State Rep. Dave Griffith (R-Jefferson City) chaired the Missouri House interim committee on veteran mental health and suicide this summer. He joined us live on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” today, telling listeners that Missouri ranks fourth in the nation in veteran suicides. He’s pre-filed House Bill 132, which tasks the Missouri Veterans Commission with expanding its efforts to prevent veteran suicide:
Columbia’s Winter Wonderland opens with good crowds at Shelter
Columbia residents packed the popular Shelter Gardens on Friday and Saturday evenings to experience the Winter Wonderland garden of lights.
Shelter’s 57th annual tree lighting ceremony was Thursday, where patrons got a sneak peak at Winter Wonderland.
It formally opened on Friday. The gardens were packed on Friday and Saturday nights, as visitors walked around the lighted path and took pictures of the thousands of lights that are on display. You walk into a lighted tunnel as you enter the Winter Wonderland, and the Brunswick school house building is open as well. There are numerous holiday scenes, some involving popular “Peanuts” characters like Snoopy.
Shelter’s Winter Wonderland is also open for the next two Friday/Saturday nights from 6-8, and again from December 19-21 from 6-8 pm. It is free and open to the public.
This is the second year Shelter has done the Winter Wonderland.
Columbia parks accepting new toy donations until this afternoon
You still have an opportunity to make Christmas brighter for a less fortunate child in Columbia.
The Columbia Parks and Recreation Department’s toys for Columbia’s youth drive is underway, and applications will be accepted through this afternoon. Applications for toys are open to Columbia residents who meet income guidelines and who are not receiving toy assistance from another agency.
You can still donate a new toy for the program or make a monetary donation through this afternoon. Toy drop-off sites include the Columbia Parks and Recreation office on South Seventh, the Armory, the Arc and Hillcrest Community Center. Checks and credit cards are also accepted.
Jefferson City murder suspect back in court this afternoon
A man charged with last weekend’s brutal killings of an employee and a customer inside a popular downtown Jefferson City restaurant and bar is set to appear in court Monday afternoon.
35-year-old Damien Davis of Kansas City is charged with two counts of first degree murder and remains jailed without bond. He’ll appear in Cole County Circuit Court at 1:30 today for a bond review hearing, before Judge Christopher Kirby Limbaugh.
Jefferson City Police say Davis killed J. Pfenny’s employee Skylar Smock and customer Corey Thames on Thanksgiving weekend. Both were shot to death at close range.
Davis, who has a criminal record, is jailed without bond. Court documents say there were “several dozen patrons” inside J Pfenny’s when last weekend’s incident happened. The Jefferson City Police Department’s probable cause statement says it began as an altercation between Davis and Thames, and that Smock separated the two and tried to escort Thames out of the business.
The restaurant remains closed.
GOP lawmaker says his proposal rebuilds I-70 across Missouri, without raising taxes
A veteran state senator from eastern Missouri’s Weldon Spring has unveiled a proposal to rebuild heavily-traveled I-70 from Wentzville to Blue Springs, making it four lanes in each direction.
State Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring) traveled to Columbia on Friday to address the Pachyderms at Dickey’s barbecue. His presentation drew a standing-room only audience. Eigel, who chairs the Senate General Laws Committee, tells 939 the Eagle that his proposal would not require a tax increase.
“Nobody needs to pay anymore in taxation, we got plenty of money down in Jefferson City. But we’re going to set aside some of that record level of sacrifice that taxpayers are already providing. We’re going to set aside about $2.5 billion over the next ten years and add some of the surplus that we already have at the state level to the tune of about another billion-and-a-half,” Eigel says.
Senator Eigel says a federal match of 50 percent would give Missouri the $8-billion needed to complete the project. State transportation officials have said that congestion in St. Louis and Kansas City and along Interstates 70 and 44 in Missouri is causing an annual economic loss of $575-million.
You’ll be heading to the polls in 2024 to vote on Senator Eigel’s proposal, if lawmakers approve his Senate Joint Resolution nine. He says it’s badly-needed.
“I mean ideally I’d like to go from border to border. Some of the plans I’ve seen in the past go from about the Blue Springs area to the Wentzville area. When we get some of those costs in, I would be willing to allocate additional funding so that we could get from border to border”,” says Eigel.
Former Senate Transportation Committee chair Doug Libla (R-Poplar Bluff) opposes the plan, saying funding out of general revenue would have Missourians paying for it. Libla says out-of-state travelers would get “a free ride”, unless they buy something like a Twinkie as they pass through.
Missouri’s 2023 legislative session begins on January 4 in Jefferson City.
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