When it came to motherhood, Angela Shaffer had clear family examples. Almost every woman — on both her mother's and father's sides — were stay-at-home moms. "I had this generational, passed-down idea of what it meant to be a mother, what it looks like," she says.
Last spring, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones announced that the city was resuming alley recycling pickups. The city had suspended service months before, citing a shortage of trucks and workers, and the announcement during Jones’ State of the City address generated good publicity — and relief.
Eight years after a 26-year-old hung himself at the Jennings jail, St. Louis city and County, as well as the city of Jennings, have agreed to pay DeJuan Brison's children an undisclosed sum in settlement money for his death. On October 4, 2014, Brison used a bed sheet to hang himself at the Jennings jail, only three and a half hours after being transferred there from the St. Louis City Justice Center, where he had been on suicide watch. The lawsuit against the cities of St. Louis and Jennings as well as individual corrections officers, accused the City Justice Center of not communicating to the Jennings custodial staff that Brison needed to be on suicide watch.
It is worth recalling today that just five months ago, this happened: “Trump rules out Vicky Hartzler endorsement, tells voters to ‘forget’ about her.”
The budget for an infrastructure improvement fund critical for the city’s street department and forestry division has not been updated in two years — a delay blocking millions in funding for employee pay, sidewalks, road repairs and more. The fund in question, St. Louis Works, uses a percentage of utility and motor vehicle taxes to fix sidewalks, repair roads, provide equipment upgrades and cover a select few city employees’ pay.
Yesterday the parents of a 24-year-old shot and killed by a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer in December 2019 filed a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis and the officer who shot their son. The deadly shooting happened in an alley on the 500 block of Bates Avenue in the Carondelet neighborhood. Around 9:30 p.m. on December 12, 2019, Cortez Bufford was outside a BP gas station on Bates, smoking a cigarette, when the lawsuit says that police pulled up and officer Lucas Roethlisberger yelled, “Put your junk away.”
It all began, surprisingly, with an interview Vance Crowe conducted as a goof with a 6-year-old. The former director of millennial engagement for Monsanto, Crowe has built a business as a public relations consultant and public speaker focused on agricultural topics, and a part of selling his brand is the Vance Crowe Podcast, which he recorded from the basement of his home in Ladue. A listener had come by for a tour, his six-year-old son in tow, and Crowe showed them the studio.
As a new band, Punk Lady Apple proved itself early on. The five-piece group played nonstop shows this past summer, quickly making a name for itself in St. Louis' punk and rock scenes and establishing a clear voice, with tough yet sincere vocals on queer love and an invigorating rush of punk, alternative rock and R&B.
What if I told you that there’s one elected leader in town who has on multiple occasions stopped a constituent hellbent on getting fatally hit by a car? Years ago, this was the scene: the elected driving his truck late at night at a slow speed down one of his ward’s main thoroughfares. Behind him was a man with a long gray beard, shuffling slowly against traffic, amid a break with reality, a bad drunk or effort to kill himself.
First, the Clara B's food truck grew out of the commissary space, prompting owner Jodie Ferguson to open a brick and mortar in downtown Belleville. Now, the beloved daytime spot is yet again moving on to larger pastures, this time in partnership with a beloved local coffee brand. In a Facebook post dated December 5, Ferguson announced that she has secured a new restaurant space for Clara B's Kitchen Table, less than a mile down the road from the current Belleville storefront.
With the number of aldermen in the city set to shrink from 28 to 14, aldermen have now proposed making those 14 positions full-time jobs that are significantly better-paying. Ward 14 Alderwoman Carol Howard introduced one of the pieces of legislation, which, if passed, would raise an alderman's salary from $37,400 per year to $72,000.
The House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act Thursday, codifying federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples. But not before Missouri's own congresswomen Vicky Hartzler (R-Harrisonville) broke into tears urging her colleagues to vote against the measure. In her remarks on the House floor prior to the vote, Hartzler referred to the bill as the Disrespect for Marriage Act, saying that its implication was that the country had to "submit to [the Democratic party's] ideology or be silenced."
A fourth teen was indicted yesterday for the April shooting death of a St. Louis County cab driver. Trishawn Jones, of St. Louis County, was 17 when he allegedly shot and killed Dewight Price, 54. In explaining why Jones would be tried as an adult, U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said in a statement today that "the juvenile system would not provide a range of punishment commensurate with this crime."
Before Smino got a tooth pulled last week, his mom called him. “Who’s going to pick you up from the dentist?” she asked. Smino doesn’t even live in his hometown of St. Louis anymore.
You don't have to be a fan of the genial morning-show banter that fills FM radio, or for that matter Seinfeld, to know that talking about nothing much can be pretty darn funny. That's the premise local comedian Mollie Amburgey brings to The Casually Mollie Podcast, and it's also in evidence in her new in-person comedy showcase, This Is Casually Happening. Each podcast episode features a different guest and a "casual topic" that Amburgey uses to help us get to know them better.
At the Craft Alliance, it will be knitting time, for eight hours straight during the Knit-Along. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Craft Alliance (5080 Delmar Boulevard, 314-725-1177, craftalliance.org), everyone is invited to knit. Longtime knitters and beginners are both welcome.
For a year and a half, chef Dawn Wilson has been serving her handmade pasta and assorted home goods from her Lafayette Square storefront, Vicini Pastaria (1916 Park Avenue, 314-827-6150), eagerly awaiting the day she could realize her full vision for the space. Now, that time has finally come: Vicini celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, November 26, offering fresh pasta, Italian-inspired prepared foods and a weekend lunch counter that promises a soulful taste of the Old Country. Though Wilson has owned the building that houses Vicini since January of 2020, the restaurant's roots actually stretch back 16 years to a leap of faith and a dramatic career change.
Mayor Tishaura Jones signed an executive order on Wednesday creating a volunteer reparations commission to explore rectifying racial injustice in St. Louis. The nine-member commission will research how St. Louis’ turbulent racial history has led to race-based harms for city residents and create a manifesto of such harms. Eventually, under no clear timeline, the commission will propose potential monetary repairs to the harms St. Louis’ racial history has inflicted on the oppressed.
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