McCaskill says Joplin recovery funds are not in jeopardy

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says federal funding for Joplin is not in jeopardy.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said last week that funding for some long-term projects in the tornado-ravaged town would be put on hold because of Hurricane Irene.

McCaskill said she was worried initially but says she got a better explanation over the weekend.

"I do now realize that the only proposed shift was in order to meet immediate emergency needs in areas that have been impacted given how much money is left in the disaster fund between now and the end of the year," McCaskill says.

That fund has less than one billion dollars with the fiscal year ending in just over a month.

McCaskill says the U.S. House has passed the appropriation for the disaster fund for next year’s budget and she expects the Senate will do the same.

The Missouri Democrat says she’ll be watching to make sure Joplin gets the money it’s been promised.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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Public defender case goes to Mo. Supreme Court

Both sides have filed briefs with the Missouri Supreme Court in a case involving whether the state’s public defenders can turn away cases.

The suit stems July 2010 when a division of the public defenders’ office stopped taking new clients after determining its attorneys had too many cases.

The next month a judge in Christian County assigned a public defender anyway and the public defender system took the matter to the Missouri Supreme Court.

They argue public defenders are risking breaking ethical and professional requirements by taking too many cases, even citing in a recent brief two bar complaints against their own attorneys.

And director Cat Kelly says such complaints are not unusual.

“Unfortunately, it’s not. We have a fair number of bar complaints from clients whose cases are not moving as quickly as they would like or whose lawyers are not able to see them as quickly as they would like,” Kelly said.

But Christian County Prosecutor Amy Fite, among the respondents in the case, says turning away cases is not a solution.

“That’s an extreme measure to take when you have a lot of other options available to you,” Fite said.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will hear oral arguments in the case.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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Koster files suit against Army Corps of Engineers

Missouri’s attorney general is filing suit in federal court to prevent the U-S Army Corps of Engineers from detonating a levee.

The Army Corps was to decide Tuesday afternoon whether it would blow the Birds Point levee near New Madrid.

The Associated Press is reporting the Corps has chosen to delay that decision.

Attorney General Chris Koster says he wants a federal court to review the Corps’ proposal to detonate the levee before it can move forward.

"There are no good options at this point, I understand that, but before we create a manmade detonation that is going flood 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland, we want to make sure the Corps can legitimize in federal court its decision," Koster said.

The Corps believes breaking the levee will take a significant amount of water out of the river and relieve upstream pressure on the levee protecting the Illinois town of Cairo.

The Corps plans to meet again today to discuss how to move forward.

Resident of Cairo were advised to flee the city yesterday.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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Jesse James photo sold for $51,240

A signed photo of notorious Missouri outlaw Jesse James sold at auction Tuesday for $51,240

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago had estimated the photograph would sell for between $20,000 and $30,000.

The photo shows James with his hair slicked back and looking away from the camera at an angle.

Underneath it’s signed J.W. James.

The auction house has said it’s the only known signed photo of the outlaw.

But not everyone is sold on its authenticity.

Gary Chilcote, the director of the Jesse James Home Museum in St. Joseph, says the outlaw rarely signed anything.

Jesse James was shot and killed in his home in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1882 at the age of 34.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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Jesse James photo to be auctioned in Chicago

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - The only known signed photo of Jesse James, the notorious outlaw from Missouri, will go to auction next week in Chicago.

The photo shows James with slicked back hair and gazing away from the camera at an angle. It’s signed J.W. James.

Mary Williams with Leslie Hindman Auctioneers says she was skeptical until she saw the signature first-hand and noted its similarity to a letter James is said to have signed.

"It’s incredibly similar to an item being offered by History for Sale. It’s a two-page letter from Jesse James where he signs on the front with his full name, Jesse James, and on the back he sign J-W James like on our photograph, and the two are extremely similar," Williams said.

The photo is expected to sell at the auction next Tuesday for at least 20-thousand dollars.

But not everyone is sold on its authenticity.

Gary Chilcote, the director of the Jesse James Home Museum in St. Joseph, says the outlaw rarely signed anything.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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