RFT 📰

The St. Louis area just keeps popping up on the small screen — first, The Bachelor featured Eureka native Clayton Echard, then O'Fallon resident Pam Hupp's murderous exploits were shown on NBC's The Thing About Pam. Now, comedian and native St. Louisan Nikki Glaser’s show Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? premiered last night, May 1, at 9 p.m. on the E!

The Riverfront Times is excited to announce our ChangeMaker Awards, which spotlight local emerging artists. We are giving $750 to four up-and-coming artists who have an outsized impact on their community. Plus, they'll each be profiled in the RFT.

You’ve probably heard politicians say that government needs to run more like a business. For the most part, the people who say that have never run a business.

If you always wanted to go out and drink a little too much tequila without worrying about how you were going to get home safely, Lyft and Breakthru Beverage Group are hooking you up. [content-1] They’ve partnered with Jose Cuervo to offer 2,000 free rides home in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield from Thursday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7, 2022.

This week in St. Louis’ food scene saw tragedy, closure, new beginnings, pieces of history and joyful returns.  Food editor Cheryl Baehr’s review of Pizza Champ gives a look inside the new ‘za joint, while Jaime Lees writes about one of the best food and drink events in St .Louis' historic Hill neighborhood. The week was also met with a closure of a popular coffee spot and a fire destroyed three local restaurant employees’ homes. Let's dig in.

Some St. Louis County residents had a shaky start to their weekend. A reported magnitude 2.8 earthquake rumbled parts of St. Louis County early Friday evening, according to the US Geological Survey.

St. Louis County NAACP President John Bowman has tried for decades to have conversations with business and government leaders about equitable development in St. Louis County. As Dierbergs Markets plans to open another store in an affluent, predominantly white area of the county, Bowman says he has had enough.

Dre’CoFrom rapping over beats made by his cousin to manifesting a distinct style of his own as heard on 2021’s Therapy Sessions, Andraeco Craig a.k.a. Dre’Co has had his foot firmly on the gas pedal of a burgeoning hip-hop career. The prolific musician no doubt made an impact in recent years, and he keeps making waves as evidenced by a recent collaboration with Glory Pro Wrestling.

Yesterday, a St. Louis County jury delivered a guilty verdict in the murder trial of Beau Rothwell, a 31-year-old Creve Coeur man who killed his pregnant wife Jennifer Rothwell in 2019. Rothwell was 28 at the time of her death. Rothwell's defense didn't contest that he killed his wife, but argued that it hadn't been premeditated.

You either love astrology or you laugh at it. You’re either dripping in excitement about Jupiter and Neptune coming together in the sign of Pisces for the first time since 1856 or you think people who believe in this are highly delusional. There is no in-between.

A lot of rappers write diss tracks. “Dead Goofies,” by 30 Deep Grimeyy, is a diss track on steroids. The song has no chorus.

A beloved coffee spot has closed its doors. Maplewood coffee shop Oliver’s Coffee and Flower Bar notified its customers yesterday that they would no longer be operating. “I am so thankful for all of you who have supported us over the years,” the Instagram post read.

Music buffs are in for a real treat this summer — Live Nation’s Concert Week is back, putting a bunch of show tickets on sale for all kinds of music. Live Nation’s Concert Week is one of the organization’s biggest sales. It puts concert tickets up for $25; the sale is nationwide but includes local dates.

The St. Charles County restaurant scene continues to grow, this time thanks to the national restaurant brand Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant (multiple locations including 5300 North Service Road, St. Peters). The chain announced that it will open its second St. Louis area location in St. Peters, bringing to the west side of the Missouri River "an upscale casual dining restaurant with a full-service bar, private dining room and Napa style tasting room." The 10,000 square-foot space will be located near the intersection of Mid Rivers Mall Drive and I-70 and is part of The Shoppes at Mid Rivers development that includes several restaurant and retail properties including Pappy's Smokehouse, Gulf Shores Restaurant & Grill.

A little girl Nelly (Josephine Sanz) loses her beloved grandmother and retreats to her mother Marion’s (Nina Meurisse) girlhood home where the family prepares it for sale. Playing outside one day, eight-year-old Nelly wanders through the forest and seems to enter into another universe. There she discovers a small home very much like her grandmother’s. And in it lives a little girl Marion (Josephine’s twin sister Gabrielle Sanz) who looks just like her.

Carolyn McKinney can't help but chuckle whenever a group of 20-something Cherokee Street scenesters "discovers" Iowa Buffet (2727 Winnebago Street, 314-776-8000), the south-city institution that's been in her life for as long as she can remember. She doesn't know which is funnier — that they think they've found a hidden gem or that her place is suddenly so hip. "The young people today think they have found the dive bar," McKinney says.

Some of the best events of the year are about to happen in St. Louis. Each year, St. Louis residents celebrate coming out of winter hibernation by getting absolutely sloshed at the Cinco De Mayo festival on historic Cherokee Street on Saturday, May 7. (Note: The festival is not on May 5 but on May 7.)

Basic matters of how County Executive Sam Page staffs his office and pays some of his appointees are likely to become hotly contested issues in the coming weeks. At Tuesday's County Council meeting, Councilman Tim Fitch (R-Manchester) introduced legislation calling for a county charter amendment that would prevent a county-executive appointee from serving in their role for more than two months without having been confirmed by the County Council. "[Sam Page] doesn't care about the confirmation process," Fitch tells the RFT.

April is going out with a bang. The arts are springing back to life, and May trickles in to test our Star Wars knowledge, And if this week doesn't give you enough to pick from, be sure to check out what's happening this weekend, as well. [content-1]

If you love wine and walking (and stumbling drunk down sidewalks arm-in-arm with your pals), you’ll want to attend the Hill Wine Walk on Saturday, May 7. The annual event is one of the best ways to explore St. Louis’ famed Italian neighborhood. Here’s how it works: You show up to the parking lot at Rose of the Hill (2300 Edwards Street) to register.