Like any good St. Louisan, Jane Smiley has an opinion on the high school question. "If you ask somebody in St. Louis, 'Where did you go to high school' — because each school is so unique, you do get a sense of what their life was like and where they live," says the John Burroughs graduate. "Where are you from?
Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection. "I ain't here for all this rigmarole," Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. "The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I'm doing the best I can and I think I've done a good job.
A warrant is out for a Fenton man's arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword. Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about "slicing his roommate's head" before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate. The roommate grabbed Scott's hand in time to prevent injury.
These days, once you're done filling up at City Foundry's food hall, you can buy a new shirt, putt-putt a glow-in-the-dark golf ball, or see a classic movie. You can catch a band at City Winery or have a drink underground at None of the Above. But it's not until this weekend that a visit to the repurposed industrial site can include admission to the Museum of Illusion, part of a fast-growing chain of private museums that might seem more at home in Las Vegas than St. Louis.
The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city. The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.
A Jefferson County man was already facing 15 charges in the City of St. Louis for stealing, property damage and possessing a stolen vehicle when, on Friday, he was charged with a staggering 252 additional crimes. Prosecutors say that 36-year-old Gage Luttman’s reign of burglaries and property damage began in August of last year when he was captured on surveillance video stealing a Hyundai, which he then used to commit further crimes, such as stealing items like bikes, chainsaws, and tools from south city garages. The Hillsboro resident then started hitting storage units.
We arrived just in time: The canapes were coming out. “Chef” Tad Yankoski had finished with his saute pan and was setting out little toasts. “These cook up a lot like shrimp,” he said, tenderly stirring a bunch of cicada nymphs.
Missouri taxpayers will not cover the costs of damages that may result from defamation lawsuits filed against three state senators who incorrectly identified a Kansas man as the shooter at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, Gov. Mike Parson said Monday. In a letter to the commissioner of the Office of Administration, the state agency that certifies payments from Missouri’s legal expense fund, Parson wrote that no payments related to the lawsuits should be certified “without my approval or a court order.” “I cannot justify money spent in this way,” Parson wrote.
To celebrate 60 years of serving up one of the most St. Louis-style pizzas in St. Louis, Imo’s is again collaborating with a favorite RFT illustrator — this time, to produce a unique commemorative poster. Illustrator and cartoonist Dan Zettwoch, who famously designed the chain’s anniversary pizza box, has brought his signature style to the poster, which depicts the very first Imo’s, located at Thurman and Shaw avenues. “The poster pays homage to the humble beginnings of Imo’s Pizza the year 1964, when Ed and Marge Imo opened their first parlor,” according to an Imo’s news release.
Did you know that this year BiState Development, the agency responsible for Metro Transit in St. Louis, will cover the annual fare for more than 50,000 riders with the help of corporate donors? No? Well, that’s because they won’t. Instead, BiState will spend $52 million on faregates blocking MetroLink access and new surveillance technologies at stations — what would be enough money to provide nearly 56,000 riders with free monthly metro passes for the entirety of a year.
When did St. Louis start feeling so down in the dumps? Maybe the malaise started during COVID and just never lifted? Maybe we could blame Kim Gardner, or all those teeth-rattling potholes?
Justin Timberlake is trying to bring his sexy back and to St. Louis. The somewhat-tarnished-by-his-ex's-allegations-of-cheating-and-mind-fucking pop star announced the final nine stops on his current tour today, and we're on the list. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 19, Timberlake will step on stage at Enterprise Center (1401 Clark Avenue) for an evening of song, dance and a light show not to be missed.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones lifted the city’s short-lived hiring freeze on Monday following the end of Missouri’s legislative session on Friday. Jones cited the legislature’s failure to pass any laws that would damage the city’s ability to collect an earnings tax as her reasoning for ending the freeze. The hiring freeze took effect March 29 as a result of budgetary concerns and a sharp divide between the Mayor’s Office and the Board of Aldermen.
9 Mile Garden (9375 Gravois Road, Affton) is getting a new addition that's a bit unusual for a food truck destination: a permanent fixture. Today, the food truck garden announced it would be opening 9 Mile Garden Cafe, a drive-thru and walk-up coffee truck that will be parked on the grounds in perpetuity. The cafe, which will open at the end of this month, will offer a standard coffee menu, as well as specialty drinks such as a Whipped Mazagran, Carmel Cafe Da Olla and more.
After a highly exclusive soft opening phase in April that left the public eagerly anticipating the grand opening, Ramsay’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay has finally opened at the Four Seasons St. Louis at 999 North Second Street in downtown St. Louis and is now accepting reservations from the general public. “St. Louis is an incredible foodie destination, with its own vibrant Midwest flavours and influences,” Ramsay in a release. “I’m delighted to open Ramsay’s Kitchen at Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, a stunning restaurant with amazing views of the Gateway Arch and famed Mississippi River.
This Friday, the Missouri Botanical Garden will be doing something sure to shock the conscience of every good St. Louisan: They'll be showing how to serve up cicadas. The cicada scampi and spicy deep-fried cicada — yes, those are the actual dish names — will be part of an cooking demonstration at MoBOT's Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, a fun afternoon inspired by the cicadapocalypse now blanketing a big swath of St. Louis County with the long-gestating bugs. But not everyone finds the idea so fun.
When a kitchen fire broke out and shuttered the doors at beloved Tower Grove South bar Stella Blues (3269 Morgan Ford Road) in early April, the owner and staff vowed the closure would be temporary. But if we know anything from the rash of kitchen fires that have closed local restaurants in the last few years, there’s no such thing as a sure return. Yet things are looking up for Stella Blues — thanks to strong community support and good insurance coverage.
An honorary member of the Ku Klux Klan, Darrell McClanahan III, will be allowed to remain on Missouri’s gubernatorial primary ballot, despite the state Republican party going through the motions of trying to boot him off. On Friday, Judge S. Cotton Walker of the Cole County Circuit Court ruled in favor of the accused antisemite and self-avowed pro-white man, writing that he is on the ballot because the Missouri Republican Party accepted his candidacy.
Mayor Tishaura Jones held a press conference this morning with Greater St. Louis Inc. and the St. Louis Development Corporation asking them to create a plan to address two troubled downtown buildings: the Railway Exchange Building and Millenium Hotel. In a post to X (formerly Twitter) Jones said she asked the two organizations “to deliver a plan for bold action” to address the buildings, which she says have been neglected for far too long. “We want downtown to be [a] place where you can feel safe doing something or nothing,” Jones added.
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