Nixon to sign budget, Missouri RX bills

Gov. Jay Nixon will sign the 2012 budget for the state of Missouri - and cuts to the $23 billion spending plan are already in the works.

The governor said two weeks ago he would have to cut at least $113 million. Much of that is due to unplanned expenses from the Joplin tornado and flooding in southeast Missouri. More cuts could be necessary as the state is now also responding to floods along the Missouri River in the northwest corner of the state.

The Board of Trustees for the Metropolitan Sewer District gave its initial approval last night to a multi-billion dollar plan to settle a Clean War Act lawsuit.

The state of Missouri and the EPA filed the suit in 2007, which the Missouri Coalition for the Environment later joined. It alleged, among other things that

Updated 6:20 am Friday to correct layoff number.

Wednesday’s vote by state highway commissioners to downsize the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is meeting with criticism from the state’s leading agricultural lobby.

Missouri Farm Bureau officials say the 30-day notice given to the public about the plan was too short to allow for a full examination and for citizen comments.

The City of St. Louis has received $600,000 to provide homeless veterans with services.

The money will be split between the St. Patrick Center, which offers housing services, and Employment Connection which provides job training skills.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says that as approximately 12 percent of the city’s homeless are veterans.

A federal jury has awarded a woman $95 million in a sexual harassment lawsuit against an Illinois rent-to-own business in suburban St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its website Thursday that the award against Aaron's Inc. includes $15 million in compensatory damages and $80 million in punitive damages.

Motorists planning to use Interstate 64 in downtown St. Louis this weekend, or travel on the Poplar Street Bridge, may need to find an alternative route.

Here's the Missouri Department of Transportation's summary of the specifics:

For the first time in more than five weeks, the Mississippi River has dropped low enough to stop flowing through a gap in a blown-up levee in southeast Missouri.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tells The Associated Press that the river stopped flooding through the Birds Point levee Thursday.

It had been flowing through the gap since the corps blew a hole in the levee on May 2 to relieve flooding pressure on nearby Cairo, Ill.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reporting a third partial breach in a Missouri River levee in Atchison County, Mo.

The corps says in a news release that the partial breach caused minimal damage because material from adjacent slopes filled in most of the opening. Workers were able to direct the flow away from the repaired areas of the levee.

Thursday's partial breach occurred about 80 feet north of two previous breaches near Hamburg, Iowa.

The Illinois treasurer has bad news for thousands of people who put money into college savings accounts last week: They're not getting a matching donation they had expected.

Participants in the Bright Start savings program were told that deposits of up to $250 would be matched dollar for dollar. The offer was limited to the first 2,500 people.

But the Bright Start website didn't display up-to-date information. It showed the matching money was still available even after all 2,500 slots had been filled.

An aggressive fungus is striking Joplin tornado victims, contributing to a handful of deaths.

Doctors told the Springfield News-Leader that at least nine survivors may have contracted blood-vessel invading zygomycosis infections.

Overall numbers weren't available. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department declined to release them, citing patient privacy concerns.