Ongoing Coverage:

Scott Pham

Content Director

Scott Pham got his start in radio at KBOO Portland community radio as a volunteer news producer and anchor.  Since then he's spent time interning at NPR in Washington, DC and making radio in the San Francisco Bay Area for Pacifica Radio.  His news and documentary work has aired on WAMU in DC, KQED in San Francisco and on Pacifica radio nationwide.

As KBIA's content director, Scott's goal is to make the station's considerable news and arts content easily available, easily shared and smartly delivered. 

In addition to his duties at KBIA, Scott is also the director of the Missouri Drone Journalism Program.

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Politics
2:32 pm
Mon August 20, 2012

Todd Akin's campaign hit hard by comments on "legitimate rape"

todd akin on fox
Todd Akin appeared on Fox TV this weekend

Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s comments on rape and abortion in a weekend interview have prompted a storm of reactions nationwide. 

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11:11 am
Mon August 20, 2012

"Legitimate rape"

Lead in text: 
The Atlantic is publishing some of the best writing on this whole Todd Akin, "Legitimate Rape" controversy. Here, writer Garance Franke-Ruta takes a serious look at what Akin and like-minded public figures are trying to get at. Just what is "legitimate rape" and why do so many believe it can't cause pregnancy?
Here we go again. Trotting out the contemporary equivalent of the early American belief that only witches float, Congressman Todd Akin, the Republican challenger to Democratic U.S."First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare," Akin said in an interview with KTVI-TV that caused a furor online Sunday afternoon after being posted on TPM. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Under the Microscope
5:57 pm
Thu August 9, 2012

Tracking an astronomical mystery

For centuries people have lived and worked in a part of coastal Peru spotted with oddly shaped hills.  Most knew that the mounds were man made, but were they significant?  

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Politics
11:49 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

The August primary in photos

KBIA doesn't have much in the way of photojournalists, but we've got some smart reporters with some pretty smart smartphones!  Our news team spent most of the night in the field with the candidates as they waited for election results to come in and they had their twitter accounts fired up the whole time.  Check out our online coverage @kbia or at on the #midmovotes hashtag.  We've compiled a few of our twitpics here.

Politics
3:59 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Missouri primary elections live blog

Credit KBIA file photo

UPDATE: 10:13PM:

The AP calls the democratic nomination for Susan Montee (Lt. Governor) and the republican nomination for Akin (US Senate).  Though we're still waiting on over 1,000 precincts statewide, so stay tuned.

Every single Boone County precinct is in.  Recapping, again, the important races:

Northern District Commissioner: Bormann just barely inched ahead with 59 votes.  This one was a hair raiser!

District 44 State Representative: 29-year old republican Caleb Rowden takes his party's nomination.  He'll face democrat Ken Jacob.

District 47 State Representative: John Wright easily takes the democratic party's nomination.  He'll face 29 year-old Mitch Richards (what's with all the 29 year-olds?).

Governor: Republican David Spence will face incumbent Jay Nixon in the fall.  

Attorney general: Republican Ed Martin will face democrat Chris Koster in November.

Lt. Governor: Democrat Susan Montee.  No clear winner yet between republicans Brad Lager and Peter Kinder.

District 4 US Representative: Republican Vicky Hartzler will face democrat Teresa Hensly in the fall.

Secretary of State: Jason Kander.  Republican challengers are still in a three-way race.  Shane Schoeller has pulled ahead slightly but we're still waiting on a few precincts.

Amendment 2:  The AP has called "Yes."  Looks like a landslide to us, with 414,626 ayes to just 64, 018 nays.  That's with over half the precincts in.

UPDATE 10:00 PM: 

Nearly all the precincts are in Boone County.  State House district looks pretty good in favor of John Wright for the democrats.  He'll be facing 29 year-old Mitch Richards in the fall.  

The Northern District Commissioner race is the tightest we've seen this August.  With only 1 precincts left, Robbins is up over Bormann with just over 13 votes.  

UPDATE 9:30PM:

Things are moving along!  Nearly half of the votes are in statewide and a bunch of races have been called by the AP . Let's recap.

Governor: The AP has called the republican nomination for David Spence.  He'll face incumbent Jay Nixon in the fall.  

Attorney general: The AP is calling the republican nomination for Ed Martin.  He'll face democrat Chris Koster in November.

Lt. Governor: The AP is calling the democratic nomination for Susan Montee.  Brad Lager and Peter Kinder are still neck and neck in a tight race.

District 4 US Representative: Vicky Hartzler has called the republican nomination for herself.  She'll face democrat Teresa Hensly in the fall

Secretary of State: Jason Kander has accepted the democratic nomination.  Meanwhile, his republican challengers are in a three-way race that's too close to call.

Amendment 2:  The AP has called "Yes."  Looks like a landslide to us, with 414,626 ayes to just 64, 018 nays.  That's with over half the precincts in.

UPDATE 9:15PM:

Almost half of Boone County's precincts are reporting in.  Robbins and Bormann are neck and neck for the Northern District Commissioner nomination.  On the Democratic side, things are less even: Thompson leads Fugit in the double digits.  We expect these races will be decided soon.

UPDATE 9:08PM:

Vicky Hartzler calls her win for the Republican nomination in the District 4 US Rep. race.  Amendment 2 is poling at 52% but votes are still early.  The AP is calling the GOP nomination for Ed Martin (Attorney General) and Dave Spence (Governor).  More soon.

UPDATE 8:45PM:

We're at 11% precincts reporting statewide and we've got our first non-absentee ballots from Boone County.  Don Borman falls 7 points behind Lance Robbins in the Republican primary for the Northern Commissioner's seat.  On the Democratic side, public defender Janet Thompson surges ahead with 60% of the vote.  

In state rep. races, 29 year old Caleb Rowden is doing well in the republican race for the 44th.  

In other news, it's slow going over here!  Just about everyone and their mother is trying to get up-to-the second voting tallies from the Secretary of State's website.  It's been crashing periodically throughout the evening . In a tweet, the Secretary said that new software and heavy traffic were slowing down the servers . They say they're looking for a solution.

UPDATE 8:16PM:

We're up to 2% precincts reporting, and results are pretty evenly spread in the Senate race between Steelman, Akin and Brunner.  In the primary for the Governor race, Spence takes a hearty lead with 64% of these early votes.  In the Lt. Governor's race, Lager and Kinder are neck and neck for the Republican primary, hovering around 25% of the votes.  The the democratic primary, Susan Montee takes a solid lead.

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All Tech Considered
4:22 pm
Mon August 6, 2012

New Moo-Bile App Helps Keep Cows Cool And Farmers Updated

Originally published on Mon August 6, 2012 5:44 pm

When it's hot and humid, you probably don't want to move much and aren't very hungry. The same goes for cows; but when they don't eat, farmers lose money.

Researchers at the University of Missouri think they can help avoid those losses. They've produced a new mobile app that can detect the threat of heat stress in cows using nothing more than a smartphone.

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4:48 pm
Fri August 3, 2012

Snoop Lion: A perspective from our friends at Columbia Faith and Values

Lead in text: 
The lion, apparently, has a significant place in Rasta theology. Who knew?
(RNS) Snoop Dogg scored a huge hit with the hip-hop anthem "What's My Name?" back in 1993. Announcing his conversion to Rastafarianism on Monday, the rapper unveiled a new answer to that lyrical question. "I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion," he said at a press conference.
1:35 pm
Fri August 3, 2012

57 days till the Farm Bill Expires and "The uncertainty is mind boggling."

Lead in text: 
So says Brent Boydston, vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. Congress takes a 5-week break and meanwhile, the clock ticks down on the Farm Bill. It's Day 57 and our colleagues at Harvest Public Media are on the watch:
The farm bill is stuck. It's set to expire on Sept. 30, but Congress can't get new legislation on track. The U.S. Senate passed its version () of the farm bill in June, but the House has yet to take up the legislation.
Business Beat
6:06 pm
Wed August 1, 2012

Entrepreneurship increases in economic recession, new study says

maria figueroa armijos
Credit University of Missouri
Maria Figueroa-Armijos is a doctoral student in the University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs

Microsoft, Staples, and SouthWest Airlines.

What do these companies have in common? Yes, they're big companies, they employ a lot of people and they're successful. But here's one more thing--all of these companies were created in a period of economic downturn.  The Fortune 500 is littered with stories like this.

Business Beat spoke with Maria Figueroa-Armijos who's one of the authors of a new study which suggests that certain types of entrepreneurs are on the rise and it’s not in spite of the recession--it’s because of it.

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10:39 am
Wed August 1, 2012

Farm Bill Countdown: Day 59

Lead in text: 
It's August now and the Farm Bill will expire September 30th. Without a stable, federal policy on US agriculture, farmers are going to have a difficult time planning for the future. Our colleagues at Harvest Public Media are bringing us daily updates on the political wrangling that may or may not bring us the new legislation farmers need. We'll bring you these daily updates as we get them.
Facing the prospect of heading back to angry drought-ravaged farmers and ranchers during Congress’ August Recess, House Republicans stopped work on contentious farm bill legislation and started pushing a drought assistance bill.

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