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How Sunny the Cat Inspired 2nd Shift Brewing's Sunny Cat IPA

1 month 1 week ago
The Beer: Sunny Cat The Brewery: 2nd Shift 2nd Shift Brewing’s beloved New England-style IPA, Sunny Cat, owes its inspiration — and name — to the orange tabby immortalized on its label, Sunny.  According to Libby Crider, co-owner of 2nd Shift Brewing, Sunny lived the first few years of his life as a barn cat before he decided to join the Crider family.
Lauren Harpold

Spring Brings 3 New Exhibitions to the Saint Louis Art Museum

1 month 1 week ago
Spring is finally springing in the Gateway City, and with the temperate weather comes three new exhibitions at the Saint Louis Art Museum. The first of the three, Concealed Layers: Uncovering Expressionist Paintings, is currently on view in the Caro Nichols Holmes Gallery 214 and the Sherry and Gary Wolff Gallery 215, and will run through August 4. According to press materials, this exhibit "will take visitors behind the scenes and below the surface for an inside look at art from the museum’s permanent collection."
Paula Tredway

Brianna Coppage Has Been Fired Again Over Her OnlyFans

1 month 1 week ago
Brianna Coppage was fired after her employer found out about her OnlyFans gig. If that sounds similar to headlines that made news all across the country last September, that's because it is. Six months ago, Coppage was a high school English teacher in St. Clair, Missouri, when school administrators let her go after discovering she was moonlighting as an OnlyFans performer.
Ryan Krull

Slain Soulard Hit-and-Run Victim Remains Unidentified

1 month 1 week ago
A woman was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the early hours of Sunday morning in Soulard, police say — but they have yet to identify the victim. A preliminary investigation by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police indicates that the unknown woman was in the eastbound lanes of Gravois Avenue at Russell Boulevard when she was struck by an unknown vehicle. "The driver of that vehicle continued eastbound on Gravois and left the scene," the police summary states.
Sarah Fenske

St. Louis Mom of Slain 14-Year-Old Needs Money for His Funeral

1 month 1 week ago
The family of Justin Brooks — the 14-year-old who was stabbed to death last week just one block from Rose Mary Johnson Jennings Junior High School — is working to raise money for his funeral. Brooks was stabbed days after a viral video of a brutal fight near another north county school — Hazelwood East — drew outrage and sent shockwaves throughout the region.  Police say Brooks was stabbed on Tuesday, March 12, at 3:05 p.m. on Hord Avenue, RFT previously reported.
Kallie Cox

Garden Variety Deli to Open in Tower Grove South This Spring

1 month 1 week ago
A new eatery called Garden Variety Deli is on its way to Tower Grove South at 3131 Morgan Ford Road, in the former home of retail establishment Art of Aquaria. Travis Howard, who helped bring Retreat Gastropub, Yellowbelly and Lazy Tiger to life, along with former general manager of Retreat Gastropub Jack McGinn, are bringing the deli to the neighborhood. At first glance, the eatery’s moniker seems to be a bit tongue in cheek.
Amanda Bretz

Gas Station Attendant Mark McDonald Has a Ride That Stops 'Em Dead

1 month 1 week ago
If you frequently traverse South Grand Boulevard in the area just south of Tower Grove Park, you’ve probably noticed the sleek looking hearse frequently parked out front of the Phillips 66 at Humphrey Street. Maybe you thought it was the mascot for the station, à la the old Sinclair dinosaur, or maybe you thought it was for sale. Maybe one day when you stopped for gas you asked Mark McDonald, the guy working the register, “Hey, what’s up with that hearse always parked out front?”
Ryan Krull

Entire Police Department Resigns in North St. Louis County

1 month 1 week ago
The entire police department responsible for the safety of two north county municipalities has resigned, according to a post made this afternoon by the Velda City Police Department.  That police department only had three officers. But still. 
Ryan Krull

‘It’s Brutal Out Here’: Olivia Rodrigo Will Stop Plan B Handouts at Her Concerts

1 month 1 week ago
Olivia Rodrigo’s team reportedly told abortion funds partnered with her GUTS tour that they can no longer distribute emergency contraception at her shows following backlash from conservatives. The decision follows a photo of emergency contraception and educational information handed out at her St. Louis concert that went viral and received national media coverage.  In February with the launch of her world tour, Rodrigo promised to donate a percentage of her ticket sales to abortion funds across the country, calling the initiative “Fund 4 Good.” At her concert Tuesday night at Enterprise Center she partnered with the Missouri Abortion Fund and Right By You to pass out the morning-after pill to fans who wanted it.
Kallie Cox

Missouri Teacher Admits to Raping 16-Year-Old Student, Gets Probation

1 month 1 week ago
A Missouri teacher won't do jail time after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual contact with a student — despite admitting to the statutory rape of a 16-year-old boy. Victoria Fowler, 30, had been a teacher in the Bakersfield School District in Bakersfield, Missouri, where she met the student. That's a small town between Rolla and Branson in south-central Missouri.
Sarah Fenske

People's Joy Parade LLC Orders Cherokee Nonprofit to Cease and Desist

1 month 1 week ago
The nonprofit seeking to continue the People's Joy Parade on Cherokee Street has been slapped with a letter ordering it to cease and desist. The letter comes from People's Joy Parade LLC, an organization started by a trio of longtime parade organizers and registered with the state one year ago. Its lawyer says it owns the name "People's Joy Parade" — and will do what it takes to protect it, including blocking the Cherokee Street Foundation from continuing the event on its usual date (Cinco de Mayo) and location (Cherokee Street).
Sarah Fenske

We Need Driver's Ed to Make St. Louis Safe for Pedestrians

1 month 1 week ago
I don’t remember the first time I was almost run over in my neighborhood, but I do remember the last. This morning, as my five-month-old puppy and I crossed the street at Connecticut and Spring, some dude in a red sedan turned left without stopping and came inches from mowing us down. He was treated to a string of expletives and then I guess went back to his TV show or Candy Crush or other such nonsense.
Liz Chiarello

Vegan Restaurant CC’s 2 Seriously Good Has Closed Permanently

1 month 1 week ago
After just a few months of operating in Hazelwood, CC's 2 Seriously Good at 211 Village Square has closed. The restaurant had previously been known as CC’s Vegan Spot and CC’s Vegan Spot SoulVeganlicious in other locations, including the Princeton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis and Alton, Illinois. The closure was announced on social media on Wednesday, March 13.
Lauren Healey

Milque Toast Has Now Reopened in the Old California Do-Nut Co. Space

1 month 1 week ago
Milque Toast Bar has officially moved into a new spot just six blocks from its old location and is now operating at 2924 South Jefferson Avenue in the former home of California Do-Nut Co. It has also dropped the “Bar” in its name, now going simply by Milque Toast. Owner Colleen Clawson says they quickly outgrew their original location, which opened in 2015, and had long been eyeing the California Do-Nut Co. space, which had been a doughnut shop for more 50 years. “I always loved this building; the facade is really striking,” Clawson says.
Lauren Healey

Old Bakery Beer Co.’s 9th Annual Buzz'd Beer Festival Returns

1 month 1 week ago
Old Bakery Beer Co.'s ninth annual Buzz’d Beer Festival returns this month — and if you like beer, this one's for you. On Sunday, March 24 from 1  to 5 p.m, stop by Old Bakery Beer Co. (400 Landmarks Boulevard, Alton, Illinois) to enjoy an expansive lineup of more than 50 craft beers from renowned local breweries, including this year’s special cake-themed beer.
Paula Tredway

Notorious St. Louis Landlord Sued Over Dutchtown Ceiling Collapse

1 month 1 week ago
A St. Louis couple is suing a notorious local slumlord after the ceiling of the Dutchtown duplex they rented from him collapsed on them as they slept.  According to Faustin Nshimiyimana and Grace Umutoni's lawsuit, they began renting the duplex at the intersection of Gustine Avenue and Alberta Street from Cuong Quang Tran in March 2023. Their daughter was born a few months later.
Ryan Krull

The Heavy Anchor Is South City's Hub for Music, Drinks and Community

1 month 1 week ago
It's six o'clock on a Thursday evening at the Heavy Anchor, the friendly south city dive bar and music venue on Gravois just down the road from Bevo Mill. A handful of tipplers are scattered around the place — one at the bar, one at a table, one at a booth — drinking out of the Heavy Anchor's signature Mason jars far below the room's pop-fly-high ceilings and surrounded by the nautically themed paintings that cover the walls. Those paintings — ocean waves, squids, narwhals, sailboats, lighthouses — were commissioned by the Heavy Anchor's co-owners, thirtysomething married couple Josh and Jodie Timbrook, who opened the bar in 2011.
Steve Leftridge

Ray Hartmann Is Running for Congress to Oust Ann Wagner

1 month 1 week ago
On tonight's episode of Nine PBS' Donnybrook, longtime panelist Ray Hartmann made a surprising announcement: He is retiring from the show — and journalism, too. The Riverfront Times'  founder and longtime columnist before starting his St. Louis Insider Substack, Hartmann seldom, if ever, misses a week on the show he helped to launch. Of the five current panelists, he and Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan are the only two who were there at the show's debut in 1987.
Sarah Fenske