Saturday, May 19, 2012
The national program airing Saturday and Sunday will focus on initiative petition campaigns tied to capping interest rates at 36 percent.
A Missouri ballot initiative aimed at curtailing interest rates at “payday loan” entities is getting some national attention. For an episode of PBS’s Need to Know, airing locally this weekend, the program traveled to the Show Me State to follow around activists who are collecting signatures for an initiative petition. If the ballot measure makes it to the ballot and if voters approve it, interest rates on certain lending companies would be capped at 36 percent. Supporters of the initiative argue that the loan agencies place poorer Missourians in a cycle of debt. But opponents counter that the entities are usually the only way lower-income citizens can obtain short-term loans to pay ordinary expenses. While supporters of the initiative …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Country music and laryngitis are two of the methods employed this week.
The last few iterations of this column have noted how several candidates for the U.S. Senate utilized creative means to entice fundraising efforts. For instance, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) used his rhetorical scuffle with President Barack Obama over student loans in a fundraising pitch. And Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has directly attacked third-party organizations that are pre-emptively attacking the incumbent lawmaker as she makes a difficult bid for re-election. McCaskill’s campaign staff continued on a creative path in an email that was sent to supporters earlier this week. They played on the fact that McCaskill had lost her voice right before she was supposed to make a speech at a Democratic gathering in Kansas City. “Between …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
West St. Louis County State Senator Jane Cunningham was hospitalized overnight in Jefferson City after feeling light-headed Wednesday at the state capitol.
Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) should be back at the State Capitol following a brief hospitalization overnight Wednesday. Senator Cunningham's chief of staff, Kit Crancer, told Patch Thursday morning that "the Senator is doing well and will be released later today." According to the Twitter account for the Missouri State Senate, members in the chamber were updated on her health this morning and learned that she would return to the Capitol Thursday. Cunningham, who is not running for re-election after state legislative redistricting essentially left her without a race to run, became light headed Wednesday during debate on an education bill. The legislative session ends at 5 p.m. Friday.
Eureka's One Curve At A Time founder says the deadline is June 1 to submit public comments to Missouri transportation officials who will vote on the final list of statewide roadway projects to fund the next several years.
As of today, residents only have 15 days left to voice their support of keeping the proposed Highway FF road improvement projects top-of-mind for Missouri Highways and Transportation Commissioners who will vote on July 11 regarding final Missouri Department of Transporation projects to receive funding for the 2013-2017 period. In the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for Missouri, funding for shoulders to be added along the entire stretch of Highway FF is at the top of the list. "We need your help to keep it there. Timing is critical. Don’t wait to email public comments. Missouri Department of Transportation funding is tight. If we keep Highway FF as a top priority to be funded, we can make our region safer," said …
To better understand what Wildwood and Clarkson Valley leaders are facing, Patch interviewed the executive director of the St. Louis County Boundary Commission.
Michelle Dougherty, executive director of the St. Louis County Boundary Commission, explains the commission process prompts municipalities to file map plans every six years—plans that include a five-year outlook. "It's critical that municipalities present plans now that they think they might possibly be interested in doing, because it's the required beginning step," Dougherty said. "It's like reserving your right to be able to execute future plans." She said the map plans due by July 1 reserve cities' rights to submit annexation and consolidation plans for the five years that follow the Boundary Commission's Map Plan stage. This process was referenced at Monday night's Wildwood City Council meeting. See related Patch articles from this …
The St. Louis Rams have outlined a renovation plan for the Edward Jones Dome that is estimated to cost $700 million.
The Rams want us to buy them a new house. Just fixing up its current home—the Edward Jones Dome—won't do. Instead, the St. Louis football franchise expects an extreme makeover, to the tune of $700 million, as it is estimated by a company hired by the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) to analyze the team's counter proposal to a the CVC's own plan to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome with a $124 million facelift. If someone doesn't cough up the $700 mil to redo the Dome, it is feared the team will take its football and go home to Los Angeles, where it came from before it was the St. Louis franchise. All of this wrangling was set in motion in 1995 when the team negotiated a 30-year lease with the CVC. It was stipulated that the …
A group who consider themselves representative of all the founders of Wildwood are privately funding a cornerstone for the future city hall currently being built.
When the new Wildwood City Hall is done, it will have a cornerstone dedicated to the "past, present and future citizens of Wildwood." A group of private residents is pooling donations to do so. Wildwood City Administrator Dan Dubruiel presented the concept at Monday night's city council meeting, indicating the group was prepared to fund a marker larger than originally planned. The budget for the new city hall included a $175 line item for the cornerstone, but Dubruiel said the private citizens' group committed to providing at least $800. Wildwood resident and Planning and Zoning Commissioner Fran Gragnani told council members Monday she and others thought it was "a nice thing to do for the city." She also told them the group to date had …
The State Senator who serves much of West St. Louis County was reportedly feeling light-headed Wednesday.
The Associated Press is reporting State Senator Jane Cunningham, (R-Chesterfield) was taken by her Chief of Staff to a Jefferson City hospital Wednesday after feeling light-headed during a debate on education. Her Chief of Staff, Kit Crancer, told Patch late Wednesday that Cunningham had been admitted to Saint Mary's Hospital. "I expect that she'll be fine," he said via email. The state legislative session ends Friday. Sign up for the Patch Newsletter, including Breaking News Alerts.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Clarkson Valley and Wildwood leaders look at potential consolidation plans as contingency to ensure residents have options. Clarkson Valley mayor says pressure from Jefferson City outcomes to consolidate is getting more intense.
Because Clarkson Valley Mayor Scott Douglass is reading the Missouri legislative tea leaves, he said he had to explore options that would protect the interests of Clarkson Valley's 2,632 residents—thus the recent consolidation or annexation discussions with Wildwood city officials. "It's time to take protection against the worst for our city," Douglass told Patch, who cited potential future financial factors that may render Clarkson Valley unable to continue operating as an independent municipality. Douglass said the pressure for smaller municipalities to consolidate has gotten intense over the last two years, with new Jefferson City conversations and laws often about "too many small cities" in the state. He said recommended legislation …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
TAKE POLL: Every six years, municipalities can propose changes to St. Louis County Boundary Commissioners. This year, Clarkson Valley representatives reportedly signaled they would not mind that Wildwood reps include them on their annexation list.
St. Louis County is the only Missouri county with a Boundary Commission, and in the next few months, its members may be entertaining proposed plans from Wildwood and Clarkson Valley representatives about merging in some way in the future. Originally formed to oversee orderly incorporation in St. Louis county, boundary commissioners now focus on annexations; incorporations; consolidations; and transfers of jurisdictions between municipalities or the county. At Monday night's Wildwood City Council meeting, Wildwood City Administrator Dan Dubruiel told attendees he and Wildwood Mayor Tim Woerther had been approached by Clarkson Valley Mayor Scott Douglass, who said he and his board of aldermen were interested in giving Clarkson Valley's 2,632…
Julie Brown Patton
8:27 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Reports are that Jane’s back on the Senate floor; she appears to be doing fine. more ›