RFT 📰

Congresswoman Cori Bush, whose criticism of Israel after the October 7 terrorist attack drew a serious primary challenge and whose employment of her husband has now drawn a Department of Justice Investigation, is choosing to face her critics head on on both fronts.  Yesterday, the St. Louis Democrat appeared on MSNBC's The ReidOut and defended paying her husband Cortney Merritts for security services, saying that her campaign had trouble retaining quality staff and that Merritts, a military veteran, worked security for the campaign as a volunteer before taking on a paying role. 

Attorney Jonathan Beck has lived and worked in the City of St. Louis for almost 20 years — but a recent letter from the city's Building Division has him for the first time mulling taking his business elsewhere.  Beck's office has been on the corner of Magnolia and Arkansas avenues in Tower Grove East since 2011 (and has been in the neighborhood since 2004).

I was a thorny, beer-swilling English rose. I had raven hair from a tube, ponged of Chanel No. 19 and flourished best in London weather — cloudy, drizzled, nipped by a mean little wind.

The brand new Three Sixty Westport (111 West Port Plaza Drive, Maryland Heights; 360-stl.com/westport) is truly an elevated experience from its location perched high above the Westport Plaza in the “gold tower” to its exquisite food and drink menu that includes unique bespoke cocktails curated by mixology consultancy Bangers Only.  Inside, the moody elegance of the rich, textured wood paneling contrasts against soft green and gold accents along with warm overhead lighting to create an effortlessly stunning dining environment.

Following community outrage over the proposed destruction of two historic buildings owned by Saint Louis University, the Kranzberg Arts Foundation says it will save the properties. The St. Louis-based nonprofit acquired the two buildings at 3221-3223 and 3225 Olive Street in Midtown and says it plans to redevelop them and to “eventually restore them to dynamic new spaces that support [the Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s] mission of providing essential infrastructure for the arts to thrive in St. Louis.”

If you are in a relationship with someone who'd be willing to get married at a miniature golf course at a ceremony that will cost zero dollars, you should probably just go ahead and make that happen. Getting hitched is not going to get any easier than how Magic Mini Golf (6160 Delmar Boulevard, magicminigolf.com) in the Delmar Loop is making it: The purveyor of putters is offering free weddings and vow renewals on Valentine's Day.

The Museum of Illusions seems to have its sights set on a new location in City Foundry STL. The new(ish) museum-concept applied for an interior building permit with the city.

The 2024 Brass Band Blowout w/ Funky Butt Brass Band, Saint Boogie Brass Band, Red & Black Brass Band 7 p.m. Saturday, February 3.

Thursday 02/01 A Night to Remember Before he was Kenough and before she played a cop opposite Colin Farrell in a lackluster season of True Detective, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams gave us The Notebook, a love story that you'd have to be demented to forget.

Nearly 80 evacuees from the Heritage House Apartments attended a housing fair organized by St. Louis City Hall yesterday. More than a dozen community groups, including the Urban League and the St. Louis Area Agency on Agency (SLAAA), took part in the event held at the Hilton by St. Louis International Airport.

As this week's cover story reports, some owners of multi-family apartment complexes in Missouri received hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief funds designed to keep tenants in housing. Here are the state's 20 biggest recipients of State Assistance For Housing Relief, or SAFHR, not including utilities.

When you've had a really great year, the kind of year for the record books, it can be hard to pick a favorite moment. Still, Dallas Adams, communications manager for Great Rivers Greenway, manages to do it.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream — for breakfast that is. Saturday, February 3, prepare your sprinkles for National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.

This story was commissioned by the River City Journalism Fund Nine years ago, Ferguson’s Canfield Green Apartments gained international attention as the site where Michael Brown Jr. was killed.

Ernestine Stewart has lived in her home for 42 years and used to only see racoons in more rural areas of the county.  Now her north city neighborhood boasts entire racoon families that make it difficult to walk to her front door thanks to the untamed lawns of developer Paul McKee’s vacant properties. 

Former Aldermanic President Lewis Reed may be in prison, but his actions still haunt the city he once presided over: A new ruling says the City of St. Louis is liable for his actions on Twitter (now X, but who actually calls it that, anyway?). The ruling came yesterday from the 8th District Court of Appeals, which heard the city's appeal of a U.S. District Court ruling. The suit was brought by the ACLU of Missouri and Washington University's First Amendment Clinic on behalf of Sarah Felts, who responded critically to one of Reed's 2019 tweets about the city's Workhouse — and was swiftly blocked.

The Missouri Department of Transportation closed the Bates Avenue exit ramp of I-55 last night, as well as a portion of Michigan Avenue, due to what they describe as a "pavement collapse." The sinkhole was in evidence while crews worked on site this morning and appeared to be more than a few feet deep. In a short press release, MoDOT said it was "evaluating the situation at the base of the ramp and will determine what actions need to be taken before the ramp can safely be reopened."

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating St. Louis Congresswoman Cori Bush over spending on security.  Punchbowl News broke the story this morning, citing "six sources familiar with the investigation."

Laclede’s Landing just got a little more delicious. A new barbecue joint, Smokestaq Lightning, from Shaw’s now-departed Five Aces Bar-B-Que, is in its soft launch at 724 North 1st Street. 

The Ritz-Carlton’s Casa Don Alfonso (100 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton; casadonalfonsostlouis.com) announced today that Eduardo Marquez is its new executive chef.  Casa Don Alfonso, which opened in March of 2021, honors the culinary heritage of the Campania region and the recipes of restaurateur Mario Iccarino’s family, who also operates Don Alfonso in Sant’ Agata, Italy.