barack obama

Mo. House Passes Bill Criminalizing Enforcement Of Federal Gun Laws

Marshall Griffin — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:51:29 +0000

The Missouri House has passed legislation that declares any future federal ban on semi-automatic weapons or large capacity clips is "unenforceable" in Missouri.

House Bill 170 also makes it a felony, punishable by up to four years in prison, for anyone to try and use a federal law to seize any firearm, clip or ammunition owned by a Missouri resident. In addition, an individual who wants to privately buy or sell a firearm, and who is not a licensed gun dealer, would be exempt from any f

Rural Reads: Redneck reality, Obama's budget and critical access hospitals

Harum Helmy — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:21:21 +0000

Every Friday, KBIA's Health & Wealth Desk talks about the week's most interesting articles and reports on rural health, wealth and society issues.

'Redneck reality' and rural portrayal in cable television

Entertainment newspaper The A.V. Club muses on A&E's popular reality show Duck Dynasty, saying the show is the 21st century incarnation of old rural-themed sitcoms that once dominated network television. Think Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hee-Haw. It's an interesting read, but we were especially interested with the author's take on ways the television shows have to negotiate the rural-urban political disparities.

While the rural-themed programming of days gone by tended to depict the small Southern town as a bucolic haven for good-hearted folk, redneck reality is more apt to acknowledge the social and economic ills of the subcultures it depicts. These shows are sanitized for the protection of viewers with blue-state sensibilities; when they occur at all, political discussions tend to center on generalized platitudes about freedom and family, rather than specifics that might turn off half the potential audience.

H/T: The Rural Blog.

Did headlines about death rates at rural hospitals tell the wrong story?
The Daily Yonder is killing it with their opinion pieces this week.

Case in point: A new report made headlines last week, saying death rates are rising at rural, geographically isolated hospitals. But an opinion writer for the Yonder says news reports are not telling the real story of these so-called critical access hospitals:

The patients in the small rural hospital with heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia have become a select population. A large proportion has decided that they are through paying all the human costs of the miracles of modern medicine. They have made the decision to stay in familiar surroundings near home and family.
The researchers found that 13.3% of the patients at critical access hospitals with one of the three conditions died, compared to 11.4 % of the medical center patients. Given all the terrible tools that modern medical centers have to work with, I’m amazed they only manage a small difference in patient survival over the most basic, little country hospitals in America.

Mo. Senate, House Committees Defeat Medicaid Expansion Plans

Kelsey Proud — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:25:54 +0000

A Republican-led Missouri Senate committee has defeated a plan to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care law.

The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the legislation on a party-line vote Wednesday, just minutes after hearing testimony from more than two dozen witnesses in favor of the plan.

A Republican-led House committee defeated a similar bill last month in the same fashion.

Democratic Gov

Neither Democratic President Barack Obama nor Republican challenger Mitt Romney has held any public campaign events in Missouri since winning his party's nomination. And neither has run TV ads specifically targeting Missouri.

That's a sharp contrast with the 2008 elections and the intense presidential campaigns that Missourians have come to expect over the past several decades.

Debates draw MU students to nonpartisan campus watch parties

Meg Pulling — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:41:24 +0000

More than a hundred MU students gathered on campus for last night’s presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Presidential candidate and former Governor Mitt Romney.

Several MU student groups, including Tigers Against Partisan Politics, the Missouri Students Association and Associated Students at the University of Missouri, hosted the event to encourage more students to learn about politics. The groups are sponsoring the nonpartisan watch parties at each Presidential debate.

Different format could change the tone of second presidential debate

Michelle Clemens — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:00:54 +0000

In another face-off between the presidential candidates, the format for tomorrow’s debate might create a different tone in the discussion.

An expert at MU said the second Presidential Debate could be a challenge for both candidates. President Barack Obama was criticized by some for not being aggressive in the last debate and said he would perform better in the next debate.

State and local party leaders discuss first of three presidential debates

Maddie Heidenreich — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:52:38 +0000

Missouri Democratic and Republican strategists weighed in on the campaign trail for their parties after Wednesday night's first Presidential debate.

Debate this: Which presidential candidate is better for agriculture?

Sandhya Dirks — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:35:37 +0000

The presidential candidates have yet to meet in a face-to-face debate. But last week in Des Moines, Iowa, ag leaders witnessed a preview of sorts during a Presidential Forum on Agriculture held in advance of the annual meeting of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.