JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will hold a public auction of various used Department vehicles and equipment on Saturday, June 6, starting at 10 a.m. at its Salem Maintenance Center located at the junction of HWY 72 and HWY 32 in Salem.

The auction will feature boats, vehicles, trailers, ATVs, farm equipment, heavy equipment, outboard motors, shop equipment, lawn-care equipment, cameras, office items, and other items.

Those interested can view auction items on Friday, June 5, at the Salem Maintenance Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Preregistration on June 5 is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration the day of the sale begins at 7:30 a.m.

Cash, check, and credit/debit cards will be accepted. As required by state statute, MDC must charge a convenience fee to all customers who pay by credit or debit card.

For a list of auction items and procedures, go online to mdc.mo.gov/node/5585. A complete lot listing and terms of sales will be available at the registration desk the day of the auction. For more information or questions, call MDC at 573-522-4115 ext. 3283.

JEFFERSON CITY – Saturday, May 9 is Amtrak Train Day with events planned across the country. Train riders can take advantage of Amtrak Train Day and receive a 20 percent discount on travel. Discount offer for advance ticket purchases start May 9 for travel beginning on August 1, 2015.

The offer is exclusively available online at http://www.amtrak.com/, using discount code H253.  The discount applies to travel on Missouri’s service, the Missouri River Runner, which offers twice daily service between Kansas City and St. Louis. It is also valid for travel on most other Amtrak service lines except the following routes: Acela Express, Auto Train, Northeast Regional, Downeaster, Hoosier State, Carl Sandburg, Illinois Zephyr, Illini, Saluki, Lincoln Service, Capitol Corridor, Amtrak Cascades and the 7000-8999 Thruways.

A seven-day advance purchase is required.  Some blackout dates and other restrictions apply.  Terms and conditions on the 20 percent sale or more information on ticketing are available at http://www.amtrak.com/.  For more information on Amtrak Train Day events across the country, visit http://www.amtraktraindays.com/.

By Alisa Nelson (Missourinet) – A bill has been signed by Governor Jay Nixon (D) that enacts limits on non-economic damages patients can pursue against health providers during medical malpractice cases. The new limits apply to amounts awarded for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases, not on awards for things like missed work or medical expenses. The limits, which will increase 1.7% annually, are $400,000 for non-catastrophic personal injury, $700,000 for catastrophic injury and $700,000 for death.

“The bill signing marks a successful completion of a bi-partisan effort to ensure that our healthcare providers can do what they do best: help and heal Missourians in need,” said Nixon. “We needed to devise an approach that would protect patients by making sure that appropriate financial restitution can be sought and garnered in serious cases where there is medical malpractice. Taking this dissonance away and giving cost certainty, while still protecting the rights of folks who are damaged, strikes the right balance.”

Senate bill sponsor Dan Brown (R-Rolla) agrees with the Governor.

“I think this law is just about right for the people of the state of Missouri,” said Brown. “I think this does translate into less healthcare cost, which is what we are all trying to reach.”

House Minority Leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis) told Missourinet he’s against every type of malpractice cap.

“I’m fundamentally opposed to putting a dollar figure on someone’s life. That’s why we have courts, that’s why we have a jury, and they should decide that,” said Hummel. “Not bureaucrats in Jefferson City.”

By Mike Lear (Missourinet) – A proposal to increase Missouri’s gas tax clings to life in the state Senate, and Governor Jay Nixon (D) is asking lawmakers to get it to his desk.

The governor traveled to the Kansas City area to see the Highway 291 bridge over the Missouri River that the Transportation Department has closed due to a deteriorating structure. Nixon used the bridge as a backdrop to deliver a message to the state legislature: he wants it to pass a proposed fuel tax increase that has been stalled in the Senate.

“We don’t need to have a bunch of bridges closing around, or being dangerous out there, and we need to improve our road system,” said Nixon.

Nixon hopes the Senate will pass that tax today so it can be in the House next week, the final week of the session.

The proposal would raise the tax on diesel fuel by 3.5-cents and other fuels by 1.5-cents, but would not require voter approval. It is projected it would generate $54.6-million a year. That would be enough to keep Missouri from losing 160-million in matching federal transportation dollars.

“We have the sixth longest [transportation] system and the fifth lowest income stream and things are aging, and we’re going to start losing federal dollars,” said Nixon. “[If] we aren’t able to keep our match system up on our side as a state, we’ll continue not only to fund our roads but with our very taxes fund other states’ roads.”

The bill has been held up in the Senate by lawmakers who want it to go to a vote of the people for final approval. If the bill does reach the House it faces another challenge. Some lawmakers there say five days is not enough time for that chamber to consider such a proposal.

By Kyle Loethen (Missourinet) – The Missouri Department of Transportation has released a draft of a five-year plan that focuses on fewer construction projects.

The Transportation Department has presented a draft of its Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The Department says a drop in state funds means there are fewer projects in that draft to keep state roads and bridges in good condition. It includes 574 projects; 250 fewer than last year’s version.

The Department’s Transportation Planning Director Machelle Watkins said the draft reflects a plummeting construction budget that will go from nearly $600 million in 2016 to $325 million in 2017 and beyond.

“Missourians won’t see the kinds of projects that they’ve gotten used to over the years, economic development projects, four lane expansions, interchange additions, but instead they’ll see projects that are focused on just resurfacing or maintaining bridges on our 8,000 miles of our primary roads only,” said Watkins. “We don’t have projects added outside of the primary system and we don’t have projects added outside of the kinds of projects that maintain a system.”

The proposed draft is available for public review and comment on the Department’s website.

“Between now and July, we’re giving the public a chance to reflect on that and give us comments and we’ll come back taking those comments with a final recommendation to the Commission, which we expect they will act on at the July 1st meeting later this year,” said Watkins.

In February, the Department adopted a plan called “Missouri’s 325 System” that focuses its resources by dividing Missouri’s highways into primary and supplementary routes. Any new projects would be limited to maintaining the 8,000 miles of primary routes in the condition they are in today, but the remaining 26,000 miles would only receive limited routine maintenance.

The Missouri legislature is considering a proposal to raise fuel taxes to support transportation. Governor Jay Nixon has urged state lawmakers to send him a plan to fund transportation before the session ends.

A reserve deputy sheriff for Christian County, Mo., was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on additional charges related to a $14.5 million investment fraud scheme.

Marty Layne Brickey, 44, of Republic, Mo., was charged in a 30-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo. Wednesday’s superseding indictment replaces an indictment that was returned on June 10, 2014, and adds additional charges.

Brickey has been commissioned as a reserve deputy sheriff in Christian County, Mo., since 2012.

Including three counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering contained in the original indictment, today’s indictment charges Brickey with a total of 10 counts of wire fraud, 13 counts of money laundering and seven counts of failure to pay employment taxes.

According to the indictment, Brickey owned and operated several companies that marketed, promoted and managed software development. Interzone Entertainment, LLC, had offices located in Springfield, Chicago, Ill., Perth, Australia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and in China before it ceased operations in February 2010. Big Collision Games, LLC, had offices in Texas and in Dublin, Ireland. MasterTitle Games, Inc., and Spectacle Games maintained offices in Austin, Texas. Brickey also owned Zoonik USA, Inc., and Studio Avenue, Inc.

The federal indictment alleges that Brickey defrauded investors of more than $14.5 million in a scheme that operated from January 2008 to January 2014. Brickey allegedly told victim investors that their investment funds would be used to bring a video game to market and they would share in the profits. Brickey made false statements to potential investors regarding the amount of capital he had raised from other investors, the indictment says, and how close his companies were to bringing a product to market.

Brickey allegedly told potential investors he was working with, or close to receiving investments from, various celebrities and important persons, including Shaquille O’Neal, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, the Sheik of Abu Dhabi and various corporate entities.

In reality, the indictment says, Brickey used a substantial amount of investor funds to pay his personal expenses unrelated to the development and marketing of any video game, and to repay prior investors who had demanded the return of their money. None of Brickey’s companies brought a video game to market, and the total revenue of Brickey’s companies during this time period was approximately $2,281.

Brickey is charged with seven counts of failure to pay employment tax (including federal income taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes of employees) related to his role as president of Interzone from August 2006 to December 2011.

Between April 2009 and June 2011, the indictment says, Brickey caused Interzone to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures for his personal benefit while, at the same time, failing to pay over to the IRS the payroll tax due from Interzone’s employees’ paychecks. Interzone allegedly failed to account for and pay over approximately $102,813 in payroll taxes during those seven quarters.