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
Gov. Mel Carnahan named Friday a task force to study early childhood development issues.
Among the issues to be examined by the task force is pre-kindergarten education and what additional education services are needed for very young children.
The task force will be chaired by former Columbia Sen. Joe Moseley.
The House Criminal Law committee has approved a measure that would prohibit partial-birth abortions in Missouri.
The measure is similar to a bill pending before the Senate.
See our newspaper story for details.
Missouri House defeated an amendment that would have required HMOs to cover the costs of reconstruction surgery to repair damages from injuries or disease.
The House also rejected a similar amendment that would have limited the mandated coverage to breast reconstruction surgery.
The amendment was offered on the second day of House debate on the HMO regulation bill that remains pending before the House.
For more information, see:
Missouri's House and Senate finally began work Wednesday on two of the most complex and most controversial issues -- HMO regulation and welfare reform.
The Senate took up the welfare reform bill at the same time the House began debate on regulation of health maintenance organizations.
Neither bill got a final vote. The House did reject an effort that would have removed one of the major consumer protections in the HMO bill.
For more details, see:
The House Children Committee has approve legislation that sponsors say they hope will reduce the divorce rate.
The measure would require that applicants for a marriage license get pre-marital counseling or wait 30 days before getting a license.
See our newspaper story for more details.
The House Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a measure that would give government sweeping new powers over "deadbeat dads."
It's a new federal that is requiring states to adopt stronger laws to require and enforce child support by absent parents.
Among the penalties that would be imposed against a deadbeat parent under the bill would be loss of all licenses issued by the state (professional, occupational and recreational) expect a law license.
For more information, see:
The Missouri Senate gave preliminary approval to a measure that would give police more power to enforce the state law requiring drivers have auto insurance.
While current law requires either insurance or that a driver have the financial resources to pay for damages, the police cannot actually demand that a driver display an insurance ID card. In fact, there's no penalty unless an uninsured driver is involved in an auto accident.
As a result, large numbers of Missouri drivers do not have insurance.
See our radio story for more details on the Senate action.
Missouri's legislature has begun work on legislation to implement a federal requirement for portability of health insurance.
The House Consumer Protection Committee heard testimoney Tuesday night on just how far the state should go in implementing the federal Kennedy-Kassebaum law.
See our newspaper story for further details.
Maj. Gen. John Havens has taken over as commander of Missouri's national guard.
He was sworn into office at cermonies in the governor's office Tuesday. Our radio story has more details.
Missouri's Secretary of State called a news conference to renew her call for lawmakers to give her more power to investigate local elections.
Under present law, the Secretary of State's office cannot get involved with a local election -- or even be present at local polling places -- without an invitation from the local election offical.
See our newspaper story for further details.
Missouri's legislature returned from its spring break with little progress having been made on the major issues of the session such as HMO regulation and welfare reform implementation.
Both those issues, along with bills to restrict legislators from taking gifts from lobbyists, were at the top of the legislature's agenda with lawmakers returned Monday afteroon.
But action on those issue was postponed.
On Monday, the Senate gave first-round approval to a measure that would expand the power of parole officers to carry fire arms while the House voted for tougher penalties for violating the state's wildlife codes.
For more details, see our radio stories on the Senate parole officer bill approval and the House wildlife code vote.