News

Nixon Proposal Would Boost Oversight of Dog Breeders

Governor Jay Nixon proposed Wednesday to add $1.1 million to the state budget to hire 10 more inspectors, investigators, veterinarians and office staff for the Department of Agriculture program that regulates dog-breeding facilities. Nixon's office says the state currently spends about $600,000 a year on such efforts. The Senate Appropriations Committee considered the agriculture budget Wednesday but took no action on Nixon's proposal.

The Missouri House has given first-round approval to a Republican-proposed map that would redraw the state’s congressional districts, reducing them from nine to eight.

It eliminates the St. Louis-area district currently held by Democrat Russ Carnahan.

Congressional budget talks appear headed in a positive direction today, but conservative spending cuts remain obstacles as Congress seeks to avert a government shutdown this weekend.

Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt continued to heap blame on Democrats for not passing a budget last year.

"They could have resolved them any way they wanted to last year,” Blunt said. “So their negotiating position is dramatically impacted by their unwillingness to deal with these issues when they were totally in control of everything."

A yearly effort by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to clean up discarded tires is underway in the Metro East.

Front loaders were hard at work at a city-owned lot in East St. Louis Wednesday afternoon dropping tires into tractor trailers. The contractors, which will haul away the old tires to be reused, are funded with a fee that customers pay on new tires.

Workers exposed to the metal manganese in welding fumes may be at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s-like symptoms, including loss of motor control and tremors.

That’s the finding of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, who compared brain scans of apparently healthy welders to those of Parkinson’s patients.