Maria Carter

The Kansas City council votes to extend the red light program but puts off a vote on a new ethics code.  The Kansas City Ballet name Devon Carney as its new artistic director.  Officials will break ground for the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility next week.

Missouri’s lobbying system is not as open as you think.  The Kansas City council will vote on extending red light cameras. An artist explore the city in a new exhibition.  Tom Watson sets his sights on another championship.

A site in Iola, Kansas is added to Superfund list.  Heart to Heart International, based in Olathe, helps out in Moore, Oklahoma.  A Lee’s Summit legislator will not resign despite two of his bills not making it through the House.

Gas prices jumped last week throughout the Kansas City area.  The Director of Missouri’s Department of Social Services resigns abruptly.  A bill would expand the role of the physician assistants in Missouri.

Gas Price Leap An Anomaly

Utility crews worked through the night and into the morning to restore electricity to some 77,000 customers in the Kansas City area.  Most Missourians with Hepatitis C don’t know they have the disease, but health officials and groups are working to change that.  After cantaloupe were determined to be responsible for a listeria outbreak, melon growers are making changes to prevent future outbreaks.

The nature of methamphetamine labs in the area is changing.  A council committee advances a proposal to update Kansas City’s ethics code.  Missouri’s Medicaid director leaves but no is saying whether he was fired or resigning.

Liberty Hospital will layoff more than a 100 workers.  Kansas City Mayor Sly James appoints an advisory group on the airport, including critics of  a one-terminal proposal. The Kansas Senate gives initial approval to bonds for NBAF.

It appears that Democrats in the Missouri Senate have successfully stopped legislation that would have redefined what constitutes a maintenance project and exempted those being done on public property from the state's prevailing wage requirement.

More breweries look to the local food movement for inspiration.  A bill creating an exemption for maintenance work under Missouri’s prevailing wage law died after a Democratic filibuster in the state Senate.  A Missouri bill limiting labor unions’ ability to deduct dues and fees from public employees’ paycheck heads to Governor Nixon.

A new farm bill may lead to less money for a conservation program for farms.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon criticizes several bills passed by the Missouri General Assembly.  Kansas Governor Sam Brownback raises awareness about foster care needs in the state.

A missing toddler is feared dead.  A Kansas House committee approves bonds for NBAF.  The Missouri General Assembly sends the governor a budget and  legislation cutting taxes.

Programs for HIV and AIDS face an uncertain future as the federal healthcare overhaul goes into effect.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon threatens layoffs over an ongoing dispute with the legislature about the DMV.  The mother of a missing toddler was identified as one of three murder victims found on a farm near Ottawa, Kansas.

Let the cat out of the bag.

The cat’s pajamas.

Cat got your tongue?

Curiosity killed the cat.

These are just a few of the saying about cats that show how entrenched they are in our everyday lives. But even as wonderful as cats may be sometimes the relationship between pet and human can be strained.

Republicans in the Missouri Senate have scaled back a proposal to cut state taxes in order to emulate tax cuts in neighboring Kansas and Oklahoma.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has strongly objected to the bill's sales tax hike, saying it would hurt the poor and elderly the most.  That provision has been dropped.  

House Bill 253 would now cut the personal income tax rate by half a percentage point and the corporate rate by three points, and phase them both in over the next 10 years. 

The investigation continues into three bodies found on an Ottawa Farm.  The Missouri legislature considers tax cuts and approves a final version of the state budget.  Kansas Governor Sam Brownback calls for extending a sales tax to pay for higher education.