MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
State Auditor Margaret Kelly reported it was partially the fault of the Transportation Department that the agency was unable to meet the long-term construction plan used to justify the state's last gasoline tax increase.
In an audit released Friday, Kelly reported the department's records were so poorly kept that the department could not produce information showing the actual costs of the program.
The audit said that the tax increase actually raised as much money as had been projected, but that a substantial portion of the funds was used for projects not covered by the 15-year plan.
Another state commission has recommended a one-cent-per-dollar general sales tax hike to finish the road plan. But that idea has gained little support so far from lawmakers.
Missouri government owes state taxpayers $318 million in refunds because revenue collections exceeded the state's Hancock limit, the state administration reported.
The state Budget Director said the state's robust economy is one reason for the increased revenue.
With the refund, the average taxpayer would see a $76 check in the mail by fall of 1998.
However, the past two years of refunds that have been due under the Hancock lid have been blocked by court challenges now pending before the state Supreme Court.
See our radio story for details.
The Missouri House is considering whether or not representatives can have content control over their own web pages.
If enough members are interested and willing to use their operating budgets to pay for the necessary changes, then web site subcommittee members may give them control by next session.
Some subcommittee members are concerned that unregulated web pages could result in misuse like fundraising. They are considering have legislators sign a disclaimer that would punish them if they used their web page for political gain.
For more information, see our radio story.
A National Cancer Institute study reports that children in 33 Missouri counties were exposed to some of the highest levels of radiation fallout from nuclear tests conducted from 1951 to 1958.
The study is based on estimates on the amount of radioactive iodine (iodine-131) contained in milk.
The radioactive contamination arose from tests in the western U.S. that were spread by the weather to fields in the Midwest -- falling on plants eaten by cows.
Just a day after the FCC stripped states of power to regulate pay-phone rates, at least one phone company already had boosted the cost of making a call.
For years, the state's utility-regulating Public Service Commission had imposeed a 25-cent limit on how much the phone company could charge for making a local call from a pay-phone.
The PSC, however, lost that regulatory power on Tuesday as part of the Federal Communications Commission's phone-degregulation order.
St. Louis U.S. Rep. Bill Clay wrote Pres. Bill Clinton calling on the president to cancel a planned trip to Missouri to help raise funds for Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon who's running for the U.S. Senate.
Clay attacked Nixon for his statements and efforts to end court-ordered school desegregation.
Nixon is seeking the Senate seat now held by Kit Bond that will be on the 1998 ballot.
See our radio story on the Democratic Party's offer to help negotiate a truce between Clay and Nixon.
Following a methamphetamine summit in Missouri, state officials are looking to do something after all the talk.
The governor's office says legislation targeting methamphetamine labs will be seen as early as December. The governor's spokesman says stopping the drug labs is a priority for Carnahan.
Meanwhile, a top Missouri prosecutor says heroin and methamphetamine users should suffer the same punishments. This same official says that production of methamphetamines is where the real risk to law enforcement and the environment occur.
See our radio story on the governor's plans to draft legislation.
In the wave of investigations into Bill Clinton's campaign fundraising, state Democrats are being very careful.
Governor Carnahan nevers makes campaign fundraising calls from the Capitol. He keeps his political duties and his fundraising completely seperate in order to stay in compliance with federal law. If he does want to fundraise, he either goes to the state democratic headquarters in Jefferson City or his own campaign headquarters in St. Louis.
The Governor no longer uses a private phone line in his office in the Capitol for fundraising like he did when he was Lieutenant Governor.
Missouri's democratic party has begun conducting training camps for candidates and elected officials to teach them the letter of the campaign fundraising law.
See our radio story.
Top police and prosecuting officals from local, state and federal agencies in Missouri spent Monday discussing the growing problem of meth production in Missouri.
Missouri has been tagged as the country's "meth mecca," in the govenror's words, because of the number of small, local labs producing the illegal drug.
For more information, see our newspaper story.
The MU Tigers easily defeated the Iowa Cyclones in college football on Saturday. The next day, the Kansas City Chiefs were defeated by the Dolphans in Miami. It was a bye week for the St. Louis Rams.