The Missouri Attorney General’s Office argued that regulations like informed consent laws should remain because for most women, abortion is ‘against their moral beliefs’

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Missouri’s trigger law banning nearly all abortions remains in place. But at 12:01 a.m. Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/05/missouri-voters-overturn-states-near-total-abortion-ban/">Amendment 3&nbsp;</a>will go into effect.&nbsp;

The constitutional amendment, which received 51.6% of the nearly 3 million votes cast, prohibits the legislature from regulating abortion prior to the point of fetal viability — generally seen as the point at which a fetus can likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary measures.

Planned Parenthood officials said they have providers and staff prepared to start seeing patients for walk-in medication abortion appointments at three clinics — in Kansas City, St. Louis and Columbia —&nbsp;beginning Friday, followed later by scheduled surgical abortions.&nbsp;

But whether that happens depends on the outcome of a lawsuit that had its first hearing before a Jackson County judge Wednesday morning.&nbsp;

“What we don’t have are the abilities to overcome state restrictions and hurdles that were intended to deny care,” Emily Wales, President and CEO with Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Wednesday evening.

Less than 24 hours after voters narrowly approved Amendment 3, the ACLU of Missouri, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers filed a lawsuit seeking to take down decades worth of overlapping restrictions and bans on abortion on the books in Missouri.&nbsp;

There was no disagreement between Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s office that Amendment 3 makes unconstitutional the trigger law that went into effect in June 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion.&nbsp;

The disagreement instead revolves around more than a dozen “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, also known as TRAP laws, that previously made abortions all but inaccessible in Missouri prior to the total ban taking effect.

Planned Parenthood is asking a Jackson County judge to grant a preliminary injunction which would immediately declare the current ban and the TRAP laws&nbsp;unconstitutional.&nbsp;

“Every single day that Missourians cannot access their constitutional rights, they’re being denied critical care,” Wales said.

Solicitor General Josh Divine, who argued Wednesday’s hearing on behalf of the state,&nbsp; characterized the lawsuit as “unusually aggressive,” saying it would be more appropriate for the plaintiffs to challenge each TRAP law individually rather than all together “on a very short fuse.”&nbsp;

He added that preliminary injunctions should only be granted in “drastic, extraordinary circumstances.” The lawsuit at hand, he contended, does not apply because Missourians are still able to access abortion in Illinois to the east and Kansas to the west.

“Nobody’s actually going to be materially affected by what this court does,” Divine added.

A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.&nbsp;

By 2020, two years before the abortion ban went into effect, that number dropped to 167 as a result of the TRAP laws.&nbsp;

Sam Lee, a longtime Missouri anti-abortion activist and lobbyist, said he’s been pleased by the attorney general’s defense of Missouri’s anti-abortion laws.

If the TRAP laws remain in effect, as Lee is hoping, “it may severely affect Planned Parenthood’s ability to do abortions, because they weren’t doing abortions when those laws were in effect some years ago.”

Judge Jerri Zhang, who is overseeing the case, did not immediately rule on the injunction when the hearing concluded late Wednesday evening.&nbsp;

She did, however, deny the state’s request to remove Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker as a defendant and move the case to Cole County. Earlier this year, a Cole County judge&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/missouri-supreme-court-opinions-amendment-3-abortion/">struck Amendment 3 from the ballot,</a>&nbsp;a decision that was quickly overridden by the Missouri Court of Appeals.

The attorney general’s office said they plan to appeal Zhang’s decisions, arguing that Peters Baker does not appropriately represent all statewide prosecutors because of her previous statements in support of abortion rights.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office also posed a court challenge to the Planned Parenthood suit.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Petition.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=3370878" target="_blank">This latest lawsuit,</a>&nbsp;filed last week in Cole County, questions Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ ability to sue the state, claiming a 2010 settlement agreement prevents them from doing so.&nbsp;

For decades, Missouri legislators have passed laws restricting abortion access and regulating the procedure.&nbsp;

“The voters have now changed all of that,” Eleanor Spottswood, an attorney with Planned Parenthood, argued before the court Wednesday.

Amendment 3 states, in part, that “the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justifiable by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”&nbsp;

The litigation challenges numerous current laws, including a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between an initial appointment and the abortion procedure; requirements that abortion clinics must have admitting privileges at a hospital roughly 15 minutes away; and a requirement that the same physician who initially saw the patient also perform the abortion.&nbsp;

The lawsuit is also challenging the current law criminalizing physicians who perform abortions.

Spottswood argued that a failure to immediately strike down the TRAP laws would cause “irreparable harm” to Missourians because “patients and providers have to do twice the work to access abortion.”

Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office argued that striking down such laws would cause more harm.&nbsp;

Divine on multiple occasions cited an<a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2023/020687Orig1s025Lbl.pdf" target="_blank">&nbsp;FDA label for mifepristone</a>, one of two medications used to induce a medication abortion, that shows that according to two U.S. studies of about 1,00 women, up to 5% of women who took mifepristone ended up in the emergency room. It did not specify if the emergency room visits were necessary.&nbsp;

The same FDA label says that across three studies of more than 14,000 women who took mifepristone, fewer than 0.6% were admitted to the hospital as a result of the medication.

Divine also noted that no individual women seeking abortions were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, arguing that’s because women don’t actually want abortions once given more information. He said this is why the state’s requirements that those seeking abortions first be given the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://health.mo.gov/living/families/womenshealth/pregnancyassistance/pdf/Mo.InformedConsentBooklet-Revisedpgs.12-15August2019jkOGCReviewed.pdf" target="_blank">informed consent booklet&nbsp;</a>should remain.&nbsp;

“It’s against their moral beliefs,” Divine said. “But they’re being pressured, often by an abusive partner, by parents, things of that nature, so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to create a situation where those women can in fact make the choice that they want to do, and we know most of the time that’s childbirth.”&nbsp;

About&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states#:~:text=Approximately%20one%20in%20four%20women,45%2C%20given%202020%20abortion%20rates.&amp;text=According%20to%20data%20from%20the,14%20weeks'%20gestation%20or%20later." target="_blank">one in four women in the United States have an abortion</a>&nbsp;before the age of 45, according to 2020 data. In 2021, around 94% of abortions occurred before 14 weeks gestation. Abortions later than 20 weeks&nbsp; account for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/abortions-later-in-pregnancy-in-a-post-dobbs-era/#:~:text=Abortions%20at%20or%20after%2021,require%20travel%20and%20lost%20wages." target="_blank">fewer than 1% of all abortions in the United States</a>, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Divine, in his final arguments Wednesday, characterized the state’s TRAP laws as incidental, much like speeding laws or road construction that could delay someone getting to an abortion. But he said the TRAP laws don’t fall under the strict scrutiny requirement and therefore don’t require an immediate ruling.

Zhang asked if delaying an abortion through the required 72-hour waiting period would infringe on a patient’s autonomy, especially if the patient was a day or two shy of 10 weeks gestation, when procedures switch from medication to surgical abortions.

Divine responded that the attorney general’s office believes Amendment 3 gives Missourians the right to an abortion, but doesn’t give them the right to a certain abortion procedure.&nbsp;

He also noted that Amendment 3 doesn’t specifically mention the legalization of mifepristone, alluding to future attempts by the incoming GOP administration to enforce the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that bans mailing obscene material, including for the use of abortion.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733401879071.png" alt=" Solicitor General Josh Divine called Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit seeking to unravel Missouri’s abortion restrictions “unusually aggressive” while speaking to media Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, outside the Jackson County Courthouse (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Solicitor General Josh Divine called Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit seeking to unravel Missouri’s abortion restrictions “unusually aggressive” while speaking to media Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, outside the Jackson County Courthouse (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The Missouri Attorney General’s Office argued that regulations like informed consent laws should remain because for most women, abortion is ‘against their moral beliefs’</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Missouri’s trigger law banning nearly all abortions remains in place. But at 12:01 a.m. Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/05/missouri-voters-overturn-states-near-total-abortion-ban/">Amendment 3&nbsp;</a>will go into effect.&nbsp;The constitutional amendment, which received 51.6% of the nearly 3 million votes cast, prohibits the legislature from regulating abortion prior to the point of fetal viability — generally seen as the point at which a fetus can likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary measures.Planned Parenthood officials said they have providers and staff prepared to start seeing patients for walk-in medication abortion appointments at three clinics — in Kansas City, St. Louis and Columbia —&nbsp;beginning Friday, followed later by scheduled surgical abortions.&nbsp;But whether that happens depends on the outcome of a lawsuit that had its first hearing before a Jackson County judge Wednesday morning.&nbsp;“What we don’t have are the abilities to overcome state restrictions and hurdles that were intended to deny care,” Emily Wales, President and CEO with Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Wednesday evening.Less than 24 hours after voters narrowly approved Amendment 3, the ACLU of Missouri, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers filed a lawsuit seeking to take down decades worth of overlapping restrictions and bans on abortion on the books in Missouri.&nbsp;There was no disagreement between Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s office that Amendment 3 makes unconstitutional the trigger law that went into effect in June 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion.&nbsp;The disagreement instead revolves around more than a dozen “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, also known as TRAP laws, that previously made abortions all but inaccessible in Missouri prior to the total ban taking effect.Planned Parenthood is asking a Jackson County judge to grant a preliminary injunction which would immediately declare the current ban and the TRAP laws&nbsp;unconstitutional.&nbsp;“Every single day that Missourians cannot access their constitutional rights, they’re being denied critical care,” Wales said.Solicitor General Josh Divine, who argued Wednesday’s hearing on behalf of the state,&nbsp; characterized the lawsuit as “unusually aggressive,” saying it would be more appropriate for the plaintiffs to challenge each TRAP law individually rather than all together “on a very short fuse.”&nbsp;He added that preliminary injunctions should only be granted in “drastic, extraordinary circumstances.” The lawsuit at hand, he contended, does not apply because Missourians are still able to access abortion in Illinois to the east and Kansas to the west.“Nobody’s actually going to be materially affected by what this court does,” Divine added.A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.&nbsp;By 2020, two years before the abortion ban went into effect, that number dropped to 167 as a result of the TRAP laws.&nbsp;Sam Lee, a longtime Missouri anti-abortion activist and lobbyist, said he’s been pleased by the attorney general’s defense of Missouri’s anti-abortion laws.If the TRAP laws remain in effect, as Lee is hoping, “it may severely affect Planned Parenthood’s ability to do abortions, because they weren’t doing abortions when those laws were in effect some years ago.”Judge Jerri Zhang, who is overseeing the case, did not immediately rule on the injunction when the hearing concluded late Wednesday evening.&nbsp;She did, however, deny the state’s request to remove Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker as a defendant and move the case to Cole County. Earlier this year, a Cole County judge&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/missouri-supreme-court-opinions-amendment-3-abortion/">struck Amendment 3 from the ballot,</a>&nbsp;a decision that was quickly overridden by the Missouri Court of Appeals.The attorney general’s office said they plan to appeal Zhang’s decisions, arguing that Peters Baker does not appropriately represent all statewide prosecutors because of her previous statements in support of abortion rights.The Missouri Attorney General’s Office also posed a court challenge to the Planned Parenthood suit.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Petition.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=3370878" target="_blank">This latest lawsuit,</a>&nbsp;filed last week in Cole County, questions Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ ability to sue the state, claiming a 2010 settlement agreement prevents them from doing so.&nbsp;<h2>Missouri’s TRAP laws</h2>For decades, Missouri legislators have passed laws restricting abortion access and regulating the procedure.&nbsp;“The voters have now changed all of that,” Eleanor Spottswood, an attorney with Planned Parenthood, argued before the court Wednesday.Amendment 3 states, in part, that “the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justifiable by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”&nbsp;The litigation challenges numerous current laws, including a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between an initial appointment and the abortion procedure; requirements that abortion clinics must have admitting privileges at a hospital roughly 15 minutes away; and a requirement that the same physician who initially saw the patient also perform the abortion.&nbsp;The lawsuit is also challenging the current law criminalizing physicians who perform abortions.Spottswood argued that a failure to immediately strike down the TRAP laws would cause “irreparable harm” to Missourians because “patients and providers have to do twice the work to access abortion.”Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office argued that striking down such laws would cause more harm.&nbsp;Divine on multiple occasions cited an<a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2023/020687Orig1s025Lbl.pdf" target="_blank">&nbsp;FDA label for mifepristone</a>, one of two medications used to induce a medication abortion, that shows that according to two U.S. studies of about 1,00 women, up to 5% of women who took mifepristone ended up in the emergency room. It did not specify if the emergency room visits were necessary.&nbsp;The same FDA label says that across three studies of more than 14,000 women who took mifepristone, fewer than 0.6% were admitted to the hospital as a result of the medication.Divine also noted that no individual women seeking abortions were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, arguing that’s because women don’t actually want abortions once given more information. He said this is why the state’s requirements that those seeking abortions first be given the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://health.mo.gov/living/families/womenshealth/pregnancyassistance/pdf/Mo.InformedConsentBooklet-Revisedpgs.12-15August2019jkOGCReviewed.pdf" target="_blank">informed consent booklet&nbsp;</a>should remain.&nbsp;“It’s against their moral beliefs,” Divine said. “But they’re being pressured, often by an abusive partner, by parents, things of that nature, so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to create a situation where those women can in fact make the choice that they want to do, and we know most of the time that’s childbirth.”&nbsp;About&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states#:~:text=Approximately%20one%20in%20four%20women,45%2C%20given%202020%20abortion%20rates.&amp;text=According%20to%20data%20from%20the,14%20weeks'%20gestation%20or%20later." target="_blank">one in four women in the United States have an abortion</a>&nbsp;before the age of 45, according to 2020 data. In 2021, around 94% of abortions occurred before 14 weeks gestation. Abortions later than 20 weeks&nbsp; account for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/abortions-later-in-pregnancy-in-a-post-dobbs-era/#:~:text=Abortions%20at%20or%20after%2021,require%20travel%20and%20lost%20wages." target="_blank">fewer than 1% of all abortions in the United States</a>, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Divine, in his final arguments Wednesday, characterized the state’s TRAP laws as incidental, much like speeding laws or road construction that could delay someone getting to an abortion. But he said the TRAP laws don’t fall under the strict scrutiny requirement and therefore don’t require an immediate ruling.Zhang asked if delaying an abortion through the required 72-hour waiting period would infringe on a patient’s autonomy, especially if the patient was a day or two shy of 10 weeks gestation, when procedures switch from medication to surgical abortions.Divine responded that the attorney general’s office believes Amendment 3 gives Missourians the right to an abortion, but doesn’t give them the right to a certain abortion procedure.&nbsp;He also noted that Amendment 3 doesn’t specifically mention the legalization of mifepristone, alluding to future attempts by the incoming GOP administration to enforce the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that bans mailing obscene material, including for the use of abortion.

Judge could allow Planned Parenthood to begin performing abortions in Missouri Friday

GRUNDY COUNTY—Two people were injured in an accident just before 6a.m. Wednesday in Grundy County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Ford Ranger driven by a 32-year-old from Trenton, was westbound on MO 6 one mile west of Trenton.

The driver lost control of the pickup on the icy bridge. The pickup slid into the eastbound lanes and struck a 2023 Volvo semi driven by a 48-year-old man from Kansas City.&nbsp;

After impact the semi continued skidding east and jackknifed blocking both lanes of MO 6.&nbsp; A 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by a 59-year-old man from Trenton to rear-ended the Ford Ranger.&nbsp; A 2018 Ford Eco Sport driven by a 25-year-old man from Trenton struck the semi.

EMS transported the driver of the Eco Sport and a 52-year-old passenger in the Dodge to Wright Memorial Hospital.&nbsp; All were properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

GRUNDY COUNTY—Two people were injured in an accident just before 6a.m. Wednesday in Grundy County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Ford Ranger driven by a 32-year-old from Trenton, was westbound on MO 6 one mile west of Trenton.The driver lost control of the pickup on the icy bridge. The pickup slid into the eastbound lanes and struck a 2023 Volvo semi driven by a 48-year-old man from Kansas City.&nbsp;After impact the semi continued skidding east and jackknifed blocking both lanes of MO 6.&nbsp; A 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by a 59-year-old man from Trenton to rear-ended the Ford Ranger.&nbsp; A 2018 Ford Eco Sport driven by a 25-year-old man from Trenton struck the semi.EMS transported the driver of the Eco Sport and a 52-year-old passenger in the Dodge to Wright Memorial Hospital.&nbsp; All were properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

2 hospitalized after 4-vehicle crash on icy bridge

St. Joseph Central High School running back Gabe Fields is continuing his football career at Vanderbilt.   

It's been quite a turnaround for the Vanderbilt Commodores, who for the first time since 2018 became bowl eligible this year.  Next year Fields, a standout at Central, will be a part of that turnaround.  

Fields says he's excited to get to Nashville and help build the culture 

"You know I've had some experience of trying to build something, here at Central we were 1-9 at one point, so I'm just ready to get up there and put the work in and try to win a National Championship is the end goal," Fields tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post 

Fields, who received several division one offers, says it was the Commodores coaching staff he fell in love with 

"I knew one of the coaches really well, Ghaali Muhammad, so I really loved how he was doing things and where he was," Fields explains.  "And I also loved how they also focus on academics, the other side of life, because one day football is going to stop and I know that, but with a Vanderbilt degree you can do anything you want." 

Muhammed-Lankford was a standout himself at Central, graduating from Wyoming after playing football on both offense and defense. 

Fields had offers from multiple Division 1 programs, Iowa State, Baylor, Navy, Air Force, Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Yale, UNLV, Toledo, and Kent State were just some of the schools that wanted Fields. 

While he doesn't know if he'll play right away, Fields has some lofty goals.  

"My goal personally is to be a Freshman All American, but we'll see how everything shakes out," Fields says. 

Fields, ranked as the number 22 prospect from Missouri in the 2025 class by 247 Sports, says being a division one commit from St. Joseph is a great feeling, and says it shows that you can accomplish your dreams from wherever 

"And that you don't have to leave your hometown just to go chase a different dream, you can do it all where you're at," Fields says.  "I mean you've got everything you need, you've got your family around you, you've got your teammates, people you've grown up with, and you can also show the youth that it don't matter where you start, it's just all about how you finish quite honestly." 

Fields in his senior season at Central compiled 1,806 all-purpose yards with 20 total touchdowns. 

Fields says he will major in business management.

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

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733346507784.jpeg" alt="Central running back Gabe Fields signed his NLI to continue playing football for the Vanderbilt Commodores/ Photo courtesy of Brett Kennedy KQTV" />
 <figcaption>Central running back Gabe Fields signed his NLI to continue playing football for the Vanderbilt Commodores/ Photo courtesy of Brett Kennedy KQTV</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post St. Joseph Central High School running back Gabe Fields is continuing his football career at Vanderbilt. It's been quite a turnaround for the Vanderbilt Commodores, who for the first time since 2018 became bowl eligible this year. Next year Fields, a standout at Central, will be a part of that turnaround. Fields says he's excited to get to Nashville and help build the culture "You know I've had some experience of trying to build something, here at Central we were 1-9 at one point, so I'm just ready to get up there and put the work in and try to win a National Championship is the end goal," Fields tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post Fields, who received several division one offers, says it was the Commodores coaching staff he fell in love with "I knew one of the coaches really well, Ghaali Muhammad, so I really loved how he was doing things and where he was," Fields explains. "And I also loved how they also focus on academics, the other side of life, because one day football is going to stop and I know that, but with a Vanderbilt degree you can do anything you want." Muhammed-Lankford was a standout himself at Central, graduating from Wyoming after playing football on both offense and defense. Fields had offers from multiple Division 1 programs, Iowa State, Baylor, Navy, Air Force, Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Yale, UNLV, Toledo, and Kent State were just some of the schools that wanted Fields. While he doesn't know if he'll play right away, Fields has some lofty goals. "My goal personally is to be a Freshman All American, but we'll see how everything shakes out," Fields says. Fields, ranked as the number 22 prospect from Missouri in the 2025 class by 247 Sports, says being a division one commit from St. Joseph is a great feeling, and says it shows that you can accomplish your dreams from wherever "And that you don't have to leave your hometown just to go chase a different dream, you can do it all where you're at," Fields says. "I mean you've got everything you need, you've got your family around you, you've got your teammates, people you've grown up with, and you can also show the youth that it don't matter where you start, it's just all about how you finish quite honestly." Fields in his senior season at Central compiled 1,806 all-purpose yards with 20 total touchdowns. Fields says he will major in business management.You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.&nbsp;<div><iframe src="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/kfeq-news/embed/episodes/Full-interview-Gabe-Fields-signs-with-Vanderbil-e2rt3se/a-ablqkof" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Signed 🖋️ Welcome to Commodore Nation, <a href="https://twitter.com/Gabefields31?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Gabefields31</a> <a href="https://t.co/fQgFlKMSid">pic.twitter.com/fQgFlKMSid</a>&mdash; Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/VandyFootball/status/1864390819500978441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

St. Joseph Central HS running back Gabe Fields signs with Vanderbilt

Eagle Days is happening this weekend at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City.  

Refuge Manager William Kutosky says the event is a wonderful time for wildlife observation, and not just eagles but several ducks and geese as well 

"We're going to potentially have hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese to view from our 10 mile auditory loop on the refuge, and kids that have never had an opportunity to see wild water fowl or eagles can get up close and personal and get behind a spotting scope with a biologist and see an eagle out there on the wetlands in their natural environment," Kutosky tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. 

The event will also feature several displays and hands-on activities for visitors to Loess Bluffs.  Kutosky says one of the attractions during eagle days will be a live eagle show, with three breeds of eagles 

"They will be bringing an adult bald eagle, an adult golden eagle, and then a South American species an adult harpy eagle, so you get to see three different eagles up close and personal," Kutosky explains.  "I've seen quite a few different live eagle shows in my life and this is hands down one of the best, they do a phenomenal job." 

The live eagle show will be presented by the World Bird Sanctuary from near St. Louis in the Visitors Center at the refuge, every hour on the hour. 

Kutosky says the event is one of the best across the country to get up close and personal with a large number of eagles 

"It's a great opportunity to bring out kids and family, a completely free event, and just a great family experience for folks," Kutosky says.  "So, I highly recommend it if you're in the St. Joseph area, we even get a lot of visitors from Kansas City regularly and Omaha, so not a bad drive." 

Eagle Days will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday.  On Friday, the refuge will host area schools for guided bus tours around Loess Bluffs. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733333312055.jpeg" alt="Bald_Eagle_prey.JPG" />
 <figcaption>Bald_Eagle_prey.JPG</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post Eagle Days is happening this weekend at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City. Refuge Manager William Kutosky says the event is a wonderful time for wildlife observation, and not just eagles but several ducks and geese as well "We're going to potentially have hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese to view from our 10 mile auditory loop on the refuge, and kids that have never had an opportunity to see wild water fowl or eagles can get up close and personal and get behind a spotting scope with a biologist and see an eagle out there on the wetlands in their natural environment," Kutosky tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. The event will also feature several displays and hands-on activities for visitors to Loess Bluffs. Kutosky says one of the attractions during eagle days will be a live eagle show, with three breeds of eagles "They will be bringing an adult bald eagle, an adult golden eagle, and then a South American species an adult harpy eagle, so you get to see three different eagles up close and personal," Kutosky explains. "I've seen quite a few different live eagle shows in my life and this is hands down one of the best, they do a phenomenal job." The live eagle show will be presented by the World Bird Sanctuary from near St. Louis in the Visitors Center at the refuge, every hour on the hour. Kutosky says the event is one of the best across the country to get up close and personal with a large number of eagles "It's a great opportunity to bring out kids and family, a completely free event, and just a great family experience for folks," Kutosky says. "So, I highly recommend it if you're in the St. Joseph area, we even get a lot of visitors from Kansas City regularly and Omaha, so not a bad drive." Eagle Days will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, the refuge will host area schools for guided bus tours around Loess Bluffs. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733333368478.jpeg" alt="Bald_EagleII.jpg" />
 <figcaption>Bald_EagleII.jpg</figcaption>
 </figure>

Want to see a bald eagle up close and personal? Here's your chance at Eagle Days

The search for the next St. Joseph school superintendent has
entered its final phase.

The St. Joseph School District reports 25 candidates have
applied by the first of this month; 10 from outside the state.

The St. Joseph School Board will review the candidates and
chose semi-finalists during an executive session this afternoon. Semi-finalists will participate
in screening interviews on the 12th with finalists taking part in
formal interviews on the 17th.

Superintendent Gabe Edgar announced his plan to retire at the end of the school year earlier.

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

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostThe search for the next St. Joseph school superintendent has
entered its final phase.The St. Joseph School District reports 25 candidates have
applied by the first of this month; 10 from outside the state.The St. Joseph School Board will review the candidates and
chose semi-finalists during an executive session this afternoon. Semi-finalists will participate
in screening interviews on the 12th with finalists taking part in
formal interviews on the 17th.Superintendent Gabe Edgar announced his plan to retire at the end of the school year earlier.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Search for next St. Joseph school superintendent enters final stretch

A
28-year-old St. Joseph man faces several charges after allegedly injuring a St.
Joseph police officer while fleeing in a vehicle from a fight with another man
very early Tuesday morning.

Tyler
Allan Armstrong has been charged with aggravated fleeing a stop, driving while
intoxicated leading to physical injury, and third-degree assault.

St.
Joseph police say officers responded to break up a fight in the 1000 block of Corby Street when Armstrong jumped in a car and fled the scene.
Armstrong struck two patrol cars, injuring an officer in one of the cars.
Officers pursued. The pursuit ended when Armstrong crashed into a parked car at
9th and Church where he was arrested.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733330616696.jpeg" alt="Tyler Allan Armstrong/Buchanan County Sheriff's Office photo" />
 <figcaption>Tyler Allan Armstrong/Buchanan County Sheriff's Office photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA
28-year-old St. Joseph man faces several charges after allegedly injuring a St.
Joseph police officer while fleeing in a vehicle from a fight with another man
very early Tuesday morning.Tyler
Allan Armstrong has been charged with aggravated fleeing a stop, driving while
intoxicated leading to physical injury, and third-degree assault.St.
Joseph police say officers responded to break up a fight in the 1000 block of Corby Street when Armstrong jumped in a car and fled the scene.
Armstrong struck two patrol cars, injuring an officer in one of the cars.
Officers pursued. The pursuit ended when Armstrong crashed into a parked car at
9th and Church where he was arrested.Armstrong
is being held without bond.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

St. Joseph man charged for hitting patrol car, injuring officer

Military families struggling to find weekend child care have a
few more options.

A federally subsidized program run by Upwards has expanded
child care for military families.

Upwards provides subsidies and even business advice to child
care providers which serve military families looking for child care during drill
weekends.

Upwards Program Director, Lilly Alexander, says military
families face difficulties in finding child care others don’t face.

“So, this program in particular is for weekend care,”
Alexander tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, when the Reserve and the Guard go
off on drills, battle assemblies, and emergency deployments weekend care is particularly
difficult to find. And we’ve been able to help child care providers expand
their hours of operation so that they can meet these specific weekend needs of
military families.”

A key to the program, according to Alexander, is that Upwards
can guarantee reimbursement to child care providers within two business days,
rather than the 30-to-90-day lag of some reimbursement programs.

“The state of Missouri we are aware there’s a crisis going on
where providers haven’t been paid for months,” Alexander points out. “So, when
we can guarantee that we can pay providers within two business days, they are
very excited to support military families with these specific weekend child
care needs.”

Missouri state officials say a computer glitch caused the delay
in payments and that a solution is being worked out.

Not only does Upwards provide financial incentive for child
care providers to open their doors on the weekend, the company also consults
with providers on the best way to run their business, such as streamlining
processes to become more efficient.

“And when child care providers can operate their businesses
more efficiently, then that makes an impact on the cost for families,” Alexander
says.

Alexander encourages interested military families to visit the
Upwards website by clicking <a href="https://upwards.com/benefits/military">HERE</a>.

You can also call Upwards at 816-670-3286 or email the company:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:heroes@upwards.com">heroes@upwards.com</a>.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostMilitary families struggling to find weekend child care have a
few more options.A federally subsidized program run by Upwards has expanded
child care for military families.Upwards provides subsidies and even business advice to child
care providers which serve military families looking for child care during drill
weekends.Upwards Program Director, Lilly Alexander, says military
families face difficulties in finding child care others don’t face.“So, this program in particular is for weekend care,”
Alexander tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, when the Reserve and the Guard go
off on drills, battle assemblies, and emergency deployments weekend care is particularly
difficult to find. And we’ve been able to help child care providers expand
their hours of operation so that they can meet these specific weekend needs of
military families.”A key to the program, according to Alexander, is that Upwards
can guarantee reimbursement to child care providers within two business days,
rather than the 30-to-90-day lag of some reimbursement programs.“The state of Missouri we are aware there’s a crisis going on
where providers haven’t been paid for months,” Alexander points out. “So, when
we can guarantee that we can pay providers within two business days, they are
very excited to support military families with these specific weekend child
care needs.”Missouri state officials say a computer glitch caused the delay
in payments and that a solution is being worked out.Not only does Upwards provide financial incentive for child
care providers to open their doors on the weekend, the company also consults
with providers on the best way to run their business, such as streamlining
processes to become more efficient.“And when child care providers can operate their businesses
more efficiently, then that makes an impact on the cost for families,” Alexander
says.Alexander encourages interested military families to visit the
Upwards website by clicking <a href="https://upwards.com/benefits/military">HERE</a>.You can also call Upwards at 816-670-3286 or email the company:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:heroes@upwards.com">heroes@upwards.com</a>.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Program seeks to help military families with weekend child care

On Wednesday, a Jackson County judge will hear Planned Parenthood’s attempt to overturn a number of laws regulating abortion. Meanwhile, several legislators have already filed bills hoping to reinstate an abortion ban

On the eve of a Wednesday hearing seeking to strike down most Missouri abortion restrictions, GOP lawmakers and anti-abortion activists assembled outside five Planned Parenthood clinics around the state to call on the courts to leave abortion regulations in place.

At the same time, Republican lawmakers have begun filing some of their first pieces of legislation aimed at weakening or overturning Amendment 3, which was narrowly approved by voters last month and enshrines the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution.

The constitutional amendment, which received<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/missouri/?r=83071" target="_blank">&nbsp;51.6% of the nearly 3 million votes</a>&nbsp;cast, goes into effect Thursday. It prohibits the legislature from regulating abortion prior to the point of fetal viability — generally seen as the point at which a fetus can likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary measures.

Already, at least 11 lawmaker-proposed amendments have been prefiled seeking to reverse Amendment 3 through another vote of the people.&nbsp;&nbsp;

One such bill, filed by Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold, would ask voters to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors and all abortions with exceptions for medical emergencies and rape.

“Missouri families deserve clarity and compassion in our laws when it comes to protecting

women and safeguarding innocent life like our children from danger,” Coleman said in a statement Tuesday. “These constitutional amendments align with the beliefs of the majority of Missourians when it comes to supporting the dignity and value of all life.”&nbsp;

State Rep. Justin Sparks, a Wildwood Republican, is proposing his own version of a repeal amendment. He said he was inspired to take action by Amendment 3’s close margin of victory.&nbsp;

Sparks’ proposed constitutional amendment would define a “person” as “every human being with a unique DNA code regardless of age, including every in utero human child at every stage of biological development from the moment of conception until birth.”

State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, filed a proposed amendment similar to Coleman’s, but one that also included abortion exceptions for fetal anomalies. It would limit abortions in the cases of rape or incest to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=412" target="_blank">and only if the victim filed a police report.&nbsp;</a>

Such requirements have been widely-criticized in other states, with victim advocates calling such reporting requirements&nbsp;<a href="https://victimrights.org/2023/04/14/abortion-care-is-central-to-rape-survivors-reclaiming-their-power/" target="_blank">harmful to survivors.</a>

But on Tuesday, standing outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City with other anti-abortion activists, Brattin said his immediate focus was appealing to the courts to uphold the state’s current “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, which previously made it all but impossible for doctors to provide abortions in Missouri.&nbsp;

The laws, enacted over the last several years by the legislature, include a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and requirements that providers report all abortions to the state.&nbsp;

“That’s going to be first and foremost, making sure that if they’re operating, they’re operating at the highest level of standard of care,” Brattin said.

Less than 24 hours after Amendment 3 was approved by voters, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers announced a lawsuit seeking to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/06/missouri-abortion-access-planned-parenthood-lawsuit-amendment-3/">strike down several of these TRAP laws</a>.&nbsp;

The first hearing in the case is set to take place Wednesday afternoon in Jackson County.&nbsp;

The Missouri Secretary of State’s office filed a motion requesting the proceedings be moved to Cole County. Earlier this year, a Cole County judge&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/missouri-supreme-court-opinions-amendment-3-abortion/">struck Amendment 3 from the ballot,</a>&nbsp;a decision that was quickly overridden by the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Planned Parenthood leadership has said they hope a quick decision from the judge will allow them to start performing abortions at three health centers across the state —&nbsp;Columbia, the Central West End in St. Louis and the Midtown neighborhood of Kansas City —&nbsp;as soon as the new amendment goes into effect.

“Abortion is safe and a very common healthcare procedure,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which operates the St. Louis clinics, said in a statement Tuesday. “We know that Missourians across the political spectrum support access to this life-saving care, but anti-abortion extremists are again resorting to false, tired, and previously litigated scare tactics, trying to subvert the will of the people and keep abortion banned.”

<a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24950/the-safety-and-quality-of-abortion-care-in-the-united-states" target="_blank">A 2018 study</a>&nbsp;by the&nbsp;National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine&nbsp;concluded that abortion complications are rare, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/key-facts-on-abortion-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=Studies%20on%20procedural%20abortions%2C%20which,complications%20of%20less%20than%201%25." target="_blank">complications during childbirth remain more common</a>.

Outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis’ Central West End, Brian Westbrook, executive director of Coalition Life, called for the TRAP laws to remain in place “to make sure that women do not go into a place like this and leave in an ambulance headed to the hospital.”

“We stand here today with real, clear evidence that Planned Parenthood is not safe for women and requires serious oversight and inspections, not immunity,” he said.

Westbrook also referenced a 2018 health inspection report that determined equipment in the Columbia clinic included tubing that contained “black mold and bodily fluid.” Planned Parenthood officials later said the equipment had been replaced and the issue resolved.

The Columbia health center&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/03/654030995/one-abortion-clinic-remains-open-in-missouri-following-new-state-requirements" target="_blank">ended the procedure in fall 2018</a>&nbsp;when it could no longer meet a state requirement that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 15 minutes from the clinic and the clinic’s license expired. After that, until the U.S. Supreme Court decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022,</a>&nbsp;only one Planned Parenthood clinic in Missouri, located in St. Louis, continued to perform abortions.

The St. Louis clinic temporarily lost its licensure as well until May 2020, when then-Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243089401.html" target="_blank">&nbsp;ruled that the state health department had to re-issue the license</a>.

“​​Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that it provides safe and legal abortion care,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/98/18/9818b15d-4ecd-4281-bb30-620c5ea9e567/19-0879.pdf" target="_blank">Dandamudi’s ruling concluded.</a>&nbsp;“In over 4,000 abortions provided since 2018, the Department has only identified two causes to deny its license.”

Westbrook ended Tuesday’s press conference saying he is hopeful the Trump administration will enforce the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/21/missouri-senate-race-abortion-hawley-kunce/">Comstock Act,&nbsp;</a>an&nbsp;1873 law that bans the mailing of obscene material, including medications used for abortion.

He also said he supports Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to hold Planned Parenthood accountable.&nbsp;

The Missouri Attorney General’s office recently posed a court challenge to the Planned Parenthood suit.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Petition.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=3370878" target="_blank">The latest lawsuit,</a>&nbsp;filed Wednesday in Cole County, questions Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ ability to sue, claiming a 2010 settlement agreement prevents them from doing so.&nbsp;

Bailey, in a recent<a href="https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/22-2024.pdf" target="_blank">&nbsp;official opinion from his office</a>, argued that while Missouri statutes prohibiting abortion prior to fetal viability will no longer be enforceable in their entirety,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/27/missouri-attorney-general-andrew-bailey-amendment-3-enforcement/">the state can still enforce other laws on the books related to abortion.</a>

“In a contest where the ‘yes’ side was able in effect to rewrite the ballot summary language, received<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/29/missouri-abortion-amendment-3-fundraising-election/">&nbsp;tens of millions of dollars</a>&nbsp;in funding from out of state, and outspent the ‘no’ side 6 to 0,” Bailey wrote, “This tight margin suggests the result may be very different if a future constitutional amendment is put up for a vote.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733311945101.png" alt="State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, protests outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, ahead of a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood seeking to overturn the state’s TRAP laws (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, protests outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, ahead of a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood seeking to overturn the state’s TRAP laws (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>On Wednesday, a Jackson County judge will hear Planned Parenthood’s attempt to overturn a number of laws regulating abortion. Meanwhile, several legislators have already filed bills hoping to reinstate an abortion ban</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>On the eve of a Wednesday hearing seeking to strike down most Missouri abortion restrictions, GOP lawmakers and anti-abortion activists assembled outside five Planned Parenthood clinics around the state to call on the courts to leave abortion regulations in place.At the same time, Republican lawmakers have begun filing some of their first pieces of legislation aimed at weakening or overturning Amendment 3, which was narrowly approved by voters last month and enshrines the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution.The constitutional amendment, which received<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/missouri/?r=83071" target="_blank">&nbsp;51.6% of the nearly 3 million votes</a>&nbsp;cast, goes into effect Thursday. It prohibits the legislature from regulating abortion prior to the point of fetal viability — generally seen as the point at which a fetus can likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary measures.Already, at least 11 lawmaker-proposed amendments have been prefiled seeking to reverse Amendment 3 through another vote of the people.&nbsp;&nbsp;One such bill, filed by Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold, would ask voters to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors and all abortions with exceptions for medical emergencies and rape.“Missouri families deserve clarity and compassion in our laws when it comes to protectingwomen and safeguarding innocent life like our children from danger,” Coleman said in a statement Tuesday. “These constitutional amendments align with the beliefs of the majority of Missourians when it comes to supporting the dignity and value of all life.”&nbsp;State Rep. Justin Sparks, a Wildwood Republican, is proposing his own version of a repeal amendment. He said he was inspired to take action by Amendment 3’s close margin of victory.&nbsp;Sparks’ proposed constitutional amendment would define a “person” as “every human being with a unique DNA code regardless of age, including every in utero human child at every stage of biological development from the moment of conception until birth.”State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, filed a proposed amendment similar to Coleman’s, but one that also included abortion exceptions for fetal anomalies. It would limit abortions in the cases of rape or incest to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=412" target="_blank">and only if the victim filed a police report.&nbsp;</a>Such requirements have been widely-criticized in other states, with victim advocates calling such reporting requirements&nbsp;<a href="https://victimrights.org/2023/04/14/abortion-care-is-central-to-rape-survivors-reclaiming-their-power/" target="_blank">harmful to survivors.</a>But on Tuesday, standing outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City with other anti-abortion activists, Brattin said his immediate focus was appealing to the courts to uphold the state’s current “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, which previously made it all but impossible for doctors to provide abortions in Missouri.&nbsp;The laws, enacted over the last several years by the legislature, include a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and requirements that providers report all abortions to the state.&nbsp;“That’s going to be first and foremost, making sure that if they’re operating, they’re operating at the highest level of standard of care,” Brattin said.Less than 24 hours after Amendment 3 was approved by voters, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers announced a lawsuit seeking to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/06/missouri-abortion-access-planned-parenthood-lawsuit-amendment-3/">strike down several of these TRAP laws</a>.&nbsp;The first hearing in the case is set to take place Wednesday afternoon in Jackson County.&nbsp;The Missouri Secretary of State’s office filed a motion requesting the proceedings be moved to Cole County. Earlier this year, a Cole County judge&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/20/missouri-supreme-court-opinions-amendment-3-abortion/">struck Amendment 3 from the ballot,</a>&nbsp;a decision that was quickly overridden by the Missouri Court of Appeals.Planned Parenthood leadership has said they hope a quick decision from the judge will allow them to start performing abortions at three health centers across the state —&nbsp;Columbia, the Central West End in St. Louis and the Midtown neighborhood of Kansas City —&nbsp;as soon as the new amendment goes into effect.“Abortion is safe and a very common healthcare procedure,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which operates the St. Louis clinics, said in a statement Tuesday. “We know that Missourians across the political spectrum support access to this life-saving care, but anti-abortion extremists are again resorting to false, tired, and previously litigated scare tactics, trying to subvert the will of the people and keep abortion banned.”<a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24950/the-safety-and-quality-of-abortion-care-in-the-united-states" target="_blank">A 2018 study</a>&nbsp;by the&nbsp;National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine&nbsp;concluded that abortion complications are rare, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/key-facts-on-abortion-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=Studies%20on%20procedural%20abortions%2C%20which,complications%20of%20less%20than%201%25." target="_blank">complications during childbirth remain more common</a>.Outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis’ Central West End, Brian Westbrook, executive director of Coalition Life, called for the TRAP laws to remain in place “to make sure that women do not go into a place like this and leave in an ambulance headed to the hospital.”“We stand here today with real, clear evidence that Planned Parenthood is not safe for women and requires serious oversight and inspections, not immunity,” he said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733311589200.png" alt="Kendyl Underwood, a 20-year-old Saint Louis University student, sits outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis on June 24, 2022 after the release of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade (Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>Kendyl Underwood, a 20-year-old Saint Louis University student, sits outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis on June 24, 2022 after the release of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade (Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Westbrook also referenced a 2018 health inspection report that determined equipment in the Columbia clinic included tubing that contained “black mold and bodily fluid.” Planned Parenthood officials later said the equipment had been replaced and the issue resolved.The Columbia health center&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/03/654030995/one-abortion-clinic-remains-open-in-missouri-following-new-state-requirements" target="_blank">ended the procedure in fall 2018</a>&nbsp;when it could no longer meet a state requirement that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 15 minutes from the clinic and the clinic’s license expired. After that, until the U.S. Supreme Court decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022,</a>&nbsp;only one Planned Parenthood clinic in Missouri, located in St. Louis, continued to perform abortions.The St. Louis clinic temporarily lost its licensure as well until May 2020, when then-Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243089401.html" target="_blank">&nbsp;ruled that the state health department had to re-issue the license</a>.“​​Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that it provides safe and legal abortion care,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/98/18/9818b15d-4ecd-4281-bb30-620c5ea9e567/19-0879.pdf" target="_blank">Dandamudi’s ruling concluded.</a>&nbsp;“In over 4,000 abortions provided since 2018, the Department has only identified two causes to deny its license.”Westbrook ended Tuesday’s press conference saying he is hopeful the Trump administration will enforce the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/21/missouri-senate-race-abortion-hawley-kunce/">Comstock Act,&nbsp;</a>an&nbsp;1873 law that bans the mailing of obscene material, including medications used for abortion.He also said he supports Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to hold Planned Parenthood accountable.&nbsp;The Missouri Attorney General’s office recently posed a court challenge to the Planned Parenthood suit.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Petition.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=3370878" target="_blank">The latest lawsuit,</a>&nbsp;filed Wednesday in Cole County, questions Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ ability to sue, claiming a 2010 settlement agreement prevents them from doing so.&nbsp;Bailey, in a recent<a href="https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/22-2024.pdf" target="_blank">&nbsp;official opinion from his office</a>, argued that while Missouri statutes prohibiting abortion prior to fetal viability will no longer be enforceable in their entirety,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/11/27/missouri-attorney-general-andrew-bailey-amendment-3-enforcement/">the state can still enforce other laws on the books related to abortion.</a>“In a contest where the ‘yes’ side was able in effect to rewrite the ballot summary language, received<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/29/missouri-abortion-amendment-3-fundraising-election/">&nbsp;tens of millions of dollars</a>&nbsp;in funding from out of state, and outspent the ‘no’ side 6 to 0,” Bailey wrote, “This tight margin suggests the result may be very different if a future constitutional amendment is put up for a vote.”

Anti-abortion lawmakers, activists call on Missouri court to rule against Planned Parenthood

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Flora Farms took more than 3,000 Zen-brand cannabis gummy products off the shelves last month, after state regulators received a complaint the food-coloring ingredient wasn’t listed on the label.

The food coloring is not a banned ingredient, said Sami Jo Freeman, spokeswoman for the Division of Cannabis Regulation, and the Flora Farms manufacturing facility in Springfield that’s the target of the product recall doesn’t have to stop using it.

“Food coloring must be disclosed in the ingredient list in order to be used in a product,” she said. “This helps consumers know that if they have an allergy to it, that they should not consume that product.”

Only one adverse reaction was reported, she said. The consumer reported the reaction did not require hospitalization, but Freeman said she could not provide the consumer complaint to protect the person’s privacy.

The problem wasn’t caught during the extensive review process required under the new recreational marijuana rules.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

As of Sept. 1, marijuana manufacturers must now package and label all products in division-approved designs before sending them to a dispensary.&nbsp;

But catching this type of error is not what the pre-approval process was intended for, Freeman said.&nbsp;

“Verification of whether information is accurate occurs through other processes, such as inspections, complaints and investigations,” Freeman said.&nbsp;

The review process for packaging and labeling, she said, is to ensure that all types of required information are included on the package.&nbsp;

And it’s also to make sure the numerous prohibited things – such as excessive colors, depictions of candy or cartoon characters – stay off.&nbsp;

When voters passed the&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=XIV%20%20%202&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">constitutional amendment</a>&nbsp;to legalize recreational marijuana in 2022, it included a provision that labels and packaging for marijuana-related products, “shall not be made to be attractive to children.”

Missouri is now a<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/22/missouri-to-be-testing-ground-on-plain-packaging-for-cannabis-products/">&nbsp;testing ground</a>&nbsp;to see if plain packaging for recreational marijuana will meet this constitutional mandate. Under new state rules, packaging can only be one primary color, and it can have up to two logos or symbols that can be a different color or several different colors.&nbsp;

Mark Hendren,&nbsp;president of Flora Farms cannabis company, said the facility has addressed the labeling issue.&nbsp;

“DCR requested that Zen labels more specifically identify the food coloring used,” he said. “So that’s what we have done.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733259188705.png" alt="photo Zen-brand&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>photo Zen-brand&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Flora Farms took more than 3,000 Zen-brand cannabis gummy products off the shelves last month, after state regulators received a complaint the food-coloring ingredient wasn’t listed on the label.The food coloring is not a banned ingredient, said Sami Jo Freeman, spokeswoman for the Division of Cannabis Regulation, and the Flora Farms manufacturing facility in Springfield that’s the target of the product recall doesn’t have to stop using it.“Food coloring must be disclosed in the ingredient list in order to be used in a product,” she said. “This helps consumers know that if they have an allergy to it, that they should not consume that product.”Only one adverse reaction was reported, she said. The consumer reported the reaction did not require hospitalization, but Freeman said she could not provide the consumer complaint to protect the person’s privacy.The problem wasn’t caught during the extensive review process required under the new recreational marijuana rules.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As of Sept. 1, marijuana manufacturers must now package and label all products in division-approved designs before sending them to a dispensary.&nbsp;But catching this type of error is not what the pre-approval process was intended for, Freeman said.&nbsp;“Verification of whether information is accurate occurs through other processes, such as inspections, complaints and investigations,” Freeman said.&nbsp;The review process for packaging and labeling, she said, is to ensure that all types of required information are included on the package.&nbsp;And it’s also to make sure the numerous prohibited things – such as excessive colors, depictions of candy or cartoon characters – stay off.&nbsp;When voters passed the&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=XIV%20%20%202&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">constitutional amendment</a>&nbsp;to legalize recreational marijuana in 2022, it included a provision that labels and packaging for marijuana-related products, “shall not be made to be attractive to children.”Missouri is now a<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/22/missouri-to-be-testing-ground-on-plain-packaging-for-cannabis-products/">&nbsp;testing ground</a>&nbsp;to see if plain packaging for recreational marijuana will meet this constitutional mandate. Under new state rules, packaging can only be one primary color, and it can have up to two logos or symbols that can be a different color or several different colors.&nbsp;Mark Hendren,&nbsp;president of Flora Farms cannabis company, said the facility has addressed the labeling issue.&nbsp;“DCR requested that Zen labels more specifically identify the food coloring used,” he said. “So that’s what we have done.”

Labeling error led to Missouri recall of cannabis gummies

Four finalists with broad experience have been named to become
the next St. Joseph City Manager.

A nationwide search by Strategic Government Resources reviewed
the applications of 26 candidates from 15 states and will continue to help the
city in the selection process.

Robert Cowell has 30 years of local government management
experience, servicing as Roanoke, Virginia City Manager after as the
Deputy/Interim City Manager in Amarillo, Texas. In Roanoke, Cowell managed
1,800 employees and a $379 million budget.

Jason Gage has more than 25 years experience in local
government, including 20 as a City Manager. Gage has served as Springfield,
Missouri City Manager since 2018. He resigned, but agreed to stay on until
early next year. Gage served as City Manager of Salina, Kansas prior to
accepting the job in Springfield. In Springfield, Gage manages a $507 million
annual budget and oversees a staff of 2,112.

Darron Leiker was the long-time City Manager of the City of
Wichita Falls, Texas where he managed 1,240 employees and a $233 million
budget. A native of Kansas, Leiker previously served in Salina and Sterling,
Kansas.

Mike Schumacher has worked in local government for more than
34 years, the last 12 in executive management. Schumacher is the current City
Administrator for Lebanon, Missouri where he manages 177 employees on a $72
million budget. Schumacher has served as an Assistant City Manager in Kansas
City between 2012 and 2018.

The four finalists have been invited to participate in an
onsite interview process scheduled next week. The two-day process will include
a community tour, engagement sessions with City staff and community members,
and extensive interviews by the City Council.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostFour finalists with broad experience have been named to become
the next St. Joseph City Manager.A nationwide search by Strategic Government Resources reviewed
the applications of 26 candidates from 15 states and will continue to help the
city in the selection process.Robert Cowell has 30 years of local government management
experience, servicing as Roanoke, Virginia City Manager after as the
Deputy/Interim City Manager in Amarillo, Texas. In Roanoke, Cowell managed
1,800 employees and a $379 million budget.Jason Gage has more than 25 years experience in local
government, including 20 as a City Manager. Gage has served as Springfield,
Missouri City Manager since 2018. He resigned, but agreed to stay on until
early next year. Gage served as City Manager of Salina, Kansas prior to
accepting the job in Springfield. In Springfield, Gage manages a $507 million
annual budget and oversees a staff of 2,112.Darron Leiker was the long-time City Manager of the City of
Wichita Falls, Texas where he managed 1,240 employees and a $233 million
budget. A native of Kansas, Leiker previously served in Salina and Sterling,
Kansas.Mike Schumacher has worked in local government for more than
34 years, the last 12 in executive management. Schumacher is the current City
Administrator for Lebanon, Missouri where he manages 177 employees on a $72
million budget. Schumacher has served as an Assistant City Manager in Kansas
City between 2012 and 2018.The four finalists have been invited to participate in an
onsite interview process scheduled next week. The two-day process will include
a community tour, engagement sessions with City staff and community members,
and extensive interviews by the City Council.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Four make the cut as finalists for St. Joseph City Manager

The St. Joseph School District will begin accepting applications for anyone interested in joining the school board.  

Two positions for three-year terms will be on the April 8th ballot. 

School Board President LaTonya Williams says a person that fits well with the board is someone that prioritizes all children, calling the district very diverse 

"It's not only about diversity and race, it's also in abilities, disabilities and such," Williams tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.  "Our children need a voice on the district, and that is all of our children." 

Applications can be submitted starting on December 10th at the Administration Building.  The final day to file will be December 31st.  

Willams says if you've ever had an opinion about what the school board should do, now is your chance to join them 

"If you have an opinion about how things should be done, or if you would like to give more of yourself and your time to the children in the community, here's your chance, all applications accepted," Williams says. 

Interested people must be voters within the St. Joseph School District and have been a resident of Missouri for at least one year.  

Williams says those joining the school board will face some issues in the near future, including onboarding a new Superintendent, and also following the districts long range plan 

"It's a pretty extensive plan and it will right size a lot of the inequities and issues in our buildings and in our classrooms," Williams explains.  "And so, it's going to take a little bit of work and a lot of extra time." 

You can contact Board Secretary Donna Baker for more information. 

By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post The St. Joseph School District will begin accepting applications for anyone interested in joining the school board. Two positions for three-year terms will be on the April 8th ballot. School Board President LaTonya Williams says a person that fits well with the board is someone that prioritizes all children, calling the district very diverse "It's not only about diversity and race, it's also in abilities, disabilities and such," Williams tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Our children need a voice on the district, and that is all of our children." Applications can be submitted starting on December 10th at the Administration Building. The final day to file will be December 31st. Willams says if you've ever had an opinion about what the school board should do, now is your chance to join them "If you have an opinion about how things should be done, or if you would like to give more of yourself and your time to the children in the community, here's your chance, all applications accepted," Williams says. Interested people must be voters within the St. Joseph School District and have been a resident of Missouri for at least one year. Williams says those joining the school board will face some issues in the near future, including onboarding a new Superintendent, and also following the districts long range plan "It's a pretty extensive plan and it will right size a lot of the inequities and issues in our buildings and in our classrooms," Williams explains. "And so, it's going to take a little bit of work and a lot of extra time." You can contact Board Secretary Donna Baker for more information.

Filing for St. Joseph School Board opens next week

A family dispute led to a St. Joseph man firing three shots
into the air Monday night.

St. Joseph police say no one was harmed and no property
damage reported when the man shot from a rifle after getting into a
disagreement with family members in the 300 block of Virginia Street shortly
after nine o’clock. Police have a suspect in mind, but no arrest has been made
as the investigation continues.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA family dispute led to a St. Joseph man firing three shots
into the air Monday night.St. Joseph police say no one was harmed and no property
damage reported when the man shot from a rifle after getting into a
disagreement with family members in the 300 block of Virginia Street shortly
after nine o’clock. Police have a suspect in mind, but no arrest has been made
as the investigation continues.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

St. Joseph family dispute leads to shots fired in the air; no one hurt

A St. Joseph police officer suffered minor injuries when a man
fled the scene of a fight, hit two patrol cars, and crashed at 9th
and Church in St. Joseph very early this morning.

Police say officers responded to a call about two men fighting
in the one thousand block of Corby Street around 1:30 this morning. A
28-year-old man climbed in a car and fled the scene, hitting two St. Joseph
police cars, injuring an officer in one of them. The driver, Tyler Allan
Armstrong, hit a parked car at 9th and Church where he was arrested
after the wreck.

This article has been updated since first published.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA St. Joseph police officer suffered minor injuries when a man
fled the scene of a fight, hit two patrol cars, and crashed at 9th
and Church in St. Joseph very early this morning.Police say officers responded to a call about two men fighting
in the one thousand block of Corby Street around 1:30 this morning. A
28-year-old man climbed in a car and fled the scene, hitting two St. Joseph
police cars, injuring an officer in one of them. The driver, Tyler Allan
Armstrong, hit a parked car at 9th and Church where he was arrested
after the wreck.The investigation continues.This article has been updated since first published.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

St. Joseph police officer injured when fleeing suspect hits patrol car

DAVIESS COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just before 2:30p.m. Monday in Daviess County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Lincoln MKX driven by a 36-year-old Grand River, Iowa, man was northbound on Interstate 35 two miles west of&nbsp; Winston in the&nbsp; passing lane.&nbsp;

The SUV began to merge into the driving lane and struck the rear drivers side of a 1998 Kenworth semi.

Daviess County ambulance transported the driver of the SUV to Cameron Regional Medical Center. The 59-year-old semi driver from Wisconsin was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

DAVIESS COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just before 2:30p.m. Monday in Daviess County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Lincoln MKX driven by a 36-year-old Grand River, Iowa, man was northbound on Interstate 35 two miles west of&nbsp; Winston in the&nbsp; passing lane.&nbsp;The SUV began to merge into the driving lane and struck the rear drivers side of a 1998 Kenworth semi.Daviess County ambulance transported the driver of the SUV to Cameron Regional Medical Center. The 59-year-old semi driver from Wisconsin was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

Man injured after SUV, semi crash in NW Missouri

More has been released by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on
the November fatal shooting in Lawson that occurred when officers responded to a
domestic disturbance call.

One officer, a Ray County Sheriff’s Deputy, suffered a gunshot
wound responding to the home.

An investigation reveals 26-year-old Brett Yager of Lawson
shot himself to death after allegedly shooting to death a child inside the home.

Lawson police officers along with deputies from the Ray County
Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic disturbance call Sunday evening,
November 17th. Emergency calls reported a man was assaulting a woman
inside the home, 213 Montgomery Street. When officers arrived, Yager fired
several shots at them. One shot struck a Ray County deputy. Officers
returned fire. Officers escorted a woman to safety, but a child remained in the
house.

Several surrounding law enforcement agencies responded to the
scene. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Tactics and Response Team (STAR)
entered the residence to find Yager and the child dead. Preliminary autopsy results
report Yager died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the child died of a
gunshot wound. It has been determined the fatal shot did not come from law
enforcement gunfire.

The Ray County deputy was treated and released at an area
hospital.

The Lawson Police Chief requested the Missouri State Highway
Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control investigate the shooting.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostMore has been released by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on
the November fatal shooting in Lawson that occurred when officers responded to a
domestic disturbance call.One officer, a Ray County Sheriff’s Deputy, suffered a gunshot
wound responding to the home.An investigation reveals 26-year-old Brett Yager of Lawson
shot himself to death after allegedly shooting to death a child inside the home.Lawson police officers along with deputies from the Ray County
Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic disturbance call Sunday evening,
November 17th. Emergency calls reported a man was assaulting a woman
inside the home, 213 Montgomery Street. When officers arrived, Yager fired
several shots at them. One shot struck a Ray County deputy. Officers
returned fire. Officers escorted a woman to safety, but a child remained in the
house.Several surrounding law enforcement agencies responded to the
scene. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Tactics and Response Team (STAR)
entered the residence to find Yager and the child dead. Preliminary autopsy results
report Yager died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the child died of a
gunshot wound. It has been determined the fatal shot did not come from law
enforcement gunfire.The Ray County deputy was treated and released at an area
hospital.The Lawson Police Chief requested the Missouri State Highway
Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control investigate the shooting.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Investigation determines Lawson shooting was murder/suicide

St. Joseph school officials have been meeting with their
colleagues throughout Missouri, discussing on how best to lobby the state
legislature for more money to meet the special needs of a growing foreign
student population.

The St. Joseph School District teaches English proficiency to
immigrant students who primarily speak a foreign language, Spanish number one
among them.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733165127362.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostSt. Joseph school officials have been meeting with their
colleagues throughout Missouri, discussing on how best to lobby the state
legislature for more money to meet the special needs of a growing foreign
student population.The St. Joseph School District teaches English proficiency to
immigrant students who primarily speak a foreign language, Spanish number one
among them.School Superintendent Gabe Edgar says the state school funding
formula devised in 2006 couldn’t anticipate all the changes public school
districts currently face.“The issue is, public education in 2006 is nothing like public
education in 2024,” Edgar tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And so, the resources
and the challenges that we face, not just in St. Joseph but in the entire state
of Missouri, have changed and so that formula probably needs to change to assist
with some of those challenges. ELD obviously is one of those.”ELD stands for English Language Development, which helps immigrant
students who might or might not have a firm grasp of English. In 2017, St.
Joseph public schools worked with about 750 students from other countries needing
help with their English. That has grown to more than 1,306, which is slightly more
than 10% of the St. Joseph student population of 10,000-plus.Edgar says the St. Joseph School District simply doesn’t have
the resources to adequately handle the growing number of students whose primary
language is not English.“It forces us to become very reactive,” Edgar says. “We want
to be as proactive as we can in public education or in St. Joe School District
and we have to be reactive, because we’re trying to figure out how to support
these students. And it’s not fair to anybody. It’s not fair to staff. It’s not
fair to the students. It’s not fair to anybody involved in the program.”Students from immigrant families attending St. Joseph schools
speak 34 foreign languages. Some have a firm understanding of English, at least
formal English, while others cannot form simple sentences in English. It costs
extras to bring them up to speed.Edgar says the state school funding formula simply doesn’t
provide adequate funding to handle an influx of students with varying
proficiency in English.“In 2006 when they built it there were pockets or segments of
population that they assisted. That segment has change,” according to Edgar. “And
so, the assistance needs to shift or the resources need to shift.”Edgar says that while the number of immigrant students needing
help with English has grown in St. Joseph, it forms a much higher percentage in
some more rural school districts, where immigrants are attracted to jobs in the
agricultural sector. Monet, in southwest Missouri, reports around 40% of its
students speak another language as their native tongue. Milan, in northeast
Missouri, reports around half its students do not speak English as their first
language.Edgar says he has been speaking with school officials across
the state about the matter. He also has had discussions with the chair of the
Missouri House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, Rep. Brad Pollitt
of Sedalia. Pollitt served for 34 years in public education. The new
legislative session begins in January.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

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