Health insurance plans set to expire on December 31 because of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act will be able to continue into 2014, according to a Thursday statement by Gov. Jay Nixon.

John Huff, the director of the state's insurance department, sent a letter to all Missouri health insurance providers Thursday that told them they could continue coverage on plans that would otherwise be canceled.

"In an effort to give Missourians as many insurance options as possible, the department will expedite the process for health insurance companies wishing to continue their Missouri-compliant plans into next year," Huff said in a statement released by the governor.

Millions nationwide have had their health insurance plans canceled because they do not comply with requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified states last week of a transitional policy allowing such plans to continue with certain notifications to consumers.

Nixon's announcement came just a few hours after Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, called on Huff to allow Missourians to renew their health insurance for 2014. He said Missouri was one of six states not to allow renewals and that it was necessary so Missourians did not feel the "blunt" effects of losing their coverage.

"Doing so quickly would give as many Missourians as possible the opportunity to renew their policies before their cancellation at the end of the year," Barnes said in a statement on his website.

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• Get the letter from the Department of Insurance director to health insurance providers.

Reps. Tony Dugger, R-Hartville, and Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis County, will work to pass bipartisan legislation making it easier for active military members to run for office, according to a Thursday statement from Secretary of State Jason Kander.

Current Missouri law requires a candidate wanting to run for office to file in person so they can get on the ballot. This bill would allow a military member to designate someone to file for them.

"When members of our armed forces choose to continue their public service by running for office, they should be on a level playing field with other candidates," Kander said in a statement

The Associated Press reported that Education Department Commissioner Chris Nicastro advised advocates of an initiative petition to restrict teacher tenure rights.

If passed, the initiative would require public schools to evaluate teachers primarily on student performance data from standardized testing to guide decisions on promoting, demoting, firing, and paying personnel.

Political Director for the Missouri National Education Association Mark Jones says this would hurt students rather than help them.

"Just having high stake testing doesn't improve student performance. Actual in class resources for educators, reducing class size, and helping children that come from distressed families are what we need to be doing with our educational resources," Jones said.

Jones also said this testing would cost up wards of five and a half billion dollars to implement.

The President of the State Board of Education issued a statement supporting Nicastro's actions.

"It is the duty of Missouri Commissioner of Education to serve all members of the public, not just select groups," the statement read.

The commissioner's involvement has upset leaders of teacher's unions.

"It definitely raises red flags, beyond what I would call an advisory role," Jones said.

The petition needs the 160,000 signatures to be placed on the November 2014 ballot.

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President Barack Obama met Wednesday with state insurance directors regarding his initiative to stop the wave of canceled health insurance plans.

Missouri State Health Insurance Director John Huff did not attend the meeting, and a spokesperson says he was "not supposed to" attend.

Department officials said Huff has made no contact with President Obama's administration during this time, and have no new information regarding their plans for those under the 14 canceled insurance policies.

Missouri Hospital Association spokesperson Dave Dillon warns Missourians under these canceled plans about making a quick decision on policies.

"If you had a policy that was canceled, there may be better options in the marketplace," Dillon said. "So you should definitely identify whether it’s best to just do nothing if infact you can continue that plan or whether it makes more sense to shop around."

  At least 21 states have decided if they will let consumers keep their old plans for a year, even if it conflicts with the new heath care law. Dillon said the awaited decision is an indication that Missouri's  government is too disengaged. 

"Well certainly what would be helpful, the last thing that any consumer needs is any additional confusion about what their options are so if in fact a decision needs to be made," Dillon said. "The sooner it is made the better it is for those individuals who may have had policies cancelled."

Many other states, including New Jersey and California are still weighing their options.

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Medicaid Transformation Committee Chair Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, said he is surprised and frustrated that Gov. Jay Nixon canceled next week's Medicaid meeting amid a change of venue.

Committee chairs Romine and Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, accepted Nixon's invitation to meet to talk about Medicaid next week, under the condition that the meeting be moved to the Capitol building.

Nixon delivered a letter to the Medicaid committee chairs Tuesday canceling that meeting, claiming the change of venue would transform the discussion into a political game.

"I can only conclude that this last-minute change of heart demonstrates that, as we saw last session, you and your leadership have chosen to give politics precedence over the substance of the discussion," Nixon wrote in his letter to Barnes and Romine.

Romine said he was frustrated their letter to the governer was taken out of context.

"Our intention was truly just a matter of an organized effort to have the best meeting forth," Romine said.

Romine said he knew the governor initially wanted only the media and the committee members at that Medicaid discussion, but he and Barnes wanted to move the meeting because it would have to be open to the public.

Romine said he hopes to talk to the governor soon about negotiating, but has not made that effort yet.

"I feel like we need to let the dust settle after the hype of the response letter he sent out," Romine said.

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More than six hours later than expected, white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin was executed in Missouri Wednesday,  making his death the state's first execution in almost three years.

Franklin was convicted for killing Gerald Gordon outside a St. Louis area synagogue in 1977. Throughout his life he racked up eight murder convictions.

The 63-year-old was put to death at the state prison in Bonne Terre Wednesday morning and the Associated Press reports Franklin was pronounced dead at 6:17 a.m.

Franklin was originally sentenced to an execution at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, but his lawyer's last minute attempts to keep him alive delayed the execution for more than six hours.

Wednesday was the first time Missouri used the drug pentobarbital for an execution. Originally, the state would have used the drug propofol, and would have been the first state to do so. After controversy overseas and at home over the drug, Gov. Jay Nixon forbid the use of propofol for executions. 

Mo. Governor Jay Nixon delivered a letter to the legislature's Medicaid committee chairs Tuesday, Nov. 19, effectively cancelling a meeting he had scheduled with the committees for next week to discuss Medicaid expansion..

Nixon had called for the meeting to be held at an office building across the street from the governor's mansion.

In response, House Medicaid Chair Jay Barnes responded that the meeting should be in the Capitol building itself, in one of the legislative committee hearing rooms.

Nixon rejected the suggestion in a response one of his staffers confirmed was a cancellation of the session.

"I can only conclude that this last-minute change of heart demonstrates that, as we saw last session, you and your leadership have chosen to give politics precedence over the substance of the discussion," Nixon wrote in his letter to the two legislative chairs.

When Nixon first announced the meeting, Barnes, R-Jefferson City, had complained that staff of the governor's office would not negotiate details of the meeting including the format.

Barnes had been one of Nixon's best allies among Republican legislators in pursuing an overhaul of Medicaid that would include expansion of eligibility, although not as high as Nixon had proposed.

One week before Nixon's cancellation of the legislative meeting, the Senate's interim Medicaid committee had approved a tentative report that did not include Medicaid eligibility expansion.

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The Missouri Department of Insurance is still looking into ways it will handle last week's announcement from President Obama regarding canceled health insurance policies.

As a response to tens of thousands of canceled health insurance policies nationwide, the President said last Thursday that health insurers had the option to keep selling plans that didn't comply with the Affordable Care Act for one more year.

But in Missouri, where 14 policies had already been canceled with an unknown number of Missourians affected due to the previous requirements, the carriers must have permission from the state to grant exceptions so the canceled plans can be filed again.

Five states have made announcements saying they will not allow late renewals of canceled policies, while six have said they will.

The Missouri Department of Insurance said it has reached out to the health industry for its input, but still has yet to come to a decision.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) released its state jobs report Tuesday, which shows a sharp drop in Missouri's unemployment rate.

The jobs report covers the months of September and October, in which the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent, then to 6.5 percent, respectively.

According to the DED, that puts the unemployment rate at its lowest level since September 2008, and for the 50th consecutive month Missouri's unemployment rate is lower than the national average.

The report combined the September and October data due to the partial government shutdown.

Missouri will carry out its first execution in nearly three years early Wednesday morning after a last minute clemency appeal to Governor Jay Nixon was denied Monday,

The clemency request was filed by the attorney of convicted serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.

Franklin was convicted for a sniper attack on a man in suburban St. Louis in 1977 and, according to the Associated Press, committed up to 20 murders in multiple states.

In a statement on Monday Nixon told Missourians to keep the victims of Franklin's murders in their prayers.

"This cowardly and calculated shooting was only one of many senseless acts of extreme violence that Franklin, motivated by racial and religious intolerance committed against numerous victims across the country," Nixon said.

The Department of Corrections has come under fire since modifying its execution protocol and refusing to disclose which chemicals make up the execution drug.

After Governor Nixon's decision to allow legally married same-sex couples file join tax returns last week, a state lawmaker says it's time to impeach the governor.

Rep. Nick Marshall, R-Parkville, announced the plan on his Facebook page. He wrote that Nixon "disregarded the laws and constitution of the state of Missouri."

Marshall says the governor's executive order to allow same-sex married couples to file joint returns violates a constitutional amendment Missouri voters passed in 2004 that said the state only recognizes marriages between a man and woman.

"You can't pick and choose what parts of the constitution you're going to enforce," said Marshall. "The governor has sworn an oath. Part of his duties are to faithfully execute the law and that includes the Constitution of Missouri. And he hasn't done that. In fact, he's violated that."

Marshall says he plans to file the articles of impeachment next month.

The last Missouri official to be impeached was Judi Moriarty in 1994 for criminal misconduct when she back-dated her son's filing for an election.

Calls to the governor's office went unreturned Monday.

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President Obama announced changes to his health care law on Thursday, allowing consumers to continue using old plans through 2014 that would otherwise be canceled.

Yet, it may be too late for some residents in Missouri, where 14 policies have already been canceled due to Affordable Care Act requirements.

"The problem is if the filings have already been withdrawn, now the carriers may be in violation of state law unless they get an exception from the department. It may be too late for them to retrench and redo rates by the first of the year," said Larry Case, Vice president of the Missouri Association of insurance agents.

The Missouri Department of Insurance and the Governor's Office refused to comment on whether the department will be granting exceptions so previously canceled plans can be filed again

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A Missouri Senate committee's refusal to recommend expanding Medicaid to the Missouri legislature disturbed more than just the Democrats who walked out of the committee meeting.

Around 75 African-American Missouri Clergy met with Gov. Jay Nixon Monday, asking him to attend to the needs of who they say are the most vulnerable in the state.

The main issues they discussed with the Governor for twice the amount of time they scheduled include:

• Improve Health Care Access
• Cease Predatory Lending and Improve Lending Options for Poor Communities
• Expand Job Access by Raising the Minimum Wage
• Reduce Mass Incarceration of People of Color
• Improve the Public Education System

Rev. Dr. Jimmy Brown of St. Louis said he wants to see legislators start to stand up for not what's politically right, but morally right.

"When they hear of an issue being wrong, even though it may be wrong in a minority community, they should stand up for what’s right," said Brown. "So we’re not addressing just one area of issues, but we are addressing the issues of the whole state."

The group plans to bring more than 500 clergy from across the state to the state Capitol and rally two times during legislative session.

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Secretary of State Jason Kander established a new program he said is meant to protect Missouri elections and Missouri voters' rights Tuesday.

Kander's spokesperson Laura Swinford said the Elections Integrity Unit will work with local election authorities to investigate allegations of voting concerns.

Kander's website shows completed reviews of voting issues and will make the group's referrals and reviews accessible to the public.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, says Kander has yet to mention the unit to him. Schaefer says he does not know whether investigating voting complaints is under Kander's jurisdiction.

"Generally, most of that authority would lie with the Attorney General's office," Schaefer said.

Before creating the Elections Integrity Unit, Kander's office completed nine reviews since 2010 regarding improper voting registration, absentee voting and other election law violations.

Complaints can be filed over the phone or via the Secretary of State's website.

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• See the unit's website

Governor Jay Nixon announced Thursday he will issue an executive order to the Missouri Department of Revenue directing it to allow same-sex couples married in other states to file taxes jointly.

"I just don't think we should treat folks differently in this zone anymore," Gov. Nixon said.

For the first time, he said he supported gay marriage. Previously, he said he was against it.

"I think if folks want to get married they should get married," he said.

A constitutional amendment in 2004 specifically prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriage.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Republican party called the order "unconstitutional."

But Nixon said the order doesn't violate the constitution because it doesn't deal with the definition of marriage. He said, rather, it deals with the state tax code and discrimination.

"Many Missourians including myself, are thinking of these issues of equality in news ways and reflecting on what constitutes discrimination," Nixon said.

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Secretary of State Jason Kander's office gave initial clearance for an initiative petition to amend the Missouri Constitution, and it was made open for public comment on Wednesday.

The petition limits the amount of money Missouri lawmakers and candidates can receive. It also requires Missouri lawmakers and their staffers to wait two years after their time in office until they can engage in paid lobbyist activities.

Brad Ketcher, former Governor Mel Carnahan's Chief of Staff,  submitted the petition.

The public comment period is five days long, and it allows Missourians a chance to offer their opinions on the proposal.

"Kander instituted the public comment process, which includes posting the proposed initiative petition online as soon as its form is approved, to make the process more accessible and transparent for Missourians," said a statement released on Wednesday.

Kander created the public comment process during his first month in office.

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The interim Senate committee on Medicaid rejected the governor's call to expand Medicaid coverage for more lower-income Missourians.

Instead, the committee recommended major organizational changes in how coverage is provided to existing recipients.

Exclusion of expanding the program as recommended by Gov. Jay Nixon led the committee's three members to walk out of the Wednesday afternoon session.

The committee's recommendations would require all Medicaid recipients to receive services through managed care organizations rather than being able to directly go to specialists without referrals by a primary care provider.

The recommendations also include provisions to reduce use of emergency room visits for non-emergency care by recipients, encourage preventive care and cover dental services.

A House committee also has been reviewing the Medicaid system. It's chair included Medicaid expansion in his initial recommendation, but not as high as the governor has proposed.

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St. Louis resident Craig Mershon claims Ameren is harassing him and others who pay the minimum balance on their utility bill, by sending those customers disconnect notices.

He said the company continues to send disconnect notices even though he is not in immediate danger of having his utilities shut off.

Sarah Giboney, an attorney representing Ameren, said the company is following the law.

"The company is obligated under law and under our tariffs and under regulations to collect for the services that we provide," said Giboney. "Otherwise other people who haven't received the services will be paying those bills."

Despite Mershon's claims, Giboney said the Missouri Public Service Commission approved Ameren's process of notifying customers.

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The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to strike down a 2007 Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) fee increase.

MSD spokesperson Lance LeCome said the ruling, which upheld the lower court's decision, will continue to leave residents in the far West, South and North districts with minimal services.

"Customers are going to go without services, and many of those customers are impacted quite negatively by this lack of storm water funding," LeCome said.

The additional fee has not been collected since 2010. LeCome said the goal was to figure out how much water a resident's property could not absorb because that water ran off onto other land. MSD would then charge an "impervious fee" for the property area that could not absorb water to offset the damage the water runoff caused the county.

The court ruled that process was a tax instead of a charge. The Missouri constitution prohibits tax increases without a vote of the people.

MSD will be allowed to keep the $90 million it collected from 2008-2010.

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Gov. Jay Nixon called for an to end the economic 'border war' between Missouri and Kansas Tuesday, but House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said Tuesday the legislature already has plans in the works.

"The legislature has been working on fundamental reforms which will improve our economy while ensuring we are able to escape the cycle of job loss which has come about as a result of the border war," Jones said in a press release. "We will continue with these efforts during the upcoming legislative session.”

Nixon said to an audience at a Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce event that he has been working with Kansas officials on a plan that would put an immediate moratorium in the region on the use of state incentives to draw businesses across state borders. He also called on state lawmakers to draft legislation putting similar moratoriums into law.

But Jones, whose effort to override the governor's veto of an income tax cut failed in September, called the move a power grab by Nixon's administration.

"Indeed, he has repeatedly stood in the way of efforts to make changes which would help put our economy back on track," Jones said.

Nixon's office did not return calls for a comment Tuesday.

Attorney General Chris Koster announced Tuesday that his office will not retry or pursue further action against 29-year-old Ryan Ferguson.

Ferguson was arrested in 2004 for the 2001 murder of Columbia Tribune reporter Kent Heitholt.

Ferguson's friend Chuck Erickson implicated Ferguson in Heitholt's murder after he said he remembered them doing it in a dream. But Erickson later recanted his testimony, along with another witness who said he saw the two at the scene of the crime.

Just last week the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals ordered Ferguson's convictions to be vacated, accusing the state of withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense. The act refers to what is called a Brady Violation.