JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A butterfly garden honoring victims of the 2011 Joplin tornado opens this week on the third anniversary of the country’s deadliest twister in a half-century.
The garden is located in the city’s Cunningham Park, across the street from where St. John’s Regional Medical Center stood before it was destroyed on May 22, 2011. The tornado also destroyed nearly 7,000 homes while also killing 161 people.
A dedication ceremony of the garden is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, to coincide with the time the EF-5 tornado touched down three years ago. The project is officially known as the Landscapes of Resilience Butterfly Garden and Overlook.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill says she supports a Missouri ballot measure that would raise the state sales tax to pay for roads and other transportation projects.
The Missouri Democrat said she views the sales tax as a regressive measure that will hit poor people more than wealthy people. But McCaskill says she will vote for the measure anyway, because more money is needed for Missouri roads.
The proposed constitutional amendment will ask voters to impose a three-quarter-cent sales tax that would last for 10 years. It’s estimated to generate $534 million annually.
State transportation officials say the road budget will soon shrink considerably without a new revenue source.
The measure will appear on the November ballot, unless Gov. Jay Nixon chooses to schedule it for an August election.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri hunting and fishing seasons are opening this weekend for squirrels and bass.
The state Department of Conservation says hunters can take squirrels from Saturday through Feb. 15 with firearms or archery equipment. Trapping also is allowed as long as hunters check traps daily.
Also on Saturday, anglers can begin keeping largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass they catch from streams in southern Missouri. There are restrictions on keeping bass caught between March 1 and Friday.
ATCHISON, Kan—Two Kansas men died in a two vehicle head on crash in Atchison County on Tuesday.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Ford Expedition driven by Richard L. Jacobs 77, Topeka, was traveling northeast on U.S. 59 six miles southwest of Atchison.
The vehicle went left of center and collided head on with 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Joel M. Wilburn 25, Atchison.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
The KHP reported Jacobs was not wearing a seat belt.
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) â A Missouri inmate’s hopes rest with the U.S. Supreme Court after he got a reprieve shortly before his scheduled execution.
Russell Bucklew was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the 1996 killing of a romantic rival. But Justice Samuel Alito granted him a reprieve late Tuesday so that the full Supreme Court can weigh his appeal later Wednesday.
Bucklew has a rare medical condition that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels. His attorneys say he could be subjected to an agonizing death if given a lethal injection of the state’s secretly-sourced execution drug.
If the Supreme Court rejects Bucklew’s appeal the state could decide to proceed with the execution. It would have until midnight Wednesday to kill Bucklew.
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BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has issued an order halting the planned execution of a Missouri inmate.
Alito’s order issued late Tuesday does not explain why he suspended the scheduled execution of Russell Bucklew, but it indicates that he or the high court will have more to say about the matter.
The order was issued shortly after the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay of execution granted hours earlier by a three-judge panel of that court.
The panel issued the stay over concerns that Bucklew’s rare medical condition could cause him undue suffering during lethal injection.
Bucklew was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12:01 Wednesday
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Sam Graves (MO-06) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) today applaud House passage of the bicameral, bipartisan agreement to the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). Signifying major legislation to update our nation’s water infrastructure, the bill authorizes the key missions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including flood prevention and navigation projects.
After the House originally passed WRRDA on October 23, 2013, a conference committee consisting of Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate was convened to reconcile differences between the two versions of the water resources legislation.
Importantly, Congressman Graves was named to the bicameral conference committee by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) after being recommended by House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA). Last week, House and Senate conferees reached agreement on a final measure, which must be approved by both Houses of Congress in order to send the bill to the President to be signed into law. The Senate is expected to vote later this week.
“Having efficient water infrastructure is critical to a healthy economy. Passing WRRDA means jobs, trade, competitiveness, and economic development for Missouri and America. Missouri is an agriculture state, and our goods are moved all over the world right through the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers,” said Congressman Graves. “One of the key concerns I heard at our field hearing last year in St. Joseph was with the way the Corps currently acquires land, often without an expressed purpose for doing so. This is a longstanding problem on which Congressman Luetkemeyer and I have worked to solve for several years, and which is addressed in this bill,” he added.
Specifically, Graves and Luetkemeyer successfully included language in the House bill ensuring the Army Corps of Engineers has a clear, results-based strategy for mitigation on the Missouri River. As a member of the conference committee, Congressman Graves worked to ensure this language was included in the final House-Senate agreement. The final agreement also prevents the Corps from charging a fee on surplus water storage for 10-years on Missouri River reservoir projects.
“The approval of this agreement ensures that we will have a transparent, result-based strategy for mitigation on the Missouri River while ensuring that our river communities including residents, business and municipalities are able to utilize Missouri River waters without being charged by the federal government,” said Congressman Luetkemeyer. “I am extremely pleased that Congressman Graves and I have been able to work on behalf of so many Missourians who rely on the river and we now have in place a real opportunity to make these substantive changes to management of the Missouri River that will strengthen our country’s infrastructure for years to come,” he added.
Waterways and ports help support nearly 25,000 jobs in Missouri and contribute $4 billion to the state’s economy.
One of the most policy and reform focused measures of its kind in the last two decades, WRRDA streamlines the project delivery process, promotes fiscal responsibility, and strengthens our water transportation networks to promote competitiveness, prosperity, and economic growth. WRRDA contains no earmarks and makes major reforms to increase transparency, accountability, and congressional oversight in reviewing and prioritizing future water resources development activities.
Congressmen Graves and Luetkemeyer serve as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, respectively.
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Attorney General’s office is appealing a federal appeals court panel’s ruling that temporarily halted the execution of a condemned killer, a ruling that cited concerns about a rare medical condition that could cause pain and suffering during lethal injection.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling Tuesday evening, halted the execution of Russell Bucklew. He is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996.
The office of Attorney General Chris Koster asked for a hearing before the full 8th Circuit.
It would be the first execution in the nation following a botched lethal injection last month in Oklahoma.
NEW YORK (AP) — Petco says it will stop selling dog and cat treats made in China by the end of this year due to ongoing fears that the imported treats are making pets sick.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t been able to identify why pets are getting ill. Since it launched an investigation late last year, the FDA said it received more than 4,800 complaints of pet illnesses and 1,000 dog deaths after eating Chinese-made chicken, duck or sweet potato jerky treats.
Petco, which operates 1,300 stores, says shoppers are asking it to stop selling the treats. The pet food retailer is switching them out for treats made in the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and South America.
Rival PetSmart Inc. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is making more cuts to public education because of a decline in casino and lottery revenues.
Nixon announced more than $35 million of new spending restrictions Tuesday. That’s on top of $22 million of restrictions announced in April.
The Democratic governor said lottery and casino revenues are not meeting the amounts assumed in the 2014 budget that runs through June 30. Because the gambling revenues are dedicated to education, Nixon says the cuts must come from that area.
He said the K-12 school funding formula will lose $24.6 million in the latest round of cuts, raising the total cut to more than $40 million.
Nixon said universities would lose an additional $10.5 million, raising the total higher education reduction to nearly $17 million.
OREGON, Mo.-A Kansas man was injured in a Tuesday tractor accident in Holt County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a John Deere Farm Tractor driven by Bradley W. Kurtz, 50, Oregon, was westbound on U.S. 59 four miles south of Oregon.
The tractor was slowing to make a left turn into a field entrance. A 2002 Chrysler Voyager van driven by Jackie C. Kridler, 50, Wathena, KS., attempted to pass the tractor, swerved back into the westbound lane and struck the planter of the tractor.
Kridler was transported to Heartland Regional Medical Center. Kurtz was not injured.
The MSHP reported Kridler was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A butterfly garden honoring victims of the 2011 Joplin tornado opens this week on the third anniversary of the country’s deadliest twister in a half-century.
