By Steve Bell
Kansas City, MO – Kansas school funding plans in both the House and Senate seemed to be falling apart as legislators began to fret over possible revenue shortfalls in future years. A House committee indefinitely postponed action on their version of the bill, 40 conservative legislators declared both plans fiscally irresponsible, and House Majority Leader Clay Aurand offered his own proposal which would force local governments to pay the majority of any increase.
The Sierra Club has taken action to try to stop the construction of KCP&L's planned Iatan 2 coal-fired power plant near Weston. The group's appeal to the Missouri Air Conservation Commission claims that the 850-megawatt plant would dramatically increase air pollution in the region, and that the Department of Natural Resources made numerous technical and legal errors in giving the utility permission to build. A spokesperson for KCP&L dismissed the group's appeal as unlikely to result in any delays.
Missouri and four other states sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the Medicare prescription drug program. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, claims that the federal government has placed a direct tax upon the states in violation of the Constitution. It's about a "clawback" provision in the new prescription drug program bsdrf on yhr premise that the states save money because some persons now covered by the federal plan would have been enrolled in state Medicaid prescription plans.
The prison volunteer charged with helping killer John Manard escape, remains in the Leavenworth County Jail with bond at $100,000. Jim Yoakum, attorney for Toby Young says he doesn't expect her to be released before her next court appearance March 17th. Yoakum said today that he will argue for probation in the aiding and abetting case. Young could face up to 32 months in prison.
The stadium tax proposal should get another boost Sunday when NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is scheduled to announce the date Kansas City will host a Super Bowl if Arrowhead gets a roof. The NFL has already narrowed the dates to 2015 or 2017