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Missouri Senator to hold sex trafficking awareness rally

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Senate Democrat Jamilah Nasheed of St. Louis. Photo courtesy Missourinet.

(Missourinet) – A key state senator says Missouri is a “hotspot” for human trafficking.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, will testify Monday afternoon in Jefferson City before the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

The St. Louis Democrat will present her bill, which relates to human trafficking.

Nasheed’s legislation would allow those forced into prostitution against their will to have their criminal records relating to prostitution erased, upon court approval.

“Those forced into prostitution are victims and we should be trying to help them,” Nasheed says.

She describes it as modern-day slavery.

Senator Nasheed will also hold a rally at the Missouri Capitol at 1 p.m. Tuesday, as part of her sex trafficking awareness day.

Attorney General Josh Hawley, R, told Missourinet this month that human trafficking is a “scourge” that touches every corner of Missouri.

During that interview, Hawley noted more than 70 law enforcement officers served 18 warrants across southwest Missouri in July.

Hawley said the raids shut down 13 businesses that were “acting as fronts for human trafficking.” He said agents were able to liberate about ten young women, from an organized crime ring that stretches back to East Asia.

Hawley also confirmed there are active human trafficking investigations in other parts of Missouri.

Missouri U.S. Senators prepare for Monday vote on plan to reopen government

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U.S. Senator Roy Blunt. Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at Missouri House Communications | Missourinet.

(Missourinet) – The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Monday on a three-week funding resolution that would reopen the federal government for business.

Republicans and Democrats have been clashing over items to include in the measure. Democrats want protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to America as children. Republicans want increased military funding, changes to immigration laws and funding for border security, including the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, tells Fox News, Democrats should not be trying to resolve other issues through government spending.

“The number one responsibility of the federal government is to defend the country. With our important leadership in the world, it’s also to help do what we can to maintain a peaceful world. We’re not prepared to do that,” says Blunt. “We are asking young men and women to step forward and defend us without giving them what they need. We should never want an American service person to be in a fair fight. We want them to have every possible advantage and they are clearly moving away from that long advantage that they’ve had.”

Blunt, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, says Congress must stop passing short-term budgets.

“We need to get back to where we openly debate these appropriations bills and get them to the president’s desk one or two at a time, rather than every year have this issue that frankly empowers the minority leader in ways that shouldn’t happen,” says Blunt.

Western Missouri Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver tells CBS News he agrees that a long-term budget must be passed.

“We are in our third continuing resolution. That’s killing not only the military, it’s everybody else. Every time we do a continuing resolution, it means we continue the previous year’s funding level. That doesn’t factor in the cost of living,” says Cleaver. “It’s not indexed to anything. So, every time we pass a continuing resolution, it means there’s no funding increase for the military or anybody else. We need to figure out a way in which we can look at this as a time to put all of our energy into passing a budget. A budget. The most powerful nation on the planet has not had a budget in three years. That is insulting to the American public and everybody ought to be embarrassed who raised their hands and took the oath of office.”

Cleaver says the partisan blaming must end and lawmakers should work together.

“If you give me six Republicans and I’ll take six Democrats, they don’t even have to be in leadership, we’ll go in the bathroom and I think we can solve this matter. What we have right now is people in there fighting each other, trying to see who can better politicize this issue. It’s not helpful to the people in this country,” says Cleaver.

On Friday, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, was one of five red-state Democrats who voted in favor of keeping the government open. During the early hours of Saturday, McCaskill also moved for immediate Senate approval of a measure that would guarantee members of the military their pay, on time, and guarantee continued military death benefits during the shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, objected – leading to the proposal’s defeat.

McCaskill, a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, says she is also donating her pay to charity and Eastern Missouri Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner says she has requested to have her pay withheld during the shutdown. Southeast Missouri Republican Congressman Jason Smith says he will donate his pay to Missouri charities in his district while the government is closed.

Missouri offered billions to Amazon in tax incentives

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Image courtesy Missourinet.

(Missourinet) – State officials said Missouri pitched a bold, innovative, and practical proposal to retail giant Amazon to build its future second headquarters in the Show-Me State.

According to documents obtained by Missourinet from the state Department of Economic Development, Missouri put up to $2.4 billion over ten years on the line in mostly tax incentives to woo Amazon here. St. Louis and Kansas City offered their own proposals and the state’s was meant to work in harmony with the other two.

Missouri’s bid apparently wasn’t bold enough for Amazon. Missouri, Kansas City and St. Louis did not make the final cut of 20 cities seeking to clinch the top prize. Respectfully, more than 200 cities were originally in the running. At stake was the creation of 50,000 new jobs and a $5 billion investment by Amazon that has drawn interest from cities all over North America. New Jersey has reportedly offered $7 billion over 10-20 years.

Missouri Department of Economic Development Director Rob Dixon is keeping a positive outlook.

“We spoke directly with Amazon officials earlier Wednesday, and their feedback on the Missouri proposal was incredibly positive. We may not have made the final cut, but they definitely took notice of our pitch. We collaborated across the state and we showed, not just Amazon, but the world that Missouri is innovative and willing to take on bold new ideas. That’s something every Missourian should be proud of,” Dixon tells Missourinet.

In addition to the statewide proposal that was sent to Amazon, Dixon says Missouri also provided a state incentives package that was included as part of the St. Louis and Kansas City proposals.

“If Amazon were to choose either city, those packages would have required legislative approval,” says Dixon.

Missouri’s pitch included an innovation corridor that would have linked St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City and a high-speed tube-like transportation network, such as Hyperloop. The futuristic mode of transportation would get people from Kansas City to St. Louis in 31 minutes, with a pitstop in Columbia.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, says losing the Amazon deal could lead to other valuable opportunities.

“The thing that I’ve learned on economic development is, once you put you best foot forward, even though you don’t get the deal, there’s always a deal behind the deal that some other entity is going to say ‘Man that was a really fine presentation of those two cities. Maybe we could go there.’ That’s how we had Ford and we tried to get Bombardier years ago,” says Richard.

He goes on to say Missouri can’t win them all.

“Those are deals that happen once every 100 years. 50,000 people. We would have had to have people coming in from 300 miles away to fill that. We need to do a lot of things to get ready for those mega projects,” says Richard.

Amazon has whittled down the list to include 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.

Click here to view the State of Missouri’s entire proposal.

Missouri skiers get into winter mode

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Photo courtesy of Snow Creek Ski Resort.

(Missourinet) – Business is good for Snow Creek ski resort in Weston.

Guest Services Specialist Darin Pond tells Missourinet the recent school and business closings have increased traffic at the slopes in Platte County.

“The parents are stuck home with kids that want to go skiing,” says Pond. “So, on those days that the schools close, they actually come skiing. We’ve had a lot of smiling faces and a lot of people.”

Pond says the cold temperatures are a perfect storm for skiers, tubers and snowboarders.

“We’ve seen more people this year, and it’s not because we didn’t have snow at this time last year. We make our own and when it gets cold enough, we turn our snow guns on,” says Pond. “But it’s more, when it feels like winter, people want to do wintery things.”

Pond expects the cold temps might lead to a longer than usual ski season this year.

Snow Creek, located on 40 acres of land with various terrain, employs about 400 people, including ski lift operators, instructors and ski patrol. The resort opened in 1985 and sits atop bluffs on the Missouri River.

Hospital Association: Missouri had 921 opioid overdose deaths in 2016

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(Missourinet) – A new report says Missouri’s opioid epidemic is costing billions of dollars.

The Missouri Hospital Association says the total economic cost of Missouri’s opioid epidemic was $12.6 billion in 2016.

Hospital Association vice president Mat Reidhead says that was more than four percent of the state’s total GDP in 2016.

“To build some context around that figure, $12.6 billion means that opioid misuse and overdose deaths cost Missouri $1.4 million every hour of everyday in 2016,” Reidhead says.

Reidhead tells Missourinet there were 921 Missouri opioid overdose deaths in 2016, adding that the economic cost of those 921 opioid overdose deaths was estimated at $12.1 billion.

“It’s a problem that we need to get a handle on and as these numbers suggest, there’s a lot of room for positive returns on investments and prevention and treatment for opioid use disorder,” says Reidhead.

The Hospital Association’s report says that “the devastating effect of the opioid crisis has contributed to an unprecedented drop in life expectancy.”

Reidhead says nearly three Missourians died daily from an opioid overdose in 2016.

“The importance of prevention and treatment is higher right now than ever before, and that’s because 75 percent of heroin users started with a prescription opioid misuse problem,” Reidhead says.

Reidhead says Missouri’s opioid overdose mortality rate has nearly doubled in the past five years.

Missouri House passes bill on human trafficking posters

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri House has passed legislation to require some business to hang posters advertising the national human trafficking hotline.

House lawmakers voted 139-5 Wednesday to send it to the Senate. It’s the first measure the House passed during the 2018 legislative session.

The measure would require truck stops, bus stations and some hotels to hang the posters in or near bathrooms.

Republican Rep. Patricia Pike says the goal of her bill is to increase victims’ access to help and increase public awareness of human trafficking.

Passing the bill was a top priority for House Republican leaders. Pike says it’s one of several bills introduced this year that are aimed at combatting human trafficking in the state, which she says is a hotspot because of its central location.

Missouri unemployment edges up slightly

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s unemployment rate has edged up slightly.

Data released Wednesday by the state Department of Economic Development show the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went up to 3.5 percent in December. It was 3.4 percent in November.

The unemployment rate was at 4.4 percent a year ago in December 2016, a little less than 1 percent higher.

Employment in December dropped by about 18,000 jobs while the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force also lost about 16,000 people. The labor force counts people with jobs and those who are on unemployment but looking for work.

SJSD Board of Education announces three finalists for superintendent position

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The St. Joseph School District Board of Education has announced three finalists for the superintendent’s position.

The Board held first round interviews on Saturday, January 13.

“The search has been a rigorous process that began with input on what the district is seeking in a new superintendent from hundreds of citizens and staff members through focus groups, public forums and an online survey. We were very pleased with the quality of applicants we received and are confident that any one of the three finalists would be an excellent leader for our school district and in our community,” said Lori Prussman and Larry Koch, the two Board members overseeing the search process.

During the upcoming round of final interviews, citizens, staff members, parents and students will provide the Board input on a finalist.

According to a press release from the school district, the three finalists are Dr. Rebecca Albrecht, Dr. William Cowling and Dr. Douglas Van Zyl.

 

Dr. Rebecca Albrecht. Photo courtesy SJSD.

Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Albrecht is in her third year as superintendent of Maryville R-II School District. Previously, she was superintendent of Trenton School District for nine years. She has raised achievement in both districts, including helping Trenton earn its first “Performance with Distinction” award from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She is actively involved in the community and a partner with higher education institutions. Dr. Albrecht is a native of Northwest Missouri and attended Northwest Missouri State University. She also has a master’s degree from Southwest Missouri State and her Specialist and Doctorate degrees from William Woods University. She and her husband have three children.

Dr. William Cowling. Photo courtesy SJSD.

Dr. William (Bill) Cowling is currently Assistant Superintendent of Management Services for the Blue Springs School District. He has been in that position for 10 years and oversees ancillary operations and associated financial requirements. He has had a 25-year career in Blue Springs as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent. Over the past 10 years, he has led multiple district improvement projects with associated public interest initiatives. In addition, Dr. Cowling has had a long career as an officer in the Army and National Guard, including multiple tours overseas. He spent time in Iraq helping to rebuild local communities. He has a BS from Central Missouri, an MS from the University of Kansas, and a doctorate from St. Louis University. Dr. Cowling has deep roots in St. Joseph, with family members and a small family farm in the area. He and his wife have two children.

 

Dr. Douglas Van Zyl. Photo courtesy SJSD.

Dr. Douglas (Doug) Van Zyl is in his eighth year as superintendent in Fort Dodge, Iowa, which is a school district of approximately 4,000 students. He has helped increase student achievement, stabilized the budget and helped develop multiple partnerships between the school district and local business and civic organizations. He recently helped the district pass a bond issue with more than a 70% approval rating. Prior to Fort Dodge, Dr. Van Zyl was superintendent of Harrisonville, Missouri, for three years. He has also served as an assistant superintendent, principal and teacher. He has a BS degree from Northwestern College, an MS from Sam Houston State University, and a doctorate from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Dr. Van Zyl and his wife have three children.

All three candidates will participate in interviews with the Board and with interview committees later this month.

The interview committees are comprised of teachers, administrators, community stakeholders, parents and students. Each candidate will spend most of a day within the school district ending in a two-hour interview with the Board.

After the finalists have all been interviewed, the Board will select one candidate to hire and will begin negotiations around the new superintendent’s contract. No salary has been set and the appointment is pending salary and benefit negotiations with the selected candidate. All the candidates have indicated they plan to live in St. Joseph if appointed superintendent.

School Exec Connect, the firm assisting the Board with the superintendent search, conducted a number of forums and focus groups with members of the school community and conducted an online survey to determine the specific expertise, experience and skills desired in the new superintendent. This research led to the creation of a “New Superintendent Profile” that was presented to and approved by the Board. School Exec Connect then recruited and reviewed the applications of more than 25 individuals, conducting interviews with a number of possible candidates, prior to presenting a slate of semi-finalists for the Board’s review. The Board conducted interviews with the semi-finalists January 13th and narrowed the field to the three finalists to be further interviewed during January.

The Board expects to name the new superintendent at its February meeting.

Governor’s second apology comes after Sen. Schaaf and others call for his resignation

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(Missourinet) – Missouri Governor Eric Greitens posted a second apology on social media shortly after the total number of fellow Republicans calling for his resignation climbed to five on Tuesday.

The governor’s Facebook page had gone dormant for five days after he followed up his initial statement of regret with two posts from his personal attorney who vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

Greitens has acknowledged that he had an affair with a hair stylist in 2015 but rejects allegations he attempted blackmail. His Tuesday apology was more lengthy and personal than the first.

“I took responsibility with my family back when this happened, asked for God’s forgiveness and Sheena’s, and Sheena and I dealt with this together, privately,” Greitens said on his Facebook page. “I was, and today I still am, grateful for her forgiveness and love.”

The unnamed hair stylist, who was being secretly recorded by her ex-husband, indicated that Greitens blindfolded her while she was partially naked, snapped a photo, and then threatened to distribute the picture if she mentioned his name.

In his Tuesday post, the governor once again signaled a desire to put the issue to rest and move forward.  “We have been, and we will, continue to work for and to fight for the people of Missouri,” said Greitens. “We will take our state in a new and better direction. There is still much work to be done, and we are back to work for the people of Missouri.”

The five Republican lawmakers now on record asking for Greitens resignation include State Representatives Kathie Conway, Marsha Haefner, Steve Cookson and Nate Walker, as well as Senator Rob Schaaf.

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Schaaf noted the governor had left him a voicemail seeking a conversation before announcing his response.  Among other things, Schaaf sharply criticized the governor for his secretive way of conducting business and use of dark money.

“You have brought to our state a cloud of secrecy and dark money that destroys trust and reeks of corruption,” said Schaaf. “I said last week that my opinion of you had not changed.  But my opinion of you has been confirmed.”

Greitens, a former Navy Seal and Rhodes Scholar, came into office in 2017 promising to rid the capitol special interests and career politicians.  He has since faced a fine for breaking campaign ethics laws and an investigation for using an app, “Confide”, that may have erased official government business.

He’s also awarded a no contract bid to a donor, refused to identify contributors to his non-profit political action committee and declined to reveal donors to his inauguration festivities.

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Schaaf asserted that the Governor had used taxpayer dollars in having his office’s official attorney try to cover up the story.

“No matter how you spin it, you cannot escape the stench of cover-up,” Schaaf said.  “The most important thing is that the people of Missouri must be able to have confidence in their government.  But given everything that’s happened, they might forgive, but they won’t forget.”

It became known this week that Greitens’ state lawyer, Lucinda Luetkemeyer, had called Albert Watkins, the attorney representing the ex-husband who had recorded the unnamed woman, before the story was outed in a report last Wednesday night by St. Louis TV station KMOV.

Luetkemeyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she did not know whether the story pertained to the governor’s personal life or his official duties when she first made the call.

Watkins revealed Tuesday that he had provided more audiotapes of the woman discussing the governor’s threat with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s office and the FBI.

He told KSDK TV that the recordings are of conversations between Watkins’ client and his ex-wife, but would not discuss the nature of the conversations.

The FBI has not made a formal request for the recordings. Gardner, who began an investigation the allegations last Thursday, has made a formal request. Gardner is a former Democratic state lawmaker.

Tuesday’s events unfolded as two other Republican Senators outlined significant tax plans in a committee hearing. Just last week in his State of the State address, Greitens said he was going to outline “the boldest state tax reform in America.”

Wind chill advisory in effect until noon

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It’s going to be cold as an icicle out there today. Luckily, the cold won’t linger as high will reach well into the the 40s by Friday. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: A chance of flurries between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Partly sunny and cold, with a high near 8. Wind chill values between -14 and -24. Northwest wind 8 to 13 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around -3. Wind chill values between -5 and -10. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable in the evening.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 26. Wind chill values between -1 and -11. Light south southwest wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 15. South southwest wind around 8 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 40. South southwest wind 8 to 10 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 26.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 48.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34.

Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 51.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34.

Sunday: Rain and snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday Night: A chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 38.

 

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