(AP) Missouri’s judges could be due a multi-million-dollar pay increase if their counterparts in the federal government are able to win a court case seeking a retroactive pay hike.

The potential pay increase could affect more than 400 judges in Missouri, from the chief justice down to associate circuit judges and drug court personnel. It even could lead to pay increases for dozens of full-time local prosecutors.

A state official is to brief local leaders about the potential budgetary hit during a conference Tuesday sponsored by the Missouri Association of Counties.

“It’s somewhat significant, but it’s depending on the outcome of the litigation,” said Greg Linhares, the Missouri courts administrator.

At issue is a 1989 federal law that limited federal judges’ ability to earn money from other sources and in exchange provided them an automatic cost-of-living increase for their salaries. Congress withheld the judges’ cost-of-living increases in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007 and 2010 while giving other federal employees a pay increase.

Six federal judges sued, and a U.S. appeals court ruled last year that they were entitled to back pay for their denied cost-of-living increases from 2003 onward _ the maximum period allowed under the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court this April declined to hear the case, effectively upholding the ruling.

Now some other federal judges are seeking class-action status to apply the cost-of-living pay hikes to more than 1,000 current and former federal judges. It is unclear when there will be a decision on that, but Missouri officials will be watching for one.

A pay scale adopted in 2010 by a Missouri commission links the salaries of Missouri judges to their federal counterparts. State appellate judges are to be paid 69 percent of what comparable federal judges earn. Missouri circuit and associate circuit judges are to be paid 73 percent of what their federal counterparts make.

A separate 1997 Missouri law says full-time prosecutors are to be paid the same amount as associate circuit judges.

So if federal judges win their class-action lawsuit, “the domino effect would be that federal judges would get a raise, state judges would get a raise and full-time prosecutors in Missouri would get a raise,” said Jason Lamb, executive director of the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services.

Chief Justice Mary Russell could be due a salary of $174,570, up 13 percent from her current $154,215, according to budget projections from the judiciary. Salaries due to Missouri’s circuit judges could rise from $127,020 to $143,883, and the amount due to associate circuit judges could rise from $116,858 annually to $132,372.

Ultimately, it would be up to Missouri lawmakers to put the additional money in the budget.

If they do so for judges, more than 60 full-time prosecutors also would be due a pay raise of more than $15,500 each. That’s an amount perhaps easily covered by some of the largest counties but maybe a little harder to manage for others.

Lamb is to outline the scenario Tuesday to county officials. He wants them to be aware of the possibilities, but he adds: “There’s a lot of dominoes that would have to occur before anything would happen” in Missouri.

(AP) The Missouri Supreme Court is set to consider a grocery chain’s attempt to claim a tax refund for the energy costs of baking doughnuts, cakes and cookies.

Missouri has a tax exemption for electricity and gas used in manufacturing, processing, compounding, mining or producing, and a Department of Revenue regulation lists examples of what it considers “processing” with a reference to bakeries.

“The key issue in this sales tax dispute is whether the Department of Revenue is required to provide a refund to a taxpayer in accordance with a department regulation,” attorneys wrote in an argument to the Supreme Court. Schnucks has stores in Missouri and other states, and Ameren Missouri is based in St. Louis.

The Department of Revenue rejected the refund request. The state’s Administrative Hearing Commission said part of the stores are bakeries but upheld the denial last December and noted an earlier Supreme Court ruling. The state high court said in a March 2012 decision food preparation for retail consumption is not “processing” and ruled a convenience store could not claim a tax exemption for energy used to prepare food.

Deputy Solicitor General Jeremiah Morgan said in a written argument that the sales tax exemption is limited to industrial-type food preparation and that Schnucks is not an “industrial-type” bakery. He said a regulation cannot expand a law.

Morgan said the interpretation of the company would mean “apparently every citizen in of Missouri who bakes or prepares food, cookies and bread is `processing,’ and therefore exempt on purchases of electricity, materials and equipment used in preparing meals. Likewise, heating up a soft pretzel at a ballgame would be manufacturing or processing.”

The company contends denying the refund effectively repeals the bakery regulation.

The Missouri Grocers Association said it is monitoring the case. Dan Shaul, the association’s state director, estimated three-quarters or more of Missouri grocery stores have some kind of bakery capability.

“Our goal all the time is to make sure our retailers are able to put as much money back into the store and also to keep prices as low as possible,” he said. “So if there was some legislation or a decision in a lawsuit that was handed down that would enable our retailers to reduce overhead, we would be certainly in favor of that.”

(AP) — A Johnson County judge has ordered a city councilman to vacate his seat for using “breathtakingly bad judgment” when he allowed a homeless friend to spend four nights at City Hall.

District Judge David Hauber on Friday said Prairie Village councilman David Morrison ignored common sense last October when he took Kelley Malone to City Hall.

Morrison claimed he was only trying to help his friend, who feared for his life because he thought a gang or hit man was after him.

Morrison apologized to the City Council last year and has said he didn’t gain anything by his actions.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe pursued the ouster case at the request of the council.

A Fort Scott man has been sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison on drug trafficking charges, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Friday.

Jonathan Brumback, 43, Fort Scott, Kan., was sentenced to 250 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $27,000 in proceeds from the crime.  In his plea, he admitted that on Aug. 1, 2012, he sold approximately a gram of methamphetamine to a buyer working undercover for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.  The transaction took place at his shop in Ft. Scott.  On Aug. 4, 2012, he sold more than six grams of methamphetamine to a buyer working undercover. The transaction took place at his residence in Ft. Scott.  The next day, investigators served search warrants at his home and shop, where they found approximately half a pound of methamphetamine and $24,000 in cash.

On Aug. 20, 2012, an undercover agent purchased a quarter pound of methamphetamine for a little more than $5,000 from one of Brumback’s co-defendants, Rogelio Amada Lamas.  The price included $3,000 that Brumback owed for methamphetamine he purchased from Lamas.

Co-defendants include:
Rogelio Amada Lamas, who is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 9.
Johana Villanueva-Renteria, who is set for sentencing Oct. 22.

Police are investigating a shooting in Kansas City early Saturday that killed a man. The incident at Trails End Ranch happened just after 4 a.m. The name of the victim has not been released. Stay tuned to Eagle Radio and check St. Joseph Post for more information as it becomes available.

A new product that can help animal farmers reduce billions of dollars in heat-related losses was recently released by the University of Missouri.

ThermalAid is a smart phone app that monitors heat-related stresses on beef and dairy cattle and alerts farmers when there is a problem. The app also recommends which intervention strategy will be most effective.

“Cows are like the rest of us,” said Don Spiers, professor of animal sciences at Mizzou’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, and who led the team that developed the app. “They slowdown in hot and humid weather. When stressed by too much heat, they stop eating, and thus fail to grain weight or produce milk.”

Hot weather means big losses for farmers. “Each summer, the dairy industry loses $900 million nationally in productivity and the beef industry $400 million. And that’s data from 2003 when the industry was smaller and summers less intense,” Spiers said.
The 99 cent app receives temperature and humidity data from the weather service according to the GPS location of the user. The farmer tells the app if it is beef or dairy cow, if it is in the barn or outside, if it is on the pasture or feed lot, its health status, and other information.

With that, the app calculates the animal’s Temperature Humidity Index, or the THI. If the THI is not stressful, the app shows green for that cow. If heat stress is an issue, the color goes to yellow and then orange. Red indicates a life-threatening condition.–Debbie Kelley, UM Extension

The farmer can also measure each cow’s respiration rate, a good indicator of heat stress impact on the animal. A built-in timer can assist the user to record the respiration rate.

When farmers know that their animals are stressed, they can intervene with additional shade, fans or water misters to improve comfort and productivity. The app is tied to a MU database called ThermalNet which provides additional climate and weather data, as well as tips to manage heat stress.

ThermalNet has the ability to allow farmers to communicate with experts at MU Animal Science.

ThermalAid took more than two years to develop. This app will automatically pull in ambient temperature and humidity data from sensors that the producer places at different locations on the farm site, thus increasing accuracy of the THI calculation. Future updates might include information from sensors placed on individual animals.

If temperature and humidity conditions exceed a certain limit, the app warns the farmer that a cow is experiencing heat stress.

The upcoming app will create a regional database of heat stress information, giving farmers a new tool to combat losses, and scientists associated with the project will use the new information to develop better predictors of the impact of heat stress on animals.

“Ideally, we need temperature modules placed in different locations on the farm site that provide real-time readings and inputs — but that development is costly at present,” Spiers said. The challenge is to make a cost-effective product that is reliable and durable in a field environment.

(AP) — President Barack Obama says the way business is done in Washington must change.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is telling Americans their frustration with politics is understandable. He’s referring to the fiscal crisis that shut down the government and brought the U.S. close to default.

Obama says even with the crisis over, Republicans and Democrats won’t agree on everything. But he says they should find areas of agreement. He’s pushing Congress to act this year on a budget, a farm bill and an immigration overhaul.

In the Republican address, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Obama’s health care law is an affront to freedoms the Founding Fathers fought for. He says its implementation has been a national embarrassment.

Cuccinelli is running for governor of Virginia.