All Eyes on Ashcroft

Senator Roy Blunt’s bombshell announcement that he won’t seek re-election continues to dominate the talk of Missouri politicos.

Yesterday brought even more possible Republican candidates to replace him…

Blunt Passes on Re-election

Senator Roy Blunt announced yesterday that he would not seek re-election.

The surprise jolted a wave of Missouri’s most prominent politicians to declare that they were going to talk to their families and prayerfully consider how they could best serve the state.

The Week Ahead

It should be a very full week in the building as the legislature tries to wrap up loose ends before next week’s Spring Break.

1. Changing “metro” definition.

2. Q in JC

3. LGBT by generation.

4. COVID MO death tally.

5. Masks burnings.

6. Provel USA

Vescovo Packs Conservation

Speaker Rob Vescovo employed the powers of his office this week to add 5 Republicans to the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.

Ahead of Break

It was a relatively slow week in the legislature. Just one more week until Spring Break, traditionally considered the halfway point in the session.

We’ll see if the Senate pushes through some the bigger priorities teed up on the informal perfection calendar: the education reform bill, and bill to rein in local health boards.

Moon Takes Over Wash U Tax Bill

Sen. Mike Moon’s SB 451 would tax Washington University’s endowment and offset that tax revenue with cut in the state’s income tax.

Reed Misses Runoff

City Treasurer Tishaura Jones garnered the most votes in yesterday’s St. Louis City mayoral primary.She won 25,374 votes, followed by Alderwoman Cara Spencer’s 20,649 votes.Board President Lewis Reed came in third place with 17,162 votes and Andrew Jones ran fourth with just under 7,000 votes.

Shaul to Chair House Redistricting Committee

Speaker Rob Vescovo announced the establishment of the Special Committee on Redistricting.This committee will draft legislation to redraw the congressional districts in Missouri according to the new census data.

Hoskins: Give the Legislature Seats At the Table

In Tuesday’s Senate Small Business Committee, Chair Denny Hoskins will present two bills to give the legislature some voice in influential government bodies.

1. COVID hospitalizations plummet.

2. E-commerce pulling back?

3. What did Americans do during COVID? Started businesses!

4. Incarceration rates fall.

5. When will GenX finally take over?

6. Budget-friendly cities for dating.

7. Family trees.

Survey conducted by Remington Research Group on February 24 - 25. 1,051 likely 2022 General Election voters participated in the survey. MOE +/-3%.

Q3: In your opinion how would you rate the job that state government has done in distributing COVID vaccines across the state?

Excellent: 11%

Good: 25%

Average: 32%

Poor: 32%

House Passes ESA Legislation

In a contentious issue in which the Republican supermajority was divided, House leadership was able to cobble together the needed votes to pass Rep. Phil Christofanelli’s HB 349 creating “Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program.”

Buzz About Limbaugh

There’s some buzz around Chris Limbaugh.

Limbaugh was Prosecuting Attorney in Cape Girardeau before becoming Governor Mike Parson’s general counsel. He was recently appointed Associate Circuit Judge in Cole County. But the judgeship might just be a way station for Limbaugh.

Senate Pursues Big Education Bill

In the early morning, after hours of work, the Senate laid over their big education bill, leaving it on the Informal Calendar for another day.

House Tees Up ESA

Rep. Phil Christofanelli’s HB 349 has been placed on the House Perfection Calendar, signaling that the education bill could come up for debate this week on the House floor.

House to Tackle Unemployment Overpayments

In the House, it looks like bills relating to unemployment overpayments is on tap.They rolled up all their bills from committee (both Republican and Democrat alike) into Rep. J Eggleston’s HB 1083.

1. MO COVID map

2. Americans eyeing the end of COVID crisis. One place where there’s no partisan divide.

3. KC leads in reopening.

4. Crystal Ball starts MO Senate 2022 race with “Safe Republican” rating.

5. There’s some good reason for that…

6. WSJ reports on immigration policy leaving jobs unfilled.

7. Free market solution to expand the labor pool.

8. Credit card debt curing COVID.

9. Crazy Texas temps

10. Most hated business buzzwords.

Overloaded Pub Defs

Post-Dispatch reports: A judge on Thursday said it was unconstitutional for Missouri to fail to provide lawyers for criminal defendants who can't afford them, leaving them on waiting lists for months or years. The waiting lists started in 2017, when overloaded public defenders couldn't take on any more clients. By November 2019, there were more than 5,800 felony defendants on the lists with cases pending in 29 counties

R Rate Below 1

The COVID crisis is waning.Among the many great indicators that the worst is behind us, Dr. Randall Williams mentioned briefing that the statewide rate of transmission (the R rate) is now below 1.