Editorials

By Jay Ashcroft, Missouri Secretary of State
and Tre Hargett, Tennessee Secretary of State
    As we gear up for the 2020 elections, voters in both the Show-Me State and the Volunteer State will be flooded with election-related information. This includes anything related to voter registration, polling locations and times, absentee ballots and other election questions. That’s why Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and I are joining forces along with Secretaries of State from across the country to educate voters that election officials are trusted sources for election information.

By Eric Bohl
     Imagine if Warren Buffett wanted to build a private toll road across northern Missouri. The billionaire would charge cars $100 apiece to race from his home city of Omaha, Nebraska, to Nashville, Tennessee, pocketing a huge chunk of profit on each trip. He might call it the “Music City Express.” Unfortunately, the toll road would have no exits in Missouri. Cars could only get on in Nebraska and exit in Tennessee. No local residents could use it at all.

By Phill Brooks
    A recent lawsuit filed against the Missouri House has highlighted a growing conflict between demands for openness in government versus the expectation of Missouri citizens for personal privacy. Missouri's Sunshine Law addresses privacy concerns for some information held by state government.

By Mohammad Dehghani
    Doppler radar. Mobile payment systems. A GPS in the palm of your hand. We take these types of everyday technologies for granted. But behind each of them was the work of engineers – and if not for one Missouri university known for its engineering programs, these innovations, and many others, may have never occurred.

By Phill Brooks
    The Missouri Ethics Commission has struck another blow against "dark money." The term describes money spent on behalf of candidates and ballot issues using a legal loophole that avoids disclosure of the real contributors.

    An area library official recently expressed concern about Missouri House Bill 2044, otherwise known as the “Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act.” The bill should concern everyone, especially parents, as what it really seeks to do is take away parental oversight of what their kids can read at the library.