| Higher Ed. Board Suspends Leader Search |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - The Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education has suspended its search for a new commissioner until more is known about the agency's future. Commissioner of Higher Education Robert Stein has announced he will retire in July. The Department of Higher Education said Friday the search will be on hold for at least four weeks. Gov. Jay Nixon has recommended combining the departments of Higher Education and Elementary and Secondary Education to save money. The consolidation would need approval by voters. Stein also said Friday he's working on a plan to eliminate up to one-fourth of the 31 agency jobs that are at least partly funded with general state revenues. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| St. Louis County in running for federal grant |
CLAYTON (AP) - St. Louis County has been awarded a federal grant of more than $7.5 million to help people quit smoking. The county announced the news Friday. A similar announcement was made in Washington by first lady Michelle Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Forty-four communities around the country are being awarded Prevention and Wellness grants. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Palin To Make Mo. Appearance |
| INDEPENDENCE (AP) - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak next week at a one-day conference in Independence sponsored by a group called Preserving American Liberty. Tickets to Palin's appearance Thursday at the "Winning America Back" conference go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday. General admission tickets cost $50 and priority tickets go for $75. The event runs from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Independence Events Center, with several other speakers and panelists also on the schedule. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Corps Cancels Spring Missouri River Rise |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Melting snow has prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cancel plans to release extra water into the Missouri River to help an endangered fish. The corps said Friday that river flows are too high because of snow melting in eastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. There also is some flooding. The corps originally planned a two-day pulse that was to begin next week. It is designed to prompt spawning of the pallid sturgeon. The March rise has happened only once -- in 2008. It was canceled in 2006 and 2007 because there was not enough water in the river's reservoirs. In 2009, the pulse was canceled because water flows were too high. A second pulse is scheduled for May. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Reward Offered For Info On Waldo Rapist |
| KANSAS CITY (AP) - The reward for information leading to the capture a man who is believed to have raped five women in a Kansas City neighborhood is $3,000 fatter. Investigators have received about 700 tips in their search for the so-called Waldo rapist, who has terrified residents of the Waldo neighborhood. The reward for helping catch him is now $15,000. The latest attack happened last month when a man climbed through an unlocked window in a nearby neighborhood and sexually assaulted a woman in her 30s. Police released a composite sketch of the suspect in January, describing him as black, 6 feet tall, 250 pounds and bald. The rapes have spurred creation of several groups on the social networking site Facebook dedicated to finding the assailant. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| No New Signs of Chronic Wasting Disease |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Environmental officials say tests of 50 captive white-tailed deer in Linn County turned up no signs of chronic wasting disease. State Veterinarian Taylor Woods says it doesn't appear that there is widespread infection in the northern Missouri county's deer herd. A captive white-tailed deer there tested positive for the disease last month. Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose. It has been documented in 15 states and two Canadian provinces. The disease is transmitted live from animal-to-animal or soil-to-animal contact and has never been reported in humans or cattle. The state Department of Conservation continues to test free-ranging deer within 5 miles of where the initial positive case was found. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Blunt and Steelman hold event in St. Charles |
| ST. CHARLES (AP) - U.S. Senate candidate Roy Blunt will be joined by fellow Republican and former state treasurer Sarah Steelman at a news conference in St. Charles. ST. CHARLES (AP) - U.S. Senate candidate Roy Blunt has selected fellow Republican and former state treasurer Sarah Steelman to head a coalition of business people to inform his campaign. The Missouri congressman is the leading Republican in the race to replace retiring Sen. Kit Bond. The Democratic front-runner is Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. Steelman announced in September that she will not run for public office in 2010, ending months of speculation that she was considering a bid for the U.S. Senate or House. She said at a news conference in St. Charles on Friday that she is taking a semester off from teaching economics at Missouri State University to head the coalition. Last year, she called Blunt a "big-spending Republican," and said the public was "sick and tired" of Washington experience. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| 2011 trial set for defendant in sex crime case |
| KANSAS CITY (AP) - The eldest of six family members accused of molesting young relatives two decades ago won't go to court until next year. The Kansas City Star reported that a Clay County judge has set Burrell Mohler Sr.' trial date for Feb. 22, 2011. Mohler will be tried in Liberty after a change of venue to Clay County from Lafayette County. His brother, Darrell Mohler, is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 13, also in Clay County. The two men, along with Burrell Mohler Sr.'s four sons, are charged with raping young relatives over roughly a decade beginning in the mid-1980s. |
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| Train strikes, kills nursing home resident |
| SIKESTON (AP) - A resident of a Sikeston nursing home has died from injuries sustained when a train struck her. The Sikeston Department of Public Safety said in a news release that the accident victim was a 71-year-old resident of the nearby Hunter Acres Caring Center. Her name has not been released. The Southeast Missourian reported that she apparently left the facility and walked to the train tracks Thursday. Sikeston Department of Public Safety chief Drew Juden said the woman was sitting by the tracks when the train came through. The woman was airlifted from the scene, and she later was pronounced dead by the Scott County coroner. The nursing home has released a statement calling what happened a "tragic accident." |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Mo. agency: Private investigators need licenses |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Missouri regulators say there could be hundreds of private investigators operating without a state license. A 2007 law requires people to undergo a background check, pass a licensing exam and carry professional liability insurance to work as a private investigator. The Missouri Division of Professional Registration says it began receiving and approving license applications Feb. 1. But it says there could be hundreds of investigators who still have not applied for a license. Anyone working as a private investigators without a license can be charged with a misdemeanor, or a felony for repeated violations. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| Mo. House panel keeps Amtrak funding |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Missouri House budget writers have decided to spare Amtrak passenger service from cuts in state spending. Missouri's proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes $8.6 million for Amtrak service in the state. Several lawmakers have suggested paring or eliminating the funding in light of the state's revenue crunch. One House member says the Amtrak funding should be spent instead on boosting aid to school districts for buses. Proponents of the Amtrak funding say trains are the future of mass transit and should be supported by the state. The House is expected to debate the budget next week. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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| State checking sewage spill in western creek |
| JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - A state agency says an estimated 107,000 gallons of untreated wastewater leaked into a western Missouri creek earlier this week. The Department of Natural Resources is collecting water samples from Mill Creek in Independence. Residents in the area were being notified. The agency says the spill occurred Tuesday when a lift station overflowed while crews were fixing a broken sewer main. |
| (Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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