Jefferson City, Missouri - In recognition of Veterans Day, Gov. Jay Nixon is issuing a challenge to local chambers of commerce to encourage their members to take the Show-Me Heroes pledge and actively recruit veterans and service members for available positions. The Show-Me Heroes Chamber Challenge will be administered by the Missouri Division of Workforce Development.

“A little friendly competition can go a long way, especially when everyone wins,” Gov. Nixon said. “Four years ago we launched the Show-Me Heroes initiative to help connect our veterans with good jobs in their communities. Today, we’re taking that another step forward and asking local chambers of commerce to get involved and help spread the word that our service men and women make excellent, highly-skilled employees.”

The Show-Me Heroes program, established by Gov. Nixon in January 2010, is designed to connect military veterans with job opportunities when they return home from service. Administered by the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, Show-Me Heroes showcases Missouri businesses that are willing and eager to hire veterans.

Businesses participating in the Show-Me Heroes program sign a pledge to ramp up efforts to reach out to, recruit and interview veterans for job openings at their business. To date, more than 4,100 Missouri businesses have taken the Show-Me Heroes pledge and have reported hiring more than 7,100 highly-skilled, highly-trained job seekers who have served in the military.

With tens of thousands of Missouri businesses belonging to their local chambers of commerce, the Show-Me Heroes Chamber Challenge is an initiative to increase participation in the state’s premier Veteran and Service Member workforce development program.

By encouraging members to participate, chambers of commerce will work to become certified bronze, silver, or gold Show-Me Heroes Chambers. The challenge levels are based on the percentage of membership participation with 10 percent earning the chamber the bronze recognition, 30 percent earning the chamber the silver recognition, and 50 percent or more earning the chamber the gold recognition.

“As president of the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Missouri (CCEM), I am excited and proud to bring the Show-Me Heroes program to chambers of commerce and businesses throughout the state,” said CCEM President Brent McCoy. “From a Chamber perspective, this program will be of huge benefit to our member investors who are in desperate need for hiring and developing the right talent in areas such as engineering, IT, finance/accounting, security and executive leadership amongst many others.

“Chambers play a key role in connecting our members with the right resources,” McCoy continued. “Right now, finding the right talent is one of the most pressing issues facing the employer community. The Show-Me Heroes program serves as a natural bridge between the employers and those talented men and women that can fill those roles. On behalf of CCEM, we are excited to partner with the Show-Me Heroes program.”

“When Missouri keeps its veterans by educating or employing them in our state when they return home from duty, it is a win for our state,” said Daniel P. Mehan, President /CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We know that the skills veterans possess can help Missouri employers succeed, and when Missouri employers succeed, our state continues to grow. That is why we are proud to support this initiative.”

Chambers that take the pledge will automatically be able to feature the Show-Me Heroes Chamber Challenge on their websites. Businesses that take the pledge will also be able to promote their establishments as being military friendly by featuring the Show-Me Heroes Employer logo on their websites.

If businesses hire one or more veterans or service members through the program, they can be nominated to receive the Flag of Freedom Award, which consists of a plaque featuring an American flag patch from the combat uniform of a member of the Missouri National Guard worn while that citizen-Soldier or Airman was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

For more information on Show-Me Heroes and how to participate in the Chamber Challenge, please visit www.ded.mo.gov.

Jefferson City, Missouri - One hundred eighteen members of the newly elected Republican caucus gathered on Wednesday.  This was a record!

Tila Hubrecht said, "I am excited that we will have a wonderful opportunity to work together for the good of all Missouri."

She went on to say that 'she looks forward to conservative, common sense legislation!'

Congratulations to all that were elected this week!

St. Louis, Missouri - Gov. Jay Nixon today asked two prominent St. Louis civic leaders – former president of Anheuser-Busch David Peacock and Clayton attorney Robert Blitz – to conduct an analysis over the next 60 days of the current situation regarding the St. Louis Rams and provide a briefing to the Governor on options to ensure that St. Louis remains an NFL city for years to come.

“Being an NFL city is a matter of civic and state pride, and make no mistake about it – St. Louis is an NFL city,” Gov. Nixon said. “The economic impact of having an NFL team in St. Louis extends long beyond Sunday afternoon, and sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player.  I am confident that these two outstanding civic leaders can explore paths forward that will protect taxpayers and ensure private investment.”

By completing their work within the next 60 days, the Governor said, the these civic leaders would put the state in a position to communicate with the St. Louis Rams before Jan. 28 – the deadline the Rams have set to provide notice of their intent to convert their current lease of the Edward Jones to a year-to-year lease.

Peacock has extensive experience in matters related to the NFL.  While with Anheuser-Busch, Peacock worked directly with the NFL on advertising and marketing; he also is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame advisory board. Peacock also has served as chairman of the St. Louis Sports Commission and on the boards of the United Way, Boy Scouts, American Red Cross and many other prominent local and regional organizations.

Blitz, a founding member of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, was part of the legal team that helped bring the Rams to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995. He is legal counsel to the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority and a former member of the Authority.

A tri-government agreement between the State of Missouri, St. Louis City and St. Louis County for financing of the Dome was reached in 1991. The state’s annual obligation is $10 million for interest and principal and $2 million for maintenance; the county and city each pay $5 million for interest and principal and $1 million for maintenance annually. Payments on the debt began in fiscal year 1992 and are scheduled to end in fiscal year 2022. 

Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Jason Smith released the following statement on Tuesday night's election results:

“As a seventh-generation Missourian, I am truly humbled that the voters of southeast Missouri have re-elected me to represent them in Congress.

“Since the voters first elected me as their congressman 17 months ago, I have battled to get government out of the way so southeast and southern Missouri can thrive.

“As a farmer and small business owner, I've seen firsthand how government intrusion stifles economic growth. That's why I introduced legislation called the SCRUB Act to clear out the thousands of pages of regulations that hurt our businesses and farms and keep good jobs from being created. I have fought to keep unconstitutional government overreach from compromising our personal privacies. And when the National Park Service unfairly singled out baptisms on the Current River for extra permits, I held the administration accountable and got the decision reversed.

“But there is still more work to be done.

“It's my promise that I will continue fighting to bring good jobs to southeast and southern Missouri, protect our way of life, and stand up for rural Missourians.

"Our priorities must be a balanced budget, reducing ineffective and intrusive regulations, and protecting our freedoms, because if Washington was more like Missouri, we'd be a lot better off.

"I am honored by the great responsibility the voters have placed in me. It has been, and will continue to be, a privilege to serve the people of Missouri's 8th congressional district every day.”

Jason Smith won overwhelmingly, carrying all 30 counties in Missouri’s 8th district.

Dear Friend,

We have heard a lot about partisan gridlock lately, but the truth is that over the past two years the House of Representatives passed hundreds of bills that would improve the lives of Americans. We’ve passed bills to put Americans to work, get energy costs down, and ease burdens on businesses. But where are those bills now? They’re stuck in the Senate.

The 387 bills stuck in the Senate are the solutions America needs to prosper and the solutions Americans have been demanding.

Take the American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act. It would help the Keystone XL pipeline move forward by removing the Presidential Permit process and would keep the EPA from implementing even more regulations which could cost more than $1 billion.

The Jobs for America Act would repeal the Obamacare designation of 30 hours per week as full-time employment, and repeal the medical device tax. It would give companies the certainty they need to plan, hire, and expand by making critical tax credits permanent for research and development and small businesses.

In addition to jobs bills, and energy bills, and tax credits, there are bills to protect our way of life. The Farmers Undertake Environmental Land Stewardship (FUELS) Act would protect farmers from unfair EPA regulations, and the Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH) Act would add additional protections for religious freedoms from the Obamacare mandate.

Families would keep more of their hard-earned money with the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2014, which would raise the income cap for the credit and make more families eligible.

The House of Representatives has been hard at work pursuing real solutions to the problems facing America while the Senate has been sitting on its hands. Since the start of 2014, the Senate has had only 88 votes on passing or advancing legislation, or just about two legislative votes a week. During the same time period, the House has taken 515 roll call votes to pass or advance legislation and help the American people. That averages to about 12 legislative votes a week. Today, there are 387 House bills stuck in the Senate that won’t even be considered, and 95 percent of them passed with bipartisan support.

The House of Representatives has passed the solutions to bring good paying jobs, energy independence, and long overdue regulatory reform. Now it’s time for the Senate to act so we can move forward.