JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri senators have passed legislation to cut state income taxes, despite concerns from Gov. Jay Nixon.
The legislation approved 23-9 Tuesday by the Republican-led Senate could phase-in tax cuts beginning in 2017. It’s projected by legislative researchers to eventually waive more than $620 million annually.
Nixon has called the tax cut a reckless experiment that could harm education funding. The Democratic governor vetoed a tax cut last year and has threatened to do so this year unless the bill protects education and reduces existing tax breaks for developers.
The Senate legislation would gradually cut the top individual income tax rate to 5.5 percent from the current 6 percent and phase in a 25 percent deduction for business income reported on personal tax returns.
COLUMBIA (AP) — The University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Columbia is planning a month of activities related to preventing sexual assaults.
Activities in April include a legal panel discussion Thursday night and a medical panel discussion next week. An advocacy organization that uses music therapy to help victims of sexual violence will perform on April 15.
The events come as university curators await an outside legal review of the Columbia campus’ response to a case involving former school swimmer Sasha Menu Courey.
The Canadian swimmer’s parents have said their daughter killed herself 16 months after an alleged off-campus rape by as many as three football players in February 2010. University officials have said they didn’t learn about the attack until after Menu Courey’s death. No charges were ever filed.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Construction has started at Avila University in Kansas City on library renovations and a new health & science complex.
The university held a ceremony Monday to begin renovation of the library into a Learning Commons. A second phase will create a Science & Health Complex in renovated space in O’Rielly Hall. The school also plans a 130-space parking lot.
The Kansas City Star reports the projects are expected to be completed by August.
Avila officials say the school has met a challenge grant and will receive $1 million from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation. That means the college successfully raised the $7 million needed for the two projects. The parking lot is funded by a bond issue.
Left to right, Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski joined St. Joseph School District Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka and Metropolitan Community College Chancellor Mark James to announce the schools’ partnership to assist St. Joseph high school students who are eligible for A+ scholarship funding. (Photo by Darren Whitley/ NWMS University Relations)
NWMSU Media Release
College-bound students in St. Joseph will soon have the opportunity to use their A+ scholarship money locally.
Northwest Missouri State University and Metropolitan Community College (MCC) today announced a partnership with the St. Joseph School District to provide space and resources that will assist St. Joseph high school students who are eligible for A+. MCC will utilize four classrooms and equipment in the Northwest St. Joseph Center, located in the Historic Green Acres Building at 3500 N. Village Drive in St. Joseph.
For more than 20 years, the A+ program has provided scholarship funds to eligible students who graduate from a designated A+ high school and attend a participating public community college or a vocational or technical school. Eligible students must meet requirements of the program, which include maintaining a 2.5 grade-point average, a 95 percent attendance record and perform at least 50 hours of unpaid tutoring or mentoring.
“This initiative will help us serve eligible students to pursue an associate’s degree with MCC with very little cost,” said Dr. Utpal Goswami, president of the MCC-Maple Woods campus. “It is our hope that the availability of this opportunity will encourage more students to pursue A+ eligibility while in high school. As an institution committed to preparing students, serving communities and creating opportunities, we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the St. Joseph community.”
MCC will host an open house at 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at the St. Joseph Center. Additionally, an information session for parents and students is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, at the St. Joseph Center.
Classes for eligible students begin Monday, Aug. 18.
“The St. Joseph School District values partnerships that put the needs of our students first,” Dr. Fred Czerwonka, St. Joseph School District superintendent said. “Having MCC here in St. Joseph will allow our A+ students the opportunity to use their scholarships while staying in our community. We are excited for this new venture and look forward to the future.”
Northwest and MCC have enjoyed a series of partnerships and collaborations in recent years. Most recently, Northwest relocated its Kansas City Center to the MCC-Maple Woods campus, and the University announced it will partner with MCC and North Kansas City Schools to create an innovation center designed for enhanced educational and research opportunities in the city of Gladstone.
“We are so pleased to be partnering with Metropolitan Community College and the St. Joseph School District to help students realize their goals of attaining a college degree,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski. “We place a high value at Northwest on collaboration and student success, and this partnership is illustrative of that.”
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A woman who hit and killed a bicyclist in Springfield last year pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.
Prosecutors say 32-year-old Shannon Smith will be sentenced Sept. 25 for her role in the death of Zachary Gibson near Missouri State University last November.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Smith told police she was fleeing from an ex-boyfriend when she hit Gibson and drove away.
Prosecutors have charged the ex-boyfriend, 24-year-old Blake Basten, with second-degree murder. Court records say Basten flashed a handgun and used a stolen car to chase Smith’s car, at one point hitting her from behind.
WASHINGTON – Under sustained pressure from U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today announced reforms to streamline and boost accountability in efforts to recover American personnel who are prisoners of war or missing in action (POW/MIA).
“The Pentagon’s announcement is a great first step in our ongoing effort to honor our POW/MIA personnel by ensuring a professional and effective recovery effort from top-to-bottom,” said McCaskill and Ayotte, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a joint statement. “We’re now taking concrete, enforceable steps to fix what has been a management mess-but as with any effort to demand accountability, the devil will be in the details and the implementation. So we’re looking forward to working with the Pentagon to ensure the families of our missing heroes receive nothing less than honesty and transparency in our efforts to recover their loved ones.”
McCaskill and Ayotte have led the fight to address systemic mismanagement of the Pentagon’s POW/MIA recovery efforts. The Senators recently wrote a joint letter to Secretary Hagel following approval in December of the annual defense bill, which included their measure giving the Pentagon a six-month deadline to address the mismanagement in its recovery efforts.
The Pentagon’s new organization will streamline the disparate elements of POW/MIA recovery into one organization with one budget. This new organization’s leader, who will be appointed by the President, will report to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. There will also be one professional charged with oversight of the labs where the missing are identified and one centralized case management system for all missing persons. The Pentagon will also work to explore new, innovative public-private partnerships for research and identification.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel is recommending steps to protect and bolster military bases and defense spending within the state.
Zweifel has issued a report recommending such steps as formalizing efforts by Missouri’s executive branch to support military installations and fostering the creation of community organizations and partnerships. It also calls for building the state’s brand among federal policymakers, military personnel and citizens.
Zweifel was assigned to develop the recommendations by Gov. Jay Nixon in January. Zweifel met with members of Missouri’s congressional delegation, officials in President Barack Obama’s administration, Pentagon officials, community groups and others.
Zweifel was to discuss his report Tuesday.
A Maryville, Mo. Man was killed in a Monday night crash in Nodawy County
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported Randy L. Cronk, 49, was east bound on Route U seven miles south of Maryville in a 2002 Ford F250 just before midnight.
The truck traveled off the south side of the road. The driver overcorrected and lost control of the truck. It returned to the road crossed over the centerline and into the path of a westbound International truck driven by Kelley E. Wilmes, 54, Conception Junction.
Both vehicles struck head on in the westbound lane. Cronk was transported to Heartland Regional Medical Center where he died. Wilmes was transported to St. Francis in Maryville.
The MSHP reported Cronk was not wearing a seat belt.
MERRIAM — The REACH Healthcare Foundation has added three new members to its board of directors and re-elected another three to a second term, the foundation announced Monday.
Based in Merriam, Kan., REACH is a charitable organization that provides grants and other support to improve health care access and quality. It serves six counties in Missouri and Kansas.
The new board members are:
Linda Hall:
A veteran of more than 30 years working as an early childhood and elementary grades educator in Wyandotte County. Hall worked as an education specialist for the Economic Opportunity Foundation’s Head Start program and as a K-3 reading coach, trainer and as an evaluator for a federal reading grant in the Kansas City, Kan., school district. Hall currently volunteers as a reading intervention consultant and teacher for Kiddie Kollege Preschool and Primary School in Kansas City, Kan.
Andrew Klocke:
Managing Director in the Kansas City office of Prairie Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm that consults to nonprofit organizations, foundations, endowments, trusts, pensions, and individuals and families. Klocke participated in the Kansas City Tomorrow Leadership program and has volunteered for Big Brothers Big Sisters. He is chair of the REACH Foundation’s Community Advisory Committee.
David Thomas:
The recently retired chief mission development officer for the YMCA of Greater Kansas City. He previously was vice president of diversity and inclusion at the YMCA of the USA and a diversity executive at LaSalle Bank Corporation. Earlier in his career, he served as executive director of the Sprint Foundation and as Sprint’s chief diversity officer.
Re-elected board members are:
Dana Abraham:
President of UMB Private Wealth Management. She previously worked at Bank of America as senior vice president in the Premier Banking and Investment Division. She is a founding member of the Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way of Greater Kansas City.
Tom Carrico:
The retired president of Gill Studios, a Lenexa manufacturer of signage, computer and magnetic products. He served as treasurer of the Johnson County Community College Foundation Board and chaired that board’s Investment Committee. He also served on the boards of the Overland Park and Kansas Chambers of Commerce.
Dr. Stuart Munro:
Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He has worked 28 years as a psychiatrist in the public sector, both at UMKC and at the Center for Behavioral Medicine (formerly Western Missouri Mental Health Center). Munro has served on a number of state and national mental health organization boards and associations.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has passed legislation attempting to crack down on commercial websites that post police mugshots of people who have been arrested, and then demand money to have the photos removed.
The House sent the bill to the Senate with a 149-0 vote on Monday. It would require the website operators to delete the photos for free within 30 days of a request. People that don’t could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Sponsoring Republican Rep. Caleb Jones, of Columbia, says many people whose booking photos are posted are not charged with crimes, but must pay to have the images deleted on some websites.
The bill would not apply to the news media and organizations producing something for entertainment, public information or education.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri senators have passed legislation to cut state income taxes, despite concerns from Gov. Jay Nixon.
