(Missourinet) – Two groups want to put a cigarette tax increase on the November 2016 ballot. The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association (MPCA) has filed two initiative petitions to raise the tax by 23 cents per pack to support the state’s general revenue fund and to help finance Missouri’s roads and bridges. “Raise Your Hands For Kids” has filed an initiative petition to increase the tax by 50 cents per pack to help fund early childhood education and health screenings for infants and young children.

MPCA Executive Director Ron Leone said the Association, which opposed a cigarette tax hike proposal in 2013, is trying to be one step ahead of any other campaigns targeting a cigarette tax increase.

“We’re pretty sick and tired of always being on defense and always trying to oppose initiative petitions. So we wanted to, for a change, take control of our fate and go on offense,” said Leone. “We obviously firmly believe that the people would in fact support a reasonable tax increase that doesn’t hurt consumers too bad, maintains the competitive advantage we have over our higher-tax border states and uses the money to help fund a state priority, which in this case would be transportation.”

Leone said the increase would generate about $80-$100 million annually. He said the money isn’t going to solve Missouri’s transportation issues, but it will help.

“Raise Your Hands For Kids” Board Chairperson Erin Brower said Missouri needs to do more for early childhood development.

“Right now, Missouri is ranked 49th for childcare subsidies. Out of 40 states with state-funded preschool, Missouri is 38th,” said Brower. “Really, we just don’t treat early childhood development as a priority in our state. So that’s why we look at the tobacco tax as a dedicated funding stream for something we know is the best economic development choice our state could make.”

Brower says the increase would generate about $225 million annually. She also said the additional revenue wouldn’t fix the state’s early childhood development problems, but she said the money would make an impact and leverage other public and private funding opportunities.

Missouri’s cigarette tax is the lowest in the nation, at 17 cents per pack.

(Missourinet) – The Powerball game is being changed to, according to the Missouri Lottery, increase prize amounts and give players better odds of winning. The average jackpot will jump from $174 million to $310 million. The third-level prize, which was $10,000, is now $50,000. The overall odds of winning a prize will drop from roughly 1 in 32 to 1 in 25.

There will also be a higher multiplier for those who use Power Play. When the jackpot is between $40 and $150 million, the multiplier will go as high as 10 times for all prizes, not including the jackpot and $1 million match five prizes. The million-dollar prize will bump up to $2 million when the multiplier is matched.

Missouri Lottery Communications Manager Susan Goedde said the more winners there are in Missouri, the more likely people will play.

“Missouri has the second most jackpot winners of all the Powerball members. We’ve had 31 people hit the jackpot. Lightening has struck a lot here in Missouri,” said Goedde. “Missouri tends to be a pretty loyal Powerball state.”

Goedde says 38 cents out of every dollar goes to elementary, secondary and higher education in Missouri.

“Obviously the whole reason we are in business is to raise money for public education in Missouri. These changes should increase the jackpot amounts, which will also in turn increase sales,” said Goedde.

The ticket price is the same, $2 per play.

(Missourinet) – A Marine found dead at a shooting range at Camp Pendleton in California is from central Missouri.

Lance Corporal Dominic E. Schraft, 19 of Vienna, was found dead of a gunshot wound the head Monday evening. The incident is under investigation.

Reports say he was taking part in a training exercise that used live ammunition .

Schraft was assigned to Battery R, 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He joined the Marine Corps in August of last year.

He had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

(Missourinet) – Whenever discussion of raising pay for state employees comes up at the State Capitol, one group that often comes up is corrections officers.

House Republicans are calling for using improved state revenue to support a pay increase in the next budget, and some of them say a long-term plan must be set in motion to get Missouri off the bottom of state worker pay, nationally.

The Missouri Corrections Officers Association says its membership is an example of that low pay rate. Executive Director Gary Gross says some prison guards hire on in Missouri long enough to train, and then move out-of-state where they can make significantly more for the same job.

“That does happen in the eastern side of the state and the northern side of the state,” Gross told Missourinet. “Illinois’ and Iowa’s pay far exceeds what Missouri corrections officers make.”

Gross also echoes what some Republicans told Missourinet: state pay isn’t competing with the private sector.

“Certainly if someone can go get a better paying job in private industry, they’re going to, and I think a lot of that is what’s occurring,” said Gross.

Of 50 states and territories that reported on October 1, only three offer a lower starting salary than Missouri, but Gross says Missouri advances its officers up the pay scale slowly so its overall corrections staff remains lowest paid.

“Often you hear the cost of living is less in Missouri and that’s part of it, but that’s more of an excuse than anything,” said Gross.

State lawmakers have told Missourinet that rather than aim to have Missouri’s workers paid the most in the nation, they would like to see it somewhere in the middle. Gross wants the same for corrections officers.

“If they could just get corrections officers’ pay up to somewhere in the middle, it would be a huge improvement,” said Gross.
There are approximately 8,510 corrections officers and jailers in Missouri.

(Missourinet) – Harvest, hunting and mating season make this the time of year when deer are more active in Missouri compared to the rest of the year. State Highway Patrol Cpt. John Hotz said motorists should pay extra attention.

“The busiest months are October and November each year, with the largest number of those taking place in November,” said Hotz.

Last year, more than 3,700 traffic crashes involving deer occurred in Missouri. Two of those resulted in fatalities and more than 370 in injuries. Hotz said overreacting to an oncoming deer can be very dangerous.

“Typically in years past what happens is a person sees a deer, they overcorrect and drive off the right side of the road. If they’re not wearing a seatbelt, they are ejected or partially ejected from that car and then they’re killed in that crash,” said Hotz.

Deer tend to travel in groups. If you see a doe or a buck, there’s a good chance others are following.

Most car versus deer accidents happen between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m.

(Missourinet) – Missouri is predicted to have an average to above average year for fall colors. In good seasons, Missouri’s fall color slowly changes from mid-September to peak in mid-October.

Weather is a factor in how colorful the trees and shrubs are in the fall. The more sunshine during the day, the more red color is produced. The red and purple colors come when sugars are made during warm days, then trapped in the leaves during cool nights. If the weather is cloudy and the nights stay warm, there won’t be as much vivid red in such trees as maple, sweet gum, oak, and dogwood.

Trees lacking water during the growing season might drop their leaves before they color. If Missouri gets too cold early on, that kills the leaves before they can show off their colors.

In the fall, shorter days and cooler nights mean the green fades and yellow can be seen in such trees as hickory, ash, birch, maple, sycamore, cottonwood, and sassafras.

Resource Forrester Cory Gregg with the Missouri Department of Conservation said maple trees have the best coloring.

“Around the river bluffs is where you are going to find more maple. So that’s generally where you are going to try to focus as far as finding good fall color,” said Gregg. “In the urban areas, there’s a few other species. We’ve got all kinds of different ornamental species that you can find that have different colors. Another big one would be sweet gum.”

Gregg said sugar maple, red oak and ash trees in rural areas show the best colors, while sweet gum trees are one of the finest in urban areas.

For the best colors, Gregg said you can’t go wrong along one of Missouri’s major rivers.

“That’s probably where you are going to have a little more maple mixed in. You’ll have plenty of oak, hickory, ash and other species,” said Gregg.

Gregg expects leaves to turn colors and also start dropping heavily in mid to late October.

(Missourinet) – John Brunner is officially in. He is the fifth Republican to announce he is running for Missouri governor.

Brunner is a former U.S. Marine and promotes himself as a political outsider. At least one of his opponents in the Republican primary race, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, can make the same claims.

Brunner, though, says he’s more focused on illustrating the differences between himself and the lone Democratic candidate, Attorney General Chris Koster, than the contrast between himself and the other GOP challengers.

“You have a contrast between a trial lawyer versus a person that’s been in business and manufacturing for decades, a politician versus a Marine,” said Brunner.

Brunner spent about $8-million of his own dollars in the 2012 race for the U.S. Senate, in which he lost the nomination to former U.S. Representative Todd Akin. Brunner told Missourinet his gubernatorial campaign won’t run out of money, but he has supporters other than himself.

“This will be a team effort across the state,” said Brunner. “Now that I’ve declared and now that the contrast between me and Chris Koster will be made clear, we believe that we’ll be able to do a great job raising the funds we need to be able to win this race.”

Brunner, like other candidates, is also touting ethics reform, calling it an issue he was willing to pursue on his own as governor if the state legislature fails to send him a proposal.

“Folks across the state don’t think a lot of Jefferson City and that’s unfortunate, but we can change that,” said Brunner. “All the expenditures and travel junkets and all of those things that are going on in Jefferson City, and I’ll ban all the gifts and these golf trips to Vegas.”

Brunner said he would pursue an ethics reform ballot issue if he legislature doesn’t propose reforms.

State legislative leaders have said an ethics reform bill will be a priority again in the 2016 legislative session.
Brunner also said “right-to-work” will become law if he becomes governor, “along with 1,000 other good things that make our state more competitive. There is no one, single issue.”

It is likely that the next governor will also inherit the lowest paid, or close to it, state employee workforce in the nation. Brunner says a long-term solution is needed.

“Let’s take what’s happened today. All of a sudden there’s 300-million of funds. ‘Well we need to scramble and see what we can do for state employees.’ This is not the way to treat people. You need a plan. You need to have a personnel plan and to have competent people in charge to be sure that wages and benefits and all are comparable to what’s provided in the private sector as well.”

He said he’s also concerned about teacher pay.

“New Teachers are paid 47th in the country. If we’re going to have the right division and set the right priorities, why are new teachers’ salaries 47th?”

Brunner is challenging former U.S. Attorney and Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, Springfield state senator Bob Dixon, and former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens.

Brunner actually kicked off his campaign Sunday night in front of about 200 supporters in St. Louis.

Kansas City, Mo. –The Missouri Department of Conservation is celebrating HOWLoween with a free program in Kansas City.

MDC staff will be turn the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center outdoor garden into a Wild Side Walk 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.

Kids will get to explore nature stations such as Track or Treat, the Bone Yard and the Bat Cave. Staff and volunteers will host varied activities along trails throughout Discovery Center’s prairie, woodland and wetland areas.

The Gorman Discovery Center is at 4750 Troost Ave., just a few blocks east of the Country Club Plaza. MDC connects people with nature in the heart of Kansas City. Visitors can look at indoor nature exhibits and then step outside in our large native plant garden for HOWLoween fun.

For more information, call 816-759-7300 or check out http://mdc.mo.gov/discoverycenter.

A statewide earthquake drill to teach preparedness has been set for the month of October.

Registration is open for the annual Great Central U. S. “ShakeOut” earthquake drill, which teaches how people should protect themselves if an earthquake strikes. More than 2.5 million people in 14 states, including more than 400,000 Missourians, are already signed up for this brief exercise that takes place at 10:15 a.m. on Oct. 15

During the ShakeOut, participants practice the “Drop, Cover and Hold On” technique for 60 seconds:
· DROP to the ground

· Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and

· HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops

“The ShakeOut drill is an important way we can all prepare for an earthquake in Missouri,” said Missouri State Emergency Management Agency Director Ron Walker. “Unlike other natural disasters, earthquakes occur without warning. Knowing how to respond immediately is extremely important so we can protect ourselves.”

CLICK HERE for more information.