My problem is the false sense of security the current state and federal governments give people by making them jump through hoops when it is completely unnecessary.
Gov. Matt Blunt tapped the Columbia native, which required the support of state Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia. By tradition, nominees must have the blessing of a senator from their home district to go before the gubernatorial appointments committee. Graham initially questioned Drummond’s experience in the health-care profession. He also wanted to make sure she had acted appropriately in her legal advice to approve Joplin River of Life Ministries’ license to operate the Anderson Guest House, later the site of a fatal fire. Drummond, formerly legal counsel for the state health department, has said she told regulators that any decision to deny the company a license would likely have been overturned in court.
Traditionally, members of Congress seeking leadership positions or committee chairmanships would set up leadership political action committees to garner goodwill from other lawmakers. While this may still play a role in the decision to form a PAC, politicians say they establish the committees to help build their party. Analysts say the leadership PACs provide a chance for lawmakers to accept contributions beyond the limits established for campaign committees—and the sooner, the better.
McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said the new senator established a fundraising committee to help future candidates run against incumbents, a situation she faced in November’s race against fundraising powerhouse James Talent. "She wants to make sure she’s in a position to help others in the same circumstance," Marsh said. "She really does believe the system is discouraging. She supports public financing, but until there are sweeping changes in campaign finance, you’re stuck playing by the rules."
Some question Goodman’s motives. His district includes Branson, and Goodman received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Branson-area entertainment and development groups during his bid for the Senate in a 2005 special election. "The tourism community is driving this," (Missouri School Boards Association spokesman Brent)Ghan said.
Goodman acknowledged that the tourism industry supports the proposal; however, he denied filing the bill on behalf of Branson interests. "It’s not just a Branson issue, it’s an issue that families all over Missouri have expressed interest in," he said.
Bowman is accused of obtaining a $4,050 cash advance using the fraudulent credit line at a St. Louis bank branch, and also of obtaining things in value of $1,000 during a one-year period. As part of the general scheme, the indictment alleges that credit applicants misrepresented the names of their businesses, the amount of time they had been in operation or their annual income in order to appear worthy of receiving credit.
On Oct. 5, Carr asked the 13-year-old to leave her home in Joplin, Mo., and meet her in Arkansas for sexual relations. Carr then went to Joplin and picked up the girl and took her to her residence in Fayetteville. Parks said the girl was assaulted during the visit. (Fayetteville Sgt. Shannon) Gabbard said Carr and the girl had sexual relations before this incident in Joplin and the girl's grandparents found out about the relationship and contacted the police. Carr portrayed herself as a man online and in person. Detectives discovered the online chats that occurred in Myspace.com accounts.
Detectives confiscated forensic evidence from the girl's computer, according to a police report.
At around 6:45 p.m. on September 28, 2002, Officer Mark Gann responded to a call to check on the well-being of the Children at a Wal-Mart store in Springfield, Missouri. While there, he made contact with Mother and the Children. He noticed that Mother appeared disoriented, had slurred speech, and did not comprehend what he said to her. S.C.M informed him that she was hungry and had not eaten anything since the previous night. Mother told him that she had taken several different types of drugs, some prescription, and that on occasion she used recreational drugs. She maintained that while the Children had seen her take pills and drink, they had never seen her shoot up dope because they were already asleep. Office Gann arrested Mother on charges of child endangerment, contacted the Division of Family Services ("Division"), and took protective custody of the Children.
Mother has a long history of mental problems. When she was younger, she was raped by an acquaintance and left for dead in a shallow grave. She did not receive adequate therapy for this trauma. She has suffered from bipolar disorder since she was a teenager. There was no evidence presented other than this was a permanent condition. The events at Wal-Mart which led to the assumption of jurisdiction over the Children were the result of Mother's failure to adequately manage her mental illnesses and her medications therefor, her chemical dependencies on illegal substances, or a combination of both.
We believe the value of the learning experience in the classroom — and the possibility of further school days lost — should override convenience.
This post is very deceiving. Goodman is a senator that represents Branson. I can understand why such a concern could raise eyebrows if such funding went to someone like Nodler. But a senator getting funding from within his district just doesn't seem like news to me. Regards, Branson Edge
In a news release, Goodman said the bill "protects families' ability to take summer vacations, be involved in sports and summer camps and take advantage of other important non-classroom learning opportunities."
Goodman continues, adding that this simple maneuver will increase student attendance "as parents are relieved of the burden of choosing between their children's education and these other vital activities."
These things may all be true, though I am inclined to doubt it, but even if they are, Goodman left out one important reason why he sponsored this legislation...it is a pet bill of the state's tourism industry, and if anyone is beholden to that special interest segment, it's Senator Goodman.
One possible reason for Wilson's departure is the controversy surrounding who will be the next executive director of the party. The state's highest ranking Democrat, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, has committed to having an African-American fill the post. Word is Wilson as well as Attorney General Jay Nixon (next year's Democratic candidate for governor) also agreed to a black E.D. But who?
"I support it," Rep. Ron Richard (R-Joplin) told The Chart Thursday. "In case of an emergency, like the forces of nature we are facing right now, a proposal like this is necessary. I suspect there's only so many days you can make up, and when you don't have electricity in the school building you can't bring the kids in so you have to deal with what you've got."
Richard also said citizens would likely appreciate such a bill.
"I think most of the locals of southwest Missouri think it's a great idea," he said.
Mother was to attend programs on domestic violence, safety for children, alternatives to violence, parenting techniques, and stress management. Both parents cooperated and complied generally with their plans.
Next, the Division assigned a parent aide to supervise visits, assess parenting skills, provide suggestions, etc. -- a "hands-on teacher while the children are with the parents," as one witness put it. The aide noted Mother was strongly dependent on Father, and became very dependent on the aide too, frequently calling the aide about things not particularly difficult. Mother could not reach common sense answers to fairly basic questions.
To convict Defendant of resisting a lawful stop by fleeing, "the jury would be required to find that [Trooper Bearden] was making an investigatory stop of Defendant, Defendant knew he was making a stop, and that for the purpose of preventing the stop, resisted by fleeing from the officer." Brooks, 158 S.W.3d at 852 (citing MAI-CR 3d 329.61). In the present case, in order to convict Defendant of felony resisting arrest, the jury was instructed to find that Trooper Bearden was making an arrest of Defendant, Defendant knew he was making an arrest, and for the purpose of preventing the arrest, Defendant resisted by fleeing from the officer.
"The facts needed to determine whether an officer was making a stop versus the facts needed to determine if an officer was making an arrest are different." Id. In convicting Defendant of felony resisting arrest, the jury was not required to find that Trooper Bearden was making an investigatory stop. While there may have been sufficient evidence from which a jury could have made such a finding, the jury did not have the chance to consider whether Trooper Bearden was making a stop. Because the jury was not required to find all of the elements of the misdemeanor offense of resisting a lawful stop by fleeing, we decline to enter a conviction for that offense.
On November 14, 2004, Highway Patrol Corporal Brad Bearden ("Trooper Bearden") was driving through Powell, Missouri, when he saw an unidentified male, who he later determined to be Defendant, sitting in a truck near a closed store. As Trooper Bearden turned around to investigate, Defendant drove off. Trooper Bearden followed Defendant, and activated his lights because he could not read Defendant's license plate, and Defendant was driving in the middle of the road. When Defendant did not pull over, Trooper Bearden pursued him with both his lights and siren activated. During the pursuit, Defendant was traveling anywhere from thirty-five to fifty miles per hour, swerving at times toward the left side of the road. At one point, Defendant forced an oncoming truck to pull to the side of the road. After being pursued for eleven minutes and several miles, Defendant reached a lane that went through the woods, stopping near a cluster of trailer homes and outbuildings, which was later determined to be his property.
As Defendant got out of the truck, Trooper Bearden drew his gun and ordered Defendant to come towards him. Defendant, who was very animated and agitated, began yelling at Trooper Bearden, telling him that he wanted witnesses so Trooper Bearden would not beat him up. Defendant also told Trooper Bearden that he did not have the authority to stop him or arrest him without a search warrant or court order.
After taking off his coat and emptying his pockets, Defendant approached Trooper Bearden, and was arrested without further incident. Defendant was then taken to jail, where Trooper Bearden discovered that Defendant did not have a driver's license and had two prior convictions for driving without a license.
While Laverne Dupont is listed as the executive director of Joplin River of Life Ministries Inc., her husband Robert directs operations of the ministries, Nixon said. In 2003, Dupont was excluded for 20 years from the Medicaid program because of a felony conviction for healthcare fraud.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants submitted false statements to the state of Missouri on the Joplin River of Life Ministries applications filed with the Department of Health and Senior Services to operate the ministries’ facilities. The applications concealed the fact that Robert Dupont was a principal in the operation of the ministries. Nixon said the River of Life Ministries was formed by Dupont in 2002 soon after his guilty plea to conceal his continued role as a principal.
He and other Democrats oppose the plan because it has too many stipulations and focuses more on capital assets than students. "Our future of the state of Missouri is not in a facility, it is in the minds of the young folks that we educate," Shoemyer said.
Shoemyer said the Democrats plan will be able to do much more with MOHELA's money than the Lewis and Clark Initiative. Though he hasn't consulted the MOHELA Board, he has talked with individuals who support his plan. "What Missourians will be most comfortable about is that you're not selling off the farm, you're investing and growing," Shoemyer said.
"For me, no option is off the table, and I am willing to work with anybody who cares about our children," he said, drawing applause from Republicans and the handful of Democrats who support the tax credits.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is refusing to provide Congress with details on these unmerited dismissals. He insists that there's no attempt to quash fresh Republican scandals and says only the "very best" will be named as replacements. We are skeptical, especially since the White House's reported choice to replace Little Rock’s federal attorney is a Republican operative close to Karl Rove. Congress must demand a clear explanation from Mr. Gonzales and the White House on why these prosecutors are being ousted.
"The media reports, all these things, they make me out as some kind of shady character," DuPont said at the offices of Joplin River of Life Ministries, the private group that operated Anderson Guest House. "I don't think I'm shady. Anyone who knows me would say I have nothing but compassion for the mentally ill."
DuPont contends he pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud only because federal prosecutors offered to drop related charges against his daughter, who was then convicted on one felony count of submitting inflated claims to Medicare for patient care at home.
Stevenson's motion includes stripping language requiring background checks for workers in facilities, specific responsibilities for workers during an emergency, immunizations for residents and staffing provisions. When I asked Stevenson if he would introduce legislation to make these rules legally sound, he said he would not.
"I'm not going to do that. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it. I'd probably support legislation that did it, but it's not something I have time to file," Rep. Stevenson said.
In essence, this is the story of how one lawmaker can try to make sweeping changes to legislation (that's already been passed) in a small committee room, mostly out of the public eye.
There might not be much of one in Missouri, where Republican Sen. Gary Nodler of Joplin has proposed a constitutional amendment. "English shall be the language of all official proceedings in the state of Missouri," is all it says.
And that means what?
"It is what it says," Nodler told me. But his interpretation, Nodler said when pressed, is that state agencies would be absolved from feeling they have to translate documents into other languages. Some of them, though, probably still would provide that service because it would be in the public interest.For instance, the state now administers driver’s license tests in nearly a dozen languages. But other than that, the amendment would be mostly symbolic.
In other words, a complete waste of time.
The bill would create a tax credit that would encourage people and corporations to donate to new education scholarship foundations. Under the bill, 65 percent of a donation would be reimbursed, in the form of reduced taxes. The privately run foundations would then award scholarships averaging $5,000 to students who currently attend one of the 13 school districts in Missouri that lack full state accreditation due to low performance.
According to (Lamar City Administrator Lynn) Calton, he and council members were invited to the plant on Monday to meet the new CEO, Jim Malone, and to tour the plant and have lunch. They were certainly surprised to hear the request concerning the utilities. Calton says the city council has made no response to the request but has discussed the situation and will make a decision soon. He says, “I don’t see any way what they requested can be done.”
Missouri Republican Gov. Matt Blunt's prospective 2008 re-election campaign was not on the agenda of a recent meeting between him and his political team, leading to informed speculation that he might not run for a second term in the barometer state. Republican fortunes in Missouri nose-dived after Blunt, at age 33, rode a 2004 GOP tide to victory. He was at war with his conservative base last year after endorsing a ballot initiative supporting embryonic stem cell research that was passed in the 2006 election. State Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon, the state's most experienced Democratic office-seeker, is expected to be a formidable candidate for governor.
A footnote: Blunt was the only governor present at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's recent presidential fund-raising extravaganza.
Clearly the Blunt investigation was a matter of concern within the Bush administration and his Justice Department. The idea that they "didn't realize" Cummins was investigating a GOP Governor at the time he was asked to resign is simply not plausible.
One of those legislative provisions would force lobbyists to publicly disclose the small campaign donations they collect from clients and "bundle" into large donations to politicians. Bundling is a way for lobbyists to contribute far more money to candidates and thus wield far more influence than they could by making individual contributions, which are currently limited to $2,100 per candidate for each election cycle. Lavish gatherings thrown by lobbyists and corporate interests at party conventions would be banned.
But Graham said Drummond lacks the health-care management background that’s required in the law for the position. "Obviously she's worked as a practicing attorney, but she really hasn’t worked in the health-care field," he said. That's problematic, he said, since Blunt and the General Assembly are planning to launch a massive reformation of Missouri's Medicaid system and health-care delivery service infrastructure.
Throughout her three-year tenure at Montana State, she was given fewer privileges than the male coaches in the athletic department. She claims she was paid 30 percent less than the male coaches and not given benefits that male coaches routinely received, such as use of vehicles and cellular phones. She also contends she was given less autonomy over her team and was forced to use substandard practice facilities.
Convoy of Hope's Disaster Response team quickly reacted to the powerful ice storm. The organization has distributed more than 84,000 pounds of food, water and personal hygiene kits throughout the Ozarks, which includes predominantly the states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, reported the Springfield, Mo., based group on Wednesday. "The Springfield community has done so much to help so many around the world," said Kary D. Kingsland, director of Convoy of Hope U.S. Disaster Response. "We’re happy to come alongside these great organizations and help them serve our friends and neighbors during their time of need."
Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were charged in June with kidnapping, murder and other offenses.Prosecutors allege the squad kidnapped Hashim Ibrahim Awad, took him to a roadside hole and shot him to death. They then placed an AK-47 and shovel by his body to try to make it look like Awad, 52, was an insurgent who had been caught in the act of planting a bomb, prosecutors said. Under their plea deals, the three Marines and the sailor who pleaded guilty each received prison terms of less than two years.
"We've been told we had the storm of the century in 2004, then there was one in 2005, then there were three in 2006. If weather patterns have changed, and I don't know that they have, then we have to change the way we're thinking about utility reliability," Clayton told The Associated Press. "I think all utilities in the state have room for improvement because it seems that the storm patterns we are facing are causing outages on a more frequent basis."
It is an open secret that many members of Congress from both parties would be relieved to scuttle proposed changes in ethics rules. After all, the changes tend to limit the personal perks and political advantages of their positions.
In an interview after the vote, Senator Harry Reid, D-Nev. and majority leader, said, "The Republicans killed ethics reform, period. There is no way to put frosting on this. This is as sour as any piece of legislation."
"We spoke to [author] Peter Golenbock, and we mutually agreed to part ways with this book," Michael Morrison, president of HarperCollins' Harper/Morrow unit, told the Daily News. "We agreed it's probably best for him to sell it elsewhere," Morrison added.
"I think the next President will face a number of tremendous challenges, Jihadists, competition from China, there will be more intense than any other global competition we've faced before, serious issues of our global competitiveness. I think the next President needs to be somebody that's a proven problem solver and I think Gov. Romney is," Blunt said.
The basic problem with reporter shield laws in general is that they amount to governmental licensing of reporters. Sen. Koster's point that the importance of courts being able to compel testimony outweighs the detriment to freedom of the press is well taken, but that is still a value judgment. He and I might think that, Jo Mannies and Steve Kraske would surely disagree. However, all four of us, and Americans in general, should be able to agree that the government should not be handing down judgments on who has the full freedom of the press and who does not.
I concede that it bothers me to see reporters punished for refusing to reveal their sources, and I salute them for sticking to their principles. However, on principle it is clear to me that the potential harms to the free press greatly outweigh the benefits of this law.
Records obtained by The Associated Press show health department regulators had met Jan. 17, 2006, in the office of Drummond - then the department's legal counsel - to discuss why the Anderson home and two others run by Joplin River of Life Ministries Inc. were operating under temporary permits, instead of full licenses. In a Jan. 24 e-mail to Drummond referencing the meeting, the department's long-term care program manager, Bill Toenies, said he and long-term care section director Debra Cheshier "would like to proceed with application denials" for Anderson Guest House and the two Joplin facilities. The e-mail referred to financial problems with the facilities. Instead of denying the licenses, the health department granted a series of temporary operating permits that were revoked only after the fire.
On the House side, Abigail Blunt, the wife of House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), has lobbied for years for Altria Group, the parent company for Kraft Foods and tobacco firm Philip Morris. The couple were married in 2003 and decided about a year ago that Abigail would no longer lobby any part of the House, Blunt's office said yesterday.
Patty A. Renfro
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Patty A. Renfro, 50, passed away on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007, at 4:05 p.m. at Freeman West Hospital in Joplin. She was a homemaker and a member of the College View Baptist Church.
Patty was born on Oct. 12, 1956, in Stella, Mo., to Fred Renfro and Billie English Renfro. Patty was a loving mother, grandmother and sister who will be missed by all who met her.
She is survived by her son, James Renfro and wife, Amy, of Webb City; daughter, Cassie Sofia and husband, Eric, of Joplin; granddaughter, Tommi Jo Sofia, of Joplin; grandson, Brock Renfro, of Webb City; mother, Billie Moffett and husband, Fred, of Joplin; sisters, Tonia Moffett and husband, Don, of Granby, and Mary Lou Messner and husband, Tom, of Joplin; along with numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 1 p.m. in the chapel of Simpson Funeral Home in Webb City. The family will be present on Thursday from 12 to 1 p.m. at the funeral home for a visitation. An open visitation will be on Wednesday from 12 to 5 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Granby Cemetery.
