MOScout Daily Update: Ashcroft Says No Mas - WSJ on Bullet-Proofing Schools and more…

Teenie-tiny update…

MOIndy: Ashcroft To Exit Politics

Missouri Independent reports that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft “says he’s finished with elective office.”

“I don’t have any intention to run for office again,” Ashcroft said in an interview with The Independent. “I somewhat jokingly, but also truthfully, say I’ve done my time. I think I should be paroled after eight years.”

His personal plans for the future, Ashcroft said, are not settled. Katie Ashcroft, his wife, will be chief of staff to incoming Lt. Gov. David Wasinger, so the family will remain in Jefferson City.

Katie Ashcroft, an attorney, will be chief of staff for Lt. Gov.-elect Dave Wasinger (photo submitted).

“Hopefully I will find something else that I will be able to make a difference and increase opportunity for other people to live their life to the fullest,” Ashcroft said. “I’ve had serious discussions but nothing concrete.”

Hardening School Scams

Wall Street Journal reports on “window-film” being promoted to secure schools.  Read it here.

·       The Wall Street Journal found that more than $100 million has been spent for the purchase and installation of window film at school districts nationwide. The film is attractive to school officials because it is a fraction of the cost of bulletproof glass.

·       New mandates in Utah and Texas require all public schools to install window-security measures, either window film or bulletproof glass. Tennessee now requires the application of window film at new or remodeled schools. The new requirements have spawned a proliferation of dealers in the high-profit window-film business.

·       “It’s the wild, wild West,” Joseph Hendry, a school-safety consultant, said of the window-film industry. Schools are vulnerable to misleading claims, he said, because “a lot of people in schools who are in charge of security have no security background.”

·       “All these schools are making plans around a ballistic film that doesn’t exist,” said Beale, who sells window film made by 3M.

Lobbyist Registrations

Matthew Amick added Biodiesel Coalition of Missouri.

Catalyst added Trust & Will.

Nexus Group deleted KC Recycle & Waste Solutions.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Paul Wieland, Lindell Shumake, Caitlin Whaley, and Joe Palm.

Thursday: Sen. Tracy McCreery, Todd Richardson, Ben Travlos, Jacob Scott, Allison Onder, and Stanley Cox.

Friday: Jay Barnes, and Tricia Derges.

Saturday: James Harris, LuAnn Madsen, Renee Hulshof, and Sue Entlicher.

Sunday: Julie Gibson.

MOScout Schedule

I’ll be back on Monday, December 30.