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Missouri man dies from vaping-related illness

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The Department of Health and Senior Services says Missouri’s first vaping-related death is a man in his mid-40s. He died this week at a St. Louis Hospital – marking the eighth vaping-associated fatality in the country.

Missouri man dies from vaping-related illness

The state press release says there have been 22 reports of vaping-related illnesses in Missouri, including seven confirmed cases. The CDC says 530 confirmed and probable cases of vaping-related illnesses have been reported in 38 states and one U.S. territory.

The release does not say whether the man was vaping oil containing THC, a chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects. It does say he began vaping to treat chronic pain. Vaping products sold in stores have nicotine in them but are not used for pain control.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating cases involving black market vaping products that could be contaminated, including with THC. The agency has found the chemical in samples collected from patients who became ill from vaping.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Albright: from Waynesville resident to first female U.S. Secretary of State

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The nation’s first female Secretary of State spent time Thursday in Fulton recounting her journey from a newspaper reporter in Rolla to the nation’s highest diplomatic post.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lectures at Westminster College in Fulton on September 19, 2019 (photo courtesy of Westminster Twitter page)

But the biggest part of Madeleine Albright’s speech was her warning that democracy “appears to be in retreat”, and her criticism of President Donald Trump (R).

Dr. Albright, who served as Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton (D) from 1997-2001, spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 1,500 at historic Westminster College. She tells the audience that President Trump “has become a source of comfort to anti-democratic forces across the globe.”

“The president has picked fights with Europe over trade, climate change, Iran and NATO instead of rallying our democratic allies to push back against Russia and compete together against China,” Albright says.

She says President Trump “touts a world in which each country is only out for itself.”

“It is a world in which the strong strut, the weak submit, and people everywhere may be divided into patriots and subscribers to, and I quote, ‘the ideology of globalism,’ whatever that may be,” says Albright.

Dr. Albright is also warning about Russia, saying Vladimir Putin’s “clear intent” is to divide the transatlantic community and cause NATO to collapse from within.

She served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1993-1997.

She also recapped her long career journey from a newspaper reporter in Rolla to becoming Secretary of State. Dr. Albright tells the audience she moved to southern Missouri’s Waynesville after college, where her husband was in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood.

Albright worked for the “Rolla Daily News”.

“Where I wrote obituaries and articles for the society page, reported on an occasional sports story, and even interviewed people who had seen a UFO,” Albright says, to audience laughter.

She also notes she sold classified ads in Rolla. She says her favorite read “Cemetery plot, owner must move, will sell at sacrifice.”

Westminster College is where former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946.

Previous Westminster Green Lecture speakers have included Presidents Harry Truman and Gerald Ford and Vice Presidents George H.W. Bush and Hubert Humphrey.

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Standing-room only crowd expected for Thursday’s Albright speech in Fulton

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A capacity crowd of at least 1,500 people is expected Thursday afternoon for former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s lecture at Westminster College in mid-Missouri’s Fulton.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaks Thursday afternoon in Fulton (undated photo courtesy of Westminster College in Fulton)

Her speech begins at 1:30 p.m, and she’s expected to speak for about an hour.

Dr. Albright served as President Bill Clinton’s (D) Secretary of State from 1997-2001, the first female Secretary of State in American history. She also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1993-1997.

As the 64th Secretary of State, Dr. Albright advocated for democracy and human rights across the globe.

“This is a tremendous honor to welcome a world leader of Dr. Albright’s stature to Westminster. I have asked that her lecture further articulate her ideas about democracy’s future prospects, and how humanity might once again break down the walls that divide us, and join together, in a spirit of hope, to confront the challenges that lie ahead,” Westminster President Dr. Fletcher Lamkin said, in a written statement.

In 2012, President Barack Obama (D) honored Dr. Albright with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

She is currently the chair of global strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group. Her latest book, titled “Fascism, a Warning” was published in April and debuted at #1 on the “New York Times” bestseller list.

Dr. Albright’s lecture will be the final part of Westminster’s 12th annual Hancock Symposium, a two-day event that includes lectures, panel discussions and presentations.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “Breakthrough.” It ties-in with the Breakthrough sculpture that’s on the Westminster campus in Fulton. The sculpture is adjacent to Champ Auditorium, where Dr. Albright will be speaking.

The Churchill statue at Fulton’s Westminster College (2017 file photo from Missourinet’s Ashley Byrd)

This is the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall.

Previous Green Lecture speakers at Westminster have included former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1946), former President Harry Truman (1954), President Gerald Ford (1977), Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1967), Vice President George H.W. Bush (1986), former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1996) and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (1992).

The 1946 Churchill event was the famous “Iron Curtain” speech. Then-President Harry Truman joined Churchill that day. The 1946 speech drew about 30,000 people to Fulton.

Fulton Police Chief Steve Myers tells Missourinet that his officers will be providing security for Thursday’s event, as they do for all VIPs who visit Westminster.

The Green Foundation Lecture began in 1937, and was established by a gift from Eleanor Green to honor the memory of her husband, St. Louis attorney John Findley Green. He graduated from Westminster in 1884 and served on the Westminster Board of Trustees for 27 years.

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Attacks on Saudi oil fields expected to make gas prices spike soon in Missouri

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Gas prices are expected to sour nationwide and in Missouri soon. Geoff Cooper of the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington, D.C. says the fuel price spikes after the attacks over the weekend on Saudi Arabia oil fields show the U.S. cannot “frack its way to energy independence”.

Attacks on Saudi oil fields expected to make gas prices spike soon in Missouri

“We are calling on the (Trump) administration, in the wake of this crisis, to do more to unleash the power and the potential of renewable fuels like ethanol in our domestic fuel supply,” Cooper says.

He says the drone attacks are exactly why the U.S. has the Renewable Fuels Standard.

“We have to diversify our liquid fuel supply in order to protect ourselves and insulate ourselves from these sorts of price shocks and price spikes that come from these sorts of geopolitical events,” he says.

Cooper says gas prices will continue to rise in the coming weeks.

He says the Trump administration must fully enforce the Renewable Fuels Standard and remove regulatory barriers to higher blends of ethanol. Cooper says that means restoring the lost gallons from improper Renewable Fuels Standard waivers.

The U.S. imports about 45% of its oil supply that is processed into gasoline.

By Julie Harker of Brownfield Ag News

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Parson goes to California to find more business for Missouri

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Photo courtesy of Parson for Missouri campaign page

Gov. Mike Parson is meeting with Bay Area company leaders interested in expanding or investing in Missouri. A press release from his office says he also plans to visit west coast-based companies in agricultural technology, professional services, and financial services sectors with an existing presence in Missouri. It says he wants to thank them for their business and discuss additional ways to collaborate and create jobs here.

Parson’s California trip will be his third mission trip this year. Last month, he took a business trip to Australia to meet with executives there in the business world, especially in infrastructure and agriculture, to discuss investment and workforce development opportunities here. He also went on a trade mission to Europe in June – resulting in German company Bayer moving its crop sciences division to eastern Missouri and bringing 500 new jobs along with the expansion.

His trip will go through Tuesday, September 17.

The Missouri nonprofit Hawthorn Foundation funded the California trip.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Largest U.S. nail manufacturer hires 120 workers at Missouri plant

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A southeast Missouri company – once hanging on by a nail – is growing again. Mid Continent Steel and Wire in Poplar Bluff had about 300 employees in March. Today, it has roughly 420 workers pounding out nails.

Photo courtesy of Mid Continent Nail Corp.

Mid Continent – the largest nail supplier in the U.S. – waited more than nine months to get the federal government to waive an extra 25% tariff on steel it imports from its company in Mexico. It slashed about 200 jobs last year because it was losing so much business to foreign businesses that could sell cheaper nails.

Operations Manager Chris Pratt tells Missourinet the factory hopes to have close to 500 workers by the end of this year.

“We’re seeing business coming back to us and a good economy is going to help us bring that back. We plan on growing even more,” he says. “We take pride in being able to provide those jobs to those people and for them to be able to provide for their families. It was heartbreaking to see 200 jobs lost over something that was an unintended consequence.”

Pratt says about 80% of the company’s sales have returned and he hopes sales are fully restored early next year.

Most of the new workers were not previous employees.

“You have to think about it – those 200 people had to go and find other jobs. One of the worst things about it is when something like that happens, they lose confidence in your company. They lose confidence in your ability to provide them with a job that’s going to provide for their families. They’re a little gun shy about coming back to a company that was on the brink of extinction. We have hired some people back but a lot of them are newbies.”

The factory launched in 1987 and is the seventh-largest employer in Poplar Bluff, according to the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce. It’s the town’s third-largest manufacturer.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Two more children killed Thursday as St. Louis region awaits a plan from governor, city and county leaders

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Tuesday, St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar sat at a conference table with Gov. Mike Parson, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson as they sought solutions to the area’s increase in violent crime. Video of meeting press conference. 

Belmar (left), St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, MO Public Safety Dir. Sandy Karsten with Parson at St. Louis City Hall September 10, 2019.

Thursday, two youngsters died from gunshot wounds in north St. Louis County: a toddler who found his father’s loaded gun and a 13-year-old who was walking through an apartment complex. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, six children have died from gunshot wounds in St. Louis County this year, and 13 children have been killed by gunfire in the city of St. Louis this year.

Belmar told the press Thursday, “It’s heartbreaking for the families and those involved and I will tell you it is also heartbreaking for the police officers who are involved in this.”

Gov. Parson has promised to announce the first steps of a state-local plan within the week. He says he will also meet with county and city prosecutors soon.

“I’m not the fix-all to everything, I’m not. But I want to support everybody at the table today. I want to come up with solutions.”

“As somebody who has been in law enforcement for 22 years and I am standing up here with these fellow officers who are up here today to try to figure out how do we deal with this terrible situation in our state. And the bottom line is how do we protect those children who are out there being killed in the streets every day.”

Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers who were in the state capital for a special session this week asked for an interim committee to address gun violence across the state. Kansas City Senator Kiki Curls asked her chamber, “Maybe there is some gray area, some middle ground so that we can make sure that folks that are using firearms and guns lawfully are not impacted by it.”

Senate President Dave Schatz, a Republican from Sullivan, near St. Louis, says he will consider the idea as long as it “does not take guns away from law-abiding citizens.”

Schmitt to issue Friday report about clergy abuse in Roman Catholic Church in Missouri

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Missouri’s attorney general will release a long-anticipated report Friday morning in St. Louis, regarding allegations of clergy abuse statewide within the Roman Catholic Church.

Then-State Treasurer Eric Schmitt speaks to former House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty on June 11, 2018 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) has called a press conference for Friday at 10 a.m. at the old Post Office in downtown St. Louis.

His report will include all four Missouri dioceses: the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Diocese of Jefferson City, the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The investigation has been going on for about a year.

Former Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office told Missourinet in September 2018 that all four Missouri dioceses had agreed to independent reviews conducted by the attorney general’s office.

Hawley resigned as attorney general after his November election to the U.S. Senate, and Schmitt was appointed to the post by the governor.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a Statehouse press conference last September, the same day Hawley’s office spoke to Missourinet about the four dioceses agreeing to independent reviews. SNAP said then that there were at least 113 publicly-accused Catholic priests in Missouri, although SNAP believed the number is higher.

Diocese of Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight briefs reporters in Jefferson City on August 24, 2018 (Brian Hauswirth photo)

SNAP has called on the Missouri attorney general’s office to use subpoenas and to question Missouri Catholic church officials under oath.

Diocese of Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight held a press conference last August, where he said Mr. Hawley had called to express his gratitude for the bishop’s request that the AG’s office review diocese files about clergy abuse.

During that August 2018 press conference, Bishop McKnight was critical of previous Roman Catholic Church leaders.

“Their active cover-up or passive silence when clergy abusers were continued in the ministry or promoted in office gravely compromised the credibility of the hierarchy, and by extension, the whole Church,” McKnight told mid-Missouri reporters that day.

Bishop McKnight described sexual abuse of children as “a crime and a sin,” adding that the Diocese of Jefferson City has no tolerance for those who intentionally harm children.

Missourinet’s Jill Enders is covering General Schmitt’s Friday morning press conference in St. Louis.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Federal data shows Missouri’s uninsured rate slightly increases

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Federal data shows Missouri’s uninsured rate slightly increases

New U.S. Census Bureau information says Missouri had an uninsured rate of 9.4% in 2018 – compared to 9.1% the previous year. That’s about 564,000 uninsured Missourians in 2018. The rate puts Missouri about 36th among other states.

Nationwide, the 2018 rate of 8.5% increased for the first time since 2009 with 27.5 million Americans without health insurance at any point during the year – up from 25.6 million the previous year.

The report shows the shift was mainly driven by a decline in Medicaid coverage.

The top seven states with the lowest uninsured rates have all expanded Medicaid, including neighboring Iowa.

To view the report, click here.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

(VIDEO) Gov. Parson, Mayor Krewson press conference in St. Louis, promise a plan in 10 days

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Governor Mike Parson, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and County Executive Sam Page held a press conference after meeting with law enforcement and other city leaders about the area’s continued spike in violent crime. The governor calls it “a crisis in our state” and promises to have a plan in place in 10 days.

Watch the entire press conference below: