March 25, 2020

Glacier County temporarily lays off 55 of 106 employees

Glacier County commissioners temporarily laid off half the county's workforce on Tuesday, citing budget problems and a dispute with a federal agency as reasons for downsizing.

Temporary layoffs went into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday and will remain in effect until May 31, according to county commissioners. The commissioners plan to evaluate their finances in 30 days and said information may be subject to change.

An audit of Glacier County for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 found that it had a cash deficit of nearly $4 million as of November 2018.

Glacier County's financial woes were compounded by a lawsuit it filed against the Indian Health Service (IHS) in December alleging that the IHS broke their contract by failing to submit purchase orders. County Commissioner Michael DesRosier said earlier that IHS failed to reimburse the county $1.8 million for services dating back to 2014.

Read more: https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2020/03/24/glacier-county-commissioner-michael-desrosier-layoffs-budget-problem-federal-dispute/2912213001/

March 25, 2020

Gov. Bullock extends closures, restricts some gatherings; 19 cases reported in Gallatin County

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock Tuesday extended closures of schools and places to dine-in and added new restrictions limiting how many people can gather outside of homes, saying the state expects to see an increase in novel coronavirus cases — including those contracted in-state.

Bullock announced during a press conference that public schools and dine-in service at places to eat and drink must remain closed through April 10. He said some people have questioned why he hasn’t closed schools for the rest of the year or if the two-week extension means he thinks life will “be back to normal” then.

“I don’t think it would be wise or serve in the best interest of Montanans at this time to make decisions that will have finality for what Montana might look like eight or 10 weeks down the road,” Bullock said.

Bullock also said he was issuing a directive prohibiting “non-essential” social and recreational gatherings of more than 10 people if they’re outside of a residence and can’t stay at least 6 feet apart. Bullock said at this time the state wasn’t defining nonessential.

Read more: https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/coronavirus/gov-bullock-extends-closures-restricts-some-gatherings-cases-reported-in/article_dd328be1-5d00-5519-8e23-ba3c125d8d31.html

March 25, 2020

State GOP spent $100k to qualify Montana Green Party for the ballot

A mystery of the 2020 election was solved Tuesday as it became clear the Montana Republican Party paid for an effort to qualify the Montana Green Party for the ballot this election.

Earlier this year paid petitioners appeared in Montana's larger cities gathering signatures to qualify the Greens to run candidates this cycle, even though the Montana Green Party has made clear it did not do any work to qualify for the ballot this year and had not planned to run any candidates.

At that point, it appeared only one group, the political action committee Club for Growth Action, had filed with the state Commissioner of Political Practices to spend money to qualify a minor party. But in February that group said they told their vendor to stop any signature-gathering efforts and did not plan to submit any signatures.

By March 6, however, the secretary of state qualified the Greens for the ballot because the petitioners had submitted enough signatures to do so. At that point, it was still unknown who paid for the effort. That's even with a new state law passed by the 2019 Legislature requiring anyone spending more than $500 to qualify a minor party to register with the commissioner within five days of the expenditure.

Read more: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/state-gop-spent-k-to-qualify-montana-green-party-for/article_a7e262cd-d162-512c-bc1c-293f03ca8ad1.html

March 25, 2020

Ferguson to settle 'improper' court fees lawsuit for $1.7 million

FERGUSON — The city of Ferguson has agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to settle a five-year-old lawsuit alleging the north St. Louis County municipality had charged illegal court fees.

A preliminary settlement of the class-action lawsuit was approved by St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph Dueker on Tuesday, with a hearing to grant final approval set for May 6.

Lawyers who filed the class-action suit in 2015 argued that three court fees charged by Ferguson — failure to appear, warrant recall and letter fees — had no beneficial value other than to generate revenue for the city.

“The lawsuit is an example of the problems that went on in Ferguson, and I feel that the settlement is good because people are going through a lot nowadays,” Roelif Carter, lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ferguson-to-settle-improper-court-fees-lawsuit-for-million/article_abd1be66-d09e-5457-ae30-fd2de1e58cf5.html

March 25, 2020

Dumbass Laid-Off RFT Employee Who Won't Leave Now Running for Governor

by Daniel Hill
Former music editor, St. Louis Riverfront Times


A lot can happen in a week.

One day you're gainfully employed, living the dream, recently instructed to work from home and looking forward to working in your underwear going forward.

The next, you're out of a job, alongside several of your coworkers. Beyond that, you just decide that you will not, in fact, agree to being laid off, so you keep working despite not receiving a paycheck.

And then you run for governor.

In the absence of anything better to do with myself, and because our current governor is dumb as rocks, refuses to do anything meaningful in the face of a global pandemic, wasn't even voted into his current office and has never once even tried to woo us with a machine gun, I am announcing my candidacy for the 58th governor of the great state of Missouri.

Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2020/03/23/dumbass-laid-off-rft-employee-who-wont-leave-now-running-for-governor

March 25, 2020

Missouri Walmart Coronavirus Licker Charged With 'Terrorist Threat'

A Warrenton man was charged with making a terrorist threat after he filmed himself licking bunch of items at Walmart.

"Who's afraid of the coronavirus?" Cody Pfister, 26, taunts in a video he later posted to social media.

The video spread around the world, and Warrenton police said in a statement the department had been contacted by people in the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

"We take these complaints very seriously and would like to thank all of those who reported the video so the issue could be addressed," police said in the statement.

Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2020/03/24/missouri-walmart-coronavirus-licker-charged-with-terrorist-threat
(St. Louis Riverfront Times)

March 25, 2020

Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogue - Trump Defies Experts, Quarantime Killers & Dave Matthews

March 24, 2020

The anchor on Fox News just said the word "ferry" while speaking to VP Pence

while discussing the coronavirus. Does this mean that Pence will have to self-quarantine for two weeks while Mother washes his ears out for such lewd LGBT language?



(They were speaking about the Long Island ferry.)

March 24, 2020

Missouri's irrational hatred of "Obamacare" left it ill-prepared for the current crisis

Ever had one of those birthdays that everybody forgets because there’s just so damn much going on? So you sit down mid-afternoon with a stale donut and a brew and call it a celebration.

Such might be the fate of the Affordable Care Act signed into law 10 years ago. The birthday of the signature healthcare legislation would be big news today were we not in the midst of — yes — a health crisis.

But some fans of the law are unwilling to let its milestone pass unheeded. On a telephone conference call organized by Missouri Jobs With Justice, Missourians talked about how the law has saved their lives, their incomes, or their families.

Lindsey Simmons, a single mom in Kansas City, was born with a heart defect that has required multiple surgeries and medications. Those costs, plus bills that piled up when she was seriously injured in a car wreck, bring her total medical costs to more than $2 million — well over the lifetime limits imposed by most insurance companies before the ACA banned the caps.

Read more: https://www.thepitchkc.com/missouris-irrational-hatred-of-obamacare-left-it-ill-prepared-for-the-current-crisis/

March 24, 2020

Missouri State Capitol, state office buildings to close to public

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is expected to announce Monday afternoon that state office buildings and the Missouri State Capitol will close to the public starting Tuesday.

The governor already shared the news with state employees in a memo available for the public to view on the state Office of Administration's website: "We are closing the Capitol and state office buildings throughout the state to the public. This will take effect Tuesday, March 24, 2020 until 12:01 A.M. Monday, April 6, 2020 unless extended. This does not apply to our prisons, veterans homes, and other state-run facilities who are already operating with limited public access."

Parson is scheduled to give daily briefings this week on how COVID-19 is affecting Missouri and how the state is responding. The briefings are scheduled for 3 p.m. and can be viewed via livestream at the governor's Facebook page, facebook.com/GovMikeParson/.

https://www.newstribune.com/news/missouri/story/2020/mar/23/missouri-state-capitol-state-office-buildings-close-public/821798/
(Jefferson City News Tribune)