(AP) – University of Missouri Libraries officials are trying to decide what to do with about 600,000 books damaged by mold at an off-campus storage site.
Libraries Director Jim Cogswell says the volumes were stored at Subtera, an underground storage site in north Columbia. The damage was discovered last October.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1jILYhw ) a health and safety officer said last week that the mold involved didn’t endanger public health.
Cogswell says it’s likely fewer than half the books will be saved because it would cost $3 per volume to remove the mold – a tab of about $1.8 million.
He says the goal is to save books published before 1870.
(AP) – A new online map could make it easier for people to find out details about scores of hazardous waste sites throughout Missouri.
The interactive map developed by the Department of Natural Resources puts the sites in several categories, from ones undergoing remediation to those that have already been cleaned up and are available for public use.
The website features summaries of past or current problems at the sites, as well as Internet links to more detailed documents.
Until recently, most information about Missouri’s hazardous waste sites was available only by reviewing paper documents.
The department said the new website marks its first use of Google’s mapping platform and is part of an effort to improve access to environmental information.
Dry, windy conditions causing high fire danger today across the region. Outdoor burning is discouraged, as fires will spread quickly. Click on the map for a closer look
Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06), Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, issued the following statement after the president’s State of the Union address:
“The president spoke about income inequality tonight, but failed to mention his own role in making that gap wider. Five years into his presidency, the labor force participation rate is at its lowest point since the late 1970s. There are four million Americans who have been unemployed for at least six months, and another eight million Americans who are working part-time because they still cannot find a full-time job. Two of every five Americans say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to a recent Gallup poll. The president’s policies have not helped. Yet year after year he proposes more big-government solutions that have never worked and will never work.
“The House has been ready to work with the president on ways to strengthen the economy, help get people back to work, and lower energy costs for families. We have passed bills to scrap federal regulations that hamper growth, make it easier for Americans to access job training programs, and approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The president and the Senate should work with us on these worthwhile initiatives – and a host of others.
“As he has done in previous speeches, the president once again pledged a renewed focus on jobs. While America has slowly added jobs for four years, it has not been at the pace needed to make up for the 8.7 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. In Missouri, we know that the government does not create jobs, but – with the right policies – it can set the table for economic growth and create certainty for our nation’s small business owners. To return our union to one of economic power, we must unleash our small businesses from excessive federal regulatory and tax constraints so the private sector can grow, create jobs, and lift wages and opportunities for all.
“The president is fond of saying that he wants to work with Republicans on solutions. But his rhetoric never gets translated into action. I hope the president will put down his pen, pick up his phone, and use it to call Congress sometime. In the meantime, we’ll continue our work to make life easier for all Americans.”
(AP) — A Kansas legislator wants the state to count and report the number of undocumented children in public schools.
Rep. Allan Rothlisberg, a Republican from Grandview Plaza, on Tuesday introduced a bill that he says would help determine how much taxpayer money is spent to educate children who are in the country illegally.
The bill would require a school board to ask for proof of that a child is in the country legally when a child enrolls for the first time in a public school. The proof would be a birth certificate, Social Security card or other document.
The state would publish a record of the number of children who didn’t provide the proof, and the average per pupil school finance cost.
(AP) – Advocates for the homeless are asking why Springfield police shut down several homeless camps.
Police say they responded to a complaint Tuesday when they asked two people to leave a camp on city property and then cleaned up the area. But homeless advocates say at least three other camps on private property also were evacuated Tuesday.
Advocates were helping several people find shelter from the cold temperatures.
Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky asked city officials who is giving the order to clear the camps on private property. The police answered in an email only about clearing one camp that was marked “no trespassing.”
(AP) The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule Wednesday on two petitions regarding Missouri death row inmate Herbert Smulls, The Missouri Attorney General’s office says.
Smulls’ execution was temporarily stayed late Tuesday night with an order from the high court signed by Justice Samuel Alito. It was sent about two-and-a-half hours before Smulls was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Missouri statutes allow executions to occur at any time on the day they are scheduled _ that’s why the state always sets the execution time for a minute after midnight, in case there are court delays. If the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decides in favor of the state, the execution could occur later Wednesday.
Smulls’ lawyer, Cheryl Pilate, had made last-minute pleas Tuesday to spare his life, focusing on the state’s refusal to disclose from which compounding pharmacy they obtain the lethal-injection drug, pentobarbital. But Missouri has argued the compounding pharmacy is part of the execution team _ and therefore its name cannot be released to the public.
Smulls, 56, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St. Louis County jeweler and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery.
Pilate says the stay is temporary while the high court reviews the case, but she is hopeful the stay will become permanent.
“We’re happy to get the stay and we’re glad the court is reviewing it,” she said.
Eric Slusher, a spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, said the high court is expected to rule on the two pending petitions Wednesday.
St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said talk about the drug is a smoke screen aimed at sparing the life of a cold-blooded killer. He noted that several courts have already ruled against Smulls, including U.S. District Court in Kansas City and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency Tuesday evening.
Pilate contends that the state’s secrecy makes it impossible to know whether the drug could cause pain and suffering during the execution process.
Smulls had already served prison time for robbery when, on July 27, 1991, he went to F&M Crown Jewels in Chesterfield and told the owners, Stephen and Florence Honickman, that he wanted to buy a diamond for his fiancee. He took 15-year-old Norman Brown with him.
Once in the shop, Smulls began shooting. The robbers took rings and watches, including those that Florence Honickman was wearing.
She was shot in the side and the arm, and feigned death while lying in a pool of her own blood but survived. Her 51-year-old husband died.
Police stopped Smulls 15 minutes later, and they found stolen jewelry and weapons in his car. Florence Honickman identified the assailants. Brown was convicted in 1993 of first-degree murder and other charges, and sentenced to life without parole. Smulls got the death penalty.
Missouri had used a three-drug execution process since 1989, until the drug makers stopped selling those drugs for executions. Missouri eventually switched late last year to pentobarbital. Pentobarbital was used to execute two Missouri inmates late last year, and neither showed visible signs of distress.
Compounding pharmacies custom-mix drugs for clients and are not subject to oversight by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, though they are regulated by states.
On Tuesday, Pilate said that previous testimony from a prison official indicates the state stores the drug at room temperatures, which could taint the drug and potentially cause it to lose its effectiveness.
Pilate also said she and her defense team used information obtained through open records requests and publicly available documents to determine that the compounding pharmacy is The Apothecary Shoppe, based in Tulsa, Okla. In a statement, The Apothecary Shoppe would neither confirm nor deny that it makes the Missouri drug.
Also on Tuesday, Missouri Senate Democratic Leader Jolie Justus introduced legislation that would create an 11-member commission responsible for setting the state’s execution procedure. She said ongoing lawsuits and secrecy about the state’s current lethal injection method should drive a change in protocol.
For the second consecutive year, Northwest Missouri State University achieved all five benchmarks within the state of Missouri’s performance-based funding model. As a result, Northwest will receive 100 percent of the funding appropriated to the University within the state’s FY15 budget.
“This speaks to performance and such performance is not possible without all Bearcats – students, faculty, staff, alumni and the communities in which we operate and serve – pulling together and focusing on student success,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski said. “Our mission, which is very straight forward, focusing on student success – every student every day, ties into all of this. We’re focused on retention, graduation, keeping education accessible and affordable, and, most importantly, delivering that high quality education that Northwest students deserve and receive.”
Missouri’s public two- and four-year institutions were funded last year using a funding model based on specific performance measures across five categories and will be funded this year according to the same model.
Northwest’s performance measures are: freshman-to-sophomore retention rate; six-year cohort graduation rates; improvements in assessments of general education; percent of total Education and General expenditures expended on the core mission; and the percent of full-time, first-time, degree or certificate-seeking undergraduate students receiving institutional grant aid.
“Performance funding is part of the national mantra and this is about results,” Jasinski said. “We always have improvement opportunities and have some challenges to address, but we are proud of meeting all performance funding targets.”
(AP) — Bodum USA is recalling 28,000 coffee presses sold exclusively at Starbucks due to the potential risk for lacerations and burns.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday that the carafe in Bodum’s rose gold glass coffee presses can fall out of the base and break or shatter.
Bodum has received 14 reports of the glass carafe breaking or shattering and four reports of minor injuries.
The presses were sold at Starbucks stores and online from November through December for about $40. Regulators say consumers should stop using this product and return it to Starbucks or contact Bodum for a refund.
Consumers can reach Bodum at (855) 378-6864 or visit its website at www.bodum.com for more detail.
(AP) — Kansas officials are marking the 153rd anniversary of statehood with a dedication of the newly renovated Capitol in Topeka.
Hundreds of schoolchildren were joining Gov. Sam Brownback, legislators and other dignitaries for Wednesday’s Kansas Day festivities.
The 13-year renovation cost nearly $330 million and included new ventilation and electrical systems, replacement of the roof and dome, and construction of a visitor center. The project was carried out in phases and financed with bonds.
Other Kansas Day events were taking place at the Kansas Museum of History located on the west edge of Topeka.
