Will gas prices go up in Missouri?
Missouri officials favor a 10 cent gas tax over four years — but will voters approve it? https://t.co/lI8vbJ50Jv pic.twitter.com/Avc0CdpzGX
— KCUR (@kcur) October 3, 2018
Missouri has one of the country’s largest networks of roads and bridges, but when it comes to funding it, the state ranks 46 out of 50, according to 2015 federal highway statistics. Lawmakers have attempted but failed to raise the state’s gas tax, which pays for some repairs. So it’s now in the hands of Missouri voters, who on Nov. 6 will decide whether to approve a measure that would raise the tax for the first time in 22 years.
Another rural Kansas hospital is closing.
A new fight over Medicaid expansion has begun https://t.co/EGZMsY0Fst
— Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) October 2, 2018
A report released last week by the Government Accountability Office found that the pace of rural hospital closures doubled in 2013-2017 compared to the previous five years, with 64 shutting their doors.
In about a month, Kansas voters will head to the polls in an election for governor that could easily determine whether the state expands Medicaid or not.
Impending closure of Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott resonated Tuesday with advocates of Medicaid expansion in Kansas as well as politicians and lobbyists concerned about access to health care in rural areas of the state.
NEW via @TimVCarpenter https://t.co/qhOZb2ZMCH #ksleg— CJOnline (@CJOnline) October 2, 2018
“It is even more devastating to know this is likely a preventable disaster,” Holman said. “If Kansas lawmakers had passed legislation to expand KanCare, as it has been debating for the past four years, resources would have been available to help keep this hospital open.”
She said more than 30 rural Kansas hospitals were considered financially vulnerable and at risk of closure. Rural hospitals in non-expansion states are six times more likely to close than in expansion states, she said.
Want to vote in the November election? Kansas and Missouri registration deadlines near https://t.co/E1Dp4vIdKR
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) October 2, 2018
Missouri’s deadline is October 10. In Kansas, it is October 16.
Drunken pull ups forced a flight to land at KCI.
“He was leaning up against where you put the bags overhead and a passenger came by and said ‘What are you going to do, some pull ups?’ and the guy actually grabbed on to it and started doing some pull ups on the plane in front of everybody,” one passenger told WBZ-TV.
The man then reportedly ordered more beer and alcohol while continuing to do pull-ups. Flight attendants eventually asked him “three or four times” to sit down.
The Brief is a daily roundup from St. Joe Post and around the web. The Associated Press contributed to this report.