JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley says his office is doing a review of harassment and discrimination policies at all state agencies.
Hawley told reporters Tuesday that the state paid more than $8 million for claims under the Missouri Human Rights Act in 2017. He says that shows there’s a culture of harassment and discrimination in state government that needs to be fixed.
Hawley says good policies should include ways for victims to submit anonymous complaints and checks to prevent retaliation. The office also is looking for clear and specific consequences for committing harassment or discrimination and policies to protect interns.
The attorney general’s office worked with Kansas City-based Women’s Foundation to develop the model policies.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri House is advancing a bill that would ban marriages of children ages 14 years old or younger.
House members gave the proposal initial approval in a voice vote Wednesday. It needs another vote to go to the Senate.
Under current law, children ages 15-17 can get married with permission from a parent. Those younger than 15 need approval from a judge.
Republican Rep. Jean Evans’ bill would require 15-17 year olds to get a judge’s approval following a court hearing. Children 14 years old or younger couldn’t get marriage licenses.
The measure would also ban marriages if one partner is at least 21 years old and the other is younger than 17.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are trying again to reduce the duration of state jobless benefits to one of the shortest periods nationally.
House members gave the measure initial approval in a voice vote Tuesday. It needs another vote to move to the Senate.
The bill is a revival of a failed 2015 plan to cut the maximum benefits to 13 weeks if the state’s jobless rate is below 6 percent. That’s seven weeks fewer than what’s now allowed.
Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in December.
The maximum number of weeks will rise under Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick’s proposal if the unemployment rate creeps above 6 percent, topping out at 20 weeks if the jobless rate eclipses 9 percent.
MACON, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is proposing to cut the state’s top individual income tax rate by 10 percent and reduce the corporate income tax rate by nearly one-third.
Greitens was traveling the state Monday to outline the details of what he calls the “boldest state tax reform in America.”
His plan would reduce the top individual income tax rate from 5.9 percent to 5.3 percent and create a nonrefundable state tax credit for low-income workers that he says would essentially eliminate income taxes for 380,000 people.
He wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 6.25 percent to 4.25 percent.
Greitens says the plan would remain revenue-neutral by eliminating incentives for businesses to pay sales taxes quickly and by paring back state income tax deductions based on federal tax payments.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The number of confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease in Missouri deer is up, but an expert with the state Department of Conservation says aggressive management efforts are helping to contain the spread.
Wildlife disease coordinator Jasmine Batten says 15 deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease out of 19,500 tested since July, up from nine the year before. Diseased deer were found in eight counties spread across the state. Linn County had the most, with four.
Batten says the increase could have been much worse since more than 330 deer with chronic wasting disease have been confirmed in northwest Arkansas, near the Missouri border. Also, the number of cases in northeast Missouri, where the disease was first spotted, has declined in recent years.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri lawmaker is pushing for tougher penalties after a death in Kansas that resulted from a prank call to police.
Republican Rep. Bill Kidd of Independence has filed legislation to hold pranksters civilly and criminally liable if they make a call resulting in an emergency response.
The push comes amid the rise of “swatting,” a prank in which someone calls the police to report an emergency that requires officers to send a SWAT team. The prank turned deadly Dec. 28 when police fatally shot Andrew Finch, 28, at his home in Kansas after receiving a hoax call about a shooting and kidnapping. The alleged caller, Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles, faces manslaughter charges in the death.
“This is not a joke. People have died,” Kidd said. “We want people to understand that if you do this, you’re going to suffer consequences.”
The lawmaker said Finch’s death prompted him to file the bill. Currently, filing a false report is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, but Kidd said that doesn’t consider any injuries that could occur. There is no state law dealing with swatting, said John Wheeler, sheriff of Cole County.
Under his proposal, causing a false emergency response that leads to serious injury would be punishable by up to four years in prison, and a swatting prank resulting in death would result in up to seven years in prison. The bill would also make the caller responsible for any damage resulting from the response, such as a SWAT team breaking down a door.
The bill hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee, but Kidd said he has discussed it with Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr and Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is narrowing the list of cities under consideration for its second headquarters to 20, with the largest concentration in the Northeast.
Amazon, based in Seattle, plans to invest $5 billion in the new headquarters and could employ as many as 50,000 people in and around the city it chooses.
Cities are in fierce competition to lure Amazon, which has revolutionized the way people shop.
The list released on Thursday includes the cities of Atlanta, Austin, Texas; Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Newark, New Jersey; Columbus, Ohio. It also listed northern Virginia and Montgomery County in Maryland as potential sites.
Republican Rep. J. Eggleston. Photo courtesy Missouri House of Representatives website.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A northwest Missouri lawmaker has donated a kidney as part of a transplant chain to help his ailing wife.
KMBC-TV reports that Republican Rep. J. Eggleston, of Maysville, underwent surgery Wednesday. His wife, Cathie, has suffered from kidney failure for years. He wasn’t a compatible donor for her.
Instead he agreed to participate in a three-way exchange. The donors give their kidneys to one of the three other recipients who are compatible.
After his donation, Eggleston’s kidney was flown to Michigan where another person’s kidney was being donated to another city in the United States. The third city is where his wife’s organ donation comes from.
(AP) – Walmart is helping customers get rid of leftover opioids by giving them packets that turn the addictive painkillers into a useless gel.
The retail giant announced Wednesday that it will provide the packets free with opioid prescriptions filled at its 4,700 U.S. pharmacies.
The small packets, made by DisposeRX, contain a powder that is poured into prescription bottles. When mixed with warm water, the powder turns the pills into a biodegradable gel that can be thrown in the trash.
Research has shown that surgery patients often end up with leftover opioid painkillers and store the drugs improperly at home.
Walmart says the powder also works with other prescription drugs. The company says its pharmacy customers can request a free packet at any time.
State Senator Rob Schaaf (R). Photo courtesy Missourinet.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A lawsuit alleging that a Republican Missouri senator was violating the state’s open records law has been dismissed.
A Cole County judge dismissed the lawsuit against Sen. Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph on Wednesday. The judge ruled that the judicial branch doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case.
The lawsuit was filed by a nonprofit, the Missouri Alliance for Freedom, which has ties to leaders in the state’s Republican Party. The group wanted Schaaf to release records of his communications with staff and outside individuals.
Schaaf refused and argued that the state’s Sunshine Law doesn’t apply to individual state representatives, senators or their staff. He says the lawsuit was an attempt to derail his legislative efforts to force political nonprofits to disclose their donors.
The nonprofit’s attorney says they’re reviewing the decision.
