Sen. Kit Bond has written HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking her to explain why Missouri received no grant money to build new or expanded community health centers in the state.
The letter is attached below.
To review: HHS recently awarded more than $500 million in grants (from ARRA, the [...]
The Missouri Highway Patrol says it's conducting an "active investigation" of assault allegations against former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton.
The Kansas City Star and Prime Buzz filed a Sunshine Law request with the agency Dec. 3 asking for all documents related to allegations against Jetton.
The custodian of records [...]
Last month The New York Times examined food stamp use rates across the nation -- and pointed out that Missouri leads the nation in providing food stamps to its eligible population: 98 percent of those who need food stamps get them, according to federal figures.
Today, though -- at [...]
UPDATE: There is some push-back from Missouri's health care community, which says questions should be asked about the grant award process for health care centers (known as FIP, or the Facilities Improvement Program.
"I don't think it was political," said Joe Pierle, executive director the Primary Care Association in Missouri. "(But) I think [...]
Another Republican has taken himself out of the running in the race to replace Rep. Dennis Moore in Kansas' Third Congressional District.
This time it's State Sen. Jeff Colyer, who made the announcement in a release that includes an endorsement of Nick Jordan, the GOP candidate in 2008.
“I [...]
We've had some fun the last two weeks pointing out some of Sen. Pat Roberts' floor statements about proposed reductions in Medicare spending.
But let's be clear: Democrats and Republicans have been equally and outrageously hypocritical on this issue for years.
Republicans: Opposed Medicare when it started; have tried [...]
Last week:
"This bill slashes half a trillion dollars from Medicare...These cuts will hurt Medicare beneficiaries, our Kansas seniors who have worked their entire lives with the promise that this program would support them through their older age."
This week:
“I cannot believe anyone is seriously considering expanding Medicare to tens [...]
The initial police information gathered two days after Rod Jetton allegedly assaulted a Sikeston, Mo., woman provides information that differs in some ways from the probable cause statement prosecutors released Monday when they filed a felony assault charge against the former House speaker.
Prime Buzz and The Kansas [...]
Bridgette Williams is stepping down after 15 years at the head of the Kansas City AFL-CIO chapter.
The announcement came in a statement released this morning.
Williams was the first African-American woman chosen to lead an AFL-CIO chapter, and was a familiar face at community events and labor meetings.
The Missouri Roundtable for Life has sued Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Auditor Susan Montee in federal court, alleging the two have illegally changed the wording on several of the group's initiative petitions and provided improper cost estimates as well.
The group says the changes violate state law [...]
Advancement Project, which calls itself a "voter protection organization," is out with a new report focusing on 2008 election problems in five states, including Missouri.
The conclusions:
"The state’s election administration is still marred by a patchwork registration system, unduly restrictive registration matching rules, and a localized administration structure [...]
Jetton's Cole County mug shots Rod Jetton's lawyer says in an e-mail that his client voluntarily reported to the Cole Co. sheriff (Jefferson City) last night, posted bond (listed at $2,500; he may have paid $250 in cash), and is not [...]
The Scott County court clerk confirms a felony complaint has been filed against former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton for an incident that allegedly took place Nov. 15 in Sikeston, Mo.
Casenet says the complaint was filed today, a class C felony assault carrying a seven-year and/or $5000 penalty.
At this morning's news conference, we asked Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale if the clock showed :01 or :00 at the end of the Texas-Nebraska Big 12 title game Saturday:
"Fairly, it did appear there was one second on the clock," Gale said.
Four area secretaries of state held a morning news conference at the World War I Museum to tout recent changes in federal law designed to make it easier for servicemen and women to vote.
Among the changes: Member of the military can obtain a blank ballot (and registration forms) [...]
The Senate Judiciary Committee has recommended approval of Beth Phillips as the next U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri....
All she needs is a Senate vote -- which could come at any time.
Sen. Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, has written a column explaining his opposition to Medicare reductions planned in the Senate version of health care reform legislation.
"Seniors are particularly at risk," Roberts writes. "This bill slashes half a trillion dollars from Medicare, and uses it to establish a huge [...]
Unified Gov't. Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon said Friday's he is thinking about running for the congressional seat Rep. Dennis Moore is vacating.
"We're carefully weighing all the options," the Democrat said before meeting with constituents at KCK City Hall.
While Reardon would not rule out a run for the KS-03 seat, [...]
Final results in two mayoral races, one in Atlanta, the other in KC:
Reed, Atlanta, 2009: 42,549 votes
Funkhouser, KC, 2007: 42,631 votes
Norwood, Atlanta, 2009: 41,834 votes
Brooks, KC, 2007 (corrects from earlier typo): 41,781 votes
It isn't a big surprise -- but the Kansas City Council has officially endorsed an East Village location for a new $175 million federal office building in Kansas City.
That's bad news for supporters of the alternative site -- near the Berkley Riverfront Park. The Port Authority has pushed that option [...]
The Government Accountability Office has issued a 180-page report on the operations of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division from 2001 to 2007.
For most of that time -- from 2003 to 2006 -- Brad Schlozman worked in that division, and was in fact acting head of the division [...]
Well, it's a start.
The Missouri Department of Revenue says some tax collections actually picked up in November 2009 compared to November 2008.
Of course, Nov. 2008 is when the economy really began to tank...still....
Net general income, up 6.9%; income tax collections rose 2%, from last November; sales, [...]
Greg Musil has decided not to run for the House seat in KS-03 being vacated by Rep. Dennis Moore.
"I do not have the absolute and complete passion I believe is required to take on a congressional race,” Musil said in a press release.
Musil has run before for [...]
In a news release the Missouri Clean Water Campaign -- part of the Sierra Club -- says Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster should return a $2,500 donation from Smithfield Foods, which operates several large hog farms in Missouri through a subsidiary called Premium Standard Farms.
(UPDATE: The release says the [...]
Losing Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood says she's likely to pursue a recount in a race that almost exactly mirrors Kansas City's mayoral results in 2007 -- with the important difference that Al Brooks never got a recount of the ballots.
Results this morning show Kasim Reed got 41,901 votes [...]
Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican, and Rep. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, say President Obama made the right decision in ordering an increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Bond doesn't like the idea of an 18-month pullout schedule, however.
Wednesday night, The American Friends Service Committee and the KC Iraq [...]
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is in hot water for commuting the sentence of the man suspected of killing four police officers in Washington state, a decision that made the suspect eligible for parole in Arkansas.
He spent in the 2008 presidential campaign in hot water for his [...]
Almost half the people living in Dunklin Co., Mo., in the bootheel, get federal food stamps, according to a weekend story in the New York Times. The newspaper says 73 percent of the children in the county are in the program.
In the last election, almost 60 percent of [...]
It appears Rep. Dennis Moore will qualify for a congressional pension of a little less than $21,000 annually when he leaves the House in January, 2011.
(That's assuming Moore has made the required contribution of 1.3 percent of his salary. He pays another 6.2 percent of salary into Social Security; [...]
Mayor Mark Funkhouser has apparently suspended city manager Wayne Cauthen.
Details to follow.
The letter:
Dear City Council Members:
As you know, I believe we need new leadership for the city. As of today, I am exercising the authority given to me as the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, [...]
Democratic Senate candidate Charles Schollenberger says he wants a federally-created "wind authority" to oversee and promote construction of wind power in Kansas and other states.
In a speech Thursday -- and a news release -- the Kansas Senate hopeful said:
"We need a new government authority like the Tennessee [...]
Here's a thumbnail comparison of the three approaches to health care reform -- House Democrats (the bill that passed); House Republicans; Senate Democrats.
(Senate Republicans aren't offering a bill.)
Wonks can consult the CBO scores attached below (CBO later updated the score on the House Dems' bill; that [...]
Worried about Kansas City's emergency plans for tornados, floods, and other disasters?
The Mid-America Regional Council and the city of Kansas City will hold a public listening session tonight (Tuesday, Nov. 17) at the WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial to talk about the city's emergency preparedness plans.
The plans have [...]
Rep. Sam Graves says he's against legislation requiring almost every business to provide paid sick leave to employees who get the swine flu or other contagious diseases.
"At a time when our nation is facing a 10.2% unemployment rate, the last thing our small businesses need is another mandate," Graves [...]
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas read a statement into the Congressional Record that was actually drafted by lobbyists for Genentech, a biotech company, during the health care debate.
(The Times said Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, also a Republican, also [...]
Also at the Mike Burke fundraiser Wednesday:
Consultant Kim Carlos
Restauranteur and former state rep Jim Chappell
Former councilman John Fairfield
Developer Whitney Kerr, Sr.
Former TIF commissioner Bob Mayer
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, suggests today that the IRS take a closer look at lobbying by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for the Stupak amendment to the health care reform bill.
The Stupak amendment imposes tough restrictions on funding for [...]
UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: On its blog CBO says it has adjusted the deficit reduction number again -- now projecting a $109 billion cut in deficits over ten years.
Perhaps by Saturday it will make up its mind.
- - -
In a letter released last night the Congressional Budget Office [...]
Topeka (AP): William Avery, a one-term Republican governor in the 1960s and former U.S. House member, has died. He was 98.
Gov. Mark Parkinson's office said Avery died Wednesday and ordered flags across the state lowered until Nov. 14.
“Gov. Avery led our state during a time of tragic [...]
The Congressional Budget Office has analyzed the Republican alternative health care reform bill -- and concludes the measure would cut the deficit but actually grow the number of uninsured Americans.
The full analysis is attached below.
CBO says the GOP provisions would cut the deficit by $68 billion over [...]
My friend Mike Mahoney has weighed in on the overwhelming "yes" vote Tuesday for Jackson County's COMBAT tax.
His reporting: Supporters may have won the day by putting the tax on the 2009 ballot, almost all by itself, allowing voters to focus only on crime and drug abuse.
With the debate on health care reform headed to the House floor -- late this week or early next -- Republicans have offered an alternative of their own (attached below) that they promise won't raise taxes, change the doctor-patient relationship, or cut Medicare.
The Democrats' bill does all [...]
There will be a lighting ceremony for the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund Nov. 27, and Kansas Citians will once again be asked to donate to the area's less fortunate.
(That's according to Crown Center's website. The Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund website does not appear to have been updated since last year.)
And [...]
It may sound obvious -- and it's been reported before -- but it bears repeating exactly one year befor the 2010 election:
It appears possible, even probable, that Democrats in Kansas will not field competitive candidates in either the governor's race or the U.S. Senate race in 2010.
There have [...]
DST Systems gave $5,000 Friday to the committee supporting extension of the COMBAT tax....
.... perhaps some of it went to the recent pro-COMBAT mailer getting attention from Tony, Dan, et. al..... comparing Kansas City to Iraq.
Here's a video with both sides of the COMBAT [...]
Talking Points Memo has posted a memo from Republican pollster Frank Luntz about public reaction to the health care reform package. Read it here.
Notice this on page 4:
"As Percy Sledge sang in the 1960s, the thrill is gone."
The Congressional Budget Office has scored HR 3962, the House health care bill introduced today. (The full report is attached below.)
The conclusion: Expanding health coverage and the bill's other provisions will cost $894 billion* over ten years, but would be paid for with $426 billion in spending cuts [...]
A campaign disclosure filed Monday shows supporters of renewing the 1/4 cent COMBAT sales tax have raised $177,457.51 for the campaign.
Of that, almost $129,000 has come since October 1.
Among the donors: Lawyers.
Lawyers, of course, may have cases involving the prosecutor's office, which is funded in part [...]
A commission created by Mayor Mark Funkhouser to develop a box of "new tools" for investment in distressed areas says tax breaks, redirected spending, and a "community development credit union" are ways to improve wealth creation in the inner city.
The 100+ page report outlines several potential improvements to [...]
Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Police Chief Jim Corwin urged voters Thursday to renew the Jackson County anti-drug sales tax known as COMBAT.
The 1/4 cent tax would raise about $150 million beginning in 2011 through 2018 to provide money for a variety of law enforcement and counseling services.
"It [...]
In a statement and speech released today, Democrat Charles Schollenberger called for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
"I believe that all U.S. and Allied troops should be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2012," he said.
Schollenberger also compared U.S. involvement in Afghanistan to [...]
Mayor Mark Funkhouser will hold a news conference Thursday afternoon to endorse renewal of Jackson County's 1/4 cent anti-drug sales tax, now known as COMBAT.
COMBAT provides the city will millions of dollars for police officers.
All four area senators voted against a bill Wednesday that would have restored $247 billion in Medicare payments to doctors over the next ten years.
Current law requires Medicare reimbursements to doctors to drop over time, but each year Congress restores the cuts -- worried about losing doctors, [...]
A commission chaired by former Sens. Bob Graham and Jim Talent -- a Democrat and a Republican, respectively -- has concluded the U.S. still isn't ready to meet the threat from bioterrorism.
The Commission cited a range of missteps on biosecurity that lead to its conclusion: No senior-level advocate [...]
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon came to the UMKC Dental School Tuesday to talk up the Caring for Missourians program -- and took a shot at Kansas in the process.
Under the program the state will spend $40 million in federal stimulus money to improve conditions at Missouri's various schools [...]
UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: The Los Angeles Times, quoting Glickman today about a Kansas Senate run:
"That's probably not a very realistic option for me, [but] I never rule anything out," he said, noting he'd like to serve in the Senate but would not want to have to raise the [...]
A political polling and consultant group called Democracy Corps -- run by Jim Carville and Stan Greenberg -- is out with a new study on the conservative base of the Republican party.
The conclusion: Opposition to Barack Obama isn't based on race, but on deeply-held concerns that he is [...]
Mary Apple has her potato back.
You'll remember the Independence woman carried the heart-shaped tuber to The Late Show with David Letterman last month -- where, after a series of jokes, she gave it to President Barack Obama, Letterman's only guest that night.
Mary later said she was [...]
Two Michigan congressmen are crowing tonight over the final appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which passed the House today, because it restricts construction funding for the bio and agro-terror facility in Manhattan.
Kansas lawmakers, though, have said the restrictions should not hold up the start of the $450,000,000 [...]
The Mike Burke filing hit the Missouri Ethics Commission this week.
Al Riederer's mayoral committee also filed, although it's a debt service committee -- left over from the 2007 race.
But it's still active, suggesting Riederer is keeping his options open.
Sly James has more than $212,000 [...]
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Rep. Jerry Moran has increased his campaign funding gap between himself and fellow Kansas Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt.
The two members of Congress are seeking the party's nomination to replace Sen. Sam Brownback, who is retiring to run for governor.
Moran reported to the Federal Election [...]
Doctors in Missouri and Kansas are sparring over the impact of health care reform on their profession and their patients.
A group of physicians organized by OFA, an offshoot of the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign, met with reporters this afternoon to push for health [...]
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The Senate Finance Committee has approved an $829 billion, 10-year health care reform bill that supporters say will increase coverage and lower costs but opponents claim will cost taxpayers and not improve health care delivery.
The vote was 14 to 9. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe joined 13 Democrats in [...]
Clay Chastain will hold a news conference Wednesday at noon -- and then begin gathering signatures for a new light rail plan to go on the ballot sometime next year. (The press release is attached below.)
The plan has changed since July, when Chastain offered a light rail blueprint [...]
Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican, is an apparent yes vote on the Baucus bill.
But she indicated she will vote today only to continue the process.
"My vote today is my vote today," she said in a statement, suggesting she might still oppose a final bill once it is joined with [...]
Sen. Pat Roberts' statement as the Finance Committee (on which he sits) prepares to vote on the Baucus health care alternative:
"I am terribly concerned that we are riding hell for leather into a health care box canyon, full of spending quicksand, cactus tax hikes, policy briar patches, complete [...]
Most of the debate over health care reform has focused on whether to provide a public option -- a government-run health insurance alternative to private companies.
Now, as the Senate Finance Committee nears a vote on the Baucus compromise bill (which does not have a public option), a squabble [...]
Former Sen. Bob Dole has had a pretty busy week.
In Kansas City last Wednesday, Dole urged Congress to pass a bipartisan health care bill -- although he didn't say exactly what he wants to see in it (he opposes a public option, for example).
By the end of [...]
Analysis
There is still a lot of work to do -- and the Democrats can still screw it up -- but if a health care reform package becomes law, we'll likely consider Wednesday's CBO score of the Max Baucus/Finance Committee bill as the turning point in the debate.
To recap: Analysts [...]
The Congressional Budget Office says the proposed Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill would actually cut the projected federal deficit over the next ten years by $81 billion, or about $8 billion a year.
But by 2019 CBO says some 25 million people -- about a third [...]
Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole says "there will be a signing ceremony" for a health care reform bill either late this year or early next.
But the former presidential candidate says he isn't sure what the bill will say.
Dole, 86, spoke with reporters after an hour-long speech at [...]
Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed Jon Gray to the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.
Gray, 57, is now a lawyer at Shook Hardy and Bacon, but he served as a judge on the Jackson County court for 20 years.
Nixon's office also announced the appointment of Megan Thornberry to [...]
The liberal website Talking Points Memo says Gov. Jay Nixon's signature was left off a letter from Democratic governors urging action on health care reform.
Nixon may be holding out for increased coverage for patients suffering from water-borne bacterial illnesses.
A new Survey USA poll for KCTV and KWCH puts Jerry Moran 16 points ahead of Todd Tiahrt for the 2010 GOP Senate nomination in Kansas.
(One note of caution: The pollster says the sample includes unaffiliated voters, who must declare a political party before they can vote [...]
Next week Clay Chastain is expected to return to Kansas City to push two referenda.... one that would repeal Sec. 704 of the city charter (which allows the council to repeal voter-approved measures) and a second that would create a 3/8ths cent, 25-year tax to pay part of the [...]
New York Times columnist David Brooks -- usually considered a moderate conservative -- takes dead aim today at conservative talk radio, which he says doesn't actually move any votes:
"The Republican Party is unpopular because it’s more interested in pleasing Rush’s ghosts than actual people. The party is leaderless [...]
''I am convinced that this coming year....is going to see a definite upturn,'' the President insisted once again in declaring that economic recovery from the recession must precede dramatic changes in the jobless rate.
''I wish that I could promise that unemployment would instantly respond, but we know [...]
The EPA has issued a new order in the long-running battle over that once-huge truck storage lot once clearly visible along I-35 south of Olathe.
KDOT has been cleaning up the site, slowly, since early this year. The owners, the Lambeth family (Mark, Joel, and Danny according [...]
The White House says President Barack Obama has picked Beth Phillips to be the new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Phillips, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first woman U.S. attorney here.
She's been an assistant U.S. attorney since 2008, the White House said. She's [...]
The Federal Trade Commission wants comments on the future of the news business before holding workshops on the subject in December.
Gov. Jay Nixon says he's put Department of Natural Resources director Mark Templeton on two-week unpaid leave because of incorrect information provided to the governor's office regarding E. coli problems at the Lake of the Ozarks.
He's also ordered an investigation into the department's actions surrounding elevated E. coli [...]
Gov. Jay Nixon will speak to reporters on a conference call early this afternoon about a "new development" in the story reporters have started calling E.coli-gate.
It isn't clear what that new development might be.
Nixon has taken some heat over the last 48 hours after he met [...]
Rep. Barney Frank is holding a hearing today on a bill that would set up a "Consumer Financial Protection Agency" to oversee the loan industry, including banks, credit cards, overdraft fees, and the payday loan business.
That may help explain why a group of activists for the poor and [...]
A top aide in Gov. Jay Nixon's office allegedly knew all about e-coli problems at the Lake of the Ozarks just a few hours after the Department of Natural Resources learned about them.
That's what a former state official is telling investigators.
Nixon -- and his office -- have [...]
From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama has told a gathering of world leaders that Iran and North Korea ''must be held accountable'' if they continue to put their pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of international security.
In a wide-ranging speech on global issues before a U.N. General Assembly session, [...]
The Massachusetts legislature has approved a bill allowing the governor to appoint a replacement for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. It should be signed by the end of the week.
Kenndy's likely replacement: former governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
Once he's in place the Democrats will have 58 [...]
From the Democratic National Committee:
"RHETORIC: Roberts Said That Health Insurance Reform Would Lead To "More Costs" And "More Rationing" And Does Not Address The "Really Hot Button Issue" Of Tax-Funded Abortion.
Sen. Pat Roberts: "In fact, all indications are that this bill will be pulled increasingly toward [...]
The Senate Finance Committee has started work on its version of a health care reform bill.
Look for compromises on the public option (Sen. Olympia Snowe likes a "trigger" mechanism), on the proposed taxes on insurance companies (which they'll likely pass on to consumers) and on subsidies for the [...]
The Disciplinary Administrator overseeing lawyers in Kansas has filed a formal ethics complaint against Stephen Maxwell, former assistant to former Kansas Attorney General and later Johnson County DA Phill Kline.
The complaint -- attached in full below -- alleges Maxwell violated the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct and committed [...]
The Justice Department says career professionals properly decided not to charge Brad Schlozman, the former U.S. Attorney here, with lying to Congress.
The decision isn't a surprise: It would have been highly unusual for the AG to overturn a declination of prosecution; otherwise, legal deals struck at the local level [...]
Records show the last executive director of the non-profit Westside Housing Organization, Kathryn Walker, earned $70,000 in the fiscal year beginning June 1, 2007 and ending May 31, 2008.
During that period, the non-profit's tax return shows, WHO lost more than $233,000 on a revenue/expenses basis. At the end [...]
