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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
With flooding up north and higher than normal river levels in Missouri, experts are starting to warn about the possiblity of extensive flooding in Missouri this spring.
The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers have been unusually high for this winter. And all the flooding north of Missouri eventually will draining into the Missouri River.
See our newspaper story for further details.
The House has passed and sent to the Senate a proposal that would require telephone companies to provide access to live operators.
Although live operator access is available now, bill supporters voiced concerns that advancing telecommunications technology might deny customers access to real operators in the future.
See our newspaper story for further details.
Missouri's Senate rejected an anti-abortion amendment that would have blocked state family planning funds from going to any organization or person that promoted abortion -- either directly or indirectly.
The vote came in the same week that the Senate had voted overwhemlingly to prohibit partial-birth abortion.
Earlier, the House had restricted the family planning funds to government agencies -- such as county health agencies.
The Senate version allows the funds to be granted to private organizations, like Planned Parenthood.
For more information, see the Senate roll call.
The House rejected legislation that would have prohibited children from riding in the back of pickup trucks.
For more information, see our radio story and the House rollcall.
With little opposition, the House gave final approval and sent to the Senate the measure that would impose stronger state requirements over managed health plans.
Provisions in the bill include:
For more information, see:
Plans for continuing extra state funding for urban schools after the federal courts drop their desegregation orders ran into opposition Tuesday in the Senate which postponed final action.
Before the Senate is a measure to provide extra fundings to schools with high numbers of low-income children. The proposal is designed to assure St. Louis and Kansas City continue to get extra state funding after the federal courts stop ordering the state to pay for desegregation efforts for the two areas.
The federal court in Kansas City already has approved a plan for ending state school desegregation payments in that area and a similar order is expected for St. Louis.
Critics in the Senate charged the measure was unfair to rural and suburban school children. See our newspaper story and our radio story for more details.
After an emotionally charged debate, the Senate approved by voice vote a ban on partial-birth abortions simillar to the Congressional ban vetoed by the president.
The measure faces one more Senate vote before going to the House.
Opponents tried, unsuccessfully, to provide allow a partial-birth abortion when the mother's long-term health was at risk by carrying the pregnancy to term.
The bill faces one more Senate vote before going to the House.
Later Monday night, a House committee heard testmoney on a bill taking an exact opposite approach to abortion. The measure would expand the situations under which government funds could be used for abortion.
For more information, see:
The House passed and sent to the Senate a measure that requires the state's Ethics Commission to undertake efforts to make lobbyist disclosure reports electronically available.
That is one of a number of provisions in the bill that revises the state's campaign finance and lobby disclosure laws.
See our radio story for further details.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to let private agencies get state family planning funds.
Earlier this year, the House voted to limit family planning financial support to government agencies -- such as local health departments -- in an effort to block funding for Planned Parenthood.
Anti-abortion lawmakers have fought for years providing funds to Planned Parenthood, arguing that would be indirect support for abortion.
See our radio story for further details.