// a href = ./ //

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A special panel created by Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander is recommending that the state allow early voting and expand absentee voting by mail.

The bipartisan commission released its recommendations Thursday for overhauling Missouri's voting laws.

Missouri now allows people to vote by mail only if they meet certain conditions, such as a disability or absence from their district on election day. The commission says voters should be allowed to mail their ballots without such restrictions.

It also recommends requiring all local election authorities to establish one location where voters can cast ballots in-person beginning six weeks before election day. For presidential elections, highly-populated areas would be required to establish an additional polling place for early voting.

The 11-member commission is made up of local election authorities, attorneys and former lawmakers.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri senators have passed legislation scaling back tax breaks for developers and offering new incentives for high-tech businesses and world trade.

The Senate's 27-7 vote Thursday sends the bill to the House, where it already faces some opposition.

House Speaker Tim Jones has said senators "over-reached" by significantly lowering the amount of tax credits available for the construction of low-income housing and the renovation of historic buildings. But Jones likes provisions in the Senate bill that create new tax credits for air cargo exports, computer data centers and investors in high-tech, start-up businesses.

Gov. Jay Nixon praised the bill Thursday for containing "long-overdue reforms" to tax credits.

A similar proposal to overhaul Missouri's tax credits failed during a 2011 special session.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri legislation could land teachers and doctors in trouble if they ask students about gun ownership or note such information from patients on medical records.

A state Senate committee heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would bar school personnel from asking students whether their parents or guardians own guns. Violators could face a $200 fine.

The bill would also bar medical professionals from putting information about a patient's firearm into a medical record unless it relates to the patient's immediate medical care or safety.

That language was added by Republican Sen. Brian Nieves, of Washington. He says the bill would prevent inappropriate questions about firearm ownership.

But Republican Sen. Rob Schaaf, a physician from St. Joseph, said there shouldn't be limits on what doctors can insert in medical records.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court has rescheduled oral arguments in a case stemming from a state law that allows students to transfer out of unaccredited school districts.

The case was scheduled to be heard Wednesday. But the court agreed to move it to March 5 because of this week's snowstorm.

The school transfer case was filed by families who were paying to send their children to public schools in suburban Clayton when St. Louis lost accreditation in 2007. They argued St. Louis should pick up the tab.

But the St. Louis district is no longer subject to the law after regaining provisional accreditation last year. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has argued that the change in St. Louis' accreditation status makes the case largely moot.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - About 30,000 people in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas woke up without power as heavy, wet snow hitting the region downed power lines.

Kansas City Power & Light reported at 6 a.m. Tuesday that just over 25,000 customers were without power. The outages stretched throughout the utility's service area from Emporia, Kan., to Sedalia, Mo., but the highest number of outages was in the Kansas City metro area.

BPU, which provides service in Wyandotte County on the Kansas side of the metro area was reporting about 7,600 customers without service. Westar Energy reported 8,900 outages throughout its Kansas region, which includes pockets near Kansas City. Westar's highest number of outages early Tuesday was in Greenwood and Douglas counties, which includes the Wichita area.

   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri House Republicans have given a resounding `no' to Democratic plans to expand Medicaid.

Two separate House committees rejected the plan Monday. One shot down an attempt to add funding for a Medicaid expansion to the 2014 budget. Another panel defeated legislation that would have authorized the expansion of Medicaid coverage to an estimated 260,000 lower-income adults.

Both committees voted along party lines, with Republicans opposing the Medicaid expansion and Democrats supporting it. More than 30 people representing health care, business and social services groups testified in support of the proposed expansion.

The Medicaid expansion is called for by President Barack Obama's health care law and supported by Gov. Jay Nixon.

House Republicans are working on an alternative that may include a more modest expansion combined with cost-savings measures.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A Washington University survey of Missouri tanning salons has found that nearly two-thirds allow children as young as 10 or 12 to tan, and many provide misinformation about the dangers of tanning beds.

Dermatologists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis led the telephone survey in 2007. Results were published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Questioners posed as prospective clients. Operators at 65 percent of the salons said they would allow 10- or 12-year-olds to tan. Employees at 43 percent said there was no risk posed by indoor tanning.

American Suntanning Association executive director Tracie Cunningham questioned the survey methods and said many of the businesses in the six-year-old survey are no longer operating.

 

The opening of Missouri's catch-and-keep trout season is this Friday at Bennett Spring State Park, Montauk, Roaring River State Park and Meramec Spring. The conservation department operates hatcheries at all four trout parks.

The long-range weather forecast for Friday points to highs in the 40s and a small chance of rain. But the four state parks will be stocked with more than 25,000 trout. About 8,600 anglers are expected to turn out. Governor Jay Nixon will be at Montauk Hatchery near Licking to fire the opening pistol.

 

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri lawmakers are seeking to collect taxes from some online and out-of-state retailers in a move that could both bolster the state's finances and aid traditional stores in their competition for customers. Support has been growing in both the House and Senate for legislation that would tighten the requirements for when businesses must collect Missouri taxes on their sales. The legislation targets businesses such as furniture and appliance stores in Kansas and Illinois that deliver their products to Missouri homes. It also targets online retailers who gain significant sales when Internet traffic is routed their way by Missouri-based businesses. A Senate committee heard testimony on the legislation earlier this month, and a similar House bill was referred to a committee this past week. Sponsoring Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, portrays the measure as "a fairness bill for businesses across the state." The legislation addresses two areas that traditional retail stores contend put them at a disadvantage. One provision would repeal an existing Missouri law that exempts out-of-state business with less than $500,000 of annual sales in Missouri or $12.5 million in sales nationally from being subject to collecting Missouri taxes on their sales. The Missouri Retailers Associations says similar exemptions don't exist in neighboring states such as Kansas and Illinois. As a result, a Missouri furniture or appliance store must collect Kansas or Illinois taxes when it delivers items to customers' homes in those states. But a store in Kansas or Illinois does not have to collect Missouri taxes when it sells and delivers products to Missouri residents, so long as its total sales stays below that annual cap. "They're coming after our retailers but we can't collect from theirs - it's a disadvantage that needs to be fixed," David Overfelt, president of the Missouri Retailers Association, told the House Ways and Means Committee this past week. The situation has existed for quite some time. In 1996, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered a Palmyra, Mo.-based furniture store to pay more than $47,000 of uncollected taxes, interest and penalties for items sold and delivered to Illinois residents from January to October 1989. Another section of the Missouri legislation seeks to levy taxes on online retailers, if they reap at least $10,000 in sales annually from customers routed to their website by Missouri-based businesses. Some of the bill's supporters hope to force companies such as Amazon to start collecting taxes on Missouri sales. But whether the legislation actually would accomplish that is unclear, because the bill contains a provision allowing online retailers to avoid the tax by proving that the affiliated companies did not significantly affect the retailer's market presence in Missouri. Rep. Doug Funderburk, who is sponsoring the House version of the bill, described it as "an attempt to bring some of our sales tax laws in line with today's modern technology." So far, the legislation has not encountered much public opposition from lobbyists. But any time a bill could result in greater tax collections, some lawmakers are hesitant because of the fear that future political opponents could tag them as having backed a tax increase. Funderburk acknowledged that remains an obstacle, but he said the tax revenues lost to Internet sales are having a big effect on local government services. "I think people are finally starting to realize that we're bleeding these revenue streams," said Funderburk, R-St. Charles. "If everybody wants to live in a community that has no services and you pay no taxes, fine and dandy," he said. "But when I go home, I want the street lights to work, I want law enforcement up and ready, I want to know that there's a fire truck down the street that's ready to come put out a fire."

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- Child porn was found on a southwest Missouri school board member's electronic devices while authorities were investigating reports that he exposed himself to students, according to federal court documents filed Friday. The U.S. attorney's office said John Lewis, 67, of Sarcoxie, was arrested before Thursday night's Sarcoxie school board meeting and charged Friday with possessing child pornography. He remains in federal custody, pending a detention hearing. U.S. attorney's spokesman Don Ledford said Lewis doesn't yet have an attorney. An FBI affidavit said Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers contacted Lewis while investigating reports that he exposed himself to a group of high school students who were working for him on his farm outside Sarcoxie. Troopers obtained a search warrant and seized two desktop computers, a laptop computer and electronic storage devices. Investigators who searched the devices found 19 multimedia files of child pornography and 113 images of suspected child pornography showing children as young as five years old. According to the affidavit, the investigation began after a school official overheard a conversation between high school students, one of whom confirmed he was present at the board member's farm when Lewis exposed himself in close proximity to another student. Two students, both 16 at the time of the incident, told investigators that Lewis talked to them about sex and inappropriately touched them while they were working for him at the farm in late spring last year. Investigators who executed a search warrant at Lewis' home said he became adversarial and "was found to have a very large weapons collection." The district said in a written statement that it's cooperating with the investigation. "Nothing is more important to the district than providing a safe and secure learning and working environment for children," the statement said. "We welcome the support of the community during this process."