The Daily Dish — May 3, 2012

City manager Mike Matthes reflects on his first year By Antony Lee, Jon Mcclure, The Columbia Missourian.

Tuesday is Matthes’ first anniversary in office as a city manager, and he reviewed several of his key initiatives for his first year, which includes Columbia regional airport, managing the city budget, strategic planing initiative, improving the Columbia Police Department, and improving the government’s customer service .

Changes to teacher layoffs OK’d by Missouri House By Chris Blank, The Associated Press, Kansas City Star

State House narrowly approved a legislation that would bar seniority from playing a role in Missouri teacher layoffs.Schools that are forced to reduce staff no longer would be banned from laying off tenures, and teachers’ seniority and salaries would not be a consideration in choosing teachers. Performance would need to be the most important factor when selecting which teachers to keep.

GOP incumbents face well-funded challengers By Rudi Keller, The Columbia Daily Tribune

The Boone County’s incumbent Republicans will face well-funded Democrats’ challenges for two first-term officeholders. State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, state Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia,  U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Democrat Teresa Hensley will file for the two seats.

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