As an independent voter living in the Northland, I am very accustomed to being hounded with political ads from both sides come election season. Unfortunately, that means my phone, TV, and mailbox all get splattered with mudslinging. But this year, I am especially disappointed with the local politics in MO House District 17.

Shirley Mata’s hostility and apparent anger has overshadowed anything I’m seeing on the national level (which is really saying something). Name calling, spreading false rumors, including profanity in her advertising: these are things we wouldn’t let children get away with in a student government election! As a retired elementary school teacher, I held my young kindergarteners to a higher standard.

Of course, both sides have outside groups helping to smear the mud around, but I’ve only seen one candidate in this state house race churning out the negative muck with her own voice and keyboard.

If Shirley Mata cannot act professionally on the campaign trail, I can only imagine how she’d conduct herself as my representative. If elected, I think Shirley Mata would be sidelined in the state capitol on day one—and as a result, my community and I will suffer the loss of a respected bipartisan voice who can actually get results for our local needs.

I may not completely align with all the things either candidate stands for in this state house race, but I will certainly not be voting for a candidate who’s made it clear she’s a bully who refuses to play nice with others. I implore my neighbors in the Northland to hold our politicians to a higher standard so that this kind of behavior is not rewarded—whichever party it comes from.

Judith Cauldwell

Judith Cauldwell is a retired teacher who resides in the 17th Missouri House District.

The post Opinion: Shirley Mata’s unprofessionalism hurts the Northland appeared first on The Missouri Times.

“Platte County is my home, and I want it to be represented by someone who reflects our community’s values. I think we deserve better than the extreme tax-and-spend ideology and divisive identity politics to which our current state representative has aligned herself,” said Jones. “Platte County is the fastest growing county in Missouri. We are blessed to have many entrepreneurs, family businesses, and hardworking citizens from a variety of backgrounds that should be rewarded—not punished by the state—for their efforts to bolster our local economy.”

Jones, an Air Force veteran and local business owner, has underlined economic growth as a cornerstone of his platform. From property tax reform to cutting wasteful spending in the state legislature, ensuring families can afford the ever-rising costs of living should be the chief priority for any state official, according to Jones.

“We are seeing inflation rates that are out of control nationwide. The average price of a home has doubled in just a couple years! A regular trip to the grocery store has become a daunting venture for many. If we are expected to reign in spending and be extra careful to make ends meet, there is absolutely no reason the government shouldn’t be doing the same! Missourians need tax relief, not more frivolous government spending programs that create more problems than they solve.”

Jones has also highlighted family empowerment in education and keeping politics out of the classroom as core concerns for his campaign. He hopes to see more efforts in the state house to defend core constitutional rights and uphold America’s foundational values. He highlights this as the stark difference between himself and the incumbent.

“I believe that our education system should be teaching students how to think, not what to think. Lately, we’ve seen disturbing reports of inappropriate materials and straight-up propaganda being pushed onto our children; I will put a stop to this to protect our youth from radical agendas. Through greater opportunities for families to choose the best options to fit their students’ individual education needs, we can ensure they are equipped with skills for lifelong success. While the far-left democrat representing us in the capitol is more concerned with dividing us into categories that are pitted against one another, I believe the only label that matters is that we are all Americans. We must stop letting ‘woke’ politicians dictate what we are allowed to say and think and get our government back on track to serving We The People.”

Mike is a lifelong Missourian and a longtime District 12 resident; he and his wife, Michelle, reside within the Kansas City limits and are proud parents and grandparents. They attend Antioch Bible Baptist Church and enjoy spending time with their family and exploring all the great activities that Platte County has to offer.

Mike Jones has retained Axiom Strategies to serve as consultants on his campaign.

The post Press Release: Republican Mike Jones seeks to flip Platte County state representative seat appeared first on The Missouri Times.

As most Missourians know, not long ago there were 10 abortion clinics in Missouri and now there are none. Regulations requiring abortion clinics to be medically safe and other reforms have led to Missouri being a truly pro-life state.

However, troubling new allegations from Kansas City have surfaced.

Last late month, Project Veritas posted a video of Kansas City Planned Parenthood executives openly discussing their plans to traffic minor children across state lines without the knowledge of their parents or school. The “bypass” method allows an unrelated adult to assist with the transportation without the knowledge of a relative or other authority.

The executive even brags that a doctor’s excuse will be provided after the fact for the student’s school. She confidently states, “this is not our first rodeo.”

More troubling to me, the employees never asked the man escorting the purported 13-year-old what his relationship was to the young girl.

Planned Parenthood’s actions in the state of Missouri and beyond have always been troubling. Now, with this new video, there’s evidence that the organization is continuing to endanger our children by engaging in what appears to be illegal activity.

The video helps confirm what we already knew: Planned Parenthood should not be subsidized by taxpayers.

Rep. Cody Smith

Cody Smith (R) is the state representative for Missouri House District 163.

The post Opinion: Missouri taxpayers should not be subsidizing Planned Parenthood appeared first on The Missouri Times.

“I am running as a Republican, but my position is strictly pro-public safety,” stated Holland. “In the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, we don’t have time to debate political preferences. We are far too busy working to prevent crime and keep our communities safe from bad actors. I pledge to remain a sheriff that is loyal first and foremost to upholding the law to keep Platte County safe.”

Holland has an impressive law enforcement background, a Juris Doctorate and Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and is a member of the Midwest Public Risk Board of Directors. Holland’s academic credentials are only the foundation of his experience.

“In the past 20+ years, I have served as a SWAT Team Commander, succeeded under pressure with the Crisis Negotiations Team, and have experience as a detective and patrol deputy. I believe that for the role of sheriff, experience is crucial, and I will use what I have learned in each position to promote public safety.”

Holland hopes to build upon the solid track record of Sheriff Owen to continue improving safety protocols in the area. From quick response times to enhancing officer resources, he is prepared to work with the County Commission to ensure Platte County retains a high quality of life.

“We are the fastest growing county in the state. That means we need to be at the top of our game to ensure residents feel secure in their homes, at their jobs, and out in the general public. As your sheriff, I will continue to work day and night to collaborate with neighboring sheriff’s departments, local police departments, and fellow agencies to keep crime rates low. Believe me, I want that just as much as anyone; my family lives here in Platte County, too, and I want to keep them safe just as every husband and father does.”

Holland is a loving husband, father, and grandfather who enjoys spending time with family whenever possible. A lifelong Missourian, he enjoys spending time exploring all the natural beauty and special local sites that Platte County has to offer.

Erik Holland has retained Axiom Strategies to serve as consultants on his campaign.

The post Press Release: Major Erik Holland announces effort to be the next Platte County Sheriff appeared first on The Missouri Times.

The site for the proposed landfill is in Kansas City, however, there are more families that live within two miles of this landfill in the neighboring cities than actually live near it within Kansas City. And yet we don’t get a voice.

This new reality of a landfill threat is a totally different reality than I envisioned for myself at this time in my life. We are even in a different city and county, and unfortunately, my family is powerless to stop it. My local city worked with lawmakers to create a bill that would allow our city a say. This bill would allow those impacted by such a thing to have a say if they are within one mile of the proposed site (the current law says half of a mile). The rub of it is, the developer doesn’t seem to care that the 50,000 affected people in our area, part of families like mine, are threatened. In addition to that, they have hired some 20 lobbyists to ensure our bill was filibustered to prevent it from being voted on when we had the majority.

Currently, Mayor Lucas of Kansas City has put a moratorium on any landfills in the city of Kansas City until July 2024, and he has promised to conduct open meetings that include all the mayors from these areas to keep us apprised of developments. The clock is ticking, and we still have no assurance that we will win our fight to keep this landfill from becoming a reality.

To make the situation worse, funding for a one-year environmental study conducted at the proposed landfill site was passed but then vetoed by Governor Parson. He declared our plight a local issue and denied us the opportunity to have the land analyzed. How is it a local issue if our local officials have no say in what happens on that land? This is what our area asks daily.

We are dedicated to keeping the landfill from destroying our area; our community is determined to fight. As for me, this house is my investment for the future. I have no other options. When I sold my house and moved in with my kids, I tied my destiny to theirs. Ask yourself, if you were me, how would you feel?

To leaders in Missouri, I call on you to protect my family and this community quickly. To learn about this issue please visit www.killthefill.org and on Facebook follow Stop The Lies! Stop the Landfill!

The post Op Ed: My retirement life Should be about family and not a landfill appeared first on The Missouri Times.

In Fall 2022, a suburb of Kansas City called Raymore made an announcement that there was a landfill proposal in the works to be built right next to the KC-Raymore border. This landfill would also border (or be near) other local cities. Thousands would be impacted; the proposed site sits across the street from a public school and within a few miles of other community buildings. This spurred legislative action in the forms of HB909 and SB909 which would allow neighboring cities a voice in whether a landfill could be built next to them within a distance of one mile. In response, the developer behind the landfill proposal hired 19 lobbyists. The fight was on. Thousands of emails and calls to the Missouri House and Senate were made, but the ultimate result was a filibuster in the senate.

Following the filibuster, Kansas City banned landfills from being built in the city limits for one year but has not banned them permanently. This ordeal has led many to question if enough research has been done on landfills. We’ve discovered there are few studies on them despite the major impact they have on communities across the United States.

Therefore, a Jackson County health study was completed. It showed that living near a landfill would lead to increased chances of respiratory issues such as COPD, asthma, and additional diseases for the short term. It mentioned the concern of a landfill being placed near an elementary school. It also shockingly stated that the long-term health effects of residing near a municipal solid waste landfill have not been studied extensively in the United States.

It is noteworthy that, although the legislation was filibustered, funding for a study was passed in the senate but ultimately vetoed by Governor Parson. Determined not to give up, local citizens created a PAC called “Kill the Fill” to organize so we can further spread our message to people all over Missouri to share not only what is happening to us but also to help give this area a louder voice.

This isn’t just a local issue; this is an issue for all of us in Missouri—and beyond. No one should have to live with the threat of a health hazard ruining their community, especially children. The senators who filibustered the bill may not have been aware of the potential harm outlined in the results of the Jackson County health study. But now that the information is available, I’m imploring them to change their minds and support the wellbeing of communities south of the Kansas City border.

Many of Missouri’s politicians say they support local control for local issues. Therefore, I am calling upon all our state officials to act in the upcoming session. Empower our impacted towns by passing legislation allowing cities within one mile of a proposed landfill to have a voice in the matter. Please don’t allow thousands of lives to be put at risk.

For more information on our position, visit www.killthefill.org and follow the movement at “Stop The Lies! Stop The Landfill!” on Facebook.

Sarah Thompon

Sarah Thompon is the PR Committee Co-Chair for the Kill the Fill PAC.

The post Op Ed: It’s time to say NO to new landfills near schools and residences appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Despite its Democrat roots, Clay County is a consistently red county in the Kansas City metro. Its government is run by conservatives and the Northland is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

The reality is that the Royals are moving somewhere whether we like it or not. Most of us living in the Kansas City area feel like our region is on the move as well. There’s a lot of momentum. This transition for the Royals keeps that going.

I don’t live in Clay County, but I would certainly invest there over the downtown option.

In contrast, downtown Kansas City isn’t a place worthy of the additional headaches of cramped parking, traffic, and safety concerns. Besides, Kansas City already has the Power & Light District.

It’s probably time for Kansas City to let the Northland have something nice.

Clay and Platte counties have long helped foot the bill for taxpayers in Kansas City for little to no benefit. With Kansas City stretching into both counties, voters there are left with mostly taxation without representation.

Many Republicans in local, county, and state government are likely hopeful that the Royals choose Clay County over downtown. We can trust the government there. We can’t say the same for the leadership of Kansas City.

The North Kansas City ballpark village renderings have excited baseball fans throughout the Midwest! They portray a family, fan-friendly atmosphere not much different from what we enjoy now.

I don’t want to lose our beloved Kauffman Stadium, but it is time to move forward.

Please, Royals, I encourage you to invest in a place with a stable and sound future. Invest in Clay County!

Kay Hoflander

Kay Hoflander lives in Higginsville and is the former chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party.

The post Op-Ed: Don’t be surprised if many Missouri Republicans rally behind Clay County for the Royals’ next move appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Make no mistake, the leadership in Cass County, and the City of Raymore, have taken a great deal of leadership to prevent this project from happening, and they deserve a ton of credit. The County Commission saw this coming from a mile (or in this case a half a mile) away, and they started an effort early on the process. Passing legislation in Jefferson City has always been just one of many options. They engaged their community effectively, and they’re clearly winning the grassroots battle. The Cass County Commission, and the City of Raymore, are doing everything they can for their constituents, the vast majority of which don’t want a landfill in their backyard.

There was a lot of talk about the number of lobbyists hired to protect the landfill from being shuttered by politicians, but Cass County and Raymore hired some topflight lobbyists on their side, too. You have to think that Cass County Commissioner Ryan Johnson probably had a hand in that, given his knowledge of how the state capitol works.

On the other side of the coin, give credit to the folks who are trying to build the landfill. They saw the grassroots opposition building quickly and hired an all-star team of lobbyists to protect their interests at the Capitol. They had one objective this year: Stop legislation that would restrict their project, and they succeeded. It’s now a question of how long they can keep playing defense.

Now, even though the legislation wasn’t passed, that doesn’t mean the landfill is getting built. A deal was struck involving leadership in Kansas City. With precious days of legislative session winding down, and no break to a filibuster in the Senate in sight, there needed to be a way to give everyone a win. Kansas City leadership agreed to reassess the approval of the landfill on a local level in exchange for the legislation to effectively die this session. Additionally, quietly placed in the budget there was a line item for the Department of Natural Resources to do a feasibility study of the proposed site for the landfill. Governor Parson vetoed this line item along with about $500 million worth of other items in the budget. I suspect that there will be continued effort from legislators to get this passed next session to keep the pressure on Kansas City.

This is sure to be an issue that continues for the next couple of years, both at the state and local level in Kansas City. It’s a classic case of walking the line between allowing free enterprise while acknowledging that people don’t want some things like a landfill in their backyard. Even though efforts to effectively block the landfill through state statute failed this year, there are many different routes that it could be blocked going forward.

Scott Faughn

Scott Faughn is the publisher of The Missouri Times, owner of the Clayton Times in Clayton; SEMO Times in Poplar Bluff; and host of the only statewide political television show, This Week in Missouri Politics.

The post Opinion: Cass County flexed its political muscle in effort to block landfill appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Everyone in the state capitol has heard of our plight regarding a proposed landfill in Kansas City. The potential project site is across the street from Summit Pointe Elementary School, Kansas City Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, and a short distance from my home in Cass County.

Inside the city limits (but close to the edge) of the City of Kansas City, the landfill would be in a strange spot when it comes to its extreme proximity to homes, subdivisions, schools, churches, adjacent municipalities, and more.

The Cass County Commission, along with several local governments, has unanimously passed resolutions opposing the landfill. We realize Kansas City’s trash must go somewhere, but a densely populated residential area next to large neighborhoods on Cass County’s front porch is not an appropriate site for the proposed facility. Thankfully, the City of Raymore has been very aggressive in organizing opposition and establishing a website that tracks all the progress of our fight to protect our neighbors.

It is also worth noting that State Rep. Mike Haffner has worked tirelessly in the state capitol, fighting to change the law to give local communities that border Kansas City the ability to create an additional one-half mile buffer between their city limits and new landfills. This small change is being worked against by some of Jefferson City’s best and brightest lobbyists.

Fortunately, this landfill has not started yet, and it is still closer to an idea than implementation. The land required for its construction has not yet been acquired. The area is still zoned residential and neither Kansas City nor the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have received applications for rezoning or permitting of the potential project.

Unfortunately, the homeowners and property owners are already feeling the negative impact on the local economy from the proposed landfill. Realtors are already having to sign landfill disclosures stating they are aware of the project. Homebuilders have walked away from local construction projects. These are not good signs for our local property values and the quality of life for tens of thousands of people.

Proponents of the landfill say that the project is well underway and that the developers are being unfairly targeted. That is not true, and it is disingenuous to say the proposed landfill is too far along to be stopped.

This area is, and has been, a residential community for quite some time. It is home to a great many neighborhoods that are full of families. It is zoned residential, and the desire of the developers to abruptly change the rules on the use of this land for tens of thousands of my constituents would have a disastrous effect on our people, their homes, northern Cass County, and our friends in southern Jackson County.

This is neither the time nor place for this proposed landfill. The developers and their allies need to stop attacking the property rights of our people and figure out a better business model. Preferably, one that does not do so much harm to so many people.

Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson is the Commissioner for District 2 of Cass County, MO.

The post Letter to the Editor: Let’s stop the Kansas City landfill before it starts appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Recent rains have helped much of the state, but the overall amount of the state experiencing a form of drought has increased.

Areas around Joplin and Springfield, Mo. continue to battle extreme drought conditions. Drought has also started to impact Nothern Missouri, an occurrence not previously seen this summer. Areas around St. Joseph, Mo., Kansas City and the northern border of Missouri are currently experiencing moderate drought, according to the federal drought tracker.

Although rain has indeed helped much of the state when it comes to hay and crops, much of Missouri has still yet to experience the long and consistent rain needed to replenish soil conditions.

According to the report, the cattle market is beginning to see some normalcy, something cattlemen have sorely missed the past few months. The recent rains have given hope to those who have not culled their herds yet.

Crop reports are also optimistic for all three of Missouri’s largest crops.

Corn production is forecast at 525 million bushels, 4% below last year’s production. Corn bids continue to rise after taking a small dip at the beginning of the month.

Soybean production is forecast at 287 million bushels, up 4% from 2021. Soybean bids also rose in the middle of the month.

Except for the St. Louis area, which took a sharp dip compared to other areas.

Wheat production is forecast at 43.6 million bushels, up 37% from the previous year. Wheat bids have started to climb after a large plummet at the beginning of the month.

It seems with heavy rains in the past month and some more consistent ones in the near future, farmers may be able to breathe a small sigh of relief as both the cattle market and the crop market seem to be coming back to normal.

Featured Image Courtesy of Alisha Shurr

Kelton Turner

Kelton is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. He is a native of mid-Missouri and likes to write politics at both the state and federal levels. Kelton joined the Missouri Times in April 2022

www.themissouritimes.com

The post Agriculture industries start to stabilize, drought conditions still persist appeared first on The Missouri Times.