State Funds For New Crime Lab
SPRINGFIELD (AP) - Southwest Missouri will get its new state crime lab now that the governor has agreed to use $400,000 to cover a last-minute funding gap. The Springfield crime lab project is expected to cost nearly $6 million. It is funded by a mix of state and federal money and city bonds. But the project in Springfield had faced a delay after the Legislature failed to pass a funding bill in the last session. Now, Gov. Matt Blunt has announced a plan to use money from the state's leasing budget to cover a down payment until the rest of the state funds can be approved in the next legislative session. The Highway Patrol says the new crime lab will help reduce the waiting time for analysis now done at the patrol's main lab in Jefferson City.