(Missourinet) – During the last six weeks, more than 1,000 Missourians have contacted the State Auditor’s Whistleblower Hotline to report missing tax refunds or other tax return problems.

Auditor Nicole Galloway said she wants the Missouri Revenue Department director to promptly address the issues.

“They also report long wait times, calls that have been disconnected, the inability to speak to a representative or an actual person to try to get information on the status of their refund,” Galloway said.

By law, delayed tax refunds should include interest, but some Missourians have also complained about not receiving any.

Galloway said the department’s tax refund problems have led to a drastic increase in the number of calls made to the Whistleblower Hotline.

“That is a very high volume for one particular issue,” Galloway said. “That’s why it’s so concerning that we received 1,000 in a six week period, which is why we need to be proactive and inform the Department of Revenue so they can address these issues as soon as possible.”

In 2016, the hotline received about 200 total calls on various state issues. In 2015, there were about 100 total calls made to it.

Joel Walters assumed his role as Revenue department director on April 1. He was appointed by Republican Governor Eric Greitens.

Michelle Gleba with the Missouri Department of Revenue said it is working to process returns as quickly as possible.

“We anticipates all refund returns that do not require a manual review to be paid by June 30,” Gleba said.

There’s no information about how long it will take to receive refunds on returns that do require a manual review.

Galloway said she’s encouraged by the state Revenue Department’s public statements and its indication that it will process the remaining refunds by June 30.

“I do think that for most citizens, the June 30 deadline is not a relevant date to them because they just want their money back,” Galloway said.

Galloway is currently auditing the Department of Revenue. The audit includes a review of the processes used to ensure refunds are paid timely and with all appropriate interest. It will review the Department of Revenue’s compliance and timeliness over the past two years. Galloway said she hopes to release the audit’s findings released in July or August.

SALINA – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Saline County Sheriff’s Office, and the Salina Police Department have made an arrest related to the discovery of a body near the Smoky Hill River Bridge on Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 6, a body was discovered by passersby one mile east of Salina, near the Smoky Hill River Bridge in Saline County. The victim has been identified as 29-year-old Brandon Shelby of Salina.

Preliminary information suggests that Shelby suffered blunt force trauma to the head and other severe injuries. An autopsy will take place today to determine an official cause of death.

Agents and local law enforcement worked through the night and made an arrest at approximately 3 a.m. Wednesday. Charles Rodgers, age 30, of Salina, an acquaintance of Shelby, was arrested and booked into the Saline County Jail for first degree murder and kidnapping. The alleged crimes are suspected to have occurred in both the city of Salina and in Saline County.

This investigation is ongoing. The Saline County Attorney’s Office is expected to prosecute the case.

(Missourinet) – Recently fired FBI Director James Comey will be grilled with questions on Thursday when a U.S. Senate committee, including Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, holds a public hearing.

It will focus on Russia’s hacking of U.S. elections and if President Donald Trump’s campaign was involved.

Comey was fired last month, leading critics to question whether Trump obstructed justice. Media reports say Trump could attempt to block Comey from testifying on Thursday, but Blunt disagrees.

“I think that everybody benefits from getting the information that needs to be out there, ask the questions that need to be asked and frankly insist that he answers the questions that need to be asked,” Blunt said.

The Trump administration said it will not try to block Comey from testifying.

“The country as well as the president deserve a hearing here and a conclusion,” Blunt said. “Hopefully the best place to get that conclusion will be the largely bi-partisan, ongoing efforts of the Senate intel community.”

Comey is only the second director to be fired in FBI history. President Bill Clinton fired William Sessions in 1993.

Blunt said he supports Trump’s decision to fire Comey.

“I think it’s unlikely that any investigation he would have managed the conclusion would have been widely accepted by whichever side felt like the investigation didn’t end the way they wanted it to,” Blunt said. “I do think a lot of his decisions over the last year, both in July and October, are highly questionable.”

Blunt points to Comey holding a news conference last July and breaking with longstanding tradition and policies by publicly discussing the Hillary Clinton email controversy and calling Clinton’s handling of classified information “careless.” In October, Comey said the FBI was reopening the Clinton email investigation, leading to an uproar of criticism about the timing of the announcement. The presidential election was set to occur within days of Comey’s announcement.

“It will be interesting to hear why he decided to do that, at some point in the future, maybe this week,” Blunt said.

Blunt tells Missourinet the timeline for the committee to finish its work will somewhat depend on Robert Mueller, who is serving as special counsel in the investigation.

“We just need a red light or green light to where we say we want to talk to these people,” Blunt said. “We don’t need a lot of nonsense from the Justice Department about ‘you really can’t talk to anybody until we’re done because we don’t know who we’re going to talk to.’ It’s time for everybody to know who they’re going to talk to.”

Blunt said the bi-partisan committee is holding a hearing Wednesday with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers.

A Washington Post report said Trump asked Coats and Rogers to publicly deny that Trump associates had ties to Russian officials in the election hacking. Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February, after his relationship with Russian officials came into question.

Thursday’s U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing begins at 9 a.m. CST.

(Missourinet) – The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a case involving State Technical College of Missouri requiring students to take a drug test as a condition of enrollment.

A federal appeals court decision stands, which has found the school, in the mid-Missouri town of Linn, has violated the U.S. Constitution by requiring such drug testing.

Tony Rothert with the ACLU of Missouri said the state and national chapter of his organization filed a class-action lawsuit in 2011 against the school, which blocked the first-of-its-kind public school policy from continuing while it was being considered in court.

“There have not been other public colleges, even public technical colleges, that have followed suit. I think it really shows that the drug testing program was a solution looking for a problem,” Rothert said. “If there’s a reason to believe that someone is under the influence of drugs and dangerous, schools have quite a bit of latitude, even public schools, to subject that person to a drug test. This was without suspicion, just requiring everyone to submit a urine sample. That would have been unprecedented.”

The school is still allowed to drug test students involved in dangerous curricular activities, including aviation maintenance and industrial electricity.

“The college actually does an excellent job. It provides close supervision by well-trained faculty and has a lot of safety mechanisms in place,” Rothert said. “There are very few injuries there and those that have occurred in the past are not in any way tied to any kind of drug use or drug problem.”

Rothert said a Constitutional argument could only be raised for public colleges and universities that want to enact a drug testing prerequisite for admission, not private ones.

In a statement from State Tech President Dr. Shawn Strong, he said before embarking on this course, the college realized it might be called upon to defend its efforts “to protect Missouri’s college students from the physical dangers and economic perils of illicit drug use.”
“The courts have confirmed our right to drug test a number of our technical programs. We will now look at modifying our policies to comply with the ruling of the 8th U.S. District Court of Appeals,” Strong said.

State Technical College of Missouri includes about 1,200 students.

(Missourinet) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is urging residents with damage from heavy floods and storms during late April and early May to register for assistance.

After a Presidential Disaster Declaration was issued Friday, Missouri residents in 27 counties can apply for aid. The area of coverage stretches from southern St. Louis down to the Bootheel in the southern part of the state, and west to include Springfield, Branson, Joplin and points south to the state border.

The state estimates the cost of providing federal assistance will be $28 million for homeowners and renters.  FEMA’s John Mills said the agency is providing grant money which won’t have to be repaid.

“FEMA individual assistance can provide money for basic home repairs, temporary rental assistance and other needs such as replacing damaged or destroyed personal property,” Mills said.

The aid could include money for severe damage to personal automobiles.

Mills identified the heaviest damaged portions of the state as Van Buren in Carter County, as well as areas in Howell, Jefferson and Newton counties.

Although the state pegs individual need at $28 million, Mills contends the amount of money granted by FEMA will be entirely dependent on how many people register, and what level of damage they have.

“There is no set amount of money for a set number of homes,” Mills said. “It entirely depends on how many households register for assistance and what their levels of damage are.”

FEMA will be sending Disaster Survivor Assistance teams into affected communities this week going door-to-door to provide support for people who are interested in receiving the federal aid. Shortly afterward, damage inspectors will be in neighborhoods making assessments.

People who have already made insurance claims and/or have been recipients of help from non-profit groups, such as the United Way, are still eligible for the federal assistance.

Mills notes information about money received from FEMA is protected under the privacy act. He said the safeguard helps comfort people who might be uncertain about signing-up for the aid.

“Some people may be hesitant to register because they feel that their damage is not as severe as something their neighbor has encountered.”

Mills said depending on someone’s financial situation and level of insurance coverage, it’s possible they could receive money to cover even minor property damage.

The Small Business Administration will also be issuing low interest loans to help homeowners, renters and businesses in the state recover from the floods and storms.

There’s been some confusion over a Presidential Disaster Declaration that was issued for Oklahoma almost two weeks ago.

Mills said Oklahoma is only getting FEMA assistance for state and local governments and certain non-profit organizations. The money is covering 75 percent of costs to repair roads, bridges and publicly owned infrastructure such as government buildings and schools.

Missouri is getting the same type of coverage for governments and infrastructure, but is also getting the individual assistance for residents.  The additional aid required a larger damage assessment process which took more time to complete.

Any resident recovering from the floods and storms in the 27 covered counties in Missouri is urged to call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or click here.

(Missourinet) – The University of Missouri System’s new fiscal year budget revealed last week includes slashing 474 jobs – more than 300 of those are at the flagship campus in Columbia.

President Dr. Mun Choi said Mizzou’s budget plan includes the elimination of 42 administrators, 173 staff positions and 130 faculty jobs.

“Eighty percent of our budget is in salaries and fringe benefits,” Choi said. “For us to be able to absorb $100 million of budget targets, without affecting employment, would’ve been inappropriate.”

Choi said some of the employees losing their jobs have served the university for more than 40 years.

“I think we have to be compassionate toward those individuals who, through no fault of their own, had their jobs eliminated,” Choi said.

He said severance pay offered to staff is one week of pay and benefits for every year of service.

Nicole Monnier, who spoke on behalf of non-tenure faculty, said she wants separation and severance policies to protect those faculty members.

“We deserve protections,” Monnier said. “The same kind of protections similar as staff and the tenured faculty.”

Members of the crowd applauded. Choi thanked Monnier for her comment.

Programs, majors and minors at certain campuses will also be eliminated, including in theatre, journalism, art history and public affairs.

“We can’t be all things to all people. We have across the four campuses, 400 majors. We duplicate majors campus to campus,” Choi said. “We cannot afford to have programs in which we don’t provide the highest level of student success and that’s going to be key moving forward.”

Choi said students currently in programs being cut will be given a chance to complete their degree.

A consulting firm will be hired soon to identify where duplication is occurring. If programs, centers and institutes don’t support academics, research and extension, Choi said they will be evaluated over the next few months. He said he’ll take a long hard look at that ones the university can no longer support, based on the level of return.

The budget plan is in response to a $36 million state funding reduction, $11 million in tuition revenue losses from a decline in enrollment, $15 million increase in things considered unavoidable costs, such as building maintenance, and nearly $39 million increase in investments like scholarships and stipends for students and hiring.