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

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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.

 

Bob Priddy: election history this week as 5 statewide officials run for their jobs for the first time

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Bob Priddy, special to Missourinet

Missourians are voting in a unique election this year because five statewide officeholders are trying to keep a job nobody elected them to hold four years ago.

Missouri historian Bob Priddy explains that Governor Mike Parson, Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick were not elected to their present offices in 2016.

The resignation of Governor Eric Greitens created a jobs shuffle at the top of state government.

In 2016, Parson was elected Lieutenant Governor. Schmitt was elected State treasurer. Kehoe was headed back to private life as a term-limited senator and Fitzpatrick was facing ouster from the House because of term limits. Parson moved up with the resignation of Governor Eric Greitens and promptly appointed Kehoe as Lieutenant Governor. Schmitt was elected State Treasurer then was appointed Attorney General when Josh Hawley ended Claire McCaskill’s U.S. Senate career.  Fitzpatrick, House Budget Committee chair, was appointed by Parson as Schmitt’s successor as Treasurer.

The only statewide officeholder who is running for reelection, not just election this year, is Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who has stayed where voters put him four years ago.

They all have opponents who hope to short-circuit their historic bids on election day. 

 

Missouri’s Fast Track financial aid program is accepting new applications

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Missouri is accepting applications for its Fast Track financial aid program. Fast Track is designed to help adults 25 years or older, or individuals under 25 who have not been enrolled in education in at least two years. The grants are awarded to eligible Missourians working toward a certificate, degree or industry-recognized credential for a job in high demand.

Missouri’s Fast Track financial aid program is accepting new applications

Some of the industries in greatest need include teaching, skilled trades, agriculture, allied health and computer science jobs. LeRoy Wade, deputy commissioner of operations for the state Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, tells Missourinet the top three programs students applied for the grant money last year were in allied health, teacher education and computer science.

“The number one program area by far is allied health and that wasn’t really a surprise before the pandemic but it’s certainly not one as we are in the middle of the pandemic,” he says. “At some point, as many as 50% of the applicants were coming in for allied health programs. And those are things like medical assisting, nurses, respiratory therapists.”

Fast Track launched last year as part of one of Gov. Mike Parson’s top priorities. In the program’s first year, nearly 200 students were helped with the average award amounting to $2,189.

Wade says the grants cover a broader list of program areas this year.

“We expanded the area in what I would call Public Safety. So we added programs for corrections officers. We added firefighters and things like that,” says Wade. “In teacher education, we expanded the while teacher education in some areas was available for, now we have additional ones.”

Fast Track was expanded this year to include not only nonprofit public colleges and universities but also private ones.

“It probably a little more than doubled the number of institutions,” says Wade. “There are about 40 or 45 private nonprofit institutions that participate in this program now. So, it’s a pretty substantial expansion. I think that’s really going to make a difference in terms of the reach of the program by being able to include them.”

Applicants must come from a maximum household income of $80,000 per year if filing taxes jointly or $40,000 annually for a single income household. After completing a program, those awarded a grant must work in Missouri for three calendar years or it turns into a loan with interest.

Missouri’s goal is to have 60% of working-age adults have a high-quality certificate or degree by 2025. So where is the state in meeting that goal?

“We’re in the range of somewhere between 53% and 55% right now,” says Wade. “We’re doing well. That’s up quite a bit when we started this and set this goal almost a decade ago now. We were in the mid to upper 30s. So, we’ve made quite a bit of progress over the last ten years.”

He attributes several initiatives within the department for making progress, including ways to retain students and additional supports to keep students on a path forward academically and financially.

“It looked pretty daunting when we started but we think we are maybe in striking distance of actually being able to reach that goal by 2025,” he says.

Students can access the application from the homepage of journeytocollege.mo.gov

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Missouri Senator slams state’s no-bid contract paying firm $829,000 so far

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Missouri has paid a consulting firm more than $829,000 so far in federal funding for pandemic response coordination, despite Gov. Mike Parson saying a foundation was paying the tab. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports payroll records show the McChrystal Group has received the federal CARES Act funding from the state, instead of Parson saying earlier that the Missouri Foundation for Health would cover up to $600,000 in costs for the firm’s work.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur D-Kansas City (image courtesy of Arthur for Missouri)

During Senate floor debate Wednesday, Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, tells Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton, that she has a problem with the price tag and the contract bypassing the normal bidding process.

“Why are we spending a million dollars on this for one – the governor to ignore that kind of plan and for two – while we’re cutting things like school funding, when people don’t have enough PPE, when we don’t have enough testing available,” says Arthur. “I think it’s probably a better use of the state’s money – of taxpayer dollars, of Missourians’ money – to go towards tests so we know whether or not people are contagious, as opposed to spending money on quote structure and management to allow decision makers to determine policies.”

Missouri has spent over $1.5 billion of the more than $2 billion it has received as part of federal COVID-19 funding. Most of the money has gone to Missouri counties to help local governments fight the virus. The state has spent its portion on things like personal protective equipment, putting up emergency workers in a hotel, and a temporary hospital site.

Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones says under the contract, the firm will be eligible to continue being paid nearly $250,000 a month for its work. She says the McChrystal Group has been a tremendously helpful resource in pulling teams together within state government to drive quick and effective COVID-19 action.

The Virginia-based consulting company was founded by retired four-star Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Gov. Parson wants Missouri Attorney General to prosecute murders in St. Louis

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Governor Mike Parson is asking the Legislature to allow him to send state prosecutors to St. Louis to bring more charges in murder cases.  He extended the special session on violent crime to add this measure.

“We’ve got to address this issue, and we’ve got to quit talking about it and try to figure out what we’ll really put in place, all the way from boots on the ground, to the prosecution, to the courts, all those different entities have to come together to fight violent crime.”

Parson, flanked by AG Schmitt at Monday’s press conference.

Parson says out of 161 cases so far this year, only 33 have been charged. He says the prosecution rates were too low in 2018 and 2019.

The governor says he did not talk to Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner about the announcement and denies that it’s a personal move.  He has publicly disagreed with Gardner’s prosecuting a husband and wife who wielded guns against protesters in their St. Louis neighborhood.

“This is not a personal attack, this is nothing to do with anything that we are trying to find violent criminals that are committing murders,” Parson said Monday at the Capitol.

The proposal does not allow the state Attorney General to supervise or replace the Circuit Attorney. Instead, the Attorney General will be able to prosecute cases if 90 or more days have passed, the chief law enforcement officer makes the request of the Attorney General, and the Circuit Attorney has not yet filed charges.

When asked if he would agree with the federal government taking his cases from him, Attorney General Eric Schmitt replied, “Everybody ought to be working together here. That it’s all hands on deck, that there are no politics when it comes to public safety.”

As the special session continues, a Missouri House panel is considering the Senate-passed crime bill. St. Louis Democrats have been vocal about the scope of its potential prosecution of juveniles as adults and recruitment of police officers from outside of St. Louis.

 

Hawley calls for federal probe of top St. Louis prosecutor in case of armed couple

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U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, wants a federal investigation launched in the case about a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters last month. He has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr accusing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of abusing her power. He says Gardner’s unacceptable abuse of power has to do with Mark and Patricia McCloskey having their guns seized, being investigated and he says Gardner is pursuing a possible indictment.

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley speaks to supporters in Winchester, Missouri (file photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

The McCloskeys have made national news after video and photos showed them outside their mansion wielding guns as a number of protesters walked through their neighborhood. Mark McCloskey was captured on video flashing a rifle yelling that protesters were on private property. McCloskey says he and his wife were “socially intimidated” and “terrorized” by some of the individuals and he feared for his life when they came onto his property.

In the letter, Hawley urges Barr to open a civil rights probe into the matter and says the McCloskey’s had the right to own and use their firearms to protect themselves from threatened violence.

“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Hawley says.

Gardner fired back on Twitter at Hawley’s comments.

During a press conference earlier this week, Gov. Mike Parson weighed in on the clash involving Gardner and the McCloskeys.

“They have the ability to do that as private citizens like everyone else,” says Parson. “But what they should not go through is a prosecutor attempting to take their Constitutional rights away by filing charges against them for protecting their property.”

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner

He says President Donald Trump and Barr are reviewing the event.

“He understands the situation in St. Louis and how out of control it is for a prosecutor to let violent criminals off and not do their job and try to attack law-abiding citizens,” says Parson. “The conversation I had with the president said that he would do everything he could within his powers to help with this situation and that he would be taking action.”

Parson suggested that Gardner should be removed from office.

Gardner released a statement saying Parson and Trump are going after her for doing her job and investigating a case.

“While they continue to play politics with the handling of this matter, spreading misinformation and distorting the truth, I refuse to do so. As I always do, I am reviewing all the available facts and the law and will apply them equally, regardless of the people involved,” says Gardner. “It is unbelievable the Governor of the state of Missouri would seek advice from one of the most divisive leaders in our generation to overpower the discretion of a locally elected prosecutor. It is also incredible that at a time when our nation is dealing with a rapidly spreading deadly virus and our state reported a record number of new infections, they are launching these dog-whistle attacks against me. They should be focused on their jobs and I’ll focus on mine.”

Gardner’s office has not announced any charges against the McCloskeys.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

St. Louis senator requests special session on policing – not likely to happen

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The only Black male senator in the Missouri Legislature is asking Gov. Parson to allow a special session on policing tactics. St. Louis Senator Brian Williams says that the “state cannot wait a day longer when it comes to reforming our law enforcement agencies.”

Williams, in his letter to the governor (below), said “These reforms are not about defunding the police or allowing crime to run rampant in our streets, they are about improving the relationship between law enforcement and the citizens they swore an oath to serve and protect.”

“We’re also providing the resources and tools for law enforcement to be safe as well.”

Chokeholds, practices, and creating a uniform code for training officers are on William’s agenda.

“In 20 years, there has not been an opportunity to have a conversation on the impact of policing and systemic racism from the lens of a black male,” he said.

“I think this is an opportunity for our state to make historic strides and show the rest of the country that we are interested in protecting our communities, people of color, and ensuring that law enforcement is safe at the same time,” Williams told Missourinet. “I’m confident with the interest of Democrats and Republicans as well as community leaders, activists as well as the law enforcement community. We just need the governor on board to get this done.”

State Representative Ron Hicks, R-St. Charles County, is also proposing legislation to create the criminal offense of “abuse of force” if an officer causes physical injury by unreasonable force or violence.

The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Chair Rep. Steven Roberts requested a special session via a letter to the governor in June.

Governor Parson, who often reiterates his support for law enforcement indicated Tuesday that he would not include these issues in a special session. He said in late June that reform will take time and should be handled in the regular session, starting in January.

“It’s one thing to talk about a chokehold, and I get that, and making changes of whether you put pressure on the back of the neck. Yeah, it’s quite evident that we shouldn’t be doing that. But then what else what does mean: I don’t know what all that bill would look like and I don’t know what all would be put in it. And I don’t know if you can get it done in a special session,” Parson said in a press conference at the end of June. “I think something like probably is more apt to be in the legislative session where you have public hearings and time to go through that and really analyze that. I think there’s going to be discussions on that in the Legislature this year.”

The governor has said he will call a special session on violent crime.

Parson briefing June 30: budget approved, with $448 million held back and $11 million in vetoes (VIDEO)

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Governor Mike Parson approved the new fiscal year 2021 budget bills totaling about $35.3 billion and vetoed 17 line items amounting to $11 million. However, continued revenue shortfalls expected because of the COVID-19 crisis have prompted him to block spending on $448 million in the budget, unless the economy gets healthier.

Schools and higher education took the brunt of singular cuts, though employee layoffs will be mainly in the mental health and social services agencies.

Itemized list of budget items withheld

At Thursday’s regular briefing, Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick gave an update on the work of the special working group appointed by the governor to make spending suggestions for federal COVID-19 stimulus funds.

Parson talked about the seriousness of the state’s COVID-19 death toll, now at one thousand. State Health Director Randall Williams intensified his call for wearing of masks in certain situations” “the more we learn the more important we realize that is.”

WATCH ENTIRE BRIEFING:

Parson Thursday briefing: Missouri is fully open, State Fair will go on in some form (VIDEO)

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Missouri’s governor announced today that he thinks the state is better prepared to handle the COVID-19 virus and will be fully open for business June 16. The phase 2 step should still include social distancing and other precautions, he says, especially for people with health conditions that make them vulnerable.

That includes nursing homes, said Parson, so his office will publish a plan for long-term care facilities “in the next few days.”

In the briefing, state Economic Development Director Rob Dixon said “signs are pointing toward recovery” in the state’s business activities.

WATCH FULL PRESS CONFERENCE:

Parson’s Tuesday June 9 briefing: Do not defund police, dramatic increases in COVID-19 weekly testing in Missouri (FULL VIDEO)

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Governor Mike Parson addressed calls to “defund the police” after two weeks of national protests against police practices, sparked by the video of the gruesome death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.  Parson was joined by State Highway Patrol Col. Eric Olsen on that topic. Parson also paid tribute to retired St. Louis police officer David Dorn, who was shot-to-death in downtown St. Louis as he protected a pawn shop from looters.

Missouri Medicaid Director Todd Richardson and Missouri DHSS Dir. Randall Williams updated COVID-19 testing rates and contact tracing plans statewide.

The governor’s next briefing is Thursday afternoon, and he will discuss further plans to open the Missouri economy.