(AP) — Former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has joined a Washington-based firm that provides global consulting services to businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Albright Stonebridge Group said Friday that Carnahan has been hired as a senior director.

She served two terms as Missouri secretary of state, from 2005 until this past January. Before that, Carnahan served as an executive at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., practiced corporate law and advised businesses on international trade issues.

Albright Stonebridge is led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger. The business describes itself as a “commercial diplomacy and strategic advisory firm.”

The company’s announcement said Carnahan also is serving this fall as a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

(AP) — The pilot and passenger of a small plane are uninjured after an emergency landing near a huge housing development in St. Charles County.

The single-engine plane landed at 12:20 p.m. Friday in a field near the development known as New Town. Authorities say the pilot was trying to land at Smartt Field but made a distress call and put down in the field. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the need for the emergency landing.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement today regarding the continuing resolution (CR) and funding for ObamaCare:

“Contrary to the White House’s desperate and misleading propaganda, I don’t support ObamaCare or the exchanges. I’ve voted to repeal this law, and I’ve supported numerous efforts – including the House CR – to defund ObamaCare because it’s a train wreck.

“I restated this week that ObamaCare will force many Americans to lose their health insurance. As a result, families in Missouri and across America will be forced to decide whether they will go on the exchanges. I don’t support the exchanges, and I don’t think they will ultimately work because they’re simply too expensive. And I will keep fighting to defund ObamaCare because it’s too costly and it puts bureaucrats between patients and their doctors.

“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle had a chance to join that fight today. Unfortunately, they decided to stand with Majority Leader Reid and President Obama instead of listening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who have rejected ObamaCare.”

In Missouri, one of the largest insurers in the region recently announced it would exclude some of the state’s major hospitals from the ObamaCare exchanges. This comes after troubling reports that family premiums have jumped by more than $2,500 and nearly three in four small businesses plan to fire workers or cut hours as a result of ObamaCare.

While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Blunt voted against the passage of ObamaCare and led Republican efforts to develop common-sense alternatives. Since being elected to the U.S. Senate, Blunt has taken at least 29 votes to defund, repeal, and delay the president’s health care overhaul – including votes on the floor and in the Appropriations Committee.

Senator Blunt’s most recent efforts include:

• On July 17, 2013, Blunt joined Senate Republican Leadership in calling for votes on both the employer and individual mandate delays.

• On July 11, 2013, Blunt co-sponsored legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) to defund ObamaCare.

• On July 11, 2013, Blunt co-sponsored amendments introduced by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) to delay the individual and employer ObamaCare mandates.

• On July 10, 2013, Blunt joined his colleagues in sending a letter and participated in a press conference calling on President Obama to permanently delay ObamaCare for all Americans.

• On July 9, 2013, Blunt spoke on the Senate floor regarding the president’s flawed health care law.

• On March 13 2013, Blunt voted for an amendment to the CR to defund ObamaCare, which was also introduced by Senator Cruz, in addition to seven other budget-related ObamaCare votes.

• On April 5, 2011, Blunt voted to repeal the costly “1099” mandate created by ObamaCare.

• In February 2, 2012, Blunt called on U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) to allow for a vote to repeal the “Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act” (CLASS Act). Blunt also co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to repeal the CLASS Act introduced by U.S. Senator John Thune (S.D.), and voted for repeal of the CLASS Act, which was included in the fiscal cliff deal that was voted on January 1, 2013.

(AP) — A 40-year-old man with a history of robbing banks in Kansas and Missouri has been sentenced to life in prison for two holdups he was convicted of committing last year.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Eddie Prince Roberts, of Columbia, won’t be eligible for parole under the sentence he received Friday in federal court.

Roberts was convicted earlier of robbing Boone County National Bank in Columbia of more than $4,400 in April 2012, and Landmark Bank in Columbia of roughly $8,200 the following month.

He was arrested after the Landmark robbery following a foot chase in which he fought with an officer and was shot during the encounter.

Roberts was convicted in 1993 of robbing five banks in Kansas. He was also convicted of robbing a Missouri bank in 2000.

 

According to the newest and most conservative estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year more than 2 million people in Missouri and around the nation get sick from bacteria that antibiotics can’t touch.

Those superbugs kill 23,000 people every year. Dr. Jason Newland is a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. He says many families are getting the idea that they should not ask their doctors for antibiotics every time they get a cold. However, many people do not realize that overprescribing antibiotics for people is not the only problem, he said. He also blamed the overuse of antibiotics on farm animals. Food inspectors have found the evidence, he said. “They’ve gone to supermarkets and just taken swabs or cultures – they swab the meat and then take it and put it in the lab and see what grows. What do they have grow? They have resistant bacteria grow,” Newland said.

He urged doctors, families and farmers to work together to stop the overuse of antibiotics, in order to prevent further problems. Newland also recommended that parents teach their children that keeping their hands clean is more than just running their hands under water for a couple of seconds or squirting on some hand sanitizer. “It is really, you know, the scrubbing part of washing your hands. That’s part of it. That’s the friction. That’s getting rid of this grime and dirt and these bacteria. And to really wash them, that’s really important,” he said. According to government experts, 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the United States are given to animals, and the report says much of that is unnecessary and makes everyone unsafe. Newland advised everyone to work together to stop the spread of super bugs.

“Those of us in human health and those folks in the animal industry – until we start realizing that our inappropriate use of antibiotics causes these resistances or helps resistance develop faster, we’re going to run into this problem,” he said. The report indicated that up to half the antibiotics given to people are either not needed or administered improperly. The Food and Drug Administration has told farmers to stop overusing antibiotics in food-producing animals. Experts say hand washing, scrubbing for at least 20 seconds, is important. They say cooking meat thoroughly and washing produce also helps. Some consumers prefer to buy only antibiotic-free meats and poultry. –  Public News Service and CDC contributed to this report.

The Senate has rejected an effort by young conservative Senators to block a bill to avert a government shutdown on Tuesday.

Friday’s 79-19 vote marks an emphatic defeat for Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. Their effort has sparked opposition from Democrats and from many GOP lawmakers, who worry the tactic could prompt a federal shutdown for which Republicans would be blamed.

Cruz and Lee are backed by outside conservative groups and have been trying to block a House-approved budget bill.

That’s because the bill would deny money for President Barack Obama’s health care law. They oppose the health care law and say blocking the budget bill will force Democrats to negotiate.

This sets up a weekend showdown between Republican House Speaker John Boehner and tea party conservatives in his GOP caucus, which demands that any spending measure must eliminate all money for Obamacare.

 

(AP) — Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed his top legislative aide to serve on a Missouri commission that regulates utility companies.

Nixon said Friday that he had appointed Daniel Hall to the Missouri Public Service Commission.

Hall, of Columbia, has served as the governor’s legislative director since Nixon took office in 2009. Before that, Hall was a senior counsel to Nixon in the attorney general’s office. He also has held various other positions in state government and worked as an attorney in private practice.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hall’s appointment on the PSC would run until September 2019. He replaces Commissioner Terry Jarrett, whose term had expired.

(AP) — The University of Missouri School of Law will use a $1.57 million gift to create an endowed faculty chair.

Chancellor Brady Deaton announced Thursday that the Nancy and Charles Wall Family Foundation had made the donation to create the Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance.

Charles Wall was a 1970 graduate of the School of Law who has had a successful career in corporate law.

Dean Gary Myers announced Thom Lambert, a former professor at the law school, will be the first Wall Chair.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/18udB7h ) Myers said having an endowed chair will recognize people who have achieved national and international recognition in their field of work, and it will provide financial support to faculty members.