Nixon to lead trade delegation to China
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon plans to lead a trade delegation to China later this year. The governor's office on Wednesday confirmed a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the trade mission.
No date has been set.
The delegation will include business, agricultural and community leaders. In a letter he sent this week to business leaders, Nixon says the trip will focus partly on expanding export markets for Missouri farmers and businesses. The governor says the delegation will also work on promoting investment opportunities between China and Missouri, advancing educational exchanges and developing a cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for Chinese goods.
McCaskill makes changes to campaign finance reports
Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has made some changes to campaign finance reports stemming from her 2006 election victory. McCaskill filed an amendment to the report attached to the 2006 race that accounts for about $277,000 in additional donations and roughly the same amount in expenditures.
The amendment, first reported by the St. Louis Beacon, was filed last week with the Federal Election Commission. McCaskill's campaign said Wednesday that clearing up the discrepancies was a routine move as she closes her 2006 account.
The campaign says the error came amid a flurry of donations at the end of McCaskill's race and after her top campaign-finance aide died in a July 2006 plane crash. The revised report also includes four amendments accounting for McCaskill's use of a private plane she owns with her husband.
Ten-year-old boy kills 5-year-old in accidental shooting
Police in southwestern Illinois are investigating the death of a 5-year-old Belleville boy who was accidentally shot by his 10-year-old brother. Belleville Police Captain Don Sax calls the shooting "an extremely tragic accident."
Authorities say the boys' parents had left them at home Wednesday night with an adult babysitter. Authorities were called to the home just before 8 p.m., and the younger boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators are trying to determine where the shotgun involved in the shooting was stored. And Belleville Police Chief William Clay says investigators are trying to determine how the boys got access to the weapon.
The children's names haven't been released.