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TexasTowelie's JournalIllinois comptroller says legislators won't get pay raise
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza made known in a video she released Wednesday that state legislators will not be getting raises in the next budget year, which begins July 1.
The issue of a pay raise for legislators came up as they debated budget details in the early-morning hours Sunday. Republican legislators balked at the idea of a raise being included in the state’s approximately $40 billion, coronavirus-challenged spending plan for the next fiscal year.
While there is no language in the budget that prohibits a pay raise, it does not provide any money to cover the cost of a pay raise.
“Here’s how much money the General Assembly appropriated for legislator raises … in this year’s budget: Zero,” Mendoza says in the video. “Which means, here’s how much more money I will be putting in their paychecks this year: Zero.”
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/illinois-comptroller-says-legislators-wont-get-pay-raise/article_b457a409-ff5e-5f78-bcc4-10f3f7607bcf.html
St. Louis top lawyer says city health director 'not quite' qualified for position
ST. LOUIS — The official in charge of the city’s response to the coronavirus does “not quite” meet the qualifications for the job, the city’s attorney told members of the Board of Aldermen on Wednesday.
Responding to questions during an online hearing, City Counselor Julian Bush said the city’s health director, Dr. Fredrick Echols, “almost” met the requirements in the city charter for the position.
“I will have to say, very regretfully, because I think he’s done a splendid job as director of health and hospitals, I think he almost satisfies those requirements, but he’s not quite there,” Bush said.
Christine Ingrassia, D-6th Ward, said neither Mayor Lyda Krewson nor Echols warned them about how the virus could affect the city until several weeks after Echols now claims he knew there would be a significant impact. And Sharon Tyus, D-1st Ward, said the health department had not devoted enough testing to ZIP code areas with high infection rates, including in her ward.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/st-louis-top-lawyer-says-city-health-director-not-quite-qualified-for-position/article_cd8d4099-d29c-5b5d-9705-a2dc660ecacc.html
Russian hacker spams website of Springfield business with porn, holds hostage for $9,500
From window replacements to insulated glass, Tessa and Adam Brooke know all things windows.
The couple, co-owners of the Window Dudes, bought the already established business six years ago. Becoming small business owners was a dream come true.
"That it’s ours is the No. 1 thing," Tessa Brooke said in a phone interview.
Recently, though, the dream has been plagued by a nightmare. The Window Dudes' online domain was hijacked, and it's been spammed with pornographic images ever since.
Brooke first found out something was wrong almost two months ago when a customer called.
Read more: https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2020/05/27/springfield-business-website-hacked-russian-hacker-hold-hostage/5260397002/
(Springfield News-Leader)
Push under way in Congress to stave off mass layoff of federal agency in Kansas City
About 1,000 employees in the Kansas City area working for the National Benefits Center may get a one-month reprieve from a massive layoff scheduled for Friday as Congress tries to find money to fund the federal agency.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said on Wednesday that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service agreed to extend its contract with a private company that provides staffing for the National Benefits Center in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park through June.
The National Benefits Center processes applications and other paperwork for USCIS, including those for international adoptions.
Employees of NBC in the Kansas City area were notified last week of a looming mass layoff scheduled to take effect on Friday because USCIS had decided to significantly downsize its contract with PAE, a private contractor that provides staffing for NBC, at the end of May. The USCIS cited major revenue shortfalls for the fee-funded agency amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243025411.html
City leaders plead for COVID-19 regulation after Johnson County makes it voluntary
More than 20 city council members from across Johnson County have signed a letter urging county leaders to adopt coronavirus restrictions that can be enforced.
After Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced she has shifted responsibility for COVID-19 prevention to counties, Johnson County health officials said they would not impose their own restrictions. Instead, the county is leaving it up to businesses and residents to follow recommendations laid out in Kelly’s phased approach to reopening the economy.
Now all churches and businesses, including bars, nightclubs and entertainment venues which had been closed can reopen, at full capacity and with no other regulations.
Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Dr. Lee Norman warned Wednesday that if mass gatherings are allowed without social distancing, the state is going “to see an increase and perhaps a startling increase in the number of cases.”
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article243044401.html
Kansas soldier stopped active shooter in Leavenworth, saving 'countless lives': police
A Fort Leavenworth soldier intervened to stop an active shooter on the Centennial Bridge Wednesday morning, “likely saving countless lives,” the local police chief said.
The incident unfolded about 11 a.m. when a man appeared to be firing shots at random on the busy bi-state bridge, which connects Leavenworth and Platte County over the Missouri River, Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said.
One person, who appeared to be an unintended target, was hit.
A soldier from nearby Fort Leavenworth was waiting in traffic when he witnessed the shooting, Kitchens said. The soldier stopped the person, he said, “by striking the shooter with his vehicle.”
Kitchens said the soldier’s actions brought an end to the shooting. Leavenworth police were called to investigate.
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article243031941.html
Two Kansas companies pay $1 million each for releasing toxic gas cloud over Atchison
Two Kansas companies have each paid $1 million in fines for releasing toxic gas that surrounded Atchison, prompting more than 100 people to seek medical attention in 2016.
Harcros Chemicals, based in Kansas City, Kansas, and MGP Ingredients, headquartered in Atchison, pleaded guilty to negligently violating the Clean Air Act, which is a misdemeanor, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree sentenced the companies Wednesday.
On Oct. 21, 2016, a Harcros driver delivering sulfuric acid arrived at Midwest Grain Product’s Atchison facility. The driver mistakenly connected the hose to a line of sodium hypochlorite instead of sulfuric acid, court documents said.
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article243039356.html
Truman Medical Centers workers look to unionize
Workers at Truman Medical Centers and Encompass Medical Group are petitioning the federal National Labor Relations Board for an election for union recognition.
If successful, the workers from both TMC locations – Hospital Hill and Lakewood – as well as Encompass, which has primary care locations around the metro, would be part of the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Missouri. Workers announced their filing in a rally midday Wednesday near TMC’s Hospital Hill location in Kansas City.
According to a union spokesperson, would-be voting workers include patient care, mental health and certified medical technicians, as well as lab workers. Such workers have been trying for more than a year to organize their union and join approximately 300 hospital workers already part of SEIU Healthcare Missouri, according to the union.
The petition to vote comes shortly after workers delivered a petition to hospital administrators for hazard pay due to high exposure risks during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: https://www.examiner.net/news/20200527/truman-medical-centers-workers-look-to-unionize
(Independence Examiner)
Kansas City police paid $425K to unarmed man shot by officer
KANSAS CITY — The Kansas City Police Department two years ago quietly paid $425,000 to an unarmed man who was shot in the face by an officer who initially faced criminal charges in the shooting.
The Kansas City Star reported the payment Tuesday. The newspaper said it recently learned of the 2018 settlement with Anthony Contreras after filing a records request.
Contreras was shot by Officer Jacob Ramsey in June 2014 after police say Contreras ran when officers tried to question him about an attempted robbery. Ramsey had said he thought Contreras was reaching for a gun when he fired his gun. A grand jury in 2015 returned felony assault and armed criminal action charges against Ramsey, but a prosecutor later dropped the charges.
Contreras sued, alleging police brutality, and in 2018, Kansas City police commissioners agreed to settle.
Read more: https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20200526/kansas-city-police-paid-425k-to-unarmed-man-shot-by-officer
After lake parties, officials disagree on distancing enforcement
State leaders and local health officials around the Lake of the Ozarks can agree on this: those shoulder-to-shoulder lakeside parties over the weekend were not good.
But they don’t agree at all about who’s in charge of shutting down those kinds of parties.
In remarks at his daily press briefing Tuesday, Gov. Mike Parson said multiple times that local officials are responsible for enforcing the state’s social distancing order, which requires people to stay 6 feet apart in public and says restaurants must adhere to that requirement and others to restart dine-in service.
“It’s the local levels, the local health departments are the ones in charge of that,” Parson told reporters. “I’ve answered that question I don’t know how many times since I’ve been doing interviews.”
Read more: https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20200527/after-lake-parties-officials-disagree-on-distancing-enforcement
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