Politics / Govt Archives

Christmas tree from rural southeast Missouri to be displayed on Governor’s Mansion lawn in Jefferson City

November 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Christmas tree that will be displayed on the Governor’s Mansion lawn this year will be from a small town in southeast Missouri.

Missouri Office of Administration (OA) staff help install the Governor’s Mansion lawn Christmas tree in Jefferson City on December 2, 2019 (file photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Governor Mike Parson says the tree that will be displayed on the Mansion lawn is a 40-foot Norway spruce donated by Doris Baker, who’s from southeast Missouri’s Desloge. It’s a town of about 5,000 residents, near Farmington.

Ms. Baker has donated her tree because it became too large for her yard.

The tree will arrive in Jefferson City on Monday morning between 7 and 8, and it’s so big that part of Madison Street outside the mansion will be closed, when it arrives.

Missouri Office of Administration (OA) staff will install the Mansion lawn tree.

The governor’s office has also announced that the annual lighting of the tree will take place on Friday December 4, at 6 p.m. That will be followed by candlelight tours that evening until 8. This year’s candlelight tours will be by reservation-only, due to COVID concerns.

Governor Parson’s office says it will announce additional details about the tours early next week.

U.S. Postal Service to roll out stamp celebrating Missouri’s upcoming birthday

November 23, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

On August 10, 2021, Missouri turns the ripe age of 200 years old. The U.S. Postal Service plans to release several new stamps in 2021, including one to showcase Missouri’s bicentennial birthday.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service

The stamp art is an existing photograph by prominent landscape photographer Charles Gurche. It features the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau County. The artwork also captures the four-story mill sitting along the Whitewater River with the Burfordville Covered Bridge nearby -one of just four covered bridges remaining in Missouri.

The mill turned wheat and corn into flour and meal dating back to the Civil War era. It was burned by the Union army during the war to prevent the supply of flour and meal to the Confederate army. After the war ended, the site was rebuilt in 1867 into the current structure.

The mill and covered bridge are both in the National Register of Historic Places.

The state plans to hold other events to honor the bicentennial of Missouri statehood.

Mercy Springfield nurse says they’re running out of room for COVID and acute patients

November 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(Missourinet Springfield television partner KOLR-10 contributed to this story)

Springfield’s mayor and hospital leaders and employees there are renewing their call for a statewide mask mandate. They held a Friday afternoon press conference.

The Missouri National Guard assists at a COVID-19 testing site in Callaway County on November 17, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Mayor Ken McClure, a Republican who served as chief of staff to former Governor Matt Blunt, says that while guidelines are fine, people are not following them.

Mercy Hospital Springfield registered nurse Wanda Brown agrees, saying Springfield hospitals are overwhelmed.

“At Mercy Springfield, we now have four COVID units, one of which is our dedicated COVID ICU. All of our units are continually full and are becoming overwhelmed,” Brown tells reporters.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says there are currently 2,817 COVID patients in Missouri hospitals, an increase of 83 from Friday. DHSS says 646 of those COVID patients are in the ICU, and 336 are on ventilators.

DHSS says there have been 24,570 new COVID cases in the past week, an average of 3,510 per day.

Ms. Brown says Mercy Springfield is running out of room for both COVID and acute patients.

“I know we have all heard statements made of how hospitals are not overwhelmed, and our ICU’s are not full. But this is untrue and it is misleading and I think it provides a false sense of security for our community,” says Brown.

Missourinet Springfield television partner KOLR-10 reports CoxHealth leaders also spoke at Friday’s press conference. You can read KOLR-10’s story here.

As for Governor Mike Parson, he told Missourinet last week that while he’s opposed to a mask mandate, he has and continues to urge you to wear a mask. He’s been promoting a program called the “Show Me You Care” campaign, which emphasizes the need for you to wear a mask, to wash your hands, practice good hygiene and to social distance.

During that interview with Missourinet, Governor Parson emphasized that the next 30 to 60 days are crucial. His administration has issued a statewide public health warning, due to the spread of COVID across the state.

Missouri is averaging 3,908 new COVID cases per day; public health warning issued

November 20, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Parson administration has issued a statewide public health warning, due to the continued increase in new COVID cases statewide.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says there are currently 2,588 COVID patients in Missouri hospitals, an increase of 135 in the past 24 hours. 608 of those patients are in the ICU and 310 are on ventilators.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (right) visits a COVID-19 testing site in mid-Missouri’s Fulton on November 17, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

DHSS says there have been 27,358 new COVID cases in Missouri in the past week, an average of 3,908 new cases per day.

The department has also issued a holiday travel advisory, urging you to minimize travel outside of Missouri and to wear a mask.

Missouri issues public health warning for local governments to implement, plus travel advisory

November 20, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

compiled by Brian Hauswirth and Ashley Byrd

Missouri’s governor has issued a statewide public health warning because of the continued increase in new COVID cases statewide. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says there have been 27,358 new COVID cases in Missouri in the past week, which is an average of 3,908 new COVID cases per day.

The DHSS new COVID-19 advisory provides expectations for communities, with three action plans for counties based on positivity rates. Counties with a PCR 7-day positivity rate of 15 percent or above are advised to limit social group sizes to ten or less, and masks are advised in all offices and businesses where social distancing isn’t possible. In counties with a PCR 7-day positivity rate of 10 to 14 percent, counties are advised to limit social group sizes to 25 or less, and that offices and businesses with more than ten people should have masks. For counties with a PCR 7-day positivity rate of five to nine percent, social groups should maintain six feet of social distance.

READ 11-19-2020 Public Health Advisory

The advisory is simply that, however, a set of recommendations to counties and not an order, Missourinet confirmed with DHSS. The consequences of not complying are, as the White House Coronavirus Task Force describes, the exponential spread of the virus and the overburdening of health care systems.

Parson explained that this puts restrictions in the hands of mayors and counties instead of his office because he believes in local control, with “citizen input.”

“Government’s not going to mandate everything you need to do in your lives, nor do I want government to mandate, you don’t need that right now. You just need to take it upon ourselves to make tough decisions, wise decisions, and to slow the spread,” the governor said Thursday. “We don’t want to be like these other states around us. To be able to protect our economy, to be able to protect our lifestyle, we have to take action.”

The Parson administration has also issued a travel advisory for Thanksgiving, urging Missourians to minimize travel outside of the state and to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

Gov. Parson COVID-19 briefing Nov. 19 : A new public health warning is coming for the entire state of Missouri (VIDEO)

November 19, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

Governor Mike Parson announced he will be issuing new COVID-19 guidance to local governments, “a public health warning for the entire state of Missouri. He says it will stress the importance of wearing a mask. Instead of a issuing a statewide mandate, he and the state health director are leaving the choice to city and county governments “to encourage them to take some sort of action to make this curb [in COVID-19 numbers] happen.”

“But at the end of the day, I’m going to stress to you again, as many people out there would like to say it’s government’s responsibility — it’s not,” Parson added.

White House Coronavirus Task Force: The spread in Missouri is exponential and unyielding

November 18, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

The latest report from the White House Coronavirus Taskforce says Missouri is in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1 percent, with the 7th highest rate in the country. Among their Nov. 15 recommendations:

“The spread in Missouri is exponential and unyielding with hospitalizations increasing week over week. Increases from the past two weeks correlate with Halloween and related activities. With Thanksgiving and upcoming holidays, Missourians must understand the COVID-19 situation statewide.

With all counties in the red zone and over 50% of nursing homes with at least one positive staff member, mitigation and messaging needs to be further strengthened as other states have done. Effective practices to decrease transmission in public spaces include limiting restaurant indoor capacity to less than 25% and limiting bar hours until cases and test positivity decrease to the yellow zone.”

Review Missouri Nov. 15 report obtained by The Center for Public Integrity

UPDATE: Missouri’s Hawley praises bipartisan movement on duck boat legislation

November 18, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

After being stuck in committee on Capitol Hill for 19 months, bipartisan duck boat legislation from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) is expected to be voted on Wednesday morning by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

It’s the first bill the committee is scheduled to take up Wednesday, and it comes a little more than a month after Senator Hawley told Missourinet that he was prepared to go straight to the Senate floor, if there wasn’t movement on the bill.

Missouri State Highway Patrol crews assist the U.S. Coast Guard during the duck boat recovery efforts on July 23, 2018 (file photo courtesy of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Twitter page)

The other new development is that Hawley’s bill now has a powerful Democratic co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois). Senator Duckworth serves on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and is the ranking Democrat on its subcommittee on transportation and safety.

Hawley and Duckworth also serve together on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt (R) and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) are the other co-sponsors.

“For decades now, Congress has failed to take action to help stop these tragedies from happening again,” Hawley says. “The (2018) disaster on Table Rock Lake was sadly not an isolated incident. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle share my concerns and have come together to implement basic safety standards in every state in which these rides are available.”

17 people were killed in the 2018 duck boat tragedy on southwest Missouri’s Table Rock Lake.

Senator Hawley’s legislation would require the U.S. Coast Guard to implement recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), including requiring duck boats to remove canopies. The bill would require amphibious passenger vessels to be equipped to stay afloat, in the event of flooding. It also requires new reporting efforts.

During an October 2 interview with Missourinet, a frustrated Hawley said that the time had come for him to go to the U.S. Senate floor and try to pass the duck boat legislation himself. He had planned to seek what’s known as unanimous consent.

That won’t be necessary, now that the Commerce Committee has scheduled a vote.

The duck boat legislation was one of the first filed by Senator Hawley, after he was sworn-in in 2019. It’s very similar to the bill filed by Hawley’s predecessor, former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D). Her bill was also stuck in committee.

17 of the 31 people aboard the boat called Stretch Duck 7 died, after a storm with 70-mile-per-hour winds came through Table Rock Lake. The NTSB says the Coast Guard’s failure to require sufficient design of amphibious vessels contributed to the boat’s sinking.

Columbia’s mayor says new $23 million airport terminal will put additional destinations in play

November 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Top political leaders in the state joined mid-Missouri business leaders for Tuesday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony for a new $23 million terminal at Columbia Regional Airport (COU).

Missouri Governor Mike Parson, UM System President Dr. Mun Choi and other dignitaries broke ground for a new Columbia Regional Airport terminal.

The airport currently provides daily flights to Dallas, Denver, Chicago and will soon be flying to Charlotte. Governor Mike Parson says the project is big for all of mid-Missouri.

“A lot of people, you know, when you’ve got to go to St. Louis (and) Kansas City those are travel days for them,” Parson says. “That’s windshield time that they lose, but if you can come here to Columbia, I think you’re going to have an opportunity. I really think they’re going to build on this and it’s just going to get better and better and you’re going to get more flights in here.”

University of Missouri System President Dr. Mun Choi, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill, and Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin also spoke at the ceremony. U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt spoke via video from Washington.

President Choi says a new terminal will be big for the University of Missouri and for the entire region. Mayor Treece agrees.

“A new airport terminal is one of those generational investments that, you know, will pay big dividends. Not just in the short-run construction jobs at the end of this pandemic, but in years to come with the economic development this opportunity creates,” says Treece.

Mayor Treece says a new terminal puts further destinations in play, adding that Atlanta and Phoenix are two major hub cities Columbia would like to fly to. The mayor notes COU needs more space and more baggage carousels.

The old terminal at Columbia Regional was built in 1968 and is still being used today.

Dr. Choi notes the importance of the new terminal, with the NextGen facility being built on campus. State Reps. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, and Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, led the bipartisan effort to restore cuts to Mizzou’s NextGen Precision Health initiative.

The NextGen Precision Health Institute is expected to train the next generation of scientists who will help Missouri address future health care needs. It’s a $220 million facility.

The airport terminal’s main funding source is a hotel tax approved by Columbia voters in 2016. It’s also paid for in part with enplanements, which involves per-seat charges paid by each passenger when they purchase a ticket.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) are also providing some funding.

National Weather Service’s Springfield office issued nine tornado warnings on Saturday night (AUDIO)

November 15, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(News directors J.T. Gerlt and Patty Burns at Missourinet affiliates KTKS and KBNN contributed to this story)

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Springfield says it appears that straight line winds caused the significant damage Saturday evening to a popular Osage Beach shopping center.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Springfield says straight line winds caused the significant damage at the popular King’s Plaza shopping center in Osage Beach on November 14, 2020 (photo from Daniel Carnahan Jr., through J.T. Gerlt at Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS Radio)

NWS Springfield meteorologist Justin Titus tells Missourinet that they’ve checked drone footage and have spoken to Osage Beach’s emergency management director.

“And so that’s something that we can still receive new information on and update as we go, but right now preliminarily it looks like straight line winds,” Titus says.

Osage Beach Police Chief Todd Davis tells us the storm damaged at least seven to eight businesses in the King’s Plaza shopping center, which has a Randy’s Custard location. The shopping center is a popular spot for Lake-area tourists and local residents.

Drone photos show that the storm blew roofs off many of the businesses. Walls have caved-in as well, and Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS reports vehicles in the parking lot were also damaged during the storm.

The NWS’ Springfield office issued nine tornado warnings and 21 severe thunderstorm warnings on Saturday evening. The thunderstorm warnings were across their entire forecast area.

The NWS had warned Friday that severe storms and hail were possible Saturday afternoon and evening, across the Ozarks.

There are no reports of any serious injuries from the storms.

Titus says the storms also caused damage in the small town of Dixon, which is about 100 miles northeast of Springfield. The town has about 1,400 residents.

“But that Dixon area, north of Waynesville, got hit pretty hard. Had some mobile homes flipped over and some other damage up in that area,” says Titus.

He says while the damage in Dixon appears to be from straight line winds, it’s still under investigation.

Titus says their office is still deciding whether to send survey teams to impacted areas.

“We base that on what we’re seeing out in the field, as far as evidence. So we’ll be making that determination coming up too,” Titus says.

Missourinet Lebanon affiliate KBNN reports the storm brought 65-mile-per hour winds and one-inch hail in some locations, knocking power poles down in Springfield. KBNN reports trees were knocked down in southwest Missouri’s Jasper County.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with National Weather Service (NWS) Springfield meteorologist Justin Titus, which was recorded on November 15, 2020: