KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jackson County prosecutors are seeking access to transcripts of interviews conducted by a Kansas City law firm investigating how the local Roman Catholic diocese handles reports of child sexual abuse.

Attorneys for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Friday countered that records of interviews by the law firm of former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves are protected by attorney-client privilege. The diocese had commissioned the investigation.

Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese are charged with misdemeanor failure to report suspected abuse to the state after learning of suspected child pornography on a priest’s computer. Finn has acknowledged learning about the photos in December 2010, six months before the Rev. Shawn Ratigan was arrested on state and federal porn charges.

Finn and the diocese face trial in September.

 

A report delivered to the Missouri Western Board of Governors today suggest funds per student have declined up to 18 percent in the last four years.

The report comes from Dr. Jim McGill who is a retired financial officer from John Hopkins University and the University of Missouri system.

The report does consider inflation in the last few years as well. The report shows operating revenues increased 11 percent from 48 million to 53 million dollars.

Student enrollment has grown 19 percent. McGill says the financial picture isn’t likely to change.

“Some key functions of the university have been fiscally starved and need to be addressed, including filling some critical vacant positions, salary adjustments and facility maintenance,” McGill stated in the report.

He suggest advocacy, further operating cost reductions, new or expanded initiatives and a review of the support and governance of the university.  The possibility of a 10 percent increase in tuition was also discussed.

“We’re very grateful to Dr. McGill for his analysis,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “Many of his recommendations are things we’ve been working on, and it’s good to get an outside, objective opinion that we’ve been making good decisions and are headed in the right direction. He’s also suggested some new avenues that we look forward to exploring.”

 

 

The Coleman Hawkins Jazz festival kicks off Friday at the stage that bears his name in downtown St Joseph.

Starting at 6pm Friday: the Mid America All Star jazz Ensemble, a high school music students from three states.

A couple of legendary performers from Kansas City, David Chael and Dave Basse, are also on the bill Friday.

The festival continues all afternoon and into the evening Saturday at Felix Street Square. Among Saturday’s lineup is another famous St Joe saxophonist. Horace Washington takes the stage at 6:30pm.

Find the entire schedule here.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced he will sign the budget for Missouri’s pubic schools tomorrow and plans to sign the full state budget next week.

On Friday, the governor scheduled a signing ceremony at the Boys State convention in Warrensburg for the budget bill that funds the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

He is expected to take action within the next week on the rest of the state’s budget worth $24 billion.

Nixon has touted the fact that the budget contains a record amount of basic aid for K-12 schools. However, the $5 million increase to the state’s $3 billion school fund still is far shy of the amount called for by the funding formula.

Missouri has been unable to fully fund schools for several years because of tight budgets.

Missouri’s 2013 fiscal year begins July 1.

 

Forecasters says last year’s Missouri River flooding was so bad that they had trouble predicting river stages. Central Region Director Lynn Maximuk of the National Weather Service says levels rose beyond historic measurements.

Maximuk says flood stage predictions are based on observed relationships between flood rates and flood levels. But he says last year’s rates were “off the charts” so there was no known relationship on which to base predictions. Maximuk says the weather service is now adding data from last year to make the models more accurate.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday signed into law increased protections for Missourians under the state’s No Call Law.

At ceremonies at senior centers in St. Louis and Kansas City, the Governor signed House Bill 1549.

The measure which enables Missourians to register their cell phone numbers on the No Call list to protect them from receiving unwanted telemarketing calls and text messages.

Gov. Nixon was joined at the bill signings by Attorney General Chris Koster, whose office maintains the No Call list and enforces the law against violators.

To sign up, visit Koster’s web site, here.