JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Wal-Mart is seeking to intervene in a dispute about electric rates between Ameren Missouri and its largest electric customer.

Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. has sought about a 25 percent reduction in the rate Ameren charges at its aluminum smelter in the southeastern Missouri town of New Madrid.

Wal-Mart filed a motion Friday with the Missouri Public Service Commission asking to intervene in the case.

In its filing, Wal-Mart says a lower rate for Noranda could significantly affect its own electric bills. Wal-Mart operates 73 stores in Missouri that consume a combined 190 million kilowatts per hour in electricity.

Noranda says Ameren is overearning and that lowering its rate would only increase other customers’ bills by 1.8 percent or less. Ameren disagrees and says it will fight the rate reduction.

By KAITLYN KLEIN
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — After a tornado touched down 2 miles west of Goessel on prom night 2012, and another tornado took the life of a woman, the community realized it might not have adequate protection from severe weather.

If a tornado were to hit during the day, the 125 children attending Goessel Elementary School would have to kneel in the hallways with little protection.

That image didn’t sit well with superintendent John Fast. For six years he pursued every Federal Emergency Management Agency opportunity he could find to help fund a safe room. After coming back empty-handed countless times, the school board finally approved a $3.3 million bond project last spring in part to build a storm shelter for Goessel Elementary School.

“Our community discussed this and decided we could not stand around waiting for the government to come help build us one,” he said in an email, noting that FEMA guidelines were prohibitive.

The community felt strongly enough to pass the project with a 92 percent approval rating, Fast said. He also said that without state aid on building projects, they would not have been able to afford it.

Goessel is one of many Kansas communities taking action to protect students from severe weather by adding storm shelters to school buildings. Since 2001, 168 Kansas schools, or about 11 percent, have built safe rooms through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which provides FEMA funding.

However, one bill being discussed in the state Legislature this session suggests that not all Kansas’ schools are taking the measures needed to provide a storm shelter or safe room for their schoolchildren.

HB2326 was tabled after two days of committee discussion, but it would have required storm shelters to be built for any new or heavily renovated school buildings that house students.
The bill is not dead, however, because it was also introduced in the Senate (SB264), and the Federal and State Affairs committee recommended the bill to be passed. It has yet to reach the Senate floor for an official vote.

The goal of the bill is to “provide life-saving protection to all Kansas children in the event of extreme wind.”

To do that school districts would have to consult the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office on the specifications that would properly provide storm shelter protection.

Angee Morgan, deputy director for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, supported the bill.

Morgan said in testimony submitted to the House Committee on Education Budget that many schools in Kansas were built with inherent structural weaknesses.

She said that adequate storm shelters are necessary to prevent causalities that could result from flying debris in severe weather.
“When built to nationally recognized standards, reinforced storm shelters are designed to provide near absolute protection,” Morgan said in her written testimony.

Kansas’ schools are not currently required by law to build storm shelters, but schools have been protecting their students by working with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management to provide shelters or safe rooms.

FEMA defines a safe room as a structure that is designed to meet its guidelines and provide “near-absolute protection” from severe weather including tornados and hurricanes.

Schools that use their own funding to build shelters are not included in the data kept by the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office, according to Sharon Watson, public affairs director.

With projects like the one in Goessel being considered in other communities, a bill requiring storm shelters might not change much for Kansas schools today, but it will impact all future building projects taken on by schools in Kansas.

Kaitlyn Klein is a University of Kansas junior from Bellevue, Neb., studying journalism and public policy.

Three people were injured in a Friday crash on US 35 in Harrison County.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol the accident occurred as a 2005 Dodge Magnum driven by Shane R. Dooley, 58, Des Moines, Iowa was southbound on I-35, 5 miles north of Bethany.

The vehicle went off the east side of the road and continued south in the median and became airborne after vaulting over an embankment.

The vehicle then rotated clockwise and overturned before coming to rest on its top. Dooley and passengers Ian A. Jordan, 5, and Tarnecia L. Jordan, 30 of Atlanta, GA were transported to Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany.

ROLLA, Mo. (AP) — The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department says a 60-year-old man is jailed after a shooting death.

Authorities say 57-year-old Richard Finnell was found dead of a gunshot wound Thursday evening at a home just outside Rolla.

The suspect was caught about three hours later. He is jailed Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Rolla police say up to 80 emergency responders were involved in the search.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health care advocates are making an extra push to get people signed up for insurance through a federal website before a March 31 deadline.

The Cover Missouri Coalition says about 40 enrollment events are planned Saturday around the state, including some featuring live music, free food and advice from tax preparers. Dozens of additional events are planned in the coming days.

People who don’t have insurance by March 31 could face tax penalties under the terms of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The Missouri Foundation for Health says about 68,000 Missouri residents had enrolled in health plans through the federally run online marketplace as of last month.

11: a.m.  UPDATE  from Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office

On Thursday March 6th, 2014 the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the following incident;  An 11 year old girl reported that she was walking in the city of St.Mary’s at approximately 3:30 p.m. March 6th.  She had been walking in an alley when she saw a white van turn down the same alley she was walking in, driving towards her.   She cut through a yard because the van was coming towards her.  The girl who was now walking on Palmer Street watched the van emerge from the alley and come back on Palmer Street driving towards her again.  She said the van stopped near her and the driver yelled “hey come here”.

She said she ran from the van and was able run to her home.  The girl described the van as a white Chevrolet van with three windows on each side.  She believed the rear windows were tinted dark.  She said the van had dents and scratches on the passenger side door.  She believed the van had a blue colored license plate that said Nebraska.  The driver was described as a male in his late twenties with a short brown goatee.  He was wearing black sunglasses and a black baseball cap with no logo on it.

The Sheriff’s Office would like an opportunity speak with the individual who was driving the van involved in this incident. This incident occurred in the vicinity of Palmer and Lasley Streets, and 3 and 4th street.  If you have information about the van, driver, or if you believe you may have witnessed this please contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office at 785-457-3353 or the St.Mary’s Police Department at 785-437-2311.

7:20 a.m.   ST MARYS — The Pottawatomie Sheriff’s Department is investigating a report of an attempted abduction early Thursday morning.

Preliminary reports are that a man driving a white van with out-of-state plates attempted to lure a girl into his vehicle.

Additional details have not been made available.

DETROIT (AP) — The federal government is ordering child seat maker Graco to explain why it didn’t include 1.8 million infant seats in a recall for faulty buckles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Graco has until March 20 to explain why last month’s recall of 3.8 million child seats didn’t include infant seats, which have the same buckles that can get stuck on the child seats.

Graco has said the child seat buckles get stuck because children drop food or drinks on them. It is sending replacement buckles to owners for free. It will also send replacement buckles for infant seats if owners request them.

NHTSA says Graco will face fines of $7,000 per day if its response is late or incomplete.

Graco said Friday it will comply with the request for an explanation.