State briefs 07/30/03

President Bush plans to visit St. Louis next month

ST. LOUIS -- The White House said Tuesday that President Bush plans to visit St. Louis on Aug. 26.

He's expected to make remarks at the 85th annual American Legion National Convention and attend a reception for Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.

The White House said Bush plans several visits throughout the nation in August. He'll highlight his initiatives for conservation and to improve local economic conditions.

Nixon: Drop in complaints, fraud due to No Call list

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The number of Missourians complaining about telemarketing fraud and unwanted telemarketing calls has dropped significantly since the state's No Call list went into effect more than two years ago, Attorney General Jay Nixon said Tuesday.

Nixon's office, which administers the list, said complaints about fraudulent telemarketers has dropped by 65 percent since the list went into effect on July 1, 2001.

And Nixon said complaints about telemarketers calling the homes of those on the no-call list have fallen from an average of about 5,000 a month to about 800 a month.

The No Call list allowed consumers to sign up with the attorney general's office to have telemarketing calls to their homes stopped.

More than 1.2 million residential phone numbers are on Missouri's No Call list, representing about 3 million people. More than $1 million in fines have been levied against firms who have violated the law since it went into effect, Nixon said.

Chancellor salary at UMSL to include donated funds

ST. LOUIS -- The salaries of some University of Missouri campus chancellors will start to include donated funds, the university system's president said.

University of Missouri President Elson Floyd told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story for Tuesday's edition that the new chancellor in St. Louis, Thomas George, will receive $200,000 annually from university money and an additional $50,000 raised from individuals in the St. Louis area.

Floyd said $250,000 public-private pay packages also are planned for the chancellors of the Kansas City and Rolla campuses.

The Columbia campus will not get a salary upgrade; the chancellor's job there may be eliminated when Richard L. Wallace retires next summer.

Floyd explained the university has found it doesn't get enough state money to hire and retain chancellors.

He said most people considered for the St. Louis job already earned more than Blanche Touhill, who retired as the school's chancellor at the end of last year.

At that time, she was earning $179,566.

Salary increases will be somewhat less dramatic in Kansas City, where chancellor Martha Gilliland makes $183,750, and Rolla, where chancellor Gary Thomas is paid $197,599. Wallace, whose Columbia campus is the system's largest, draws a $212,900 salary.

-- From wire reports