Missouri
updated
10:45 p.m.
Rick Rantorum (r) was about a half hour late for the scheduled 7:30 p.m. event. While we waited and as the crowd was still showing up a young student reporter talked with a representative of the old media on the press riser. Rick Santorum (r) made a few stops in Missouri today - from Hannibal, to Fulton, to Columbia, to Lee's Summit - all in a prelude to the beauty contest primary on February.....
Show Me Progress - 9:07 p.m. - 5 clicks 
Things that appear certain, based on polling: Mitt Romney is on his way to a relatively easy win in tomorrow's caucuses in Nevada. Romney is also in pretty decent shape in the two late February primaries in Arizona and Michigan, two states that (on paper) set up pretty well for him. Gingrich's national standing, at least in the Gallup tracking polls, has taken a mighty dive. What...
DailyKos (Missouri) - 5:46 p.m. - 8 clicks
Public Policy Polling [pdf] released even more results from from their survey of 582 Missouri voters interviewed between January 27th and 29th. The margin of error for the poll is 4.1%. Everyone, with the possible exception of a chunk of the Democratic Party base, loves Governor Jay Nixon (D): Nixon is aided by a positive job approval rating. 44% of voters approve and 31% disapprove. He enjoys.....
Show Me Progress - 3:21 p.m. - 9 clicks
From a comment at Youtube: Skynet went online at 2:14AM, January 31, 2012. Human decisions were removed from strategic defense. Thanks a lot, assholes. Then again, they might be using some of the same components as electronic voting machines. ...
Show Me Progress - 1:25 p.m.
As of this afternoon at least 26 senators had signed a leter urging the Susan B. Komen Foundation for the Cure to reverse its decision to stop grants to Planned Parenthood. And guess what? Claire McCaskill is one of the latest signatories. It's a pretty blunt letter - here's a sample of its message: It would be tragic if any woman - let alone thousands of women - lost access to these... ...
Show Me Progress - Thu 9:01 p.m. - 11 clicks
Public Policy Polling [pdf] released additional results from from their survey of 582 Missouri voters interviewed between January 27th and 29th. The margin of error for the poll is 4.1%. Interesting results: Q8 If the candidates for President this year were Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who would you vote for? Barack Obama - 45% Mitt Romney - 45% Undecided - 9% Why would....
Show Me Progress - Thu 6:26 p.m. - 11 clicks
Via our good friends at Fired Up!: @tonymess Tony Messenger Just asked state auditor Tom Schweich if he is still considering running for Republican nomination for governor. His answer: "No comment." 7 hours ago ...
Show Me Progress - Thu 5:49 p.m.
The statement below is taken from Washington Monthly blogger Ed Kilgore's commentary on the passage of right-to-work-for less legislation in Indiana: But as someone who grew up in the right-to-work Deep South, I can assure Indianans that from a psychological point of view they are about to enter a brave new world where an ever-neurotic desire to keep corporations happy always seems to trump any.....
Show Me Progress - Thu 9:40 a.m. - 9 clicks
A recent news article about Bill Randles, one of the not-so-fab GOPers vying for the gubernatorial nomination, reminds me of a story I heard somewhere about the Nicaraguan Dictator, Anastasio Somoza. According to the story, which works metaphorically though I can't swear to its accuracy, Somoza opposed letting a charity distribute shoes to barefoot Nicaraguan peasants - he claimed they maintained....
Show Me Progress - Wed 3:48 p.m.
Claire McCaskill Public Policy Polling (PDF). 1/27-29. MoE ±4.1%. Missouri voters ( 9/9-12 results ): Claire McCaskill (D-inc) : 43 (43) Sarah Steelman (R) : 43 (42) Undecided : 13 (16) Claire McCaskill (D-inc) : 43 (45) Todd Akin (R) : 43 (43) Undecided : 14 (12) Claire McCaskill (D-inc) : 43 (46) John Brunner (R) : 43 (37) Undecided : 13 (17) Missouri's first-ter...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Wed 2:48 p.m. - 15 clicks
The main numbers are... Claire McCaskill 43, Todd Akin 43 Claire McCaskill 43, John Brunner 43 Claire McCaskill 43, Sarah Steelman 43 Claire McCaskill's job approval? 42% approve, 49% disapprove. So, how did this come about? Let's go to the numbers. I personally prefer to combine the very/somewhat totals for Liberals and Conservatives on PPP polls to create a wider sample. The realities of....
Show Me Progress - Wed 1:28 p.m. - 10 clicks
I bet you all know what the Susan G. Komen for the Cure is - only one of the biggest breast cancer charities, the very avatar of "pink ribbon culture," not to mention a fund raising powerhouse that pulled in over $400 million in 2010. The organization has an active affiliate in St. Louis, which sponsors a yearly "race for the cure" along with other fundraising events. Today the organization... ...
Show Me Progress - Wed 12:48 p.m. - 10 clicks
Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission: C121046 02/01/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN Missourians for Matt Blunt PO Box 144 Jefferson City MO 65102 2/1/2012 $10,000.00 [emphasis added] Decisions, decisions. Do we leave the e-mail jokes for later in the campaign? ...
Show Me Progress - Wed 9:04 a.m. - 13 clicks
So ... that was kind of decisive for Mitt Romney, wasn't it? The bad news for Mittens, though, is that polling released today hints at the fact that he might not have it quite so easy in the near future. Three polls were released today, the Gallup national tracker, plus new polls in Ohio and Missouri (where PPP wisely polled both the caucuses and the primary because ... well ... Newt, y'kn...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Tue 7:29 p.m. - 17 clicks
You think? Introduced today: SB 722 Bars entities that invest in the energy sector in Iran from contracting with the state and political subdivisions Sponsor: Lamping LR Number: 5353S.03I Fiscal Note not available Committee: Last Action: 1/31/2012 - S First Read--SB 722-Lamping Journal Page: Title: Calendar Position: 97 Effective Date: August 28, 2012 Current Bill......
Show Me Progress - Tue 6:43 p.m.
Once again the forces of evil are trying to get themselves reelected. This time those who say they are defenders of our Constitution are stabbing that document in the heart by trying to deny people their right to vote. Like Jason Voorhees in some bad 'Friday the Thirteenth" movie, voter ID has been resurrected. No matter how often the courts and good and decent people shoot it with a... ...
Show Me Progress - Tue 2:03 p.m.
Yesterday, GOP Senator Roy Blunt's office sent out a press release touting his co-sponsorhip of legislation that would permit congress to authorize the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline: This project would create 20,000 American jobs, generate $20.9 billion in new private sector spending, reinforce America's energy security, and benefit 1,400 American job creators - all without costing... ...
Show Me Progress - Tue 11:20 a.m. - 12 clicks
Previously: The GOP approach to government finance vs. reality. (January 16, 2012) We had a lively exchange about HJR with Representative Chris Kelly (D) two weeks ago. As WillyK, the author of the original post, wrote in a comment: ...I have tried to present arguments to show that this is a wrong-headed approach to the state's financial problems, though I would gladly entertain your counter... ...
Show Me Progress - Mon 8:27 p.m.
With the Arch connector plan finalized, proponents of highway removal are wondering what happens next with the boulevard plan? Is the idea of removal of the I-70 barrier between downtown and the riverfront dead? Not really. The truth is, it's in about the same place it was three years ago when the idea first started getting serious attention. Linking highway removal with the changes to the Arc...
STL Rising - Mon 6:40 a.m.
With the depressed lanes in front of the Arch apparently a permanent fixture downtown as part of the City Arch River 2015 plan, does it make sense to look to the near northside and the elevated lanes of I-70 for removal and replacement with an at-grade boulevard? The elevated lanes create a major barrier between the Bottle District, the near north side, and the riverside areas including and...
STL Rising - Jan 27
If you're a weather fan (like we are), today might be the most impressive day on the STL calendar. For this date, January 25th, the spread between the record high temperature (75 degrees on 1/25/50) and the record low temperature (-7 degrees on 1/25/40) is an amazing 82 degrees! There are not a lot of places that can make that claim. On the downside, such wild temperature swings are what gi...
STL Rising - Jan 25
There are two major sustainability planning initiatives currently underway in our region. One is being led by East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the second by the City of St. Louis. What sorts of things would you like to see come from such plans, and would you be interested in participating in any public events to help shape the final product? More importantly, have you heard of either of...
STL Rising - Jan 25 - 2 clicks
Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet . Beyond the traditional lessons on reading, writing, and math, schools across America are now teaching their students about another crucially important subject that will build the foundation for the rest of their lives: nutrition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 17 percent...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 24
The Gigabit Challenge was an interesting contest for business plans that take advantage Google’s upcoming 1 gigabit fiber optic network in Kansas City. Unfortunately no local companies won, and the most of the prize money is flowing of town and … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Jan 21 - 13 clicks
Today the City Council approved a plan to pay for the Downtown Streetcar with a mix of taxes on sales, property, and parking lots adjacent to its route along Main Street. Downtown residents will likely vote in April to approve … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Jan 19
Last year Republicans in the Missouri state legislature, along with the help of a few turncoat Democrats and governor Jay Nixon's lack of effort to the contrary, passed a congressional map that eliminated Dem Russ Carnahan and locked in a 6-2 split in favor of Republicans. This diary examines what Republicans could do if they actually held the trifecta in Missouri and wanted to eliminate D...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 18 - 9 clicks
It's been maybe ten years since the Avalon Theater on South Kingshighway showed its last movie. Since that time, the building has gone through a slow decline until its demolition which started yesterday. In the meantime, the building and its ownership have played out a long struggle in the court system, the building division, the newspaper, and in plain sight, with many negative impacts visited ...
STL Rising - Jan 18
Pennsylvania: The new #1! In the summer of 2011, here on Sunday Kos, I attempted to quantify the level of interest we could expect in the 2012 elections for each state. The top three states were largely where you would expect: Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. But Montana cracked the top 10, as well. Clearly a lot has changed since July. The redistricting process has been completed in...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 15
Faith is a tricky subject with me. See I would like to think I am a deep thinker but in all reality I am a flit. I flit from thing to thing, learning a bit of this and that and not an expert of anything. Blame my ADHD, or blame my Gemini nature, or what. My personal view, my beliefs would damn me to hell by some..... ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 15
A. G. Sulzberger, son of New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, is doing some time in the provinces, working at the Times’ Midwest bureau here in Kansas City. Since before moving here he’s been freaked out about being vegetarian in … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Jan 14 - 2 clicks
Now that a lot of redistricting maps at all levels-- Congress, State Legislatures, local-- are complete I thought it would be a good idea for the redistricting community here to work on getting the official maps into the tool of our choice-- Dave's Redistricting App. I started a GDocs folder to collect these maps, but I'll put the links to the maps themselves in this diary as well, and upd...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 14
The abundance of surface parking lots in downtown St. Louis is the bane of most urbanists. But is it possible that because there was that huge surface parking lot right next to old Busch Stadium, that downtown St. Louis is the place for Cardinal baseball today? All the complicated financing aside, if it wasn't for the availability of a buildable downtown location for a new stadium, the Car...
STL Rising - Jan 6
Via the Twitterverse: @RoyBlunt Senator Roy Blunt For those noting that recess appts are common practice under past presidents, this is unprecedented bc the Senate is not currently in recess 5 hours ago So, if the Senate is actually in session was Senator Blunt (r) there? Isn't that the opposite of recess? Just asking. ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 4
Since Missouri political data was recently corrected for Dave's app, I revised my map that attempted to find the limits of a VRA-compliant Democratic gerrymander of Missouri. Because Missouri is not a VRA section 5 state and it is impossible to draw a majority black district in Saint Louis under the Gingles criteria requirements, it is my belief that minor retrogression is allowable and th...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 4 - 2 clicks
A calling to all Kossaks who reside in or around the Kansas City area! I have begun a new group to act as a rally point for all news or activity in the KC area. It is my hope that the page can become a hub for discussion, calls to action, volunteerism, GOTV, news, and everything else relating to our little corner in the middle of nowhere! The groups name is Kansas City Kossaks, so if you are i...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Jan 3
It looks like Truman Medical Center CEO and respected community leader John Bluford might finally be rectifying the incredibly embarrassing situation with a McDonald’s in the hospital lobby. In special piece in the KC Star, Bluford finally acknowledges the irony … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Dec 28
Missouri, just in time for Christmas, has hung signs on the highways commerating our involvement in the Civil War. Ain't that a nice gift for baby Jesus. NO WAR should be commerated much less the civil war! ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 25
Ready for a break from shopping, cooking, or family? Skip the congestion on the Plaza and check out the luminaries in Midtown. This evening the residents of the Coleman Highlands and Roanoke neighborhoods are lighting their annual luminarie display. Head … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Dec 24
Note: Tornado season goes from January 1 to December 31 As we approach the end of the year, it's hard not to look back and think about the hell most of the United States went through over the last 12 months. The immense southern drought and the resulting wildfires , the flooding in the Midwest , Hurricane Irene , and countless other disasters plagued the country (and the world) this yea...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 23
While single family home values continue to plummet and Downtown residential development has completely stopped, Midtown and the Country Club Plaza area are going strong. More than 600 new units in the pipeline, largely due to suburban developers turning their … Continue reading → ...
BlogKC - Dec 23
Some years ago, an effort began to illuminate the Gateway Arch. It took overcoming some red tape and raising funds to install the lighting and pay the bills, but the results are striking. Maybe it's time to try something similar with downtown's three bridges, the Poplar Street, the Eads, and the Dr. King? There would be more red tape to overcome, costs, and maintenance. But the results would...
STL Rising - Dec 22
The year 1811 was the 35th year of the United States. Most Americans lived along the east coast, but the newly opened Louisiana Purchase opened up new opportunities. Along the Mississippi, new towns and cities were being established, serviced by barge traffic moving down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and then onward to New Orleans and the sea. ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 16
Fargo will no longer be famous just for its wood chippers. I was surprised to learn this morning that a Predator drone was in use in the US not just to survey borders but also by civil authorities against American citizens in a situation reminiscent of Ruby Ridge and Waco. "A $154 million dollar MQ-9 Predator B drone was brought in from Grand Forks Air Force Base" where authorities wanted to...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 13
With Newt Gingrich, the not-Romney du jour in the Republican front ranks spouting off about English as an official language, it's time once again to have another look at this solution in search of a problem. I can haz xenophobia? As you might imagine, this is being fought on two fronts, state and federal, and the federal version, should ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 11
Many of you know that the Air Force Academy recently built an $80,000 worship center for pagan cadets. Needless to say, a lot of fundie heads are exploding--even more so when the academy's chaplain said that it wanted to accommodate all religions . Well, today, Tony Perkins had as his guest Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-MO04), who claimed that the government shouldn't accommodate non...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Dec 2
When I was growing up, my Dad was a university professor and we took advantage of what the university had to offer culturally in what was, at the time, only a medium-sized town. I am a different person than I might have been otherwise because of that. Ironically, I am now the university professor, but I don't take nearly as much advantage of what my institution has to offer the commu...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Nov 29
With the challenges facing Union Station, does it make sense to redevelop the property with an emphasis on transit-oriented-development at or under the current train shed/surface parking lot area? The site is large enough to support a mixed income, multi-family, rental and/or homeownership development of 100 units or more. The train shed superstructure could remain or be removed. If it were pr...
STL Rising - Nov 29
Unlike Congressional redistricting, state legislative redistricting is not in the hands of the legislature in Missouri. Rather, it is done by two bipartisan committees, one for each chamber. However, due to the absence of a tiebreaker, the committees have deadlocked. I presume Republicans were hoping that they could lure at least one Democrat over to avoid the courts and preser...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Nov 25 - 2 clicks
Newt Gingrich (r) failed to file by today's 5:00 p.m. deadline for the Missouri republican presidential primary. So Which Republican didn't even bother to file in Missouri's $8M beauty contest? Methinks that no one is more surprised by Newt's status as a frontrunner...than Newt ...
DailyKos (Missouri) - Nov 22
Are these some of the possible negative environmental impacts of the proposed South County Connector on city neighborhoods? The preferred alternative has been narrowed down to the option which adds substantial commuter traffic to River Des Peres Boulevard in the city of St. Louis. River Des Peres Boulevard is a street fronted by a large number private homes with multiple intersections leadin...
STL Rising - Nov 17
St. Louis tears down lots of buildings. It's part of our history. We've historically torn down lots of buildings, and today, we tear down historic buildings. Some. Not all. It all depends. Try to tear down a historic building in Soulard or Lafayette Square, and lots of people will try to stop you. Try to tear down a piece of sentimental history, like an old flying saucer shaped building, an...
STL Rising - Nov 15
