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In court Monday, prosecutors said Tywon Harris “took the lead in planning” the robbery.

Two of the eight Republican candidates for Missouri Secretary of State launched TV campaign ads this week, hoping to break away from the pack in the final two weeks before the Aug. 6 primary. Jamie Corley, a longtime Republican political operative from St. Louis, was first on the air, launching ads in three markets on […]

The leading candidate to head the FCC should Trump win re-election is facing calls for an investigation into Hatch Act violations after he helped co-author the controversial Project 2025. Sixteen House Democrats have sent a letter to government officials arguing that Carr’s involvement in the openly political Project 2025 is a clear violation of the […]

The Railway Exchange Building was once a jewel of downtown St. Louis. Mark Hall, now tasked with managing security for the building, has fond memories of holidays on that block. "I still remember Famous Barr when they used to decorate the windows at Christmastime," he said. The 21-story, 1.24 million-square-foot building, which spans from Locust Street to Olive Street and Sixth to Seventh streets, has been vacant since 2014. Hall is the regional director of security for Citizen's Guard Security,…

No-excuse absentee voting has begun for the August 6 primary.

The expo features handmade items relating to gaming, comic books, TV shows, and all manner of other geeky pursuits—all handmade by locals.

For most of his second term in the Missouri Senate, Bill Eigel has been a disruptor. First with a homegrown Republican faction called the Conservative Caucus, and then with a state chapter of the national Freedom Caucus, Eigel led a small group willing to torpedo legislation to make their points heard. It hasn’t won him […]

For the next two weeks, Missouri voters can cast an absentee ballot in person at designated locations — and they no longer need an excuse to do it.  In 2022, state lawmakers passed legislation allowing no-excuse absentee voting during the two weeks prior to each election. For the Aug. 6 primary, that means up until […]

Amendment 4 on the ballot Missouri Voters will get this August 6 election asks voters whether Kansas City should be required to increase funding for police. The city’s mayor is opposed. We’ll learn more about the measure, and why voters are seeing it for a second time

Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of Sammy Hagar’s eighth studio album, VOA, which helped launch him into mainstream success thanks to what became one of his signature tunes, “I Can’t…

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There are tentative signs that she would not indulge Israel’s war as President Biden has done.

The vice president has been a cautious political operator. Her vision for the future points in several directions.

Who is Kamala likely to pick as her running mate? Ideally, who should she pick?

Tom Tomorrow brings you This Modern World

by Topher Sanders

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A new federal rule aims to keep people from being pulled into storm drains during heavy rains.

It comes after ProPublica’s 2021 reporting on how dangerous and uncovered storm drains were responsible for at least three dozen deaths across the country in a six-year span.

The rule, which went into effect in May and applies to new projects funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, builds on guidance the federal agency released in 2022 in direct response to ProPublica’s investigation. It requires that local officials overseeing projects in areas prone to flooding consider safety measures for drain openings, such as grates to cover them.

Deaths caused by storm drains continue to occur across the country. In early May, a 10-year-old boy in Christiana, Tennessee, was pulled into a drain while playing with other children in water after severe storms hit the community. The child died 10 days later after his family pulled him off life support.

Officials running HUD-funded projects must now, among other measures intended to minimize harm to the environment and people, consider whether they need “protective gates or angled safety grates for culverts and stormwater drains.” Project leaders have to then explain to federal officials which safety features will be adopted and which were considered but not used.

A spokesperson for the federal agency told ProPublica in an email that officials believe the new rule and language “will help encourage the use of safety measures for stormwater infrastructure to prevent injury or drownings during flood events.”

The rule comes after HUD officials read ProPublica’s investigation and spoke with officials from Denver’s Mile High Flood District who were featured in the coverage. The district has for years preached the importance of installing grates on some inlets to prevent people from getting sucked in when areas flood and stormwater rushes toward open drainage pipes, which are often out of sight below the waterline. It has also developed criteria that cities and towns can use to determine which openings might be dangerous enough to warrant a covering.

Holly Piza, research and development director with the Mile High Flood District, said she is happy that language about safety grates made it into the updated federal rule but said time will tell how much of an impact the change will have.

“My hope is that by HUD recognizing the importance of public safety in stormwater infrastructure in this way, we continue to see this issue highlighted at a national level,” she said.

HUD provides funding for public housing and financial assistance to homeowners across the country. In May, the department announced it awarded more than $3 billion for repairs and other work to public housing developments in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

ProPublica’s reporting found that a number of storm drain deaths have occurred in drains and culverts maintained by state-run departments of transportation. But neither the U.S. Department of Transportation nor the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the body that sets standards for state transportation offices, have made any changes to their rules or guidelines about evaluating whether drains should have safety grates.

A spokesperson with the association told ProPublica in an email that having a process for deciding whether to use a safety grate would be a best practice, but ultimately the decisions are up to the states and depend on the specific location.

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An international public-private partnership is supercharging coffee breeding to save your morning brew.

Forests throughout the West are overgrown and full of flammable vegetation, fueling wildfires and carbon emissions. Could burying it help solve the problem?

Whether St. Louisan Mary Sprague is depicting a large, incredibly detailed chicken or painting a commentary on the devastation of losing loved ones, her artwork never disappoints. Sprague’s oeuvre has the ability to emote quirkiness and humor or purvey psychological drama and shock value. One of her paintings in the Missouri Historical Society Collections, The …

Continue reading "Memories and Ghosts: The Nursery by Mary Sprague"