State Of The State Cover

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City will not host Tour of Missouri

Nixon counting on stimulus for budget

HIGHER EDUCATION: Governor repeats pledge to spare institutions from funding cuts

THE SPEECH: Proposed budget also relies on cutting jobs and programs

By VALERIE INSINNA

By CHRIS DUNN

JOON HYOUNG KIM/Missourian

Gov. Jay Nixon delivers his State of the State address at the state capitol on Tuesday night in Jefferson City. Nixon’s budget proposals included business and job creation programs.

HOW NIXON WANTS TO SPEND STATE MONEY Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, proposed more funding in each area except transportation than Republican Gov. Matt Blunt did a year ago. The budget is subject to the General Assembly’s approval.

GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET Comparison of governors’ recommendations for 2009 and 2010 Elementary

$5,357,180,647

and secondary

$5,407,700,000

education

Higher education

Judiciary and

$1,282,470,055

Fiscal year 2009 $22,939,976,570

$1,344,900,000

Fiscal year 2010 $23,083,090,802

$378,308,245

elected officials

$383,600,000 $1,193,946,897

Corrections and public

$1,202,000,000

safety

$9,324,153,954

Human services*

*Includes mental health, health and senior services and social services

$9,486,400,000

$2,458,638,934 **Includes revenue, Office of Administration; employee benefits; agriculture; natural resources; conservation; economic development; insurance, financial institutions and professional registration; labor and industrial relations and real estate

Transportation

$2,274,200,000

$2,945,277,838 All other**

$2,984,290,802

Source: MISSOURI OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION, MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS

Please see PLEDGE, page 6A

By Ben Kleine

[email protected] Columbia has lost a bid for the Tour of Missouri bike race, said Lorah Steiner of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Officials with Columbia’s Convention and Visitors 1 10 1Bureau 10 1 10 1 presented its proposal specifically for an event that would start mid-week so the tour would not interfere with an MU football weekend. The Tour of Missouri could not make that work with its schedule, Steiner Chatter for bar chart goe said. (9.5 on 10.13 FG medium The Tour of Missouri will be Sept. 7-13, and Label the city asked (9.5 during on 10.13 for a starting event theFG demi) week because the logistics of TITLE HEDDER hotel rooms could not be han(10 onweekend. 12 FG heavy) dled during a football When the tour comes to a city, either a hotel acts as a DEMIparticipants CREDIT/MEDIUM MISSOUR sponsor and gives on 8 FG medium) discounted hotel(7 rooms or the city will purchase the rooms at a discounted rate. Steiner said the city cannot ask local hotels to discount their rooms when those rooms would be in high demand on a football weekend. Hotels can charge a higher rate Hartsburg on football weekend because Hartsb Jefferson they know the rooms will be Jeffers City City filled. “This is a tough market, right MAPLEWOOD now, for hotels,” Steiner said. “We can’t ask them to sellP RusO V I D E N C E those rooms for $45 or give them to us for free.” 00 O Steiner also said holding the SH event on a football weekend MAP AREA City puts a greater strain on the U.S. County resources of the city and Xx MU. X X X X Shosted T. In 2007, Columbia a weekend stretchSof T Athe T E Tour S T A TofE Missouri. Steiner said despite AN/SEA/M Lake partOinC E being unable to take the tour this year, Columbia would still like to participate in the future.

18 PT. HEDDER

[email protected] JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri’s 2010 fiscal year budget would be balanced with more than $800 million in federal economic stimulus funds under the plan Gov. Jay Nixon presented to legislators Tuesday night. In addition to highlighting several job creation efforts, health care proposals and education recommendations, Nixon said 1,300 state government positions will be cut, 50 state programs will be reduced or eliminated and funds from a federal stimulus package are necessary for the budget to be balanced. “We have every reason to believe that a federal recovery package will soon be passed by Congress, and money will be sent to the states to help create economic growth,” Nixon said in his address. “We’ve been working closely with the Obama administration and our congressional delegation on this matter. And I have established an Economic Stimulus Coordination Council to ensure that Missouri is prepared to wisely invest the assistance that comes from Washington.” Congress has yet to take final action on the bailout package. Although Republican budget leaders said the $809 million figure was in the ballpark for what the state can expect, they questioned how the governor proposed using the money. Both House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said the funds should be limited to one-time expenditures -- not built into the core of the budget since there is no guarantee Congress would continue the state support in future years. The Republican House Speaker, Ron Richard, R-Joplin, was more blunt in his criticism. “2010 — we’re still operating on a check card, a credit card, hoping for $800 million from the Fed,” Richard said. “We’ll see. We’ve got to balance a budget, so I’m not going to count on dollars that we don’t have.” In a pre-speech budget briefing with the press, Nixon’s deputy counsel Paul Wilson justified the risks involved in including the federal stimulus package. He said, if the state did not take advantage of a package that Congress might pass, “we’ll have missed a tremendous opportunity.” Wilson and Budget Director Linda

CATHERINE McCOMB/MISSOURIAN

16 PT. HEDDER

BROADWAY

[email protected] JEFFERSON CITY — Although most formal addresses to joint legislative sessions by presidents and governors focus on the triumphs of the common citizen, Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon focused on one of the failures of Missouri’s higher education system in his State of the State address Tuesday night. Nixon introduced a Missouri native who was forced by tuition costs to leave the state to go to college. Jennifer Long completed the A+ program — which allows students to attend a two-year state college if they meet academic and personal qualifications — at Longview Community College in Lee’s Summit. Despite wanting to stay in her home state of Missouri, she decided to go to Pittsburg Community College in Kansas because it gives instate tuition to nearby Missouri county residents. Long and her parents were invited to attend the legislative session, where Nixon introduced them to the chamber during his speech. “I really wanted to go to Mizzou, but the prices were kind of crazy,” Long said later in an interview. “My whole family’s huge Mizzou fans. I grew up watching Mizzou basketball, Mizzou football ... Mizzou was my dream school.” Nixon’s communication director, Jack Cardetti, said Nixon met Long the day before the election. “For the release of the state budget, he couldn’t think of anyone better to come to show the need to provide Missouri students with a four-year degree, debt free,” he said. “Of all the people the governor met during the campaign, her story stuck out.” Nixon said because of students like Long, his budget includes funding for Missouri Promise, a program that will allow students who complete the A+ program to continue at a Missouri fouryear college or university without having to pay tuition. “Now, as long as they keep a B average and give back to their community, students like Jennifer Long will have a pathway to earn a four-year degree and graduate debt free, right here in Missouri,” he said. Besides implementing the Missouri Promise program, Nixon repeated his recommendation that the higher education budget not be cut and in exchange,

The event would conflict with an MU football weekend.

Men plead guilty in fraud case Lake effect

HEADLINES

[email protected] Fourth Ward Councilman Jerry Wade wants to see a community that is grounded in its residents and supported by strong neighborhood organizations. “One of the things that I wanted to do when I got on the council was to help Columbia develop a strong neighborhood leadership program,” Wade said. “I think that it is the city’s responsibility to provide opportunities for people who want to make a contribution in the civic arena to develop their capability and skills.” The city will begin its first Neighborhood Leadership Program on Feb. 17, and Wade

hopes the initiative will help build a new generation of leaders. The program, with six sessions that span 10 weeks, is open to all Columbia residents. It was designed to provide information and resources for those who play an active role in their neighborhoods as well as for those who would like to get more involved. Space is limited to 25 participants, and 20 had registered by Tuesday. If neighborhood associations are going to be effective, Wade said, “there have to be people that can provide leadership, can have an understanding of how organizations like that can work and how you can make them successful.”

Updike, prize-winning author, dies NEW YORK — John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76. Updike died of lung cancer. — The Associated Press

During the program, Wade will be speaking from his perspective on the city council about how to work with the city to address neighborhood issues. Other speakers include elected officials, city staff and neighborhood leaders. Paul Leistner, neighborhood program coordinator for the City of Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement in Portland, Ore., will be speaking via teleconference on the strengths and weaknesses of Portland’s 34-year-old neighborhood system. Leistner also plans to share three goals for the community of Portland and how they can be applied to other communities wanting to strengthen their Please see LEADERS, page 6A

By Jonathan Randles

Columbia’s Neighboorhood Leadership Program begins Feb. 17. The program consists of six sessions over the course of 10 weeks. Feb. 17 – Overview of our municipal government, Columbia’s history and demographic trends n

March 3 – Neighborhood organization structure and neighborhood efforts success panel n

March 17 – Developing personal leadership skills

Tuesday, March 31 – Navigating local government: getting the information and answers you need n

Tuesday, April 14 – Understanding the development process and the role of neighborhood organizations n

Monday, April 27 – Developing the resources to help your neighborhood and recognition ceremony for those completing the course n

Outside today

Getting it right

Index

This morning: Mostly sunny. Temp: 25° This evening: Mostly cloudy. Temp: 15° Page 2A

The Missourian’s policy is to check all local stories for accuracy before publication. If you are a source of information, and we don’t double-check it with you, let us know. If you spot a mistake, let us know that, too. Call Tom Warhover at 573-882-5734.

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[email protected] Two former Columbia resi- EEE dents each pleaded guilty Xxxx of on Tuesday to Site one ofcount investment fraud conspiracy for their role in defrauding investors of approximately $3 Pointer million, said Don Ledford, public affairs officer for the U.S. Pointer Attorney’s Office Western DisPointer trict of Missouri. William Colwell McNeely, 77, Pointer now of Millersburg, and Craig a label F. Swoboda, 73, TOPIC: of LakeI am Ozark, cleverly contained pleaded guilty in Federal Court to in the text. committing wiredirectly and mail fraud while running United ManageXXXX XXX XXX ment Group, Inc. (UMI) in ColumXxxxxx 00 00 bia from 1997 through 2006. McNeely said Xxxxxx he took 00 inves- 00 tor money creation of vending TOTAL 000 000 machine technology for himself. One investor lost as much as $400,000. Ledford said McNeely and Swoboda lied to potential investors saying that UMI was worth $150 million and that the company had struck deals with several distributors. On Nov. 17, 2007, McNeely and Swoboda were indicted on 16 counts related to the scheme. Under federal statutes, they could face 20 years in federal prison without parole, be fined up to $250,000 and ordered to pay restitution.

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Please see Address, page 6A

Neighborhood Leadership Program

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Lake effect

Program aims to bolster neighborhoods By BRITTANY MARCH

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