7:15 p.m.: Missouri House of Representatives cancels session for week of Jan. 18-21
House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-OâFallon, and Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, issued the following statement regarding the decision to cancel session next week:
âDue to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the building, we are exercising an abundance of caution to protect members, staff, and visitors by canceling session next week. Our goal is to return to work the following week.â
5:45 p.m.:Â
Cole County adds 23 new cases
The Cole County Health Department will now show positive case totals by day, which reflects the date the specimen was collected instead of the date the results were received by the Health Department.
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The Missouri House will not meet next week in the Capitol Building in Jefferson City because of a coronavirus outbreak. Senate Republicans will meet on a conference call Friday to consider its schedule.
The Missouri House of Representatives will not meet next week because of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Capitol Building, Republican leaders announced Thursday evening.
Without giving details, House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-O’Fallon, and Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, issued a statement about the decision.
The week was already scheduled for limited floor sessions. Lawmakers generally meet Monday through Thursday each week, but both chambers were returning Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Outside the Capitol walls as the Missouri Legislature convened for the 2021 legislative session, protesters objecting to the certification of the results of the presidential election gathered while nearly 1,000 miles away rioters in support of President Donald Trump forced their way into the U.S. Capitol, causing it to be locked down.
The effects of the riot could be felt in the state capitol, where Rep. Ingrid Burnett, a Democrat from Kansas City, called for a moment of silence in support of the country and Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, a Democrat from Independence, canceled a scheduled press conference Wednesday afternoon in light of it.
As a new legislative session kicks off, education reform will be a top issue for lawmakers to tackle, Missouri House Speaker Rob Vescovo declared Wednesday.
Lawmakers from across the state returned to the Capitol in Jefferson City Wednesday afternoon, where they swore in members and elected Vescovo, a Republican from Arnold, as speaker.
With the coronavirus still spreading throughout the state resulting in thousands of new cases each day, the first day of the 2021 legislative session felt its impact with normally bustling halls eerily empty and House members sworn in in batches, limiting the amount of people in the Chamber at once.
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