Governor Blunt met with students and teachers at Thorpe Gordon Elementary School Thursday and announced an increase in education funding for the 2009 fiscal year.

Blunt promised a 2.96 billion dollar budget for elementary and secondary education.

This is a 4.6% increase over last year's budget and Blunt says the increase is possible because of the state's growing economy.

MOHELA is allowing the State Auditor's Office to examine their closed records, an action the auditor's office was suing for MOHELA to perform.

Now that they have access to the records the State Auditor, Susan Montee, says they will drop the lawsuit.

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Republican Senators filed bills Monday banning illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's license and collecting welfare.

Smith said it appears the bills serve only to distract voters from real issues, and would not be opposed to using filibusters to block them.

Smith also said it looks like Republicans are targeting immigrants as their new scapegoat group.

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Gov. Matt Blunt announced today he will ask for $31.2 million for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at MU in the supplemental budget recommendation.

According to the governor's press release, the money would be used to construct a new facility, increased patient capacity and attempting to meet requirements to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.

The money would come from the sale of MoHELA assets, which was approved by the legislature last session.

The Cancer Center funds was part of the initial MoHELA asset plan but was removed by Missouri legislators worried the Center would be used to fund stem cell research.

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Gov. Matt Blunt's chief counsel has left after just a bit more than a year on the job.

Henry Herschel's departure effective Tuesday was confirmed by the governor's office after a spokesperson for the Democratic Party noted the removal of his name from the list of top staff for  the governor's office.  The governor's office did not provide an immediate explanation as to whether Herschel's departure was voluntary or not.

Herschel had been at the center of recent controversies with the governor's office.  He was the direct supervisor of Scott Eckersley -- the former legal staffer to the governor who claims he was fired after he warned that destruction of email by the governor's staff could be in violation of state law.

Herschel subsequently filed a law-license ethics complaint against Eckersley for talking about the matter.  Herschel also had challenged the authority of the Attorney General to have a special investigator review charges of electronic-record destruction by the governor's staff.

Herschel is the second top staffer for Blunt to depart this fall.  The governor's chief of staff was replaced just days before Thanksgiving.

Republican Representative Robert Schaaf expressed his unhappiness with the Department of Social Services' director Deborah Scott's interpretation of the role of the committee set up to advise MoHealthNet.

Schaaf said his intent in writing the law was that the words "advise and approve" should be taken literally and that the committees approval or disapproval would be necessary.

Schaaf, who is a member of the committee, made his remarks at MoHealth Net's first health care committee meeting.  

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A group of five pro-choice Missourians spoke out against Blunt's task force on abortion which has been questioned in regard to its political motivation.

One of the speakers, Pamela Sumners, Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, called the task force's findings "propaganda."

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In response to the suicide of an O'Fallon girl who was reportedly harassed on-line, Republican Senator Scott Rupp filed legislation Monday to make cyber bullying a crime.

Current policies label cyber-bullying as only a misdemeanor offense.

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While consumer protection and national issues made up most of the legislation filed Monday, Columbia legislators said they plan to focus a little closer to home.

Despite health-care and immigration being on the state-wide scale, the Columbia legislators said in an outspoken area such as Boone County they will continue focusing on university education and the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.

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National events are trickling down to Missouri politics through legislation filed Monday.

Several events such as the Michael Vick dog fighting case and the Jena Six trial in Jena, Louisiana, where a noose was hung in a school yard tree, have spurred state senators to try to change Missouri law.

Monday was the first day to file legislation for the 2008 session.

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Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields previously sponsored a bill last legislative session that would create a five-star rating system for child care facilities.  The bill was passed by the senate but was ultimately defeated in the House due to questions on making the system mandatory.

Shields says he revised the system to be voluntary except for state funded facilities.  Shields predicts response from child care providers will be positive since a higher rating not only reflects well on that facility, it also moves that facility closer to accreditation.

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On the first day of pre-filing bills for the next legislative session, the top Senate leader made property tax reform the first priority. 

Meanwhile, a special committee on property tax met Monday to consider alternatives to the current system, before they recommend a new plan to the Speaker of the House.

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