Latest news with #StateSenate
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri Senate Democrats currently not focused on Chiefs, Royals
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — It is back to work for Missouri lawmakers as . The work's starting in the State Senate which filibustered the late arriving proposal and then adjourned its regular session. Republican State Senator Kurtis Gregory of Saline County has filed a bill that was first read Monday. His bill creates the Show-Me Sports Investment Act. Kehoe has pitched this plan to try to keep the Chiefs and the Royals in Missouri. Royals' affiliate buys Overland Park Aspiria campus' mortgage While Kregory did not elaborate on his bill on the floor, FOX4 was able to talk to Republican State Senate President Cindy O'Laughlin before session started Monday. 'I think for people this is controversial because people want to bring the owners into the conversation, but for them, it's a business decision,' she said, talking about the owners. 'So, for me, I think it boils down to, 'Do you want to make an offer that you think is reasonable? Do you want to keep the Chiefs and the Royals? And then they have to decide what they want to do.' O'laughlin said she's had indirect conversations with the ownership of both teams, saying she thinks they want to stay in the Show-Me State. Also, before session started Monday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck from St. Louis County said state leaders need to focus on the tornado victims in his part of the state, the capital improvements bill that helped different parts of Missouri, and cancer research. Beck was also asked about the Chiefs and Royals stadium situation. 'So, my focus is that this is the first part of it is the appropriations bill and what we do for the people of St. Louis for the tornado, you know, the cancer research, and all those things,' he said. 'Until that happens, and it's through the House and on the Governor's Desk, then we can talk about the other one.' Beck was asked whether he's had pushback from caucus members on the west of the state when it comes to not currently being focused on the Chiefs and the Royals. Family sues Kansas City, KC Sports Commission & several others for 2024 Chiefs parade shooting 'Our caucus has been united in that we need to take care of the people of Missouri,' he responded. 'That's what's most important right now.' Beck said he does not know where his caucus is member by member on support for the teams' stadiums. He says it really hasn't been talked about much yet. O'Laughlin said stadium bills could be discussed in committees Tuesday before there's full debate Wednesday. Download WDAF+ for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV The session starts at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri special session could be an ‘absolute mess': Poli-sci professor
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More reaction to the stadium situation for the Chiefs and the Royals as Missouri lawmakers head back to Jefferson City on Monday for a special session. The State Senate opens things up as lawmakers are expected to take up a package aimed at trying to keep both teams in the Show-Me State for the 2031 season and beyond. Their leases at Jackson County-owned Truman Sports Complex end in January of that year. An argument Thursday in the State Senate over how they adjourned furthers the point that there's bad blood between Republicans and Democrats. Jackson County says budget compromise finally reached nearly 5 months later Friday, a Spokesman for Democratic State Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck said that Beck wanted to make sure that Republicans had a quorum, so he could make sure the bills they were signing were done in an open session. Republicans then huddled and ended their work for the day without signing them, so they couldn't be sent to Republican Governor Mike Kehoe. Missouri Democratic State Senator Stephen Webber of Columbia was upset about the way Republican State Senate President Cindy O'Laughlin of Shelbina adjourned for the day, saying it was against the rules. While Republicans weren't successful in sending the bills off on Thursday, they were on Friday. 'There's a motion on the floor. There's a motion on the floor. You're disrespecting the Senate. You're disrespecting. I'm disappointed in you,' Webber said. 'You know better than that. There's a motion on the floor. You know better than that. That's disgusting.' Park University Political Science Professor Dr. Matt Harris said that what happened on Thursday probably doesn't mean much when it comes to the signing of bills. 'But I think what it does say is it speaks to how the special session could be an absolute mess because you've got the Democrats who feel burned,' Dr. Harris said Friday. The Park University employee was talking about how, at the end of the session, Republican lawmakers approved a new referendum placing abortion rights back on the ballot. They also repealed the paid sick leave portion of Proposition A. That item was also approved by Missouri voters in the November 2024 election. 'You've also got the far right who says, 'We're not going to sign off on any stadium deal without tax cuts,' so it's a real mess with a ticking clock for the stadium deal, so I think that's what this probably speaks to.' Celebrities prep to entertain masses, raise money at KC's Big Slick Later Friday afternoon, FOX4 spoke to Republican State Senator Rick Brattin over Zoom. Brattin, the Chair of Missouri's Freedom Caucus, seemed to agree with Dr. Harris. Brattin said giving taxpayer dollars to sports teams in a proposal for something like the Chiefs and the Royals stadium projects is a terrible optic. 'If we're able to get broad-based tax relief for all Missourians, in potential unison with a bill like this, we're willing to play ball, you know, no pun intended,' he said. Also, Friday afternoon, FOX4's John Holt talked to Republican State Senator Mike Cierpiot of Eastern Jackson County. Cierpiot says he's talked to several Republican groups about this stadium issue. 'When I explain to them, 'We're not taking your tax dollars or my tax dollars, what we're taking is the money that actually is generated on the property and reinvesting that in the stadiums.'' Holt's full interview with Cierpoit will air Sunday at 10 a.m. FOX4 will be in Jefferson City, for the special session as well. It starts Monday at noon. About half an hour after our interview with Brattin ended, Governor Kehoe posted a message on social media about what he hopes lawmakers will accomplish. He spoke about the Chiefs and the Royals but did not use the team names or the word 'stadium.' Man charged in bank robbery near KC's Country Club Plaza: DOJ 'We have an economic development package for our Kansas City friends that are very, very important right now for the jobs it creates, for the economic impact it has on that side of our state,' Governor Kehoe said. 'We're hoping that legislators will understand how important it is to keep those businesses here in the state of Missouri.' Kansas leaders passed a Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond package last year aimed at attracting either the Chiefs or the Royals to their side of the state line. Lawmakers did that in their own special session. The STAR Bond offer expires at the end of June but can be extended. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Michiganders can do hard things Whitmer emphasizes, calling for action on education, roads, chips
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gives keynote address at Mackinac Policy Conference on May 29, 2025 | Photo from Whitmer's office MACKINAC ISLAND – Delivering her seventh address to attendees of the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recounted hard fought victories and future challenges, assuring Michiganders that they can do hard things. First on her list of hard things she'd accomplished in office, Whitmer pointed to her efforts to secure a new fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, which culminated in President Donald Trump announcing 21 new F-15EX fighter aircraft to base there alongside previously promised KC-46A refueling tankers that had been previously announced. 'Oh we didn't put a picture of me and my new bestie up there did we?' Whitmer joked, as she switched to a slide of photos of her at Selfridge, absent Trump. She also pointed to her work to expand Michigan's Medicaid program during her time as minority leader of the then GOP-led State Senate, with Republicans also controlling the House and the governor's seat. 'I knew we had to seize the chance to expand health care to hundreds of thousands more Michiganders. And you know what? Governor [Rick] Snyder supported it, too, and our only chance of getting it done was working together,' Whitmer said. The governor also touted her administration's goal of 60% of Michigan adults to hold a degree or certificate by 2030, supported by programs to provide Michiganders access to college and trade certificate programs for free, or at a reduced rate. Michigan lawmakers were also able to reach a deal to preserve Michigan's tipped minimum wage and trim back new sick time requirements, Whitmer noted, as business groups raised concerns that court-ordered changes would cause mass restaurant closures and widespread layoffs. 'We can do hard things. To succeed you gotta be willing to work with people you disagree with about most things,' Whitmer said. 'It's the harder path in the moment, but it's always the right path. Success requires thinking about ways to help the whole team instead of just having your own staff,' Whitmer said. However there are still hard things to do, Whitmer said, pointing to the state's literacy crisis with just a quarter of Fourth graders able to read proficiently. While this crisis is affecting all Michigan children, Whitmer noted that boys were falling behind, with girls reading at a higher level. 'The next hard thing we must do is make sure that every kid in Michigan can read. We must focus every education policy to meet this high-level goal until we hit it. As the State Board of Education hires their new superintendent, I urge them to pick a candidate with a proven record on literacy,' Whitmer said. The state has already built momentum on this goal, Whitmer noted, as she'd signed legislation last year to move schools back to the science of reading strategies, and require schools to screen for dyslexia. The state also needs a long-term sustainable plan for road funding, Whitmer said. In 2019, she failed to secure a long-term funding solution for road repairs as her proposal to raise the gas tax didn't play with the GOP-Controlled Legislature. In its place, Whitmer received approval for a $3.5 billion road bonding plan. However as bond funding dries up, the state will need to compromise on a plan with both cuts and new streams of revenue to support repairs and infrastructure, Whitmer said. The governor also set a goal to secure a semiconductor chip manufacturing plant and begin construction by the end of next year, telling conference attendees that she's been directly advocating to the Trump Administration on this front 'This is an intergenerational investment that makes an entire region an economic magnet, inspiring families to move here and put down roots. For a long time, the United States made 0% of the world's advanced chips. We heeded too much ground to foreign competition, and now, thanks to plants being built nationwide, we're growing fast. Michigan should get in on the game,' Whitmer said. 'It won't be easy, but it's okay, because we can do hard things,' Whitmer said. Looking to the future, the only thing that's certain is uncertainty Whitmer noted, assuring conference attendees that she's been tracking every twist on tariff policies and efforts to strip billions from Medicaid and SNAP benefits. 'These are serious issues with huge stakes for Michigan, from workers in the auto supply chain to parents figuring out next month's budget. We can do hard things in Michigan, but we're also living through hard times. We have to acknowledge what's within our control and what's not,' Whitmer said. However, Whitmer looked to Detroit's population growth for the second year in a row as a source of inspiration. 'I remember sitting in that audience and watching [former Gov.] Bill Milliken give a speech from this podium, talking about as Detroit grows, so goes the state of Michigan. This was during some of those hardest times, and here we are now. We should all feel pride of our flagship city, a place that has risen from a past defined by hardship to a future driven by endless possibilities,' Whitmer said. 'Detroit does hard things as a state. We've done a lot over the last couple of years, but we're not done yet. Let's continue leading by example as a state that does hard things in the right way. And let's remember that we're all on the same team, team Michigan.' Whitmer said. Following her speech, Whitmer sat down with Blue Cross Blue Shield President and CEO Tricia Keith, who asked Whitmer about Trump's recent comments that he would 'take a look at' pardons for two men convicted in a plot to kidnap and kill her in 2020. Whitmer pointed to a sketch from Key and Peele depicting former President Barack Obama's anger translator. 'I did all the interviews, they said 'How do you feel about this,' I said well I'm disappointed but my anger translator would use more colorful language,' Whitmer said. 'No one should hesitate to condemn political violence, whether it is aimed at my good friend Josh Shapiro, the horror that played out at their residence in Pennsylvania, or it is the man who shot Donald Trump, or it is people that threatened me, it's unacceptable. And so it is my hope that he doesn't go forward with that,' Whitmer said. However, Whitmer said she has an ongoing dialogue with the President in contrast to his first administration, and that she would take every opportunity to make the case for Michigan. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Coin Geek
5 days ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
Michigan's new bills ban CBDC, permit state to invest in ‘crypto'
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Michigan has become the latest U.S. state to push digital asset regulations, with four new bills landing in the State Senate to promote BTC mining and ban the looming digital dollar. With House Bill 4510, the Great Lakes State seeks to pave the way for the state treasurer to invest in digital assets. Introduced by Bill Schuette, the Republican State Rep. for the 95th district, the new bill amends the state's retirement system investment laws to allow investment in digital assets. However, it limits investment to assets that have averaged a market cap of at least $250 billion over the past calendar year. The bill also outlines that the state can only hold digital assets as exchange-traded products issued by registered companies. This stipulation comes at a time when spot ETFs have exploded in the U.S. and now hold over $50 billion in assets. Michigan's Bureau of Investment, which the state treasurer oversees, held $165 billion by the end of 2024, most of which is from the public retirement systems. Michigan joins dozens of states racing to implement digital asset reserves in response to a similar push at the federal level by President Donald Trump. In February, two State Senators introduced a bill allowing the Michigan state government to establish a BTC reserve. It limited the investment to 10% of the assets, which would be around $17 billion by the latest figures. Michigan bans the digital dollar In the second proposed bill, House Bill 4511, the state seeks to ban the digital dollar, again aligning with Trump's position against the proposed sovereign digital currency. The bill 'prohibits the advocacy or support through certain actions by certain state governmental officers and entities of a central bank digital currency by the United States government.' Introduced by Republican Rep. Bryan Posthumus, the bill mirrors dozens of others across the U.S. that have sought to halt any prospective digital dollar at the state level. The earliest opposition came from Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis led anti-CBDC campaigns years before Trump's election. While several states have advanced bills resisting the digital dollar, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is unlikely to see the light of day under the Trump presidency. Upon retaking office earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the Fed from launching a CBDC, which he argued 'threatens the stability of the financial system.' Beyond the CBDC, the same bill also prohibits Michigan from banning digital assets or denying licenses to holders. The state must also not prohibit the operation of blockchain nodes or participation in staking. The other two bills, House Bill 4512 and House Bill 4513, focus on block reward mining. The first will permit the revival of abandoned oil and gas wells to mine BTC, and the second will expand the tax laws to accommodate income from such mining activities. The miners would shoulder the costs of well restoration, with the State's Supervisor of Wells having jurisdiction over the sector. The block reward mining bills come amid a rise in anti-mining campaigns across the U.S. and beyond by local communities. In dozens of ongoing lawsuits, these communities have accused miners of noise pollution, which they say is pushing them away from their homes. Russia pushes miners to the north amid power shortages Meanwhile, in Russia, the Ministry of Energy plans to push BTC miners to the northern regions as it navigates power shortages in the more densely populated eastern and southern regions. In an interview with state-owned news agency TASS, Deputy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak revealed that the government intends to incentivize miners to relocate to the north. Russia's north is the least populated region, with harsh weather—especially its severe winters—mostly to blame. However, the region also has the most abundant natural resources, including oil and gas. '[The north] is where we can think about something with miners, put them there and consider the possibility of a network tariff. But this is not a benefit as such, but a different principle of tariff formation,' the minister stated. In particular, the ministry intends to relocate the miners to power grid centers whose capacity was previously used to mine oil. Repurposing unused or excess electricity to mine digital assets is becoming common globally. The U.S., Pakistan, Japan and Germany are among the countries that have announced new initiatives to leverage the surplus capacity to mine BTC. Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Connecticut lawmakers ‘close to a deal' on two-year state budget, Speaker Matt Ritter says
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — With the clock racing toward the end of the state legislative session on June 4, the Democratic Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives said leaders are 'substantially close to a deal' on the next two-year state budget. 'Hopefully, we'll have a handshake agreement tomorrow,' State Rep. Matt Ritter, the House speaker, said late Wednesday evening. Lamont, State Democrats battling over length of budget The announcement that leaders are nearing a final deal on the budget comes after months of back-and-forth over how much to increase state spending. Legislative Democrats, led by Ritter and State Senate President Martin Looney, have consistently called for larger increases than those proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont in his budget proposal, which was rolled out in February. Budget talks between the Democratic legislative leaders and the governor's administration grew in intensity in recent weeks, with a particularly notable exchange unfolding in public throughout the day on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, Ritter publicly suggested that the state should adopt a one-year budget rather than the traditional two-year spending plan. It's a maneuver that is without precedent in the recent history of the state legislature but one that Ritter said could help the state address a series of overlapping funding conundrums it faces right now. The next state budget, Ritter said, will require leaders to delicately thread a needle between several competing interests. Lawmakers must contend with the state's system of legal spending controls, including a cap on the overall size of the budget, while also trying to respond to the requests of local school districts, nonprofit service organizations, healthcare providers, childcare advocates and higher education institutions — all of whom have been clamoring for more state funding. Complicating matters is the potential for funding cuts from the federal government. A good way to thread the needle between all those factors, Ritter suggested Wednesday morning, is a one-year budget. Several hours after Ritter made his comments on the wisdom of a one-year budget, Lamont summoned reporters to his office to respond. 'I just think we should sit down and try it again rather than run out and say, 'I give up and let's do a one-year budget,'' Lamont said. 'That just breaks every commitment we've made to the taxpayers of the state over the last 40, 45 years.' Lamont's apprehension toward the idea of abandoning its decades-old practice of budgeting on two-year cycles was shared by leading Republicans in the legislature. 'I think this is fiscal irresponsibility,' State Sen. Steve Harding, the leader of the State Senate's 11-member Republican caucus, said. 'It's political posturing and frankly what's gonna happen is you're gonna see at home, tax increases to make up for this political posturing going on, this fiscal irresponsibility going on, this short-term planning going on.' While the governor wasn't as explicit in his criticism of the one-year budget concept, he did say that he was inclined to veto such a plan if it ever reached his desk. After the public volley between Ritter and Lamont, closed-door discussions between the two camps resumed. Late Wednesday evening, top Lamont administration officials convened in Ritter's office for a meeting with the two Democratic leaders. By the time the two camps concluded their talks, word began to spread among legislators and Capitol insiders that a two-year budget deal was close. Multiple lawmakers briefed on the talks told News 8 they expected the deal to be announced on Thursday, echoing Ritter's statements. The exact details of the deal discussed on Wednesday evening were not immediately available, but Ritter did offer insights into the broad outlines of the deal he hopes will be informally agreed upon on Thursday. 'I think we've moved a long way, I think we're able to fund things that we weren't able to fund prior,' Ritter said. Lawmakers are set to reconvene on Thursday morning. Stay with News 8 as this story unfolds. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
