• Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Legislature
    • Politics / Govt
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • The Bill Pollock Show
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Boone County

Boonville hospital closing and Medicaid expansion emerge as issues in key Missouri Senate race (AUDIO)

November 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Both major parties are pouring money and resources into a mid-Missouri state Senate race, a race that could determine whether Republicans keep a veto-proof majority in that chamber.

The race features Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and former State Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia.

The district covers Boone and Cooper counties, along the I-70 corridor. While Columbia and Boonville are the two major cities in the district, there are also numerous small towns and farms across the two counties.

Rowden, who served two terms in the Missouri House from 2013-2016, won the Senate seat in 2016 by defeating then-State Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia. Rowden had 45,335 votes, to Webber’s 43,179. Rowden won the race by about two-and-a-half points.

The majority leader is the two number two position in the Missouri Senate. Rowden says serving as majority leader gives him a larger role in impacting the agenda.

“For me that’s making sure that we find a way to get past COVID, trying to find a way to make sure that small businesses have what they need on the back end of COVID, that’s going to be a challenge,” Rowden says. “Trying to make sure the budget situation is stable.”

Rowden also says transportation is huge in the district, noting the importance of an $81-million dollar federal grant to replace the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge. Rocheport is just west of Columbia.

More than 12 million vehicles cross the massive bridge annually, including three million trucks. The bridge connects Boone with Cooper county, across the Missouri River. The current bridge is more than 60 years old, and the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has said it’s in poor condition.

Judy Baker served two terms in the Missouri House, from 2005-2008. She left her House seat to run for an open U.S. House seat in 2008, narrowly losing that race to Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, who’s now in his sixth term.

If elected to the Missouri Senate, Baker’s top priority is implementing and protecting Medicaid expansion, which was approved by Missouri voters in August.

“We just passed it (in August) and in this (senatorial) district, it passed with 62 percent of the vote. And my opponent, of course, has voted against it every time he could,” Baker says.

Medicaid expansion supporters say it will provide healthcare to Missourians who earn less than $18,000 annually.

This year’s closing of a hospital in Boonville has emerged as an issue in this race. Baker tells Missourinet that Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Boonville and some other hospitals would have been saved by Medicaid expansion.

“Those hospitals would have been able to stay in their communities, had they had some kind of revenue for the patients they were already seeing,” says Baker.

But Rowden tells Missourinet that the Boonville hospital closed because of mismanagement, saying hospital leaders in Boonville didn’t have the best interest of the community at heart. Rowden disagrees with Baker on Medicaid expansion.

“Well Medicaid expansion wouldn’t keep any rural hospital open, and there’s no data to back that up,” says Rowden. “I do think the infusion of federal dollars could have postponed the inevitable, in some cases.”

The Missouri Hospital Association says ten rural hospitals have closed in Missouri, since 2014.

Rowden and Baker are also clashing over the initial cost of Medicaid expansion, with Rowden saying it will cost $300 to $500 million in the first five years. He says the money has to come from somewhere, and doesn’t want it coming from Mizzou.

Baker says Medicaid expansion would be an economic boost to hospitals and to the towns that have hospitals, especially rural areas.

Republicans currently control the Senate 23-8, with three vacancies. Two of the three vacancies are in the heavily-Democratic Kansas City area, and one is in southeast Missouri, a GOP stronghold.

A veto-proof majority in the Missouri Senate is 23 Senate seats.

Democrats hope to unseat both Majority Leader Rowden and State Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, on Tuesday. If that happens and if the other Senate races end up as expected, Republicans would have 22 seats, one short of a veto-proof majority.

Governor Mike Parson (R) noted the importance of Rowden’s seat, during a speech last week to supporters at Emery Sapp and Sons in Columbia. Parson spoke directly to the construction workers in the back of the room, saying “I need him,” referring to Senator Rowden.

Rowden’s other top priorities include protecting funding for Mizzou, as well as K-12 and other higher education funding.

Baker is also focused on the COVID pandemic, and says any economic recovery should be geared toward working families.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, which was recorded on October 28, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bh-rowdeninterviewOctober2020.mp3

Click here to listen to Brian’s full interview with former State Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, which was recorded in Columbia on October 29, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bh-bakerinterview.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Education, Elections, Health / Medicine, History, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Boone County, Boonville, Columbia, Cooper County, COVID, former State Rep. Judy Baker, former State Rep. Stephen Webber, I-70 Rocheport bridge, Medicaid expansion, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Missouri Hospital Association, Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, MoDOT, Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Boonville, State Sen. Andrew Koenig, University of Missouri funding

Columbia and Boone County issue stay-at-home orders

March 24, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

City of Columbia and Boone County leaders hold a live-streamed briefing, practicing social distancing.

Columbia Mayor Brian Treece and Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill announced new stay-at-home orders to protect the public and essential workers from the spread of COVID-19.

Columbia is home to the Truman VA hospital, Boone County Hospital, the UM hospital and health care system hub, as well as its medical school.

The orders exceed the back-to-school date and Treece says the school district will “accommodate this order. ”

Boone County Public Health and Human Services Director Stephanie Browning confirmed that there are 20 cases in the county as of this morning.

Treece said nothing in the order prevents you from going to the grocery store, the pharmacy, the gas station, the drive-through, and the doctor.

He said because of “healthcare workers and first responders who are selflessly sacrificing, and grocery workers stocking shelves while we stay at home, we honor the seriousness of their work by following the advice and direction of our public health professionals.”

City ordinances violations are complaint-driven and Treece says regulatory workers like building inspectors are being trained to respond and give directions to the offender first. Further violations would be reported to the public health department.

Treece offered this hopeful message:

“We will get through this together. And when we do, may we never take for granted greeting a stranger with a handshake or our friends with a hug. May we be thankful for a crowded football stadium or a packed city council chamber. And may we find joy ina busy morning getting ready for school once again or having to wait 20 minutes for a table in the evening at our favorite local restaurant.”

Filed Under: Business, Health / Medicine, News Tagged With: Boone County, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, stay-at-home

Parson describes coronavirus as “a public health emergency”; Missouri now has 73 confirmed cases

March 20, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

State health officials say the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Missouri increased from 46 to 73 on Friday. There are also three deaths: in Jackson, St. Louis and Boone counties.

The death in Jackson County was announced by Governor Mike Parson on Friday afternoon, and the St. Louis County death was announced by St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Friday evening.

State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, has tested positive for coronavirus. He is seen here speaking on the Missouri House floor on February 18, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Governor Parson briefed Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on Friday afternoon, outside his Statehouse office. The governor says this is a public health emergency, and he predicts the number of confirmed cases will continue to rise as more testing is done.

“The good news to that is we are identifying the people that are testing positive and trying to get them in quarantine and out of the public, so we can help combat the coronavirus,” Parson says.

Parson tells reporters that he is ordering state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Director Dr. Randall Williams to require social distancing.

“It will be targeted to gathering of more than ten people that will be prohibited,” says Parson. “This order will make statewide restrictions on gathering of people.”

The governor emphasizes this is not about shutting places down, and is designed to promote the health and safety of Missourians.

Parson says this order will not apply to religious services, hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies and state government. He’ll announce the details of the order on Saturday afternoon.

Meantime, Missouri House leaders in both parties announced Friday evening that a House member has tested positive for the coronavirus. Missourinet has confirmed that the lawmaker is veteran State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, who is 79 years old.

House leaders in both parties are requesting that all House employees stay out of the Missouri Capitol, for at least the next ten days.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Boone County, coronavirus, governor mike parson, Jackson County, Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, social distancing, St. Louis County, State Department of Health and Senior Services, State Rep. Joe Runions

Parson: Missouri now has 15 confirmed cases of coronavirus

March 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor announced Tuesday night in Jefferson City that there are five new positive cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 15.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson addresses Capitol reporters in Jefferson City, after he declared a state of emergency in Missouri for coronavirus (March 13, 2020 file photo courtesy of the Governor’s office)

Governor Mike Parson says there are now four confirmed cases in southwest Missouri’s Greene County, four in St. Louis County, two in western Missouri’s Cass County, one in mid-Missouri’s Boone County, one in mid-Missouri’s Cole County, one in St. Louis City, one in Jackson County and one in western Missouri’s Henry County.

The governor says the state health lab has tested 267 people for COVID-19. There have been 253 negative patients, while 15 have tested positive.

Governor Parson is starting daily briefings about coronavirus, and the first one is happening tonight at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

The governor was joined by state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Director Dr. Randall Williams, State Medicaid Director Todd Richardson and state Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Sandy Karsten.

The governor is emphasizing the importance of personal responsibility, and washing your hands.

The governor announced earlier that the state’s 13 riverboat casinos will close at midnight, and will remain closed through March 30. Governor Mike Parson says the aim is to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Some of the towns impacted by the casino closings are Boonville, Cape Girardeau, Caruthersville and St. Joseph.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Health / Medicine, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Boone County, Boonville, Cape Girardeau, Cass County, Cole County, coronavirus, governor mike parson, Greene County, Henry County, Jackson County, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, riverboat casinos, St. Louis City, St. Louis County



Tweets by Missourinet

Sports

Pinson helps deliver big win for Mizzou at Tennessee

Mizzou … [Read More...]

25th ranked Lady Bears get past Drake

Missouri … [Read More...]

Mahomes has cleared NFL concussion protocol

Patrick … [Read More...]

Bieniemy’s window closing. “Yes I do want to be a head coach”

Seven head … [Read More...]

Kansas City T-Bones are now the Monarchs

The Kansas … [Read More...]

More Sports

Tweets by missourisports

Archives

Opinion/Editorials

TwitterFacebook

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC