Lead was removed from most consumer products, like pencils and pipes, long ago.

There’s still one product where lead is used routinely — ammunition.

This final holdout is becoming more heavily regulated, however. Beginning this spring, hunters in Missouri will no longer be allowed to use lead shot in specific conservation areas across the state. State officials say the rules are meant to protect wildlife from lead poisoning.

Unlike bullets, shotgun shells are filled with small pellets — often made of lead — that scatter across a large area.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/state-officials-ban-lead-shot-conservation-areas-reduce-wildlife-poisoning

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/business/walmart-robots-retail-jobs/index.html

New York (CNN Business)Walmart wants store workers to help out customers instead of mopping up floors and unloading boxes in backrooms. So it's increasingly turning to robots to fill those tasks.

The world's largest retailer announced Tuesday that it is adding thousands of new robots to its stores. By next February, it expects to have autonomous floor scrubbers in 1,860 of its more than 4,700 US stores. Walmart will also have robots that scan shelf inventory at 350 stores. And there will be bots at 1,700 stores that automatically scan boxes as they come off delivery trucks and sort them by department onto conveyer belts.

Walmart says these "smart assistants" will reduce the amount of time workers spend on "repeatable, predictable and manual" tasks in stores and allow them to switch to selling merchandise to shoppers and other customer service roles.

"The overall trend we're seeing is that automating certain tasks gives associates more time to do work they find fulfilling and to interact with our customers," CEO Doug McMillon said last year of the new technology in stores.

Sure they want to switch the workers to selling merchandise..... Sure they do.......

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Retired Teachers Association and Public School Personnel (MRTA) presented a check representing $17,823,538 in community service hours donated in 2018 to Missouri’s citizens at its annual Unit President Summit March 12-13 in Jefferson City. MRTA members volunteered 721,893 hours back to their communities during 2018 at an estimated value of $24.69 per hour for community volunteers. In addition, members also reported contributing 58,081 food items and more that $729,490 in cash donations to food pantries and food banks within their communities. MRTA’s 145 local units and more than 28,000 members participate in statewide community service projects including, Community Hunger Action Program and the Ronald McDonald Tab Top Collection Program as well as donating their time at soup kitchens, local churches, charity events, senior centers, visiting hospital and nursing home residents, and mentoring students.

https://labortribune.com/missouri-retired-teachers-association-donates-almost-18-million-in-community-service/

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Retired Teachers Association and Public School Personnel (MRTA) presented a check representing $17,823,538 in community service hours donated in 2018 to Missouri’s citizens at its annual Unit President Summit March 12-13 in Jefferson City. MRTA members volunteered 721,893 hours back to their communities during 2018 at an estimated value of $24.69 per hour for community volunteers. In addition, members also reported contributing 58,081 food items and more that $729,490 in cash donations to food pantries and food banks within their communities. MRTA’s 145 local units and more than 28,000 members participate in statewide community service projects including, Community Hunger Action Program and the Ronald McDonald Tab Top Collection Program as well as donating their time at soup kitchens, local churches, charity events, senior centers, visiting hospital and nursing home residents, and mentoring students.

https://labortribune.com/missouri-retired-teachers-association-donates-almost-18-million-in-community-service/

Jennifer Sawhill, a 29-year-old server at Bartolino’s Osteria on The Hill, has been working in restaurants since she was 14 years old.

In her 15-year career, she’s worked at Sqwires, Square One Brewery, Soda Fountain Square and a number of other restaurants.

Waiting tables, bartending and working as a hostess helped put her through college at Lindenwood University, where she earned a degree in communications in 2013.

After college, when she couldn’t find a full-time job in her degree field, working in restaurants helped her pay the bills.

https://labortribune.com/duped-by-phony-grassroots-group-restaurant-worker-found-herself-lobbying-to-undermine-minimum-wage-hike/

Jennifer Sawhill, a 29-year-old server at Bartolino’s Osteria on The Hill, has been working in restaurants since she was 14 years old.

In her 15-year career, she’s worked at Sqwires, Square One Brewery, Soda Fountain Square and a number of other restaurants.

Waiting tables, bartending and working as a hostess helped put her through college at Lindenwood University, where she earned a degree in communications in 2013.

After college, when she couldn’t find a full-time job in her degree field, working in restaurants helped her pay the bills.

https://labortribune.com/duped-by-phony-grassroots-group-restaurant-worker-found-herself-lobbying-to-undermine-minimum-wage-hike/

Springfield, IL – Labor-allied Democratic legislators with strong voting majorities in the Illinois House and Senate are turning back the clock on former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who for years could be counted on to veto any bills favorable to Labor.

With some exceptions, Democrats were usually unable to override those vetoes, but now, with an ally in the office of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, they have a chance to actually move the ball forward.

Key leaders in the Legislature who are introducing worker-friendly bills and hold sway about others include:

https://labortribune.com/worker-friendly-laws-finally-have-a-chance-in-illinois/

Washington – The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) recently submitted its annual membership numbers to the Department of Labor, showing a gain of 9,097 dues-paying members and 18,638 dues-paying retirees over the union’s report last year, suggesting the efforts by the billionaires and corporations behind the Janus v. AFSCME case and the anti-worker majority of the United States Supreme Court to “defund and defang” public service unions have fallen flat.

The report is the first since the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME ruling, which held that requiring fees from public service workers who receive union benefits but choose not to join the union is unconstitutional. In the wake of the decision, the report shows that, overall, the union retained 94 percent of workers it represents, including both dues-paying members and fee payers.

According to the report, AFSCME represents 1,329,594 working members, agency fee payers in the private sector and retirees, compared to 1,411,877 reported last year. Though this represents a bottom-line decrease of six percent thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision, it crushed union analysts’ expectations, which anticipated a loss upwards of 30 percent.

“In overwhelming numbers, AFSCME members have blunted the attacks of the wealthy special interests and chose to stick with their union,” said Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME.

https://labortribune.com/workers-chose-to-stick-with-their-unions-despite-janus-ruling/

The Medium Security Institution (known as “the Workhouse”) is an obsolescent facility and closing it is both fiscally and morally responsible.

Although the city’s (St. Louis) two correctional facilities currently hold more persons than could be held at the City Justice Center alone, a roadmap to closing the Workhouse is achievable. This effort will take leadership and collaboration – across multiple departments and jurisdictions.

First, eliminating pretrial detention for those facing nonviolent charges would significantly reduce the number of beds needed. Second, coordinating with other departments of correction in the region could potentially provide any beds needed beyond what’s available at the Justice Center.

Spending more city resources on stop-gap measures to keep the Workhouse open is not the right answer; implementing a roadmap to close it should be the priority.

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/guest_columnists/comptroller-green-says-close-the-workhouse/article_802db660-5a37-11e9-baa4-b7a0971aec34.html

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released an audit that detailed an ongoing failure by the State of Missouri to address concerns with providers of the Child Care Subsidy Program that are at a high risk of noncompliance. The report also found a continued failure by the state to properly account for federal dollars in several state programs.

The Child Care Subsidy Program helps pay child care expenses for approximately 60,000 Missouri children at 4,700 child care providers at an annual cost of approximately $150 million. For the third year in a row, the report identified concerns with the state's procedures to ensure providers' compliance with regulations related to billing practices, attendance records, staffing ratios and fire safety.

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/state-is-not-monitoring-child-care-subsidy-program/article_9169f870-565f-11e9-8ef8-d735e292adf3.html