MOScout Daily Update: House Schedule - Schmitt Eyes Lawsuits - Election Day - Graves Appt Up Again? - Keller Pays Pizzas and more....

Condolences

To Rep. Randy Peitzman and his family on the death of his son, Jacob Pietzman. 

See funeral arrangements here.  It’s likely the House will be not be in session Wednesday afternoon and Thursday as many members will attend the visitation and funeral services.

It’s possible the House might schedule an extra Friday session.  We’ll see.  That might occur if they’re interested in getting some House bills to the Senate this week instead of waiting until next week.

Municipal Elections

It’s Election Day across Missouri.  Here’s what to watch for tonight…

·         In St. Louis City and Kansas City, their earning taxes must be re-approved. This hasn’t been a problem in the past, but the stakes are so high, it’s important to watch.

·         In St. Louis the mayoral election will determine who succeeds Mayor Lyda Krewson.  There’s been very little policy differences articulated between the two candidates.  Whoever wins will have $500 million in federal funds to help implement their plans.

·         And all across communities there will be bond issues and tax increases on the ballot for funding schools most often, but some capital improvements, libraries and first responders as well.

Driving the Day

The expectation is that Senate Pro Tem Dave Schatz will return to the Todd Graves nomination soon after the Senate reconvenes.

Have the pro-Graves forces twisted arms over the weekend to change the calculus?  Or perhaps the senators who stood will decide that they made their point – protesting a purely political appointee to the Board of Curators – and will now sit to let the governor have his pick?

We’ll see…

Driving the Decade

Boston Dynamics unveiled a new robot… “with just one application in mind: moving boxes in warehouses… It has a square mobile base containing a set of wheels, a “perception mast” with cameras and other sensors, and a huge robotic arm with seven degrees of freedom and a suction pad array on the end that can grab and move boxes up to 23 kilograms (50 lbs) in weight... [It] can move up to 800 cases an hour, a through-put rate that’s comparable to that of a human employee. High-capacity batteries mean Stretch can operate for eight hours at a time before it needs recharging.”

Futurists will usually note in these articles how robots are remarkably content, rarely organizing for higher wages.

It’s articles like these that disturb me when folks trash talk higher education.  I roll my eyes at the current vogue that kids can learn a trade and expect to have a career.  People ask, “you think a robot is going to replace the auto mechanic?”  The answer is: without a doubt, yes.

Soft people skills and creative thinking will be the only competitive advantage humans have over robots. 

Schmitt Eyes Next Suit

Attorney General Eric Schmitt on social media declares: Missouri will not be implementing a Vaccine Passport. In fact, if the federal government seeks to act Missouri will immediately sue to block it.

We have a year and half more of Schmitt lawsuits to block Biden Administration actions – which I have no problem with, as long as the Missouri Values Lawsuit group of the AG’s Office doesn’t come at the expense of going after actual criminals and scammers in the state.

Daily Senate Watch

Tipsters report…

·         That Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler is starting to hire for her Senate campaign.

·         And it appears that John Brunner won’t be running after all...

Keller Pays Pizzas

One MOScouter sent in this fun bit….

When Senator Jason Bean got up to talk during Thursday’s filibuster, the most senior statehouse reporter present, Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent, turned to the handful of other reporters. Keller, who covered his first Missouri session in 1986, told his colleagues he would treat them to lunch pizza when Bean mentioned the “soybean cyst nematode.”

Bean, whose district includes the University of Missouri’s Fisher Delta Research Center, did not disappoint, mentioning the center’s leadership in fighting the absolute scourge of soybean growers.

Keller kept his word, paying for two Arris’ pizzas delivered for his colleagues outside the fourth-floor Senate gallery.

The episode illustrated the veteran reporter Keller’s knowledge of Missouri agriculture and prime filibuster content.

Though to be fair, Senator Bean, a fifth-generation Bootheel family farmer, probably talks about the little pests in his sleep.

Committees

We The People in Missouri was formed.  It’s a PAC.  Its treasurer is Austin Shaffer.

Lobbyists Registrations

Mark Bruns, Tony Dugger, Andy Foley, Jim Foley, and David McCracken added Missouri Cattlemens Association.

Jeff Danielson added American Clean Power Association.

Dena Ladd added Black Bear Fuels, LLC.  

$5K+ Contributions

House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc - $10,000 from Missouri United.

Missouri Democratic State Committee - $9,900 from Kevin Rowe.

American Property Casualty Insurance Association Political Account - $12,365 from Property Casualty Insurers Association of America Political Account.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Lane Roberts, John McCaherty, Mike Jones, Craig Overfelt, Cathy Brown, and Daniel Bogle.