State briefs 1/26/06

Violent crimes rise sharply in St. Louis in 2005

ST. LOUIS -- Violent crimes rose sharply in St. Louis last year, but police say the city's overall crime rate is still down considerably from the mid-1990s. Police statistics released Wednesday showed 8,321 crimes against people in 2005, up 19.6 percent from 2004. The city had 131 homicides in 2005, up 14.9 percent from 114 a year earlier. Robbery was up 12.7 percent, aggravated assaults rose 22.5 percent and rape reports rose 61.4 percent. Overall, while property crimes declined 1.4 percent, the city's crime rate rose 1.7 percent.

Democrats propose minimum wage increase

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday proposed to increase Missouri's minimum wage, which has remained at $5.15 an hour for nearly a decade. Under a bill sponsored by Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, the hourly minimum would increase to $5.70 in August and to $6.50 in August 2007. Starting in 2008, the hourly wage would increase at a rate matching inflation. Missouri's minimum wage matches the federal minimum wage. But 17 other states have increased their minimum wages since the last federal increase in 1997. Those higher hourly rates range from $6.15 in Delaware, Florida, Minnesota and New Jersey to $7.63 in Washington state.

Computer problems halt production at Boeing

ST. LOUIS -- Computer problems halted production of military planes at Boeing Co.'s defense headquarters on Wednesday. The company sent several hundred first-shift workers home and canceled its second shift. Third-shift employees were expected to work as scheduled, and all employees were told to report to work on today, Boeing told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for its Web site, STLtoday.com. Workers at Boeing's St. Louis production lines make fighter jets such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the C-17 cargo plane. KMOX Radio reported there was no word on the cause of the computer problems. Boeing spokeswoman Lynn Steinberg said technical crews have been working all day to resolve the problem. She said it doesn't appear anything external was the cause.

Wolff asks for more money for judiciary

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Chief Justice Michael Wolff urged lawmakers Wednesday to pump more money into the judicial system and raise judges' salaries to compensate for increasing workloads that are driving people to more lucrative jobs in the private sector. Wolff, delivering the annual State of the Judiciary address to a joint House and Senate session, said Missouri's judiciary has been strained by several years of lean state budgets. The judicial branch now receives about 1.6 percent of the budget -- less than its percentage 20 years ago, Wolff said. Yet during that time, the judiciary has gained budgetary oversight of juvenile officers and other responsibilities. In the past 10 years, the judiciary's work force has decreased while its trial court case filings have increased by 23 percent, Wolff said.

-- From wire reports