MoDOT Director Dave Nichols shows committee members a segment of I-70 to illustrate the deterioration that will occur overtime due to budget cuts.

Map of the only roads that would be covered for full maintenance and resurfacing.

The Missouri Department of Transportation announced it can only afford to completely maintain 8,000 miles of the state's 34,000 miles of roads.

The maintenance cutbacks are the result of a gradually shrinking budget and rising maintenance costs.

"We are on the edge or the bubble of a major destruction of our system because [the roads] aren't going to last long," MoDOT Director Dave Nichols told reporters.

The department plans to divide Missouri's roadways into two categories: primary and supplementary.

Primary roadways will be fully maintained by MoDOT despite these cuts.

These primary roadways, which include Interstate 70, make up 73 percent of vehicle travel across the state, and are spread equally among rural and urban areas.

Some of these roadways include Lindbergh Boulevard and Olive Street in St. Louis, Blue Parkway and Bruce Watkins Drive in Kansas City and Missouri Boulevard in Jefferson City.

The condition of Missouri's bridges is expected to deteriorate due to the cuts.

Only 483 bridges were described as being in poor or serious condition in 2014.

In 2024, that number is projected to increase to 1,434.

"Ultimately roads and bridges are going to continue to deteriorate with the revenue we have now," Nichols said.

Steve Miller, chair of the committee, said MoDOT is now looking to meet with voters across the state to determine the impact of this proposed system.

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State Tom Sweich sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Russell and surrounded by his wife and two children.

State Auditor Tom Schweich said he will announce a decision next month as to whether he will run for the GOP nomination for governor in 2018.

Schweich's statement came just minutes after he was sworn in for his second four-year term as state auditor on Monday, January 12.

“I think you’ll probably know something by Valentine’s Day," Schweich told reporters.

Schweich's inauguration was a relatively informal affair held in his office with a couple dozen supporters.

"Missouri's state auditor has a much more constitutional power than most auditors around the country," Schweich said in a short inaugural address.

"We do performance audits. We make sure that public officials spending taxpayer money are doing so honestly."

But the Republican second-term auditor stressed that his approach to performance auditing would not involve getting involved with policy issues in his office audits.

"We stick to a very specific set of rules. We won't tell the Department of Mental Health how to keep people mentally healthy. We won't tell DESE (the Education Department) how to educate children," Schweich said.

"We can have an indirect effect on policy, but we don't second guess the policy judgments of the people we audit. We just make sure their office is running is correctly in accordance with the law."

Four decades earlier, Democratic State Auditor George Lehr took a much more aggressive approach to "performance audits" even launching an audit into whether Missouri consumers were best served by the policies of the state's utility regulating commission.

But Lehr's approach came under attack from critics who charged he was using his office to pursue a political agenda that was meddling in policy issues that were best left to the policy-making offices of legislators and the governor.

U.S. Sen. Clair McCaskill announced Monday, January 12, that she will not seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2016.

The Democratic senator acknowledged her party had lost a majority of the U.S. Senate.

But the two-term Missouri Senator said her role as a moderate in the Senate was a factor in her decision.

"I am now in a part of a much smaller group holding down the middle, the moderates, that are able to talk to the extremes and say 'hey, we've got to get some compromises done for Missourians and for Americans,'" McCaskill said in an interview program with the Kansas City public radio station KCUR.

The former state auditor and state legislator declared her decision was "a firm no." Instead, she endorsed the only major Democrat to announce for governor -- State Attorney General Chris Koster.

On the Republican side, former House Speaker and U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway has announced her intention for the job. Supporters of State Auditor Tom Schweich have encouraged his entrance into the campaign. But the GOP state official declined comment on whether he would run.

During the interview program, McCaskill said she would campaign for a 2016 ballot issue to limit campaign contributions and lobbyists gifts.

Her term in the U.S. Senate expires after 2018 and she said it was very likely she would run for reelection.

Less than 24 hours after protesters interrupted the opening ceremony of the Missouri Senate, Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, had a question for the protesters.

"What public policy thing do they want us to do for them?" Schaaf asked.

Schaaf said if the protesters want to make a difference in the Capitol, they should come to senators offices.

"I would ask them to please come to us and tell us what you want," Schaaf said. "Do you want us to pass a bill that makes life better in some way? If so, come to my office and tell me what it is."

Schaaf's remarks prompted reaction from the Senate's only two black members from the St. Louis area.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, rose said protesters interrupted the Senate because they didn't know any better.

"From day one, August 9th, I knew that the way our young people were responding was indicative of the education they had been receiving," Chappelle-Nadal said.

She added that she began teaching her young constituents about civic engagement.

"Many of my constituents didn't know who their council members are," Chappelle-Nadal said. "They didn't know who their mayors were."

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, directly answered Schaaf's question of what the protesters want from the General Assembly.

"I can tell you exactly what they want," Nasheed said. "They want a special prosecutor because they feel like having a prosecutor within the municipality whereabout you have a police-involved killing that there will be no impartiality."

Nasheed told Schaaf protesters want something else.

"They also want to tighten up the lethal force language," Nasheed said. "The language is way too broad. It's not well-defined."

Afterwards, Schaaf went up to Chappelle-Nadal and Nasheed and shook both their hands and smiled as they exited the chamber.

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At noon, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder slammed the gavel down to open the Missouri Senate.

However, that would not be the last time Kinder slammed the gavel down.

He soon slammed the gavel down more than 10 times because protestors in the visitors gallery disrupted the swearing-in ceremony with shouts and unfolding banners "PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO BLACK PEOPLE" and "SWEAR TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE."

Soon after protestors started chanting "Hands Up, Don't Shoot," and "What do we want? Justice," Kinder ordered the Highway Patrol to come in and remove the protestors.

"We need some officers over here to remove these people," Kinder shouted.  

It took a little more than 10 minutes to escort the protestors out and eventually, Kinder and Senate Majority Leader ordered the Senate stand at ease until the entire gallery was cleared.

After protestors left the Senate chamber, they sang "We Shall Overcome" and marched down to the third floor.

Afterwards, Kinder said this behavior is unwelcome in the Missouri Senate.

"You cannot conduct business in a legislative body if you have a mob taking over the galleries and shouting slogans," Kinder said.

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Ferguson, education, economic development and resistance to federal regulations were cited by the legislator's Republican leaders on the opening day of the 2015 legislative session on Wednesday, January 7.

The session began with Republicans being handed historic majorities by Missouri voters in November. The GOP holds far more than the two-thirds majority to override a veto by the Democratic governor.

"As for the broad direction of policy in this session, it seems to me that this has been set by the people themselves, The voters of Missouri sent an unmistakable message in November, delivered in person today by at least 117 of us," said House Speaker John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, in his address to the chamber after his election as speaker.

Democrats hold just 45 seats in the House with one vacancy when a Republican resigned shortly after the November elections to become a lobbyist.

In the Senate, Republicans command a 25-9 majority.

Both Diehl and the Senate's top leader -- Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Louis County -- urged bi-partisan cooperation.

"By and large, over my 14 years of public service in the state legislature, we have come together as Republicans and Democrats to move Missouri forward in a prudent, positive manner," Dempsey said to his colleagues after he was elected to his second two-year term as pro tem.

But both leaders stressed a pro-business agenda that has met opposition from Democratic legislators and vetoes from the Democratic governor.

"I come to this position as a frank believer in certain principles of government, starting with a preference for individual freedom over the power of the state", Diehl said.

Dempsey cited the GOP agenda lawmakers had passed in the past.

"Last year, we enacted a historic tax cut that will keep money in the taxpayers' pockets and the cash registers of small businesses."

The two leaders also sounded a similar theme in addressing the issues raised by Ferguson. They called for expanding job opportunities and improving educational services in areas with troubled schools.

"Access to a quality education changes lives," Dempsey said. "It's not only a pathway to a career; it's a path out of poverty and a path to foster long-term prosperity for our state."

But the two legislative leaders also had a stern message.

"Let me be clear: the criminal acts carried out against local shopkeepers, citizens and police officers by individuals who have hi-jacked the peaceful protests of concerned citizens have no place in a civil society where all must be subject to the rule of law," Dempsey said.

In the House, Diehl honored five firefighters who and worked during the Ferguson riots.

"Let me make this pledge to all of our public safety personnel and first responders that this body will do its best to get answers to what happened that night. And as speaker, I will do everything in my power to make sure it does not happen again.

Democrats, including the governor, renewed their calls for expanding Medicaid health care coverage -- an issue all but declared dead by several Republicans.

In an address to the House, Democratic Leader Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis County, called for efforts to restore trust in government for all Missourians.

"But trust is difficult when there is widespread perception that the rules are applied on a sliding scale that becomes stricter and more onerous the lower one ranks on the economic system."

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Just hours before the 2015 legislative session is set to begin, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and Senate leaders discussed their priorities for the 2015 legislative session.

Nixon said one of his priorities is keeping the St. Louis Rams in the state.

"St. Louis is an NFL city," Nixon said.

However, he repeated his principles that must be part of any new Rams agreement.

"Those principles are protecting taxpayers, creating jobs, making significant private investment, and cleaning up and revitalizing under-utilized areas," Nixon said. "This is a long and interesting process."

Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin, had a different idea.

"I doubt if there's an appetite to do public money for [a new stadium]," Richard said. "When we have education issues and highway issues, I'm not sure the appetite is there to support that."

Nixon also laid out another priority of his: Medicaid expansion.

Despite facing long adds in a GOP-dominated legislature, Nixon remained confident something could get done.

"I don't think it's a lost cause at all," Nixon said. "Since we've been here last year, you've seen a cavalcade of states in which you have Republican governors, Republican legislatures moving forward on Medicaid that said they wouldn't."

Nixon specifically mentioned Indiana, Utah, Alabama, and Tennessee in saying the "political lines have clearly changed since last year" on Medicaid expansion.

Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles County, had a simple answer when asked if Medicaid expansion was a possibility.

"No," Dempsey said. "I think elections matter."

However, he did mention the possibility of Medicaid reform.

"We're going to have serious discussions about reforms that we can make to better use existing resources to address the quality of care, the affordability of care, and the access to care," Dempsey said.

Lawmakers will be sworn in at noon today and the session ends on May 15 at 6 p.m.

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Republican legislative leaders are down playing the chances for any kind of state funding to help build a new stadium in St. Louis to keep the Rams football team.

The Senate's GOP Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin, was blunt about the chances. Richard responded "zero" when asked to rate the chances on a scale of one to ten.

He and other lawmakers said there were more pressing financial needs in the state, particularly education.

"How would you justify a stadium when...down the road, in north-side St. Louis they say they're short on education," Richard said.

The Senate's president pro tem -- Sen. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Louis County -- said the stadium was not at the top of his list of priorities for the legislative session.

But legislative leaders stressed they were waiting for the report from a two-member taskforce the governor appointed to come up with a stadium plan.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier in the week that the owner of the Rams plans to build an NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area.