Wednesday Afternoon Update

Barack Obama was in Arnold to mark his 100th day in office. (Riverfront Times, Post-Dispatch, The Beacon, Twitter updates from Jake Wagman, Bryan Wahby)

The House gave preliminary approval to two additional budget bills spending federal stimulus dollars on projects and programs throughout the state. Taken together, the bills earmark about $417 million for projects like university renovations and law-enforcement communication systems. They must be approved once more, likely tomorrow, before moving on to the Senate.

The House voted to give $12 million in federal stimulus funds to Metro to soften budget cuts at the St. Louis transit agency.

The House restored $31.2 million for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center which Republicans had cut that money from the stimulus spending bill on Monday.

Legislation to change the state's nonpartisan courts plan is unlikely to pass the Senate. Republican Sen. Matt Bartle, a Lee’s Summit lawyer who opposes the plan, told sponsoring Sen. Jim Lembke that opponents “will be successful in killing your bill today.” (Star)

The Senate Appropriations Committee expanded a proposed college construction bond package to include money for other state building projects. A version approved previously by the House called for issuing $700 million in bonds to cover the top construction needs at every public university and community college. But the Senate Committee expanded the total package to $800 million, with $550 million reserved for college construction and the remaining $250 million available for any state building needs. (AP)

At least five senators who intend to filibuster the House's conceal/carry bill if it makes it to the Senate floor in its current form.

U.S. GDP shrank by 6.1% in the first quarter, far worse than the "consensus" prediction of 4.7%.

Americans feel less ‘positive’ about Bush since he left office. In January 2009, just as former President George W. Bush was leaving office, the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 31 percent of Americans viewed him somewhat or very positively. In their latest poll, positive views of Bush have dropped to just 26 percent. In roughly the same time period, positive views of former Vice President Cheney dropped from 21 percent to 18 percent. (ThinkProgress)

The House has endorsed a measure allowing pharmacies to decide whether to stock the "morning-after" emergency contraceptive or abortion pills. The House voted 115-43 on Tuesday to amend the provisions to professional licensing legislation that already cleared the Senate. But the House quit for the day before taking a vote on the overall bill. (News-Leader)

Unintelligible Tweet of the Day. Carl Bearden: Hmmm... RT @tonymess: Is Lembke jst tkng up tym, knong he cnt beat filibuster? Otherwise, y is he contrib 2 a filibuster of his bill?...