After uncleared streets plagued the region during severe winter storms last year, Missouri Department of Transportation officials have started preparing for this year’s winter weather.

MoDOT hosted a training session Thursday for workers aimed at emulating a winter storm to prepare workers, snow plow drivers and mechanics for potential severe winter weather.

The training follows an unusually harsh winter where January storms broke precipitation records. Streets across the region were covered with ice and snow, as much as 10 inches in some regions. MoDOT officials said earlier this year that there was a shortage of workers to handle plows.

MoDOT officials said the January storm led the department to make adjustments last year, including:

• Increasing the amount of money to $64 million to keep roads clear
• Increasing the amount r of salt used to 140,000 tons
• Increasing the number of hours worked to 529,000

MoDOT has about 3,000 workers statewide but is trying to hire more workers, including emergency equipment officers, mechanics and maintenance workers. MoDOT’s St. Louis district engineer Tom Blair said there’s a large number of workers with fewer than three years of experience,:

• About 16% of MoDOT snowplow operators have less than one year of experience statewide
• About 40% of MoDOT snow plowing workers have less than three years of experience statewide
• More than 50% of MoDOT employees in the St. Louis area have less than three years of experience

“That’s why these [trainings] last two days, and all the work we’re doing right now before snow flies really matters,” Blair said. “We have to work really hard to position our employees to be skilled enough to operate.”

Blair said MoDot has new equipment, including a snow blower, one of five that are moved across the state before storms.

“That would have really helped the team more quickly clear those large amounts of snow and ice that we had pushed to the side of roads and, in many cases, were blocking acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes and even ramp lanes,” Blair said.

Blair said despite challenges and staffing concerns, the department is planned for typical storms where workers can be dispatched around the state. He said the department is more concerned about a winter storm that hits the entire state.

“That’s probably what keeps us up at night,” Blair said.

Representatives for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Illinois Department of Transportation and National Weather Service were also present. St. Louisans can expect above normal precipitation this year, NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Kevin Deitsch said.

“December will likely be warmer than normal, likely more rainier than normal,” Deitsch said. “We do expect more of a back-loaded winter for the season, kind of like we saw last year, more storms in January and in February.”

State highway patrol will assist MoDOT during winter storms. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Andy Gadberry urged drivers to take safety precautions like planning ahead and staying at home if possible. If people do have to drive, take necessary steps including:

• Have a fully charged phone and a charger in the car
• Have an emergency kit
• Keep a blanket, extra clothes, snacks and water
• Make sure tires are filled
• Slow down and don’t tail emergency personnel
• Keep headlights on and be aware of your surroundings

“The big thing in these storms is stay in your car,” Gadberry said. “Don’t get out unless you absolutely have to. The safest place you can be is inside that car.”

IDOT leaders said they’re also facing staffing shortages but are still working to hire permanent employees.

“Despite any shortages in our permanent employees staffing levels, we will definitely have plenty of employees,” Illinois Department of Public Safety Operations Field Engineer Dave Castens said. “All our routes will be covered, we’ll have adequate staff, supplemented with our temporary staff. No issues, no concerns.”

Auburn’s initial availability report ahead of Saturday’s game against Missouri was relatively light, but two starters were ruled questionable.

Junior safety Champ Anthony and senior tight end Brandon Frazier were both listed under the questionable tab, three days out from gameday. Frazier seemed to suffer an injury during the first half of last week’s game against Georgia, while Anthony’s injury is unclear.

Freshman linebacker Bryce Deas was listed as doubtful after playing a season-high 25 snaps last week against Georgia.

Horatio Fields and Durell Robinson remain out, but Robinson was running by himself during Tuesday’s practice, as he recovers from a thigh injury suffered in Week 2.

Here is the full report:

Auburn

Out

WR Horatio Fields

RB Durell Robinson

Doubtful

LB Bryce Deas

Questionable

TE Brandon Frazier

S Champ Anthony

Missouri

Out

K Blake Craig

QB Sam Horn

Questionable

OL Logan Reichert

Missouri voters are organizing to use their constitutional right to veto the GOP-controlled state legislature’s new gerrymandered map. But while they cleared one administrative hurdle Wednesday, the Republicans who run the state are trying to place yet another stumbling block in their path.

Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed into law last month a congressional redraw that splits apart Black communities in Kansas City and absorbs them into GOP districts, eliminating one of Missouri’s two districts reliably held by Democrats. 

But unlike in Texas – another red state that has bent the knee to redraw maps this year at President Donald Trump’s demand – the Missouri constitution provides voters with the opportunity to have the last word and block unpopular legislation themselves — known as a “people’s veto.”

To put the veto question on the ballot for a statewide vote, organizers must collect over 106,000 valid signatures by Dec. 11 – from at least 5% of voters in two-thirds of the state’s congressional districts.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) announced Wednesday his office approved the referendum petition. But he also put an additional hurdle in organizers’ way, claiming the signatures already collected by voters are invalid and constitute a “misdemeanor election offense.” Hoskins said his approval was required before organizers could begin collecting signatures. 

Petition organizers slammed Hoskins for spreading “false and misleading information” about the process “without citation or legal authority.” The state constitution only requires Missourians to submit a cover sheet before beginning to gather signatures, organizers said. 

“We will not be intimidated or distracted. This referendum will qualify, and Missourians – not politicians – will decide the future of fair representation in our state,” Richard von Glahn, Executive Director of People Not Politicians Missouri, said in a statement.

More than 2,400 Missourians have volunteered to gather signatures, according to the group.

The pro-voting coalition organizing the referendum said voters have collected over 100,000 signatures “from Missourians outraged by the state’s illegal gerrymandered maps.”

Hoskins’ effort to block the signatures is only the latest attempt from Republican state officials to stop the referendum from making it to the ballot. 

Hoskins and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) previously rejected the referendum petition Sept. 26, arguing the petition was premature because the gerrymander hadn’t yet been signed into law at the time it was filed. 

Petition organizers said Hanaway cited a section of the Missouri Constitution that deals with initiative petitions, not referendums. 

People Not Politicians filed a petition Sept. 29 asking a circuit court for a declaratory judgment and an injunction against the rejection. 

Hanaway then sent an opinion letter to Hoskins Oct. 9 approving the petition, but giving Hoskins final authority on the decision. 

Hoskins sent von Glahn a letter five days later approving the referendum petition – but left the door wide open for future roadblocks.

Hoskins warned he could later decline to certify the petition for placement on the ballot “if statutory or constitutional deficiencies” arise, such as failure to submit enough valid signatures or “defects” affecting the validity of the referendum.