News

You Paid For It: Canceling pandemic assistance repayments

Published

2 years ago

February 20, 2023

[ad_1]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Proposed legislation in the Missouri House of Representatives would give a break to struggling residents being forced to repay pandemic funds. The state claims some residents were overpaid.

State Representative Deb Lavender (D-Manchester), who sponsored the bill, says these Missourians did nothing illegal to obtain this money.

“I have a bill that’s going to ask for Missouri to stop collecting unemployment insurance benefits that were given to people laid off during the pandemic through no fault of their own,” Lavender said. “They didn’t fraudulently get this money. It was given to them by the state and federal government for unemployment during the pandemic”

The federal government, for the most part, waived repayment of the federal portion of the pandemic funds. But Missouri Governor Mike Parson has said the state money should be repaid.

“If you got more money than you should, you should have an obligation to pay it back, because you are taking away from someone else,” he said.

The state of Missouri says it overpaid some $96 million to tens of thousands of Missouri residents during the pandemic.

2 St. Charles teens charged in shooting death of 15-year-old

One of them is Karen Kushshon from north St. Louis County. The state is threatening to garnish her wages and putting a lien on her house if she does not repay more than $18,000 they say she was overpaid.

“I don’t have the money I don’t have no money to pay no $18,000. It’s not right. I’m still living paycheck by paycheck,” she said. “I’m barely making it, and if they start taking it out of my paycheck, it’s going to really hurt me.”

State lawmakers tried before to pass legislation to bar the state from collecting pandemic overpayments. The effort passed the Missouri House on a bipartisan vote but failed in the Senate. Rep. Lavender says too many families are still struggling.

”Well, they’re garnishing wages, they’ve placed liens on homes, people are having tremendous challenges being able to pay for the amount,” she said. “It’s being pulled out of their paychecks right now, so there’s a substantial hardship to this right now for a lot of people.”

Close Modal

Suggest a Correction

[ad_2]

Source link

News

Man attacks Jeff Co. deputy with screwdriver during attempted arrest

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – Two people are behind bars after a man reportedly attacked a Jefferson County deputy with a screwdriver during an attempted arrest over the weekend.

Prosecutors have charged Nicholas Davis, 47, and Amanda Davis, 45, of Dittmer, Missouri, with felonies in the investigation.

Illinois man charged with sharing sex video of former St. Louis County official

The alleged attack followed a traffic stop of a driver in the 9500 block of Jones Creek Road on July 7, though the driver was not Nicholas or Amanda.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, Nicholas reportedly came out of his nearby home, yelled at a deputy and started approaching him while holding a screwdriver. The deputy initially ordered Nicholas to back away, then used pepper spray.

Per court documents, the deputy attempted to arrest Nicholas, who then struck him in the chest with the screwdriver. Amanda reportedly approached the deputy and pulled him away from Nicholas before both ran inside their home.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says the situation prompted an hours-long standoff involving negotiators, a SWAT team and a K-9 deputy. The situation led to Nicholas refusing warnings and being bitten by a K-9.

Nicholas and Amanda are both jailed in the Jefferson County Jail without bond. Nicholas is charged with first-degree assault on a special victim and armed criminal action. Amanda is charged with resisting/interfering with arrest.

Close Modal

Suggest a Correction

[ad_2]

Source link

News

St. Louis Public Schools superintendent to be sworn in

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

ST. LOUIS — The new St. Louis schools superintendent will be officially sworn into office today. Dr. Keisha Scarlett took over the job in July after the retirement of Dr. Kelvin Adams. She was assistant superintendent in the Seattle Public School District. The installation ceremony is at 6:15 p.m. before the regular school board meeting.

Close Modal

Suggest a Correction

[ad_2]

Source link

News

Gas tanker crashes into St. Louis Metro transit center

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

ST. LOUIS — A gasoline tanker truck crashed into a Metro transit center near Riverview and Hall Streets early Tuesday morning and knocked over a power pole. The pole is leaning on other power lines. Police have the area blocked off here because there is a downed power line. Ameren and Metro crews are also on the scene.

The incident happened around 12:30 a.m. It’s still unclear exactly what caused the crash, but we do that there was a second vehicle somehow involved. The airbags on that second vehicle did deploy.

Accused killer’s case thrown out over one question at trial

Police at the scene have not been able to give us a lot of details. Metro officials tell FOX 2 that the transit center here is operating this morning for passengers and buses. Access to certain areas will be limited here as clean up unfolds.

A Metro spokesperson says half of the station isn’t being used right now because of safety issues. It isn’t impacting overall bus operations, everything is just happening on the other side of transit center.

The extent of the damage to the actual transit center is still unclear, but I’m told it does not appear to be extreme. A Metro spokesperson tells me there were no injuries to any metro workers or passengers. The tanker driver also was not injured.

Close Modal

Suggest a Correction

[ad_2]

Source link