Latest news with #JillCarter
CBS News
2 days ago
- Sport
- CBS News
Walter P. Carter Neighborhood pool opens in Northeast Baltimore
The rain on Saturday morning did not stop Baltimore City from unofficially kicking off summer. Local leaders and community members made a big 'splash' as they welcomed the brand-new Walter P. Carter Neighborhood Pool in Wilson Park. Jill Carter said it is more than a pool— it's her father's legacy. "Walter P. Carter was my father. Walter P. Carter was a man, a living, breathing man who stood for uncompromising principles and integrity," said Jill Carter, Walter P. Carter's daughter and former District 41 State Senator. Carter's father is the reason she spent her Saturday morning celebrating the grand opening of the brand-new pool. "His last words on Earth— public words– were I will commit the rest of my life to making this city a fit place where our kids can live, and this is a testament to that. This is a legacy of that. This is a place where our children can come," Carter explained. Community members, Mayor Brandon Scott, and Baltimore City Recreation & Parks jumped in to help mark the occasion while emphasizing the importance of having a safe place to swim. "We want them to come and have fun in a safe way. Never swim when there isn't a lifeguard. Make sure your parents sign you up for Rec Pro so you can get into the pool," said Mayor Scott. New Baltimore City pool renovations The Walter P. Carter pool is part of the City's "Rec Rollout" initiative. It's one of three redesigned facilities opening this summer. "It is right there in their neighborhood for them to go to, to swim with their friend, and swim with their neighbors, and enjoy their pool," said Karen Jordan, the Deputy Director for Baltimore City Recreation & Parks. For years, Rec and Parks has been prioritizing renovations and repairs to address the aging infrastructure of city pools. Throughout 2024, the city made upgrades to multiple community pools. Patterson Park Pool reopened in May 2024 after being closed the previous summer for extensive renovations. The closure angered community members due to the sweltering heat in August 2023. The pool now features a brand-new mechanical system, piping, plumbing, drains, and a pool liner. Neighborhood pools, like at Walter P. Carter, will operate Monday through Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. "If you want to exercise, we have lap lanes. If you just want to come and get wet and enjoy yourself, we have that as well. But we also have furniture and other amenities so that you can come and just enjoy yourself at our pools," Moore told WJZ. Park pools will expand their schedule starting June 17, operating Monday through Thursday from noon to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Weekend hours remain 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri school accreditation bill passes Senate for first time after three years
Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, sits at her desk on the Senate floor. Carter has filed a bill for three consecutive years on school accreditation and accountability (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). The Missouri Senate sent a bill to the House Thursday that would overhaul the state's accreditation and accountability system in order to give local school districts more control. State Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, has filed the bill for three consecutive years and garnered approval for public-school advocates in committee. But each year it has been passed over for other priorities when it reached the full Senate. Skepticism from state Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, slowed the bill's passage this year and inspired a lengthy debate about accountability earlier this month. But Monday, he applauded Carter for 'helping work through the concerns that I had.' Carter tweaked the legislation Monday to clarify sections and add an expiration date to a provision limiting the State Board of Education's authority to classify districts. It was approved by the Senate Thursday on a 32 to one vote, with Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman as the only opponent. If the bill passes the House, school districts will be able to seek accreditation from national accreditation agencies in addition to the State Board of Education. The board can classify districts without outside accreditation as provisionally accredited or unaccredited only for the purpose of determining whether a charter school can open within a district's boundaries. State law allows charters to open the area of unaccredited districts and those that have been provisionally accredited for at least three years. Carter's legislation also requires schools to post performance data on their websites. Previous versions of the bill specified the data would be sent to 'media outlets serving the district.' It also changes a requirement for 'interim assessments' at the beginning and end of the school year to 'local assessments' without specified times. Carter believes the legislation would give school boards and parents more power over curriculum and personalize learning to a district's needs. 'I think this is a first step in trying to mitigate a lot of the concerns that we've had and educators have had in our public schools,' she said Monday. There is just under a month remaining in the current legislative session. If Carter's bill doesn't pass the House in coming weeks, she will have to start over in the process next year. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill advances removing University of Missouri's exclusive right to certain degrees
The iconic columns of the University of Missouri-Columbia campus (University of Missouri photo). A Missouri House committee advanced an amended Senate bill Monday that would end the University of Missouri's exclusive permission to grant doctoral degrees. The new provision is tacked onto Senate Bill 150, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jill Carter of Granby, which originally established a fund to reimburse tuition and book fees for students in community colleges and technical schools. It passed the Senate last month. A substitute version of the bill adopted Monday by the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee consolidates six smaller education bills, including provisions ranging from expanded financial aid opportunities to increased requirements for universities to accept transfer credit. Among these consolidated bills is one sponsored by Republican state Rep. Melanie Stinnett if Springfield which would remove statutes that grant the University of Missouri and other UM System campuses exclusive license to offer certain doctoral degree programs. The UM System is the only public university system permitted to grant research doctorate and professional degrees. Other state universities are allowed to partner with the UM System to offer similar degree programs but cannot do so independently. The amended version of the bill passed Monday out of committee would repeal this provision, specifically to allow Missouri State University to offer programs that compete with those on UM System campuses. Proponents of the bill say that the exclusivity granted to UM System campuses makes doctoral degrees less accessible to those who do not live near a campus. 'When I look at that, if that is a space that someone is interested in, we really shouldn't be limiting that for people just because they can't travel to a specific area of the state,' Stinnett said in a committee hearing last month. Missouri State University President Richard Williams testified last month that his university simply seeks more flexibility. Missouri State currently offers 10 doctorate programs but is required by state law to do so in partnership with UM System campuses. 'This is relieving restrictions so we can be nimble,' he said. Opponents to ending UM System's exclusive power include the University of Missouri Flagship Council, which said in February in a Missourian guest commentary that tuition increases would likely follow as a result. 'The bottom line is that starting doctoral programs at public universities without research funding will need to be propped up with significant state support,' Chuck Brazeale, chair of the Flagship Council's board of directors, wrote. The bill passed through the House committee Monday by a vote of 10 to 1, with only state Rep. Bill Allen, a Republican from Kansas City, dissenting. This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School accreditation bill stalls in Missouri Senate after discussion of standardized tests
State Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, presents a bill in a Senate committee earlier this year. She first started coming to the Missouri State Capitol as a public-school parent advocating for change for her son's school (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). The Missouri Senate set aside legislation Tuesday afternoon proposing alternative methods of school certification after senators discussed the impact of standardized testing and accountability for nearly two hours. State Sen. Jill Carter, a Granby Republican, has filed the bill during each of her three years in office, but it has never passed the Senate. On Monday, she unsuccessfully attempted to add the legislation as an amendment to another education bill. The bill debated Tuesday, she explained, is the brainchild of her time as a public-school parent. She sought change in her local school district, talking first to parents, then to teachers and the school board. The hangup came from state officials, she said, who mandate that public schools administer a standardized test and score districts on the results. She came to the State Capitol asking lawmakers to give school boards more autonomy. Now in the position of legislator, she has annually proposed her idea to decentralize standardized tests. 'It is putting public schools on the same playing field, giving them the same opportunities as private schools or parochial schools,' she said in the Senate Tuesday afternoon. 'What we're trying to do is get an even playing field so that they have the opportunity to be innovative.' Missouri lawmaker seeks to remove focus on statewide standardized testing for accreditation But her bill, which received praise from public-school groups at the committee level, has its critics in the state's legislature. State Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield, told Carter that he has concerns about accountability. 'There (should be) accountability when we are writing a taxpayer check and sending it to a government school,' he said. Carter's bill would allow schools to seek accreditation from national organizations, like those used by private schools, instead of being beholden to standards set by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The statewide standardized test, the Missouri Assessment Program, would only be used to meet federal requirements. Carter added a five-year sunset to the bill, hoping to win over skeptics in the Senate, but it wasn't enough to convince Trent. Districts would have no incentive to perform well without a performance report from the state, he told her. Carter pointed to legislation that would allow public-school students to transfer to schools outside their address, dubbed open enrollment. Trent is sponsoring the Senate's version of the proposal, which has sat on the body's calendar for weeks without discussion. The House's open enrollment legislation is due for Senate debate in coming days, with a Senate committee hearing scheduled for later this week. 'This is a both-and conversation and not an either-or,' Carter said. Trent feared lawmakers would lose their grip on public schools if national accreditation agencies became responsible for assessing school performance. 'If we decouple the assessments from the accreditation process, we have to put something else in place that this body still has control of,' he said. 'We don't have any control over these nationwide accrediting agencies, so we will have ceded all of our authority as the General Assembly of Missouri from any control over these government schools.' Despite opposition from Trent, the bill has supporters on both sides of the aisle. State Sen. Mike Henderson, a Desloge Republican, said he has concerns about the state's standardized test and wonders whether performance scores are accurate after speaking with his 12-year-old grandson about the assessment. 'He has already figured out (the test) didn't really mean anything to him. It didn't affect his grade,' Henderson said. 'And he's not the only one. Many of them have figured that out, so sometimes I wonder how true of a snapshot it is.' State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat and former educator, applauded the bill for the 'flexibility' teachers would get in the classroom. 'If we were to pass this, we would see drastic improvement and education,' she said, saying that educators are currently 'handcuffed by state tests.' After just under two hours of discussion, Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, whispered to Carter, and she laid the bill aside, saying time had run out. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Red state bill could zero out tax burden for donors to pro-life pregnancy centers
Missouri residents donating to pregnancy resource centers that do not provide abortions could enjoy significant reductions in their state tax bill if a new GOP bill passes into law. SB 681, sponsored by state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican, would establish a 100% tax credit for such donations beginning in 2026, up from a 70% credit for the years 2021 to 2025. Essentially, for every dollar donated, one dollar would be deducted from the taxpayer's annual income tax obligation. "I think states that are Republican-led are racing to try to figure out how to get more tax dollars back to their communities," Carter told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. "So, we don't want to shift the burden necessarily to the taxpayer, but to incentivize people being able to say, 'with my own dollars, I want to invest in these women who are community members,' and in supporting those things that they also value." Abortion Pill Mifepristone Sparks New Pro-life Debate As Some Doctors Stress Safety Concerns Under Carter's bill, taxpayers can claim up to $50,000 in tax credits each year for donations of at least $100, with any unused credits carrying over to the next year. SB 681 also removes the previous $3.5 million cap on total credits that could be claimed for fiscal years up to 2021. The same bill was introduced in the state House, which passed the tax reform committee last month in a key legislative hurdle. "We're trying to help people support the values that they believe in by being able to personally invest instead of government doing it for them," Carter said. "I think that's a strong conservative Republican policy and position." Read On The Fox News App Carter added that Republicans are "in a really transformative stage right now with politics and policy" when it comes to more pro-life options. In a written testimony submitted to the state House legislature, Alissa Gross, the CEO of Resource Health Services that runs four pregnancy centers in Missouri and a virtual office in Kansas, wrote, "The impact of the tax credits on our organization has been profound." "We have seen our budget increase dramatically and in return, our ability to impact more men and women for life as well as build healthy families has been substantial," Gross wrote. "We are so grateful for this opportunity and are hopeful for the increase so our reach can grow into the KC area and beyond." Written testimony submitted by Cindy Speer, a board member and volunteer client advocate at Oasis Resource Center, wrote that her pregnancy center "just completed a debt-free 5000-square-foot center due in large part to the Missouri tax credit." "Our next phase is housing for these women, many of whom are unable to afford, let alone find a place for themselves and their baby," Speer wrote. "This would be revolutionary in helping guide these women to become productive citizens who can then become role models for their children." Scotus Turns Down Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Challenge, Thomas Slams 'Abduction' Of Duty Other written testimonies opposing the bill say they didn't want their tax dollars going toward "unregulated, anti-abortion pregnancy centers" that discourage women from having abortions. The bill comes after Missouri voters enshrined an abortion amendment into their state constitution – becoming the first state to overrule a near-total abortion ban – during the November general election. Abortion providers have recently resumed their services, which had been outlawed since 2022, but a slew of pro-life bills introduced at the start of the legislative session in January are still coming down the pipeline for consideration. The package of bills includes two proposed constitutional amendments. The first would ban abortion again, allowing exceptions only for medical emergencies, cases involving fetal anomalies, and certain instances of rape or incest, provided patients present the necessary documentation. A public hearing on the measure was held last month. Other bills under consideration include a proposal to reclassify the abortion drug mifepristone as a Class IV controlled substance, similar to a Republican-led law passed in Louisiana last year. Another proposed amendment aims to make abortion illegal after a fetus reaches viability, typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Other bills introduced in the state target the timing of abortions, including House Bill 194, which would ban the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Attorney General Andrew Bailey vowed after the election to continue enforcing the abortion ban after fetal viability. "Under the express terms of the amendment, the government may still protect innocent life after viability," Bailey wrote. "The statutes thus remain generally enforceable after viability." New York Gov. Hochul Signs Law Protecting Abortion Pill Prescribers After Doctor Indicted In Louisiana Several other states also passed abortion amendments in November, including Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January, titled the "Enforcing the Hyde Amendment," which revokes two 2022 executive orders from the Biden administration that had expanded access to abortion services. By reinstating the Hyde Amendment, the executive order prohibits federal funding for elective abortions, aligning with long-standing policies that prevent taxpayer dollars from being used for article source: Red state bill could zero out tax burden for donors to pro-life pregnancy centers
