The Independence Examiner, April 20
Only modest steps on state’s massive highway needs
It’s mildly encouraging to see Missouri legislators come to a compromise on a modest plan to deal with some of the state’s neediest bridges.
But the bigger picture is that the General Assembly is in the final weeks of its 2019 session, and all legislators and the governor have come up with is a partial solution to part of the problem. Even the two competing ideas in play were themselves nothing more than Band-Aids, as Gov. Mike Parson said of his idea.
Nothing has been done - there is no apparent serious movement - on the overall issue of adequate funding to maintain roads and bridges and expand the system where appropriate, let alone a 10-figure project such as the long overdue rebuilding of Interstate 70.
Voters last fall said no to a rushed and poorly worded ballot question to raise the gas tax, and once again our leaders in Jefferson City had no Plan B. Yet the need grows day by day.
What’s on the table is a compromise that legislators have now agreed to. Parson wanted to issue bonds - borrow money, that is - to immediately address about 250 bridges most in need of work. Legislators raised an understandable point: Borrowed money doesn’t go as far thanks to interest. Still, the Legislature’s policy has been to delay and defer, and that can’t go on indefinitely. The governor’s idea was imperfect but reasonable.
A key legislator had a simpler but far shakier plan: Spend $100 million in general revenue in the next year, and do the same for another three years. That’s new. The state hasn’t dipped into general revenue for roads for a long time. Transportation money is earmarked for just that.
But there’s a huge catch. Look at the General Assembly’s record. What if there’s a hiccup in state revenues? What about the General Assembly’s mood swings? That $100 million for years two, three and four is as solid as ether.
So they compromised, though the deal hinges on federal money that hasn’t been approved yet. Stay tuned. The House still has to act.
In the messy way of things, one important project seems to have nudged legislators toward at least getting this much done. The I-70 bridge over the Missouri River near Rocheport is 60 years old and needs to be replaced, and the compromise includes that.
It would cost less to get a few more years out of that bridge with significant repairs, but that would mean closing two lanes for months and then the other two lanes for months. The hours-long backup in traffic, even on normal days, is something many drivers would find unacceptable. That too is a cost.
Think of two Kansas City examples: The long-term hassle of the recent repairs to the Buck O’Neill Bridge connecting downtown Kansas City to Platte County compared with the replacement a couple years ago of the I-70 bridge over the Manchester Trafficway area. We didn’t lose I-70 for months and months. New parallel bridges went up even as traffic sailed by on the old ones. The second of those is the far better idea if leaders can find the money. Simply replacing the Rocheport bridge, a key choke point in the system, is far preferable - if the money comes through.
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The Kansas City Star, April 18
Missouri Republicans are right to protect property owners from eminent domain abuse
The Missouri House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday prohibiting a private entity from condemning land for electricity transmission.
The vote was bipartisan, and approving the measure was the right thing to do. The Missouri Senate should pass the bill, and the governor should sign it.
The legislation seeks to block the use of eminent domain for the so-called Grain Belt Express, a transmission line for wind-generated electricity. The state’s Public Service Commission recently said the Clean Line Energy company can condemn property for the towers it needs for the lines, which would take wind power from Kansas and send it to Missouri and other states.
We strongly support wind energy. Wind provides more than one-third of the electric energy in Kansas, while it’s less than 4% of Missouri’s power supply. Increasing that number should be a goal in the state.
But we agree with Missouri Republican leadership that allowing a company to condemn property for this purpose is wrong. Clean Line Energy should negotiate fair agreements with property owners for any towers it needs, and pay for the land accordingly.
It should not use the threat of condemnation to browbeat property owners into accepting low-cost deals.
Eminent domain gives government the right to take private property for public purposes. It’s an enormous, dangerous power that must be used only sparingly, if at all.
Missouri’s bill of rights specifically acknowledges that danger. “Private property shall not be taken for private use with or without compensation, unless by consent of the owner,” the state constitution says.
Like most laws, however, there are loopholes. The state specifically allows private power companies and utilities to use eminent domain. It also allows the use of condemnation to seize “blighted” properties for private development projects.
Kansas Citians know what this means: private property taken for private projects, such as the Power & Light District. Whatever you think of downtown development, taking property from one person and giving it to someone else is a troubling exercise in power, even when the original owner is paid for his or her loss.
On Thursday, speaker after speaker on the Missouri House floor said they were worried not just about the Grain Belt project, but about eminent domain abuse across the state.
“The overall use of eminent domain has greatly harmed black communities in St. Louis,” tweeted state Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal. Kansas Citians can tell similar stories.
The Hyperloop high-speed train project may require condemning hundreds of privately-owned acres in Missouri. Using eminent domain for that project should be a nonstarter.
Republicans rallied in Jefferson City this week to force a discussion of this issue. Their efforts should be applauded. Eminent domain must always be the last resort for projects of major public benefit, not the first step in making rich companies richer.
There is a way to bring the benefits of the Grain Belt Express project to Missouri. The company can approach landowners and offer enough money to rent or buy the land it needs. The heavy hand of government should stay out of it.
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The Joplin Globe, April 19
Our view: Still not safe
Twenty years after two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, shot to death 13 people, wounded 21 then killed themselves, active shooter drills have become routine for students in our schools.
The death toll made that attack the worst school shooting in history at that time. Much of it was telecast in real time, an intrusion into our national awareness that riveted, shocked and shook us to our core. People wanted to know how it could have happened. People wanted to know why it happened. And people wanted to prevent it from ever happening again.
Documentaries and reports have drilled deep into the how and why. The carnage altered the daily operation of schools, resulting in tighter security than ever. Our houses of learning now have locked doors inside and out and crisis plans crafted with great care.
It hasn’t been enough.
The greatest tragedy of Columbine is that the horror of the massacre has failed to stop the slaughter of children in our schools. In fact, the attack has become the fixation and inspiration of some of those most deeply disturbed, including a woman who made threats against schools, flew to Colorado, bought a weapon and then, pursued by law enforcers, killed herself about 20 miles from Littleton. Columbine has spawned a 20-year reign of terror that continues to challenge our ability and will to act to stop it.
The death toll of Columbine has been surpassed by the bloodbath at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, that left 20 6- and 7-year-olds and six adult staff members dead and by the slaying of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day 2018.
America’s schools are overall safe places, but stopping high-profile mass attacks takes more than just good security. Mass shootings aren’t rare - last year, they averaged one per day nationwide - and aren’t limited to schools, but no place better exemplifies the problem. All it takes is one person in the wrong place with the right weapon and plenty of ammo.
To curb such attacks in a country with more guns than people, it is going to take an honest and difficult conversation - a discussion that has been stymied by the blockade cries of “they want to take our guns” on one side and “they’re trying to turn our schools into armed camps” on the other. It is time to stop taking positions and to start working toward real change.
It is time to consider the way we talk about mass shootings in the media and in public discourse. It is time to devote real resources to mental health screening, treatment and after care. It is time to separate reasonable regulation from unacceptable infringement. It is time to talk about ways to keep firearms out of the hands of those intent on harming others.
Everything needs to be on the table. It is time to stop screaming from our separate corners and to call to account those who seek to shout down legitimate discussion.
There could be no finer memorial to those who lost their lives at Columbine High School.
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