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The new location will be the locally based barbecue chain’s first in north St. Louis County and its 14th overall.

Cantina Laredo, at 7710 Forsyth Blvd. in Clayton, permanently shuttered after its final day of operations Sunday.

St. Louis just recorded its third straight year with a decline in total homicides. While the homicide rate cannot be accurately calculated until census numbers are finalized, a preliminary police report tallied 158 homicides in 2023, down considerably from 200 in 2022 and down much further from a recent peak at 263 in 2020. The decline in the murder death toll appears to closely align with a national decline in homicides, even as other cities like Washington, D.C., and Kansas City still struggle…

Missouri has made the tentative decision to participate in a federal food assistance program for kids, potentially opening the door for millions of dollars in aid through a program called Summer EBT. However, the decision is not binding and Missouri still has to submit a detailed plan to the federal government on how it plans to run the program and secure the necessary administrative funds. The state had until Jan. 1 to take this initial step or foreclose the option to participate entirely. “We’ll…

New regional executives have taken their posts as BJC HealthCare in St. Louis and Kansas City-based Saint Luke’s Health System completed their planned merger Jan. 1 as expected, officials said Tuesday.

The office campus of the footwear retailer, considered to be one of the prime redevelopment sites in Clayton, is slated to be purchased by the local school district for its own future expansion.

Richard "Rick" Engel said he wants to grow in the firm’s existing footprint, which covers 18 offices including in London, England and Dublin, Ireland. However, he didn’t rule out more “strategic, opportunistic” expansions into other high-growth markets.

The University of Missouri’s appearance in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic drew 10 million-plus viewers, giving the bowl game its best ratings in recent years.

Missouri House Republicans tapped an executive of a top GOP consulting firm to direct their campaign efforts after shifting a long-time strategist out of the job. Hannah Beers Sutton of Axiom Strategies will be executive director of the House Republican Campaign Committee, Majority Leader Jon Patterson said. She will replace Jonathan Ratliff, a partner in Palm Strategic who has been leading the House Republican campaign effort for 14 years. Ratliff will be retained as a “senior consultant,”…

Nominations for the St. Louis Business Journal's annual Corporate Counsel Awards, which seek to celebrate the best and brightest legal minds in the corporate landscape, are due Monday, Jan. 8. Submit your nomination here before the deadline. These awards will span all levels of the corporate legal department structure, from in-house generalists and specialists to chief legal officers and general counsels, who work in nonprofit organizations or in public or private companies of any size in any…

Missouri lawmakers return to Jefferson City on Wednesday afternoon for the start of the 2024 legislative session, and expectations aren’t high. GOP infighting has mired the Missouri Senate in gridlock the last three years, and the wounds at the center of the turmoil seem to have only gotten worse. Across the Capitol rotunda in the House, an ethics investigation into Speaker Dean Plocher could upend the agenda and cost Plocher his job. Election year politics hang over both chambers, with a handful…

Ben Poremba, whose Bengelina Hospitality Group operates several local restaurant concepts, after a final day of service on Saturday has closed longtime Botanical Heights restaurants Elaia, Olio and Nixta. The three restaurants will reopen in 2024 in the Delmar Maker District where Poremba will additionally open two new concepts.

The St. Louis Business Journal's Book of Lists provides you with more than 1,500 of the hottest area companies in their fields, by ranking. Here's where you can find it.

The St. Louis Battlehawks will return in 2024, as one of eight teams in a new spring football league formed through the merger of the XFL and USFL.

In the realm of economic development, the influence of strategic funding initiatives can be likened to the ripple effect caused by casting stones into a pond. Each grant, regardless of its size, has the potential to create waves of change across the community. However, the art lies in identifying and leveraging grants that, akin to denser stones, yield disproportionately larger ripples of impact. This endeavor, central to the mission of organizations like Arch Grants in St. Louis, involves a meticulous…

The startup funding process can be a daunting, complex task for entrepreneurs. Every stage of startup funding requires different goals and strategies to ensure successful fundraising. Knowing when it's time to move to the next round of funding, what goals you should set for your business at each point in the process and how to best prepare is key to finding investors who believe in your vision. It can take a startup years to move through the funding stages, so it's wise to use that time to prepare…

When engaging in discussions over any merger or acquisition transaction, the parties will plan out and schedule most of the process around the anticipated timetables for due diligence. All too often, parties are exclusively planning out the due diligence of the target company. Obviously, the target company is the only entity changing hands, so its risk profile is paramount to the transaction. However, in today’s market, sellers have an increased interest in performing their own due diligence on…

David Woodburn, CEO of St. Louis-based agtech startup Edison Agrosciences, vividly remembers the first time he saw a commercial sunflower field. It was years ago, during a road trip through South Dakota, and he recalls being struck by the flowers set against a bright blue sky. Yet despite how memorable the experience was, it would be many years before he’d come to understand the plant’s full power — one that is poised to solve one of the most vexing problems in the U.S. supply chain. “There…

The county said Thursday it’s purchasing the National Equestrian Center (NEC) at 6880 Lake St. Louis Blvd., a move that was approved unanimously in October by the St. Charles County Council. It is acquiring the 54-acre horse show venue for $5.9 million.

Judge Heather Cunningham of St. Louis County Circuit Court entered the judgment against Shada Seed & Ag Services LLC on Dec. 14. The ruling came nearly three months after Shada Seed -- a retailer of seed, chemical and fertilizer in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota -- did not respond to the lawsuit filed by Bayer.