(AP) Two Boeing employees who are Missouri lawmakers took different approaches when the House considered a package of incentives for their company to assemble a new passenger jet in the St. Louis area.
Rep. Doug Funderburk, who is a longtime Boeing electrician, passionately urged colleagues to approve the legislation Friday. He voted “yes” as the bill passed the House 127-20.
Funderburk told The Associated Press he didn’t think it posed a conflict of interest because he plans to retire within a few years. He said Boeing officials had no conversations with him about the legislation.
Rep. Clem Smith, who is a machinist on the Boeing F-18, abstained from voting. Smith told The AP the bill presented a conflict of interest, because it could mean more money in his pocket.
12:04 p.m. (AP) – Missouri lawmakers have given final approval to incentives for Boeing to assemble to a new passenger airplane in the St. Louis area.
The House voted 127-20-2 Friday for the legislation that authorizes as much as $1.7 billion of incentives over more than two decades for Boeing to produce the 777X jetliner. The legislation passed the Senate on Wednesday by a 23-8 vote.
Now it’s up to Boeing to decide whether Missouri’s offer is good enough.
Boeing sought proposals from more than a dozen locations after a machinists union in Washington state rejected a proposed contract last month.
Gov. Jay Nixon called a special session in order to increase the amount of incentives Missouri could offer. Missouri’s proposed incentives are linked to the number of jobs created.
8: 00 a.m. (AP) — The Missouri House is debating a package of incentives for a potential Boeing assembly plant.
The House began debate Friday on the legislation authorizing as much as $1.7 billion of incentives over more than two decades as part of Missouri’s effort to land production of the 777X commercial airplane.
House approval is the final step necessary in a special session. The legislation passed the Senate on Wednesday.
Boeing sought proposals from more than a dozen locations after a machinists union in Washington state rejected a proposed contract last month that sought concessions on pension benefits.
Gov. Jay Nixon called a special session because he wants to offer Boeing more incentives than currently allowed under state law. Missouri’s proposed incentives would be linked to the number of jobs created.
(AP) – Federal prosecutors say a Pennsylvania man accused of trying to take fake bombs through security at Kansas City International Airport on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks still isn’t competent to stand trial.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City filed a motion Thursday seeking a new mental evaluation for 49-year-old Anthony Falco, whose last known address was East Petersburg, Pa.
They say he has schizophrenia and isn’t able to help in his defense against charges that he created a hoax and made false statements.
An earlier evaluation determined Falco was not a danger to himself or others, so he isn’t eligible to be involuntarily committed in a mental institution. But since he’s also not able to stand trial, prosecutors have said they might have to drop the charges.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert will exchange a state-related gift pending the outcome of Saturday’s Major League Soccer Championship game. Sporting Kansas City will be taking on Real Salt Lake in Kansas City on Saturday, Dec. 7.
Gov. Herbert offered locally produced 100 percent pure honey and salt water taffy if Real Salt Lake loses, and Gov. Brownback offered Kansas City barbecue sauce if Sporting KC loses.
“I can’t wait to taste the sweet victory of Kansas City BBQ sauce,” said Governor Herbert. “I am very proud of Real Salt Lake. They are incredibly talented and I wish them all the best as they play our friends to the east.”
Governor Herbert has offered 12 bottles of locally produced Miller Pure Honey and Taffy Town Salt Water Taffy. Nephi Miller started his honey business by trading five bags of oats for seven colonies of bees in 1894. Located in the Beehive State, Miller Honey is still family owned and producing 100% pure, natural honey. Taffy Town has been locally and family owned for over 97 years, and offers a variety of gourmet salt water taffy flavors to enjoy.
“I am excited to see Sporting Kansas City doing so well and I can’t wait to watch them win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday,” said Governor Brownback. “Kansas City is renowned for its barbecue sauce and is quickly being recognized for our soccer fans.”
Governor Brownback has offered two cases (12 bottles) of Eat barbecue sauces made by Rod Gray of Leawood, Kansas. Rod, and his wife Sheri, are national BBQ champions with their team, Pellet Envy, and are the 2013 grand champions of television competition series BBQ Pitmasters on Destination America.
(AP) – Independence police said officers shot and killed a man while responding to a domestic disturbance.
Officer Tom Gentry said the officers were responding to the disturbance Thursday night when the man confronted them with a gun. The officers shot and killed the man, whose name has not been released.
No officers were injured.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Major League Soccer rolled out the graphics at KCI for soccer fans coming to the championship game with Sporting Kansas City vs. Salt Lake at Sporting Park.
The MLS Cup timeline for the next 36 hours:
Friday
10am – World Cup draw event at Boulevard Members Club
5pm – Doors open for MLS Cup Last Night Out at P&L
7;30pm – Special appearance by Vermes & Zavagnin at P&L
8pm – The ACB’s take the stage at P&L
9pm – Portugal. The Man takes the stage at P&L
Saturday
11am – Parking lots open/Soccer Celebration in Lot D begins
12:30pm – Sprint Plaza opens
1 pm – Fans can begin accessing their seats
3 pm – #SportingKCvReal Salt Lake MLS Cup Final
(AP) – A Springfield man faces life in prison without parole after being convicted of beating his roommate to death while stealing heroin.
Forty-year-old Jarrod Sirois was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder, meaning he will face life in prison without parole. Sirois’ attorney had argued for a second-degree murder conviction, contending Sirois did not mean to kill Robert Pugh in July 2012.
Testimony during the trial indicated Sirios used a metal pipe to beat Pugh while he slept on a couch at their Springfield home. Sirois told police he was trying to knock Pugh out to steal heroin in the couch cushions so he could kill himself.
About 60 people gathered Wednesday at the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, Mo. to discuss ways to use data to improve health outcomes.- photo by Mike Sherry
A Missouri group is working to reduce the incidence of conditions such as stroke and hypertension among inner-city blacks.
The group spearheading the pilot project is the Sodium Knowledge in Practice Partnership, or SKIP, which the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services formed two years ago.
Members of the initiative on Wednesday described what they have learned about public health messaging and working with mom-and-pop grocery stores. They said they were in the process of summarizing their findings, in hopes of obtaining additional funding to continue the work.
Officials involved in the Kansas City project, which ran from the start of this year through fall, outlined their work to about 60 people at the meeting, which was about how to put health data to use addressing community health problems.
Data discussed at the meeting included findings in the health equity series produced this year by the Missouri Foundation for Health.
Presenters also highlighted data on the Missouri health agency’s website through the Missouri Information for Community Assessment.
“We do have to zoom back in eventually and remember that data is really about people,” said Natalie Hampton, who worked on the SKIP project as an official with the Health Communication Research Center at the University of Missouri.
The pilot focused mainly on the 64128 and 64130 Zip codes, she said, and it included a telephone survey of more than 600 residents in several surrounding Zip codes along with in-person interviews.
Some of the research used by the organizers, she said, came from the Missouri Foundation for Health equity series, including data showing that the percentage of the black population with hypertension (41 percent) exceeded that among whites (33.9 percent) and Hispanics (26.2 percent).
Data from the Kansas City Health Department also showed that, between 2000 and 2009, the two SKIP Zip codes had the highest number of deaths from hypertension compared with the rest of the city.
Message testing through the pilot produced a number of significant findings, Hampton said:
People want to see pictures of people that look like them.
It’s more effective to stress immediate positive health effects as opposed to talking about future effects, such as a living longer. “We talked about swollen feet, puffy eyes, and people were interested in that,” she said.
People respond better to messages about eating better as opposed to cutting items from their diets.
Pointing out impacts on other family members can resonate with those who don’t seem inclined to change for their own sakes. “When we talk about families, and (to) definitely be around to see your daughter graduate from college or your granddaughter, people were more interested,” she said.
Officials involved with the campaign said they also have partnered with an effort in Jackson County to have convenience storeowners stock fruits and vegetables.
Ryan Barker, vice president of health policy for the Missouri Foundation for Health, outlined some of the data from the health equity reports that he said caused the most concern for him.
Some of the greatest disparities between blacks and whites, he said, come in the prevalence of communicable diseases. For instance, the ratio of blacks to whites that contract gonorrhea is 26.4-to-1.
He faulted conservative politicians for clamping down on sex education in schools.
Barker also said he was worried about the overall increase in emergency room visits for mental health disorders, which he said are the result of mental health funding cuts.
According to the health equity reports, blacks cite mental health disorders more than whites as the cause for emergency room visits — about 18.5 per 1,000 population versus 11.8 per 1,000 population.
Dr. Rex Archer, Kansas City health director, said Missouri’s health status as a whole has dropped significantly in comparison with the rest of the country, according to a report by the United Health Foundation.
Missouri ranked 24th in 1990, he said, but was 42nd in 2012.
“Collectively, we have to wake up to the fact that we have been slipping in this state and sliding and sliding, and sliding downward,” Archer said.
Sponsors of Wednesday’s meeting included the REACH Healthcare Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Missouri Health Equity Collaborative, a project led by the University of Missouri Center for Health Policy.
The KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute. It is supported in part by a variety of underwriters. The News Service is committed to timely, objective and in-depth coverage of health issues and the policy making environment. All news service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution, including a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online. –By Mike Sherry,
KHI News Service
One man was injured in an early Friday morning rollover crash, during a police pursuit.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol Twenty-two year old Phillip Matthew Roles of Atchison was driving a1992 Lincoln Town Car westbound on Main Street just north of Atchison and driving at a high rate of speed attempting to elude law enforcement.
The car was traveling too fast to go around the curve and lost control and went into the ditch. Vehicle 1 then struck the embankment and rolled. Roles was transported to the hospital in Atchison.
Three occupants in the vehicle were not injured. Another occupant of the vehicle ran from scene. None of the occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts.
