The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 21
Most observers seem to think the U.S. Supreme Court is on its way to finding in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia in a case with implications for the doctrine of separation of church and state. If so, the court would make a bad decision.
The case involves a refusal by the state of Missouri to approve public finding to resurface a playground at the church school. The Missouri Constitution says plainly no state money shall go to any church or religious organization or any “institution of learning controlled by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomination.” Thirty-eight other states have similar laws.
The church argues it is being discriminated against because it is a religious organization and should be treated like any other school seeking a similar grant.
In the initial hearing in the case, several justices, including some thought to be on the liberal side, asked tough questions of the state’s lawyer. They drew a distinction between religious conduct and religious status, equating public subsidy to the church playground to public police and fire protection. State lawyer Jim Layton said police and fire protection are general services while the grant is a selective government service. Recently seated Justice Neil Gorsuch asked what’s the difference?
The lawyer for the church said “Even though the motivation behind operating this pre-school is a religious motivation, doesn’t mean that every single activity that occurs there happens to be religious.” A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union said, “The church makes absolutely clear that the school is a church ministry. The church uses the school to spread the gospel to members and non-members.”
The general line of the church argument is that it should not be “treated worse than anybody else.” Sen. Roy Blunt said the case will have a lasting impact on Americans’ right to religious liberty. “The government shouldn’t be able to categorically deny benefits to Trinity Lutheran, or any religious organization, simply because they are religious,” he said.
But, with all due respect, such conscientious denial is the essence of the principle of separation of church and state. In my view, it makes no sense to distinguish between operation of the church school and any other church activity. If the court does this, it will launch a never-ending search for exceptions to the separation doctrine, a trend that has blessedly been slowed by recent court decisions.
If the church can get a public grant for playground paving, how about money to remodel the church kitchen, a facility, like the school, used by the church to augment its customer service, which clearly means to spread its message? Will the court try to say improvement of church school facilities has nothing to do with appeal to followers or potential followers of the faith?
If the high court finds for Trinity Lutheran, it will overthrow provisions in state constitutions and precedent all over the land. Sometimes existing law is found to be so egregious such radical change is warranted, but not in this case.
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The Joplin Globe, April 23
Our view: We don’t have to wait
Boone County and the city of Columbia are the latest to approve a user agreement between the county and St. Louis to create a prescription drug monitoring program for the county.
While shenanigans play out in Jefferson City stalling passage of a prescription drug monitoring program in Missouri, counties and cities across the state are doing what legislators apparently can’t do: These municipalities and counties are standing up to pill doctors and opioid trafficking that is rampant in Missouri because it is the only state in the nation that fails to monitor prescription abuse.
According to a March 7 story by The Associated Press, there were more than 33,000 deaths related to heroin or prescription opioids in the U.S. in 2015, including 1,066 in Missouri, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which considers opioid abuse and addiction a public health crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control says prescription drug monitoring programs have succeeded at their goals: Florida had more than 50 percent fewer oxycodone overdose deaths in 2012 after its program began and New York State saw a 75 percent drop in patients visiting multiple prescribers for the same drug in 2013, a year after its program was established.
After St. Louis County began developing its own PDMP last year, St. Louis city and other counties soon joined in. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said “dozens” of other counties have expressed interest.
It’s looking unlikely that the PDMP bill will make it for a final vote in Missouri’s Legislature before the session ends. Maybe it doesn’t even matter anymore. As of this past week, 49.9 percent of Missouri’s population is covered under the PDMP agreement with St. Louis County.
The city of Nevada and Vernon County are among those government entities recently passing the plan.
What that means is that cities and counties that have jointed will have their pharmacies enrolled in a database.
If area counties and cities, including Joplin, haven’t already started discussions about joining this plan, we recommend they consider it. Otherwise, we continue to put out the welcome mat for opioid abuse.
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The Kansas City Star, April 21
Editorial: U.S. attorney should investigate Missouri Senate leader Ron Richard
This Ron Richard thing is not going away.
Democrats and Republicans continue to raise serious questions about changes in state law that the leader of the Missouri Senate is proposing and a $100,000 campaign contribution he received from a prominent Joplin businessman who might benefit from the bill.
This week, a government watchdog group in Washington, D.C., weighed in and asked the U.S. attorney from these parts to investigate. The Campaign for Accountability wants to determine if Richard’s actions violated federal law that bars “pay to play” practices in which legislative favors are bestowed as a result of campaign donations.
We want answers, too. The U.S. attorney’s office should clear up yet another lingering ethics issue in the Missouri Capitol. And if Richard, the only person ever to lead both the state Senate and House, wanted to do the right thing, he’d spare his colleagues more ongoing embarrassment by stepping down for the remaining weeks of the 2017 session.
Such a move would ease the pressure on Richard’s fellow senators to back the legislation he’s pushing that would make it more difficult for consumers to sue under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. The law is designed to stop deceptive and unfair business practices.
The change in the statute could benefit David Humphreys, owner of Tamko Building Products, which was sued in 2014 for selling defective shingles. The company denies the charge.
Here’s the rub: Richard filed his legislation in early December. Six days later, he received that six-figure check from Humphreys, and not long after that, the ethics wolves rightly started circling.
This week, Richard offered another statement vehemently denying any wrongdoing.
“These allegations are reckless and not true, and they will not deter me from doing the work of the people,” he said.
When the Senate leader responded last month to criticism over this controversy from state Rep. Mark Ellebracht, a Liberty Democrat, Richard said Ellebracht could “kiss my ass.”
That didn’t help matters. The optics on this issue are horrible. And we are amazed - even astonished - at the brazenness of some Missouri lawmakers who continue to engage in practices that raise serious questions of propriety, not to mention legality, especially given the checkered history of Missouri government. Many of those legislators are doggedly reluctant to pass ethics legislation that would help remove the taint that hovers over the Capitol like a dense fog.
Citizens have signaled in polls and at the ballot box that they want to wring big money out of the building. It was just in November - remember? - that 70 percent of voters agreed to slash the size of permissible campaign contributions.
President Donald Trump could help resolve serious questions about Richard’s actions if the president got about the business of hiring a new U.S. attorney for this area. It also would help if Missouri had an ethics commission with teeth instead of just soft gums. But none of that should derail or delay what needs to happen, and that’s a federal government investigation. Missouri deserves answers. The Richard issue “begs” for a grand jury investigation, as Dan Stevens, the head of the Campaign for Accountability, said.
Such a move would send a signal one more time that Missouri government is not for sale. That’s clearly a message that some lawmakers need to hear.
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 23
Emergencies are terrifying enough. A proposed bill would make reaching 911 far less frustrating.
The 911 emergency phone call system was designed half a century ago, back when cellphones and email didn’t exist and Americans relied on land-line telephones and CB radios to call for help. The system has built-in deficiencies, particularly when it comes to helping blind and hearing-impaired callers. A bill being considered in Jefferson City would add Missouri to the growing list of states trying to make the system better.
House Bill 1094, sponsored by state Rep. Lyle Rowland, R-Cedarcreek, calls on an Advisory Committee for 911 Service Oversight to begin work on implementing a Next Generation 911 (NG911) system in Missouri. The system would allow 911 call centers, called public-safety answering points, to process text, data and video communication.
These life-saving features are alarmingly absent in most call centers today. A majority of them, including the one at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, are not equipped to receive text messages. Others, like St. Louis County’s, are gradually transitioning to the next-generation system.
Missouri’s scattered regional efforts would be better organized under state-level oversight. No state has fully transitioned yet to the updated system. Those that are close, such as Indiana and Iowa, have oversight committees leading the effort.
Most 911 call centers were designed to pinpoint the location of calls made from landlines, but at least 70 percent of calls to 911 today are from cellphones. Outdated centers often struggle to locate wireless callers. On top of that, when too many calls come in, call centers can get clogged.
The ability to handle more than just audio is crucial. People today use their phones less for calls and more for multimedia features. The very nature of emergencies- maybe you’re choking or hiding from a home invader - demands the public be able to summon help via text. If call centers were able to receive images of an accident scene, first responders might arrive better prepared to address the specific challenge.
Hearing- and speech-impaired callers have an especially challenging time calling for help. The teleprinters that many of them use at home to type responses during calls are costly and far from portable.
The 1999 federal legislation that consolidated emergency services envisioned a future where emerging technologies could improve communications between the public and emergency responders. But a promise made when flip phones and giant computer monitors were still the exciting new thing has yet to be adapted to today’s digital reality.
Updating the system will be costly. But the savings ultimately will justify the investment, then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in a 2015 New York Times op-ed. Maintaining the existing, outdated system ultimately will prove more expensive in the long run, not to mention the lives lost because old technology has yet to adapt to modern expectations.
Emergencies are terrifying enough. Reaching 911 shouldn’t be another struggle.
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