Jefferson City Archives

Cristobal expected to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding to parts of Missouri (AUDIO)

June 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The National Weather Service (NWS) says Tropical Depression Cristobal will cause widespread rain across the state, especially in mid-Missouri. Columbia, Jefferson City, Sedalia and Lake of the Ozarks are expected to receive two to three inches, by Tuesday evening.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis says Tropical Depression Cristobal is expected to bring heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes to parts of Missouri (June 8, 2020 map courtesy of NWS St. Louis Twitter)

NWS St. Louis meteorologist Sally Johnson says rain should begin falling in far southern Missouri by 6 p.m. Monday. The rain should arrive in Jefferson City by midnight.

“It continues through most of the day (Tuesday), but it does move through fairly quick,” Johnson says. “By Tuesday evening, we only have a 30 percent chance and that’s by 7 o’clock,” Johnson says.

Tropical Depression Cristobal is expected to bring heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes to parts of Missouri. Johnson tells Missourinet that flash flooding is also possible.

“Since a lot of this is falling at night, if you are driving at night, it is very difficult to tell how deep the water is you’re about to drive through. So, make sure that you know your routes,” says Johnson.

The NWS also says the heavy rains will likely cause new river flooding.

The St. Louis and Kansas City areas should see less than an inch of rain.

The NWS St. Louis office says while it’s not rare to see the remnants of tropical systems impacting Missouri, they normally happen in late summer or early fall.

The NWS says this is the earliest a tropical system has impacted the area on record. Before today, the two earliest occurrences were for remnants of unnamed storms that impacted far eastern Missouri on June 14, 1906 and on June 15, 1901.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with NWS St. Louis meteorologist Sally Johnson, which was recorded on June 8, 2020:

Haahr and Quade view Missouri’s 2020 session differently; both predict special session

May 19, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s House Speaker describes the historic 2020 session as “incredibly successful,” noting lawmakers lost about six weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. His Democratic counterpart disagrees.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, presides over the chamber on May 15, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet that he’s most proud that lawmakers approved a state budget, before their constitutional deadline.

“The work that the Budget Chair (State Rep. Cody Smith) did in having to take six weeks off, try to come up with the best calculated estimate of what we believe the revenues would look like,” Haahr says.

The $35.2 billion state operating budget approved earlier this month includes $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says it’s for plants with less than two hundred employees, for support, workforce assistance and capital improvements.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Both parties say that is critical.

In addition to the six weeks the Legislature lost because of the coronavirus, they also lost several days in January and February because of snow and ice in Jefferson City.

“If I look back at the beginning of the session, and I look at the things that I most wanted to accomplish and that our caucus listed as their priorities to get done, I think it’s an incredibly successful session for having lost six weeks in the middle of it,” says Haahr.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, disagrees, telling Capitol reporters that the GOP-controlled Legislature should have focused more on protecting Missourians from the coronavirus.

“In fact, the House spent far more time discussing feral hogs than it did talking about COVID-19,” Quade says.

The $35.2 billion state budget approved by the Legislature contains language that prohibits the state Department of Conservation from funding a federal employee at the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri.

The feral hog issue was discussed in-detail during that May debate, and also came up on the House floor and during budget hearings this session.

Leader Quade says House Republicans “largely ignored” COVID-19 during the 2020 session, an issue she describes as the single-biggest crisis that Missouri has faced in at least a century.

During a floor speech just before Friday’s adjournment, Quade praised grocery employees across the state.

“To our grocery workers truly keeping us alive, I’m sorry the Legislature chose not to give you the protection of essential workers that you truly deserve,” Quade said on the floor.

One area Speaker Haahr and Leader Quade agree on is that there will be a special session this summer. Haahr believes it will involve the budget, and Leader Quade tells Missourinet she is hearing that it could happen in three to four weeks.

Haahr also told colleagues from the dais on Friday that he and Quade both share a love for Springfield. She nodded her head in approval, from her desk.

Republicans control the House 114-48.

UPDATE: Missouri House gives final approval to budget; feral hog debate gets heated

May 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House voted Friday afternoon in Jefferson City to give final approval to a $35.2 billion state operating budget, after some heated discussion earlier in the day about feral hogs and other issues relating to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, (right) and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, discuss the state budget in Jefferson City on May 8, 2020 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The budget is now in the Missouri Senate, which must approve it by 6 p.m. tonight.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says the compromise budget between the House and Senate contains $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. Smith says it’s for plants with less than 200 employees, for support, workforce assistance, equipment and capital improvements.

The bipartisan funding for the plants is aimed at helping them address supply chain disruptions and to mitigate health and environmental impacts as a result of the pandemic.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Budget Chairman Smith and ranking Democrat Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, say that is critical.

It also includes $2 million for the Missouri Lottery to advertise. The original House budget cut it to $100,000, but the Senate allocated $3 million. Budget negotiators settled on the $2 million.

There was also heated discussion today on the Missouri House floor, after State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, blasted the Senate, saying they took $100,000 out of the budget for hungry women/children. Lavender called that decision shameful.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, and Representative Lavender then had a heated discussion about “setting the record straight”, but disagree on what that record is. They spoke over each other at times.

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, described Lavender’s floor comments as “factually wrong”, saying the budget expands the “Share the Harvest” program to $300,000. Ross also blasted the Missouri Department of Conservation, saying they tried to put $100,000 in the budget for a new forest service employee.

Ross tells the House that employee would have “harassed” feral hog hunters at the Mark Twain National Forest.

Normally, the Missouri Capitol’s public fourth-floor galleries are packed with lobbyists and schoolchildren, during budget debate. However, due to COVID-19 concerns, there was just one person observing today.

Parson emphasizes safety and expanded COVID-19 testing, during stops at two mid-Missouri businesses

May 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor is praising employees and customers at two Jefferson City businesses, for taking the COVID-19 threat seriously.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson toured the Orscheln Farm and Home store in Jefferson City on May 7, 2020 (photo from Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth)

Governor Mike Parson visited HyVee and Orscheln Farm and Home on Thursday morning, meeting with managers and employees about the state’s re-opening.

“You see the screens, the barriers that are put up between the cashiers and the customers,” Parson says. “You know, the availability of the sanitizers there.”

The governor also praises the HyVee grocery store for its senior shopping hours of 6-8 a.m, as well as social distancing markers at checkout lanes.

After stopping at HyVee, the governor and a few staffers traveled a few miles away to the Orscheln store on Missouri Boulevard. It’s a newly-remodeled store, which sells items like farm supplies, livestock feed, lawn and garden equipment, farm toys, tools and sporting goods.

The president of Moberly-based Orscheln, Marc Johnson, drove to Jefferson City to join Parson at the event. Johnson tells Missourinet safety is his top priority, for employees and customers.

“I think our customers are understanding that they have to keep the social distancing and they’re self-regulating, if you will,” he says.

Orscheln operates 165 stores in 11 states, including 45 stores across Missouri. Its corporate office and distribution center are in Moberly, which is north of Columbia.

Parson also spent ten minutes at Orscheln, answering questions from Capitol reporters.

He says the state continues to try to do more coronavirus testing, emphasizing that expanding the testing is one of his top priorities. The governor notes it’s one of the four essential pillars of the “Show Me Strong Recovery Plan.”

“We need to do a much better job of stockpiling to be able to do tests, and with all the new things, the Abbott equipment and everything that’s coming out, you’re going to see a much better job of that,” says Parson.

The governor says the state now has the capability of performing about 50,000 tests each week.

He praises the response from the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to what’s happened at Triumph Foods in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph, and says DHSS will be in St. Louis soon for a larger random sampling of about five hundred residents.

UPDATE: 359 workers at Triumph Foods in northwest Missouri have tested positive for COVID-19

May 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(Reporter Brent Martin at Missourinet St. Joseph affiliate KFEQ contributed to this story)

State health officials have announced that 359 employees and contract workers at a massive pork processing plant in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph have now tested positive for the coronavirus.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the latest statistics on Saturday, adding that results from the comprehensive testing continue to arrive on a rolling basis. Additional updates are expected this weekend.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) logo (image courtesy of DHSS)

A spokeswoman for DHSS, Lisa Cox, tells Missourinet the vast majority of the Triumph Foods employees were asymptomatic.

Governor Mike Parson appeared Friday on Missourinet St. Joseph affiliate KFEQ Radio (AM 680), telling “Hotline” host Barry Birr that Triumph Foods became a test of sorts for Missouri’s new strategy of rapidly deploying COVID-19 test kits to a potential hot spot, in an effort to prevent a massive outbreak.

“And that’s the first big major test that we’ve done,” the governor tells KFEQ. “Most of the people that have tested positive are asymptomatic. So, the good news to that is we know who they are, they’re not sick, so we can take action with that.”

State officials sent test kits to St. Joseph and contracted with Northwest Health Services to test all 2,800 Triumph employees, whether they displayed symptoms or not.

The Triumph Foods plant in St. Joseph processes one-and-a-half billion pounds of pork annually. The governor says it’s a key part of the national food chain.

DHSS Director Dr. Randall Williams does not support shutting the plant down. He told Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on Thursday that the department is doing what they do in public health, including epidemiology contact tracing, isolating and quarantining.

The DHSS has partnered with St. Joseph health officials, Northwest Health Services and Mosaic Life Care to offer coronavirus testing to all employees and contract staff at Triumph.

Any employees who are still wanting to be tested can do so next week through Northwest Health Services’ mobile testing site.

Missouri House to vote on final approval of state operating budget on Wednesday

April 29, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House is expected to give final approval to a proposed $34.9 billion state operating budget Wednesday in Jefferson City.

State Reps. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, and Dean Dohrman, R-La Monte, (standing) discuss the state budget on April 27, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The House will gavel-in Wednesday morning at 10, and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet they’ll take up the budget at that time. He notes the Legislature must approve a balanced budget by May 8, under the state Constitution.

“It is the one constitutional duty of the Missouri General Assembly, and not only that but to pass a balanced budget and one that is on time,” Smith says.

The House voted to give initial budget approval on Monday. The proposed budget includes about $10 billion in general revenue, $14.5 billion in federal funding and another $10.3 billion in other funds.

The House Budget Committee’s ranking Democrat, State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, spoke about the budget on the House floor on Monday. He expresses his frustration, saying the process has been rushed. Kendrick wants lawmakers to wait for a special session this summer.

“This (state operating) budget is being rushed. It’s being rushed in a pretty profound manner,” says Kendrick.

Kendrick says waiting until a special session this summer would give state lawmakers and the governor’s office a better forecast for state revenue projections. He emphasizes that he is not expressing frustration with Chairman Smith.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, also spoke on the floor on Monday. She also prefers waiting for a special session this summer to approve the budget, and notes Governor Mike Parson (R) made comments at recent media briefings indicating that was a possibility.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan and other leaders in the GOP-controlled Legislature say it’s important to keep state government funded and services operating without interruption.

The next fiscal year begins on July 1.

As for Chairman Smith, he tells Leader Quade the House will likely return to the Capitol this summer, for a special session on another supplemental budget.

“And what we are doing today (Monday) I think is taking a snapshot of where we are today, based on what we can know, which is not a great deal, of how the state budget will be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Smith says.

Lawmakers and staff members are being encouraged to wear their masks today, and to continue to practice social distancing protocols.

Columbia, Jefferson City, Springfield and Branson are all at enhanced risk of severe storms (AUDIO)

April 28, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The National Weather Service (NWS) expects much of Missouri to see thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon and evening, and large parts of southwest, west-central and mid-Missouri are at an enhanced risk for severe thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Springfield expects severe thunderstorms across much of southwest and mid-Missouri on Tuesday evening. Isolated tornadoes are possible (map courtesy of NWS Springfield Twitter)

NWS Springfield meteorologist Kyle Perez is urging you to have multiple ways of receiving weather warnings, saying that an enhanced risk means numerous severe storms are possible.

“The main threats we are looking at across the region today include hail up to the size of two inches in diameter, damaging wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour,” Perez says.

Far southwest Missouri’s McDonald County is the only county in the state listed at “moderate” risk, which is the next category up from enhanced. Isolated tornadoes are possible in towns like Noel, Jacket and Rocky Comfort.

Jefferson City, Springfield, Joplin, Branson, Lebanon, West Plains and Rolla are all in the enhanced area, and Perez says storms and hail are likely there between 6 and 9 this evening.

“The initial thunderstorms that will develop will be super cells, so those actually will have the capability of producing little bit stronger tornadoes generally,” says Perez.

Southwest Missouri’s Nevada and Lebanon are also in the enhanced area.

Northwest Missouri’s Maryville and Chillicothe are also expected to see thunderstorms late this afternoon, and southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff are expected to see storms as well.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and National Weather Service (NWS) Springfield meteorologist Kyle Perez, which was recorded on April 28, 2020:

Approving budget is top priority for Missouri’s governor, Schatz and Haahr (AUDIO)

April 26, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor wants lawmakers to focus on the state operating budget during the final few weeks of the 2020 session, and GOP legislative leaders in both chambers say that is their top priority.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, at podium, and House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, speak at a virtual press briefing on April 8, 2020 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

During a media briefing last week, Missourinet asked Governor Mike Parson (R) what issues lawmakers should focus on, when they return to the Capitol in Jefferson City on Monday.

“They come here (to the Statehouse) to do the budget by May 8th, that’s what they’re coming back here for, that’s their main objective, my understanding of that, and that’s the one thing that we really need to focus on,” Parson says.

Under the state Constitution, Missouri lawmakers are required to approve a balanced state operating budget by May 8. That’s less than two weeks away.

While time will be a factor, Missouri’s Senate leader believes lawmakers will send a balanced budget to the governor’s desk by the May 8th constitutional deadline. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, expects the House to give final budget approval on Wednesday.

“We believe that we (the Senate) can begin the process that week after the (April) 29th, work possibly through the weekend to get our budget markup done,” says Schatz.

Schatz knows the House and Senate budgets will have differences, and he’s allotting time for House and Senate budget writers to negotiate those differences in a conference committee. The conference committee work would take place next week.

The budget is also the top priority for House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield.

The House gavels-in Monday at noon, and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, says the House has scheduled six hours of budget debate for Monday. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, expects the House to give initial approval to the budget on Monday. He expects final House approval on Wednesday. The budget would then head to the Senate.

Chairman Smith agrees with Governor Parson, that lawmakers may return to the Capitol this summer for a special session on another supplemental budget.

The Senate will gavel-in Monday afternoon at 4, although two Senate committees will meet before session begins.

Lawmakers have lost four to five weeks of session time because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The last day of the 2020 legislative session is Friday, May 15. Pro Tem Schatz tells Missourinet that many bills will die, in the session’s final three weeks.

“I would say probably more than has ever in the past, because there’s probably going to be a very, very minimal number of bills that will make it across the finish line,” Schatz says.

While he’s keeping his expectations low on policy issues, Pro Tem Schatz remains hopeful that lawmakers can approve a bipartisan prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) and a legislative redistricting plan. The redistricting proposal has been a priority for Republicans, but Democrats oppose it, saying Missourians overwhelmingly passed the 2018 “Clean Missouri” proposal.

As for PDMP, Missouri is the only state in the nation without one.

Missouri House Chief Clerk Dana Rademan Miller tells Missourinet they have supplied all House members and staff with cloth masks, which are cotton and washable. She says all are encouraged, but not required, to wear them and to continue to practice social distancing protocols when they return to the Capitol on Monday.

Click here to listen to the full six-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on April 24, 2020:

Missouri House to tackle state budget on Monday; they’re being encouraged to wear masks

April 26, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The 163-member Missouri House and its staff members will be encouraged to wear masks when they return to the Statehouse in Jefferson City on Monday.

Missouri House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, (left) discusses the $6.2 billion supplemental budget with House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, on April 8, 2020 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The House will gavel-in Monday at noon, and will be debating the budget.

“We have supplied all members and staff with cloth masks. They are cotton and washable,” Missouri House Chief Clerk Dana Rademan Miller tells Missourinet. “All are encouraged, but not required, to wear them and to continue to practice social/physical distancing protocols when we return for session on Monday.”

The House hasn’t met since April 8, when they approved a historic $6.2 billion supplemental budget to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The April 8 debate with unlike anything that’s ever happened in the chamber, with House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, wearing a mask and the chamber limited to ten people at one time. There were no visitors that day in the upper galleries, which are normally full of lobbyists, schoolchildren and the general public.

House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, tells Missourinet the House has scheduled six hours of budget debate on Monday.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet he expects the House to perfect the budget on Monday, and give it final approval on Wednesday.

Speaker Haahr and Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, have said the decision to have lawmakers return on April 27 was not an easy one, but that “it’s absolutely critical for the people of Missouri that we keep the state government funded and services operating without interruption.”

Under the state Constitution, Missouri lawmakers are required to approve a balanced state operating budget by May 8.

Haahr and Schatz note committee hearings and legislative proceedings will remain open to the public. They are urging you to follow social distancing guidelines and to participate in the legislative process electronically, when possible.

Schatz says people entering the Missouri Capitol will go through a health screening process, like we saw earlier this month during the supplemental budget debate.

The last day of the 2020 legislative session is Friday, May 15.

High-profile overtime pay case for corrections officers heard by Missouri Supreme Court

April 22, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Supreme Court heard remote oral arguments on Wednesday in a high-profile case involving the Cole County circuit court’s 2018 decision to award more than $113 million in overtime pay for Missouri corrections officers.

Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George Draper listens to remote oral arguments involving the corrections officer overtime pay case on April 22, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Missouri Supreme Court communications counsel Beth Riggert)

It’s a case that’s been working its way through the court system for eight years, and it’s a case that could have major implications across the street from the Supreme Court in Jefferson City, at the Legislature. That’s because of difficult budget times.

The key argument both sides emphasized on Wednesday is whether pre- and post-shift activities for corrections officers is compensable. The state attorney general’s office, which represents the Missouri Department of Corrections, says no. St. Louis attorney Gary Burger, who represents the corrections officers, says it is.

Wednesday was only the second time in history that the Missouri Supreme Court has held remote oral arguments. Due to COVID-19 concerns, only Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George Draper and a few staffers were in the Jefferson City courtroom. Chief Justice Draper faced a screen where attorneys participated by videoconference. The other six judges participated remotely via teleconference.

There were a few minor glitches, when Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith’s microphone cut in-and-out a few times. That was quickly fixed. State Solicitor General D. John Sauer had some audio issues early, and Counselor Burger briefly had difficulty finding his timer. Attorneys are allowed set times, for arguments.

Corrections officer Thomas Hootselle Jr. and other officers sued the DOC, on behalf of a proposed class of more than 13,000 officers, for allegedly failing to pay them under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act for pre- and post-shift activities.

While labor agreements executed between the DOC and the Missouri Corrections Officers Association do not specifically address pre- and post-shift activities, Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce ruled in 2018 that pre- and post-shift activities are compensable.

State Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues that the circuit court erred and that the case “involves a judgment imposing enormous liability on Missouri’s taxpayers without legal justification.”

Mr. Sauer cites a 1951 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, about pre- and post-shift activities. He is asking the high court to reverse the Cole County Circuit Court’s decision.

“Because they’re quintessential preliminary and postliminary activities, not the work of consequence that these employees (corrections officers) are employed to perform,” Sauer tells the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General Sauer also says the trial court excluded testimony from the DOC’s damages experts.

Mr. Hootselle and the corrections officers are represented by Mr. Burger. During his oral arguments, Counselor Burger emphasized the main points in his 135-page brief to the high court. He says the class of more than 13,000 Missouri corrections officers “risk their lives every day maintaining safety and security at appellant Missouri Department of Corrections’ prisons.”

Burger says the DOC requires its officers to perform pre- and post-shift activities that are critical to prison safety and security, but has refused to pay the officers for those activities. He also says the time between shift changes, when pre- and post-shift activities happen, “are often when prisoners attack others, try to escape, or try to smuggle contraband.”

“You can’t escort offenders within a prison without getting the equipment first,” Burger tells the Missouri Supreme Court. “Without getting the handcuffs, without getting the radios or the keys or the appropriate equipment.”

Chief Justice Draper requested additional memos from Solicitor General Sauer and Counselor Burger, as arguments concluded. There is no timetable on when the Missouri Supreme Court will issue its decision.