Gov. Jay Nixon has postponed upcoming trade mission visits to Taiwan and South Korea because of "travel challenges," his office said Friday.

Nixon was scheduled to travel to the two countries from Dec. 10 to Dec. 16. He planned to sign a letter of intent with Taiwanese leaders for businesses there to buy $120 million of Missouri products over the next five years, the Associated Press has reported.

The governor's office did not release any more details why the trip was being delayed, or when Nixon would travel to the two countries.

There will be not just one, but three Democratic party chairs heading committees in the Republican-led House of Representatives come January, including senior House member Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia.

The three Democratic chairmanships are the most to be granted to the minority in the history of the state House, said next year's house speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville.

"I visited with my dad a few weeks ago. My dad basically said, 'Listen, you have the opportunity to hop in a boat, float down the stream, end the ride and not do a lot but be excited that you were speaker. Or you can hop out of the boat, create some waves and charter a new course.' And that's exactly what I'm going to do," Tilley said.

With a vast majority of Republicans in the legislature, the appointments are a step to share power with the Democrats, he said.

Tilley announced his intention to appoint Kelly as chair of the Appropriations Committee on Public Safety and Corrections, Rep. Linda Black, D-Bonne Terre, as chair of the Corrections Committee and Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, as chair of the Urban Issues Committee.

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Missouri's Housing Development Commission will have to vote again on changes to its former employee conduct policies.

The beginning of the meeting was closed to the community to discuss a lawsuit regarding a former employee, but the agency's director Margaret Lineberry says the vote should've been held in public.

Lineberry says policy discussion will resume publicly later this month.

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A solution to Missouri's meth problem has arrived, but many state officials oppose the proposal.

Governor Nixon announced a policy on Tuesday to take Sudafed and other cold medicines off the shelves. People will be able to get the drugs by prescription only.

For nearly a decade Missouri has led the nation in meth production in the nation.

A detective in Jefferson County supports the policy. In 2009 Oregon, with the law already implemented, seized 13 meth labs. In Missouri, Jefferson County officials seized over 200.

Some state officials oppose the policy and say it is unlikely to pass into law.

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Missouri's State Auditor, Susan Montee, released an audit on the Missouri Technology Corporation Wednesday morning.

Montee says she and her staff found several issues involving conflict of interest with MTC board members.

After Montee and her staff began the audit, she says MTC later put into place a conflict of interest policy in June 2009.

She also says they found issues with misuse of money, involving travel expenses.

The corporation also did not meet it's goal of securing investments in technology-based companies.

The Missouri Gaming Commission voted unanimously to award the city of Cape Girardeau the state's 13th and last available gaming license Wednesday.

Cape Girardeau's plan pulled ahead of proposals from St. Louis and Sugar Creek. The commission's approval green-lights construction on a Isle of Capri casino, estimated to cost $125 million and, according to Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger, create 450 jobs. Rediger said city officials had been working on the proposal since March, and called the opportunity an economic "game changer."

Not everyone agreed with the commission's decision.

Rodney Crim, Executive Director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, said the license was "taken" from the city of St. Louis, and the economic analysis of Cape Girardeau's proposal was flawed. Crim said St. Louis' proposal would have created 600 jobs and $30 million in tax revenue for the state.

"These jobs are in an area of the city that desperately needs them," Crim said, "and so we thought we had the best proposal. We're sure we had the best proposal."

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Republican Roy Blunt has officially defeated Democrat Robin Carnahan, as the Missouri Secretary of State's office certified the results of the Nov. 2 election.

Across the state, 46.8 percent of those eligible actually voted, the Secretary of State's office has said.

Candidates who lost by less than 1 percent of the vote can request a recount within seven days, according to Missouri law.

• See the complete results of the November mid-term election.

The Missouri AFL-CIO, one of the state's major labor voices, opposes the plan President Obama announced Monday that would freeze the salaries of all federal workers.      

Missouri AFL-CIO Treasurer Herb Johnson says the pay freeze will be terrible for families around the country.

"That money would no longer be in circulation, and it's just one more notch against the recovering economy," Johnson said.

Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., praised the move.

"As someone who has spent the last two years fighting to reduce government spending despite the objections of the current majority in the House, I am encouraged by the White House's proposal," Luetkemeyer said in a statement.

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The Tax Credit Review Commission presented Tuesday (Nov. 30) its proposals for trimming state expenditures on tax credits.

Under the commission's plan, approximately $220 per year in tax credits would be saved for the state's budget.

The biggest cut would be to the historic preservation tax credit that has been used for major redevelopment projects in Missouri's larger cities.

It suggested reducing the cap on the tax credit by nearly half, from $140 million to $75 million.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said the tax credit has been key for revitalizing the city's downtown area.

"As a mayor, I certainly understand the economic realities of what's happening not just in my city, but the state of Missouri and all over the country. Having said all that, the historic tax credit in particular has really been a tremendous asset to the city of St. Louis," said Slay.

The commission did not include a proposal pushed by a few senators for the legislature itself to control spending on tax credits through the annual appropriations process.

Instead, the commission proposed that the legislature review continuing specific tax credit programs every six years.

"[That six years] would give both the legislature and the administration plenty of time to review some of these credit programs, test their efficiency, see if improvements are being made," said Commission Co-Chair Chuck Gross, "If the shortened list...continues to perform, they can be reinstated and extended for another period and some additional legislature could review it down the road."

The report also recommends eliminating 28 tax credit programs and trimming down another 30 to make the state's tax credit programs more efficient.

In its report, the commission said they expect the total savings to be $220 million if the legislature approves their recommendations. The savings would help decrease the expected $400 million gap in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

The governor created the commission earlier this year after his call for scaling back tax credits hit a brick wall in the legislature.  House leaders refused to take up the matter saying tax credits are an important tool in economic development for the state.

• Read the .pdf file of the final report.

Nearly 80 new members of the Missouri legislature are gathering at the state Capitol for orientation this week.

Discussion focused Tuesday on how to avoid corruption charges that have hung over the statehouse for the last two years. The incoming lawmakers also got advice on how to stay connected with their districts, the meaning of fiscal notes that legislative staff attach to bills, and the resources available to them at the statehouse.

The newly elected representatives and senators attending the meeting range from a former truck driver to a former FBI agent.

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Proposals from Casino Celebration in St. Louis, Isle of Capri in Cape Girardeau, and Paragon Gaming in the Kansas City area are candidates for Missouri's last casino license.

Since the St. Louis President casino closed in July, the state Gaming Commission has evaluated several applicants. By law, Missouri is limited to 13 riverboat casinos, which the commission regulates.

The Isle of Capri proposal in Cape Girardeau would generate the most jobs and the highest tax revenue because it wouldn't "cannibalize" the business of existing casinos, the commission said Friday.

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A power outage left the Capitol in darkness for just more than two hours Monday.

AmerenMissouri spokesman Mike Cleary said an electrical fault in a circuit that serves the Capitol building triggered the outage.

The power outage coincided with the new legislator orientation session. Earlier in the day, House Speaker Ron Richard said the freshmen meetings would go on as scheduled, whether or not the power was restored.

"If we have to do it by candle light, we'll do that too," Richard said.

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An Isle of Capri casino proposal for Cape Girardeau would create the most jobs and net the most tax revenue for the state, according to a Missouri Gaming Commission report released Friday.

Isle of Capri is competing with two other proposals, in St. Louis and the Kansas City suburb of Sugar Creek, for the state's last gaming license.

The Gaming Commission said the Cape Girardeau casino is the only proposed center that wouldn't have "cannibalizing effects" on the business of existing casinos in Missouri. The St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas already have multiple casinos.

The commission will choose a priority candidate for the license at its meeting on Wednesday. It doesn't actually award a license until the gaming center opens for business.

For a link to the full economic analysis report, click here.