SEATTLE (AP) — When a woman in Iowa tried to take her child from her husband during an argument on a snowy sidewalk in 2015, an officer stepped in to stop the scuffle. But he accidentally fired his weapon, killing the woman as her family watched in horror. When a police sergeant in Minnesota stopped …

CITY HALL – People should be able to play in a park in peace. That’s the idea behind a bill officially declaring city parks as gun-free zones that passed the Board of Aldermen on Friday. The bill handily passed the board in a 16-2 vote, with Third Ward Alderman Brandon Bosley and 24th Ward Alderman …

CITY HALL – St. Louis aldermen spent an hour on Friday in emotional condemnations of a therapy that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation. Then, in the first of two votes, they overwhelmingly voted for a bill that would ban the practice on minors. “This is a practice that I’ve been familiar with most …

ST. LOUIS – With tax season peeping around the corner, St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green invited the public to learn about the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) at a seminar held Dec. 4 at the 1520 Market St. building. TAS, an independent organization within the IRS, offers free services that can help taxpayers resolve problems …

ST. LOUIS – Passengers boarding a bus early each evening at a downtown street corner aren’t heading for a place to shop or work or a trip home. They don’t have homes, and instead are on their way to shelters where they can find a warm bed. As part of its efforts to keep the …

ST. LOUIS HILLS – In all of his Decembers, Peter Dunphy has known endless lines of crawling automobiles in front of his house, along with mounds of Christmas lights on trees and houses. Peter, 16, a junior at Christian Brothers College High School, was born not long after his family moved to the 6500 block …

CITY HALL – Backers of a bill now before the Board of Aldermen say they hope to take advantage of a loophole in state legislation to keep handguns away from children. Board Bill 172 would create a municipal ordinance violation of Unlawful Possession of a Handgun by a Minor under the age of eighteen (18) …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The financially strapped Loop streetcar line will shut down Dec. 29 but might reopen later under new management, according to the nonprofit company that operates it. John Meyer, president of the Loop Trolley Co., said after a meeting of the firm’s board on Thursday that “we hope a plan will come …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former priest has sued the Archdiocese of St. Louis, alleging it libeled and slandered him by including him on a list of clerics credibly accused of abusing children. Michael Toohey, 77, of Creve Coeur, claims in the lawsuit filed last month in St. Louis County Circuit Court that the archdiocese …

ST. LOUIS – Gov. Mike Parson recently inaugurated a new way to help Missourians train for and get jobs. His Executive Order 19-20 could help individuals steer a path to a good future while boosting the state’s economy.  The executive order established the Office of Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning within the Missouri Department of Higher Education …

ST. LOUIS – State Rep. Steven Roberts, who is vacating his seat for a Senate run, publicly endorsed community activist and pastor the Rev. Darryl Gray recently at a Fourth Ward Community Meeting.  The available seat that Roberts, a lawyer and chairman of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, is seeking is that of Jamilah Nasheed, who …

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Racial disparities have narrowed across the U.S. criminal justice system over 16 years, though black people are still significantly more likely to be behind bars than white people, new federal figures show. Racial gaps broadly declined in local jails, state prisons, and among people on probation and parole, according to a …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Interest in medical marijuana use has far outpaced expectations only five months into Missouri’s new program. Missouri issued close to 22,000 medical marijuana cards since July 4, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Researchers with the University of Missouri’s Economic and Policy Analysis Research Center previously estimated that the state wouldn’t reach that …

ST. LOUIS – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri launched its second annual campaign to recruit 90 men in 90 days to fulfill the need for volunteers to mentor young boys, particularly African-American youth. The campaign started Oct 1 and runs through the end of the year. Linda Robinson, director of volunteer recruitment, noted, …

ST. LOUIS – LGBTQ inclusion and equality are AOK in the STL. That’s according to a report released recently by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization.  In fact, St. Louis, along with Columbia and Kansas …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri became a national focal point for officer-involved shootings after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson five years ago, yet only a small number of police agencies in the state submit data to an FBI program designed to track those shootings. An analysis by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has found that the voluntary National …

CITY HALL – Red light cameras may be returning to St. Louis city streets, but with a different face. Or, at least, a face. The cameras brought tickets in the mail to people who ran selected red lights until a court decision in 2015 declared the St. Louis law that authorized the practice unconstitutional. Now …

CITY HALL – Most of the time, the Rev. John Watson Jr. is co-pastor of the Maple Temple Church of God in Christ in the Academy neighborhood. But for exactly a minute on Nov. 22, he pastored a different flock. Under longstanding rules of the Board of Aldermen, he said the opening prayer at the …

ST. LOUIS – In a little more than a year, some travelers on the busiest route in the area’s bus system will have quieter and smoother rides than they ever got on diesel-powered buses. Better than that, emissions from the 14 new electric-powered buses will be less than from the smoke-belching diesel engines now in …

ST. LOUIS – James H. Buford, the former president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, died Friday, Nov. 29. He was 75. Relatives said Mr. Buford died at Barnes-Jewish Hospital after a brief, undisclosed illness. Mr. Buford was born in St. Louis in 1944; his father was one of the city’s …