July 6, 2019

Quincy Catholics To Honor The Life Of The Nation's First Black Priest

Catholics in Quincy will come together Saturday to commemorate the 122nd anniversary of Father Augustine Tolton’s death. He is widely regarded as the nation’s first black priest.

A mile-long pilgrimage procession will start near the statue of Father Tolton outside of St. Peter Catholic School.

Father Daren Zehnle, with the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, said the pilgrimage recognizes a man who lived by the Bible’s example.

“It’s a way for us to walk from a statue of Father Tolton outside of St. Peter’s School in Quincy to walk about a mile along the streets of the city as a public witness to the holiness of this priest and as a way of inviting others to join us and to pray with us and so that we might imitate him as he imitated Christ,” he said.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/quincy-catholics-honor-life-nation-s-first-black-priest

July 6, 2019

Thousands push for imprisoned Missouri pot farmer's freedom

SPRINGFIELD — More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition for the release of a blind, 79-year-old Missouri pot farmer in federal prison.

The Springfield News-Leader on Wednesday reported that the Change.org petition is in support of Charles F. White. White was sentenced in 2017 to 10 years in prison for growing more than 1,700 marijuana plants on his southwestern Missouri farm.

The newspaper previously reported that a federal judge denied White's motion for compassionate early release. White's attorneys argued that White's vision impairment makes it hard for him in "an aggressive prison population."

Federal prosecutors opposed his early release.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/thousands-push-for-imprisoned-missouri-pot-farmer-s-freedom/article_629673d8-a177-50a7-be80-120d3de6c60b.html

July 6, 2019

Ameren says Missouri customers should see slight rate cut

ST. LOUIS — Ameren Missouri says its customers in the state should see a slight reduction in their electric rates next spring.

The utility filed a proposal Friday with the Missouri Public Service Commission for a $1 million reduction in its revenues from rates. The company said a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month would see a decrease of about 3 cents a month starting in May 2020.

It would be the second rate decrease for its 1.2 million Missouri customers in less than two years. A decrease of $167 million, or 6%, took effect in August 2018, with monthly savings of $6.21 for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours.

The company said the proposal would keep rates stable as pursues $5.3 billion worth of upgrades to its system.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/ameren-says-missouri-customers-should-see-slight-rate-cut/article_f4292c1d-90ec-5857-925a-768c09ab283a.html

July 6, 2019

Ameren says Missouri customers should see slight rate cut

ST. LOUIS — Ameren Missouri says its customers in the state should see a slight reduction in their electric rates next spring.

The utility filed a proposal Friday with the Missouri Public Service Commission for a $1 million reduction in its revenues from rates. The company said a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month would see a decrease of about 3 cents a month starting in May 2020.

It would be the second rate decrease for its 1.2 million Missouri customers in less than two years. A decrease of $167 million, or 6%, took effect in August 2018, with monthly savings of $6.21 for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours.

The company said the proposal would keep rates stable as pursues $5.3 billion worth of upgrades to its system.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/ameren-says-missouri-customers-should-see-slight-rate-cut/article_f4292c1d-90ec-5857-925a-768c09ab283a.html

July 5, 2019

Missouri pays $500,000 after losing campaign finance lawsuit

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri taxpayers footed a more than $500,000 legal bill after the state attorney general lost a case defending a new campaign finance law.

Taxpayers paid attorneys for two lobbying groups that opposed the limits a combined total of roughly $508,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield represented the Association of Missouri Electrical Cooperatives in a lawsuit to overturn the ban.

Todd Graves represented the American Democracy Alliance. The attorneys charged up to $575 an hour for their work against the law.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/missouri-pays-after-losing-campaign-finance-lawsuit/article_461b014d-99d8-5647-ad0e-385281fe8d0a.html

July 5, 2019

Study: Kansas benefits most from federal disaster grants

TOPEKA, Kan. — A study has found that Kansas saves more money, on average, than any other state that uses federal grants to mitigate natural disasters.

The Pew Charitable Trusts recently released its data analysis showing that for every $1 of federal funds spent on protecting against flood and tornado damage, Kansas avoided $6.81 in potential recovery costs. Researchers drew from a previous study of federal disaster mitigation grants between 1993 and 2016.

The data shows Missouri trailed close behind, with each federal dollar saving $6.72, the Kansas News Service reported.

The findings come after Kansas saw heavy rain and flooding this spring, delaying wheat harvests. A May tornado near Pittsburg damaged buildings and toppled power lines and trees.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/study-kansas-benefits-most-from-federal-disaster-grants/article_594570ea-2353-5316-9e7e-02de2efc247a.html

July 4, 2019

PORT HAS FEWER MARITIME JOBS AFTER EXPANSION; AGENCY SAYS OK

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi Gulf Coast port has fewer maritime jobs now than it did before a $570 million restoration and expansion project funded by a federal grant.

But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the state is complying with job-creation requirements. The Sun Herald reports Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is calling the project a success.

Mississippi Development Authority pledged to create 1,300 full-time maritime jobs at the Port of Gulfport in exchange for money HUD provided for economic development after Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005 and damaged the port.

HUD had long questioned whether the port was meeting job goals, but said in a June 25 letter to MDA Executive Director Glenn McCullough that the concerns have been satisfied.

http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2019/07/03/port-has-fewer-maritime-jobs-after-expansion-agency-says-ok/

This sounds very much like the Reagan era "Ketchup is a Vegetable" method of accounting.

July 4, 2019

PORT HAS FEWER MARITIME JOBS AFTER EXPANSION; AGENCY SAYS OK

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi Gulf Coast port has fewer maritime jobs now than it did before a $570 million restoration and expansion project funded by a federal grant.

But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the state is complying with job-creation requirements. The Sun Herald reports Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is calling the project a success.

Mississippi Development Authority pledged to create 1,300 full-time maritime jobs at the Port of Gulfport in exchange for money HUD provided for economic development after Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005 and damaged the port.

HUD had long questioned whether the port was meeting job goals, but said in a June 25 letter to MDA Executive Director Glenn McCullough that the concerns have been satisfied.

http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2019/07/03/port-has-fewer-maritime-jobs-after-expansion-agency-says-ok/

This sounds very much like the Reagan era "Ketchup is a Vegetable" method of accounting.

July 4, 2019

'It truly can be any one of us': Missourians are food insecure all over the state

FOOD INSECURITY: PART 1

When it comes to food insecurity in Missouri, there is no single story. Instead, the narratives are as sweeping and complex as the regions that produce them.

In the peach and apple orchards east of Kansas City, migrant farmworkers pick fruit — around them, no grocery stores exist for over 20 miles in any direction. Inside the city, one of the longest-lasting black-owned grocery stores in the country shuttered in May after nearly 51 years, leaving the neighborhood without the ease and proximity it provided. Near the top of the Bootheel, in Sikeston, seniors seek résumé-building assistance from the local job center; they’re going back to work so they can make ends meet.

The busboys, waiters and housekeepers who keep plates heaping and floors sleek during Branson’s bustling tourism season live in extended-stay motels without kitchens, stuck in cycles of seasonal and low wages. In the off-months, they’re out of work.

In Columbia, refugees find food through programs private and public. Burmese Christians and relocated Iraqis wait in line at Central Pantry, a grocery-store-style program operated by the local food bank.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/it-truly-can-be-any-one-of-us-missourians-are/article_05ebfe0c-7995-11e9-96e3-b7538c0ddc92.html#tncms-source=block-contextual-fallback

July 4, 2019

Some big farms collect big checks from Trump aid package

MINNEAPOLIS — When President Donald Trump’s administration announced a $12 billion aid package for farmers struggling under the financial strain of his trade dispute with China, the payments were capped.

But many large farming operations had no trouble finding legal ways around them, records provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act show.

The government paid out nearly $2.8 million to a Missouri soybean-growing operation registered as three entities at the same address. More than $900,000 went to five other farm businesses, in Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee and two in Texas. Three other farming operations collected more than $800,000. Sixteen more collected over $700,000. And the data list more than 3,000 recipients who collected more than the $125,000 cap.

Recipients who spoke to AP defended the payouts, saying they didn’t cover their losses from the trade war, and they were legally entitled to them. U.S. Department of Agriculture rules let farms file claims for multiple family members or other partners who meet the department’s definition of being “actively engaged in farming.”

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/some-big-farms-collect-big-checks-from-trump-aid-package/article_f3a15f86-1480-545b-b0c2-89f71bb33353.html