Bond Secures $7.75 Million for St. Louis Projects
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), October 23, 2005 - U.S. Senator Kit Bond has announced that he secured $7.75 million in federal funds for key projects in St. Louis in the Senate Transportation-Treasury-HUD spending bill.
"With last night's passage some of the neediest neighborhoods in St. Louis are closer to receiving critical funds for improved education and health care services, affordable housing and community outreach projects," said Bond. "As Missouri's senior Senator, my job is to fight to send Missouri's hard-earned tax dollars back home. I will continue to work to make sure my state gets the dollars it needs, whether it is to fund safe places for our families to live, lead clean-up, or job training and education opportunities."
As chairman of the Senate Transportation-Treasury-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, Bond secured the $7.75 million in federal funds in the fiscal year 2006 spending bill, which passed the Senate last night. Before being signed into the law the bill must be reconciled with the House of Representatives version.
Bond secured funds for the following St. Louis projects:
- $5 million for Lead Abatement. These funds are focused on primary prevention services for pregnant women and their babies. The program, administered by Grace Hill Community Health Centers, is working to clean and remediate homes in six high risk zip codes, to keep children from being poisoned by lead. In 2003, Bond challenged Mayor Slay to make the city lead free by 2010 by delivering $15 million in federal funds in the next three federal funding cycles. Today's announcement is the third installment of funds, making good on his promise.
- $1 million for Salisbury Park. The funds will be used by Better Living Communities for the Salisbury Park neighborhood housing development. Once completed, the new neighborhood in North St. Louis will have 19 renovated apartments, 40 low income housing tax credit apartments, 60 single family homes and a 65-unit senior project. The new development will also provide educational, recreational and social support services for residents.
- $750,000 for the Family Support Services Center for Autistic Children. The funds will be used to build a Center to serve families with autistic children in St. Charles County. The new facility will allow current services to be consolidated in one location and provide new services to the community, including respite care for those with severe behavioral needs. In the last fiscal year Bond secured $1 million for the Center.
- $500,000 for the Mark Twain Community Alliance. The funds will be used to renovate a building that will become the Redevelopment, Arts, Culture and Educational Center in St. Louis. Specifically, the center will help residents living in the most disadvantage zip codes in St. Louis City and County (63115, 63113, 63120). Children in these zip codes are exposed to a number of negative social conditions and risk factors such as poverty, single parent households, teen pregnancy and violence, and drop out rates are also among the highest in the city. The center will take a holistic approach that offers intervention and alternatives, including educational, arts and cultural programs.
- $500,000 for the Cochran Gardens Redevelopment. The funds will be used to redevelop the Cochran Gardens Public Housing Site into a new, mixed income community, including 266 units of new garden apartments and town homes. The new Cochran Gardens Community will provide much needed affordable housing for downtown workers.
Missouri Students Remain Above National Averages in Reading, but Math Scores Slip
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), October 23, 2005 - Missouri students in grades 4 and 8 continue to outperform the nation in reading, but they lost ground in math, according to new statistics released by state education officials and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
The NAEP is known as "the nation's report card." The 2005 exams were given early this year to sample groups of students throughout the state. Between 2,600 and 2,800 public school students were tested in each subject and grade level.
The NAEP tests cover math and reading in grades 4 and 8. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, participation in NAEP testing became mandatory for all states in 2003. The reading and math exams are now given every other year.
Although the state's scores changed little from 2003 in either math or reading, Missouri students continue to score above the national average in reading at both grades 4 and 8.
In math, however, other states pulled ahead while Missouri's scores slipped or remained the same in grades 4 and 8.
"The NAEP is an important yardstick for our state, so I am disappointed to see us losing ground in math compared to other states," said Commissioner of Education D. Kent King.
"On the state's MAP exams, more students scored at the 'proficient' level in math this year in both grades 4 and 8, and the fourth-grade scores showed a significant gain. MAP scores and NAEP scores should be moving in the same direction, so this is a trend we must watch," King said.
A state law passed last year requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to align the standards of the state's MAP tests with the national assessment program. The performance standards set for the state-level exams may not exceed any NAEP standards.
As a result, beginning next year, Missouri will adopt the four-level scoring system used with the NAEP exams: "advanced," "proficient," "basic" and "below basic." This will replace the five-level system that has been used with the MAP exams since they became mandatory in the late 1990s. The five "achievement levels" used with the current MAP tests are: advanced, proficient, nearing proficient, progressing, and Step 1.
Missouri Utilities Asked to Give Price Projections for Natural Gas
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), October 23, 2005 - Attorney General Jay Nixon is asking seven natural gas utilities in Missouri to provide projections of prices and demand for natural gas in the coming heating season and to explain the measures they are taking to protect consumers. Nixon's concerns stem from reports from the U.S. Department of Energy that natural gas customers in the Midwest can expect to pay 60 percent more for heating costs this winter.
"Missourians will be especially hard hit if natural gas prices go through the roof this winter as predicted, because 57 percent of the homes in our state are heated with natural gas," Nixon said in an announcement. "We need to know what the projections are for prices and demand, and what the utilities have been doing to soften the expected blow that consumers are going to take in their pocketbooks."
Nixon and the Attorneys General of several other Midwestern states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin) sent letters to the investor-owned local distribution companies in their states. The letters ask the utilities to provide information regarding:
Projections of natural gas prices and natural gas demand for the 2005-2006 heating season and historical data for the past three heating seasons.
Causes of any price increase for the 2005-2006 heating season.
All measures the companies are taking to lessen the impact of the expected higher prices on consumers statewide, including fixed rate plans, subsidies, bill amnesties, budget payment plans and consumer education efforts.
Internal efforts at energy efficiency, conservation, hedging (which would allow companies to lock in prices when rates are lower) and other steps the companies are undertaking to control upward price volatility for consumers.
"Dramatically higher utility rates this winter could have a devastating impact not only on homeowners, but also those who have to pay the heating bills for schools, businesses, churches and other buildings," Nixon said. "As Missouri's consumer advocate, I want to find out now what is being done and what can be done to help energy consumers."
Nixon said he and his fellow Attorneys General will use the information in their review of natural gas pricing and supply issues to develop best-practice approaches to protecting energy consumers. Those approaches could include changes in how Missouri regulates utilities, programs to protect low-income and other at-risk groups, consumer education, and litigation.
Nixon's letter was sent to the presidents of Aquila Inc., which does business as Aquila Networks MPS and Aquila Networks SJLP; Atmos Energy, which does business as United Cities Gas and Associated Natural Gas; Fidelity Natural Gas; Laclede Gas Co.; Southern Missouri Gas; Southern Union Co., which does business as Missouri Gas Energy; and Union Electric Co., which does business as Ameren UE.
Last week, Nixon sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP, a federally funded program that assists low-income households in meeting their energy bills, operates in all 50 states and U.S. territories. The program offers bill payment assistance, energy crisis assistance, and assistance in weatherization and energy-related home repairs.
|
