Town and Country Rep.'s Bullying Bill Moves Through State Legislature

House Bill 134, sponsored by Rep. Sue Allen (R-Town and Country), would require school districts to have specifics in their ant-bullying policies.

The winter weather that had St. Louis in prep mode for much of the week also had an impact on state lawmakers in Jefferson City, forcing the General Assembly and the State Senate into an early recess, with no session held Thursday. (Sign up here for the FREE Patch Newsletter, including Breaking News Alerts.)  Among the bills currently in legislative transit is House Bill 134, sponsored by Rep. Sue Allen (R-Town and Country), which would change laws regarding bullying in schools and establish specific components that a district must include in its anti-bullying policy, according to information on Missouri House of Representatives website. Ruth Ahlemeier, a Ladue School District parent from Olivette, testified in favor of the bill in a House…

• Photos (1)

2013 Legislative Session Highlights Accomplishments of Missourians

Missouri Speaker of the House says it's an agenda focused on helping Missouri's small businesses and working families succeed.

Let Jayhawks Pay for Our Roads with Vanity Plates

How Missouri legislators got it wrong: Denying Kansas the opportunity to pay into Missouri's highway maintenance fund.

today For some time I have been an avowed socialist when it comes to Missouri license plates. Having been a cop for 30 years, I believe license plates should be kept simple. Their purpose is to identify motor vehicles and show taxes have been paid—not to show your social status.   Special license plates for the rich, or friends of the governor, or people who want to advertise their colleges, fraternal groups or branches of the service, just make things confusing for cops and the public who are trying to report suspicious cars. So I think everyone should get the same style license plate. But I’m also apparently in the minority. There are 187 different specialty license plates issued in Missouri.  However, the idea behind the specialty …

• Photos (2)

Special Session Stalled: Aerotropolis, MOSIRA Still Up In The Air

Governor Nixon calls on lawmakers to pass an economic development package or go home.

Politics often gets described in metaphorical strategy akin to sporting events. If someone were to take a look at the status of the Special Session of the Missouri Legislature, they might describe parties involved as "getting chippy". Three weeks after the session started, one piece of legislation, a fix to the so-called "Facebook" law regarding teacher and student communication has been passed, even though some might argue the actual bill itself is outside the scope of what Governor Jay Nixon added to his call for the session. Another bill, which could boost the high tech sector in Creve Coeur, has also been passed, but is now tied to the fate of legislation seen as the main foundation for the session itself, an economic development bill …

• Photos (1)

School Districts to Legislature: Save Us From a Flood of Students

School officials contend a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling could send a stream of students from unaccredited districts to their classrooms; bills in the legislature may address the issue.

Local school districts, including Parkway, hope state lawmakers will provide a fix to a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling that could result in a rapid influx of students from unaccredited districts transferring to neighboring districts. That possibility is the result of the court's July opinion in the Jane Turner v. School District of Clayton case that school districts are mandated to accept any student from an unaccredited district and have no say so in the matter. There are several bills currently proposed in the Missouri General Assembly addressing the topic. In the St. Louis area, both the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) and Riverview Gardens School districts are unaccredited. Under current law, students from these districts can …

• Photos (1)