Boeing To Close Wichita Plant
Governor Sam Brownback expressed disappointment at Boeing's decision to phase out its Wichita operations. Brownback had been one of Boeing's biggest supporters while he was in Congress, fighting for a tanker contract the company got – and will fulfill in Washington State, .
Brownback said the 2100 laid off are likely to get work at other Kansas plants supplying private and commercial aviation. But little was said about the 7500 expected new Boeing jobs that are now just a vapor trail.
Schools Battle Continues
Kansas City mayor Sly James was fresh back from Washington and a visit with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. He said Duncan had commented that based on graduation rate the city's schools were among the worst in the nation... and that state legislators were already moving to dissolve the district. The mayor pushed anew for his plan to take over the schools, and said making the district a political issue was “the last thing we want.”
But Superintendent Steve Green said politics was already involved. Meanwhile, neighboring districts were refusing to accept transfers from the Kansas City district until financial details were worked out.. the ACLU was questioning that.
MO Legislature Convenes
The 2012 session of the Missouri Legislature convened amid concerns about two struggling school districts and school funding in general, plus, another big predicted shortfall. Governor Nixon's budget director calls the cash shortage at 500-million.
Nixon himself proposed borrowing $160 million for K-12 education from the state's colleges and universities, but withdrew the proposal after it was rejected by House Speaker Stephen Tilley and other Republicans.
The GOP majority also rejects the idea of any tax increase, including a proposal to raise the state's 17-cents-a-pack, lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax.
SNAP Fights Court Order
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests battled a court order to turn over a large batch of documents on people who had turned to the organization for help. David Clohessy of SNAP called it “bullying” leveled against “whistle-blowers.”
Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese contend that somewhere among the documents there is likely to be one that proves that the plaintiff in a civil suit over sexual abuse violated a court gag order by sending information to SNAP.