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CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 18 attorneys general today in sending letters to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), urging the agencies to deny Opportunity Financials’ (OppFi) application to acquire and merge with BNC National Bank, which would grant OppFi a national bank charter and enable the company to circumvent longstanding state lending laws. In their letters, Raoul and the coalition

Flock Safety’s automatic license plate readers were first sold as upmarket add-ons for gated communities and HOA curtain-twitchers who wanted to keep tabs on what everyone was doing, whether they lived there or not. Flock soon realized that selling to rich people wasn’t as profitable as selling to governments. Law enforcement agencies have always been […]

CHICAGO – Today, Governor JB Pritzker sent a letter to the chief executives of the nation’s largest oil companies, demanding answers about why Illinois families are paying exorbitant prices at the pump while the companies report record profits as a result of President Trump’s ongoing, unlawful war with Iran. In the letter, Governor Pritzker questions why oil companies are failing to help ease the burden on Illinois drivers while their businesses hoard additional revenue from

GODFREY - Gary Hart and Steve Fiedler have made a difference in their Blu Fountain Manor Drive neighbors’ lives over the years by shoveling snow when inclement weather occurs in the region. On Sunday, July 26, 2026, both men were recognized at a surprise party for them at the manor in Godfrey. The informal appreciation event was organized by Roosevelt Wilson, of Blu Fountain Drive, to recognize Hart, 69, and Fiedler, 82, for helping neighbors during winter weather. About 10 to 12 neighbors

CHICAGO — Today, Attorney General Kwame Raoul was joined by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City of Chicago in filing a lawsuit against A-F Acquisition LLC, which operates under the name Pullman Innovations, alleging that the company allowed excessive odors, caused illegal air pollution, constructed a boiler without a permit that could cause or contribute to air pollution, and violated certain conditions of the operating permit at its Chicago facility. Pullman Innovations’ Chicago

2026 Sustaining Housing Dreams Funsdraiser Award Winners

At Tower Grove CDC, our mission is simple: we promote and improve quality of life by attracting public and private investment and providing real estate and other community services. Every year, that mission comes to life through the people and organizations who partner with us, advocate alongside us, and do the hands-on work of building stronger neighborhoods.

This year, we're honored to recognize three individuals whose leadership reflects that mission in three very different, equally vital ways. Join us in celebrating them on October 8, 2026 at our annual Sustaining Housing Dreams Fundraiser.

Community Service Award: Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier

Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier has represented the 7th Ward on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen since 2023, building a legislative record centered on housing stability and tenant protection. But it's her vision in authoring Board Bill 41 that we're honoring today — the legislation that established the City of St. Louis's first formal framework for defining, certifying, and prioritizing Community Development Corporations for city partnership and investment.

Without Alderwoman Sonnier's leadership on BB41, the certification process CDCs will rely on soon — and our ability to attract right-sized investment into our neighborhoods — simply wouldn't exist. Her work reflects months of collaboration and advocacy across the community development sector, and it has fundamentally strengthened the partnership between city government and neighborhood-based organizations like ours.

Thank you, Alderwoman Sonnier, for building the infrastructure that makes our work — and the work of CDCs across the city — possible with a bright future!

Community Partner Award: Adam Marles- EverTrue

We're proud to honor Adam Marles and EverTrue with this year's Community Partner Award. Adam and his team were essential partners in bringing EverTrue Crossroads at Bevo Mill to fruition — lending their staff's expertise, stepping up with a generous donation to help close the project's funding gap, and trusting Tower Grove CDC as a partner every step of the way.

Adam's leadership is a prime example of what St. Louis needs: unabashed, aggressive investment in our community. Since joining EverTrue in 2021, he has grown the organization to nearly 4,000 employees serving more than 16,500 older adults annually, making it the 10th-largest nonprofit senior living provider in the nation. In the St. Louis region specifically, he has championed investments in affordable housing and community-based support that help older adults age with independence and dignity.

Thank you, Adam, for believing in what we're building — and for backing that belief with real resources.

Community Impact Award: Julie Sommers

Julie Sommer has spent nearly two decades investing in St. Louis, starting with the rehab of distressed properties in the Tower Grove Heights and Cherokee historic districts. But it's her leadership around professional leasing and housing stabilization — and her dedicated use of our ARCH by HomeScreen program — that we're recognizing this year.

Julie has been a long-time user of HomeScreen, supporting this program back when all of the applications were collected and processed manually. She was one of the first users of the HomeScreen web-based software that launched in February 2019 and has since approved over 100 applications through the HomeScreen software.

Julie was also an early adopter of ARCH by HomeScreen, joining this program just after it launched in January 2021. ARCH by HomeScreen helps people without stellar rental or credit histories find and keep housing, giving them a real chance at stability. Julie has embraced that mission fully: after the May 2025 tornado, she was on the ground providing food, water, and wellness checks to displaced and homebound neighbors. She shared one of her properties on ARCH by HomeScreen during this time, and approved an application from a single mother displaced by the tornado to move into one of her rental properties. 

Julie's company remains the only business member of the regional Continuum of Care, frequently offering to buy bus or train tickets for people in need of transportation back to their families or other support systems. 

Thank you, Julie, for proving that good business and good neighboring aren't mutually exclusive — they're the same thing.

Join Us to Celebrate

We'd love for you to help us honor Adam, Julie, and Alderwoman Sonnier in person at Sustaining Housing Dreams, Tower Grove CDC's annual fundraiser.

• Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026

• Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM CDT (awards ceremony begins at 6:30 PM)

• Location: Das Bevo at Bevo Mill, 4749 Gravois Ave, St. Louis, MO 63116

• Registration deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 11:59 PM CDT

We're grateful to US Bank for serving as our Presenting Sponsor this year, helping make an evening like this possible.

Register for the event and buy sponsorships — we hope to see you there!

WOOD RIVER - The community can celebrate a new Wood River dispensary at their grand opening party. The Cannaisseur will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and party at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. Located at 40 E. Ferguson Avenue in Wood River, the dispensary’s leadership and “budtenders” are excited to serve the community and mark their opening with Friday’s festivities. “The Cannaisseur is a wonderful, friendly neighborhood dispensary,” said Jerry

ST. LOUIS COUNTY - An unidentified person damaged a wooden cross on the front lawn of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in the 700 block of Lemay Ferry Road in St. Louis during the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, and St. Louis County police are asking for the public’s help identifying the individual as detectives investigate. Police said the person first attempted to cut down the cross with a saw, then returned a few hours later with an axe and split the cross. The axe was left

Attendees of Guns N' Roses' concert in Toronto on Wednesday might've felt like they were "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" when Chris Stapleton made a surprise appearance.The country star joined Axl…

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SPRINGFIELD – Last week, the Governor signed into law three measures sponsored in the House by State Representative Amy Elik (R-Alton) and in the Senate by State Senator Erica Harriss (R-Glen Carbon) after the ideas were brought to them by Metro East residents. House Bill 4867 allows additional work vehicles to use green flashing or rotating lights, along with amber and white lights. The new law will help protect workers and motorists by making active work zones easier to identify and navigate

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) is recognizing August as Child Support Awareness Month, marking continued improvement on key performance metrics that correlate to the state’s ongoing efforts to support Illinois families more holistically. The mission of the program is to improve the lives of the many children it serves annually, and create a more stable and successful future for families in the state of Illinois. HFS’ Division of

The Trump administration appears poised to gut the central policies that shape Head Start, a popular and long-established early childhood education program that serves the country’s neediest children. The Department of Health and Human Services announced the changes Thursday. The federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs posted a notice that it intends to “significantly reduce regulatory […]

EFFINGHAM – A new law sponsored by State Senator Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) will strengthen government transparency by making local audit and financial reports easier for Illinois residents to access. “The people of Illinois deserve transparency when it comes to how units of government manage their tax dollars,” said Plummer. “Public financial records should not be difficult to find or buried in websites. This law is a simple, commonsense step to make important

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Curtis (R-UT), Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to help prevent youth suicide successfully passed through the Senate. The Senators’ bipartisan Youth Poisoning Prevention Act would ban high-concentration sodium nitrite from being available to the public. There is no recognized household or consumer use for high-concentration sodium nitrite, yet retailers are still allowed to sell