MO Statehouse

Federal officials will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) next week.

It’s scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time on Wednesday, November 9th, and will be broadcast over every radio station, TV station and cable network across the country.  Mike O’Connell with the Missouri Department of Public Safety says state officials are helping spread the word, so that residents don’t mistake the test for a real emergency.

The Speaker Pro-tem of the Missouri House, Shane Schoeller (R, Willard), says he’s going to sponsor a package of election-related bills during next year’s legislative session.

It will include a bill requiring that voter-approved laws cannot be overturned by a simple majority vote by lawmakers.

Take, for example, the state minimum wage hike, which 76 percent of Missouri voters approved five years ago.  Schoeller says under his bill, that law could only be overturned if more than 76 percent of House and Senate members voted to do so.

Missouri's revenues have fallen slightly short of what's needed to meet the budget through the first third of the state fiscal year.

Figures released Wednesday by the state Office of Administration show general revenues rose 1.2 percent through October compared with the same point in the previous fiscal year.

State budget director Linda Luebbering says revenues need to grow at around 2 percent to meet the mark set by the budget.

While in the St. Louis region Tuesday for a press conference on the Share the Harvest program (which you can learn more about below) Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon called his trade trip to China productive - however, he had little to say about whether he wants to renew efforts to get tax credits for a China hub.

The Democrat said his week-long trip resulted in $4.6 billion in export agreements between Missouri and China.