MOScout Daily Update: Crime and COVID Dominate Headlines - Sheet Metalers Give $100K to House Dems - Cafe Monet RFP and more...
The weekend’s headlines were crime and COVID… Team Parson is pushing crime, and Team Galloway is pushing COVID…
Police Shot in STL
Post-Dispatch reports: A police officer shot in the head as a man barricaded himself inside a home on Saturday has died at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, police confirmed on Sunday. Tamarris L. Bohannon, 29, had been with the department for nearly four years. A second officer who was shot in the leg has been released from the hospital. The officers were shot when responding to a shooting call in the Tower Grove South neighborhood at around 6 p.m. A man barricaded himself inside a home in the 3700 block of Hartford Street and fired at police…
Mayor Lyda Krewson’s statement: "I am heartbroken over the line of duty death of Officer Tamarris L. Bohannon of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department… This is a horrific reminder of the dangers our brave men and women willingly face everyday to keep us safe. I ask that everyone please continue to keep Officer Bohannon, his loved ones, friends and colleagues, and the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in your thoughts and prayers. This is a terrible, senseless tragedy."
What It Means
This news reinforces Governor Mike Parson’s message that violent crime should be a top priority of the state. His special session continues on that subject, but it’s unclear what he’ll do after it ends to curtail crime.
· St. Louis City Public Safety Director Jimmy Edwards testified that the proliferation of guns is the number one cause of shootings.
COVID
The state’s COVID numbers continue to go in the wrong directions.
· Hospitalizations are now touching the 1,000 mark. It had been in the 500-600 range back in May and June.
· The positivity rate is over 12%.
· And the cases are spreading out across Missouri and hitting rural counties now.
One MOScouter makes a very interesting observation that it appears that college kids bringing it to some rural areas. The demographics of Nodaway County, which is now nearing 500 cases (a doubling within the last two weeks), show that the largest age group with cases is the 20-29 year-olds. The theory being that the return of students to Northwest Missouri State has driven the numbers.
Nicole Galloway’s statement: “Local health officials are making hard decisions based on data and science. Missouri is clearly backsliding. It didn’t have to be this way. Governor Parson’s recovery plan isn’t working. We urgently need a reset on our coronavirus strategy and the Parson administration must take action now to halt the spread of the virus, avoid future restrictions on businesses, and further economic harm.”
· Parson, meanwhile, has cut this COVID briefings down to one a week as the pivot to crime continues.
Sheet Metal Workers Give $100K to House Dems
In the large contributions (below) Sheet Metal workers union gives $100K to the House Dems’ campaign committee. While Dems will once again face a financial disadvantage against their Republican counterparts, this show at least two interesting points…
· Dems sense an opportunity to gain seats, particularly in swing suburban districts and are convincing their key constituencies to ante up.
· Many labor unions have weathered the economy contraction quite well. (And others, like service employees are taking the brunt of the recession).
Chez Monet Contract Open for Bidding
The contract to run the cafeteria in the basement of the capitol building is up for bid.
The Missouri State Capitol Building is a state owned facility managed by the Office of Administration, Division of Facilities Management, Design & Construction. The Missouri State Capitol Building houses the Missouri General Assembly and offices for the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor, and various other administrative agencies. There are approximately seven hundred and sixty (760) full-time employees in the Missouri State Capitol Building. In addition, the Missouri State Capitol Building receives thousands of visitors throughout the year. The heaviest traffic period is January through May of each year during the legislative session and scheduled school group tours.
From the RFP, two interesting nuggets…
· To score the bids for the winning applicant, “food quality” is worth 10 points… out of a total of 200 points.
· Pre-COVID shutdown, the café pulled in revenues of $42,459 during the month of February 2020.
$5K+ Contributions
House Democratic Campaign Committee - $100,000 from Sheet Metal Workers Local No 36 Voluntary Political Fund.
Page PAC - $10,000 from St. Louis Association of Realtors Political Action Committee.
Lobbyists Registrations
Mark Francis Brady deleted Monte Nido & Affiliates.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Chris Koster and Chris Carter Sr.