Tagged: Joplin tornado

Less than a dozen people remain unaccounted for after the tornado that hit Joplin last week.

Missouri Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Andrea Spillars said Tuesday that 10 people remain missing. Spillars says two new names were added to the missing list Monday, but four people were removed once officials learned they were alive.

It's not known how many people in all died in the May 22 storm.

Updated 5:07 p.m. to reflect that the cleanup work begins Wednesday.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says the federal government has agreed to pay a greater-than-usual share of the cleanup costs from a deadly tornado that struck Joplin.

He says the federal government will cover 90 percent of the expedited debris removal from areas that received extensive damage.

Ill. General Assembly Approves Budget

Schools are traditionally an area Illinois legislators have left untouched when they're looking to cut spending. But the budget the General Assembly approved Monday night gives 3 percent less to education for the coming year that begins in July.

Overall cuts are wide ranging and total $2.3 billion less than what Gov. Pat Quinn proposed  in Feb. That was enough for Republicans in the House, but the Senate GOP says it's still too rich.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon will shift $25 million from next year’s state budget to help pay for damage in Joplin caused by last weekend’s deadly tornado.

Nixon says he doesn’t yet know which areas of the FY 2012 budget he’ll use to help offset tornado expenses.

“What decisions we have to make because of that to trim the budget and to balance, we’ll make over the coming weeks…if the demands for dollars continue to move up, we clearly have other sources, other ways to get resources,” Nixon said.