high school.
“He came back and said ‘Mr. Wilson, I’m so excited. I’m making more (money) than my mom.’ His mom worked two jobs and she worked really hard to get him through high school. It is so exciting,” says Wilson. “I had two students both of them graduated with their Associates Degrees this year and they are making $70,000 a year. They are making a lot more than their teacher.”
Wilson says the state should not “pigeon hole” the program for college-bound students only.
“We have a chance to have hundreds and thousands of students that have great careers,” he says. “We’re very excited about the idea of having computer science standards, but we’re hoping that it is aimed at those students who would not necessarily be college students. It could change their life.”
Wilson’s assertion is one similarly shared by Governor Mike Parson, who wants more state focus on workforce development.
The work group plans to give its recommendations to the State Board of Education in May and then would be subject to approval by the panel. If endorsed, the standards would take effect in the 2019-20 school year, per state statute. Districts would then develop their own curriculum to align with the standards.
The public comment period about the standards is open through March 11. Click here to view the proposed standards and submit a comment.
Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet
Walters: Missouri Department of Revenue has not done a good job of communicating about tax issue
Members of a bipartisan Missouri House oversight committee grilled the state Department of Revenue (DOR) director again Wednesday in Jefferson City about a tax error that is impacting some people’s tax returns.
State Department of Revenue (DOR) Director Joel Walters testifies before a Missouri House oversight committee on February 13, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
DOR Director Joel Walters testified again before the House Special Committee on Government Oversight, telling lawmakers that his department has not done an effective job of communicating about the issue to Missourians.
Walters also testified before the oversight committee last week.
He testifies DOR is placing cards at all Missouri license offices and is mailing fliers to employers requesting they post the information in employee break rooms.
Walters says the impact of the federal 2017 tax cut is a primary reason for lower state tax refunds this year. State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, the committee’s vice chairman, questioned Walters during Wednesday’s committee hearing.
“The vast majority of this is the impact of the (federal) Tax Cut and Jobs Act and the inter-relation between the W-4’s and the withholding,” Walters testifies.
“So what other states have felt the same impact, what other states have had this error?” Schroer asks Walters. “There’s nine other states,” Walters responds.
Walters says Idaho, Utah and Massachusetts are among the nine other states that have been impacted. He testifies that Missouri state tax refunds are about $80 lower than a year ago.
He says the state tax refunds are about $80 lower than a year ago, in part because of an inaccurate calculation involving the federal tax deduction. That error dates back to 2004.
Walters also admits his department has not done a good job of communicating about the tax error. Walters’ comment came in response to a question from Schroer, who says his St. Charles County constituents are livid.
“Then my phone is ringing off the hook. So what has the department done, first off do you believe that the department has done a good job in communicating this to the general public?” Schroer asks.
“No,” Walters told him.
Walters testifies DOR has created a dedicated phone line to answer questions from Missouri taxpayers. That number is (573) 522-0967.
He is encouraging taxpayers with questions to call that number. Walters tells State Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, that you’ll reach a live operator, when you call.
“Those have not switched to automated phone systems yet, correct?” Merideth asks Walters. “That is something I may do in the future but have not done yet. 100 percent of our calls are answered by a person,” Walters testifies.
Meantime, the committee chairman says DOR Director Walters was reluctant to testify Wednesday before his committee. House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman Robert Ross, R-Yukon, spoke to Missourinet after the hearing.
“Initially he (Walters) had some concerns about coming back and frankly answering the questions of the taxpayers of Missouri,” Ross says. “That’s why he’s the director of the Department of Revenue, that’s the expectation, that’s why we pay him to be the director.”
Chairman Ross is most concerned about what he calls the lack of communication from Revenue. Ross also confirms the oversight committee will hold a third hearing on the tax issue next Wednesday in Jefferson City.
Ross reiterates that committee members want to know how the error occurred, and want to make sure “that this sort of situation does not happen again.”