MOScout Daily Update: Primary Book II: House Dems - Reopening 2.0? - STL Biz HB 1854 FreakOut and more...
MOScout Primary Book II: Dem House Primaries
Today’s installment of my August primary preview is a look at every contested Democratic primary in the House. Find it here.
Again, there are some holes, but for each race, it contains photos of candidates, a brief biography, links to their Facebook or campaign websites and their current fundraising numbers. As well as an early MOScout forecast of who will win.
Enjoy! And please send me any goofs or corrections you find as I will likely update it.
Driving the Day: Reopening 2.0?
Post-Dispatch reports that the governor’s 3PM briefing today may include plans for “Reopening 2.0.” See it here.
Gov. Mike Parson is signaling that he is likely to lift coronavirus restrictions set to expire Monday. In a briefing in the Capitol on Tuesday, Parson said he would reveal his decision in the coming days.
The state has surpassed the goals he laid out in early May, he said, when he began plotting a plan to jump-start the state’s pandemic-ravaged economy. Those goals included ramped up testing for COVID-19, adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, hospital capacity and data…
He declined to outline what he envisions for Phase 2 of the state’s reopening and whether businesses will continue to have to limit capacity. “We’ll get into a lot of detail on that Thursday,” Parson said…
STL Biz Community on HB1854
St. Louis Business Journal reports that: Cities around the St. Louis area are asking Gov. Mike Parson to veto legislation they say would ‘effectively end’ the use of special taxing districts to aid economic development. The state legislature last month passed House Bill 1854, kicking it to Parson, who has until July 14 to decide whether to sign, veto or allow the legislation to take effect without his signature… The so-called CIDs and TDDs are used widely to provide money to myriad development projects, as is contemplated for the soccer stadium in Downtown West… “They made them almost cost prohibitive,” said Pat Kelly, executive director of the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis, which represents local cities. “It pretty much eliminates the use of the tools,” he said of the bill….
Kids Coming Back to Mizzou
President Mun Choi announced that “following discussions with faculty leadership and the UM Board of Curators, we are announcing that MU and UM System employees will follow the existing schedule and will begin in-person classes on Monday, Aug. 24.”
What It Means
This is very good news for Higher Ed in Missouri. Already facing large budget cuts from the state, a shuttered campus would have meant large-scale student deferrals and would have been financially catastrophic.
Family Feud in Washington MO
Bill Miller Sr. is stepping down as the publisher of the Washington Missourian after being called out by his children for the publication of an inappropriate cartoon. Miller has been a fixture in Franklin County for decades.
Here is an excerpt of the daughters’ public condemnation on the matter:
As co-owners we believe it was racist and in no circumstance should have been published. We apologize to our readers and our staff for the obvious pain and offense it caused…
The editorial process has been that Bill Miller, Sr., our father and publisher, made the decision to publish this syndicated cartoon without our knowledge. We saw the cartoon at the same time as our readers and were just as outraged and horrified as our staff and community. Had we known we would have vehemently fought against publishing it. We believe this is the reason we were kept in the dark about its publication.
Even more painful for us is the fact that this hits close to home because this is our father. Many families have been having these painful discussions in the privacy of their homes. We unfortunately have to have this debate in a more public way…
eMailbag on Rex and MedEx
Regarding Rex Sinquefield opposing Medicaid expansion, someone is either asleep at the wheel or committing political suicide for the rest of his real agenda… He is just serving up on a silver platter the excuse Senate Democrats need to filibuster his real agenda for the next decade. Traditional public education supporters also have to be sitting back wondering what they ever did to get so lucky.
Lobbyist Registrations
Andy Blunt and Jay Reichard added Powerhouse Gaming.
Irl Scissors deleted Group XI Health, LLC.
$5K+ Contributions
Health Care Issues Committee of the Missouri Hospital Association - $250,000 from Hospital Services Group.
Accountability Matters PAC - $15,000 from Chipp Political Account.
Accountability Matters PAC - $25,000 from BUILD St. Louis PAC, Inc.
Page PAC - $10,000 from Ameren Missouri.
Page PAC - $7,000 from Michael Staenberg.
South County Forward - $10,000 from CHIPP Political Account.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Reps. Gretchen Bangert and Chuck Basye, Steven Tilley.