JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri voters are likely to hear a lot about good teachers and local control in the coming months.
Public education groups are gearing up for a big battle with prominent political donor Rex Sinquefield over a proposed constitutional amendment changing teacher employment standards in Missouri.
The proposal will be labeled as Constitutional Amendment 3 on the November ballot. It would limit teacher tenure protections and require school personnel to be evaluated, paid and fired based largely on student performance data.
Sinquefield is bankrolling the group backing the measure. He says it will reward good teachers and help schools get rid of bad ones.
Teachers unions and school administrators’ groups are opposing the measure. They say it will lead to more standardized testing and less local control for schools.
PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Efforts to develop a state-owned casino in southeast Kansas are getting off the ground with a plan that includes a partnership with a nearby casino in Oklahoma.
The state owns casinos in Dodge City, Mulvane and Kansas City, Kansas. But developers have lost interest in the southeast region, partly because of the proximity of the Downstream Casino Resort run by Oklahoma’s Quapaw tribe.
This year, Kansas lowered the required investment from prospective developers and reopened the application process for a contract to build a casino in Crawford or Cherokee county.
The Joplin Globe reports executives of the Quapaw casino and the Ruffin Companies are working together to win the contract. The casino would be built near Frontenac the defunct Camptown Greyhound Park, which Ruffin owns.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency that brought you the glitchy HealthCare.gov website has a massive new project.
If the Health and Human Services department has trouble this time, that could delay tax refunds for many people.
Complicated connections between the new health care law and income taxes will start to surface in 2015.
HHS has to send millions of people who got health insurance tax credits this year a new tax form that’s like a W-2 for health care. It’s called a 1095-A.
If they’re delayed beyond Jan. 31, people who got coverage through the new insurance exchanges may have to wait to file their taxes — and collect their refunds.
Some tax preparation companies are worried.
The Obama administration says it’s on task, but won’t provide much detail.
BILL BARROW, Associated Press
CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press
Senator Roberts
ATLANTA (AP) — Looking for advantages as they battle for Senate control, Republicans and Democrats alike are raising questions about where various senators and candidates say they live.
Democrats question whether congressman and Senate candidate Tom Cotton owns property in Arkansas. Republican Bill Cassidy notes that Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu lives in Washington while claiming her parents’ residence in New Orleans as her voting address.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas survived a primary challenge after defending himself for listing his official address as a room in a contributor’s home. In New Hampshire, the Republican nominee is former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who moved before launching his latest campaign.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is offering civilian federal workers and members of the military a 1 percent pay increase in 2015, the same raise he offered last year citing efforts to keep government costs down during the economic recovery.
The new pay raises reflect what Obama proposed in his 2015 budget earlier this year.
Obama sent a letter Friday describing the raises to the House and Senate. The figure is lower than private sector pay increase and lower than what a government formula for raises would have provided. Obama can bypass that formula by informing Congress of his alternative plan by the end of August.
Federal employees operated under a pay freeze until January of this year when the current 1 percent pay increase took effect.
Senator Moran and Rep. Huelskamp on Friday’s NABF tour
MANHATTAN, KS – Today Representative Tim Huelskamp along with U.S. Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran received a tour from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of the future home of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas on the campus of Kansas State University.
Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Under Secretary Dr. Reginald Brothers provided the tour and an update on the current status of construction. Joining the members on the tour were Dr. Robert Griffin, DHS S&T Deputy Under Secretary and Dr. Ron Trewyn, Assistant to the President/NBAF Liaison, Kansas State University.
“It is great today to see the progress on NBAF,” said Congressman Huelskamp. “Since the beginning in 2007, I have been a strong, consistent supporter–from my time in the Kansas Senate to today as a proud representative of the Big First. It is imperative that work continues on this facility to protect our country’s food supply. As a farmer, I understand first-hand the importance of NBAF to the Kansas and U.S. Agriculture community.”
“I am glad to see firsthand the ongoing construction,” said Sen. Roberts, Chairman of the NBAF in Kansas Steering Committee. “To see these preparations on site in Kansas is a far cry from where we first came across NBAF when it was merely a line item in a budget proposal. This lab is a critical investment to our national security, but it also represents a large financial commitment from the taxpayers and our state. We have a dedicated team of folks at all levels of government that are watching this project and are fighting to ensure it is completed and has the funds needed to get the lab up and operating as soon as possible. I am pleased to see the progress so far.”
“I am grateful Under Secretary Brothers accepted our invitation to visit Kansas along with other important officials and tour the NBAF site. Developing these relationships is vitally important to our state as such an essential part of our national security apparatus moves forward,” Sen. Moran said. “Visiting the NBAF site today not only gave us a chance to get an update on construction – it also let us see firsthand the real opportunities being created for the talented young men and women of Kansas. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I was committed to making certain NBAF remained a top priority, and there is no longer any question about the project’s future. Kansas will become a research epicenter, and the construction of this modern, world-class facility will ultimately create jobs for Kansans in the fields of engineering, science and technology.”
NBAF will be a state-of-the-art bio-containment facility for the study of foreign animal and emerging and zoonotic (transmitted from animals to humans) diseases that threaten the nation’s livestock, agriculture, and public health.
NBAF will create up to 1,500 construction jobs and 450 permanent jobs. It will generate an estimated economic impact of $3.5 billion in its first 20 years.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new report says Kansas collected $4 million less in taxes than expected in August.
The Department of Revenue said Friday the state took in $421 million in taxes, about 1 percent below the official forecast of $425 million.
The department called revenues flat but said there are signs of economic growth in the figures. Corporate income tax collections exceeded expectations for the month.
The state saw a slight surplus in tax collections in July. Since the current fiscal year began July 1, the state has collected about $829 million in revenues, against projections of nearly $832 million. The difference is about $2.4 million, or 0.3 percent.
The numbers are likely to renew a political debate over massive income tax cuts enacted at Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging.
HIAWATHA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas woman has been convicted in last year’s beating death of her boyfriend’s 4-year-old son.
KNZA-FM reports 30-year-old Janice Summerford entered Alford pleas Friday to second-degree murder, child abuse and interfering with law enforcement. An Alford plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors can likely prove the charges.
Summerford, of Hiawatha, had been facing trial next month for the death of Mekhi Boone in March 2013.
She was initially charged with aiding and abetting a death, but Brown County prosecutors upgraded the charge to first-degree murder after learning Summerford was the child’s primary caregiver.
Mekhi’s father, Lee Davis IV, was convicted earlier of second-degree murder and felony child abuse and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The contract between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska and Catholic Health Initiatives is set to expire Sunday after the two sides failed Friday to agree on rates.
The failed bargaining means that starting Monday, people who visit doctors or hospitals in Nebraska associated with the Catholic Health Initiatives network will have to pay more if they have insurance from Blue Cross.
Blue Cross says CHI Health, which used to be called Alegent Creighton Health, routinely charges 10 to 30 percent more than other Omaha hospitals. CHI Health says those figures are misleading and it believes its total cost of treatment is lower, even if certain services cost more.
A Blue Cross spokesman says no other negotiation meetings are scheduled this weekend before the contract is set to expire Sunday.
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that statements from the suspect in a quadruple homicide in Kansas can be used at his trial.
Franklin County District Court Judge Eric Godderz ruled Friday that statements from 29-year-old Kyle Flack will be admitted during his trial in September 2015.
Flack is charged in the deaths of two men, one woman and the woman’s 18-month-old daughter in May 2013. The adults’ bodies were found outside Ottawa. The child’s body was found in nearby Osage County. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Flack made the statements during questioning by investigators.
The defense contended the questioning should have ended at least twice because Flack twice mentioned legal representation. . Godderz ruled that the statements appeared to be voluntary.
