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Missouri Farm Bureau wants state’s newly-created broadband program to be permanent

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The Missouri Farm Bureau says the state’s broadband grant program should stick around. Unless the legislature takes action, the newly-created effort expires in August 2021. In 2018, state lawmakers passed legislation to create the program and in 2019, they funded the effort with $5 million.

Missouri Farm Bureau wants state’s newly-created broadband program to be permanent

The Missouri Farm Bureau’s director of public affairs and advocacy, Eric Bohl, tells Brownfield Ag News it is asking the legislature to continue to fund rural broadband in the state.

“Hopefully we’ll also be able to remove a sunset that was in that initial bill that set up the office so that that office can move forward indefinitely because it’s going to be something that we need for the indefinite future,” he says.

Bohl says the $5 million is solely for the grant program, not the office. The office is funded within the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

He says the $5 million in matching grants will lead to at least $10 million in broadband internet upgrades.

Missouri is one of the worst states in rural broadband reach. Bohl says rural broadband is critical to making farming more efficient and improving the quality of life for rural residents.

“Unfortunately, there are over a million people in rural Missouri that do not have broadband internet access and there’s only two other states that have more than a million people, and those are California and Texas,” Bohl says.

He says the lack of broadband in rural areas hinders the economic development of rural communities and makes them less attractive for younger people to return to the farm.

For internet service to be considered broadband, it must have speeds of at least 25 megabits per second download and three megabits per second upload.

Will Robinson of Brownfield Ag News contributed to this story

Missouri center unveiled to expand transportation research and development

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The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and University of Missouri System have launched a new center to expand transportation research and development. University of Missouri System President Mun Choi hopes the Missouri Center for Transportation Innovation will lead to groundbreaking innovations, like the first flight by the Wright Brothers 116 years ago.

Photo courtesy of MODOT

“Just like what they did at Kitty Hawk, we have an opportunity to use innovation to make a lasting mark in creating revolutionary transportation technologies right here in Missouri,” says Choi.

MoDOT Deputy Director Ed Hassinger says innovation is a cornerstone of the department’s work.

“When we look at doing research, we’re looking at research that’s practical, that’s implementable quickly and that the citizens of Missouri can get the value out of very quickly,” says Hassinger. “The research that we do on things like pavement life and making bridges last longer is vitally important for us to be able to even survive with the level of funding we have.”

Missouri has about 34,000 miles of roads and 10,000 bridges. It ranks about 48th in the nation in revenue per mile in transportation funding. The last time Missouri increased its fuel tax to boost infrastructure funding was more than 20 years ago.

Hassinger says the state should be researching how Missouri roads perform here – not in other states.

The center will work with the Federal Highway Administration and other transportation stakeholders. Jen Harper with MoDOT says the center will also focus on attracting other research and development funding.

“The hope is that through those collaborations, that they start forming those teams, that they are going to be able to bring in more national research, as well as some pooled funds with other states that we’re going to bring in other states’ research funds and start doing projects here in Missouri instead of us sending money to other states to do those projects,” she says.

Harper says as the center grows, bigger research projects like Hyperloop could be involved. Hyperloop is a futuristic tube travel system that is said to haul people from Kansas City to St. Louis in about 30 minutes. Some state officials want to build a Hyperloop along I-70 and have a private company run the operation.

Bill Buttlar, an engineering professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will serve as the center’s director. He calls Missouri a “hotbed for innovation”.

“Transportation can have a tremendous impact on economies,” Buttlar says. “When we invest in transportation and infrastructure the states economies just boon. Research itself has like a 17 to 1 return on investment.”

According to Harper, the startup costs for the center are minimal and will be mostly absorbed through existing funding.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Nice electrical savings inspires Missouri school district to expand solar panel project

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In February, the Kirskville School District in northeast Missouri installed 200 solar panels on top of the Kirksville Vo-Tech Building. Since the panels went online, the district has saved $28,000 in electrical costs. Kirksville Superintendent Bob Webb says the savings are resulting in plans to expand the project. He says the panels could end up on top of the primary school.

Kirksville Area Technical Center (Photo courtesy of Kirksville Public Schools)

“It’s the next biggest and best opportunity to do that,” he tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly.

The school board has already approved the planning process for the expansion.

“It’s just a matter now of reaching out and engaging the vendors for the materials, looking at some other parts that might need to be put in place,” he says. “The hope would be to again perhaps even start during this coming summer and get them online over the fall/winter.”

The project timeline will depend upon the length of a school roof repair project.

By Colin Schowe of Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly

Wagner gives shout out to St. Louis region’s ‘Silicon Valley’ for ag tech work

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The U.S. House has passed the long-awaited trade deal with Canada and Mexico. The state’s Republican House members, along with Kansas City Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, voted for the agreement and St. Louis Democrat Lacy Clay opposed it.

Wagner gives shout out to St. Louis region’s ‘Silicon Valley’ for ag tech work

On the House floor, eastern Missouri Republican Ann Wagner gives some love to the St. Louis area for its work in the future of agriculture.

“It’s the first time that a U.S. trade agreement is specifically addressing biotech and the St. Louis region is the Silicon Valley for ag tech,” she says.

Wagner was able to include a piece in the agreement to address one of her priorities.

“I worked with Ambassador Lighthizer to guarantee that the USMCA holds my Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, FOSTA, to stop online sex trafficking here at home and now throughout North America,” says Wagner.

The deal would also increase U.S. access to Canadian dairy markets, labor enforcement measures and include new chapters on digital trade and e-commerce.

Congressman Clay does not think the labor tools included go far it.

“Just like the original NAFTA, which was a slap in the face to working Americans, NAFTA 2.0 is a deeply-flawed agreement that fails to protect key skilled manufacturing sectors like aerospace and automobiles from even more foreign outsourcing of good jobs. NAFTA 2.0 fails to provide the improvements that we were promised, including: Raising labor standards to livable wages in all signatory nations; guaranteeing the Right to Organize; and protecting human rights,” he says. “This is a bad deal for American workers and for their counterparts in Mexico and Canada. We can and we must do more to protect American jobs and to lift up the lives of workers across North America as well.”

The Senate is not expected to consider the deal until January.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Rehder is hopeful 2020 will be the year PDMP passes in Missouri (AUDIO)

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A southeast Missouri lawmaker is optimistic her prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation will finally pass in 2020. State Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, traveled to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on Wednesday to file House bill 1693.

State Reps. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, (left) and Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, brief Capitol reporters on December 11, 2019 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

During a Statehouse press conference about opioid issues and HIV legislation, Rehder told Missourinet there’s a renewed interest from Senate leadership in getting it off the table early in the 2020 session. She references Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, and Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.

“They really want to get it through the Senate early,” Rehder says. “And so, however that process is, I fully trust them that that’s going to be on the (Senate) floor early this year.”

Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP, which is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state.

The Missouri House approved Rehder’s bill this year by a 103-53 vote, but the bill died in the Senate. It died primarily because of opposition from the Senate Conservative Caucus, which has six GOP members. State Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and others in the caucus have privacy concerns with PDMP.

During an interview with Missourinet after Wednesday’s press conference, Rehder dismissed the privacy issues. She also cites the toll the opioid epidemic is taking on Missouri families.

“It just gives our physicians and medical professionals easier access,” says Rehder. “And so I think some of the fear has gone away that it’s some big brother looking at your medications. It’s not, it’s covered by HIPAA.”

HIPAA stands for the federal Health Portability and Accountability Act.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse says nearly three people a day died of opioid overdoses in St. Louis in 2018. Rehder says the opioid epidemic is impacting the entire state.

Meantime, firefighters in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights have told U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) that they are ten times as likely to respond to a drug overdose as a fire. State Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, tells Missourinet it’s critical for state lawmakers to approve the bipartisan PDMP bill.

“I think we need to do everything we can to make sure there are tool box in the tool chests for first responders. And this PDMP, I consider medical professionals first responders as well, and we need to get PDMP across the finish line,” McCreery says.

Rehder’s PDMP bill has had strong support from Democrats in both the Missouri House and Senate. It’s also supported by Senator Blunt and by U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield.

Congressman Long visited Springfield’s Cox Medical Center South in June, describing the opioid epidemic as a “scourge.” He also noted that the opioid crisis is killing about 130 people a day nationwide.

Rehder will be serving her eighth and final year in the Missouri House in 2020, due to term limits.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Reps. Holly Rehder, R-Scott City, and Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, which was recorded at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on December 11, 2019:

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

New state report details health issues facing rural Missourians

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The Department of Health and Senior Services says accessing basic health care is becoming increasingly challenging due to hospital closures and fewer available hospital beds in rural Missouri. Since the last published Health in Rural Missouri report in 2017, four rural, general acute care hospitals have closed – bringing the number of rural counties without a hospital to 55.

New state report details health issues facing rural Missourians

The latest report says rural Missourians die at significantly higher rates than urban residents. For every 100,000 people living in rural areas during 2007-2017, there were nearly 869 deaths, compared to 785 in urban areas.

According to the report, heart disease tops the list for the leading cause of death for rural and urban Missourians, followed by cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. A citizen in a rural Missouri county during the same ten-year period is 20% more likely to die of heart disease than one living in an urban county.

Between 2007 and 2017, the report says pregnancy related deaths were 47% higher for rural communities than for urban ones. In Missouri, more than 1,500 cases of maternal morbidity or mortality were reported in 2016-2017. The ten counties with the highest rates of maternal morbidity statewide are all rural.

Death rates from opioid overdose are increasing in rural areas, although less quickly than in urban areas. Similarly to urban areas, the state data shows opioid overdose death rates are highest in the eastern part of the state.

According to the report, the health status of rural Missouri boils down to unhealthy behaviors, inadequate access to health care and an older, poorer population.

Poverty is much more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas, with a 29% lower per capita income. Rural Missouri also has much higher percentages of children and elderly living in poverty.

To view the full report, click here.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Federal funding helps to expand virtual health care in rural Missouri

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving more than $500,000 to expand virtual health care services in parts of rural Missouri. The USDA is providing the funding through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program.

Photo courtesy of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Through the grant, Mercy Virtual will install video equipment to provide remote health services in parts of eastern, southern and southwest Missouri. The effort is expected to provide health care to about 210,000 area residents.

The grant will also allow Salem Memorial District Hospital in southern Missouri to put technology connecting rural Missouri schools in Dent, Reynolds, Iron, and Shannon Counties to Phelps Health Hospital in Rolla and SSM Health in St. Louis. The project is said to increase health care access to 2,300 rural Missouri students.

In 2017, President Donald Trump created the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

$28 million University of Missouri Plant Growth Research Center opens

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The University of Missouri has opened a new $28 million state-of-the-art center housing research greenhouses and cutting-edge, controlled-environment plant growth chambers in Columbia. From droughts to floods to monsoons, the more than 9,000 square feet for controlled environment growth chambers enable researchers to simulate climate conditions from all over the world to study their impacts on crops. Scott Brown, with the University of Missouri, says the new site is a much-needed improvement.

Photos courtesy of the University of Missouri

“So a chance to have some new greenhouse space to make sure our plant science researchers can do the cutting-edge research that they need,” says Brown.

The site contains some of the tallest growth chambers in the world that can accommodate the full 12-foot growth height of corn. Brown thinks the research will involve all sorts of crops.

“I think it’s going to be across the board and in fact, we’re looking at a number of researchers bidding on the opportunity to have greenhouse space in this new facility,” says Brown. “So, we’ll see how it unfolds moving forward.”

The East Campus building has 24 greenhouse units.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

U.S. Agriculture Secretary heading to Kansas City on Friday; Graves praises relocation plan (AUDIO)

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A congressman who represents 36 northern Missouri counties is praising USDA’s selection of Kansas City as the site for two major USDA facilities.

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, farms in northwest Missouri’s Atchison County in October 2019 (photo courtesy of Congressman Graves’ office)

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, a sixth-generation family farmer, says 90 percent of USDA employees are already outside of Washington. Graves’ sprawling district includes the northern Kansas City suburbs.

“The closer we can get USDA’s core or headquarter staff to agriculture, the better,” Graves says.

USDA will relocate its Economic Research Service (ERS) and its National Institute of Food and Agriculture Policy (NIFA) agencies to Pennsylvania Avenue in Kansas City.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will travel to the location on Friday morning to hold an event with Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Senator Roy Blunt, state Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Chris Chinn, state Department of Economic Development Director Rob Dixon and others.

Congressman Graves praises the relocation plan, saying it will decentralize USDA.

“When you put too many bureaucrats for an agency inside the Beltway, inside Washington D.C. where they’re not out there interacting with the very people that they are supposed to be serving, then you get into some serious problems,” says Graves.

He says USDA’s decision puts the agencies closer to constituencies.

Graves also predicts the decision will have a “ripple effect” two to three counties deep. He says the average wages for the approximately 550 positions are between $80,000 and $100,000.

“Buying homes, renting apartments, buying gas, buying groceries, buying new televisions, whatever the case may be,” Graves says.

He also emphasizes that the issue has been bipartisan, noting that he’s been working closely with U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) has also praised the plan and the bipartisan regional efforts to land the jobs. Mayor Lucas notes Kansas City is an essential part of the animal health corridor.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, which was recorded on November 1, 2019:

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

USDA’s Kansas City decision praised by top Missouri Republicans and Democrats

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Members of Missouri’s congressional delegation in both parties are praising the decision by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to select Kansas City, Missouri as the site for two major USDA facilities.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City (September 2018 file photo courtesy of Congressman Cleaver’s office)

USDA announced its decision to relocate the facilities to the “greater Kansas City area” in June, but it wasn’t formally announced until Thursday that the office site would be on Pennsylvania Avenue in Kansas City. USDA is relocating its Economic Research Service (ERS) and its National Institute of Food and Agriculture Policy (NIFA) agencies.

USDA chose Kansas City over potential sites in North Carolina and Indiana.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, told Missourinet in June that the decision would bring about 550 jobs to the Kansas City region, with average wages between $80,000 and $100,000.

Pennsylvania Avenue is located in Congressman Cleaver’s district.

“I am pleased to welcome the U.S. Department of Agriculture offices of Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District. Together these institutions and their employees will bolster the agricultural research sector in the Greater Kansas City region to the benefit of the entire nation. A move like this is never easy on employees or their families; however, as the Congressional Representative from Kansas City, I can assure you that Kansas Citians stand ready to make your transition as seamless as possible. We are ecstatic to have you here, and we look forward to your commendable research continuing in the Show-Me State,” Cleaver said in a statement.

Governor Mike Parson and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, both Republicans, also praise USDA’s decision, saying it puts the agencies closer to constituencies.

“I’ve been proud to advocate for the USDA move and finalizing the site selection marks a huge step forward,” Senator Blunt said in a statement. “Bringing these two important ag research agencies closer to the people they serve and the leading research institutions that support their mission is the right move.”

Blunt also praised the USDA decision, during an August interview with Missourinet at the State Fair in Sedalia.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) is also happy, and praises the bipartisan regional efforts to land the jobs. Mayor Lucas notes Kansas City is an essential part of the animal health corridor.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet