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Friday, September 03 2010 11:56 |
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According to the 19th annual Highway Report from the Reason Foundation, Missouri ranks 8th in the nation for best roads, moving up 16 spots from last year’s report.
Missouri ranks 10th in total highway disbursements, 33rd in fatalities, 40th in deficient or functionally obsolete bridges and 26th in urban Interstate congestion. Missouri’s best rankings come in rural Interstate condition (1st), administrative disbursements (4th) and state-controlled highway miles (7th). Missouri’s lowest rankings are in deficient or functionally obsolete bridges (40th) and narrow rural lanes (38th).
The study measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-owned roads in 11 categories, including deficient bridges, urban traffic congestion, fatality rates, pavement condition on urban and rural Interstates and on major rural roads, and the number of unsafe narrow rural lanes. National performance in all of those key areas improved in 2008, the most recent year with complete data available.
The complete Highway Report is available here
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Friday, September 03 2010 10:38 |
The Missouri Secretary of State’s office has dropped its appeal of a judge’s ruling Tuesday that an anti-tax initiative can appear on the November ballot.
This means Missouri voters will get to decide Nov. 2 whether to adopt a state constitutional amendment prohibiting taxes on the transfer of real estate.
Read more: Missouri drops appeal of transfer tax ruling - St. Louis Business Journal
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Friday, September 03 2010 08:22 |
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Missouri students and educators will benefit in future years from a federal grant announced today, state education officials said. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $160 million in Race to the Top assessment funds to the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) to develop a comprehensive student assessment system aligned to a common core of academic standards.
SBAC is comprised of 31 state partners, including Missouri. Formed in December 2009, it is the first collaboration of its kind for a majority of states to join together to develop a high-quality, internationally benchmarked assessment system that all states can use.
The assessment system to be developed by SBAC is tied to the Common Core State Standards, an initiative led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to create a consistent and clear set of learning standards for K-12 in English language arts and mathematics.
To date, at least 36 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards. The Missouri State Board of Education approved the standards earlier this year.
“The consortium will be able to design a much stronger system of assessments and teacher resources than any single state could afford to develop,” said Michael Muenks, assistant commissioner of the Office of College and Career Readiness, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
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Read more...
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Thursday, September 02 2010 20:53 |
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In its motion seeking to open a case, the PSC staff expressed concern whether service quality issues exist due to a lack of proper testing, preventive maintenance and the timely replacement of telecommunications facilities since a change in state law which allowed most, if not all, telecommunications companies to obtain a waiver of PSC rules regarding service quality.
The PSC staff also indicated it had received an increasing number of customer service complaints about the quality of telephone service and wants to further investigate. Staff seeks to determine whether the reported service problems are isolated instances or whether they indicate a systemic deterioration of facilities, which leads to a lower quality of service in large portions of the state.
All facilities-based local exchange telecommunications companies have been ordered to respond to specific questions regarding telecommunications service quality. Answers to those questions are to be filed with the PSC no later than November 1, 2010.
The public is welcome to submit comments electronically at the Public Service Commission's website http://www.psc.mo.gov. Click on the EFIS/Case filings link on the left side of the page. Scroll down and click on the public comment link. Please reference the case (TO-2011-0047).
Written comments can be sent to the Missouri Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 360, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102. Please reference the case (TO-2011-0047).
Because this is not a contested case, the PSC Staff will not take any action in this case against any telecommunications provider, beyond reporting its findings to the Commission. |
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Thursday, September 02 2010 20:42 |
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Missouri's revenue collections are improving, although they're still generally lower than at this time last year.
Overall revenue for the current Fiscal Year is more than one percent lower than it was a year ago at this time. But income tax collections are nearly two percent higher than last year, and nearly four percent higher than last month.
Story on KWMU
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