As planting season approaches, Missouri corn growers are getting the opportunity to air their concerns to officials with the Missouri Corn Growers Association.  

The association will hold its District One winter meeting tomorrow in Mound City. 

Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says these meetings are an opportunity to let growers know their voices are being heard 

"We just want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help them on their farm to where they can stay in their seat on the tractor or combine whatever that be, we're getting into planting season," Schad tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And just before we get in there, we want to reach out to them and see if there's anything at all that we need to be doing more of for them, we're doing everything we can that we know of." 

The association has held a series of meetings throughout the month and will have more coming over the next month to hear growers ahead of planting season. 

Schad says one of the biggest challenges growers face is the markets. 

Despite a lingering drought that plagued last year's growing season, Schad says Missouri saw a great corn harvest 

"We still averaged 153 according to USDA and we're going to produce 561 million bushels supposedly from what USDA says," Schad points out. "So, it's really exciting that we had a monumental drought and still came out with yields like that." 

The District One meeting will be held at 6pm at the Mound City Distillery.   

By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post As planting season approaches, Missouri corn growers are getting the opportunity to air their concerns to officials with the Missouri Corn Growers Association. The association will hold its District One winter meeting tomorrow in Mound City. Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says these meetings are an opportunity to let growers know their voices are being heard "We just want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help them on their farm to where they can stay in their seat on the tractor or combine whatever that be, we're getting into planting season," Schad tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And just before we get in there, we want to reach out to them and see if there's anything at all that we need to be doing more of for them, we're doing everything we can that we know of." The association has held a series of meetings throughout the month and will have more coming over the next month to hear growers ahead of planting season. Schad says one of the biggest challenges growers face is the markets. Despite a lingering drought that plagued last year's growing season, Schad says Missouri saw a great corn harvest "We still averaged 153 according to USDA and we're going to produce 561 million bushels supposedly from what USDA says," Schad points out. "So, it's really exciting that we had a monumental drought and still came out with yields like that." The District One meeting will be held at 6pm at the Mound City Distillery.

With planting season nearing corn growers concerns will be heard during local meeting

Added as an amendment in committee, a public hearing on the proposal has not taken place in the Senate this year

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

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=246">Legislation</a>&nbsp;seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/missouri-lawmakers-debate-permanent-ban-on-transgender-care-for-minors/">A House hearing</a>&nbsp;on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting last week.&nbsp;Missourians haven’t had a chance to testify on bathroom restrictions in the Senate this year, a fact that irked Democrats as the committee’s chairman — Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester — briefly introduced the amendment.

Koenig added the bathroom amendment shortly before he was removed as chairman of the education committee. He lost his chairmanship Tuesday along with other members of the Senate’s Freedom Caucus following&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/tempers-flare-in-missouri-senate-during-gop-fight-over-initiative-petition-changes/">weeks of open warfare</a>&nbsp;with the chamber’s GOP leadership.

Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance, said adding the bathroom amendment was an important step.

“It is a statewide issue that your biological sex matches which locker room and which restroom you’re going into,” Schroer said. “I know several of the school districts in St. Charles County have addressed it, but there’s still a need.”

Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat and the Senate’s only openly gay member, attempted to remove it, but his efforts fell short when only Republican Sen. Elaine Gannon of De Soto joined the Democratic committee members in favor of Razer’s proposal.

The original bill would require school staff to report to parents, within 24 hours, if a minor expresses “discomfort or confusion about the student’s documented identity” or desires to change their pronouns.

The bill also specifies that school personnel cannot “encourage a student under the age of 18 years old to adopt a gender identity or sexual orientation.”

Razer offered another amendment Tuesday that would require staff to contact the Missouri Department of Social Services whenever a parent is contacted regarding students’ LGBTQ status. The school would tell the agency that the child was at-risk of becoming homeless. His fear, Razer said, is that disapproving parents may kick a child out of their home.&nbsp;

“I think we all can agree that we don’t want children to be homeless,” Razer told fellow committee members.

Sen. Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, added that there was a risk of child abuse as well, stacking another amendment atop Razer’s.

“If the parent is going to be notified,” Razer said, “the department needs to be notified that they may have a homeless child or an abused child on their hands.”

Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, said he thought the Democratic amendments were unnecessary.

“Doesn’t the current existing law mandate reporting if they believe there is abuse or anything already going on?” he said. “So this is just redundancy.”&nbsp;

Brattin said the amendments assume abuse, saying parents should be “innocent until proven guilty.” Razer thought it was best to be precautionary.

“You want to wait until the child is abused?” he asked. “You’re going to put a certain unacceptably large percentage of children at risk.”

Brattin argued with him, saying it was a “very small portion of children.”

“If the law says ‘sexual orientation or gender identity,’ say a boy says, ‘I want to take this girl on a date to the dance,’ then do they have to call?” Razer asked. “If that’s not the case, then what we’re saying in your bill is you only call if the student is like me.”

Koenig said he was open to clarifying the bill’s language.

“What we don’t want is, we don’t want the teacher indoctrinating the child to make one decision or the other, or to specifically change names or pronouns,” he said.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said teachers are not trying to change students’ sexuality or gender identity.

“Without teachers indoctrinating students, there are still conversations about students’ personal lives, who they like, who they want to take to the dance and how they’re feeling at that moment,” she said. “By putting in statute requirements of the teachers to notify parents in conversations where I think we should allow them a little discretion to make the right call, it creates all sorts of additional problems.”

Brattin said he thought the discussion of sexual orientation was “muddying the waters.” He said the bill addresses situations where teachers help children transition by providing clothes or changing their name without parental consent.

“To say that a teacher should have those sorts of conversations, I think is beyond the scope of a teacher,” he said.

Koenig’s bill passed, with the committee’s Democratic members and Gannon in opposition.

The committee’s new chairperson Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, will be responsible for reporting the bill as “passed” on the Senate floor for it to continue forward. He voted in favor of the legislation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706118159642.png" alt="Sen. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, offers amendments to a bill that would bar transgender students from restrooms aligning with their gender identity in the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee Tuesday (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>Sen. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, offers amendments to a bill that would bar transgender students from restrooms aligning with their gender identity in the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee Tuesday (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Added as an amendment in committee, a public hearing on the proposal has not taken place in the Senate this year</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ahanshaw/">ANNELISE HANSHAW</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=246">Legislation</a>&nbsp;seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/missouri-lawmakers-debate-permanent-ban-on-transgender-care-for-minors/">A House hearing</a>&nbsp;on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting last week.&nbsp;Missourians haven’t had a chance to testify on bathroom restrictions in the Senate this year, a fact that irked Democrats as the committee’s chairman — Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester — briefly introduced the amendment.Koenig added the bathroom amendment shortly before he was removed as chairman of the education committee. He lost his chairmanship Tuesday along with other members of the Senate’s Freedom Caucus following&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/tempers-flare-in-missouri-senate-during-gop-fight-over-initiative-petition-changes/">weeks of open warfare</a>&nbsp;with the chamber’s GOP leadership.Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance, said adding the bathroom amendment was an important step.“It is a statewide issue that your biological sex matches which locker room and which restroom you’re going into,” Schroer said. “I know several of the school districts in St. Charles County have addressed it, but there’s still a need.”Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat and the Senate’s only openly gay member, attempted to remove it, but his efforts fell short when only Republican Sen. Elaine Gannon of De Soto joined the Democratic committee members in favor of Razer’s proposal.The original bill would require school staff to report to parents, within 24 hours, if a minor expresses “discomfort or confusion about the student’s documented identity” or desires to change their pronouns.The bill also specifies that school personnel cannot “encourage a student under the age of 18 years old to adopt a gender identity or sexual orientation.”Razer offered another amendment Tuesday that would require staff to contact the Missouri Department of Social Services whenever a parent is contacted regarding students’ LGBTQ status. The school would tell the agency that the child was at-risk of becoming homeless. His fear, Razer said, is that disapproving parents may kick a child out of their home.&nbsp;“I think we all can agree that we don’t want children to be homeless,” Razer told fellow committee members.Sen. Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, added that there was a risk of child abuse as well, stacking another amendment atop Razer’s.“If the parent is going to be notified,” Razer said, “the department needs to be notified that they may have a homeless child or an abused child on their hands.”Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, said he thought the Democratic amendments were unnecessary.“Doesn’t the current existing law mandate reporting if they believe there is abuse or anything already going on?” he said. “So this is just redundancy.”&nbsp;Brattin said the amendments assume abuse, saying parents should be “innocent until proven guilty.” Razer thought it was best to be precautionary.“You want to wait until the child is abused?” he asked. “You’re going to put a certain unacceptably large percentage of children at risk.”Brattin argued with him, saying it was a “very small portion of children.”Razer became visibly upset.“If the law says ‘sexual orientation or gender identity,’ say a boy says, ‘I want to take this girl on a date to the dance,’ then do they have to call?” Razer asked. “If that’s not the case, then what we’re saying in your bill is you only call if the student is like me.”Koenig said he was open to clarifying the bill’s language.“What we don’t want is, we don’t want the teacher indoctrinating the child to make one decision or the other, or to specifically change names or pronouns,” he said.State Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said teachers are not trying to change students’ sexuality or gender identity.“Without teachers indoctrinating students, there are still conversations about students’ personal lives, who they like, who they want to take to the dance and how they’re feeling at that moment,” she said. “By putting in statute requirements of the teachers to notify parents in conversations where I think we should allow them a little discretion to make the right call, it creates all sorts of additional problems.”Brattin said he thought the discussion of sexual orientation was “muddying the waters.” He said the bill addresses situations where teachers help children transition by providing clothes or changing their name without parental consent.“To say that a teacher should have those sorts of conversations, I think is beyond the scope of a teacher,” he said.Koenig’s bill passed, with the committee’s Democratic members and Gannon in opposition.The committee’s new chairperson Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, will be responsible for reporting the bill as “passed” on the Senate floor for it to continue forward. He voted in favor of the legislation.

Bathroom restrictions for transgender kids added to Missouri ‘parents bill of rights’

Northwest Missouri takes its show on the road to Jefferson
City next month, a regional lobbying effort at the state Capitol.

Great Northwest Days will be held February 6th and
7th.

St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Hawn says the
annual event brings cities and counties from 18 northwest Missouri counties
together to advocate for the region before the state legislature.

“It’s really a fun event. You get to learn about your
neighbors and you get to meet and network with the legislators,” Hawn tells
host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.

Hawn says that while St. Joseph has its own lobbying arm, it
finds working with the region strengthens everyone’s hand. Hawn adds the
website <a href="https://www.greatnorthwestday.com/">Great Northwest Day</a> outlines the priorities for this legislative
session and provides the track record from the lobbying effort.

“So, there’s a list of our current priorities and any bills
attached to those and then there’s also some of our successes,” Hawn says. “So
we have had some successes over the years when it comes to infrastructure, broadband,
things that really affect our ability to grow as a region, especially in the
area of economic development.”

Residents are invited to come along. You don’t have to be an
official or politician. Hawn says officials from cities and counties in the
region go to lobby legislators and area residents are welcome to take in the
activities surrounding state government.

“So if you’re a resident that goes you get to learn and
network with folks from all over northwest Missouri, but if you’re a legislator
or a department head, you get to learn about these communities, because each
community will have delegates from their community working the booth that can
answer questions, not only about the priorities of the region, but also about the
community at large,” Hawn says.

Hawn says Great Northwest Days begins with a reception the
evening of February 6th followed by a day of lobbying at the state
Capitol.

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

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706115874116.jpeg" alt="Missouri House of Representatives/file photo" />
 <figcaption>Missouri House of Representatives/file photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostNorthwest Missouri takes its show on the road to Jefferson
City next month, a regional lobbying effort at the state Capitol.Great Northwest Days will be held February 6th and
7th.St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Hawn says the
annual event brings cities and counties from 18 northwest Missouri counties
together to advocate for the region before the state legislature.“It’s really a fun event. You get to learn about your
neighbors and you get to meet and network with the legislators,” Hawn tells
host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.Hawn says that while St. Joseph has its own lobbying arm, it
finds working with the region strengthens everyone’s hand. Hawn adds the
website <a href="https://www.greatnorthwestday.com/">Great Northwest Day</a> outlines the priorities for this legislative
session and provides the track record from the lobbying effort.“So, there’s a list of our current priorities and any bills
attached to those and then there’s also some of our successes,” Hawn says. “So
we have had some successes over the years when it comes to infrastructure, broadband,
things that really affect our ability to grow as a region, especially in the
area of economic development.”Residents are invited to come along. You don’t have to be an
official or politician. Hawn says officials from cities and counties in the
region go to lobby legislators and area residents are welcome to take in the
activities surrounding state government.“So if you’re a resident that goes you get to learn and
network with folks from all over northwest Missouri, but if you’re a legislator
or a department head, you get to learn about these communities, because each
community will have delegates from their community working the booth that can
answer questions, not only about the priorities of the region, but also about the
community at large,” Hawn says.Hawn says Great Northwest Days begins with a reception the
evening of February 6th followed by a day of lobbying at the state
Capitol.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Area prepares for Great Northwest Day at the state Capitol

A shots fired call led to a nearly two-hour standoff in the
1500 block of 13th Street, ending with a 28-year-old man giving
up to St. Joseph police.

St. Joseph police report the shots fired call came from the
area of 6200 Carnegie mid-afternoon Tuesday. Evidence of shots
being fired were found at the scene. No one was harmed. Police then converged
on the residence on 13th Street around four o’clock. The suspect locked
himself in the house, giving up only after the Special Response Team arrived,
nearly two hours later.&nbsp;

The suspect is Dillon Shade. Charges are pending.

This article has been updated since first published to correct an error.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706115558072.png" alt="Dillon Shade/Missouri Dept. of Corrections photo" />
 <figcaption>Dillon Shade/Missouri Dept. of Corrections photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA shots fired call led to a nearly two-hour standoff in the
1500 block of 13th Street, ending with a 28-year-old man giving
up to St. Joseph police.St. Joseph police report the shots fired call came from the
area of 6200 Carnegie mid-afternoon Tuesday. Evidence of shots
being fired were found at the scene. No one was harmed. Police then converged
on the residence on 13th Street around four o’clock. The suspect locked
himself in the house, giving up only after the Special Response Team arrived,
nearly two hours later.&nbsp;The suspect is Dillon Shade. Charges are pending.No one was harmed in the incident.&nbsp;This article has been updated since first published to correct an error.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Man gives up after stand-off with St. Joseph police

A local dance company will teleport audiences into the world of Alice in Wonderland this weekend at the Missouri Theatre in downtown St. Joseph.  

Dance Arts Center owner Marla Heeler says the performing company likes to put on performances people are familiar with, which is why she and her staff chose Alice in Wonderland 

"So many characters, so many colors, so much fun, and so we decided what the heck but it's always hard when you're doing a story from the ground up, even though Alice in Wonderland is very old it's been done numerous ways as cartoons, and even other ballet companies have done it as a story ballet," Heeler tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr.  

"But you always want to make it your own, so we just started working on it this summer." 

After several months of rehearsals, the Dance Arts Preforming Company is ready to transport audiences into the world of Wonderland. 

Dancer Elliot DeSchepper plays the lead role of Alice and says she was very excited to land the role 

"It's always fun to have a good role in a ballet like this," DeSchepper proudly says. 

One challenge she knew she would have to face in a lead role, however, was the amount of choreography 

"It's just a lot, the show is like an hour long and that's a lot of choreography, but I did it," DeSchepper says. 

DeSchepper and her fellow performers will take the stage on Saturday at 2pm and 7pm.  

Heeler says audiences coming to the show should be prepared to go on an adventure.  

"That's what Alice in Wonderland is all about is this crazy adventure and trying to decide at the end whether or not it's really happened or if it's a dream," Heeler explains. "So, I think if they come ready to have some fun and go on that adventure and just hang with all our different characters." 

The performance will last just over an hour and includes an intermission. Tickets are still available for purchase at <a href="https://jomotickets.com/events">JoMoTickets.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706112375967.jpeg" alt="The Dance Arts Performing Company is transporting audiences to the world of Alice in Wonderland this weekend at the historic Missouri Theatre/ Photo courtesy of the Dance Arts Center Facebook page" />
 <figcaption>The Dance Arts Performing Company is transporting audiences to the world of Alice in Wonderland this weekend at the historic Missouri Theatre/ Photo courtesy of the Dance Arts Center Facebook page</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post A local dance company will teleport audiences into the world of Alice in Wonderland this weekend at the Missouri Theatre in downtown St. Joseph. Dance Arts Center owner Marla Heeler says the performing company likes to put on performances people are familiar with, which is why she and her staff chose Alice in Wonderland "So many characters, so many colors, so much fun, and so we decided what the heck but it's always hard when you're doing a story from the ground up, even though Alice in Wonderland is very old it's been done numerous ways as cartoons, and even other ballet companies have done it as a story ballet," Heeler tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "But you always want to make it your own, so we just started working on it this summer." After several months of rehearsals, the Dance Arts Preforming Company is ready to transport audiences into the world of Wonderland. Dancer Elliot DeSchepper plays the lead role of Alice and says she was very excited to land the role "It's always fun to have a good role in a ballet like this," DeSchepper proudly says. One challenge she knew she would have to face in a lead role, however, was the amount of choreography "It's just a lot, the show is like an hour long and that's a lot of choreography, but I did it," DeSchepper says. DeSchepper and her fellow performers will take the stage on Saturday at 2pm and 7pm. Heeler says audiences coming to the show should be prepared to go on an adventure. "That's what Alice in Wonderland is all about is this crazy adventure and trying to decide at the end whether or not it's really happened or if it's a dream," Heeler explains. "So, I think if they come ready to have some fun and go on that adventure and just hang with all our different characters." The performance will last just over an hour and includes an intermission. Tickets are still available for purchase at <a href="https://jomotickets.com/events">JoMoTickets.com</a>.

Travel to Wonderland with the Dance Arts Center this weekend in St. Joseph

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden also changed parking spots and cut office budgets for four members removed from committee leadership

By RUDI KELLER,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/02/gop-infighting-election-year-politics-could-shape-2024-missouri-legislative-session/">Republican civil war</a>&nbsp;in the Missouri Senate reached a new crescendo of strife Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped four members of their committee chairs and declared he was acting against “a small group of swamp creatures.”

The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives of senior legislators and even relegated the targeted four to parking spots as far from the Missouri Capitol building as possible.

Rowden said he was forced to act after caucus members&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/tempers-flare-in-missouri-senate-during-gop-fight-over-initiative-petition-changes/">tied up the Senate</a>&nbsp;for 11 hours on Thursday in an unsuccessful attempt to force action on bills making it harder to pass an initiative petition.&nbsp;

“The beginning of the 2024 legislative session in the Missouri Senate has been nothing short of an embarrassment,” Rowden said at a news conference. “A chamber designed to be occupied by civil, principled statesmen and women, has been overtaken by a small group of swamp creatures who all too often remind me more of my children than my colleagues.”

Members of the Freedom Caucus responded in a news conference of their own, then took their complaints to the Senate floor. For almost four hours, they filibustered approval of the journal and complained about Rowden’s punitive measures.

Rowden, said Sen. Rick Brattn of Harrisonville, is “somebody that wants to go out and say that we’re bringing peace, yet wants to bring nothing but war.”

Both sides accused the other of using public attention on the fight to win votes in statewide primaries later this year. Three of the members who were stripped of chairmanships – Sens. Bill Eigel, Denny Hoskins and Andrew Koenig – are seeking statewide office, as is Rowden.

Rowden and Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican, are both running for secretary of state.

“The chaos caucus has chosen to use the Missouri Senate as a place to try and salvage their languishing statewide campaigns and intentionally destroy the institution in an effort to claim that the game is rigged against them,” Rowden said.

Hoskins, however, saw the action as a desperate attempt by Rowden to revive his campaign.

“Senator Rowden is using the same playbook that Joe Biden is using on President Trump on me to try and silence me and win and beat me in a statewide race by using his position of power to be punitive,” Hoskins said.

When the afternoon floor session ended, it did not silence either side.

Rowden held a second news conference of the day outside his office, but not before Eigel approached reporters to get his version told.

“It’s never been about policy for them,” Eigel said. “It’s been about individuals trying to preserve power at the expense of what we believe are the issues that Republicans sent us to Jefferson City for.

Rowden suggested every rule to propel debate forward could be invoked, including a rarely used motion to cut off filibusters.

“Everything is on the table,” Rowden said. “We are going to get this place working again.”

The committee changes Rowden announced are:

The Freedom Caucus includes six Republican senators — most of whom were part of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/08/15/missouri-senate-conservative-caucus-disbands-after-two-years-of-ugly-gop-infighting/">disbanded conservative caucus</a>&nbsp;that tied up floor action in 2021 and 2022. The other two – Sens. Jill Carter of Joplin and Nick Schroer of Defiance – did not lose any committee seats or their parking spots.

After the news conferences, Eigel held the Senate floor for much of the next four hours, questioning several of the members who appeared in support of Rowden.

When Eigel asked if it was policy differences that led to the new schism, Rowden said it was the Freedom Caucus tactics.

“What you did last week was aimed at undercutting the floor leader,” Rowden said.

The filibuster on Thursday was intended to force a committee referral of a bill making it harder to pass a constitutional amendment by initiative petition. When that failed, members of the Freedom Caucus filibustered a list of Gov. Mike Parson’s appointees and complained that very few bills of any kind were being referred to committees and that GOP priorities were being lost.

Rowden offered on Tuesday to take that issue off the table by referring every bill introduced so far in the session to a committee.

“I’m willing to take the bullet out of my gun, which is me having the power to say I’m going to refer or not refer,” Rowden said.

Eigel said it was too late for peacemaking, since the gun was already empty.

“You fired it when you fired four members from the chairmanship of their committees,” Eigel said. “You just fired the biggest bullet you had in your gun.”

Eigel asked state Sen. Rusty Black of Chillicothe about Rowden’s decision to strip chairmanships and whether it will benefit the Senate.

“Short term, you go through hell,” Black said. “In the end, you have to decide whether it was worth it or not.”

A privilege for senior members of the Senate is a parking spot in the Capitol basement. Eigel chuckled when he realized his parking spot had been reassigned.

“Oh no, they’ve done it now,” he said. “The swamp is going to win. They’ve taken our parking spots.”

While the 24 Republicans fought, the 10 Democrats in the chamber stayed mainly quiet. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence said the GOP fight created headlines that expose their weakness.

“The Republicans’ fighting is masking their failures, as they are failing to address the issues Missourians truly care about,” Rizzo said.

The state needs action on healthcare funding, education and childcare, Rizzo said.

“Or,” he said, “they can keep stumbling down the dead-end-road of personal attacks and partisan pandering.”&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706094967196.png" alt=" Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, begins a filibuster on the Missouri Senate floor Tuesday afternoon (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, begins a filibuster on the Missouri Senate floor Tuesday afternoon (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden also changed parking spots and cut office budgets for four members removed from committee leadership</h2>By RUDI KELLER,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/02/gop-infighting-election-year-politics-could-shape-2024-missouri-legislative-session/">Republican civil war</a>&nbsp;in the Missouri Senate reached a new crescendo of strife Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped four members of their committee chairs and declared he was acting against “a small group of swamp creatures.”The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives of senior legislators and even relegated the targeted four to parking spots as far from the Missouri Capitol building as possible.Rowden said he was forced to act after caucus members&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/18/tempers-flare-in-missouri-senate-during-gop-fight-over-initiative-petition-changes/">tied up the Senate</a>&nbsp;for 11 hours on Thursday in an unsuccessful attempt to force action on bills making it harder to pass an initiative petition.&nbsp;“The beginning of the 2024 legislative session in the Missouri Senate has been nothing short of an embarrassment,” Rowden said at a news conference. “A chamber designed to be occupied by civil, principled statesmen and women, has been overtaken by a small group of swamp creatures who all too often remind me more of my children than my colleagues.”Members of the Freedom Caucus responded in a news conference of their own, then took their complaints to the Senate floor. For almost four hours, they filibustered approval of the journal and complained about Rowden’s punitive measures.Rowden, said Sen. Rick Brattn of Harrisonville, is “somebody that wants to go out and say that we’re bringing peace, yet wants to bring nothing but war.”Both sides accused the other of using public attention on the fight to win votes in statewide primaries later this year. Three of the members who were stripped of chairmanships – Sens. Bill Eigel, Denny Hoskins and Andrew Koenig – are seeking statewide office, as is Rowden.Rowden and Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican, are both running for secretary of state.“The chaos caucus has chosen to use the Missouri Senate as a place to try and salvage their languishing statewide campaigns and intentionally destroy the institution in an effort to claim that the game is rigged against them,” Rowden said.Hoskins, however, saw the action as a desperate attempt by Rowden to revive his campaign.“Senator Rowden is using the same playbook that Joe Biden is using on President Trump on me to try and silence me and win and beat me in a statewide race by using his position of power to be punitive,” Hoskins said.When the afternoon floor session ended, it did not silence either side.Rowden held a second news conference of the day outside his office, but not before Eigel approached reporters to get his version told.“It’s never been about policy for them,” Eigel said. “It’s been about individuals trying to preserve power at the expense of what we believe are the issues that Republicans sent us to Jefferson City for.Rowden suggested every rule to propel debate forward could be invoked, including a rarely used motion to cut off filibusters.“Everything is on the table,” Rowden said. “We are going to get this place working again.”The committee changes Rowden announced are:<ul>
 <li>Hoskins lost a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and chairmanship of the Economic Development and Tax Policy Committee.</li><li>Eigel, a candidate for governor, was removed as chairman of the Veterans, Military Affairs and Pensions Committee.</li><li>Brattin was removed as chair of the Select Committee on the Protection of Missouri Assets from Foreign Adversaries and vice chairmanships of Veterans, Military Affairs and Pensions Committee and Education and Workforce Development.</li><li>Koenig, a candidate for state treasurer, was removed as chairman of the Education and Workforce Development Committee.</li>
 </ul>The Freedom Caucus includes six Republican senators — most of whom were part of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/08/15/missouri-senate-conservative-caucus-disbands-after-two-years-of-ugly-gop-infighting/">disbanded conservative caucus</a>&nbsp;that tied up floor action in 2021 and 2022. The other two – Sens. Jill Carter of Joplin and Nick Schroer of Defiance – did not lose any committee seats or their parking spots.After the news conferences, Eigel held the Senate floor for much of the next four hours, questioning several of the members who appeared in support of Rowden.When Eigel asked if it was policy differences that led to the new schism, Rowden said it was the Freedom Caucus tactics.“What you did last week was aimed at undercutting the floor leader,” Rowden said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706094900802.png" alt=" Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, speaks to reporters alongside members of the GOP caucus on Jan. 23, 2024 (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, speaks to reporters alongside members of the GOP caucus on Jan. 23, 2024 (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>The filibuster on Thursday was intended to force a committee referral of a bill making it harder to pass a constitutional amendment by initiative petition. When that failed, members of the Freedom Caucus filibustered a list of Gov. Mike Parson’s appointees and complained that very few bills of any kind were being referred to committees and that GOP priorities were being lost.Rowden offered on Tuesday to take that issue off the table by referring every bill introduced so far in the session to a committee.“I’m willing to take the bullet out of my gun, which is me having the power to say I’m going to refer or not refer,” Rowden said.Eigel said it was too late for peacemaking, since the gun was already empty.“You fired it when you fired four members from the chairmanship of their committees,” Eigel said. “You just fired the biggest bullet you had in your gun.”Eigel asked state Sen. Rusty Black of Chillicothe about Rowden’s decision to strip chairmanships and whether it will benefit the Senate.“Short term, you go through hell,” Black said. “In the end, you have to decide whether it was worth it or not.”A privilege for senior members of the Senate is a parking spot in the Capitol basement. Eigel chuckled when he realized his parking spot had been reassigned.“Oh no, they’ve done it now,” he said. “The swamp is going to win. They’ve taken our parking spots.”While the 24 Republicans fought, the 10 Democrats in the chamber stayed mainly quiet. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence said the GOP fight created headlines that expose their weakness.“The Republicans’ fighting is masking their failures, as they are failing to address the issues Missourians truly care about,” Rizzo said.The state needs action on healthcare funding, education and childcare, Rizzo said.“Or,” he said, “they can keep stumbling down the dead-end-road of personal attacks and partisan pandering.”&nbsp;

Missouri ‘Freedom Caucus’ leaders ousted from Senate chairmanships over stall tactics

The secretary of state criticized his fellow Republican over an audit accusing Ashcroft of withholding information, refusing to cooperate and likely breaking state law

An audit accusing his office of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://auditor.mo.gov/AuditReport/ViewReport?report=2024007&amp;token=8472923055">illegally withholding information</a>&nbsp;and failing to document withdrawal from a national elections clearinghouse is a “deep state” political attack, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told reporters&nbsp; Tuesday.

On Monday, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick issued an audit of Ashcroft’s office and gave his administration a “fair” rating, the second-lowest rating and a downgrade from a previous audit.&nbsp; The reasons, Fitzpatrick said, were that Ashcroft illegally withheld documentation of cybersecurity checks for local election authorities.

“The law clearly provides our audit staff with the authority to receive and review this information, and it’s disappointing the Secretary of State’s Office stood in the way of our efforts to perform a thorough analysis of how the new cyber security reviews have been implemented,” Fitzpatrick said in a news release. “Going forward I hope the office, and all governmental entities, will follow the law and respect the duty we have to provide taxpayers with a better understanding of how government is operating and that their tax dollars are being used efficiently.”

The audit also said Ashcroft “refused” to provide reports from the elections clearinghouse known as the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ericstates.org/">Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC</a>, which checks voter registration in several states.

At a news conference, Ashcroft accused Fitzpatrick of stepping outside his authority in seeking the cybersecurity information. Instead, Ashcroft said, Fitzpatrick is chasing headlines.

“These are political opinions under the guise of an audit report that are being put forth by an agency that doesn’t even understand the issues that they’re talking about,” Ashcroft said.

Both Ashcroft and Fitzpatrick are Republicans.&nbsp;

The audit comes as Ashcroft is trying to use his eight-year tenure in the secretary of state’s office as a springboard to the governorship. He is opposed in the GOP primary by Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City and state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring.

In addition to questioning Fitzpatrick’s motives for the audit’s statements, Ashcroft also suggested he doesn’t have control of his staff.

“It’s understandable why the people of this country and the people of Missouri can think that’s just the deep state when things like this happen,” Ashcroft said.

Asked to clarify what he meant, Ashcroft added: “I don’t know how much the state auditor actually had to do with this. This audit, reasonably, we could expect that this was done by bureaucrats in his office.”

A spokesman for the auditor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ashcroft’s accusations.&nbsp;

In the audit, Fitzpatrick pointed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/05/12/voter-id-bill-clears-missouri-legislature-despite-fierce-criticism-from-black-democrats/">to a 2022 elections bill</a>&nbsp;as the source of the requirement for a cyber security review by the secretary of state’s office or a firm specializing in cyber security reviews once every 2 years.

“Because the (secretary of state) refused to cooperate, audit staff were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to evaluate the steps taken by the (secretary of state) to comply with the new state law,” Fitzpatrick’s release about the audit stated.

Ashcroft, however, said his office signed non-disclosure agreements with local election authorities and could not legally release the information.

“We were quite happy to go before the courts, to go before a judge, which is what you’re supposed to do when you have a disagreement about the law,” Ashcroft said. “Their office did not want to do that.”

In addition, Ashcroft noted that the law did not take effect until after the period covered by the audit, the two fiscal years ending June 30, 2022.

In the section of the audit about ERIC, Fitzpatrick said Aschcroft’s office failed to evaluate the benefits of membership in the organization that helps identify duplicate registrations and deceased voters.&nbsp;

“The data shows during the five years the state was a member of ERIC, the (secretary of state) and local election authorities (LEAs) were provided information on over 770,000 potentially duplicate voter registration records and over 21,000 deceased voter registration records,” the audit news release stated. “Election administrators in Missouri’s largest election jurisdiction, St. Louis County, used ERIC reports to remove thousands of deceased voters from their voter rolls alone.”

Ashcroft, however, argued that the benefits of ERIC were outweighed by its partisan board and tilt. It wasn’t efficient for Missouri, he said, in part because only three of the eight neighboring states were members.

“It just wasn’t providing what it should,” Ashcrfoft said. “Frankly, it was a somewhat partisan organization. It’s not right to use taxpayer dollars for partisan purposes.”

Ashcroft said Fitzpatrick is making judgments about how the secretary of state’s office should operate without full knowledge.

“This isn’t about money disappearing,” Ashcroft said. “This isn’t about the books not adding up. This is a political judgment by the state auditor about something that he really doesn’t have expertise on about how Missouri should run its elections.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706043548784.png" alt=" Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft discusses an audit of his office that accuses him of not cooperating and violating state law in his elections division (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft discusses an audit of his office that accuses him of not cooperating and violating state law in his elections division (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The secretary of state criticized his fellow Republican over an audit accusing Ashcroft of withholding information, refusing to cooperate and likely breaking state law</h2>By RUDI KELLER,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>An audit accusing his office of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://auditor.mo.gov/AuditReport/ViewReport?report=2024007&amp;token=8472923055">illegally withholding information</a>&nbsp;and failing to document withdrawal from a national elections clearinghouse is a “deep state” political attack, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told reporters&nbsp; Tuesday.On Monday, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick issued an audit of Ashcroft’s office and gave his administration a “fair” rating, the second-lowest rating and a downgrade from a previous audit.&nbsp; The reasons, Fitzpatrick said, were that Ashcroft illegally withheld documentation of cybersecurity checks for local election authorities.“The law clearly provides our audit staff with the authority to receive and review this information, and it’s disappointing the Secretary of State’s Office stood in the way of our efforts to perform a thorough analysis of how the new cyber security reviews have been implemented,” Fitzpatrick said in a news release. “Going forward I hope the office, and all governmental entities, will follow the law and respect the duty we have to provide taxpayers with a better understanding of how government is operating and that their tax dollars are being used efficiently.”The audit also said Ashcroft “refused” to provide reports from the elections clearinghouse known as the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ericstates.org/">Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC</a>, which checks voter registration in several states.At a news conference, Ashcroft accused Fitzpatrick of stepping outside his authority in seeking the cybersecurity information. Instead, Ashcroft said, Fitzpatrick is chasing headlines.“These are political opinions under the guise of an audit report that are being put forth by an agency that doesn’t even understand the issues that they’re talking about,” Ashcroft said.Both Ashcroft and Fitzpatrick are Republicans.&nbsp;The audit comes as Ashcroft is trying to use his eight-year tenure in the secretary of state’s office as a springboard to the governorship. He is opposed in the GOP primary by Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City and state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring.In addition to questioning Fitzpatrick’s motives for the audit’s statements, Ashcroft also suggested he doesn’t have control of his staff.“It’s understandable why the people of this country and the people of Missouri can think that’s just the deep state when things like this happen,” Ashcroft said.Asked to clarify what he meant, Ashcroft added: “I don’t know how much the state auditor actually had to do with this. This audit, reasonably, we could expect that this was done by bureaucrats in his office.”A spokesman for the auditor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ashcroft’s accusations.&nbsp;In the audit, Fitzpatrick pointed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/05/12/voter-id-bill-clears-missouri-legislature-despite-fierce-criticism-from-black-democrats/">to a 2022 elections bill</a>&nbsp;as the source of the requirement for a cyber security review by the secretary of state’s office or a firm specializing in cyber security reviews once every 2 years.“Because the (secretary of state) refused to cooperate, audit staff were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to evaluate the steps taken by the (secretary of state) to comply with the new state law,” Fitzpatrick’s release about the audit stated.Ashcroft, however, said his office signed non-disclosure agreements with local election authorities and could not legally release the information.“We were quite happy to go before the courts, to go before a judge, which is what you’re supposed to do when you have a disagreement about the law,” Ashcroft said. “Their office did not want to do that.”In addition, Ashcroft noted that the law did not take effect until after the period covered by the audit, the two fiscal years ending June 30, 2022.In the section of the audit about ERIC, Fitzpatrick said Aschcroft’s office failed to evaluate the benefits of membership in the organization that helps identify duplicate registrations and deceased voters.&nbsp;“The data shows during the five years the state was a member of ERIC, the (secretary of state) and local election authorities (LEAs) were provided information on over 770,000 potentially duplicate voter registration records and over 21,000 deceased voter registration records,” the audit news release stated. “Election administrators in Missouri’s largest election jurisdiction, St. Louis County, used ERIC reports to remove thousands of deceased voters from their voter rolls alone.”Ashcroft, however, argued that the benefits of ERIC were outweighed by its partisan board and tilt. It wasn’t efficient for Missouri, he said, in part because only three of the eight neighboring states were members.“It just wasn’t providing what it should,” Ashcrfoft said. “Frankly, it was a somewhat partisan organization. It’s not right to use taxpayer dollars for partisan purposes.”Ashcroft said Fitzpatrick is making judgments about how the secretary of state’s office should operate without full knowledge.“This isn’t about money disappearing,” Ashcroft said. “This isn’t about the books not adding up. This is a political judgment by the state auditor about something that he really doesn’t have expertise on about how Missouri should run its elections.”

Jay Ashcroft accuses Mo. auditor of political attack over criticism in new report

The Buchanan County Sheriff's Department is reporting a new scam affecting residents in the county 

Sheriff Bill Puett says residents have reported the scam using the name of two officers 

"One who is currently a member, one who was a former member, and they're threatening them that if they do not provide them either money through gift cards or going to this FDIC cash website, which is a fake website, that they'll be arrested," Puett explains to KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.  

Puett says the scammers are also threatening citizens that if they come to the Sheriff's office to verify the information they will be arrested and placed in jail. 

Puett advises residents this is a scam, and his department would not contact people on the phone for such a thing, and if you do get these calls to report it to his office.  

Puett says whether a scammer contacts you by phone or online, some basic tips apply to help you protect yourself 

"Don't give anybody your personal information, don't engage with them on the phone, you know some of the best ways to do it is just hang up," Puett points out. "But don't enter personal information into things that you haven't inquired, you haven't started, somebody sends you information, there's no prince out there that's going to give you $17 million if you give them your personal information." 

Scams have evolved throughout the years. Puett says things have gone from a Nigerian prince offering money to scams that prey on fear and emotion.  

"We've seen scams where it's somebody that's sick or injured, we've seen scams where they use the IRS, they use a variety of things, we've had somewhere they call and say hey your loved one is in jail and they've done some horrific crime," Puett says. 

Puett says if you are contacted by a con artist attempting to get information or money from you to contact his office and report it. 

By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post The Buchanan County Sheriff's Department is reporting a new scam affecting residents in the county Sheriff Bill Puett says residents have reported the scam using the name of two officers "One who is currently a member, one who was a former member, and they're threatening them that if they do not provide them either money through gift cards or going to this FDIC cash website, which is a fake website, that they'll be arrested," Puett explains to KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. Puett says the scammers are also threatening citizens that if they come to the Sheriff's office to verify the information they will be arrested and placed in jail. Puett advises residents this is a scam, and his department would not contact people on the phone for such a thing, and if you do get these calls to report it to his office. Puett says whether a scammer contacts you by phone or online, some basic tips apply to help you protect yourself "Don't give anybody your personal information, don't engage with them on the phone, you know some of the best ways to do it is just hang up," Puett points out. "But don't enter personal information into things that you haven't inquired, you haven't started, somebody sends you information, there's no prince out there that's going to give you $17 million if you give them your personal information." Scams have evolved throughout the years. Puett says things have gone from a Nigerian prince offering money to scams that prey on fear and emotion. "We've seen scams where it's somebody that's sick or injured, we've seen scams where they use the IRS, they use a variety of things, we've had somewhere they call and say hey your loved one is in jail and they've done some horrific crime," Puett says. Puett says if you are contacted by a con artist attempting to get information or money from you to contact his office and report it.

New scam pops up in Buchanan County: BEWARE

United Way of Greater St. Joseph officials hope
to help parents better discipline their children as well as prepare them for
school.

The United Way has launched a program called
<a href="https://www.stjosephunitedway.org/success-6-parentsprimary-caregivers">Success by 6</a>.

United Way Director of Community Investment, Jodi
Flurry, says a program entitled, “Raising Children with Conscious Discipline,”
will hold three monthly sessions at the Wyatt Park Christian Fellowship Hall
beginning this evening.

“It’s geared toward equipping parents and care
givers with skills to help them support their kiddo,” Flurry tells host Barry
Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Think back, God bless my child, I have a good kid, but,
you know, he would have meltdowns or he would have tantrums. And sometimes it’s
like, I don’t know what to do. And these are sessions to help parents or care
givers better navigate that to support their kid.”

The first session is called:&nbsp; Reclaim Your Power:&nbsp; How Choices Build Self-Control and
Self-Esteem. The sessions begin at 6:30, beginning tonight. Two more sessions
will be held, one in February and one in March. Those sessions are entitled, “From
Chaos to Calm:&nbsp; Turning Resistance into
Cooperation” and “If I Could Only Find the Right Consequence:&nbsp; Secrets and Myths about Effective
Consequences.”

The St. Joseph School District will offer United
Way KinderClub in all elementary buildings beginning Thursday. The club
prepares children for kindergarten, which Flurry calls fundamental to success
entering school.

“It is learning how to function in a classroom.
It’s learning how to follow rules, classroom expectations. It might be circle
time. So, this is how we sit in a circle and you keep your hands to yourself.&nbsp; Or, this is how we do this function,” Flurry
says. “So much of it is social, emotional side of being in a classroom, being
with other children, interacting with them.”

United Way KinderClub is designed to help
children who will be in kindergarten during the 2024-25 school year. Sessions
are free and will be held at all St. Joseph elementary schools. Sessions will
be led by St. Joseph School District staff.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706026031453.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostUnited Way of Greater St. Joseph officials hope
to help parents better discipline their children as well as prepare them for
school.The United Way has launched a program called
<a href="https://www.stjosephunitedway.org/success-6-parentsprimary-caregivers">Success by 6</a>.United Way Director of Community Investment, Jodi
Flurry, says a program entitled, “Raising Children with Conscious Discipline,”
will hold three monthly sessions at the Wyatt Park Christian Fellowship Hall
beginning this evening.“It’s geared toward equipping parents and care
givers with skills to help them support their kiddo,” Flurry tells host Barry
Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Think back, God bless my child, I have a good kid, but,
you know, he would have meltdowns or he would have tantrums. And sometimes it’s
like, I don’t know what to do. And these are sessions to help parents or care
givers better navigate that to support their kid.”The first session is called:&nbsp; Reclaim Your Power:&nbsp; How Choices Build Self-Control and
Self-Esteem. The sessions begin at 6:30, beginning tonight. Two more sessions
will be held, one in February and one in March. Those sessions are entitled, “From
Chaos to Calm:&nbsp; Turning Resistance into
Cooperation” and “If I Could Only Find the Right Consequence:&nbsp; Secrets and Myths about Effective
Consequences.”The St. Joseph School District will offer United
Way KinderClub in all elementary buildings beginning Thursday. The club
prepares children for kindergarten, which Flurry calls fundamental to success
entering school.“It is learning how to function in a classroom.
It’s learning how to follow rules, classroom expectations. It might be circle
time. So, this is how we sit in a circle and you keep your hands to yourself.&nbsp; Or, this is how we do this function,” Flurry
says. “So much of it is social, emotional side of being in a classroom, being
with other children, interacting with them.”United Way KinderClub is designed to help
children who will be in kindergarten during the 2024-25 school year. Sessions
are free and will be held at all St. Joseph elementary schools. Sessions will
be led by St. Joseph School District staff.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

United Way working to help St. Joseph parents, children entering school

Widespread rain and freezing rain is falling throughout the
area, prompting widespread school closings, including St. Joseph and Savannah public schools. St. Joseph Catholic schools and St. Joseph Christian School have also closed today.

The National Weather Service has issued a weather advisory for
the Midland Empire until noon today with freezing rain and freezing drizzle expected.
A glaze of ice is expected. NWS advises drivers to slow down and use caution
while traveling.

Rain or freezing rain this morning will change to rain later
today with a high of 37. Little or no ice accumulation is expected.

There is a chance of rain or freezing rain overnight with a
low of 34.

Click <a href="https://www.680kfeq.com/closing/#!/">HERE</a> for a full list of closings.

This article has been updated since first published.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostWidespread rain and freezing rain is falling throughout the
area, prompting widespread school closings, including St. Joseph and Savannah public schools. St. Joseph Catholic schools and St. Joseph Christian School have also closed today.The National Weather Service has issued a weather advisory for
the Midland Empire until noon today with freezing rain and freezing drizzle expected.
A glaze of ice is expected. NWS advises drivers to slow down and use caution
while traveling.Rain or freezing rain this morning will change to rain later
today with a high of 37. Little or no ice accumulation is expected.There is a chance of rain or freezing rain overnight with a
low of 34.Rain likely tomorrow with a high of 39.Click <a href="https://www.680kfeq.com/closing/#!/">HERE</a> for a full list of closings.This article has been updated since first published.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

NWS issues weather advisory for St. Joseph area, schools closing

Courts have been skeptical of similar laws around the country, deeming many of the proposed restrictions unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment

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

Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation this year requiring pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users. Proponents say the goal is to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online.&nbsp;

However, civil liberties advocates are raising red flags, arguing that the purveyors of adult entertainment content want to prevent minors from viewing age-restricted content while still respecting the rights and privacy of adult consumers who wish to view such types of materials.&nbsp;

A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1426&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">trio</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1855&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">of</a>&nbsp;nearly-identical&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1993&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">bills</a>&nbsp;have been proposed by Republican state Reps. Brad Banderman of St. Clair, Sherri Gallick of Belton and Mike McGirl of Petosi targeting adult websites like Pornhub, YouPorn, xHamster, XVideos and others.

Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/bts_web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=732454">Doug Beck of Affton introduced age verification legislation</a>&nbsp;specifically dealing with online adult dating platforms. Originally, Beck filed an age verification bill targeting pornographic material, similar to the House proposals, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=48">withdrew it</a>, citing errors in the drafting process, according to a spokesperson for the Missouri Senate Democratic Caucus.

A similar bill was proposed during the 2023 legislative session by Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville. He introduced the same bill again this year, targeting age verification through a different measure: regulating internet service providers.

Brattin’s approach to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vljbFtkHJcJfRb1-FMAteU362gmaHXOG4LYvMkl5R08/edit#:~:text=service%20providers%20(I%E2%80%A6%E2%80%9D-,https%3A//www.senate.mo.gov/24info/pdf%2Dbill/intro/SB1084.pdf,-11">restricting underage access</a>&nbsp;would require an opt-in or opt-out for internet subscribers to enable top-level filters of sites that are viewed as “obscene.”&nbsp;

“Whether material is legally ‘obscene’ or not is a determination for a jury that has considered evidence, not a machine applying blunt detection systems and making its own value judgments,” said David Greene, senior staff attorney and civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “No tool exists that makes the legal determination the bill requires. Rather, the tools and the law would target a wide range of materials, often, but not exclusively, dealing with sexual content. Many of the results would be nonsensical filtering decisions.”&nbsp;

The House age verification bills are also concerning to critics.

“This is a child protection bill,” Gallick said. “I care deeply about children, and raising a child should be the single most important thing that anyone does.”

“I was asked to consider legislation to protect children from pornography,” adds Gallick&nbsp;

Corey Silverstein, a criminal defense and First Amendment attorney from Michigan, said Missouri’s age verification bills could be damaging to civil liberties.

“Protecting children from viewing certain types of material is certainly an important issue that deserves more dialogue, debate and potential legal solutions,” Silverstein said. “However, ignoring [all] established case law and the First Amendment is not the way to do it.”

Silverstein specifically pointed to Gallick’s bill, which would establish a private right to action against adult entertainment websites that do not comply with age verification.

Gallick’s bill “continues the dangerous trend started by the state of Louisiana, where people’s privacy and free speech are being completely ignored,” said Silverstein, who is also a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and specializes in representing adult industry clients.

<a target="_blank" href="https://lailluminator.com/2023/01/11/age-verification-law-for-adult-websites-comes-with-privacy-technical-concerns/">Louisiana adopted laws requiring government identification</a>&nbsp;or some sort of age verification to access adult content online, and this past year, implemented a private right to action for anyone in the state to sue platforms that don’t adopt an age-check solution provided by the state government or a private vendor,<a target="_blank" href="https://avn.com/business/articles/legal/op-ed-the-contention-between-the-av-and-online-adult-industries-921631.html">&nbsp;like Yoti and Incode</a>.

Utah, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, Texas, Mississippi and North Carolina also implemented similar laws in 2023.&nbsp;

Legally produced and consensual pornographic content produced for U.S. consumers is granted protection under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this in<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ashcroft-v-american-civil-liberties-union/">&nbsp;the landmark&nbsp; ruling in&nbsp;Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union&nbsp;in 2004</a>. The case involved the Child Online Protection Act, passed in 1998 by Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, which sought to restrict access by minors to any material on the internet defined as harmful.

The court found<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ashcroft-v-free-speech-coalition/">&nbsp;restrictions on material that was&nbsp;ostensibly “harmful to minors”</a>&nbsp;are an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.&nbsp;

In 1996, the high court found age segregation on the internet to be unconstitutional in<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/reno-v-american-civil-liberties-union/">&nbsp;another landmark ruling in&nbsp;Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union</a>.&nbsp;

“The fact is that the U.S. Supreme Court found that these types of laws were too restrictive in (their) attempts to regulate harmful material on the internet and violated the First Amendment,” Silverstein said, “and now these individual states are trying to do the same thing.”&nbsp;

Gallick expressed no concern about criticism that her legislation posed a threat to civil liberties, saying that “protecting children is what is important to me.”

The Free Speech Coalition, a national trade organization that represents the adult entertainment industry, said many proponents of age verification laws dismiss the input of the industry. Alison Boden, the executive director of the coalition, said the Missouri bills “will do very little to keep minors from accessing adult content.”

“By targeting adult sites specifically,” she said, “they paradoxically encourage the growth of adult content on social media, making it more likely that kids are going to stumble upon it unintentionally.”

Boden added: “We would love to speak to legislators in Missouri…about approaches that would be effective at keeping children from seeing inappropriate content while respecting the privacy and safety of consumers.”

Gallick said she is “always willing to listen to anyone, but the internet is everywhere. We need an age-based verification system to protect our youth….We are shaping their behaviors, their lifestyles and their realities by what they see on the internet.”

Age verification approaches promoted by the adult entertainment industry include device-based verification. In a blog post published by Pornhub in the summer of 2023, the adult site said relying on IP addresses and unique hash data, sans a government identification or image, is a much more secure approach.&nbsp;

“This dramatically reduces privacy risks and creates a very simple process for regulators to enforce,” Pornhub<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pornhub.com/blog/age-verification-in-the-news">&nbsp;said</a>.

In Texas, an age verification law was passed in 2023 that required adult websites to publish claims of porn addiction in addition to verifying the age of each user who visits a porn website from a local IP address.

The Free Speech Coalition and the parent companies of the largest adult platforms in the world, including Pornhub, which is now owned by the Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners through their Aylo Holdings property, filed a federal lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra of the Western District of Texas in August. deemed the law unconstitutional. His ruling has been appealed.

In Virginia, an age-verification law has largely fallen flat. Pornhub opted to block users from accessing their platforms altogether in Virginia in protest of the new law, and residents can still easily access adult content through a plethora of unrestricted, lesser-known websites.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586544759960.png" alt="&nbsp;A trio of bills in the House would require pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;A trio of bills in the House would require pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Courts have been skeptical of similar laws around the country, deeming many of the proposed restrictions unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/michaelmcgradyjr/">MICHAEL MCGRADY JR.</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation this year requiring pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users. Proponents say the goal is to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online.&nbsp;However, civil liberties advocates are raising red flags, arguing that the purveyors of adult entertainment content want to prevent minors from viewing age-restricted content while still respecting the rights and privacy of adult consumers who wish to view such types of materials.&nbsp;A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1426&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">trio</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1855&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">of</a>&nbsp;nearly-identical&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1993&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">bills</a>&nbsp;have been proposed by Republican state Reps. Brad Banderman of St. Clair, Sherri Gallick of Belton and Mike McGirl of Petosi targeting adult websites like Pornhub, YouPorn, xHamster, XVideos and others.Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/bts_web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=732454">Doug Beck of Affton introduced age verification legislation</a>&nbsp;specifically dealing with online adult dating platforms. Originally, Beck filed an age verification bill targeting pornographic material, similar to the House proposals, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=48">withdrew it</a>, citing errors in the drafting process, according to a spokesperson for the Missouri Senate Democratic Caucus.A similar bill was proposed during the 2023 legislative session by Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville. He introduced the same bill again this year, targeting age verification through a different measure: regulating internet service providers.Brattin’s approach to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vljbFtkHJcJfRb1-FMAteU362gmaHXOG4LYvMkl5R08/edit#:~:text=service%20providers%20(I%E2%80%A6%E2%80%9D-,https%3A//www.senate.mo.gov/24info/pdf%2Dbill/intro/SB1084.pdf,-11">restricting underage access</a>&nbsp;would require an opt-in or opt-out for internet subscribers to enable top-level filters of sites that are viewed as “obscene.”&nbsp;“Whether material is legally ‘obscene’ or not is a determination for a jury that has considered evidence, not a machine applying blunt detection systems and making its own value judgments,” said David Greene, senior staff attorney and civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “No tool exists that makes the legal determination the bill requires. Rather, the tools and the law would target a wide range of materials, often, but not exclusively, dealing with sexual content. Many of the results would be nonsensical filtering decisions.”&nbsp;The House age verification bills are also concerning to critics.“This is a child protection bill,” Gallick said. “I care deeply about children, and raising a child should be the single most important thing that anyone does.”“I was asked to consider legislation to protect children from pornography,” adds Gallick&nbsp;Corey Silverstein, a criminal defense and First Amendment attorney from Michigan, said Missouri’s age verification bills could be damaging to civil liberties.“Protecting children from viewing certain types of material is certainly an important issue that deserves more dialogue, debate and potential legal solutions,” Silverstein said. “However, ignoring [all] established case law and the First Amendment is not the way to do it.”Silverstein specifically pointed to Gallick’s bill, which would establish a private right to action against adult entertainment websites that do not comply with age verification.Gallick’s bill “continues the dangerous trend started by the state of Louisiana, where people’s privacy and free speech are being completely ignored,” said Silverstein, who is also a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and specializes in representing adult industry clients.<a target="_blank" href="https://lailluminator.com/2023/01/11/age-verification-law-for-adult-websites-comes-with-privacy-technical-concerns/">Louisiana adopted laws requiring government identification</a>&nbsp;or some sort of age verification to access adult content online, and this past year, implemented a private right to action for anyone in the state to sue platforms that don’t adopt an age-check solution provided by the state government or a private vendor,<a target="_blank" href="https://avn.com/business/articles/legal/op-ed-the-contention-between-the-av-and-online-adult-industries-921631.html">&nbsp;like Yoti and Incode</a>.Utah, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, Texas, Mississippi and North Carolina also implemented similar laws in 2023.&nbsp;Legally produced and consensual pornographic content produced for U.S. consumers is granted protection under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this in<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ashcroft-v-american-civil-liberties-union/">&nbsp;the landmark&nbsp; ruling in&nbsp;Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union&nbsp;in 2004</a>. The case involved the Child Online Protection Act, passed in 1998 by Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, which sought to restrict access by minors to any material on the internet defined as harmful.The court found<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ashcroft-v-free-speech-coalition/">&nbsp;restrictions on material that was&nbsp;ostensibly “harmful to minors”</a>&nbsp;are an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.&nbsp;In 1996, the high court found age segregation on the internet to be unconstitutional in<a target="_blank" href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/reno-v-american-civil-liberties-union/">&nbsp;another landmark ruling in&nbsp;Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union</a>.&nbsp;“The fact is that the U.S. Supreme Court found that these types of laws were too restrictive in (their) attempts to regulate harmful material on the internet and violated the First Amendment,” Silverstein said, “and now these individual states are trying to do the same thing.”&nbsp;Gallick expressed no concern about criticism that her legislation posed a threat to civil liberties, saying that “protecting children is what is important to me.”The Free Speech Coalition, a national trade organization that represents the adult entertainment industry, said many proponents of age verification laws dismiss the input of the industry. Alison Boden, the executive director of the coalition, said the Missouri bills “will do very little to keep minors from accessing adult content.”“By targeting adult sites specifically,” she said, “they paradoxically encourage the growth of adult content on social media, making it more likely that kids are going to stumble upon it unintentionally.”Boden added: “We would love to speak to legislators in Missouri…about approaches that would be effective at keeping children from seeing inappropriate content while respecting the privacy and safety of consumers.”Gallick said she is “always willing to listen to anyone, but the internet is everywhere. We need an age-based verification system to protect our youth….We are shaping their behaviors, their lifestyles and their realities by what they see on the internet.”Age verification approaches promoted by the adult entertainment industry include device-based verification. In a blog post published by Pornhub in the summer of 2023, the adult site said relying on IP addresses and unique hash data, sans a government identification or image, is a much more secure approach.&nbsp;“This dramatically reduces privacy risks and creates a very simple process for regulators to enforce,” Pornhub<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pornhub.com/blog/age-verification-in-the-news">&nbsp;said</a>.In Texas, an age verification law was passed in 2023 that required adult websites to publish claims of porn addiction in addition to verifying the age of each user who visits a porn website from a local IP address.The Free Speech Coalition and the parent companies of the largest adult platforms in the world, including Pornhub, which is now owned by the Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners through their Aylo Holdings property, filed a federal lawsuit.U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra of the Western District of Texas in August. deemed the law unconstitutional. His ruling has been appealed.In Virginia, an age-verification law has largely fallen flat. Pornhub opted to block users from accessing their platforms altogether in Virginia in protest of the new law, and residents can still easily access adult content through a plethora of unrestricted, lesser-known websites.

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