(Missourinet) – Governor Jay Nixon said more than 50 of Missouri’s 114 counties have been damaged by flooding, and he’ll be seeking federal help to pay for repairs.

Nixon said he will be asking President Barack Obama to declare a major disaster in Missouri. The governor said Missouri has clearly sustained enough flood damage to warrant that request, but first it must be assessed.

“For example, when I talked [Wednesday] morning to the mayors of Cassville and Branson, we’re going to have to get underneath some of the bridges in those towns to see what the damage is. You only get one chance to request this stuff, so sometimes that takes us a few weeks to get the full determination,” said Nixon.

Nixon said it could take a couple of weeks to complete those assessments and make the request. If approved, a declaration could provide up to 75-percent federal assistance for public infrastructure like roads, bridges, and parks.

On the private side the state is working with non-governmental agencies like churches and the Red Cross to meet needs.

“For the individuals out there that are in dire short-term need, working those agencies to make sure we get food, shelter, and other things that are necessary out to folks has been a very effective way for us,” said Nixon.

Nixon credited emergency responders and the Weather Service with saving lives, particularly in more than 20 high-water rescues since mid-June. He reminded Missourians not to drive in high water.
He acknowledges that people have died in flooding in Missouri, but said the last couple of days in south Missouri could have been far worse.

“As governor of the state it’s just always a lot easier when you’re not talking about significant injuries or deaths when you’re in these situations, and believe me, with the amount of water we had and where it was moving, we could have had both yesterday if it wasn’t for preparation and execution by the team here at the National Weather Service, the Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, our parks service, and others.”

Clearly roads and bridges have been damaged, said Nixon, but he said damage to the Roaring River State Park in far south Missouri also presents an important need.

“Roaring River is a significant asset to this region of the state and it took a big hit, and so we’re going to be evaluating what to do there to try to get that park up and operating,” said Nixon. “It’s my best guess that the trout that were there are on their way to New Orleans.”

(Missourinet) – Scientists at the University of Missouri are celebrating a discovery made during their study of HIV. A group of scientists there have determined the structure of a key protein in HIV, which could lead to new and more effective medications. Dr. Stefan Sarafianos with the Mizzou School of Medicine says making the finding was exhilarating.

“Over the course of twenty years, people have tried to get this structure, so to speak. They have done fantastic work, which was very helpful to us.”

Due to the discovery, Mizzou has received a $2.28 million grant to continue drug development. Dr. Sarafianos says other drugs are needed to fight drug resistance.

“If you hit the virus at the same side with different drugs, when the virus learns how to become resistant to one of them, the virus most likely will become resistant to most of them. That’s why you need different families of drugs.”

Dr. Sarafianos says drugs used today have had a dramatic reduction in AIDS related deaths.

There are about 35 million people with HIV worldwide and approximately one million of them live in the United States.

A Kansas City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for carjacking.

Stephen D. Bagley, 25, of Kansas City, Kan., was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo.

Today’s indictment alleges that Bagley stole a 2008 Nissan Altima at gunpoint on June 22, 2014. Bagley allegedly brandished a Glock .40-caliber pistol during the carjacking. Bagley, who has been convicted of a felony, allegedly was in possession of ammunition.

Bagley is charged with one count of carjacking, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

(Missourinet) – A researcher at Washington University in St. Louis says the flood control systems along the Missouri, Mississippi, and other rivers in the Midwest are based on flood height estimates that are too low.

Geology Professor Robert Criss says that miscalculation means federal agencies are underestimating how high a 100-year flood on those rivers can be. A flood that reaches even a few inches above the top of a 100-year levee could cause a major breach in a flood control system, says Criss.

He says the formulas used to predict how high 100-year events could get assume conditions are the same as they were decades ago when there were fewer man-made structures along the rivers and global weather patterns weren’t changing.

“For example, the official calculations would suggest that at St. Louis since 2008 we’ve had three, 10-year floods, the most recent of which was last week. I’m saying in that period of time since 2008 we’ve had one, 5-year flood,” said Criss. “We overuse these terms – 100-year flood, 200-year flood, and so forth. They’re clearly out of whack with what is really happening. That’s because the levels we need to expect are higher than the official calculations.”

He says man-made river control systems narrow channels and keep floods from reaching wetlands and flood plains.

“We should leave our rural areas alone. We should leave our flood plains open to agriculture and not to commercial development, which is just putting more infrastructure in harm’s way while we’re aggravating the flood phenomena itself by restricting the floodwater’s access to flood plains,” said Criss, “which is what we do when we try to levee these areas off and change them from agricultural and wildlife uses to other uses.”

He says miscalculations mean 100-year levels predictions are too low in several Midwestern cities and towns along the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois rivers. He says those cities’ flood protection systems should be adjusted to prepare for higher crests.

“I think we should have more realistic flood estimates … We need to build our structures and protect our cities to accommodate those rising levels, and we need to have our future land use decisions accommodate what’s really good land use for low-lying areas,” said Criss.

(Missourinet) – A series of bills signed into law by Governor Jay Nixon create several new days, weeks, and months of awareness in Missouri.

Among those, a bill to extend Missouri Peace Officers Memorial Day from May 15 to the whole week on which May 15 falls, during which time law enforcement officers who have been killed or disabled will be remembered and flags at government buildings will be flown at half-mast.

Missourians will also asked to raise awareness of sex trafficking during the month of January, and bone up on safe boating during the week ahead of Memorial Day.

Jackie Robinson will be remembered April 15 and the founding of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, will be commemorated December 4.

October 16 will now be Walt Disney – A Day to Dream Day, the second Monday in April will be Missouri Lineworker Appreciation Day in honor of electric line workers, and Missourians are asked to be aware of engineers during the third week in February.

TOPEKA, KAN. – A former Ft. Riley soldier was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison for aggravated sexual abuse of a child, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

James Duke, 52, who is in federal custody, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual abuse. In his plea, he admitted he began sexually assaulting a female child starting when she was four or five years old. Most of the assaults occurred while he was stationed at Ft. Riley and living in military housing. He was stationed there from October 1996 to October 2001.

The investigation began in 2013, when the FBI learned Duke was trading child pornography, including photos taken during the assaults he committed.

By Alisa Nelson (Missourinet) – Students at Missouri colleges must now be vaccinated for meningitis under a state law that took effect July 1.

Dr. Susan Even with the Mizzou Student Health Center says a person who develops meningitis can get sick very quickly and the early symptoms might look like a case of influenza. The infection actually causes an inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Even says infants, middle schoolers and 16 to 22 year olds are most susceptible to meningitis.

She says the new law makes sense for colleges.

“Young people who are in close contact with one another, whether they’re in college residence halls or in other close settings in classrooms are also at high risk,” said Even. “Parents or maybe even physicians in outlying towns across the country may not be as aware of the potential impact of a case of meningococcal disease.”

Even says Princeton, the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Oregon have experienced meningitis outbreaks in recent years.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – More rain this week means more flooding, and more danger of getting caught in a flood while driving.

Flash floods cause more deaths in the U.S. than any other weather phenomenon and more than half of those deaths are vehicle-related. Some deaths have already occurred in flash floods in Missouri this year and more flooding is happening with repeated rain this week.

Connie Burnham with the University of Missouri Extension says once a person is caught in a flash flood while driving options are limited, but getting out of the car is recommended.

“From there you just hope that you’re going to be able to either ride it out where your vehicle is going to stay upright and it’s not going to cover it, which it could, or that you’re going to be able to get to some kind of safety by trees and limbs that might be hanging out or something that you can grab onto that will stabilize you,” said Burnham.

She says the best thing to do is to avoid travel when flooding is possible, particularly at night when high water could be hard to see in time to stop.

“Even those roads that you’re traveling on, that you normally travel on, may become flooded very quickly,” said Burnham. “If it’s dark, you first of all don’t know if there’s a road in front of you, or you don’t know that there might have been debris that was coming with the water.”

Burnham also advises never intentionally driving into high water.

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – Some religions don’t recognize same-sex marriage, and some think now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled same-sex marriage is legal, those churches could be targeted by lawsuits seeking to make them recognize or even perform such unions.

Saint Louis University Law Professor Marcia McCormick thinks it’s unlikely such a suit would survive a motion to dismiss, which is generally one of the first steps in response to a lawsuit.

“There’s clearly a first-amendment right that religious organization have to not be compelled to do things that interfere with their religious beliefs,” McCormick told Missourinet.

She said it is likely such a suit would have to be brought by a member of the church being sued.

“Generally speaking, people can only bring a lawsuit if they’ve personally been injured by the actions of the defendant, and it’s hard to see how someone outside of the Catholic church or even outside of a particular parish could be injured by a decision of the church unless they want to get married by that church, and really do want to get married by that church, and have asked and have been denied,” said McCormick.

Missouri Catholic Conference executive director Mike Hoey agrees with McCormick in that he doesn’t expect such lawsuits to be filed.

“I think that’s kind of a hysterical reaction,” said Hoey. “The [Catholic] church doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage and I don’t see any way that the government’s going to force priests or the Catholic Church to marry same-sex couples because it’s not part of the tenants of the Catholic Church, just like they wouldn’t force the Catholic Church to marry someone of a different faith. Those are decisions to be made by the churches themselves.”

Hoey calls such predictions an overreaction, and says when they don’t prove true, people will pay less attention to what he thinks is a real concern.

“I think the real question now becomes what’s going to happen to religious institutions that have objections to same-sex relationships?” asks Hoey. “What happens to a Catholic college that has marriage housing? Do they have to include same-sex couples, or if they don’t, do they lose tax-exempt status? What happens to a parish hall … are they now going to be forced to rent it out for a same-sex ceremony, and if they don’t, would that be considered discrimination?”

The Missouri Department of Conservation is providing a free course to Missouri educators to improve conservation education in area classrooms.

MDC is holding a Discover Nature Schools program for teachers interested to attend for free in August at its headquaters in Columbia, Mo.

The courses will be held in August from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the MDC Central Regional Office, 3500 East Gans Rd. in Columbia on the following dates:

Aug. 4, Nature Unfolds, grades K-2
Aug. 6, Nature Unleashed, grades 3-5
Aug. 11, Conserving Missouri’s Aquatic Ecosystems, grades 6-8
Aug. 13, Nature Unbound, grades 9-12

“The Discover Nature Schools program is an excellent way to get students of all ages outside and to enrich their learning through outdoor experiences focused on Missouri plants, animals and natural systems,” said MDC Conservation Education Consultant Kim Cole.

This workshop will prepare educators to teach the hands-on, course level expectations-based unit for their grade. Teacher’s guides and classroom sets of student guides and science notebooks are provided for free, and eligible schools can receive non-competitive grants for field experiences and classroom materials that support the curriculum units. Space is limited and reservations are required by Aug. 1 to ensure enough supplies for each training session.

“Learning in nature benefits children in several ways, including improving physical and mental health, improving standardized test scores, reducing attention-deficit problems and teaching problem-solving, synthesis and other higher-order thinking skills,” Cole said.

MDC’s Discover Nature Schools program provides no-cost curriculum units to teachers and schools in the state of Missouri. Curriculum units are available for preschool through twelfth grade and are aligned with Missouri state standards in order to help teachers and students meet required learning expectations. Approximately 98% of school districts and about 40% of schools in the state participate in the program.

For questions or to register for the workshop, contact Cole at Kim.Cole@mdc.mo.gov or 573-815-7900, ext. 3964.