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Audit questions Missouri State Highway Patrol's purchase of new airplane

Photo courtesy of the Missouri Auditor's Office

 

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is getting mixed reviews in an audit released Tuesday.  The law enforcement agency is being criticized for spending 5-point-6 million dollars on a new airplane.

State Auditor Tom Schweich (R) said they asked the Highway Patrol for an analysis into why a new plane was needed, but were not provided one

“There was no analysis…they said they needed a new plane for elected officials," Schweich said, "but there’s really only one elected official that uses the plane, and that’s the Governor.”

Highway Patrol officials dispute that part of the audit, saying they conducted a thorough analysis before buying the King Air 250 last December. The Associated Press found that Governor Nixon was the only state official to use the new plane during the first three months of this year. Schweich praised the Patrol, though, for its handling of school bus safety inspections in the wake of a 2010 crash involving two school buses in Franklin County, in which two people were killed. 

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.