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Missourinet

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ACLU to file suit to recognize gay marriages in Missouri

February 11, 2014 By Jessica Machetta

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri will file litigation in Kansas City to seek recognition of gay marriages by the State of Missouri. Press conferences will be held in Kansas City, Jefferson City, St. Louis and Springfield, where same-sex couples will speak out about their suit to be recognized.

Gay marriage has been in the spotlight in Missouri recently as eight Republican lawmakers try to impeach Gov. Jay Nixon because of his executive order requiring the Department of Revenue allow same-sex couples married legally in other states to file their Missouri taxes jointly. GOP legislators say Nixon is violating the constitution.

House Speaker Tim Jones is not heading up the effort to impeach Nixon, but is supportive of the legislation. The measure has not yet been assigned to a committee, the first step in the legislative process.

In the past year, the U.S. Supreme Court’s struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which had prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage, and the Missouri Supreme Court has denied survivor benefits to same-sex couples.

Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was killed in the line of duty in 2009 when he was struck by a vehicle while investigating an accident on Interstate 44 in Eureka. Although he had listed his spouse, Kelly Glossip, as a beneficiary on his documents filed with the Highway Patrol, the state denied payment because they were not married. The ACLU sued the state on Glossip’s behalf, and lost.

Gay rights have also made headlines this week in Missouri as MU football player Michael Sam made the announcement that he was gay, the first player to come out as he begins his professional career.

While there have been other athletes who have come out about their sexuality, Sam is the first player to open up as he begins his quest to start a professional career.  If Sam were to make an NFL roster, he would become the first player to publicly announce that he is gay.

“I’m not naïve,” Sam said. “I know this is a huge deal and I know how important this is. But my role as of right now is to train for the combine and play in the NFL.”

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, News Tagged With: gay, Nixon, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, taxes

‘Obama’ rodeo clown at State Fair chased down by bull, bi-partisan outrage ensues (AUDIO / VIDEO)

August 11, 2013 By Jessica Machetta

A rodeo clown wearing an Obama mask at the State Fair has spurred political action on the part of Missouri Democrats. A State Fair rodeo announcer told the crowd “tonight’s the night we’re going to smoke Obama,” and then asked the crowd if they wanted to see President Obama get run down by a bull.

Now Democratic leadership — and some Republicans — are decrying the antics as racist, shameful, and crossing the line.

AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:16)

Minority leader for the House of Representatives Jake Hummel of St. Louis says Missouri taxpayers contribute 400 thousand dollars to the fair, and says the incident is an embarrassment for the entire state.

“Is this what we want to be known for?,” he asks in an interview with Missourinet. He adds that the stunt had racist overtones, but says no matter what race the President is, or what party, it’s inappropriate to insinuate harm would come upon them.

“Poking fun at our president is a time-honored tradition in this country, but the incident Saturday night at the Missouri State Fair rodeo went well beyond the line,” Hummel says. “The concept of an angry bull attempting to trample a black man for the amusement of a crowd is neither entertaining nor funny and is not the type of behavior that our taxpayer-subsidized State Fair should promote.”

And he says regardless of whether the stunt was racist (witnesses say another clown ran up and fiddled with the lips on the Obama mask), the entire act was shameful.

“I don’t think … if there was a white president’s face up there, let’s say it was George bush, and a rodeo clown was out there, and the announcer says ‘Would you like to see a bull trample the president … I don’t care whether the president is white or black, you are trying to convey that you don’t like the president or that you would like to see the president run over by a bull, or in some way hurt,” Hummel says. “I think that’s wrong, and I don’t care who it is.

Hummel and other House Democrats are calling on House Speaker Tim Jones to call an interim committee to investigate the situation and hold someone accountable. Hummel says the fair received $400,000 in taxpayer funds for this year’s events, and asks whether that funding should be withheld if such political stunts are allowed there. He says the Department of Agriculture is the lead agency that oversees the fair, and believes that’s where the questioning should begin.

The Missouri State Fair stated on its Facebook page that, “The performance by one of the rodeo clowns at Saturday’s event was inappropriate and disrespectful, and does not reflect the opinions or standards of the Missouri State Fair. We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday’s rodeo badly missed that mark.”

Reporter Eli Yokley says he has confirmed the rodeo announcer sas Boonville School Superintendent Mark Ficken, who is also president of the Missouri Cowboy Rodeo Association. (Mark Ficken, the announcer, says it was the clown, not him, making the remarks. See an update to this story HERE.)

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, says in a press release, “If what’s being reported is true, then it’s shameful and it’s unacceptable. The State Fair is funded by taxpayer dollars, and is supposed to be a place where we can all bring our families and celebrate the state that we love.”

“But the young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse—that somehow it’s ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the President of our great nation,” McCaskill says. “Missouri is better than this, and I expect someone to be held accountable.”

Gov. Jay Nixon, also a Democrat, agrees. In a statement sent to Missourinet affiliate KTTS in Springfield, Nixon says, “the performance was disrespectful and offensive, and does not reflect the values of Missourians or the State Fair.”

Some Republicans are also calling the stunt inappropriate.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder’s Twitter feed Sunday says, “The @MoStateFair celebrates Missouri and our people. I condemn the actions disrespectful to POTUS the other night. We are better than this.”

Rep. Caleb Rowden, a Republican from Columbia, is also using his Twitter account to disapprove.

“What the heck happened at the MO State Fair? Hearing some hubbub, but don’t know what the story is? Fill me in!”, Rowden tweeted Sunday afternoon. Soon after, he posted “I don’t agree w/ this Prez on many things. But he is deserving of respect and shouldn’t be the object of political stunts. Out of line!”

Meanwhile, internet memes are circulating the internet using a photo originally published by Progress Missouri, a liberal watchdog group based in Jefferson City.

obama clown meme

Jackson County Democrats have issued a statement that says, “This is not who we are in Missouri.  Folks in this state are decent and caring, they are fair. We would expect that at a state funded event designed to showcase the Show Me State, more care would be exercised when firing up a crowd.  Disrespecting the President is one thing; whipping a crowd into a frenzy is another. Encouraging physical harm to the President, whatever the party, is not acceptable and should not be tolerated.”

A video of the stunt has surfaced on YouTube.

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: McCaskill, Missouri State Fair, Nixon, Obama, rodeo

Schweich denies he filed suit against Nixon’s disaster withholdings for personal reasons, blasts Post Dispatch editorial (VIDEO)

August 30, 2011 By Jessica Machetta

Auditor Tom Schweich is blasting an editorial in the St. Louis Post Dispatch that says his lawsuit over the Governor’s budget withholdings to help Joplin rebuild is based on personal vendetta.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ66YUd995E

Schweich says the Post ignores the media’s responsibility to present the facts clearly to the public. He quotes…

“That ‘Mr. Schweich wants the courts and public to believe his budget is more important than helping a city rebuild from one of the worst natural disasters in our state’s history…'”

“That is blatant dishonesty,” Schweich fires back. “It is corrupt, it is dishonest, it is libelous, it is false and it is a tremendous disservice to the people of Missouri who have to read junk like that when the Post Dispatch knows darn well just reading the lawsuit that is not what this lawsuit is about.”

Governor Nixon has cut about $150 million dollars from the state budget for disaster recovery. Schweich says Nixon does not have the authority to make that unilateral decision and has filed a lawsuit to stop him.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Legislature, Politics / Govt Tagged With: budget, Joplin, lawsuit, Missouri, Nixon, Schweich, Supreme Court



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