Senate Republicans say there was no reason for Secretary of State to eliminate jobs

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Almost two dozen employees in Missouri State Archives and the State Library are on paid leave and will lose their jobs at the end of the month because of a politically motivated budget cut targeting Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.

Twenty-two employees — 17 in the archives, five in the library — were told Friday that they did not need to return to work Monday. The employees are being paid through the end of the month, — the final month of the current budget year — but according to Hoskins could not be retained because of “budget restrictions enacted by the Missouri General Assembly.”

However, the Republican lawmakers behind the cut say it only targeted unfilled positions in the office and there was absolutely no financial reason for Hoskins had to lay off any staff.

Hoskins, a Republican, is former state senator and has been secretary of state since January. While in the General Assembly, he tried repeatedly to cut job slots he said had been unfilled for months or years, arguing that agencies that had functioned without filling some jobs didn’t need the help.

Hoskins was also a member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, which fought harder with the GOP majority leadership than it did against Democrats. State Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican regularly tussled with Hoskins and the Freecom Caucus, punished him earlier this year with a budget amendment cutting 25 of the office’s authorized personnel strength of 267 full time equivalent employees, or FTE, and $680,000 from one of the funds that helps pay salaries.

In the last full year under Hoskins’ predecessor, only 204 of those positions were filled. The office has not used more than 215 of its full time slots for at least eight years.

At the time the cut was made, Cierpiot said it should not require any layoffs.

In a statement to The Independent, Rachel Dunn, spokeswoman for Hoskins, claimed the office had no choice.

 

“The General Assembly did not cut vacant or flexible FTE authority,” she said. “It explicitly eliminated 25 FTEs from our budget, meaning we were required by law to reduce filled positions to meet that mandate. These cuts were not based on current vacancies but on a hard reduction in authorized staffing levels.”

The employees were given leave with pay to allow them time to seek new jobs, she wrote.

“This was done out of respect for their service, and to give them time to plan next steps with dignity, rather than executing immediate unpaid terminations,” Dunn said.

The $19.6 million budget approved for Hoskins’ office operations includes $11.6 million in general revenue and $8 million from other funds. In addition to the archives and library, the office is the state’s chief election authority, the repository of records establishing every business and not-for-profit in the state, and the regulator of securities brokers and sales.

Lawmakers give Hoskins — and every other statewide elected official — complete flexibility in determining whether each dollar is spent on payroll or the expense of maintaining the office.

And in each of the past three years, the office has returned about $3 million unspent to the state treasury, including $300,000 to $400,000 of general revenue.

There was enough money and enough flexibility for Hoskins to retain all his employees, Cierpiot said. The budget change, he said, did not mandate layoffs.

“If Secretary of State Hoskins thinks that he needs to pull back the number of people working at the archives, that’s his decision,” Cierpiot said.

State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said there is no reason Hoskins should have terminated employees.

“I can’t understand a financial reason,” Hough said, “that there isn’t ample personal service dollars within the 100% flexibility that the Secretary of State has to continue paying not only all those folks, but I’m sure they’re still flexing some other dollars associated with the vacant FTEs.”

The problem with looking to the flexibility within the office budget for money to retain the staff is the limited nature of some funds. Money collected to regulate securities can only be spent on that function, Dunn said, and there isn’t enough general revenue to cover the cut in the dedicated funds that support the archive and library functions.

“The legislature cut both the FTEs and associated appropriations,” Dunn said. “Previous administrations had kept many unfilled FTEs on the books, but unfilled FTEs don’t always have funds associated with them. When the legislature cut both unfilled FTEs and payroll funds, our hands were tied.”

The archives is one of the office’s most public-facing functions. It stores and preserves records from the most important to the most mundane and is used for historical and genealogical research. It is also the only part of the office to have regular evening and Saturday hours.

The archives for example, is where the original document for Gov. Lilburn Boggs’ 1838 order that Mormons “must be exterminated or driven from the state” is stored, as is former Gov. Kit Bond’s 1975 order rescinding Boggs’ directive.

Online collections include territorial and state censuses, every volume of the Revised Statutes going back to 1825, and service records for soldiers and sailors from the War of 1812 through World War I.

The archives will have 43 employees after the cut, and the library will have 11, Dunn said.

“The Missouri State Archives are a vital part of our shared history and cultural legacy,” Dunn said. “These cuts will have lasting impacts on public access, preservation, and the historical transparency Missourians deserve.”

Missouri special session begins with lawmakers split on stadium funding plan

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

The opening of the legislative special session Monday put partisan and intraparty fights in the Missouri Senate on display as Democrats called for expanded storm relief and Freedom Caucus members called for tax cuts as the price for supporting stadium subsidies.

Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers together just two weeks after they finished work in the regular session to consider a package of tax incentives intended to convince the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to stay in Missouri.

 

Kehoe is also asking lawmakers for a $235 million spending bill with $25 million for disaster relief as well as a special tax deduction for the cost of meeting insurance deductibles after a disaster.

The brief opening session didn’t feature any sharp exchanges, but the bills filed — and the statements made about them — show where the battle lines are being drawn.

Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, told reporters that members of his caucus aren’t willing to talk about stadium funding until an appropriations bill and other disaster relief measures are on Kehoe’s desk.

“When that happens and it’s through the House and on the governor’s desk, then we can talk about it,” Beck said.

Members of the Freedom Caucus said they are holding out for a tax cut that benefits all Missourians before considering a stadium plan, said state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance.

Schroer filed a bill to cut the top income tax rate to 4% — it is currently 4.7% — and make the tax flat across all incomes.

“​​The members of the Freedom Caucus, plus the other conservative members that are not necessarily in the caucus, they’ve all expressed that whether it’s income tax, personal property tax or real property tax, for us to sit at the table, and allow tax credits for billionaires to move forward, the little guy needs to get something in return,” Schroer said.

The regular session ended in acrimony when Republicans twice invoked a rarely used procedural move to shut off debate. Democrats had blocked a proposed ballot measure to restore Missouri’s ban on most abortions and a bill repealing the paid sick leave law passed by voters in November.

Democrats vowed that the move ended their cooperation with Republicans and gave a taste of what that meant last week when they stalled the final paperwork of the regular session.

Under the Missouri Constitution, lawmakers have 60 days to complete work on items in a special session and Kehoe has said he won’t try to impose an artificial deadline. Because of the uncertainty of action in the Senate, the Missouri House won’t convene until next week and will only remain in session if the Senate has passed a bill for it to consider.

But the Chiefs and Royals have only until the end of the month to answer an offer from Kansas to fund new stadiums. Kehoe hopes to have his plan for tax incentives worth about 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums to be passed by then.

The plan for the Chiefs and Royals would take tax money already generated from activities at the stadiums — $28.8 million annually as estimated by the Chiefs and $15 million annually by an estimate from the Royals — and commit it to bond payments for 30 years for the new or upgraded facilities.

The economic activity associated with the Chiefs supports 4,500 jobs, Kehoe contends, and a new stadium for the Royals would generate about 8,400 jobs.

The spending bill Kehoe wants passed would use $25 million of general revenue to support a new research reactor on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus, plus funding for a new livestock display barn at the State Fairgrounds in Sedalia and about $50 million to help with construction of a new mental hospital in Kansas City.

The funding for the reactor is $25 million less than Kehoe proposed. State Sen. Stephen Webber, a Columbia Democrat, introduced an appropriations bill with $75 million for the reactor, plus all the other general revenue projects that died when Missouri House Republicans refused to bring the construction spending bill up for a vote.

“If there is going to be a $25 million variance on agreements made in this chamber, we ought to go $25 million in the other direction,” Webber said.

Webber also introduced a bill imposing a 1% income tax surcharge on incomes greater than $1 million, which he said would bring in about $400 million over three years to support disaster relief.

“There is obviously a belief, among some, that billionaires should be given a sweetheart deal. I would disagree with that,” Webber said. “There is also some concern about whether we can fund disaster relief for some communities in our state that were desperately hit. So what I’ve tried to do is build a bridge between those two issues.”

State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican who chairs the Freedom Caucus, introduced a bill to finance the stadiums entirely from donations. He called it the “No Taxation, All Donation Act” and included incentives for giving.

“So if somebody gives over $10,000 to this stadium, then they are able to obtain free parking to be able to get into that stadium,” Brattin said.

The next step will be to send the bills to committees for hearings. That will happen tomorrow and the first hearings will occur soon afterward.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Parkville, seemed happy to have gotten past the first day without a filibuster.

“Today went smoothly,” Luetkemeyer said. “And then we’ll just take it day by day and see where we go from here.”

(Photo by Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)

Judge dismisses lawsuit that claimed Diamond R-4 officials ignored 11-year-old girl's sexual assault

 Newton County Circuit Court Judge Charles Genisio dismissed a lawsuit against the Diamond R-4 School District May 21, sustaining a defense motion that said the plaintiffs waited too long to file the suit.

The lawsuit, which was filed March 3, claimed a principal and a teacher ignored the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.

The defense, in a motion filed May 12, cited state statute that says such an action has to be brought within two years of the alleged event. The sexual attack took place October 5, 2022, according to the lawsuit.

More information about the lawsuit can be found at the link below:

The Turner Report: Lawsuit claim: Diamond R-4 officials ignored 11-year-old girl's sexual assault

Jason Smith: Big Beautiful Bill rebuilds American economy for hard working families

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

On May 22, House Republicans took an important step toward delivering lasting tax relief to the American people by passing President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill. 

The bill, which now awaits consideration by the Senate, is packed full of America First tax reforms that reward hard work, bring jobs back home, expand opportunity, and most importantly, rebuild the American economy for hardworking families across our nation.

As the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, I worked with my fellow committee members to write the tax provisions in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill. We made sure that the policies in the bill put farmers, ranchers, small businesses, seniors, and working families first. Not only does the legislation lock in the successful 2017 Trump tax cuts, it also builds on that foundation with bold, pro-growth reforms that will directly benefit the hardworking folks of southeast and south-central Missouri.

Under The One, Big, Beautiful Bill, families will be protected from a $1,700 tax hike and instead receive a $1,300 tax cut. The average household would see up to a $13,000 increase in their take-home pay. It increases the Child Tax Credit, which benefits more than 70,000 families in Missouri’s 8th Congressional District. In addition, the bill locks in the doubled guaranteed standard deduction from the 2017 Trump tax cuts and enhances it, giving additional relief to 94 percent of taxpayers in Missouri’s 8th Congressional District.

But that’s not all: every newborn child would receive a Trump savings account to prepare for their futures, and adoptive families would receive partial refundability of the Adoption Tax Credit. Republicans’ pro-growth and pro-family agenda will create more jobs with bigger paychecks.

The One, Big, Beautiful Bill also delivers on President Trump’s promise of no tax on tips, overtime pay, and car loan interest. Americans working overtime get up to $1,750 more in their pocket under this bill, and those working for tips get $1,700. For example, a single mom with two children and working as a waitress would receive a $3,410 tax cut starting next year as compared to what she pays today, in part from the increased Child Tax Credit and no taxes on tips and overtime. President Trump’s no tax on tips and overtime, combined with permanently lower tax rates and a doubled standard deduction, will help working-class folks afford the roof over their head, feed their families, and build their financial security.

With this bill, Republicans are keeping President Trump’s promise to help seniors afford their cost of living through an expanded senior deduction. Each senior will receive an additional bonus of $4,000 to the standard deduction. This would help low- and middle-income seniors like my aunt who worked as a Walmart greeter to supplement her Social Security check. By keeping his promise to help seniors, President Trump is ensuring millions more Americans will be able to afford groceries, cover the cost of medications, and enjoy a dignified retirement.

As a rancher and small business owner, I know how important it is to have good tax policy. That’s why I made sure that The One, Big, Beautiful Bill includes several provisions that would make a real difference for farmers, ranchers, and small businesses – the men and women who drive the economy in southeast and south-central Missouri. 

The bill is projected to lower taxes on farmers by a whopping $10 billion. It makes permanent and increases the doubled Death Tax exemption to help ensure family farms, ranches, and other small businesses can be passed down to the next generation. Additionally, the legislation increases and makes permanent the small business deduction, extends 100% immediate expensing, doubles small business expensing – one-fifth of which is utilized by the American agriculture industry – and provides for immediate expensing for new buildings and other structures used in agriculture and farming.

With this bill, Republicans have an historic opportunity to deliver much-needed tax relief to millions of hardworking Americans. President Donald Trump has been crystal clear about what he wanted Congress to deliver. The House of Representatives has done its job; it’s now time for the Senate to act. I will do everything I can to get this pro-growth, pro-worker, pro-family, and pro-small business legislation to the president’s desk.

Missouri Department of Revenue warns of text message scams

(From Missouri Department of Revenue)

JEFFERSON CITY, MO — The Missouri Department of Revenue urges Missourians to remain alert as another surge in phishing texts has been reported. 

These texts are often threatening and falsely claim to be from a trusted source, such as the Missouri Department of Revenue, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or the DMV. These text messages may include a warning regarding unpaid traffic violations, outstanding toll charges, or other fines owed.

These texts are NOT from the Missouri Department of Revenue and should be treated as scams. The department will not send requests for payment or request personal information via text message. If you receive one of these phishing texts, take the following action:

Do not click on links

Do not provide personal information such as Social Security numbers, banking details, or passwords

Do not respond to the text

Delete the text

Please help increase public awareness and fraud protection by sharing this alert with family, friends, and colleagues.

Joplin man, Mexican national sentenced for bringing meth from Dallas to Joplin

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)

Two men were sentenced in federal court for transporting 8 kilograms of methamphetamine from Dallas, Tx., to the Joplin, Mo., area.

Juan Alvarado-Alvarado, 45, a Mexican national, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 192 months in federal prison without parole, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. Alvarado-Alvarado pleaded guilty on Sept. 23, 2024. Alvarado-Alvarado has two prior felony convictions for illegal reentry into the United States after removal.

Jesus Sanchez, 34, Joplin, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 132 months in federal prison without parole, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. Sanchez pleaded guilty on Nov. 21, 2024.

Alvarado-Alvarado and Sanchez were charged in an indictment returned on June 6, 2022, for possessing, with intent to distribute, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

On May 25, 2022, during a traffic stop, deputies with the Newton County, Mo., Sheriff’s Office seized approximately 8 kilograms of methamphetamine from Alvarado-Alvarado and Sanchez. Later that day, during a post-Miranda interview, Sanchez admitted that he and Alvarado-Alvarado had traveled to Dallas, Tx., to purchase the methamphetamine.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine I. Schlegl. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Ozark Drug Enforcement Team, and the Newton County, Mo., Sheriff’s Office.

Charlie's Chicken fails Joplin Health Department inspection

Charlie's Chicken, 2020 E. 32nd Street, failed its Joplin Health Department inspection today, according to information posted on the department website.

The business recorded six priority violations and six core violations, according to the report.

Priority violations were recorded for the following:

-Several PHFs in the pass through cooler were being cold held above 41 degrees

-Carrots in the hot box were being hot held below 135 degrees

-Tomatoes, cheese and lettuce in the toppings cooler were being cold held above 41 degrees

-Cold sides (cole slaw, cucumber salad, pea salad, pudding) in the cold wells were being cold held above 41 degrees

-Glass cleaner in the prep area was stored over/with food and/or food equipment

-Chemical spray bottle on shelf was stored over/with food and/or food equipment

***

Establishments that passed their inspections today were:

Panda Express, 1531 S. Range Line Road

Range Line Eagle Stop, 3504 S. Range Line Road

Tiffany Nail Studio, 2705 S. Range Line Road

Establishments that passed inspection Friday were:

Old Chicago Pizza, 3320 S. Range Line Road

Red Apple Mart, 901 N Florida Avenue

Missouri Secretary of State fires half of State Archives staff without notice

 

The Jefferson City News Tribune reports two dozen employees of the Missouri State of Archives were fired by the Secretary of State Friday due to budget cuts.

The article describes how the employees were taken into a room, told they were being fired and were escorted from the building.

Despite that, a spokesperson from the Secretary of State's office told the News Tribune that the notion that the employees were given no advance warning was "inaccurate," and that standard protocol was followed.

From the wording of the spokesperson's response, it appears Denny Hoskins' idea of advance notice is letting people know several weeks ago there were budget cuts and people might lose jobs, so all workers should consider themselves given notice that their jobs might be among the casualties.

There is no indication that any of those fired had any inkling before Friday they were the victims of budget cuts.

Reportedly, a couple of people from the state library were also let go.

The idea that the employees were given advance notice appears to be at odds with the official letter sent by the secretary of state to the fired employees, which is dated on the same day the employees were told they no longer had jobs. (The copy of the letter pictured was posted on Democratic activist Jess Piper's Bluesky account.)

The cuts eliminate approximately half of those who were working for the State Archives.

I am hearing from folks that the new Missouri Secretary of State, Denny Hoskins, a MAGA Republican, has fired half of the staff in the State Archives today with no warning. These are people that preserve and provide access to state government records…

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— Jess Piper (@piperformissouri.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:05 PM

Noel officer charged with perjury free on own recognizance after bond reduced from $1,500

 A Noel police officer who allegedly perjured herself on the probable cause statement of a fatal hit-and-run case, turned herself in and is free on her own recognizance.

McDonald County Circuit Court online records indicate Judge John LePage reduced Rhonda Wise's bond from $1,500 to her own recognizance based on the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney.

Wise (DOB 1983) was charged following an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Information Wise included on the probable cause statement that led the McDonald County Prosecuting Attorney to file charges against Gloria Trejo, 53, in connection with the November 2 hit-and-run death of Michael Lynn Pruden, 59, turned out to be falsified, according to the probable cause statement. Charges against Trejo were dismissed.

The Turner Report: Noel police officer charged with committing perjury on probable cause in fatal hit-and-run case

Caught in a Tornado- Joplin Missouri: What You Must Know

 A few weeks ago, Joplin Globe reporter John Hacker, my co-author on 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, and I met with Patrick Hardy, better known as the consultant Disaster Patrick, who was working with KSNF and KODE and created a video sharing tips on how to deal with a tornado warning and the tornado itself.

In an e-mail to me Saturday, Disaster Patrick shared the link to the video and also noted a mistake that was made early in the video when Grand Falls was referred to as Great Falls.

That error doesn't lessen the effectiveness of the video a bit.