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Nixon signs and cuts budget

Missouri’s state budget for next year has been signed into law, but Governor Jay Nixon also carved $15 million out of the spending plan that takes effect July 1.  The governor told reporters Friday that the budget is actually $50 million out of balance, due in part because lawmakers miscalculated how much money the state would make from the Missouri Lottery.  Budget Director Linda Luebbering says, though, that they won’t make any further cuts for now.

“We’re seeing some positive trends, the unemployment rate continues to fall, so we are hopeful that we’ll see some other things that may allow us to not have to restrict more later…but simply put, if we need to, we’ll come back and do that when it’s evident that we need to,” Luebbering said.

Friday's cuts include nearly nine million dollars from Higher Education, which Luebbering says will be evenly distributed among the state’s community colleges and universities. 

The governor also used the line-item veto to eliminate 130-thousand dollars for a port project in northeastern Missouri and 80-thousand for a “Blues in Schools” program.

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.
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