Billy Long: Donald, it's me, Billy, are you listening?

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

Special Counsel John Durham just released a filing which reveals the full extent of the campaign to spy on and thwart Donald Trump’s presidency. While this filing is preliminary, and more investigations will be done, the information is damning to Hillary Clinton's campaign, the Democratic party and the lamestream media. It’s time to look over what we already know about this truly remarkable disinformation campaign against a sitting President of the United States.

In 2016, Democrats were wildly throwing around accusations that Donald J. Trump was colluding with Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the presidential election that year. They specifically alleged that he had made a deal with Putin and Wikileaks to hack into the Democratic National Committee’s emails, and then leak them to the press. 

They used flimsy false so-called evidence known as the 'Steele Dossier' a fictitious document manufactured by the Clinton campaign. It was used as the basis for subsequent investigations by the FBI. 

The Dossier has been proven to be entirely made up of disinformation. There is of course no actual evidence that President Trump or anyone associated with his campaign were involved in the hacking and leaking of the emails, but this didn’t stop the press from running coverage ad nauseam calling Trump a Russian stooge. 

It didn’t matter that the Dossier was disproven, or even that Special Counsel Mueller’s report revealed that there was no collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russians. 

The media pressed on anyway as their attitude was 'don't bother me with the facts, I have a tale to tell.' They were so entrenched in this fairytale narrative that they couldn’t let it go. Even to this day, millions of Americans wrongly believe this lie that had been widely published by numerous outlets worldwide. 

What many folks don’t know is that it was a massive disinformation campaign, orchestrated by the Hillary Clinton campaign, and championed by the left. Special Counsel Durham’s report reveals just how far they were willing to go to dismantle the Trump presidency.

All of the new information in this filing comes in connection to an indictment of Michael Sussman, by Special Counsel Durham’s team. Sussman was an attorney for the Clinton campaign and is charged with lying to the FBI about his work for the Clinton campaign when he provided them with false information tying the Trump team to a bank with ties to Putin. 

Basically, he gave this information to the FBI while lying about his employment by the Clinton campaign. The latest filing in this case revealed that Sussman also worked with an unnamed tech executive who “had come to access and maintain dedicated servers” for the Executive Office of the President. 

The tech executive mined this data from White House computers, all in an effort to gain derogatory information on now President Trump. This data mining also took place at Trump Tower in New York. Simply put, the Clinton campaign was paying their attorney to spy, not only on the Trump campaign, but on the sitting President of the United States. 

This information was then sent to intelligence agencies to try and connect now President Trump to Russia. They despised him to such a degree that they were willing to steal information from the White House to try and connect him to a crime that did not exist.

President Trump has been saying for years that he was spied on, and the media called it a conspiracy theory. Now that all of this new information has been revealed don't hold your breath for an apology. 

In fact, the same outlets who dedicated wall to wall coverage of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation for years on end, have not spent one minute covering these damning revelations. 

They remain committed to their fantastical views of President Trump, even when all of the evidence shows that they were complicit in the largest political disinformation campaign this country has ever seen, which was bankrolled by Hillary Clinton's campaign. 

 I am eagerly looking forward to seeing how this investigation plays out in the future, because the American people deserve the full truth of what was done to dismantle a duly elected President.

Missouri takes months to process Medicaid applications- longer than the law allows

By Bram Sable-Smith and Phil Galewitz

Kaiser Health News

Aneka French applied for Medicaid in October, not long after Missouri became the 38th state to expand eligibility for the program.

But her application sat for months in a backlog with tens of thousands of others. While she waited, French, 45, an uninsured medical technician from St. Louis, paid out-of-pocket when she was treated at a health clinic for a knee injury last fall.

 

For nearly a decade, Missouri’s Republican political leaders resisted expanding eligibility for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for people with low incomes. It took effect in summer 2021 after a voter ballot initiative passed in 2020. Now, Missouri has more pending applications for MO HealthNet — the name of the state’s Medicaid program — than people enrolled through the expansion. While 64,210 people have been approved as part of the expansion, nearly 73,000 applications were pending as of early February.

In the state’s most recent report, it said it was taking an average of 70 days to process typical applications — longer than the 45 days allowed by federal law.

“This means that in the midst of a raging pandemic, people who are finally able to get health coverage are being left out of the system and are left waiting and waiting,” said Melissa Burroughs, associate director for strategic partnerships at Families USA, a consumer advocacy group. “This is a complete injustice to those hit hard financially and healthwise by the pandemic.”

By contrast, most other states are processing Medicaid applications within a week, with many cases taking less than a day, according to federal data from 2021.

Kim Evans, director of the Missouri Department of Social Services’ Family Support Division, told the MO HealthNet Oversight Committee in February that the delay is due to a shortage of workers that has become more acute because of the pandemic. She also said the agency was stretched thin in the fall when it had to handle applications submitted during open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace, where people sign up for private coverage but can be redirected to Medicaid if they qualify.

Before expansion, Missouri’s Medicaid program did not cover adults without children. Now, Medicaid is available to all Missourians with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $18,800 per year for an individual. Those whose applications are approved will be eligible for coverage retroactive to the month they applied, and possibly up to three months before then.

But Tricia Brooks, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said people waiting to have their applications approved typically keep acting as if they are uninsured, delaying needed care and avoiding preventive services such as health screenings. If they do seek care, they will face large medical bills if their application is later denied.

French, the St. Louis medical technician, was notified in January — three months after she applied — that her Medicaid application had been approved. She said that if she had been approved sooner, she might have gone to an emergency room for her knee injury but didn’t because she was worried about getting stuck with a large bill. Instead, she went to a community health center that charges uninsured patients on a sliding fee scale based on their income.

Missouri is not the first state to experience such delays. When 26 states expanded Medicaid in 2014 under the ACA, many struggled to keep up with the demands of applications. For example, California in June 2014 had a backlog of 900,000 applications, prompting a lawsuit by health advocates.

Patient advocates say Missouri had years to get ready to expand Medicaid. And, they note, Missouri’s delays in processing applications have been an ongoing problem that worsened after expansion.

“At the very least, they are starved for resources, and, at worst, they are doing this on purpose,” Burroughs said.

Brooks said Missouri has consistently taken more than 45 days to process applications. She said that more than 40% of applications in 2018 needed more than 45 days to process and that the number rose above 50% in 2019 and to 60% in 2020.

“Where’s the accountability and federal oversight when there is this kind of historical evidence that Missouri’s eligibility enterprise is significantly out of compliance with federal standards?” Brooks asked. “The situation has worsened, not improved.”

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokesperson Beth Lynk said the agency is aware of the problem and is working with Missouri to bring it into compliance.

The delays in Missouri also stand out because of the state’s long resistance to expansion.

Even after the voters approved the ballot initiative in 2020, the Republican-controlled state legislature refused to fund the expansion, and the state withdrew its plan. In August, a judge ordered the state to start accepting applications from newly eligible adults. Missouri did not begin processing them until Oct. 1 because of a need for computer updates.

Oklahoma expanded Medicaid in much the same way as Missouri: Voters approved it in 2020, to begin July 1, 2021. But Oklahoma has been far quicker to enroll people in its expansion program — more than 230,000 had been enrolled through December 2021, nearly four times as many as Missouri had signed up through early February. Oklahoma gives people an answer as soon as they submit their application.

Washington University health economist Timothy McBride said the patchwork computer systems that Missouri’s Medicaid program uses are extremely outdated and have caused problems for years.

Adding to the challenge, Missouri is reviewing the eligibility of tens of thousands of applications submitted through the federal marketplace during open enrollment. But because the marketplace assesses eligibility, some states that expanded Medicaid recently, such as Virginia and Louisiana, use that federal determination to handle the increased volume of applications and get people enrolled more quickly.

Starting in September, Moshe Biron, 33, of suburban St. Louis called Missouri’s Medicaid help line at least 20 times, spending more than 15 hours on hold trying to figure out whether his five children still qualified for coverage after he started full-time work as a teacher. Through his state senator’s office, he learned in December that his children remained eligible but that he and his wife did not.

Department of Social Services spokesperson Heather Dolce said the Family Support Division was “aggressively tackling” the backlog by offering staffers overtime and prioritizing the oldest applications.

But health advocates criticized the agency for hiring third-party vendors to check the income and address information, which sometimes results in bad data that department staffers must fix. For example, some Medicaid recipients were erroneously flagged as living out of state, triggering a removal and appeals process. The state has paused residency checks at least through February.

Brooks said Missouri’s application processing time could get even worse when the covid public health emergency ends — now slated for mid-April. Federal rules in place during the pandemic have prohibited states from removing Medicaid recipients who are no longer eligible due to income status since March 2020.

But the state will soon have to review every enrollee’s eligibility status, adding thousands of cases to the workload. In December, Missouri had nearly 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees, up from about 861,000 in March 2020.

Danforth wants to find independent candidate to run for U. S. Senate in Missouri

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Former Sen. Jack Danforth is looking for a centrist Republican to run an independent race for the U.S. Senate this year in Missouri — and said Friday there would be “a lot of resources” to help the campaign.

Danforth, who left the Senate in 1994 after three terms, enlisted a polling firm, Miami-based Bendixen & Amandi International, and an emerging political group, the Serve America Movement, to gauge whether Missouri is ready for an alternative in November.

The results, based on a survey of 800 voters in the first week of February, is that they are. A generic Republican nominee aligned with former President Donald Trump was chosen by 31 percent, as was a generic Democratic nominee aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. A Republican-leaning independent was selected by 28 percent of those polled.

When the poll used the names of the “current leading candidates” for both major parties, the Republican nominee got 27%, the Democratic nominee 25%, and the independent 26%, a news release stated without giving the names of the candidates polled.

The ideal candidate, Danforth said in an interview Friday, would be someone known to Missourians who accepts that the most important thing the nation needs is someone who wants to soothe partisan divisions paralyzing the government.

“It needs to be a center-right Republican who believes in the basic message, and the basic message is that the project of America is to hold ourselves together and the two parties intentionally are tearing us apart,” Danforth said. “This is our opportunity for Americans to come together regardless of party.”

The poll is being released to attract the interest of potential candidates, not because there is a campaign ready or someone waiting to join the race, Danforth said. He added that he is not interested in being a candidate again.

“There is not a network of anything,” Danforth said. “There’s me and 80 percent who answered the poll. This would have to be a very, very well-financed campaign. Do I believe those resources would be available? Yes. I think it would be a very serious campaign with a lot of resources.”

Filing opens Tuesday for the August primary in the race to succeed Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican who is stepping aside after two terms in the Senate.

 

Major Republican candidates in the primary are former Gov. Eric Greitens, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, U.S. Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long, and St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey. Democratic candidates include Air Force veteran Jewel Kelly, Marine veteran Lucas Kunce, community college professor Gena Ross, activist Tim Shepard, former state Sen. Scott Sifton and businessman Spencer Toder.

Greitens, who left office in 2018 as lawmakers moved to impeach him and while under indictment, accused of violent sexual misconduct during a 2015 affair, is leading the GOP field. Recent polling showed him with a narrow lead over Kunce, the Democrats’ most prolific fundraiser, worrying Republicans that the seat is in jeopardy if he is nominated, Politico reported.

Missouri has not elected an independent to the U.S. Senate since direct election of Senators began in 1913. Two of the 100 current members of the Senate, Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are independents but they caucus with Democrats, making an even 50-50 split.

Democrats have the majority on the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, and keeping the Missouri seat in Republican hands is vital for hopes of a GOP takeover.

Pushing for an independent candidate isn’t about stopping one individual, Danforth said.

“I think the Republican candidates, and I have been following them pretty closely, are indistinguishable,” Danforth said, adding “If there is a distinction, it is without a difference. I am not impressed by any of them but I also don’t want Chuck Schumer to be the majority leader.”

The polling data suggests voters are ready for an alternative.

Asked if they favor a Republican aligned with former President Donald Trump, believes Trump won in 2020 and opposes President Joe Biden’s agenda, 47% said they agree and 48% said they did not. Asked if having a Democrat who supported Biden and believes attempts to overturn the 2020 election led by Sen. Josh Hawley led “to a deadly insurrection,” 42% said they agree and 51% said they did not.

Danforth has long been critical of the growing partisanship in national politics and in 2017, became estranged from many Republicans by calling for them to distance themselves from Trump.

Danforth was also an early supporter of Hawley and played a key role in getting him to run for U.S. Senate in 2018.

After the Jan. 6 insurrection last year, Danforth said Hawley had a major share of the blame.

“I wouldn’t say he was storming the battlements himself,” Danforth said, “but he was certainly lighting the match in the middle of the forest and creating the situation where all this occurred.”

The effort to find an independent candidate isn’t about personalities, Danforth said.

“It goes deeper than that,” he said. “My views of Josh are well known, but we will need a lot of people who are Hawley believers and anti-Hawley people.”

Asked if they wanted an alternative who would work to close divisions, 67% said they agree.

On other questions, 72% said both parties are too extreme and 80% said the country is close to a constitutional crisis because of partisanship.

The Save America Movement is a Colorado-based group seeking to form a new centrist party. While it helped with the poll, Danforth said the quest to find an acceptable independent is not aligned with that group or any other political party.

“I just want to put that out there and see what happens,” he said of the poll.

The partisanship of both parties treats disagreements as a war and it is creating the worst divisions since the Civil War, Danforth said.

“The project of America is to hold ourselves together and the two parties intentionally are tearing us apart and this is our opportunity for Americans to come together, regardless of party,” he said.

The sentiments of President Abraham Lincoln in his First Inaugural Address express the tone he is looking for, he said.

Lincoln told the rebelling southern states that they were not enemies and that he hoped “the mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

“So much depends on touching the better angels of our nature and that is what the campaign would be about,” Danforth said.

Court document- H. E. Williams employee used company money to buy items for himself, children

 A former H. E. Williams employee not only downloaded child pornography on his work computer and company-issued phones but stole tens of thousands of dollars from the company for years, according to a motion for a detention hearing filed Thursday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

After an 18-minute detention hearing this morning, Judge David P. Rush ordered Shane Tyler Barton, 55, Carthage, held without bond while awaiting trial.

Barton has been held in the Greene County Jail since being arrested Tuesday. The probable cause affidavit indicates Barton downloaded child pornography between August 17, 2017, and January 5, 2022.

H. E. Williams officials discovered the child pornography on Barton's computer and contacted the FBI, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The motion for the detention hearing indicated Barton admitted to using his work computer and phones to download child pornography and to stealing from H. E. Williams.

In addition, the Government submits that following his arrest in connection with the Complaint, Defendant participated in a post-Miranda interview wherein he admitted to viewing child pornography for multiple years. 

The defendant further admitted to knowing what he was doing was illegal. 

In relation to the history and characteristics of the defendant, preliminary investigation reveals that in addition to the aforementioned conduct, the defendant had been stealing at least tens of thousands of dollars from his prior employer for multiple years. 

During his post-Miranda interview, Defendant admitted he had utilized company funds to purchase items for himself and others, including multiple items for children.

Education committees clash over bill of rights legislation for Kansas parents

By Tim Carpenter

Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — House and Senate committees conducted back-to-back hearings Wednesday on legislation establishing an educational bill of rights for parents of public school children that extended beyond information about routine academic pursuits to include boundaries for handling moral and religious topics.

While the Senate version centered on ideas of educational transparency in K-12 schools, the House edition waded into the criminal code by creating a misdemeanor offense to deter exposure of students to obscene materials in schools. 

(Photo- Kansas State Board of Education member Deena Horst, left, and Brittany Jones, an attorney with Kansas Family Voice, sat together despite being on opposite sides of a House and Senate debate about imposing unprecedented public disclosure laws applicable to Kansas public schools regarding student curriculum and teacher training materials- Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

The House committee also would eliminate the so-called affirmative defense to legal action relied on by educators when stepping into controversial areas of the curriculum.

The House bill would block school districts from negatively evaluating teachers or not renewing contracts of educators based on a refusal to instruct students in ideas conflicting with their personal religious beliefs or who declined to teach ideas couched as critical race theory and related racial philosophies.

The version introduced in the House outlined how school districts would be required to inventory all library books or materials for the purpose of attaching a “parental review” label if found to include sexual conduct, violence or profanity.

Sen. Pat Pettey, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, said the package of parental rights woven into both bills — the two-page Senate Bill 496 and nine-page House Bill 2662 — was modeled after recommendations of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The Kansas legislation was supported by seven people and opposed by more than 100 individuals who submitted testimony to the committees.

Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at the conservative Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, said Kansas would be wise to establish a parents’ bill of rights because politically charged content was spreading nationally through nearly every grade and subject area. More than 20 states have introduced education transparency legislation comparable to the bills in Kansas, he said.

He said many teachers were convinced their mission was to connect history, science, math and other subjects to politics so as to “open the eyes of students to a more enlightened or woke worldview.” He said “academically discredited” essays in the “1619 Project” produced by the New York Times had been adopted by classrooms in all 50 states without proper scrutiny of those materials.

Chaparral High School senior Mattelyn Swartz, the only student to present testimony on the transparency legislation, said she planned to go to college to become a teacher. She opposed the Legislature’s intrusion into classrooms.

“The bill limits educational opportunities and ties the hands of an educator to provide a learning environment that is engaging and individualized,” she said.

Adam Proffitt, budget director for Gov. Laura Kelly, said the legislation would require school districts to absorb millions of dollars in costs associated with formation of online portals of curriculum information and evaluation of library materials. He said the House bill had potential of increasing lawsuits involving school districts.

Vilification of teachers

During the Senate Education Committee, proponents were excited about a bill of rights affirming the right of parents to learn more about curriculum presented to their children. Skeptics said the legislation duplicated existing district policies and state laws. For example, existing state law known as the Parental Rights Act, or KSA 38-141(b), declared public policy of the state that parents “shall retain the fundamental right to exercise primary control over the care and upbringing of their children in their charge.”

Lauren Tice Miller, who lobbies for the Kansas National Education Association, said the proposed bill of rights would erode relationships between teachers and parents by forcing investment of time and money into an online format for communication.

“There is no doubt that this website will serve as an avenue for dark-money funded, non-educator special-interest groups to cherry pick information, remove the context, distribute misinformation and ultimately vilify these same public-school teachers,” Tice Miller said.

Michael Poppa, executive director of the Mainstream Coalition, said the legislation demonstrated eagerness among some politicians to cater to a narrow slice of parents angry about public schools.

“They shouldn’t have the right to threaten teachers, ban materials or books that present a viewpoint outside of their own,” he said.

Under the House and Senate bills, parents of K-12 students would have the ability to inspect materials, activities, curriculum, lessons, syllabi, surveys, tests, questionnaires, examinations, books, magazines, handouts, and professional development and training materials posted online to each district’s new parent transparency portal.

Parents would have the right to object to learning materials or activities that allegedly impaired a parent’s firmly held beliefs, values or principles. The bill would guarantee the right of a parent to withdraw a child from the school activities, classes or programs.

'Not some radical idea'

Brittany Jones, an attorney with the Christ-centered organization Kansas Family Voice, said government, schools and the church had a role to fill in educational development of children. A bill of rights guarantees parents or guardians an opportunity to prevent exposure of children to objectionable materials, she said.

“The policy being proposed today is not some radical idea,” Jones said. “Parents are best positioned to know and raise their kids. Educational institutions can be an asset to this relationship.”

Under the Senate bill, a school would be expected to avoid K-12 curriculum and teacher development services that promoted “racially essentialist” doctrine in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The provision in the Kansas legislation was in response to concern about critical race theory or CRT, said Mike O’Neal, a lobbyist with the Kansas Policy Institute.

He said these materials escaped sufficient public scrutiny, which advanced theories that educators were trying to indoctrinate students with certain ideologies or get them to question certain values and beliefs.

“It is a virtual certainty that these issues will play a major role in upcoming primary and general election races across the country and in Kansas,” O’Neal said.

Judith Deedy, executive director of Game On for Kansas Schools, said this portion of the bill raised a baseless accusation that violations of civil rights law were occurring in schools. It’s troubling the civil rights act was being used to attack diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives implemented to make every child find a sense of belonging at school, Deedy said.

Parents would be allowed under the Kansas legislation to inspect written and electronic records maintained by a school for their children. The parents also would be able to review instructional materials used to teach a child. Under the bills, health decisions for the child would include authority to make decisions about vaccinations or immunizations. There was controversy in the Senate as to whether it meant parents could sidestep current inoculation standards for children.

Red-flagging books

Buhler teacher Samantha Neill, the 2018 Kansas Teacher of the Year, said the legislation was harmful because it would exacerbate the state’s critical shortage of highly qualified educators by driving off good teachers, she said.

“Not because they have something to hide, but because this bill puts into question the kind of people they are. These educators are the people you sit next to at church, visit with at ball games, and stand in line next to at your local grocery store,” Neill said.

The House bill diverged from the Senate’s version by deleting the affirmative defense provided in state law for educators accused of criminal presentation of obscene subject matter. An affirmative defense allowed an educator to introduce evidence, and if found credible, negate liability even if it was proven a defendant committed the alleged acts.

The House legislation would require school districts to provide an online inventory of all library materials. Each item — book, magazine, newspaper, poster, picture, film, record, video — must be evaluated to determine whether it required a “parental review” designation due to sexual, profane or violent content.

A parent’s request for a warning label would have to be accepted unless the item was “unequivocally not deserving of such designation.” The metric for determining whether materials were offensive would be based on contemporary community standards of pornography.

Thomas Witt, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Kansas, said he opposed removal of the affirmative defense for teachers presenting curriculum-approved materials and the move to allow teachers to claim religious exemptions to teaching course materials they were hired to deliver. Both ideas have been proposed and rejected in the past by the Legislature.

“Unfortunately, like so many other truly wretched ideas in this building, it’s back,” he said.

Hartzler, 41 colleagues urge Defense Department to stop discharging those who refuse vaccination

(From Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler)

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), alongside 41 of her House Republican colleagues, urged the Department of Defense (DoD) to halt efforts to involuntarily discharge members of the military who have refused vaccination until an in-depth review of natural immunity is complete and the Department has issued uniform procedures for vaccine exemptions.

Section 720 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 requires the DoD to establish uniform procedures and expects the department to fully consider natural immunity. This includes eligibility timelines for consideration of exemptions for service members nearing separation and retirement in the development of uniform procedures relating to administrative exemptions.

In the letter, the members state:

“We are gravely concerned that the military services are proceeding with involuntary discharges when it is unclear to us whether uniform procedures have been issued by the Department of Defense. If the Department of Defense has not issued uniform procedures or reviewed the inclusion of natural immunity and the military services are moving forward with involuntary discharges, then we believe the Department is ignoring and violating Section 720. Congress included this language to protect our service members, and we expect the Department of Defense to abide by the law.”

House Members joining Hartzler in this effort are Reps. Doug Lamborn, Elise M. Stefanik, Brian J. Mast, David B. McKinley, P.E., Darrell Issa, Kevin Hern, Rodney Davis, Bill Huizenga, Yvette Herrell, Michael Waltz, Bill Posey, Michael Guest, David G. Valadao, Thomas P. Tiffany, Pete Stauber, Mike Kelly, Andy Biggs, Neal P. Dunn, M.D., Gus M. Bilirakis, Dan Crenshaw, Randy K. Weber, Sr., Louie Gohmert, Lauren Boebert, Glenn Grothman, Alex X. Mooney, Mo Brooks, Joe Wilson, Scott DesJarlais, M.D., Jack Bergman, David Schweikert, Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Bruce Westerman, Jim Banks, Eric A. "Rick" Crawford, Jodey C. Arrington, Barry Moore, Christopher H. Smith, Victoria Spartz, Ted Budd, and W. Gregory Steube.

Agenda posted for Joplin City Council meeting

JOPLIN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2022
5th FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS
602 S. MAIN ST. JOPLIN MO
6:00 P.M.

1.

Call To Order

Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America

2.

Roll Call

3.

Presentations

1.

Joplin Area Chamber Of Commerce Quarterly Presentation

Documents:

1. 1ST QTR 2022 CHAMBER-MOKAN ED REPORT.PDF

2.

Fire Station 7 Update

Documents:

1. STATION 7 FLOOR PLAN 2-9.PDF
2. STATION 7 PROJECT SCHEDULE.PDF
3. JOPLIN FS7_EQUIPMENT LIST_100 PERCENT DD.PDF
4. JOPLING FS7_ELEVATION IMAGE.PDF
5. JOPLIN FS 7 DD COST ESTIMATE.PDF
6. FIRE STATION 7 UPDATE FOR 02-22 PDF.PDF

4.

Finalization Of Consent Agenda

5.

Reports And Communications

1.

News From The Public Information Office

6.

Citizen Requests And Petitions

7.

Public Hearings

8.

Consent Agenda

1.

Minutes Of February 7, 2022, City Council Meeting

Documents:

1. FEB 7, 2022 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES.PDF

2.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-104

AN ORDINANCE authorizing the City of Joplin to enter into an agreement with United Plumbing, Inc., for the Private Side I & I Reduction Pilot Project; authorizing the City Manager or his designee to execute the same by and on behalf of the City of Joplin.

Documents:

1. CB2022-104.PDF

3.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-250

AN ORDINANCE amending Ordinance No. 2004-256, passed by the Council of the City of Joplin, Missouri, November 15, 2004, by removing from District R-1 (Single-family  Residential)and including in District R-2 (Two-Family Residential) property as described below and located at Northwest Corner of N. Oliver Ave. and W. A. St., City of Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri.

Documents:

1. CB2022-250.PDF

9.

Resolutions

10.

Ordinances - Emergency

1.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-501

AN ORDINANCE amending the Annual Budget of the City of Joplin for the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 as adopted by Ordinance 2020-156 on October 19, 2020, to adjust appropriations and containing an emergency clause. 

Documents:

1. CB 2022-501 SUMMARY BUDGET AMENDMENT FY 2021.PDF
2. CB 2022-501 BUDGET AMENDMENT ORDINANCE.PDF
3. CB 2022-501 SCHEDULE A 2021 BUDGET AMENDMENT FEBRUARY 21 2022.PDF

2.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-502

AN ORDINANCE approving a Contract by and between the City of Joplin and Segal to update the City’s Rules and Regulations Manual; authorizing the City Manager to execute said Contract by and on behalf of the City of Joplin; and containing an emergency clause.  

Documents:

1. CB 2022-502 SUMMARY RULES AND REGULATIONS UPDATE CONTRACT AGREEMENT.PDF
2. CB 2022-502 RULES AND REGULATIONS UPDATE CONTRACT AGREEMENT.PDF
3. CB 2022-502 EXHIBIT A COJ CONSULTING AGREEMENT 2022 RULES AND REGULATIONS RFP.PDF
4. CB 2022-502 RULES REGULATIONS RFP.PDF
5. CB 2022-502 SEGAL BID RESPONSE.PDF
6. CB 2022-502 FINAL OVERALL SUMMARY SCORE FOR RULES AND REGULATIONS RFP.PDF
7. CB 2022-502 SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW COMMENTS.PDF

3.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-503

AN ORDINANCE adopting the Housing Revitalization Plan to be used as a guideline for Strategy One of the Action Plans to help Address Declining Neighborhoods; and, amending the Annual Budget of the City of Joplin for the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 as adopted by Ordinance 2021-149 on October 18, 2021; and, containing an emergency clause. 

Documents:

1. CB 2022-503 SUMMARY ADOPTING HOUSING REVITALIZATION ACTION PLAN.PDF
2. CB 2022-503 ADOPTING HOUSING REVITALIZATION ACTION PLAN ORDINANCE.PDF
3. CB 2022-503 HOUSING REVITALIZATION PLAN DOCUMENTS.PDF

4.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-602

AN ORDINANCE approving a contract for grant money by and between the City of Joplin, Missouri and the Missouri Department of Transportation dealing generally with the Full Time DWI Unit, Hazardous Moving Violations Enforcement, and DWI Enforcement in the amount of Ninety-Three Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($93.250.00); authorizing the City Manager to execute the same by and on behalf of the City of Joplin, Missouri; and containing an emergency clause.

Documents:

1. HMV-OVERTIME.PDF
2. DWI SATURATION.PDF
3. DEDICATED IMPAIRED DRIVING ENFORCEMENT.PDF
4. SUMMARY ITEM 2022-602 MODOT GRANTS (002).PDF
5. COUNCIL BILL 2022-602 MODOT GRANTS.PDF

11.

Ordinances - First Reading

1.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-105

AN ORDINANCE authorizing the City of Joplin to enter into a work authorization with Allgeier, Martin and Associates, Inc. for engineering consulting services not to exceed the amount of Two Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand and no/100 Dollars ($255,000.00) for the Turkey Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) Screw Pumps and Equipment Building, authorizing the City Manager or his designee to execute the same by and on behalf of the City of Joplin.

Documents:

1. GS 2022-105 TCWWTF SCREW PUMP AND EQUIPMENT BUIDLING.PDF
2. CB 2022-105 TCWWTF SCREW PUMPS AND EQUIP BUILDING.PDF
3. WA AMA 22-002 TURKEY CRK WWTF SCREW PUMPS AND EQUIPMENT BLDG.PDF
4. AMAONCALLENGINEERING-02112022084340.PDF

2.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-106

AN ORDINANCE authorizing the City of Joplin to enter into a work authorization with Allgeier, Martin and Associates, Inc. for engineering consulting services not to exceed the amount of Two Hundred Ninety Three Thousand and no/100 Dollars ($293,000.00) for Shoal Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) Centrifuge and Boiler, authorizing the City Manager or his designee to execute the same by and on behalf of the City of Joplin.

Documents:

1. GS 2022-106 CENTRIFUGE BOILER (1).PDF
2. CB 2022-106 CENTRIFUGE BOILER (1).PDF
3. WA AMA 22-001 SHOAL CRK WWTF CENTRIFUGE AND BOILER.PDF
4. AMAONCALLENGINEERING-02112022084340.PDF

3.

COUNCIL BILL NO. 2022-109

AN ORDINANCE authorizing the City of Joplin to enter into a work authorization with Allgeier, Martin and Associates, Inc. for engineering consulting services not to exceed amount of One Hundred Thirty Thousand and 00/100 dollars ($130,000.00) for engineering design services associated with the Tin Cup Trail bridge design; and authorizing the City Manager or his designee to execute the same by and on behalf of the City of Joplin.

Documents:

1. AMA TIN CUP TRAIL BRIDGE WORK AUTHORIZATION ORDINANCE.PDF
2. AMA TIN CUP TRAIL BRIDGE WORK AUTHORIZATION SUMMARY SHEET.PDF
3. WORK AUTHORIZATION AMA-OC-22-007 TIN CUP TRAIL BRIDGE.PDF

12.

Ordinances - Second Reading And Third Reading

13.

Unfinished Business

14.

New Business

1.

Confirm Boards And Commissions Appointments

Sam Graves: Biden making it harder and harder for family farmers to get by

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

I'm the 6th generation in my family to farm. My son is the 7th generation. I hope one day my grandchildren will be the 8th, but, with each passing day, the dream of passing this way of life on to the next generation seems to get more and more difficult.

Farming has never been easy, but these days it seems like we can't catch a break. Yes, commodity prices are up, but the cost of absolutely everything else has gone through the roof. 

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Fertilizer prices have shot up more than 300 percent in some cases. And, the going rate for a decent used tractor these days is an arm and a leg—a good one will just about cost you your first-born child.

To make matters worse, we've got a man in the White House now who isn't willing to stand up for us. In 2020, President Trump signed a Phase One trade deal with China to try and level the playing field for farmers. Since then, China hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain—not even close. China has fallen more than $16 billion short of the agricultural purchases they promised to make. President Biden has done nothing to hold them accountable for cheating American farmers.

Instead, he's thrown a wrench in natural gas production. That's part of why nitrogen fertilizer prices have gone up. On top of that, his massive spending spree has fueled inflation, sending the price of diesel fuel and everything else skyrocketing. That's put virtually every farmer I know between a rock and a hard place. This can't continue.

I wrote President Biden this week demanding he finally stand up for farmers and make sure China lives up to their end of the Phase One trade deal. If he truly is concerned about farmers, he owes them an explanation for why he’s been letting China get away with this and then fix it. Until that happens and he stops his spending spree that's driving inflation, it's going to keep getting harder and harder for family farmers to get by.

Politico: Trump called Billy Long, told him to ditch Senate campaign, return to House seat

The Politico Playbook today included a breakdown of the Missouri Senate race and the maneuvering that continues between the candidates.

Reportedly, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants anybody but former Gov. Eric Greitens to win the nomination, not surprising since Greitens has been attacking McConnell and saying he wants to see him replaced.

The fear has been that having a large number of candidates plays to Greitens' advantage since he has a steady 25 percent supporting him and can win if the others split the vote.

Sen. Josh Hawley endorsed Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, while Attorney General Eric Schmitt picked up the endorsement of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Seventh District Congressman Billy Long's only chance appears to be to gain the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, something that Trump has told him is not going to happen unless his poll numbers improve.

In December, after Long failed to do that, multiple sources tell us that Trump called Long and asked him to seek reelection to the House, gently suggesting he bow out of the Senate race. “We really need you in the House,” Trump said, according to someone familiar with the call.

Long ignored the advice. 

At the moment, the article says Trump is not inclined to endorse Greitens.

The former president, we’re told, doesn’t like Greitens. While Trump often sides with men accused of sexual misconduct over the women who accuse them — and has asked some associates if they thought Greitens’ past sexual exploits could have been consensual — he’s also shown contempt for him. “What kind of guy ties a woman up in the basement against her will?” Trump recently asked one confidant.

Attorney General says he can tell health departments what they can't do, not his job to tell them what they can

By Tessa Weinberg

Missouri Independent

Attorney General Eric Schmitt told lawmakers Wednesday it’s not his office’s job to advise local public health agencies on what mitigation measures they still have the authority to pursue — even after numerous departments ceased such efforts following the attorney general’s threats of legal action.

“We represent the state,” Schmitt said. “We don’t represent the local health boards.”

Schmitt’s comments came during a House Budget Committee hearing Wednesday, during which Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, raised questions about the attorney general’s enforcement of a consequential court ruling and his lawsuits against school districts with mask mandates.

(Photo by Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications)

A November ruling by Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green declared COVID-19 health orders issued unilaterally by unelected health authorities “null and void.” Schmitt has fiercely sought its enforcement, including sending letters to public health departments across the state warning that if they didn’t comply with the ruling they would face litigation.

In the wake of Schmitt’s letter, over a dozen health departments stopped aspects of their COVID mitigation work, like posting case numbers or requiring quarantines of close contacts in schools.

Records obtained by The Independent last month revealed that the confusion and uncertainty caused by the ruling and Schmitt’s letter also hampered public health officials’ efforts to control the spread of other infectious diseases.

Merideth said Schmitt’s letters were viewed as a threat, and questioned if it wasn’t also the attorney general’s responsibility to follow up and clarify with health departments “here are the only things I’m telling you that you need to stop.”

“The purpose of that letter was to advise what the ruling said,” Schmitt said. “As far as the specific applications for each one of those individual boards, that’s probably not the business we’re going to be in. But we did want to make clear what the ruling stood for. And that’s why we got the letter out afterwards.”

Schmitt said he was unclear if health departments had reached out to his office for clarity on the ruling, but that it was unlikely.

Local public health officials previously said silence from the state on the court ruling and its impacts has left them feeling like “we are on our own” and contributed to a patchwork interpretation of what authority they still retain.

“If you’re going to go in and make a demand,” Merideth said to Schmitt Wednesday, “then you’ve taken on the responsibility of giving them guidance as to what the law is.”

Schmitt said if any clarification was needed, he believed that the legislature was the entity to accomplish it.

A spokeswoman for DHSS said last month that the department had not proposed any legislative fixes or emergency rules to reestablish authority that the ruling struck down. Green’s decision to reject counties and health departments from intervening in the court case is currently being appealed and the Missouri Supreme Court has been requested to take up the case.

Schmitt said it was his decision not to pursue an appeal of the ruling, like the state health department had requested.

Merideth raised whether there was a conflict of interest between Schmitt publicly opposing DHSS’ position while at the same time the attorney general’s office represented the state health department in the case.

“I represent the people of this state. And that decision was a sound ruling, and we made a decision not to appeal,” Schmitt said. “And by the way, that’s what attorneys general have done since the beginning of time.”

One such example that Schmitt cited during Wednesday’s hearing centered around Christine Busalacchi’s right to die. In the 1990s the state fought to keep her alive, launching a lengthy court battle. But former Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon declined to continue to pursue the state’s case and requested it be dismissed, which was granted by the Missouri Supreme Court.