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‘Tea party’ is democracy at work
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — First, the independent Ross Perot contingent. Then, the liberal “netroots” mobilization. Now, the conservative “tea party” coalition. No doubt this is democracy at work, a quintessential part of America. Will the latest political phenomenon become a society-changing movement influencing elections and beyond? “We are people who understand something wrong is going on in this country, and we want to change it,” said Dan Garner, a married 40-year-old sales representative from nearby Carthage who is new to politics. Like so many others, he’s had enough. “The core thing is a loss of individual liberty.”
Many frustrated job seekers decide to call it quits
Many jobless people have reached a conclusion that captures the depth of the unemployment crisis: Looking for a job is a waste of time. The economy is growing. Yet it’s creating few jobs. That’s why in the past eight months, 1.8 million people without jobs left the labor market. Many had grown so frustrated by their failure to find a job that they threw up their hands and quit looking for one. And it’s why Barbara Bishop sat down at her kitchen table in suburban Atlanta last month and joined their ranks. Her decision came seven months after she quit a PR job that seemed about to be axed.
This year’s Super Bowl ads go goofy and frugal
NEW YORK — Game on! Super Bowl ads are returning to their goofy roots. Men march across a hillside without pants, toys joyride in Vegas and the miserly Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons” loses his fortune but finds happiness. It’s a sign that people are feeling better — or at least want to feel better — about the economy, experts say. The commercials Sunday on advertising’s most expensive showcase also aim to appeal to people’s focus on value.
House endorses drug tests for officials
Missouri’s elected officials and many people who receive cash welfare benefits would start undergoing drug screening under legislation given first-round House approval Thursday. Lawmakers, judges and other state officeholders would receive drug tests before taking office and every two years after that. The officials would pay for the tests, and refusing one would be considered an admission that they used a controlled substance without permission.
Missouri again leads U.S. in meth lab ‘incidents’
Even as communities and states keep coming up with ways to make it harder to manufacture methamphetamine, makers of the dangerous and addictive drug keep finding ways around them. Meth lab incidents around the nation rose 27 percent in 2009 to 8,611 from 6,757 in 2008, according to statistics from the El Paso Intelligence Center, a collaboration of government agencies that tracks drug movement.
Americans being held after taking children
Ten U.S. Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital Sunday after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti at a time of growing fears over possible child trafficking. The church members, most from Idaho, said they were trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. But officials said they lacked the proper documents when they were arrested Friday night in a bus along with earthquake survivors aged from 2 months to 12 years. The group said its “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission” was an effort to help abandoned children by taking them to an orphanage across the border in the Dominican Republic.
Conviction angers anti-abortion militants
WICHITA, Kan. — Those living on the virulent edge of the anti-abortion movement pinned their hopes on Scott Roeder. Testifying in his own defense, a remorseless and resolute Roeder insisted he had committed a justified act for the defense of unborn children by killing Dr. George Tiller, one of the country’s few physicians to offer late-term abortions. It was a bold legal strategy that, if successful, had the potential to radically alter the debate over abortion by reducing the price for committing such an act of violence.
Activist faces life term for murder
WICHITA, Kan. — Jurors swiftly convicted an abortion opponent of murder Friday for shooting to death one of the only doctors to offer late-term abortions in the U.S., a killing the gunman claimed was justified to save the lives of unborn children. The jury deliberated for just 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder for putting a gun to the forehead of Dr. George Tiller on May 31 and pulling the trigger.
High-speed rail in Missouri to get boost
Train travel for Missouri residents will get faster after the Obama administration announced grants of $1.1 billion for development of a high-speed rail line between Chicago and St. Louis and $31 million for upgrades between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. The funding announced Thursday is part of $8 billion in grants to aid 13 rail corridors in 31 states. Some Democrats say the rail-building program could rival the interstate highways begun in the Eisenhower era in terms of what it means for travel.
Obama: Jobs to be topmost priority
WASHINGTON — Declaring “I don’t quit,’” an embattled President Barack Obama vowed in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night to make job growth his topmost priority and urged a divided Congress to boost the still-ailing economy with a new burst of stimulus spending. Despite stinging setbacks, he said he would not abandon ambitious plans for longer-term fixes to health care, energy, education and more.
Missouri House rejects plan to change farmland taxes
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House voted Wednesday to reject a plan that would increase property taxes for farmers with the best land and cut taxes for those with less fertile ground. Property taxes on Missouri farms are based on the land’s “productive value,” which considers the potential earnings through agriculture.
Study: Girls' math anxiety may come from teachers
WASHINGTON — Little girls may learn to fear math from the women who are their earliest teachers. Despite gains in recent years, women still trail men in the United States in some areas of math achievement, and the question of why has provoked controversy. Now, a study of first- and second-graders suggests what may be part of the answer: Female elementary school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach.
Obama’s agenda: Yes, I get it
WASHINGTON — Seizing a chance to reconnect, President Barack Obama will use his first State of the Union address to try to persuade the people of a frustrated nation that he’s on their side, with a familiar sounding agenda recast to relate better to everyday struggles. In a time of deep economic insecurity, Obama will use this stage on Wednesday to offer hope after a grueling, grinding first year of his presidency, aides say.
Missouri seeks $750 million for schools
ST. LOUIS — Missouri education leaders unveiled a blueprint to dramatically overhaul the state’s supervision of its schools, heeding a call from the federal government to revamp everything from teacher training and pay to the subjects taught in class.
State of the State: Jobs top priority in poor economy
Gov. Jay Nixon declared job creation his top priority Wednesday while suggesting that Missouri’s public schools and colleges should share the burden for Missouri’s burgeoning budget woes. In a State of the State address that acknowledged continued job losses and declining tax revenues, Nixon said Missouri must provide greater incentives for biotechnology firms, job training and existing businesses that expand locally.
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