The Flyover View, October 21, 2022 | Heartland Politics, News, and Views

HEADLINE 1: Contamination in Springfield’s groundwater, and Missouri knew for Decades - STLPR

An investigation by the Midwest Newsroom and St. Louis Public Radio has found that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the company Litton Systems, a former defense contractor that had employed thousands of people in Springfield to make circuit boards for the Navy and telecommunications industry, knew as early as 1993 that contamination beyond the company’s property into the surrounding community “had undoubtedly occurred,”. Litton used a toxic solvent called trichloroethylene (TCE) to wash the circuit boards and for years improperly disposed of it. The pollutant leached into the groundwater and into aquifers deep below the ground. It then spread to nearby properties, where it made its way into wells that supplied water to those who lived and worked near Litton.

A review of thousands of pages of government records and interviews found that DNR employees raised concerns about the contamination and implored the agency to force Litton to investigate further. But in the years that followed, neither the company nor DNR sought to determine the extent of the problem or alert the public about the potential risks, our examination found. Instead, both relied on a remediation system to remove the TCE, a measure that the government later determined did not work to effectively contain the contamination.

The problem was not broadly known in Springfield until TCE was detected and publicized in 2018 at Fantastic Caverns, a tourist destination about five miles north of the former Litton site. As a result, some people bought property without knowing that they would be exposed to a chemical linked to cancer and other medical conditions. Others are left wondering how long they’ve been drinking and bathing in water tainted with TCE. And people are upset that an agency tasked with protecting the environment did not do more to warn the public about the risks of contamination.

When you hear a story like this there’s a lot of anger and frustration to be had. The carelessness of Litton cannot be overstated, but we have come to expect a company to hide in the shadows on issues like this. The thing that hits me hard is the fact that the DNR failed to adequately do its job, and there should be consequences. It may be tempting to point to the failure of the DNR as an example of how government doesn’t work, but take a step back and realize without that governmental body, this would have NEVER come to light. Yes, it functioned poorly, but that can be fixed and hopefully better handled in the future. Leave it to private enterprise and we never find out.

HEADLINE 2: Joplin, MO woman left helpless with non-viable pregnancy - Springfield News-Leader

At 6:30 a.m. on August 2, nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy, Mylissa Farmer experienced what doctors call a preterm premature rupture of membranes — her water broke before labor, followed by vaginal bleeding, abdominal pressure and cramping.

She went to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, where she'd been just the day before. Everything had been normal then. She and her boyfriend, Matthew McNeill, had already picked out a name for their daughter: Maeve.

But the doctors had devastating news for them on Aug. 2.

If Maeve was delivered right then, chances of survival at 17 weeks and 5 days were zero, according to the assessment and plan section of Farmer's medical records outlining the visit. And the outcome wasn't much better if they tried to hold off on delivery.

The doctors recommended terminating the pregnancy, but 39 days after the state of Missouri banned abortions, that wasn't an option, at least not in Missouri.

A year ago, the hospital could have offered a chance for the couple to say goodbye and hold their daughter, even though they knew she wouldn't survive outside the womb.

Instead, Farmer and McNeill were left to make a series of trips across three states and countless phone calls.

The couple wanted to be able to grieve the loss of their daughter, not sit at home or in a hospital "with a baby dying inside me," Farmer said.

"I know it sounds horrible, but we just wanted to finish the process," she said.

In the end, Farmer didn't just lose Maeve; she lost her friends and her trust that Missouri would allow medical professionals to do their jobs.

"It was hard. You could tell the doctors were trying to tell us what we needed to do, but at the same time, trying to protect themselves. We’re not angry with them," Farmer said.

If her vitals plummeted or infection set in, or the fetus' cardiac activity stopped, the doctors could intervene, but not before then.

At 41, Farmer worried that by the time there was an emergency, it would be too late for both her and Maeve. And even if Farmer did live through it, she worried about what her recovery would be like. She was already at "risks of maternal thrombosis given her history of (deep vein thrombosis during a COVID-19 infection), infection/sepsis, severe blood loss, hysterotomy, hysterectomy and even mortality," according to the medical record.

Farmer then did something she, who describes herself as "pretty pro-life" and Christian, never thought she would do: She began to look for abortion clinics.

Farmer and McNeill set out for Granite City, Illinois. Early in the morning on Aug. 5, Farmer began to have back pain while on their way to the place just 15 minutes outside of St. Louis. When she got to HOPE Clinic, she was in labor.

After the fact, Farmer said it was almost reassuring that the labor came on. Friends in Joplin who knew of the situation had been telling her that she "could give birth at 17 weeks, that they knew people who have done it, that I was killing my child."

"It did my heart good to know I was doing the right thing," she said, as if her body was telling her that it was OK.

But still, the experience was harrowing. Protesters in front of the clinic echoed the things her friends had told her, "saying we were killing our baby and that we were evil."

"It was awful, you know? We were just going through so much. We didn’t want this ... but at the same time, we had no choice," Farmer said.

Since their ordeal, Farmer has lost trust. While she still feels her obstetrician at Freeman Hospital in Joplin is a good doctor, she's worried about whether medical professionals in Missouri will be able to offer patients necessary care.

Despite reaching out to various legislators, she has yet to receive an answer that satisfies her: Why is this law written this way? If it's to protect women, why did she have to be in danger before she could get care in-state? Why is it such a binary law?

"The world is too nuanced to put such strict rules in place," Farmer said.

HEADLINE 3: Supreme Court Considers Pork Producers’ Plea - The Intercept

On Tuesday, oral arguments will begin in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, a case in which the pork industry is challenging the constitutionality of a California law regulating the worst cruelties of mass meat and egg production. The pork producers are arguing that California’s law ends up forcing them to change their procedures outside California’s borders at significant cost.

If the justices rule on the side of the pork producers, it will be only the latest case to expose the illusion of so-called states’ rights that conservative legal forces have spent 200 years pushing on the public.

There would also be widespread implications: Ruling in favor of industry would set yet another grim precedent, potentially curtailing the ability of states to enforce progressive industry regulations and protections. Everything from state laws on workers’ rights to environmental standards to further animal welfare issues could be challenged. Meanwhile, there could be another layer of irony: With the court’s provenselective federalism, we can be sure that any such precedent would be no barrier to conservative states enacting laws with economic consequences far beyond their state lines in future.

THE LAW IN question at the Supreme Court this week is California’s Prop 12, passed through a resounding 2018 ballot victory. The law bans the sale in California of meat and eggs from animals raised in extreme and brutal confinement, including in gestation crates where pregnant pigs are held, barely able to move, for most of their lives.

Such confinement has been condemned by all major animal welfare and veterinary organizations, and has been deemed a “profound danger to food and public health,” given the rife spread of disease, according to a brief written by the American Public Health Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, among others, for the case.

The pork producers contend that the law creates unconstitutional constraint on their business, as farmers in other states must change their practices to abide by Prop 12’s standards if they hope to sell pork in the nation’s most populous state and since most of the pork consumed in California is indeed produced out of state, and that the state is a market too big for major producers to forego, there’s little doubt that the Californian regulations would indeed affect interstate practices. It’s not a foregone conclusion that a majority of justices will side with the National Pork Producers Council. Both conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have, from an originalist stance, previously criticized the dormant commerce clause. And, of course, all six of the court’s right-wing justices have ruled in favor of state laws that have significant economic effects on the lives of those outside those states — such is the nature of living in an entangled national body politic. Just ask the abortion clinics now overwhelmed by out-of-state travel. Yet we should never underestimate the conservative majority’s pro-business bent, and its unabashed desire to quash any and all liberation struggles — be they for human or nonhuman lives.

If the pork producers succeed in overthrowing Prop 12, many millions of animals will continue to live and die in the most appalling suffering. The message will be sent too that when big business wants to challenge democratically passed state laws, they have several right-wing Supreme Court justices — those storied defenders of states’ rights — on their side.

This situation on the Federal scale reminds me immediately of Missouri’s own quashing of local politics. The Missouri GOP claims to be the protector of local politics but when CAFOs in Missouri began polluting groundwater the State told counties they couldn’t enact regulations locally to hinder big business. It’s certainly evident the Right favors big government when it serves them.

LIGHTNING ROUND:

LR 1 - Lone Candidate shows up for Missouri’s 3rd - News Tribune

Only one candidate was present for the News Tribune's election forum Tuesday night, but two issues emerged to dominate the discussion: the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and federal student loan forgiveness. Bethany Mann, agricultural scientist and the Democratic challenger for Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, said the pandemic is ongoing and that student loan forgiveness isn't the ultimate solution to skyrocketing higher education costs, but a good policy nonetheless. Mann states that The country's student loan system is predatory, because it traps financially inexperienced young people into accumulating mass amounts of debt they don't know they can repay. The real issue is a lack of regulation on the banking industry, she said. Mann said more corporate regulations can insulate consumers from market shocks.

"We need to fix the root cause and not penalize people for trying to make a better life for themselves," she said.

As far as Blaine Luetktemeyer, he couldn’t be bothered to show up to the conversation.

LR 2 - Kansas ranks among the worst in the country on both mental illness and its treatment - NPR

A new report by Mental Health America tracking mental illness and the ease of accessing care found high rates of addiction among young people and mental illness and suicidal thoughts among adults put Kansas in last place.

The report, based largely on data from 2019 and 2020, found 9% of Kansas youth had a substance use disorder, more than any other state. Over a quarter of adults had a mental illness and over 6% had serious thoughts of suicide, both well above national averages. In part, that’s because the state doesn’t have enough psychiatrists, therapists and other mental health care workers to go around. Compared with a national rate of one provider for every 350 people, Kansas only had one for every 470 people — and experts say the shortfall is particularly dire in rural areas.

Kansas also got low marks on insurance rates and the ability to afford mental health care.

Around 18% of adults with mental illness in Kansas had no insurance, compared with 11% nationwide. And only around 7% of youths with severe depression received consistent treatment for it, compared to 28% nationwide.

LR 3 - Commission recommends salary increases to address Missouri teacher shortage - Missouri Independent

A state commission Tuesday laid out its recommendations to improve teacher recruitment and retention in Missouri, including a push to raise starting salaries that currently rank among the lowest in the nation. The State Board of Education approved the commission’s nine recommendations and pledged to bring the findings to the public and lawmakers. Nearly 8% of available full-time teaching positions in the school year 2020-2021 were vacant or filled by not fully qualified individuals, according to the report. One of the commission’s immediate recommendations was for the legislature to amend the state’s base teacher salary, which is currently set by state law at $25,000 for a beginning teacher, to “at least $38,000” and to conduct annual reviews of the starting salary level.

According to the National Education Association’s review from earlier this year, Missouri’s average teacher starting salary ranks second-to-last in the nation, at $33,234, higher only than Montana. At a public hearing in August, educators recounted taking on second jobs to get by.

Per the Report, the legislature should also establish a state fund to help local school districts pay more competitive salaries overall, the report recommended.

The average teachers salary in Missouri ranks 47th in the nation, at $51,557, according to the National Education Association. It’s good to see that last bit tacked on, the focus on teacher pay in Missouri almost always centers on starting pay, which… is admittedly terrible, but we want to retain teachers too. A pay bump for every teacher in Missouri is way overdue.

LR 4 - Will the next Farm Bill be climate friendly? Depends on the Midterms - Mother Jones

This year’s midterm elections will decide the direction of a massive legislative package meant to tackle the nation’s agricultural problems. Ahead of the November elections, House Republicans have already released insight into their priorities for this upcoming legislation. The Republican Study Committee, whose members make up 80 percent of all Republican members of Congress, released its draft budget in July. This draft document outlines a plan that completely defunds federal programs that support conservation efforts, as well as slashes federal food stamp and crop insurance programs. As Farm Bill debates continue, a group of over 150 progressive, agriculture, and environmental groups, from the nation’s largest federation of labor unions to the Sierra Club environmental group, have urged President Joe Biden to add climate reforms in the upcoming legislative package. In a letter to Biden, organizations urged the President to pass a Farm Bill that would help mend economic and racial divides in the industry, increase access to nutrition, support fair labor conditions in farming communities labor conditions, as well as tackle the climate crisis with a focus on agriculture.

LR 5 - Kansas Republicans downplay abortion in legislative races. Some change campaign sites - Kansas City Star

Mike Pence recently tweeted out “I’ve got news for President Biden. Come January 22nd, we will have Pro-Life majorities in the House and Senate and we’ll be taking the cause of the right to Life to every state house in America!” Which sounds a little funny when hearing reports of   Multiple Kansas House GOP candidates removing anti-abortion material from their campaign sites in the wake of voters’ rejection of the constitutional amendment in August. We keep seeing this play out, the Republicans, the proverbial dog in this idiom, have caught the car on Abortion and frankly don’t know exactly how to move forward. Hopefully a full blown referendum is coming down the pipe in November!

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