(Missourinet) – History will be made this week when for the first time, the head of the Catholic Church will speak to Congress.

Since being elected, Pope Francis has garnered headlines for speaking about “unbridled” capitalism which he tied to climate change, abortion, and helping the poor and those seeking refuge. All of those are issues facing world leaders today, and he could speak about any of those or dozens of other things when he addresses Congress Thursday.

Experts say it’s difficult to predict what topics the Pope will discuss, but Saint Louis University’s Father Christopher Collins says one clue might be that the pope will come to the U.S. after a visit to Cuba.

“Which in itself,” said Collins, “is an indication of the need to pay attention to the immigration issue. I would imagine it’s very hard to believe he would not talk about immigration, not only in the U.S. context but also globally.”

What the Pope says about those issues could potentially clash with either of the dominant political parties in Congress, but western Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II told Missourinet lawmakers should look beyond that.

“I hope that members of Congress are not going there deciding whether to turn him on and off based on whether or not what he says fits neatly into their ideology,” said Cleaver.

Eastern and Central Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Catholic himself, thinks the Pope should keep his comments to religious guidance.

“I’m not sure where he gets his expertise, if any at all, with regard to other matters, but we’ll certainly listen to him and see what he has to say,” said Luetkemeyer.

Missouri’s Senior Senator, Democrat Claire McCaskill, said she would not be surprised if the pope speaks about abortion – something the Catholic church opposes but she and most in her party, support the availability of.

“I’m sure the pope will reiterate the church’s position,” said McCaskill, “but he has expanded the message of the church. I think there have been times that it seemed all the church was worried about was that issue, when there were so many other issues that needed to be addressed and I just appreciate that the pope has emphasized some of those other issues in addition to the church’s position on that issue.”

Senator Roy Blunt (R) hopes the pope will speak about religious freedom and tolerance.

“That’s one of the three things that we need to really do to continue to project who we are and what our values are, and I would think that would be one of the values that the pope would particularly share,” said Blunt.

(Missourinet) – Democrats believe they enjoyed several successes in last week’s veto session despite ten overrides by the Republican majority.

Key among what they consider wins is the failure by House backers of “right to work” to come up with enough votes to overturn Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) veto of that bill.

“I think it’s a real significant victory and a very important moment of history,” Nixon said Thursday. “Workers rights are important. Paying people a fair wage is important. Allowing people to organize is important,. and the benefits that come from that are shared by union and non-union households alike. The work of organized union labor has gotten us a tremendous number of very positive things we take for granted now. A 40-hour work week, child labor laws, maternity leave policies.”

Republicans say “right to work” will become law in Missouri, with Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (R-Joplin) calling it a “matter of time.”

Republicans did vote to overturn Nixon’s veto of a bill that reduces unemployment benefits to as few as 13 weeks depending on the state unemployment rate. Nixon expects that law to end up in court, however. He and other critics say because of when he vetoed it, the veto overturn vote should have been taken before the end of the regular session in May.

“We’ll look at what the legal uncertainties are about that as the days go forward, but those things don’t take effect for at least 30 days and some provisions of it don’t start until January, so we should have plenty of time to get a review of how that can be dealt with,” said Nixon.

Nixon said he doesn’t plan to sue the legislature over the procedural issue.

“It would not surprise me to see folks want to litigate about it but I’m not going to be having government suing government to decide things of that nature. I think we’ve got enough to do with our limited tax dollars rather than spending them on lawyers to try to settle our fights between branches of government,” said Nixon.

Another veto overridden by Republicans was on a bill that would bar cities from increasing their minimum wage to a rate greater than the state’s, and from banning stores in their borders from using plastic bags. Missouri House Democrat leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis) expects that will also be challenged in court.

“Any time that you’re trying to block municipalities from enacting ordinances that they clearly have the ability to under state statute, I think those are some very real, tangible things that some areas of the state are going to care about,” said Hummel.

Hummel said with the possibility of those legal challenges plus the failure of the “right to work” bill, “I really couldn’t be happier with how things turned out.”

(Missourinet) – A bill to defund Planned Parenthood for one year passed Friday in the U.S. House. That bill has been sent to the Senate.
Budget discussions are underway in Congress and Planned Parenthood could be a part of a compromise. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) says freezing funds to the organization might be useful in budget negotiations.

“I think it’s perfectly fine if there’s more debate and more discussion of Planned Parenthood as it relates to the budget. At some point, there are some times when you have to make every effort so that people understand that every effort is being made,” said Blunt.

Blunt thinks a spending bill can be accomplished in time to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. He thinks the tougher issue will be lawmakers agreeing on spending.

“We will have some kind of language and we are still discussing on how to do that and what the language will be. That’s why this other bill to have a one-year moratorium may be a solution. I’m not sure,” said East central Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Missouri). “Harry Reid has refused to pass a budget over there. We’ve got half of our budget bills passed and the other half are ready to pass.”

Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood for one year to investigate the organization’s procedures and see if any laws have been broken. Planned Parenthood has been at the center of an undercover video scandal, which questions whether it sells fetal tissue for profit.
As part of budget negotiations, President Obama wants Republicans to scrap a tax break for private equity managers and use the funds for domestic and national security.

Missouri’s members of Congress voted along party lines on the proposal to defund Planned Parenthood, with Republicans favoring it and Democrats against it, except for St. Louis-area Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who did not cast a vote on the bill.

Luetkemeyer is not sure when the next spending bill expires and thinks that will also be a compromise.

(Missourinet) – An annual report by Mizzou’s new Title IX office says hundreds of sex discrimination cases on campus have been investigated and seven students have been suspended. The study started 18 months ago as part of ramped-up efforts to fight sexual assault.

The suspensions involve sex discrimination cases from August 2014 through July 2015 with more cases still pending or resolved in other ways. The report establishes baseline information that can be used in future years to identify trends and improve initiatives to stop sex discrimination and prevent its occurrence.

According to the report, which focuses on students, 328 individuals reported 332 incidents during which they experienced sex, gender or sexual orientation discrimination (four individuals reported more than one incident of discrimination). These 332 incidents resulted in the identification of 374 allegations of sex discrimination.

“Our goal is to progress toward a truly safe and inclusive environment where all students, faculty and staff feel welcome, valued and secure. We have an opportunity and an obligation to use the information the Title IX Office collects to improve campus culture and reduce sex discrimination at MU,” said Ellen Eardley, Title IX administrator and assistant vice provost.

“While we understand that sex discrimination – including sex-based violence – occurs at MU, we are encouraged that the Mizzou community regularly engages with the Title IX Office to report these incidents and to help us educate the community about ways to stop these behaviors,” said Eardley. “We may see the number of reports rise as our education activities increase and people are more aware of the Title IX Office and its purpose.”

Eardley said the office investigates everything from rape, to texting a picture of a person on your cell phone to someone else without permission.

“We need to work hard, all of us on campus, to stand up and say that any kind of sex-based discrimination is unacceptable,” said Eardley.
“Most reports of sex discrimination came from employees of MU who were expressing sincere concerns about students,” MU Provost Garnett Stokes said. “The faculty and staff on this campus genuinely support our students, and we’re making great strides to improve our climate and make it a safe place where all students can focus on their college experiences.

To see the full report, click here.

(Missourinet) – The state Senate Committee probing Planned Parenthood’s operations in Missouri has taken public testimony about whether it is exploring legitimate questions of law, or conducting a witch hunt based on lies.

The committee was formed after an anti-abortion group began releasing videos of undercover conversations with key members of Planned Parenthood, alleging that the organization has illegally profited from the sale of fetal tissue. Republican leaders say the committee is investigating whether any such activity is taking place in Missouri.

Mike Hoey with the Missouri Catholic Conference says the committee’s job is legitimate.

“We don’t know the facts in Missouri and so the investigation to get the facts, to understand what’s going on in Missouri, that’s the responsible way to approach it and that’s the way you’ve been approaching it,” he told the committee.

Planned Parenthood and its supporters say the videos are misleading and heavily edited, and say the response by Missouri’s legislature and in other states is capitalizing off their deception.

Susan Gibson with the National Organization for Women said the committee is a sham.

“It has been clear from the beginning of this witch hunt that Planned Parenthood of Missouri does not participate in the fetal tissue donation program, that you have jumped on the opportunity provided by the deceptive videos to further erode access to reproductive freedom,” said Gibson.

Gibson accused the committee of using “inflammatory language” when using the terms “babies” and “body parts,” rather than “fetus” and “cells.” She said the committee should refer to them as, “The products of conception. It’s not a baby until it’s been born.”

Senator Bob Onder (R-Lake Saint Louis) defended the committee’s terminology, noting that used by the Planned Parenthood representatives in the undercover videos.

“You object to the term body parts … they talked about livers and hearts and lungs and extremities, they talked about maybe muscle being the part of interest in there. Aren’t livers and hearts and lungs, aren’t they body parts?” asked Onder.

Senator Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) commended Gibson for speaking to the Republican-controlled committee and reiterated her opinion that it has never started working on the issue she believed it was formed for.

“The question that arose out of those Planned Parenthood videos of whether Planned Parenthood in Missouri is doing something illegal by selling fetal tissue has not even yet been addressed by this committee,” said Schupp.

The committee’s chairman, Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia), said what the committee has investigated so far goes right to the question of whether anything illegal is happening in Missouri.

“In fact we have looked at the issue of what happens to baby body parts after an abortion is performed, and actually got some very interesting testimony from the last hearing we had on that subject,” said Schaefer.

The committee learned that the state Department of Health does not know what happens to fetal remains after they are examined in the t preparation of a pathology report. Schaefer wants to call the private vendor that handles those remains, Pathology Services, Inc. of St. Louis to testify to the committee about such remains’ final disposition.

He said he also plans to call leaders of Planned Parenthood of Missouri in to testify, and said he is willing to subpoena them or the representatives of Pathology Services, Inc. if necessary.

(Missourinet) – The release on parole of Jeff Mizanskey, who had been serving life in Missouri prison for marijuana offenses, has stirred discussion of whether Missouri should consider further changes to sentencing laws or making marijuana legal.

Dan Viets with Show-Me Cannibis is Mizanskey’s attorney. He says there have been serious discussions of such changes, and says they will continue.

“There have been bills introduced in the Missouri General Assembly to eliminate marijuana prohibition. There will be additional bills filed in the near future,” Viets told Missourinet. “What’s very clear is there is broad, bipartisan support for marijuana law reform.”

Lieutenant Jason Grellner with the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association says Missouri policy makers aren’t ready for marijuana legalization, and neither are its residents.

“We go back three or four years to the last time there was an attempt made at a signature campaign to get it on the ballot initiative for the legalization of marijuana. Those on that side never even got close to the number necessary to get it on the ballot,” said Grellner.
Grellner said rather than reducing the length of time marijuana offenders spend in prison, Missouri should increase the effort to treat them while they’re there.

“These crimes are being committed because of the disease of addiction. We really need to come together as a society to make sure that people are able to control that disease, and what we don’t need is to legalize a drug like marijuana which is going to spread that disease faster,” said Grellner.

Viets believes few people are actually addicted to marijuana, but agrees anyone who is addicted to something should be treated.
“Certainly they should be treated. They should have treatment available as an option. They should not be threatened with prison in order to get them treatment,” said Viets.

(Missourinet) – Kentucky state police say the trooper fatally shot late Sunday night was trying to help the women and children in the car with the St. Louis County man who would later kill him.

Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, 31, had stopped for speeding a car driven by 25-year-old Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks and learned the driver’s license was suspended.

Kentucky state police spokesman Jay Thomas said Ponder was trying to make arrangements for those in Johnson-Shanks’ car to stay at a hotel for the night so someone could pick them up.

“From time to time our troopers do things like that,” said Thomas. “He was trying to help them out, and for an unknown reason, the driver fled off.”

That flight turned into a nine-mile chase before Johnson-Shanks stopped abruptly, leaned out of the driver’s window and shot through the windshield of Ponder’s vehicle, hitting him several times. He later died at a hospital in Princeton, Kentucky.

The shooting happened on Interstate 24 in western Kentucky. Johnson-Shanks ran from the scene and was found

several hours later. Authorities say he pulled a gun on troopers and ignored a command to drop it. He was shot and also died later at a hospital.

His niece, 19-year-old Ambrea R.J. Shanks, is charged with hindering prosecution or apprehension. A 22-year-old woman and two children younger than 6 years-old were also in the car.

A Nixa, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court Monday for sexually exploiting two children to produce child pornography, which she distributed over the Internet.

Meagan Nell Bowman, 26, of Nixa, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Bowman to supervised release for the rest of her life following incarceration.

On Dec. 11, 2014, Bowman pleaded guilty to all four counts of a federal indictment that charge her with two counts of sexually exploiting a minor and two counts of receiving and distributing child pornography.

Bowman’s estranged husband discovered photographs in her e-mail account of her sexual abuse of a 3-year-old child and a 2-year-old child. Bowman admitted that she was communicating over the Internet with two unknown men whom she met after posting an advertisement on Craigslist. She then used her cell phone to take photos of herself sexually abusing the 3-year-old child and sent them to the two men. She also admitted that 32 images of child pornography found on her cell phone were created by herself or received from the men she was interacting with over the Internet.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Nixa, Mo., Police Department.

(Missourinet) – The Missouri legislature’s veto session begins at noon Wednesday, and several storylines surround it. Here is a breakdown of some of the key issues:
Right to Work

Called “right to work” by its supporters, and the “right to work for less” by its opponents, backers of House Bill 116 say it would prohibit employers from requiring an employee to be a member of a union, and prohibit requiring an employee to pay union dues, as a condition of employment.

2015 was the first year a Missouri General Assembly sent a right-to-work bill to the state’s governor, but it came at a cost. Senate Republicans used a procedural move called the “previous question,” to block debate of the bill and force a vote on it, which carried thanks to a Republican majority. The move angered the chamber’s Democrats, who held the floor and blocked debate in the final days of the session, allowing only one more bill to clear the chamber. Governor Jay Nixon (D), who once told Reporters he’d never seen a right-to-work bill he would sign, vetoed HB 116 in early June.

The bill is expected to be brought up for a veto override in the House, but is not expected to receive the 109 votes necessary to send it to the Senate.

Unemployment legislation, and can the state Senate vote on it?

The state legislature approved a bill that would reduce the number of weeks a person could receive unemployment benefits from the current 20 to a few as 13, depending on the state’s unemployment rate. The bill would also increase the amount that must be in the unemployment fund before businesses’ fees are reduced and would count severance pay or termination packages as wages in determining eligibility for unemployment.

Governor Nixon called the legislation unnecessary in his veto message. The House overrode his veto in May, but the Senate did not act on the bill before the end of the session. Nixon and some other say because of when he vetoed the bill, the state Constitution required that the legislature override his veto before the session’s end. Republicans and some who side with them say that’s not the case, and say the state Senate can still vote on whether to override.

The bill’s Senate handler, Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City), says there are enough votes in the chamber to complete the override.

Status of new House intern policy

The state House’s session ended in scandal with the admission by then House Speaker John Diehl, Junior, that he had exchanged sexually-suggestive texts with a college intern. In July, Kansas City senator Paul LeVota resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment of interns, which he continued to deny.

The House elected a new speaker, Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) on the final day of the session, and Richardson launched an effort to create a new House intern policy and said he wanted to improve the public’s perception of the chamber.

The development of that new policy was the subject of a flurry of attention last month when an e-mail became public, in which a House republican suggested a dress code be a part of that new policy. Richardson said that idea was never the subject of serious consideration.
That latest version of that proposed policy will be given to Richardson this week, and it will be up to him how and when it will be acted on. Key pieces of that proposal call for the creation of an ombudsman program, an electronic communications policy, and a personal conduct policy.

Transfer legislation to be brought up, but maybe not for a vote

The sponsor of the 2015 General Assembly’s version of legislation to change Missouri’s student transfer law has said since Governor Nixon vetoed it in June that he would not bring it up for a possible override in the veto session. Representative David Wood (R-Versailles) doesn’t expect to find enough votes to make the leap from the 84 the bill received in the regular session to the 109 needed to overturn the veto.

Some Republicans, however, might want a chance to voice skepticism about the “historic agreement” announced in June by Governor Nixon between several St. Louis-area schools to support the struggling Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts. Backers of the transfer bill say there was no written agreement, and call the announcement a ploy to, in Wood’s words, “alleviate some of the angst of vetoing House Bill 42.”

The bill, then, might be brought up for discussion, but a vote is not anticipated.

A filibuster across two sessions?

The use of the previous question to end debate of a bill in the state Senate is often characterized by those who oppose the bill as an insult in a chamber where all members expect to be allowed to speak as long as they like. Senate Democrats angered by the use of the previous question in May to force a vote on right-to-work proceeded to hold the chamber floor for the final days, allowing only one more piece of legislation to get through.

That block on debate could continue into the veto session, though it’s unclear whether the caucus is agreed on what action it will take.

The veto session typically only lasts one or two days, but could run up to 10.