The United States has reached a deal to lift the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico. A CNBC report says that removes a major obstacle to passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. The Canadian and American governments say the tariffs will end in a couple of days.
Canada will remove tariffs it levied on American goods in retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs. The countries will also drop all pending litigation before the World Trade Organization. While the U.S. and Canada officially announced the deal, Mexico hadn’t put out any kind of statement in mid-Friday afternoon. Trump mentioned the tariff removal during a speech to the National Association of American Realtors.
“I’m pleased to announce we’ve just reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico to sell products without the imposition of major tariffs,” he said to the crowd. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says, “Now that we’ve had a full lift on these tariffs, we are going to work with the United States on timing for ratification of USMCA.” He’s “optimistic” about moving the trade agreement forward in the weeks ahead.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Low pay is the biggest reason that Missouri teachers are leaving the profession, according to a new survey.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently shared its findings from a survey of 6,000 teachers, principals and administrators with the State Board of Education, St. Louis Public Radio reported.
The board’s president, Charlie Shields, said the data is powerful because every surveyed group cited salary as the number one issue when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers.
The survey found that pay was followed by a lack of leadership and support as reasons that lead to teachers quitting.
Missouri’s average salary for teachers is $48,293, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
The minimum salary the state can pay teachers is $25,000, but only a few teachers in rural distracts earn that amount.
Pay is typically decided by each district, often after negotiations with a teachers’ union. Districts with high property tax bases can pay their teachers more since they’re less reliant on the state as a major source for school funding.
The Missouri State Teachers Association said most teachers start out making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year. Teacher salaries increase based on their education level and years of classroom experience.
School board member Peter Herschend called the strategy “awful” because it doesn’t take into account the quality of a teacher.
Board members considered issues with teacher pay earlier this year and found that improving teacher retention is more nuanced than raising salaries.
“The theme that I seem to hear in there was, ‘I don’t want to be rich, but what’s being asked of me doesn’t equal how I’m being valued,’” said Paul Katnik, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s assistant commissioner. “And pay is just a piece of that, but there’s a real erosion of respect.”
PHELPS COUNTY — One person died in an accident just 11p.m. Sunday in Phelps County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2018 Nissan Altima driven by Justin E. Tieman, 21, Lee’s Summit, was northbound on Phelps County Road 8010 three miles north of Rolla.
The vehicle traveled off the road, struck a driveway, became airborne, struck trees and the driver was ejected. Tieman was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.
KANSAS CITY– A registered sex offender in has been sentenced in federal court for possessing and exchanging child pornography over the internet.
Harrison Combs photo Sex offender registry
Harrison Elliot Combs, 28, Independence, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Wednesday, May 15, to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Combs to 20 years of supervised release following incarceration.
Combs, a registered sex offender, has a prior conviction for possessing child pornography.
On Aug. 10, 2018, Combs pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography over the internet, eight counts of attempting to distribute child pornography over the internet, and one count of possessing child pornography.
This investigation began when a law enforcement officer was conducting an investigation into a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. On three separate occasions, Combs’s computer was downloading child pornography from the network. On Sept. 23, 2016, officers executed a search warrant at Combs’s residence and seized his cell phone and other items. Examiners discovered approximately 1,631 images and 168 videos of child pornography on those items. The majority of the images appeared to be of infant- to toddler-aged females involved in sexually explicit conduct by adults. In addition to his cell phone, child pornography files were also associated with computers, a gaming system, a thumb drive, and optical discs belonging to Combs.
In January 2017, Combs’s computer was again identified by law enforcement as downloading child pornography from a peer-to-peer file-sharing network on several occasions. There were approximately 1,962 image and video files downloaded between Jan. 7 and Jan. 16, 2017. The files included prepubescent males and females as young as toddlers involved in sexually explicit conduct by adults. Officers executed a search warrant at Combs’s residence, where they arrested Combs and seized his cell phone.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a Kansas traffic stop.
Robert Love -photo Shawnee Co.
Just after 11a.m. Friday, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a traffic stop on a rented 2019 Cadillac CT5 traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 just east of the Topeka toll plaza on theKansas Turnpike in Shawnee County, according to Deputy Shayna Anderson
The driver, later identified at Robert A. Love, 55, Troy, Ohio, was stopped for a traffic violation. Through the investigation of the stop, deputies seized 13.2 pounds of Marijuana
12 containers of 30 count 10mg Marijuana edibles and one half pound of concentrated wax marijuana
The estimated street value of these items is around $47,000.
Deputies arrested Love and booked him into the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections with charges of Felony Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors say a 51-year-old man was fatally shot and his wife wounded in a dispute over a $5 difference in the price of marijuana.
The shooting happened early Friday in northeast Kansas City, Missouri. Jackson County prosecutors say 51-year-old Charles Cecil was killed and his 53-year-old wife was critically injured.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting. Online court records didn’t list an attorney for him Sunday.
The victim and his wife had recently been evicted and were homeless. Prosecutors say Cecil had been selling a small amount of marijuana before the shooting, and there was a disagreement over whether it should cost $15 or $10.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Alabama’s restrictive new abortion law stirring divisions on the right, President Donald Trump implored pro-life activists to stay united heading into the 2020 election even as he laid out where his personal views differ from the legislation.
Protesters at the Missouri Statehouse Friday prior to the vote on the 8-week abortion ban
In a series of tweets posted just before midnight Saturday, Trump said gains by anti-abortion activists will “rapidly disappear” if, as he put it, “we are foolish and do not stay UNITED as one.”
Trump did not state whether he is for or against Alabama’s law, underscoring the fine line a president seeking reelection is trying to walk between a conservative base that favors criminalizing access to abortion and potentially angering women who already are skeptical of him. The Alabama law forbids the procedure in almost all circumstances, including cases of rape and incest.
Trump laid out personal views that differ, saying he supports the right to an abortion when rape or incest is involved, or when the pregnant woman’s life is at risk.
White House officials did not respond Sunday to emailed requests seeking additional comment on the president’s position.
Disagreement among Republicans is becoming apparent over Alabama’s law, and Trump sees Democrats taking advantage of that.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, the top Republican in the Democratic-controlled chamber, opposed the law, saying he supports exceptions for rape and incest and serious risk to the woman’s life. Evangelist Pat Robertson, meanwhile, said the law is too “extreme” and not the best vehicle to attempt to force the Supreme Court to revisit — and possibly overturn — Roe v. Wade, the high court’s 1973 ruling that established a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
Several of the Democrats who are competing for the right to challenge Trump in 2020 have come out against Alabama’s law and other state moves to impose new abortion restrictions, vowing to protect abortion rights through national legislation or, if elected, their Supreme Court nominees.
Other state laws ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which experts say typically happens around the sixth week of pregnancy, but is often before most women realize or confirm they are expecting a baby.
As most people know, and for those who would like to know, I am strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions – Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother – the same position taken by Ronald Reagan. We have come very far in the last two years with 105 wonderful new…..
Trump tweeted that “We have come very far” on the anti-abortion front in the two-plus years since he took office, noting the addition of more than 100 conservative federal judges and two Supreme Court justices “and a whole new & positive attitude about the Right to Life.”
His selections of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court tilted the political makeup of the nation’s high court to the right, and emboldened conservatives who believe the time is ripe for a court case to challenge Roe v. Wade.
Trump also claimed that “The Radical Left” is “imploding on this issue” and urged Republican unity on abortion to keep Democrats from winning. Trump claims Democrats support abortion on demand, including ending pregnancies late in the term.
“We must stick together and Win for Life in 2020,” he tweeted.
Trump noted in the tweets that he holds the same anti-abortion position as Republican President Ronald Reagan, but that stance was not a lifelong one for the current Oval Office occupant. Hailing from liberal New York City and decades before aligning with the GOP as he neared a serious run for president, Trump favored abortion rights. He also supported Planned Parenthood, a provider of women’s health care services, including abortion.
Trump includes regular references in his speeches to what he says are the Democrats’ extreme positions on abortion, including in formal settings like the State of the Union address and in the more free-wheeling atmosphere of his campaign rallies.
Republicans believe the politics of abortion have shifted somewhat in their favor in recent years. But the near-absolutist nature of the most recent state-level bills has sparked concerns inside Trump’s team that the issue could energize his critics and female voters, with whom the president has long struggled.
Polling suggests the abortion issue has the potential to stoke political engagement among both parties. The General Social Survey released last year found 64% of Democrats, but just 35% of Republicans, saying a woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason.
Vice President Mike Pence, a conservative Christian and abortion opponent, avoided taking sides when he was asked about the Alabama law during an appearance in Wisconsin last week.
Pence replied that he is proud to be part of a “pro-life administration,” adding that he and Trump “have worked to stand for the sanctity of life since the outset of this administration. And I know many states around the country are embracing life.”
Pence’s spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, on Sunday declined further comment.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Commerce plans to have business recruiting managers working in Missouri and Texas.
David Toland visits with Gov. Kelly during a March 21 presentation in Topeka -photo courtesy Kan. Commerce Secretary
Commerce Secretary David Toland says two recent personnel moves are part of a larger restructuring aimed at strengthening his department’s Business and Community Development Division.
Toland says longtime department employee Alicia Janesko Hutchings will become business recruitment manager. The position has been vacant for nearly four years.
Hutchings has been working on projects in Texas and will remain there.
Toland also says that International Trade Representative Chang Lu will manage the recruiting of businesses from southern and central states. He will be based in Springfield, Missouri, but still will help foreign dignitaries prepare for meetings with Gov. Laura Kelly.
Toland says the changes will be effective June 15.
TOPEKA — After three weeks, law enforcement authorities have not announced an arrest in the April 28 shooting death of 23-year-old Dwane Simmons and wounding of 23-year-old Corey Ballentine, both members of the Washburn University football team.
Dwane Simmons photo Washburn Athletics
On Friday, police reported are looking into all leads that have been brought forward to this point and are asking for additional assistance from anyone in the 1400 Block of SW 13th or surrounding area just before 1a.m. on April 28.
According to Lt. Andrew Beightel, detectives are still trying to identify people and search for evidence that may have been recorded during the incident. Detectives are asking that anyone who was attending the party that night to come speak with police.
Detectives are looking for photographs and or video that was taken throughout the night leading up to, during and after the fatal shooting.
The day before the crime, the New York Giants selected Ballentine in the NFL draft. He signed a contract with the team Thursday.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police Criminal Investigation Bureau at (785) 368-9400 or Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at (785) 234-0007. You can also make anonymous tips online here.
A deal to clear the way for Medicaid expansion next year that some Kansas lawmakers thought they had brokered in the waning hours of their just-finished legislative session appears to be unraveling.
Republican lawmakers met several times during the last hours of the legislative session to negotiate among themselves about Medicaid expansion. Their deal appears to have dissolved. JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Instead, the conservative leaders and moderate rank-and-file Republicans find themselves splitting in an intra-party fight.
Rep. Don Hineman led a last-minute insurrection by moderate House Republicans in the final days of this spring’s legislative session. They joined Democrats in demanding a Senate vote on Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s expansion bill and held up passage of the state budget to force that roll call.
“We have achieved some assurances that have moved the ball in the right direction,” Hineman said.
The handshake deal, he said, committed the Senate to voting on a compromise expansion bill at the outset of the 2020 session. Importantly, he said, Senate leaders also agreed to leave the writing of the bill to a bipartisan committee of House and Senate members rather than a “handful” of conservative senators.
A week later, differing accounts of that agreement now undermine trust and the chances that lawmakers will start the 2020 session with anything approaching consensus on how to expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands more low-income Kansans.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, said Hineman’s account is “fairly accurate” with one big exception: Senate leaders didn’t agree to let a joint study committee — with legislators from both the House and Senate, Republican and Democrat — write the compromise bill.
Instead, he said, a Senate committee headed by Sen. Gene Sullentrop, a Wichita Republican and expansion opponent, will take the lead.
Notably, the House had passed an expansion bill. In the Senate, Denning and Senate President Susan Wagle refused to bring that bill to the floor for a vote.
“The House doesn’t set the Senate agenda,” Denning said in a recent interview with the Kansas News Service.
Denning said he was “very clear with Representative” Hineman about how he planned to proceed.
“No,” Hineman said when reached for a response, he wasn’t.
“That is certainly not my interpretation of the discussion we had,” Hineman said. “That’s very discouraging.”
Rep. John Eplee, an Atchison Republican who also participated in the negotiations, confirmed Hineman’s account that Senate leaders, including Denning, agreed to allow a joint committee to write the bill.
“That’s what he promised us in the meeting,” Eplee said, adding that Denning also pledged to use the governor’s bill as a starting point.
Believing they had won all the concessions they were going to get, Eplee said moderate Republicans dropped their demand for an immediate Senate vote.
“That helped turn the fire down,” he said.
But it ignited House Democrats’ frustration. Rep. Tim Hodge, a Democrat from Newton, said the coalition would have prevailed if moderate Republicans had continued to block passage of the budget.
“We all stayed and a bunch of you strayed,” Hodge said on the session’s final night. “We could have done this.”
The governor was also frustrated. Kelly anchored her campaign on expansion and thought she could get it done in her first session.
But, she said, moderate Republicans should have known better than to trust Denning, who for years had been one of the Legislature’s most outspoken opponents of expansion.
“The fact that he’s now reneging now on what some thought was a promise is not shocking at all,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s expansion bill passed the House 69-54 in March. A majority of senators also supported the bill, but Wagle and Denning wouldn’t allow it to come to a vote despite intense pressure from advocates who accused Republican leaders of denying life-saving care to thousands of vulnerable Kansans.
“I don’t run on emotion,” Denning said. “I understand the need to look at Medicaid expansion. I plan on doing it.”
Denning said he makes no apologies for tackling other priorities first, such as paying off state pension fund obligations and resuming construction on suspended highway projects before committing to expanding an already “very big entitlement program.”
“Once you turn that program on, there’s no turning it off,” he said. “That’s why I think it needs to have a lot of good due diligence.”
Hineman and other legislative supporters of expansion are concerned that the Senate bill will include a work requirement and host of other provisions favored by conservatives but opposed by Democrats and the interest groups pushing the issue, including the Kansas Hospital Association.
“That means we’re back in the middle of a probably very contentious wrangle over what the final product should be,” he said.
Wagle seemed to confirm those concerns at a late session news conference when she said any expansion plan that clears the Senate “will be very different” than the one that passed the House this year.
Medicaid Expansion in Brief:
Kelly’s expansion plan would extend coverage under KanCare — the state’s privatized Medicaid program — to an estimated 130,000 more low-income Kansans.
A Medicaid expansion bill similar to the one introduced by Kelly and passed by the House was approved by the 2017 Legislature. It was vetoed by then Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature narrowly failed to override his veto.
Expansion would cover Kansans making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s $17,236 for an individual or $35,535 for a family of four.
Currently, the Kansas Medicaid program provides health coverage for children, pregnant women, individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities and elderly Kansans who have exhausted their resources. Adults with children are eligible, but only if they make less than 38 percent of the federal poverty level —- $9,538 for a family of four. Adults without children aren’t eligible for coverage no matter their income.
States and the federal government jointly fund Medicaid. Kansas’ share of those costs is approximately $1.3 billion annually. If Kansas expands its program, the federal government would cover 90 percent of the additional costs. The state’s share would be between $34 million and $42 million per year.
Expansion would generate an additional $913 billion in federal Medicaid funding for Kansas, according to the Kansas Hospital Association. Supporters claim an associated boost in state tax receipts would help cover the cost of expansion.
Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have adopted Medicaid expansion. Kansas and Missouri are among 14 that haven’t.
The federal government has approved waivers for Medicaid work requirementsin nine states, though federal court decisions have blocked implementation in some of them.
The United States has reached a deal to lift the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico. A CNBC report says that removes a major obstacle to passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. The Canadian and American governments say the tariffs will end in a couple of days.
