Recent Missouri editorials

The Jefferson City News-Tribune, July 18

We welcome Gov. Mike Parson’s call for a special session to address violent crime, and we hope lawmakers are willing to take serious measures to address a mounting problem in our state.

Kansas City has seen a 35 percent increase in homicides this year, and St. Louis homicides have spiked 31 percent. Violent crime was a problem before these elevated numbers. It’s past time for our state to seriously address the issue.

Missouri “is on track to have its deadliest year on record, having already experienced more homicides in the first half of 2020 than the entire year of 2019,” Parson said in a proclamation.

It’s not just an issue for the big cities. Jefferson City police are investigating the city’s latest homicide, which took place Wednesday.

A generation ago, it was unusual for our police reporters to come across a “shots fired” incident, much less a homicide. But gun violence and subsequent deaths seem all too common now.

Parson is calling for lawmakers to address six concerns by amending or adding new sections to five areas of state law.

As outlined in a news release from his office, Parson is calling on lawmakers to:

Eliminate the residency requirement for St. Louis law enforcement “so long as the officer lives within an hour of the city. This proposal would also prohibit requiring any public safety employee for the city of St. Louis to be a resident of the city.”

Require courts to “determine if a juvenile should be certified for trial as an adult for the offense of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.”

Allow certain statements by witnesses to be admissible in court that would otherwise not be allowed under current law.

Create a “Pretrial Witness Protection Fund.”

Modify the offense of endangering the welfare of a child “for a person who encourages a child to engage in any weapons offense.”

Increase the penalty for a person who knowingly sells or delivers a firearm to a child without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian.

These measures, put together, will make a difference. But not enough. Only this last measure would potentially have a direct impact on keeping guns out of the wrong hands.

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The Kansas City Star, July 20

Last week on the reality show known as More Missouri Madness, Gov. Mike Parson announced that the state will be spending $15 million of its federal COVID-19 relief money to promote tourism.

With coronavirus hospitalizations at a two-month high, and as Parson himself continues to behave like an anti-role model, come on over and share in the pandemic fun, he says.

“With all the other things going on, it’s still important people need to get out and enjoy life a little bit,” Parson said.

What could be more restorative than a visit to Branson, where they can’t even agree to mandate masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus?

Or how about a nice leisurely shoulder-to-shoulder hangout at one of those now internationally known beach bars on the Lake of the Ozarks?

Or for that matter, what better time for a trip to Kansas City, where we keep setting records for new infections?

But then, inviting people to take the kind of needless risks that only damage the economy has become a habit for Parson.

In a Friday radio interview, Parson suggested that he still does not know the ABCs of COVID-19.

He actually said that most kids will get sick when they go back to school, and that this prospect doesn’t trouble him: “These kids have got to get back to school. They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will - and they will when they go to school - they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctors’ offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it,” Parson told St. Louis radio host Marc Cox.

The only problem with this is that it isn’t true. Younger people and even babies have died of COVID-19. The average age of COVID-19 patients keeps trending younger. And even infected children who are asymptomatic can still spread the virus to teachers, staff and family members.

Parson also continues to be lukewarm on any measures that would minimize risk. “If you want to wear a dang mask, wear a mask,” he said recently. But only if you want to, because our dang governor can’t seem to see that if we don’t do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus, businesses will continue to struggle. It’s almost like some of these public health libertarians are going through their “if it feels good, do it” hippie phase 50 years late.

“You can’t go to every event as the governor of the state of Missouri and people stay 6 foot away. You just can’t,” Parson said. That’s the old can-do spirit, Governor.

Naturally, his health director is right there with him. “I think there are benefits to getting outdoors, to travel,” Missouri Health Director Randall Williams said. “And are there some risks? There probably are, but there are also some benefits. Let’s not lose sight of that.” Solid advice as always, Doc.

There is a lot of competition for those COVID-19 relief funds, which could be used to help get us ready to vote more safely, especially since Parson’s party has refused to allow most mail-in voting except with a notary’s signature. Which during this pandemic defeats the whole purpose.

But apparently, Parson has bigger worries than the health and safety of Missourians. Last week, he signed a bill that cracked down on the pressing problem of fake service animals.

He also announced a special session on violent crime but emphasized that it will not deal with anything that might actually curb violent crime, instead just doing more of what we’ve done many times before, increasing penalties for offenders. Missouri already has the seventh-highest incarceration rate in the country.

“We have to give our law enforcement officials the tools they need to fight violent crime,” he told reporters. “And right now, more important than anything, we’ve got to stand up for those law enforcement officers.”

Last year, of course, the governor called a special session to address the special-interest scourge of how a sales tax on used cars was being collected.

Now, if Parson himself needs a break from his trivial pursuits, his indifference to public health and safety - well, other than for police officers - and his counterproductive efforts to help the economy, maybe a vacation is a good idea.

But spending desperately needed federal relief funds to boost tourism in the middle of a plague makes no sense at all.

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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 19

Few Americans disagree with the sentiment that kids need to be back in the classroom, but President Donald Trump and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson can’t seem to grasp that the mechanics are far more complicated than simply putting students behind desks. If handled badly - and the administration’s track record makes that a virtual certainty - an even worse explosion of coronavirus cases looms on the horizon.

In comments over the weekend, Parson and Trump minimized the effects that more coronavirus infections would have if students spread it to their fellow students. Parson seemed particularly blind to the complexities as he minimized the risks posed by fully reopening schools in a few weeks - at the same time daily infection rates are breaking records in his state.

“These kids have got to get back to school. They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19 - which they will, and they will when they go to school - they’re not going to the hospitals,” he told radio host Marc Cox. “They’re not going to have to sit in doctors’ offices. They’re going to go home, and they’re going to get over it.”

The last time we checked, school children don’t live alone at home. They have parents and siblings. Many have elderly relatives living there as well. While death rates are far lower among youths, that doesn’t mean exposure is risk-free. Kids with asthma or other health conditions can experience life-threatening reactions. The risk of hospitalization or death skyrockets for older people who might be exposed by infected children.

Teachers and bus drivers also would face overwhelming risk of exposure. Parson has yet to articulate a plan to protect them. Even something as logical as making masks mandatory in the classroom remains up for debate under Parson.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a likely challenger to Parson in the November general election, accurately criticized Parson’s remarks as displaying “stunning ignorance.”

Trump and Parson are so obsessed with manufacturing symbols of American normalcy and economic revival that they conveniently overlook the hundreds of thousands of lives they would place in harm’s way with hasty school reopening policies.

Trump continues threatening to withhold federal aid from school districts that fail to fully reopen in the fall. Members of Congress might have something to say about that because their consent is required for any change in the allocation of funds already approved by Congress.

On what planet are these two politicians living? A pandemic that once appeared to be subsiding is now spreading at unprecedented rates, almost entirely because Trump and GOP governors like Parson insisted on reopening sooner and more robustly than experts regarded as prudent. Now they propose to throw children - along with their teachers, parents, siblings and elderly relatives - into this deadly mix.

That’s not a reopening plan. It’s a plan for disaster.