The Missouri Legislature Friday afternoon approved a roughly 50-billion-dollar state budget proposa

A few hours before the deadline to pass a state budget for the next fiscal year, members of the legislature Friday afternoon approved a roughly 50-billion-dollar state budget proposal. Highlights of the proposal include 2.8 billion to widen I-70 to at least three lanes from the St. Louis area to the Kansas City area, but not a penny for any much-needed six-lane expansion of Interstate 44. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Lincoln Hough (huff), of Springfield, whose district could benefit by I-44 expansion, steered his colleagues to include in the budget 3.6-billion in state aid to schools.

Another 13.7-million would be used to hire 100 Children’s Division employees to help keep families together and Missouri State Highway Patrol officers would get a 20-percent pay hike. The next stop for the proposal is the governor, who will decide what he likes and what he opposes.