A bill by State Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho which would allow the courts to impound the vehicles driven by a person convicted of driving while intoxicated or excessive blood alcohol content was reintroduced today.
The bill is co-sponsored by Marilyn Ruestman R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City.
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This should come as no big shock but State Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, says he has been totally won over by new Governor Matt Blunt after initial concerns about his youth and inexperience.
In an interview aired today on Missouri Southern State University's Newsmakers program, Nodler said, "All of the concerns about his youth have been replaced with excitement."
Nodler said the three biggest concerns facing the General Assembly this year are tort reform, workmen's compensation reform and fixing the foundation formula through which Missouri public schools are funded.
Nodler said he expects opposition but no major problems in dealing with the first two issues, but the foundation formula repairs will be much more difficult. Nodler serves as chairman of the Senate's Education Committee.
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Viewers who have enjoyed the family-friendly programming of PAX-TV might prepare themselves. Its demise appears imminent. Reporter Marc Berman of Mediaweek wrote today that PAX laid off 50 workers "signaling the potential end of the struggling seventh broadcast network."
Among those laid off, according to the article, were the network's president, East Coast vice president, senior vice president of programming, senior vice president of promotion and advertising, vice president of national promotions, and vice president of station operations.
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Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF-TV and de facto owner of KODE will report its fourth quarter earnings and year-end financial results during a 10 a.m. conference call and webcast Friday, March 4, according to a company news release.
To access the call, people may dial 1-800-310-1961. A replay will be offered through March 11 by dialing 1-888-203-1112, the news release said.
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Former ice skater and tabloid darling Tonya Harding was in Miami, Okla., over the weekend with two boxers she represents, according to the Miami News-Record.
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Nexstar Broadcasting CEO Perry Sook will be profiled in the March issue of Radio & Television Business Report. A major topic will be the company's ongoing battle with cable companies such as Cable One and Cox Communications over retransmission of its signals.
Radio & Television Business Report editors have indicated they believe this issue may be ready to break out on a national scale next year when many group owners have indicated they will also demand payment for retransmitting their signals.
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The Neosho Daily News is back to placing the byline "From Staff Reports" on articles that its staff had nothing to do with. The Feb. 4 edition's lead story was a news release from the Missouri House of Representatives on Rep. Kevin Wilson's appointment to the Special Joint Committee on Education Funding. It appeared that the only work Daily staffers did on the story was typing it up and adding the phrase "From Staff Reports" to it. Why they simply can't tell that it is a news release is something I cannot understand. Readers deserve to know where their information comes from.
The Jan. 31 issue was even worse with three of the four page one articles labeled as "From Staff Reports." These articles included a report on unemployment rates, from which staffers did choose statistics from local counties to emphasize, "YMCA director tenders resignation' which appeared to be a news release and "Council to consider water loss proposal, printing the city council agenda. The Monday edition of daily newspapers is always a little thin, but let's label these stories as what they are. They are not staff reports.
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A reader asked if something had happened with the charges against Gary Reed Blankenship, the former O'Sullivan Industries official who was arrested after an Internet sting by Diamond police officer Jim Murray.
Blankenship's name, for some reason, does not show up when it is entered on the all courts section in the case.net system under which Missouri court records are filed, but it does show up when the search is limited to Newton/McDonald County. There has been no change in the status of the case since Blankenship's arraignment last week.