The Southeast Missouri (SEMO) Cyber Crimes Task Force will receive more than $100,000 to fight Internet crime.

Last year, a U.S. Justice Department report ranked Missouri's cyber crime fighting efforts among the national leaders in the number of arrests made and the number of law enforcement officers trained.

The SEMO Cyber Crimes Task Force in Poplar Bluff will receive $105,206 to fight online criminals who often seek to entice children and deal in child pornography.

Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, News Madrid, Oregon, Pemiscot, Perry, Ripley, Scott, St. Francois, Stoddard and Wayne counties participate in the SEMO Cyber Crime Task Force.

The Department of Justice is required to report to Congress every two years on the effectiveness of the fight against child exploitation, according to the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008.

Certain purchases like clothing, school supplies and computers will be exempt from sales tax for the three days in Missouri for the back-to-school sales tax holiday August 5 through August 7.

The sales tax exemption is limited to:

• Clothing – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less
• School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
• Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
• Personal computers – not to exceed $3,500
• Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $3,500

Section 144.049, RSMo, defines items exempt during the sales tax holiday as

Gov. Jay Nixon has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) to conduct damage assessment reports for all 114 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis to determine the extent of damage to crops and livestock because of the excessive heat and severe drought conditions persisting throughout the state.

"The heat and drought will likely cause crop yields to decrease and livestock to be under greater stress," Gov. Nixon said. "This year, many Missouri farmers have undergone a number of hardships caused by weather conditions. Timely damage assessments by the Farm Service Agency will help those farmers who have been affected recover more quickly."

The Governor's request for damage assessments is the first step in the process of declaring counties as primary disaster areas.