Government

Kansas City, Mo. – Strong budget! The assessment of the acting city manager's budget for the next fiscal year, delivered by Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser. He would add what he calls some small items. They would total $1.5 million.

Kansas City, Mo. – Legislation that would expand Missouri's texting-while-driving ban to all motorists received a hearing before a State House committee.

The current ban on sending, receiving or reading text messages while driving only applies to those age 21 and younger.

Brent Butler with the Missouri Insurance Coalition testified in favor of expanding the ban to all ages.

Jefferson City, Mo. – Two competing resolutions on Don't Ask, Don't Tell received hearings in a Missouri Senate committee. The national policy bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in the U.S. military.

Among those testifying in favor of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was Paul Curtman, a recently-retired Marine Corps sergeant. He testified that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would disrupt combat readiness.

Kansas City, Mo. – Missouri has received more than a million dollars in stimulus funds to help smokers kick the habit. Kit Wagar, with the Missouri department of health, says the money will expand the state's popular quit-line, which offers counseling and nicotine replacement therapy.

"In 2008, about 5200 people called. In 2009 we more than doubled that," says Wagar. "We figure roughly about a third of those people are able to quit the year they call."

Topeka, Kan. – For more than a decade, clean air advocates in Kansas have been promoting a ban on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Several bills that would enact a statewide smoking ban have been introduced in the legislature this session. The Kansas House is hearing a new one this Wednesday afternoon. But as Kansas Public Radio's Bryan Thompson reports, the House and Senate versions are quite different.

Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Senate is scheduled to debate its main ethics bill on Wednesday.

The bill would expand income reporting requirements to legislative staff members, provide the state Ethics Commission with a full-time investigator, and bar campaign contributions when the legislature is in session. It would not, however, reinstate campaign contribution limits. Senate President Pro-Tem Charlie Shields sponsored the bill.

Kansas City, Mo. – House lawmakers this week kicked off a series of hearings looking into tax exemptions in Kansas.

Topeka, Kan. –
In the future, Kansans could be paying a fee to file their taxes the old-fashioned way, on paper. Statehouse reporter Stephen Koranda explains.