By Betsy Smith
Missouri School of Journalism

University faculty and staff could be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in order to act as a campus safety officer under a proposed bill from the Missouri House of Representatives.

These faculty and staff members would need to show a proof of permit to carry a concealed weapon and would be required to complete a training program.

Republican Representative Dean Dohrman proposed the bill. He says it would quickly bring more order and safety to schools in the event of a shooting.

“I think it also has the added bonus of putting doubt in a shooter’s mind. If you have concealed carry, you’re not identifying who is armed and who is not.”

Some lawmakers at the hearing Monday evening questioned associated insurance costs and whether or not the bill would prevent attacks on campus.

The House Taxation Committee endorsed its expanded tax relief bill Monday on a voice vote, sending the legislation to the full chamber for debate, possibly later this week. The Senate approved its version earlier this month, but as a measure aimed at keeping individuals and businesses from paying higher state income taxes because of federal income tax changes at the end of 2017.Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature see income tax relief — and returning what they call an unexpected revenue “windfall” — as a top priority . But their plan would thwart the new Democratic governor’s plans to boost spending on public schools and expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy.

Kelly has urged legislators to wait until at least next year to pursue changes in tax laws, but she also said repeatedly during her campaign for governor last year that she wanted to lower the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax on groceries to help poor and middle-class families. The idea also has strong bipartisan support.

“That had been a hot button across the state,” said House committee Chairman Steven Johnson, an Assaria Republican. “That is one that has broad appeal.”

Kelly and her staff have called the GOP income tax relief proposals irresponsible, and Democrats have criticized the package as a corporate give-away. She hasn’t said explicitly that she would veto them, but her comments and those of her aides have lawmakers in both parties expecting her to do so.

“While the governor strongly supports reducing the sales tax on food, she knows it is critical that we first stabilize the state’s budget before we make changes to the tax code,” Kelly spokeswoman Ashley All said after the committee’s vote.

Rep. Jim Gartner, of Topeka, the Taxation Committee’s top Democrat, said Republicans are trying to box Kelly in by adding the provision to cut the sales tax on groceries to 5.5 percent, starting in October. Kansas is among only a handful of states imposing its full sales tax on groceries.

“I don’t think it’s going to make it any more palatable because of the mix,” Gartner told reporters after the committee’s vote.

The federal tax overhaul in 2017, championed by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, cut federal income taxes for individuals and businesses but included provisions expected to raise revenues in some states and lower it in others. Kansas’ tax code is tied to the federal tax code.

This year’s bill in Kansas would save its taxpayers $208 million during the state budget year that begins in July.

The cut in the sales tax on groceries would save consumers about $44 million during the state’s next budget year, but the committee also added a provision to help Kansas collect more sales taxes on internet sales.

A key part of the bill would prevent thousands of individuals from losing itemized deductions on their state forms. State law now prevents people from itemizing on their state returns if they do not on their federal returns, and the federal changes discouraged itemization. The change would save individuals about $50 million during the next budget year.

Even with the cut in the sales tax on groceries, most of the tax relief still would go to corporations during the next budget year — $137 million, or 66 percent of the total. The federal tax changes included provisions preventing corporations from sheltering income and assets outside the U.S. that would otherwise lead to Kansas and other states taxing foreign income.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — The United Methodist Church teetered on the brink of breakup Monday after more than half the delegates at an international conference voted to maintain bans on same-sex weddings and ordination of gay clergy.

Their favored plan, if formally approved, could drive supporters of LGBT inclusion to leave America’s second-largest Protestant denomination.

A final vote on rival plans for the church’s future won’t come until Tuesday’s closing session, and the outcome remains uncertain. But the preliminary vote Monday showed that the Traditional Plan, which calls for keeping the LGBT bans and enforcing them more strictly, had the support of 56 percent of the more than 800 delegates attending the three-day conference in St. Louis.

The primary alternative proposal, called the One Church Plan, was rebuffed in a separate preliminary vote, getting only 47 percent support. Backed by a majority of the church’s Council of Bishops in hopes of avoiding a schism, it would leave decisions about same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy up to regional bodies and would remove language from the church’s law book asserting that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Monday’s voting did not kill the One Church Plan but makes its prospects on Tuesday far more difficult.

As evidence of the deep divisions within the faith, delegates Monday approved plans that would allow disaffected churches to leave the denomination while keeping their property.

“This is really painful,” said David Watson, a dean and professor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, who was at the gathering. “Our disagreement has pitted friend against friend, which no one wanted.”

Formed in a merger in 1968, the United Methodist Church claims about 12.6 million members worldwide, including nearly 7 million in the U.S. While other mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches, have embraced the two gay-friendly practices, the Methodist church still officially bans them, even though acts of defiance by pro-LGBT clergy have multiplied and talk of a possible breakup has intensified.

The strong showing for the Traditional Plan reflects the fact that the UMC, unlike other mainstream Protestant churches in the U.S., is a global denomination. About 43 percent of the delegates in St. Louis are from abroad, mostly from Africa, and overwhelmingly support the LGBT bans.

“We Africans are not children in need of Western enlightenment when it comes to the church’s sexual ethics,” the Rev. Jerry Kulah, dean at a Methodist theology school in Liberia, said in a speech over the weekend. “We stand with the global church, not a culturally liberal church elite in the U.S.”

The Africans have some strong allies among U.S. conservatives, including the Rev. John Miles II, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas, who opposes same-sex marriage and gays in the pulpit.

“I have a very difficult time even though I have gays in my family and in my church,” he said. “I know it grieves them and it grieves me to grieve them. But it’s just what we believe is the truth.”

In recent years, the church’s enforcement of its LGBT bans has been inconsistent. Some clergy members have conducted same-sex marriages or come out as gay from the pulpit. In some cases, the church has filed charges against clergy who violated the bans, yet the denomination’s Judicial Council has ruled against the imposition of mandatory penalties, which typically called for an unpaid suspension of at least one year.

The Traditional Plan would require stricter and more consistent enforcement.

Among the outspoken supporters of the more permissive One Church Plan was the Rev. Adam Hamilton, a pastor in Leawood, Kansas, who said it offered a way for Methodists “to live together — conservatives, centrists and progressives — despite our differences.”

For LGBT Methodists, it is a time of anxiety.

“For me it’s about who’s in God’s love, and nobody’s left out of that,” said Lois McCullen Parr, 60, a church elder from Albion, Michigan, who identifies as bisexual and queer. “The Gospel I understand said Jesus is always widening the circle, expanding the circle, so that everyone’s included.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Opening remarks Monday in the trial of a former Kansas legislator offered jurors contrasting portrayals of his handling of campaign funds.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell is accused of fraudulently taking $10,500 from campaign fundsfor his personal use. He faces 23 federal counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaign funds.

Jury selection took up most of the first day of the proceedings. The trial before U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren is expected to last five days.

The prosecution’s opening statement outlined O’Donnell’s extraordinary access to resources through his elected position and his access to campaign donations through his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors say he was a great fundraiser.

The defense in its remarks focused on explaining the legitimacy of the campaign funds, saying nothing illegal occurred and the checks were for legitimate work done on behalf of his campaign.

The indictment alleges O’Donnell wrote a series of checks in 2015 and 2016 from his “Michael for Kansas” and “Michael for Sedgwick County” campaigns to various people who would cash the checks. Prosecutors alleged some of the money went into his personal checking account and some to friends.

O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a seat on the Sedgwick County Commission. His term began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.

He remains free on bond and continues to serve as county commissioner.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas legislator accused of fraudulently taking $10,500 from campaign funds for his personal use goes to trial Monday in federal court in Wichita.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaign funds.

Defense attorney Mark Shoenhofer said that his client was innocent of the allegations when the charges were initially unsealed in May. O’Donnell and his attorneys did not immediately return messages left this week seeking comment.

The trial before U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren is expected to last five days.

O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.

The indictment outlines a scheme whereby O’Donnell allegedly wrote a series of checks in 2015 and 2016 from his “Michael for Kansas” and “Michael for Sedgwick County” campaigns to various people who would cash the checks. Prosecutors alleged some of the money went into his personal checking account and some to friends. The indictment identifies the people who cashed the checks only by their initials.

Defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully last year to get charges dismissed, saying “overzealous prosecution” sometimes occurs when prosecutors throw a wide net on criminal corruption. His attorneys argued O’Donnell came to law enforcement’s attention during an investigation of other people in Wichita suspected of illegal gambling. Prosecutors subsequently indicted several local residents, including law enforcement officials, stemming from that gambling probe.

Several people, including then-Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials, received notification letters in 2017 from the U.S. Justice Department telling them that the federal government intercepted phone calls between them and O’Donnell’s phone number. O’Donnell, a conservative known in part for championing tougher rules for welfare recipients, was a political ally of Brownback who won his legislative seat in the 2012 purge of Senate moderates.

He remains free on bond and continues to serve as county commissioner.

Attorney Austin Parker held a news conference in November during which he claimed three commissioners tried to fire then-County Manager Michael Scholes after he cooperated in the FBI investigation of O’Donnell. Parker, who represents then-County Counselor Eric Yost, told reporters there is an FBI investigation into that effort and that Yost had been interviewed twice by FBI agents on that subject.

It is unclear whether that investigation is ongoing, but no charges related to Yost’s allegations have been filed. Kate Flavin, the county’s spokeswoman, said there have been no further developments.

Scholes and Yost left their county positions after reaching termination settlements with the commission.

Commission Chairman David Dennis said in a statement released through Flavin it was not appropriate to comment on O’Donnell’s case because the charges are not related to the county.

FULTON, Mo. (AP) — Two people have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in the death of a developmentally disabled Missouri man whose body was found encased in concrete after he was reported missing from a supported living home.

Anthony R.K. Flores and Shaina Osborne pleaded guilty Monday to making a false report in the death of 61-year-old Carl DeBrodie.

DeBrodie’s body was discovered in a storage unit in April 2017. Investigators believe he went missing months before his disappearance from the Second Chance home in Fulton was reported.

Flores was sentenced to eight months in jail. Osborne was sentenced to 30 days in jail that was suspended while she serves two years of probation.

Flores’ father, Anthony R. Flores, and Sherry Paulo, who operated the Second Chance home, are charged with involuntary manslaughter .

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly pledged Monday to give legislators and the general public more information about children who run away or go missing from the state’s foster care system, starting with a daily count.

The new Democratic governor announced the launch of a website for the state Department for Children and Families that will provide statistics about missing foster children. Kelly also promised that multiple legislative committees will receive information about specific cases if they sign a confidentiality agreement.

The announcements came less than a week after a Republican-controlled Senate committee had a hearing on a bill aimed at ensuring that the governor and Legislature would be notified within 72 hours of a foster child going missing. The Public Health and Welfare Committee endorsed the measure Monday, sending it to the full Senate for debate.

Kelly was a state senator before her election as governor last year and had criticized DCF over what she saw as its lack of transparency under Republican governors. She said in October 2017 that she was “flabbergasted” when state foster care contractors disclosed that more than 70 children were missing, though DCF officials said it was in line with national averages.

“The additional transparency can only help to educate the public and legislators about the processes used by DCF to locate these vulnerable citizens,” Kelly said in a statement.

On its new website, DCF reported that 80 foster children were missing as of Friday, and almost all of them were runaways. Fifty-seven of them, or 71 percent, were 16 or older.

Kelly said information about specific cases would be made available to legislative committees that deal with the budget, the court system, juvenile justice and child welfare, as well as an audit committee. She also said DCF will release demographic information about missing children to local news organizations.

In recent years, the department has faced questions about several high-profile deaths of abused children after DCF was alerted to problems. Until September, some children in state custody slept overnight in foster care contractors’ offices, including a 13-year-old girl who in May was raped in an officeby an 18-year-old man also in state custody.

The bill before the Senate would require contractors to notify DCF within 24 hours when a foster child goes missing and DCF to notify the governor and the Legislature within another 48 hours. The department initially opposed it, expressing concern that the state could lose federal dollars if missing children’s names became public.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, said Monday that putting a notification requirement in state law will prevent DCF officials or future governors from backing off Kelly’s promises of transparency. She saw Kelly’s announcement as positive.

“There isn’t enough information being shared,” she said. “It’s wonderful when people are listening.”

Other lawmakers in both parties also praised Kelly’s actions.

“We all are in agreement that we to do the best for our kids and keep them safe,” said House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican. “Transparency and accountability are things that we’re striving for, especially inside DCF.”

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INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (AP) — Jason Brown, the junior college football coach whose program was chronicled in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” has resigned after an inflammatory series of text messages in which he allegedly told a German player: “I’m your new Hitler.”

Brown said in a statement posted on social media that a story on the texts in the Montgomery County Chronicle made it “nearly impossible to say” at Independence Community College.

The story reported a text exchange between Brown and freshman Alexandros Alexiou, who had posted the messages on social media. In one text message, Brown referred to disciplinary points that the German player had accrued, berated him and said, “I’m your new Hitler.”

School President Dan Barwick said in a statement it was investigating the text messages.

Brown’s team was profiled by “Last Chance U” during the 2017 season and again last season, when the Pirates finished 2-8. That season is scheduled to air later this year.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot resume abortions at its Columbia clinic.

State law requires clinics that provide abortions to have physicians with admitting privileges at nearby hospital. The Columbia clinic has been unable to secure a physician with those privileges. The clinic had filed an injunction in December asking that it be allowed to resume abortions in Columbia.

U.S. Western District Court Judge Brian Wimes ruled Friday that requiring the privileges was not an “undue burden” to women’s access to abortion.

St. Louis has the only Missouri clinic able to provide abortions. Wimes wrote that requiring women to drive farther to obtain an abortion also was not an “undue burden.”

Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering a proposal that would require election officials to notify voters before they throw out ballots because of problems with signatures.

The proposal comes after last year’s GOP primary for governor between Kris Kobach and then-Gov. Jim Colyer was decided by only a few hundred votes.

Currently, Kansas law allows election officials to throw out ballots with signature problems unless the voter fixes the signature by the end of Election Day.

The proposed law would require election officials to try to notify voters whose write-in ballots are missing signatures before the ballots are counted at county canvass meetings. The change would also apply to voters whose ballot signatures don’t match signatures on file with county offices.

A legislative committee on Friday sent the bill to the Senate floor.