A complaint filed by a Republican state senator’s son accused Bailey of using the attorney general’s office for his own political gain

By ALLISON KITE&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

The Missouri Supreme Court declined to force an investigation into donations to Attorney General Andrew Bailey connected to a witness in a case his office was handling.

In a filing Tuesday evening, the judges denied a request from Lucas Cierpiot —&nbsp;son of state Sen. Mike Cierpiot — to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/11/gop-legislators-son-asks-supreme-court-to-order-inquiry-into-donations-to-missouri-ag/">require the disciplinary arm of the court to investigate donations</a>&nbsp;from Micheal Ketchmark and his law firm to a political action committee supporting Bailey.&nbsp;

Ketchmark, a prominent attorney and large political donor, was called as a witness in a disability discrimination case filed by Lucas Cierpiot’s brother, Patrick, against the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Bailey’s office was defending the state.

After Ketchmark’s law firm donated to the pro-Bailey Liberty and Justice PAC, Lucas Cierpiot filed a complaint with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, accusing Bailey of using his position as attorney general for personal political gain.

“No attorney can ever collect money from a case witness,” Cierpiot’s filing says. “The fact that there is not a rule spelling this out in-letter is due to the fact that it is so obvious.”

Cierpiot’s complaint was dismissed in March. He asked for further review, but it was dismissed again in May. He then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/cnet/cases/newHeader.do?inputVO.caseNumber=SC100710&amp;inputVO.courtId=OSCDB0024_SUP&amp;inputVO.isTicket=false#docket" target="_blank">sought an order from the state Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;to force an investigation.

In an email, Bailey’s spokeswoman, Madeline Sieren, said the court “rightfully denied the frivolous petition” and that Bailey had not violated the rules of professional conduct for attorneys.

Cierpiot said in a text message that he was “very disappointed” by the court’s decision.&nbsp;

“Missouri really is the ‘Show Me State,’ Cierpiot said. “Isn’t it? ‘Show Me’ just how unethical the Missouri courts can be.”

Cierpiot’s was one of several accusations of unethical behavior by Bailey, who took office last year after being appointed by Gov. Mike Parson. Bailey is now running for a full term.&nbsp;

This summer, he&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-before-missouri-attorney-general-could-be-questioned-under-oath/">narrowly avoided being questioned under oath</a>&nbsp;about his contact with a defendant in his own case against Jackson County. One of Bailey’s deputies lost his license because of the meetings, according to a filing from the county’s attorneys.

Last year, Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/25/missouri-ag-drops-out-of-gambling-case-after-taking-donations-from-companies-suing-state/">withdrew from defending the Missouri State Highway Patrol</a>&nbsp;in a lawsuit filed by Warrenton Oil and Torch Electronics regarding video game machines that offer cash prizes. The attorney general’s office bowed out of the case following donations from PACs connected to the companies’ lobbyist. The patrol investigated the machines, believing that they were illegal means of gambling.&nbsp;

Bailey was also the focus of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/hazelwood-schools-files-ethics-complaint-against-ag-bailey-over-dei-investigation/article_518f7ca0-07d2-11ef-a43d-9f3e0e63bf97.html" target="_blank">formal complaint about the behavior of his office</a>&nbsp;after he falsely blamed the Hazelwood School District’s diversity, equity and inclusion program for the off-campus assault of a student.

Patrick Cierpiot named Ketchmark as a witness in the underlying lawsuit in May 2022, saying he had urged a Parson staffer not to fire Cierpiot, who was recovering from a bicycle wreck and struggling to keep up with his workload.

The following January, Ketchmark donated $2,825, the maximum that an individual can give, to Bailey’s campaign. Bailey received a combined $16,950 from individuals with the last name Ketchmark or employed by the law firm Ketchmark &amp; McCreight P.C. by the end of the month.

Later in the spring of 2023, Ketchmark’s firm donated $125,000 to the pro-Bailey Liberty and Justice PAC. The firm then gave an in-kind donation of $9,216.53.

In August 2023, Bailey’s office withdrew from defending the Department of Economic Development and allowed the agency to hire a private law firm to handle the case. At the time, Sieren&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/25/missouri-ag-drops-out-of-gambling-case-after-taking-donations-from-companies-suing-state/">told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a>&nbsp;that the office was looking to outside firms to handle “complex litigation.” She said Bailey didn’t have a conflict of interest in the case.

In rejecting Lucas Cierpiot’s ethics complaint, the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel said he failed to allege any violation of the rules of professional conduct. The complaint only outlined the donations from Ketchmark’s law firm to the pro-Bailey PAC, not the donation from Ketchmark to Bailey’s campaign committee. The ethics office drew a distinction between those.

“Corporations are legal entities separate and distinct from their officers and shareholders,” the office said in a court filing responding to Cierpiot’s petition to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel said that before declining to investigate, officials verified that Ketchmark hadn’t contributed to Bailey’s campaign committee, apparently missing the January 2023 donations.

The Supreme Court’s order did not say why it was denying Cierpiot’s request.&nbsp;

This story was updated at 12:25 p.m. to include comments from Bailey’s office and Cierpiot received after its initial publication.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1727949988495.png" alt=" Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks at a press conference in the Missouri House Lounge, flanked by House Speaker Dean Plocher, left, and state Rep. Justin Sparks (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications)." />
 <figcaption> Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks at a press conference in the Missouri House Lounge, flanked by House Speaker Dean Plocher, left, and state Rep. Justin Sparks (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>A complaint filed by a Republican state senator’s son accused Bailey of using the attorney general’s office for his own political gain</h2>By ALLISON KITE&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>The Missouri Supreme Court declined to force an investigation into donations to Attorney General Andrew Bailey connected to a witness in a case his office was handling.In a filing Tuesday evening, the judges denied a request from Lucas Cierpiot —&nbsp;son of state Sen. Mike Cierpiot — to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/11/gop-legislators-son-asks-supreme-court-to-order-inquiry-into-donations-to-missouri-ag/">require the disciplinary arm of the court to investigate donations</a>&nbsp;from Micheal Ketchmark and his law firm to a political action committee supporting Bailey.&nbsp;Ketchmark, a prominent attorney and large political donor, was called as a witness in a disability discrimination case filed by Lucas Cierpiot’s brother, Patrick, against the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Bailey’s office was defending the state.After Ketchmark’s law firm donated to the pro-Bailey Liberty and Justice PAC, Lucas Cierpiot filed a complaint with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, accusing Bailey of using his position as attorney general for personal political gain.“No attorney can ever collect money from a case witness,” Cierpiot’s filing says. “The fact that there is not a rule spelling this out in-letter is due to the fact that it is so obvious.”Cierpiot’s complaint was dismissed in March. He asked for further review, but it was dismissed again in May. He then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/cnet/cases/newHeader.do?inputVO.caseNumber=SC100710&amp;inputVO.courtId=OSCDB0024_SUP&amp;inputVO.isTicket=false#docket" target="_blank">sought an order from the state Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;to force an investigation.In an email, Bailey’s spokeswoman, Madeline Sieren, said the court “rightfully denied the frivolous petition” and that Bailey had not violated the rules of professional conduct for attorneys.Cierpiot said in a text message that he was “very disappointed” by the court’s decision.&nbsp;“Missouri really is the ‘Show Me State,’ Cierpiot said. “Isn’t it? ‘Show Me’ just how unethical the Missouri courts can be.”Cierpiot’s was one of several accusations of unethical behavior by Bailey, who took office last year after being appointed by Gov. Mike Parson. Bailey is now running for a full term.&nbsp;This summer, he&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-before-missouri-attorney-general-could-be-questioned-under-oath/">narrowly avoided being questioned under oath</a>&nbsp;about his contact with a defendant in his own case against Jackson County. One of Bailey’s deputies lost his license because of the meetings, according to a filing from the county’s attorneys.Last year, Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/25/missouri-ag-drops-out-of-gambling-case-after-taking-donations-from-companies-suing-state/">withdrew from defending the Missouri State Highway Patrol</a>&nbsp;in a lawsuit filed by Warrenton Oil and Torch Electronics regarding video game machines that offer cash prizes. The attorney general’s office bowed out of the case following donations from PACs connected to the companies’ lobbyist. The patrol investigated the machines, believing that they were illegal means of gambling.&nbsp;Bailey was also the focus of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/hazelwood-schools-files-ethics-complaint-against-ag-bailey-over-dei-investigation/article_518f7ca0-07d2-11ef-a43d-9f3e0e63bf97.html" target="_blank">formal complaint about the behavior of his office</a>&nbsp;after he falsely blamed the Hazelwood School District’s diversity, equity and inclusion program for the off-campus assault of a student.Patrick Cierpiot named Ketchmark as a witness in the underlying lawsuit in May 2022, saying he had urged a Parson staffer not to fire Cierpiot, who was recovering from a bicycle wreck and struggling to keep up with his workload.The following January, Ketchmark donated $2,825, the maximum that an individual can give, to Bailey’s campaign. Bailey received a combined $16,950 from individuals with the last name Ketchmark or employed by the law firm Ketchmark &amp; McCreight P.C. by the end of the month.Later in the spring of 2023, Ketchmark’s firm donated $125,000 to the pro-Bailey Liberty and Justice PAC. The firm then gave an in-kind donation of $9,216.53.Cierpiot’s complaint was dismissed in March. He asked for further review, but it was dismissed again in May. He then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/cnet/cases/newHeader.do?inputVO.caseNumber=SC100710&amp;inputVO.courtId=OSCDB0024_SUP&amp;inputVO.isTicket=false#docket" target="_blank">sought an order from the state Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;to force an investigation.In an email, Bailey’s spokeswoman, Madeline Sieren, said the court “rightfully denied the frivolous petition” and that Bailey had not violated the rules of professional conduct for attorneys.Cierpiot said in a text message that he was “very disappointed” by the court’s decision.&nbsp;“Missouri really is the ‘Show Me State,’ Cierpiot said. “Isn’t it? ‘Show Me’ just how unethical the Missouri courts can be.”Cierpiot’s was one of several accusations of unethical behavior by Bailey, who took office last year after being appointed by Gov. Mike Parson. Bailey is now running for a full term.&nbsp;This summer, he&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-before-missouri-attorney-general-could-be-questioned-under-oath/">narrowly avoided being questioned under oath</a>&nbsp;about his contact with a defendant in his own case against Jackson County. One of Bailey’s deputies lost his license because of the meetings, according to a filing from the county’s attorneys.Last year, Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/25/missouri-ag-drops-out-of-gambling-case-after-taking-donations-from-companies-suing-state/">withdrew from defending the Missouri State Highway Patrol</a>&nbsp;in a lawsuit filed by Warrenton Oil and Torch Electronics regarding video game machines that offer cash prizes. The attorney general’s office bowed out of the case following donations from PACs connected to the companies’ lobbyist. The patrol investigated the machines, believing that they were illegal means of gambling.&nbsp;Bailey was also the focus of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/hazelwood-schools-files-ethics-complaint-against-ag-bailey-over-dei-investigation/article_518f7ca0-07d2-11ef-a43d-9f3e0e63bf97.html" target="_blank">formal complaint about the behavior of his office</a>&nbsp;after he falsely blamed the Hazelwood School District’s diversity, equity and inclusion program for the off-campus assault of a student.Patrick Cierpiot named Ketchmark as a witness in the underlying lawsuit in May 2022, saying he had urged a Parson staffer not to fire Cierpiot, who was recovering from a bicycle wreck and struggling to keep up with his workload.The following January, Ketchmark donated $2,825, the maximum that an individual can give, to Bailey’s campaign. Bailey received a combined $16,950 from individuals with the last name Ketchmark or employed by the law firm Ketchmark &amp; McCreight P.C. by the end of the month.Later in the spring of 2023, Ketchmark’s firm donated $125,000 to the pro-Bailey Liberty and Justice PAC. The firm then gave an in-kind donation of $9,216.53.In August 2023, Bailey’s office withdrew from defending the Department of Economic Development and allowed the agency to hire a private law firm to handle the case. At the time, Sieren&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/25/missouri-ag-drops-out-of-gambling-case-after-taking-donations-from-companies-suing-state/">told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a>&nbsp;that the office was looking to outside firms to handle “complex litigation.” She said Bailey didn’t have a conflict of interest in the case.In rejecting Lucas Cierpiot’s ethics complaint, the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel said he failed to allege any violation of the rules of professional conduct. The complaint only outlined the donations from Ketchmark’s law firm to the pro-Bailey PAC, not the donation from Ketchmark to Bailey’s campaign committee. The ethics office drew a distinction between those.“Corporations are legal entities separate and distinct from their officers and shareholders,” the office said in a court filing responding to Cierpiot’s petition to the Missouri Supreme Court.The Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel said that before declining to investigate, officials verified that Ketchmark hadn’t contributed to Bailey’s campaign committee, apparently missing the January 2023 donations.The Supreme Court’s order did not say why it was denying Cierpiot’s request.&nbsp;This story was updated at 12:25 p.m. to include comments from Bailey’s office and Cierpiot received after its initial publication.

Mo. Supreme Court rejects request for ethics investigation into AG Andrew Bailey

BY:&nbsp;ANNELISE HANSHAW&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

Missouri’s defense of a state law barring minors from beginning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will depend on whether the judge in the case puts stock in expert witnesses touting retracted studies and conspiracy theories about Jerry Sandusky.

Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter, who is presiding&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/27/patients-hurt-by-missouris-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-providers-testify/">over a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s gender-affirming care restrictions</a>, will have to weigh the credibility of expert witnesses alongside his judgment.

Questions of credibility came up Tuesday, when the Missouri Attorney General’s Office called as a witness John Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern who testified about&nbsp;<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-023-02576-9" target="_blank">his now-retracted study entitled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,”</a>&nbsp;which concludes that adolescents identify as transgender as a result of social contagion.

But it was his social media post about the accusers of Jerry Sandusky that appeared to concern Carter.

Sandusky, a former college football coach, was convicted of molesting young boys over a period of at least 15 years. Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/profjmb/status/1495045630871449601" target="_blank">repeatedly posted on social media</a>&nbsp;that he believes Sandusky is innocent.

“You believe the people testifying against Jerry Sandusky are lying?” Carter asked.

“I can see that if you are not familiar with the evidence that I am familiar with, you would be shocked,” Bailey told him.

Bailey said he had listened to a podcast and lauded the work of conservative commentator John Ziegler.

“Do you know (Ziegler)? Have you talked to anybody that was an eyewitness in that case?” Carter asked.

“I have read testimony, but I have not talked to anyone,” Bailey said.

Although the underlying case was not about Sandusky, the exchange may have chiseled away at Bailey’s credibility and showed a greater pattern of basing conclusions on secondary sources.

Bailey’s research on transgender youth has been retracted, which he chalked up to pressure from activists.

The academic journal that retracted his article cited an issue with informed consent protocol, meaning participants didn’t know their responses would be in an article. On cross-examination, the circumstances of his research became clearer.

To investigate his hypothesis of whether “rapid onset gender dysphoria” caused a rise in referrals to gender clinics, Bailey surveyed parents and guardians who interacted with the website ParentsofROGDKids.com, a website for parents who believe their child has rapid onset gender dysphoria.

He said the study’s co-author Suzanna Diaz isn’t a researcher, so she didn’t create the survey with typical informed-consent procedures. He didn’t explain that Diaz is a pseudonym.

He knew Diaz was associated with ParentsofROGDKids.com but didn’t know her real name and if she ran the website.

Diaz had created the questionnaire to “weed out troublemakers.”

When Bailey looked into detransitioners and desisters, which are people who have stopped or reversed gender-affirming care, he looked to the website Reddit and looked at groups titled “detrans” and “desist.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Nora Huppert asked if he verified that participants had previously been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Bailey admitted that he had not.

The other defense expert on the stand Tuesday was Dr. Daniel Weiss, an endocrinologist from Utah.

For 10 years in Ohio, Weiss accepted transgender adults as patients that needed cross-sex hormones, but later decided the intervention was harmful to prescribe.

“I’m opposed to it medically,” Weiss said of adults using cross-sex hormones to transition. “I think there’s no scientific evidence to support it. But if someone wants to do it, and they’re adequately informed, they can do it.”

His testimony included a look at adverse event reporting of puberty blockers, which he does not prescribe, and the discussion of risks to gender-affirming care.

When asked to compare the risks of puberty blockers to aspirin, he couldn’t make a direct comparison.

“It’s hard to compare,” he said. “With any intervention, you want to balance risk and benefit and look at all the treatment options.”

Gillian Wilcox, an attorney with the ACLU of Missouri, asked if he has published a peer-reviewed article on gender dysphoria. He hadn’t.

“My article, if I were to write one, would be rejected by most medical journals because there is no good treatment,” Weiss said. “I call it child-harming treatment. There is no good intervention.”

He has testified in favor of state bans on gender-affirming care for minors. He told Wilcox that the Center for Christian Virtue, an advocacy group with anti-LGBTQ views, asked him to testify and he was paid to prepare his testimony.

He does not have clinical experience with minors.

In the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/lawsuit-seeking-to-block-missouri-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-minors-heads-to-trial/">pretrial brief</a>, Solicitor General Joshua Divine wrote that defendants will only need to prove “medical and scientific uncertainty” to show that state lawmakers are allowed to enact restrictions on gender-affirming care.

Although the state has entered the trial confident in the task ahead, credibility may limit what the judge will consider from its experts.

Other witnesses Tuesday included parents, one of which lives in Chicago, who disagreed with their children about their transition.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1727904351590.png" alt=" ACLU of Missouri attorney Gillian Wilcox takes notes while a witness testifies in Missouri's gender-affirming care trial in Cole County Circuit Court (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> ACLU of Missouri attorney Gillian Wilcox takes notes while a witness testifies in Missouri's gender-affirming care trial in Cole County Circuit Court (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;ANNELISE HANSHAW&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>Missouri’s defense of a state law barring minors from beginning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will depend on whether the judge in the case puts stock in expert witnesses touting retracted studies and conspiracy theories about Jerry Sandusky.Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter, who is presiding&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/27/patients-hurt-by-missouris-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-providers-testify/">over a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s gender-affirming care restrictions</a>, will have to weigh the credibility of expert witnesses alongside his judgment.Questions of credibility came up Tuesday, when the Missouri Attorney General’s Office called as a witness John Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern who testified about&nbsp;<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-023-02576-9" target="_blank">his now-retracted study entitled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,”</a>&nbsp;which concludes that adolescents identify as transgender as a result of social contagion.But it was his social media post about the accusers of Jerry Sandusky that appeared to concern Carter.Sandusky, a former college football coach, was convicted of molesting young boys over a period of at least 15 years. Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/profjmb/status/1495045630871449601" target="_blank">repeatedly posted on social media</a>&nbsp;that he believes Sandusky is innocent.“You believe the people testifying against Jerry Sandusky are lying?” Carter asked.“I can see that if you are not familiar with the evidence that I am familiar with, you would be shocked,” Bailey told him.“Mmhmm,” Carter replied.Bailey said he had listened to a podcast and lauded the work of conservative commentator John Ziegler.“Do you know (Ziegler)? Have you talked to anybody that was an eyewitness in that case?” Carter asked.“I have read testimony, but I have not talked to anyone,” Bailey said.Although the underlying case was not about Sandusky, the exchange may have chiseled away at Bailey’s credibility and showed a greater pattern of basing conclusions on secondary sources.Bailey’s research on transgender youth has been retracted, which he chalked up to pressure from activists.The academic journal that retracted his article cited an issue with informed consent protocol, meaning participants didn’t know their responses would be in an article. On cross-examination, the circumstances of his research became clearer.To investigate his hypothesis of whether “rapid onset gender dysphoria” caused a rise in referrals to gender clinics, Bailey surveyed parents and guardians who interacted with the website ParentsofROGDKids.com, a website for parents who believe their child has rapid onset gender dysphoria.He said the study’s co-author Suzanna Diaz isn’t a researcher, so she didn’t create the survey with typical informed-consent procedures. He didn’t explain that Diaz is a pseudonym.He knew Diaz was associated with ParentsofROGDKids.com but didn’t know her real name and if she ran the website.Diaz had created the questionnaire to “weed out troublemakers.”When Bailey looked into detransitioners and desisters, which are people who have stopped or reversed gender-affirming care, he looked to the website Reddit and looked at groups titled “detrans” and “desist.”Plaintiffs’ attorney Nora Huppert asked if he verified that participants had previously been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Bailey admitted that he had not.The other defense expert on the stand Tuesday was Dr. Daniel Weiss, an endocrinologist from Utah.For 10 years in Ohio, Weiss accepted transgender adults as patients that needed cross-sex hormones, but later decided the intervention was harmful to prescribe.“I’m opposed to it medically,” Weiss said of adults using cross-sex hormones to transition. “I think there’s no scientific evidence to support it. But if someone wants to do it, and they’re adequately informed, they can do it.”His testimony included a look at adverse event reporting of puberty blockers, which he does not prescribe, and the discussion of risks to gender-affirming care.When asked to compare the risks of puberty blockers to aspirin, he couldn’t make a direct comparison.“It’s hard to compare,” he said. “With any intervention, you want to balance risk and benefit and look at all the treatment options.”Gillian Wilcox, an attorney with the ACLU of Missouri, asked if he has published a peer-reviewed article on gender dysphoria. He hadn’t.“My article, if I were to write one, would be rejected by most medical journals because there is no good treatment,” Weiss said. “I call it child-harming treatment. There is no good intervention.”He has testified in favor of state bans on gender-affirming care for minors. He told Wilcox that the Center for Christian Virtue, an advocacy group with anti-LGBTQ views, asked him to testify and he was paid to prepare his testimony.He does not have clinical experience with minors.In the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/lawsuit-seeking-to-block-missouri-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-minors-heads-to-trial/">pretrial brief</a>, Solicitor General Joshua Divine wrote that defendants will only need to prove “medical and scientific uncertainty” to show that state lawmakers are allowed to enact restrictions on gender-affirming care.Although the state has entered the trial confident in the task ahead, credibility may limit what the judge will consider from its experts.Other witnesses Tuesday included parents, one of which lives in Chicago, who disagreed with their children about their transition.

Credibility of state’s expert witnesses questioned in Missouri transgender health care trial

(Radio Iowa) - Iowans will hear some new terminology when the winds of winter start to blow. 

National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Hahn says the agency is abandoning a few familiar terms in favor of language that's a little more direct. Wind chill watches and warnings will become extreme cold watches and warnings, Hahn says, while the wind chill advisory is being rebranded as a cold weather advisory. If the air temperature is ten-below-zero, that's quite frigid whether there's a breeze or not, so Hahn says it makes sense to have an alternative to wind chill advisories when it's not windy. 

The term "wind chill" isn't going away, as Hahn says it remains very useful during the winter months to describe what the air temperature feels like with a combination of cold temperatures and sustained winds.

(Radio Iowa) - Iowans will hear some new terminology when the winds of winter start to blow. National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Hahn says the agency is abandoning a few familiar terms in favor of language that's a little more direct. Wind chill watches and warnings will become extreme cold watches and warnings, Hahn says, while the wind chill advisory is being rebranded as a cold weather advisory. If the air temperature is ten-below-zero, that's quite frigid whether there's a breeze or not, so Hahn says it makes sense to have an alternative to wind chill advisories when it's not windy. The term "wind chill" isn't going away, as Hahn says it remains very useful during the winter months to describe what the air temperature feels like with a combination of cold temperatures and sustained winds.

There will be no wind chill warnings in Iowa next winter

Hundreds of American Red Cross volunteers are in
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and even Tennessee, responding to the
destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

The American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas
has 43 disaster responders on the ground. Twelve are from the Kansas City and
Northwest Missouri Chapter.

Volunteer Kim Mailes of Neosho is in Clearwater,
Florida, reporting that though Helene left destruction there, she did more
damage as she moved on.

“We have levels of disaster in the Red Cross. A
Level 1 is a home fire. A Level 7 is a Katrina,” Mailes tells KFEQ/St. Joseph
Post in a phone interview. “In North Carolina right now, they’ve got a Level 7
going on. It’s just a 150-year event. It’s just catastrophic.”

Hurricane Helene has cut a 500-mile path of
destruction leaving millions without basic necessities. The death toll has
topped 160 with more expected.

“I think we were fortunate here. I’m not a meteorologist,
but I think we were fortunate here in Florida in that it passed through fairly
quickly,” Mailes says. “That’s not to say there’s not a lot of damage here.
There is. Some areas are just obliterated. But then as the hurricane made its
way up the Eastern Seaboard and into North Carolina, it slowed down and just hovered
and just dumped biblical proportions of rain which is causing tremendous
problems.”

Still, Florida took some very tough losses as
Hurricane Helene began its path of destruction.

“I want to give you an example,” Mailes says. “Yesterday,
I was in Cedar Key, Florida, which is a small town on the coast, about 30 miles
from any nearest town. The town has just really been wiped off the map. They
have no power. They have no food. They have no water and the only grocery store
in town was destroyed completely by the hurricane.” 

The American Red Cross has a more than 900
volunteers on the ground, helping with recovery efforts.

You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostHundreds of American Red Cross volunteers are in
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and even Tennessee, responding to the
destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Helene.The American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas
has 43 disaster responders on the ground. Twelve are from the Kansas City and
Northwest Missouri Chapter.Volunteer Kim Mailes of Neosho is in Clearwater,
Florida, reporting that though Helene left destruction there, she did more
damage as she moved on.“We have levels of disaster in the Red Cross. A
Level 1 is a home fire. A Level 7 is a Katrina,” Mailes tells KFEQ/St. Joseph
Post in a phone interview. “In North Carolina right now, they’ve got a Level 7
going on. It’s just a 150-year event. It’s just catastrophic.”Hurricane Helene has cut a 500-mile path of
destruction leaving millions without basic necessities. The death toll has
topped 160 with more expected.“I think we were fortunate here. I’m not a meteorologist,
but I think we were fortunate here in Florida in that it passed through fairly
quickly,” Mailes says. “That’s not to say there’s not a lot of damage here.
There is. Some areas are just obliterated. But then as the hurricane made its
way up the Eastern Seaboard and into North Carolina, it slowed down and just hovered
and just dumped biblical proportions of rain which is causing tremendous
problems.”Still, Florida took some very tough losses as
Hurricane Helene began its path of destruction.“I want to give you an example,” Mailes says. “Yesterday,
I was in Cedar Key, Florida, which is a small town on the coast, about 30 miles
from any nearest town. The town has just really been wiped off the map. They
have no power. They have no food. They have no water and the only grocery store
in town was destroyed completely by the hurricane.” The American Red Cross has a more than 900
volunteers on the ground, helping with recovery efforts.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Red Cross sends hundreds out East to help with recovery efforts

Absentee voting is underway across Missouri ahead of the November election.  

Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack Garvey says during this period all you need to have for an absentee ballot is a valid excuse 

"They need to be able to mark an excuse on the form that they sign to request the ballot," Baack-Garvey tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "So, if they can mark absent on election day, or maybe they have a hard time getting out, they could mark incapacitated, it just depends on what their excuse is, because they need to have one for this first part of the absentee voting period." 

No excuse absentee voting begins on October 22nd.  Baack-Garvey says since absentee voting began on September 24th, 76 people have come in to vote absentee in person.  

"And we have probably about eight to nine hundred mail out ballots that have been distributed to voters that maybe have a hard time getting out or they're going to be out of town on Election Day, et cetera, so it's looking right on pace for a good turnout," Baack-Garvey says. 

Baack-Garvey says for a presidential election she is expecting around2,000 to vote absentee 

"It's just kind of hard to compare after COVID, but a lot of people just want to get their ballot cast right away, a lot of people are snowbirds, college students come in and vote," Baack-Garvey explains. "So, it just depends on the mood of the voters, if they want to vote absentee or if they're going to wait and go vote at the polling places." 

The deadline to register to vote for the November election is also nearing.  You can register to vote until 5pm on October 9th. 

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post Absentee voting is underway across Missouri ahead of the November election. Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack Garvey says during this period all you need to have for an absentee ballot is a valid excuse "They need to be able to mark an excuse on the form that they sign to request the ballot," Baack-Garvey tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "So, if they can mark absent on election day, or maybe they have a hard time getting out, they could mark incapacitated, it just depends on what their excuse is, because they need to have one for this first part of the absentee voting period." No excuse absentee voting begins on October 22nd. Baack-Garvey says since absentee voting began on September 24th, 76 people have come in to vote absentee in person. "And we have probably about eight to nine hundred mail out ballots that have been distributed to voters that maybe have a hard time getting out or they're going to be out of town on Election Day, et cetera, so it's looking right on pace for a good turnout," Baack-Garvey says. Baack-Garvey says for a presidential election she is expecting around2,000 to vote absentee "It's just kind of hard to compare after COVID, but a lot of people just want to get their ballot cast right away, a lot of people are snowbirds, college students come in and vote," Baack-Garvey explains. "So, it just depends on the mood of the voters, if they want to vote absentee or if they're going to wait and go vote at the polling places." The deadline to register to vote for the November election is also nearing. You can register to vote until 5pm on October 9th. You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Absentee voting underway, deadline to register for November nears

(Radio Iowa) - A foundation based in Council Bluffs is creating a 165 MILLION dollar investment fund for more than four dozen southwest Iowa communities. 

The money comes from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation. It will be invested 23 different accounts for what the foundation calls "anchor cities" and another 28 nearby "member cities" in southwest Iowa. 

Each year, five percent of the projects from each investment fund will be distributed as grants for housing, child care and educational causes.

(Radio Iowa) - A foundation based in Council Bluffs is creating a 165 MILLION dollar investment fund for more than four dozen southwest Iowa communities. The money comes from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation. It will be invested 23 different accounts for what the foundation calls "anchor cities" and another 28 nearby "member cities" in southwest Iowa. Each year, five percent of the projects from each investment fund will be distributed as grants for housing, child care and educational causes.

Non-profit creates $165 million investment fund for six southwest Iowa counties

Kenneth Hartman Jr., a corn farmer from Waterloo, Illinois, is the new President of the National Corn Growers Association. His term began this week and he has a number of things to work on, including pushing Congress to pass a robust farm bill, expand markets, and address tariffs that are being placed on ag supplies and passed on to farmers. He also wants to extend consumer access to higher blends of ethanol. 

The key to accomplishing big goals like this is building relationships. “My theme as president is ‘Building Bridges,’” Hartman says. “We need to build on our ties with existing allies while cultivating new relationships with other organizations inside and outside of agriculture.” He also says corn growers need to continue reaching out to policymakers and other leaders who may not represent rural communities but who benefit indirectly from the work of farmers. 

Kenneth Hartman Jr., a corn farmer from Waterloo, Illinois, is the new President of the National Corn Growers Association. His term began this week and he has a number of things to work on, including pushing Congress to pass a robust farm bill, expand markets, and address tariffs that are being placed on ag supplies and passed on to farmers. He also wants to extend consumer access to higher blends of ethanol. The key to accomplishing big goals like this is building relationships. “My theme as president is ‘Building Bridges,’” Hartman says. “We need to build on our ties with existing allies while cultivating new relationships with other organizations inside and outside of agriculture.” He also says corn growers need to continue reaching out to policymakers and other leaders who may not represent rural communities but who benefit indirectly from the work of farmers.

National Corn Growers Association elect a new president

The September Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer reached its lowest readings since March 2016. Declining income expectations pushed farmer sentiment down as the barometer fell to 88, and the Index of Future Expectations dropped 14 points to 94. The Index of Current Conditions also fell seven points to 76, nearly matching levels seen in April 2020, during the height of COVID. September’s survey revealed that farmers are increasingly worried about commodity prices, input costs, agricultural trade prospects, and the potential impact of the upcoming election on their farm operations. 

The September Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer reached its lowest readings since March 2016. Declining income expectations pushed farmer sentiment down as the barometer fell to 88, and the Index of Future Expectations dropped 14 points to 94. The Index of Current Conditions also fell seven points to 76, nearly matching levels seen in April 2020, during the height of COVID. September’s survey revealed that farmers are increasingly worried about commodity prices, input costs, agricultural trade prospects, and the potential impact of the upcoming election on their farm operations.

Farmer sentiment reaches lowest point since 2016

BY&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/cbates/">CLARA BATES</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

Nearly 8,000 seniors and Missourians with disabilities could lose at-home care over the next year after a new eligibility algorithm went into effect this week, a spokesperson for the state health department told The Independent.

Starting Oct. 1, Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services implemented a change in the scoring algorithm they use to determine eligibility during annual reviews and enrollment for those receiving help with everyday tasks like going to the bathroom, getting dressed and taking their prescriptions. The assistance is part of a Medicaid-funded program called home and community based services designed to provide an alternative to those who would otherwise need to receive institutional care.&nbsp;

That change, according to the department, is designed to help ensure those who truly need the services receive them, and those who don’t — for instance, because their conditions have improved or they’re not severe enough to qualify — are removed.

“We want to ensure those with higher acuity needs are receiving the care they need,” said DHSS spokesperson Lisa Cox. “That is what this transformation is about—to ensure we are providing the right services, in the right setting, at the right time to those who would go into a facility placement if not for [home and community based services].”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

But advocates are raising alarm that certain people who still need services will lose them, causing their health to decline or forcing them into institutional settings like nursing homes.&nbsp;

Jennifer Gundy, who runs a center for independent living in southwest Missouri, which provides in-home care support for 370 people, estimates 18% of her clients will fall off the rolls.

And most of them will still be in need of services, she said, including cases of those with severe diabetes, mobility issues, complicated medication regimes and other issues that are eased by current assistance but will worsen without it.

“So that’s our concern,” she said. “And we’ve been voicing that concern with the state for probably the last two years,” she said.

Joel Ferber, director of advocacy at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, said there are “truly needy folks who are going to lose services.”&nbsp;

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri has been working with national advocacy groups to analyze the new algorithm and its effects,&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH2Erz4P2IzLdAONZPBliiStb0hKM9dx6EJrMYtRo5o/edit" target="_blank">and provide guidance.</a>&nbsp;One client they identified, a 70-year-old woman who receives 40 hours of weekly paid help, won’t be eligible after her review, according to LSEM. She weighs under 100 pounds and has had a stroke.

Without a caretaker, she won’t be able to make herself meals or bathe, and has no family in the area. She may have to be hospitalized or go to a nursing home.

State Rep. Deb Lavender, a Democrat of Manchester, said thousands will lose services, “without any support from the state” to fill in the gap.

“They’re going to be people who have received services for years,” she said, “and we have provided that for them — to then drop them because they don’t meet the new algorithm doesn’t seem right.”

Cox said 7,818 people are at risk of losing services, but she didn’t provide an estimate of any possible net change, saying the program will “continue to add more participants every month due to the increase in needs of our population.”&nbsp;

There were around 68,000 people monthly on the program last fiscal year, Cox said.

The new algorithm has been years in the making.&nbsp;

The legislature in 2017 grew concerned with the home and community based services program “just blossoming” in participation and cost, said Jessica Schaefer, program director for home and community based services in a&nbsp;<a href="https://stateofmo.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/stateofmo/recording/8d5b5ed15984103dbfd6d6c4b67e734f/playback" target="_blank">recent training.&nbsp;</a>

To cut the budget, the legislature in 2017 raised the threshold for eligibility. It also capped costs for services at a lower level.&nbsp;

The program is jointly funded by the state and federal government, and states vary widely in how they run the programs.

The department found those changes weren’t entirely effective, Schafer said — that some people who needed services most didn’t qualify anymore — so they launched a “transformation” of the eligibility criteria. It was designed to be more accurate at directing limited services to the correct people.

The “transformation is about ensuring those most in need of care receive the services needed to remain independent in their community,” Cox said.

There have been several delays in implementing the new algorithm — most recently because of federal rules tied to accepting American Rescue Plan Act funds. Since 2021, the department has used both the new and old algorithm, so that anyone who qualified on either basis could qualify for the program.

The state has generally characterized those who will lose coverage as people who don’t have needs significant enough to qualify in the first place.

In a slideshow for providers during a recent training, the state recommended when delivering the news of ineligibility to individuals, that they “exude confidence” and “put a positive spin on ineligibility,” along with connecting them to other resources and expressing sympathy.

Because the department has been providing two scores, advocates can see which clients will not qualify under the new algorithm and have been able to track it.

Advocates say they’ve repeatedly brought up concerns with the state based on clients they see are desperately in need of services who will no longer qualify.

“The only thing that we can do is just go ahead and allow them to do this, and then if there’s enough people that fall off the services and end up going to the nursing home, going in the hospital, having lots of problems because they’re not getting the services, then we can look at doing a class action lawsuit,” said Gundy, the southwest Missouri advocate.

“Which is really sad, because those people have to get hurt or have really bad health problems for something to get done.”

States across the country have made similar cuts to the program, based on automated decisions, including in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/algorithm-crucial-healthcare-decisions" target="_blank">Arkansas</a>, where the algorithm was successfully&nbsp;<a href="https://www.btah.org/case-study/arkansas-medicaid-home-and-community-based-services-hours-cuts.html" target="_blank">challenged</a>&nbsp;in court.

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and a group of national advocates published a&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH2Erz4P2IzLdAONZPBliiStb0hKM9dx6EJrMYtRo5o/edit" target="_blank">toolkit for providers and participants to understand the changes</a>&nbsp;and track those who lose services.

Emily Paul, project director at Upturn, a national organization that advocates for equity and justice in technology, has been involved in that analysis.

“What we understand in general is that automation is a tool that states are using to deal with inadequate funding for these programs, and to create a rationale for who doesn’t get services,” Paul said.

“Underfunding really drives the need to have this whole rationale for trying to distribute the resources and trying to make claims to fairness and objectivity within a system that is not really set up to actually meet people’s needs,” she said. “And so that’s the fundamental issue. States can still try to make better or worse choices about how they allocate the resources.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1647707989275.jpg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BY&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/cbates/">CLARA BATES</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>Nearly 8,000 seniors and Missourians with disabilities could lose at-home care over the next year after a new eligibility algorithm went into effect this week, a spokesperson for the state health department told The Independent.Starting Oct. 1, Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services implemented a change in the scoring algorithm they use to determine eligibility during annual reviews and enrollment for those receiving help with everyday tasks like going to the bathroom, getting dressed and taking their prescriptions. The assistance is part of a Medicaid-funded program called home and community based services designed to provide an alternative to those who would otherwise need to receive institutional care.&nbsp;That change, according to the department, is designed to help ensure those who truly need the services receive them, and those who don’t — for instance, because their conditions have improved or they’re not severe enough to qualify — are removed.“We want to ensure those with higher acuity needs are receiving the care they need,” said DHSS spokesperson Lisa Cox. “That is what this transformation is about—to ensure we are providing the right services, in the right setting, at the right time to those who would go into a facility placement if not for [home and community based services].”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But advocates are raising alarm that certain people who still need services will lose them, causing their health to decline or forcing them into institutional settings like nursing homes.&nbsp;Jennifer Gundy, who runs a center for independent living in southwest Missouri, which provides in-home care support for 370 people, estimates 18% of her clients will fall off the rolls.And most of them will still be in need of services, she said, including cases of those with severe diabetes, mobility issues, complicated medication regimes and other issues that are eased by current assistance but will worsen without it.“So that’s our concern,” she said. “And we’ve been voicing that concern with the state for probably the last two years,” she said.Joel Ferber, director of advocacy at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, said there are “truly needy folks who are going to lose services.”&nbsp;Legal Services of Eastern Missouri has been working with national advocacy groups to analyze the new algorithm and its effects,&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH2Erz4P2IzLdAONZPBliiStb0hKM9dx6EJrMYtRo5o/edit" target="_blank">and provide guidance.</a>&nbsp;One client they identified, a 70-year-old woman who receives 40 hours of weekly paid help, won’t be eligible after her review, according to LSEM. She weighs under 100 pounds and has had a stroke.Without a caretaker, she won’t be able to make herself meals or bathe, and has no family in the area. She may have to be hospitalized or go to a nursing home.State Rep. Deb Lavender, a Democrat of Manchester, said thousands will lose services, “without any support from the state” to fill in the gap.“They’re going to be people who have received services for years,” she said, “and we have provided that for them — to then drop them because they don’t meet the new algorithm doesn’t seem right.”Cox said 7,818 people are at risk of losing services, but she didn’t provide an estimate of any possible net change, saying the program will “continue to add more participants every month due to the increase in needs of our population.”&nbsp;There were around 68,000 people monthly on the program last fiscal year, Cox said.The new algorithm has been years in the making.&nbsp;The legislature in 2017 grew concerned with the home and community based services program “just blossoming” in participation and cost, said Jessica Schaefer, program director for home and community based services in a&nbsp;<a href="https://stateofmo.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/stateofmo/recording/8d5b5ed15984103dbfd6d6c4b67e734f/playback" target="_blank">recent training.&nbsp;</a>To cut the budget, the legislature in 2017 raised the threshold for eligibility. It also capped costs for services at a lower level.&nbsp;The program is jointly funded by the state and federal government, and states vary widely in how they run the programs.The department found those changes weren’t entirely effective, Schafer said — that some people who needed services most didn’t qualify anymore — so they launched a “transformation” of the eligibility criteria. It was designed to be more accurate at directing limited services to the correct people.The “transformation is about ensuring those most in need of care receive the services needed to remain independent in their community,” Cox said.There have been several delays in implementing the new algorithm — most recently because of federal rules tied to accepting American Rescue Plan Act funds. Since 2021, the department has used both the new and old algorithm, so that anyone who qualified on either basis could qualify for the program.The state has generally characterized those who will lose coverage as people who don’t have needs significant enough to qualify in the first place.In a slideshow for providers during a recent training, the state recommended when delivering the news of ineligibility to individuals, that they “exude confidence” and “put a positive spin on ineligibility,” along with connecting them to other resources and expressing sympathy.Because the department has been providing two scores, advocates can see which clients will not qualify under the new algorithm and have been able to track it.Advocates say they’ve repeatedly brought up concerns with the state based on clients they see are desperately in need of services who will no longer qualify.“The only thing that we can do is just go ahead and allow them to do this, and then if there’s enough people that fall off the services and end up going to the nursing home, going in the hospital, having lots of problems because they’re not getting the services, then we can look at doing a class action lawsuit,” said Gundy, the southwest Missouri advocate.“Which is really sad, because those people have to get hurt or have really bad health problems for something to get done.”States across the country have made similar cuts to the program, based on automated decisions, including in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/02/algorithm-crucial-healthcare-decisions" target="_blank">Arkansas</a>, where the algorithm was successfully&nbsp;<a href="https://www.btah.org/case-study/arkansas-medicaid-home-and-community-based-services-hours-cuts.html" target="_blank">challenged</a>&nbsp;in court.Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and a group of national advocates published a&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH2Erz4P2IzLdAONZPBliiStb0hKM9dx6EJrMYtRo5o/edit" target="_blank">toolkit for providers and participants to understand the changes</a>&nbsp;and track those who lose services.Emily Paul, project director at Upturn, a national organization that advocates for equity and justice in technology, has been involved in that analysis.“What we understand in general is that automation is a tool that states are using to deal with inadequate funding for these programs, and to create a rationale for who doesn’t get services,” Paul said.“Underfunding really drives the need to have this whole rationale for trying to distribute the resources and trying to make claims to fairness and objectivity within a system that is not really set up to actually meet people’s needs,” she said. “And so that’s the fundamental issue. States can still try to make better or worse choices about how they allocate the resources.”

Missourians with disabilities and seniors could lose at-home care under new eligibility algorithm

(Radio Iowa) - A report shows Iowa made significant strides in advancing renewable energy over the last two decades with wind and solar rising to 64-percent of Iowa’s electricity generation last year. 

Steve Guyer, the main author of the report for the Iowa Environmental Council, says the state's utilities need to speed up efforts to transition away from coal to reach national and international targets to help stave off climate change. Guyer says Iowa relied predominately on coal back in the year 2000, but wind generation started to really pick up around 2008, and 2019 was the cross-over point where Iowa started generating more power from wind than coal. Guyer says to reduce emissions further, utilities need to shut down the state’s remaining coal plants. 

MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's largest utility, says it plans to do that and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by investing more in wind and solar, as well as nuclear.

(Radio Iowa) - A report shows Iowa made significant strides in advancing renewable energy over the last two decades with wind and solar rising to 64-percent of Iowa’s electricity generation last year. Steve Guyer, the main author of the report for the Iowa Environmental Council, says the state's utilities need to speed up efforts to transition away from coal to reach national and international targets to help stave off climate change. Guyer says Iowa relied predominately on coal back in the year 2000, but wind generation started to really pick up around 2008, and 2019 was the cross-over point where Iowa started generating more power from wind than coal. Guyer says to reduce emissions further, utilities need to shut down the state’s remaining coal plants. MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's largest utility, says it plans to do that and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by investing more in wind and solar, as well as nuclear.

Study: Iowa sees progress toward wind and solar

(Radio Iowa) - Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the Midwestern agricultural sector is now in a "significant recession," and the region's economic picture is lagging. 

Creighton's monthly survey of business leaders and supply managers in Iowa and eight other states finds the overall Business Conditions Index fell below growth neutral during September -- for the fifth time this year. On a scale of zero-to-100, a score of 50 is considered growth neutral, and the Midwest economy showed a score of just over 48 last month. 

Iowa's score was even lower, dropping about a point from August to just above 43 for September, indicating the state's economy is significantly slowing. Goss says the overall economy is not in a recession, but the manufacturing sector is in a slight recession, while the ag sector is in a "fairly significant recession."

(Radio Iowa) - Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the Midwestern agricultural sector is now in a "significant recession," and the region's economic picture is lagging. Creighton's monthly survey of business leaders and supply managers in Iowa and eight other states finds the overall Business Conditions Index fell below growth neutral during September -- for the fifth time this year. On a scale of zero-to-100, a score of 50 is considered growth neutral, and the Midwest economy showed a score of just over 48 last month. Iowa's score was even lower, dropping about a point from August to just above 43 for September, indicating the state's economy is significantly slowing. Goss says the overall economy is not in a recession, but the manufacturing sector is in a slight recession, while the ag sector is in a "fairly significant recession."

Survey: Midwest economy is slumping, Iowa's economy is worse

Whether or not the 139th Airlift Wing at Rosecrans
Memorial Airport in St. Joseph lands the latest C-130 cargo planes remains up
in the air.

Competition among Air National Guard wings remains fierce.

The 139th currently flies C-130H model planes. The
wing has applied for the new “J” models, but was passed over during the initial
allocation made by the Pentagon.

Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves succeeded in getting
funding added to the Defense Budget for two additional C-130J planes, hoping 10
new planes will be located to St. Joseph.

“We’re working on that and I know that the 139th has
done everything they can, too, to fix all of the problems that the team that
came out and evaluated all the different bases around the country and set that
priority list for getting C-130Js,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “They
fix all their problems. So, we’re just going to continue to move forward and
continue to push.” 

The Air Guard base at Rosecrans fell short in that evaluation,
mostly due to the outdated facilities at the St. Joseph airport. Those are
being addressed. A new terminal with a new air traffic control tower are being
built. A new landing strip has been constructed. Other improvements are
underway as an unprecedented amount of money has been pouring in to Rosecrans
from the city, Buchanan County, and the state of Missouri. The tens of millions
being spent all have the same mission:&nbsp;
address the deficiencies that cost the 139th from getting the
new cargo planes during the first round.

Graves has been making the case in Washington, saying the 139th
can make a strong argument for getting the latest, modern cargo planes.

“The best thing we’ve got going for us is the Advanced Airlift
Tactics Training Center,” Graves says, pointing to the center that trains crews
from across the country as well as NATO.&nbsp;
“Because we are training crews in C-130Js, yet our crews are in C-130Hs.
And so, we need to make sure that they have the latest technology as well.”

Other Air Guard bases are also pressing their needs.

“Reno is one of the areas we’re competing with and one of
their missions is a firefighting mission,” Graves says. “I think our mission is
more important, but obviously they’re pushing their side of it. We’re competing
against bases all over the country and they’re all trying to make their case
the same as us. It’s hard to handicap it and the military keeps their cards very
close to their chest, too, when it comes to those decisions.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1727809258428.jpeg" alt="C-130 cargo plane/Photo courtesy of the Air Guard 139th Airlift Wing" />
 <figcaption>C-130 cargo plane/Photo courtesy of the Air Guard 139th Airlift Wing</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostWhether or not the 139th Airlift Wing at Rosecrans
Memorial Airport in St. Joseph lands the latest C-130 cargo planes remains up
in the air.Competition among Air National Guard wings remains fierce.The 139th currently flies C-130H model planes. The
wing has applied for the new “J” models, but was passed over during the initial
allocation made by the Pentagon.Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves succeeded in getting
funding added to the Defense Budget for two additional C-130J planes, hoping 10
new planes will be located to St. Joseph.“We’re working on that and I know that the 139th has
done everything they can, too, to fix all of the problems that the team that
came out and evaluated all the different bases around the country and set that
priority list for getting C-130Js,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “They
fix all their problems. So, we’re just going to continue to move forward and
continue to push.” The Air Guard base at Rosecrans fell short in that evaluation,
mostly due to the outdated facilities at the St. Joseph airport. Those are
being addressed. A new terminal with a new air traffic control tower are being
built. A new landing strip has been constructed. Other improvements are
underway as an unprecedented amount of money has been pouring in to Rosecrans
from the city, Buchanan County, and the state of Missouri. The tens of millions
being spent all have the same mission:&nbsp;
address the deficiencies that cost the 139th from getting the
new cargo planes during the first round.Graves has been making the case in Washington, saying the 139th
can make a strong argument for getting the latest, modern cargo planes.“The best thing we’ve got going for us is the Advanced Airlift
Tactics Training Center,” Graves says, pointing to the center that trains crews
from across the country as well as NATO.&nbsp;
“Because we are training crews in C-130Js, yet our crews are in C-130Hs.
And so, we need to make sure that they have the latest technology as well.”Other Air Guard bases are also pressing their needs.“Reno is one of the areas we’re competing with and one of
their missions is a firefighting mission,” Graves says. “I think our mission is
more important, but obviously they’re pushing their side of it. We’re competing
against bases all over the country and they’re all trying to make their case
the same as us. It’s hard to handicap it and the military keeps their cards very
close to their chest, too, when it comes to those decisions.”You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Graves says 139th still competing for new cargo planes

Now that the farm bill extension reached its deadline on Monday, what’s next? While the bill expired on September 30th, the funds don’t run out until the end of the year. Some lawmakers, including Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman, have called for another one-year extension. House Republicans said that another extension would fail to stop the bleeding in the current farm economy. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries puts the farm bill third on his list of must-pass bills for the lame-duck session of Congress, behind only averting a government shutdown and assuring military preparedness. “Farmers and ranchers do not have the luxury of waiting until the next Congress for an enactment of an effective five-year farm bill,” says House Ag Committee Chair Glen Thompson. Earlier this month, over 300 ag groups flew to Washington to lobby for an expedient, modernized farm bill passage.

Now that the farm bill extension reached its deadline on Monday, what’s next? While the bill expired on September 30th, the funds don’t run out until the end of the year. Some lawmakers, including Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman, have called for another one-year extension. House Republicans said that another extension would fail to stop the bleeding in the current farm economy. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries puts the farm bill third on his list of must-pass bills for the lame-duck session of Congress, behind only averting a government shutdown and assuring military preparedness. “Farmers and ranchers do not have the luxury of waiting until the next Congress for an enactment of an effective five-year farm bill,” says House Ag Committee Chair Glen Thompson. Earlier this month, over 300 ag groups flew to Washington to lobby for an expedient, modernized farm bill passage.-NAFB

Lawmakers push for post-election farm bill 

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/marymccuebell/">MARY MCCUE BELL</a>

WASHINGTON — Through 26 years as a legislator, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer traveled back and forth from work to be with his family in St. Elizabeth.

Luetkemeyer has another agenda for this fall’s election season&nbsp;<a href="https://luetkemeyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=401023" target="_blank">rather than campaigning</a>: spending time on a small family farm in the Ozark foothills.

His seven grandchildren, aged from 2 to 17, were never old enough to cast a vote while Luetkemeyer was in Congress, but they will learn about his official activities with time.

“I want them to know that grandpa made a difference,” Luetkemeyer said.

The 72-year-old congressman, who usually arrives on Capitol Hill in the early morning during session weeks, said he plans to sleep in a little later and address the general upkeep of his quiet farm, leaving behind the pressures of solving national banking issues and addressing threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

He’s stepping away from power, prestige and decades of service on the national stage — and he’s doing it at a time when he was considered a front-runner to be elevated to an even more prominent position in Congress.

Since he was first elected to Congress in 2009, Luetkemeyer has helped pass legislation to preserve community banks and has chaired a powerful financial subcommittee, dealing with issues such as bank regulation.

He is among 45 of the 435 House members who have announced they are not seeking re-election in 2024, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_U.S._Congress_incumbents_who_are_not_running_for_re-election_in_2024" target="_blank">Ballotpedia</a>.

He’s represented Missourians in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/member/district/blaine-luetkemeyer/L000569" target="_blank">sprawling district</a>&nbsp;that stretches from St. Louis to the Lake of the Ozarks to Boonville. His district’s border includes part of Columbia: practically everything south of Broadway.

Sitting in front of his desk adorned with family photos and mementos in the Rayburn House Office Building this summer, Luetkemeyer told the Missourian that he intends to step out of the political ring completely; he has no lobbying aspirations.

“I’ve been a public servant for the last 26 years. I’ve done my time. I participated and represented folks,” Luetkemeyer said. “So I think it’s time for me to step back and be somebody who’s supportive of somebody else who wants to take that job.”

Luetkemeyer said it’s his belief that he hails from the smallest town of anyone in Congress: St. Elizabeth, located 30 miles south of Jefferson City with a population of 341, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://stelizabethmo.org/" target="_blank">town website</a>. While this presented a distinctive set of challenges during his time in Congress, an old-fashioned mix of hard work and determination overcame them.

But before Luetkemeyer nestles into retirement, he has to finish up his committee work.

He serves on the House Financial Services Committee, bringing his&nbsp;prior&nbsp;experience as a bank examiner for the state of Missouri and a loan officer and vice president at the Bank of St. Elizabeth, a family institution founded by his great-grandfather.

The announcement of his retirement in January was somewhat of a surprise,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2024-01-04/missouri-congressman-blaine-luetkemeyer-wont-run-for-reelection-in-2024" target="_blank">St. Louis Public Radio reported</a>, because Luetkemeyer was seen as a leading candidate to&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/12/12/luetkemeyer-hill-favorites-for-top-financial-services-republican" target="_blank">succeed Rep. Patrick McHenry</a>, R-North Carolina, in the next Congress as the top Republican on the committee. Being home with family and retirement trumped that, Luetkemeyer said.

Reuters once called Luetkemeyer “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-luetkemeyer/elections-could-put-wall-streets-favorite-lawmaker-in-top-finance-role-idUSKCN1N4160" target="_blank">Wall Street’s favorite congressman</a>,” describing him as responsive to bankers’ complaints that excessive regulation was hurting the economy.

McHenry dubbed him “the champion for community banks.” He credits this title to Luetkemeyer’s time in multiple leadership roles in the House Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions.

Ranking subcommittee member U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, described Luetkemeyer as a “dedicated public servant and scholar in Financial Services.”

“I enjoyed his steadfast leadership as chairman, and it was a pleasure working with him to advance bipartisan legislation and engage in meaningful discussions that have shaped our financial landscape,” Beatty said.

The vice chairwoman of the subcommittee, Rep. Young Kim, R-California, said that as chairman, Luetkemeyer would organize roundtable discussions that served as prep sessions before the committee hearing for members to understand the key issues and witnesses better. This type of leadership was important for Kim and her colleagues to comprehend the intricacy of the topic at hand, she said.

Kim said that when Luetkemeyer gets passionate, “he will always bang the table to really make a point.”

Luetkemeyer, who Kim thinks of as a “national security policy hawk,” is also on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. In the past year, this committee has examined China’s role in the fentanyl crisis and its cyber threats to U.S. national security.

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan, the committee chairman, told the Missourian that he appreciated Luetkemeyer’s passion and leadership, adding that he will “serve as an example to others long after his retirement.”

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Small Businesses, praised the expertise and experience Luetkemeyer brings as a member of that committee. Williams, who called Luetkemeyer one of his best friends in Congress, said his committees will be missing a “real business owner” and banker who “represented the people.”

The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a partnership between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that ranks policymakers, gave Luetkemeyer an&nbsp;<a href="https://thelawmakers.org/find-representatives" target="_blank">overall rating</a>&nbsp;for the last session of Congress that shows he is “exceeding expectations,” Craig Volden, the group’s co-director, said. The organization gave Luetkemeyer high marks in the area of banking and commerce that indicate he is “producing legislation and moving it forward at the rates equivalent of if he were actually 10 members of Congress.”

Some of the legislation Luetkemeyer was involved in included the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3244#:~:text=Stop" target="_blank">Stop Fentanyl Money Laundering Act of 2023</a>&nbsp;to combat fentanyl trafficking; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4136" target="_blank">Water Resources Development Act of 2022</a>&nbsp;concerning water resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1799#:~:text=/30/2021)-,PPP" target="_blank">Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Extension Act of 2021</a>&nbsp;to aid small businesses in response to COVID-19; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3700" target="_blank">Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016</a>, which was the first rule bill to pass unanimously in both the House and Senate in 25 years, according to his office; and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/1457?q={" target="_blank">William Shemin Jewish World War I Veterans Act</a>&nbsp;to review awarding the Medal of Honor to Jewish-American World War I veterans.

When Congress is in session, Luetkemeyer said that he travels back and forth each week from the Capitol to St. Elizabeth to be with his family and stay “grounded” with his constituents. He said he enjoys the work his office does helping constituents navigate the federal bureaucracy; if he can go home at night knowing that he helped a constituent that day, “that’s a good feeling.”

“I always tell people I’m just a liaison between you and your government,” Luetkemeyer said. “It’s not my government; it’s your government.”

Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, an organization that has previously endorsed Luetkemeyer, said that he appreciates how the congressman is “not always looking to make the news.” He praised Luetkemeyer’s work on issues that affect farmers, small businesses and rural communities, such as advocating for flood control and navigation on the rivers.

Learning of the congressman’s departure was a “bittersweet feeling,” Hawkins said.

“I’m hoping that Blaine (and) his family get a chance to catch their breath,” Hawkins said. “He really has served with distinction. He’s worked hard, and he certainly deserves this retirement.”

While in office, Luetkemeyer said he often missed barbecues and birthdays with friends and family due to his commitments in Washington, D.C. Now, he’s eagerly anticipating the chance to enjoy uninterrupted family dinners.

“(Family) is a big part of my life, and I want to make it an even bigger part of it,” Luetkemeyer said.

In the race to fill his seat in Congress, Luetkemeyer had endorsed Kurt Schaefer, a lobbyist and former two-term state senator from Columbia. But Schaefer was defeated in the Aug. 6 Republican primary by former state Sen. Bob Onder of Lake St. Louis, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Bethany Mann, whom Luetkemeyer defeated in 2022, advanced from the Democratic primary as did Jordan Rowden of the Libertarian Party.

The general election is Nov. 5, when Luetkemeyer plans to keep up with the election stats while back home in St. Elizabeth after over two and a half decades as a public servant.

This story originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/missouri-congressional/its-time-for-me-to-step-back-blaine-luetkemeyer-looks-to-retirement/article_bc5c0c60-706e-11ef-810c-6bf99c3a271e.html" target="_blank">Columbia Missourian</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1727809887166.png" alt="Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/marymccuebell/">MARY MCCUE BELL</a>WASHINGTON — Through 26 years as a legislator, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer traveled back and forth from work to be with his family in St. Elizabeth.Luetkemeyer has another agenda for this fall’s election season&nbsp;<a href="https://luetkemeyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=401023" target="_blank">rather than campaigning</a>: spending time on a small family farm in the Ozark foothills.His seven grandchildren, aged from 2 to 17, were never old enough to cast a vote while Luetkemeyer was in Congress, but they will learn about his official activities with time.“I want them to know that grandpa made a difference,” Luetkemeyer said.The 72-year-old congressman, who usually arrives on Capitol Hill in the early morning during session weeks, said he plans to sleep in a little later and address the general upkeep of his quiet farm, leaving behind the pressures of solving national banking issues and addressing threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.He’s stepping away from power, prestige and decades of service on the national stage — and he’s doing it at a time when he was considered a front-runner to be elevated to an even more prominent position in Congress.Since he was first elected to Congress in 2009, Luetkemeyer has helped pass legislation to preserve community banks and has chaired a powerful financial subcommittee, dealing with issues such as bank regulation.He is among 45 of the 435 House members who have announced they are not seeking re-election in 2024, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_U.S._Congress_incumbents_who_are_not_running_for_re-election_in_2024" target="_blank">Ballotpedia</a>.He’s represented Missourians in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/member/district/blaine-luetkemeyer/L000569" target="_blank">sprawling district</a>&nbsp;that stretches from St. Louis to the Lake of the Ozarks to Boonville. His district’s border includes part of Columbia: practically everything south of Broadway.Sitting in front of his desk adorned with family photos and mementos in the Rayburn House Office Building this summer, Luetkemeyer told the Missourian that he intends to step out of the political ring completely; he has no lobbying aspirations.“I’ve been a public servant for the last 26 years. I’ve done my time. I participated and represented folks,” Luetkemeyer said. “So I think it’s time for me to step back and be somebody who’s supportive of somebody else who wants to take that job.”Luetkemeyer said it’s his belief that he hails from the smallest town of anyone in Congress: St. Elizabeth, located 30 miles south of Jefferson City with a population of 341, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://stelizabethmo.org/" target="_blank">town website</a>. While this presented a distinctive set of challenges during his time in Congress, an old-fashioned mix of hard work and determination overcame them.But before Luetkemeyer nestles into retirement, he has to finish up his committee work.He serves on the House Financial Services Committee, bringing his&nbsp;prior&nbsp;experience as a bank examiner for the state of Missouri and a loan officer and vice president at the Bank of St. Elizabeth, a family institution founded by his great-grandfather.The announcement of his retirement in January was somewhat of a surprise,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2024-01-04/missouri-congressman-blaine-luetkemeyer-wont-run-for-reelection-in-2024" target="_blank">St. Louis Public Radio reported</a>, because Luetkemeyer was seen as a leading candidate to&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/12/12/luetkemeyer-hill-favorites-for-top-financial-services-republican" target="_blank">succeed Rep. Patrick McHenry</a>, R-North Carolina, in the next Congress as the top Republican on the committee. Being home with family and retirement trumped that, Luetkemeyer said.Reuters once called Luetkemeyer “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-luetkemeyer/elections-could-put-wall-streets-favorite-lawmaker-in-top-finance-role-idUSKCN1N4160" target="_blank">Wall Street’s favorite congressman</a>,” describing him as responsive to bankers’ complaints that excessive regulation was hurting the economy.McHenry dubbed him “the champion for community banks.” He credits this title to Luetkemeyer’s time in multiple leadership roles in the House Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions.Ranking subcommittee member U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, described Luetkemeyer as a “dedicated public servant and scholar in Financial Services.”“I enjoyed his steadfast leadership as chairman, and it was a pleasure working with him to advance bipartisan legislation and engage in meaningful discussions that have shaped our financial landscape,” Beatty said.The vice chairwoman of the subcommittee, Rep. Young Kim, R-California, said that as chairman, Luetkemeyer would organize roundtable discussions that served as prep sessions before the committee hearing for members to understand the key issues and witnesses better. This type of leadership was important for Kim and her colleagues to comprehend the intricacy of the topic at hand, she said.Kim said that when Luetkemeyer gets passionate, “he will always bang the table to really make a point.”Luetkemeyer, who Kim thinks of as a “national security policy hawk,” is also on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. In the past year, this committee has examined China’s role in the fentanyl crisis and its cyber threats to U.S. national security.Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan, the committee chairman, told the Missourian that he appreciated Luetkemeyer’s passion and leadership, adding that he will “serve as an example to others long after his retirement.”Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Small Businesses, praised the expertise and experience Luetkemeyer brings as a member of that committee. Williams, who called Luetkemeyer one of his best friends in Congress, said his committees will be missing a “real business owner” and banker who “represented the people.”The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a partnership between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that ranks policymakers, gave Luetkemeyer an&nbsp;<a href="https://thelawmakers.org/find-representatives" target="_blank">overall rating</a>&nbsp;for the last session of Congress that shows he is “exceeding expectations,” Craig Volden, the group’s co-director, said. The organization gave Luetkemeyer high marks in the area of banking and commerce that indicate he is “producing legislation and moving it forward at the rates equivalent of if he were actually 10 members of Congress.”Some of the legislation Luetkemeyer was involved in included the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3244#:~:text=Stop" target="_blank">Stop Fentanyl Money Laundering Act of 2023</a>&nbsp;to combat fentanyl trafficking; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4136" target="_blank">Water Resources Development Act of 2022</a>&nbsp;concerning water resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1799#:~:text=/30/2021)-,PPP" target="_blank">Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Extension Act of 2021</a>&nbsp;to aid small businesses in response to COVID-19; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3700" target="_blank">Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016</a>, which was the first rule bill to pass unanimously in both the House and Senate in 25 years, according to his office; and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/1457?q={" target="_blank">William Shemin Jewish World War I Veterans Act</a>&nbsp;to review awarding the Medal of Honor to Jewish-American World War I veterans.When Congress is in session, Luetkemeyer said that he travels back and forth each week from the Capitol to St. Elizabeth to be with his family and stay “grounded” with his constituents. He said he enjoys the work his office does helping constituents navigate the federal bureaucracy; if he can go home at night knowing that he helped a constituent that day, “that’s a good feeling.”“I always tell people I’m just a liaison between you and your government,” Luetkemeyer said. “It’s not my government; it’s your government.”Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, an organization that has previously endorsed Luetkemeyer, said that he appreciates how the congressman is “not always looking to make the news.” He praised Luetkemeyer’s work on issues that affect farmers, small businesses and rural communities, such as advocating for flood control and navigation on the rivers.Learning of the congressman’s departure was a “bittersweet feeling,” Hawkins said.“I’m hoping that Blaine (and) his family get a chance to catch their breath,” Hawkins said. “He really has served with distinction. He’s worked hard, and he certainly deserves this retirement.”While in office, Luetkemeyer said he often missed barbecues and birthdays with friends and family due to his commitments in Washington, D.C. Now, he’s eagerly anticipating the chance to enjoy uninterrupted family dinners.“(Family) is a big part of my life, and I want to make it an even bigger part of it,” Luetkemeyer said.In the race to fill his seat in Congress, Luetkemeyer had endorsed Kurt Schaefer, a lobbyist and former two-term state senator from Columbia. But Schaefer was defeated in the Aug. 6 Republican primary by former state Sen. Bob Onder of Lake St. Louis, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.Bethany Mann, whom Luetkemeyer defeated in 2022, advanced from the Democratic primary as did Jordan Rowden of the Libertarian Party.The general election is Nov. 5, when Luetkemeyer plans to keep up with the election stats while back home in St. Elizabeth after over two and a half decades as a public servant.This story originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/missouri-congressional/its-time-for-me-to-step-back-blaine-luetkemeyer-looks-to-retirement/article_bc5c0c60-706e-11ef-810c-6bf99c3a271e.html" target="_blank">Columbia Missourian</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;

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