Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Washington, D. C. - The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after lawmakers in the House and the Senate could not agree on a spending bill to fund the government.
Federal employees who are considered essential will continue working. But employees deemed non-essential — close to 800,000 will be furloughed.
Most furloughed federal workers are supposed to be out of their offices within four hours of the start of business Tuesday.
By Mike Ferguson - Missouri Viewpoints
(St. Charles, MO) – Public education in Missouri, and throughout America, need to adapt to the constant change of technology and global competition.
Almost everyone agrees on that.
Opposition is growing to the approach many Missouri officials want to implement within our education system. It’s called Common Core standards and, depending on whom you ask, it’s either a common sense approach to delivering a better education to more children or it’s a scheme to centralize education decisions and interfere with both local control and parental involvement.
Official photo: State Rep. Mike Leara
After reading the article below from our affiliate, Missouri News Horizon, I realized that our state is being ran by a bunch of children, fighting and crying worse than two five-year-olds. Although give credit to State Rep. Mike Leara for thinking way outside the box concocting the legislation he filed.
A quick summary of the article is, State Rep. Leara actually filed a bill, which would make it a felony for lawmakers to merely file legislation that would at all restrict gun rights. Sure glade he is using his time wisely, continuing reading the complete story below.
Missouri News Horizon
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. Mike Leara filed legislation Monday that would make it a felony for lawmakers to merely file legislation that would at all restrict gun rights.
Missouri Niews Horizon
--U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said she agrees with President Barack Obama’s call in his state of the union address to raise the national minimum wage.
Speaking with reporters, McCaskill, D-Mo., said if tying the minimum wage to the cost of living adjustment is good policy for Missouri, she thinks it would be good policy for the federal government, too.
“The sky is not falling, the economy is growing, state revenue is up, and our minimum wage is higher than the federal wage,” McCaskill said. “I don’t buy the notion that a higher minimum wage is going to cause economic Armageddon.”
By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS — Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin missed nearly 55 percent of congressional votes during his last two months in office — high numbers, but better than his tally from the previous quarter.
Missouri Watchdog reported in August that Akin, who lost his U.S. Senate bid to Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, was absent for 85 percent of votes during the third quarter of 2012, (a number that grew to 87.5 percent by quarter’s end.)
That occurred during the pre-election campaign season, in the weeks after Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” ignited a firestorm of controversy. McCaskill’s campaign used those statistics against her Republican opponent.
Missouri News Horizon
COLUMBIA, Mo. — After a dismal year for statewide candidates, Missouri Republicans decided to appoint new leadership to lead the party as it attempts to rebuild a statewide infrastructure
On Saturday, the Missouri Republican State Committee elected Ed Martin to serve as party chairman, voting 34 to 32 against incumbent David Cole. The vote came down to a second ballot. Former State Sen. Jane Cunningham pulled seven votes in the first round, which was not enough to advance.
Rep Marsha Haefner on child sex abouse.
MNH
Jefferson City, Mo. - Twenty-two separate recommendations on how to prevent sexual abuse of children in Missouri. That’s how a 14-member governor’s task force sees it in a report published Thursday.
The group made up of lawmakers, children’s advocates, police officers, doctors and teachers spent most of the last year studying the issue. They call child sexual abuse a “silent epidemic in Missouri and throughout the nation.”
The group says 25 percent of girls and 16 percent of boys will be victimized.
The comprehensive report by the Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children outlines everything from helping parents work with children to prevent abuse to changing multiple state statutes to better enforce laws for sex crimes for against children.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., center, leaves a second Republican caucus meeting to discuss the "fiscal cliff" bill passed by the Senate Monday night_and now awaits a vote in the GOP-controlled House_ at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(Credit: AP)
Missouri News Horizon
— The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday night to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff,” endorsing legislation to put off the scheduled sequester and make lower tax rates permanent for most Americans.
In the U.S. Senate early Tuesday morning, the bill garnered bipartisan support from 89 Senators, including Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Roy Blunt.
By Kyle Quick
--Does mainstream media have your head spinning about the termed phrase, “Fiscal Cliff” or what it even means. The most important thing to understand is regardless of what brilliant idea congress comes up with our country will not go bankrupt or fall off the face of the earth come Jan. 1, 2013.
Our intent is to help you have a better overall understanding about exactly what the “Fiscal Cliff” refers to by using plain English and letting you form your own opinion.
Ben Bernanke used the term “Fiscal Cliff” to describe the “massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases” that are likely to occur January 1, 2013 and mainstream media took the phrase and ran with it.
Fiscal Cliff News Brief
Missouri News Horizon
--With hours until the United States hits the “fiscal cliff,” all eyes are on the U.S. Senate, and Saturday, Sen. Roy Blunt carried the message of Republicans urging Democrats to take up a proposal like House Republicans have proposed.
“The Republican-controlled House has taken a step in the right direction,” Blunt said. “Instead of working across the aisle and considering the House-passed plan to protect taxpayers, Senate Democrats have spent months drawing partisan lines in the sand.”
