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The festival spotlighting contemporary gay cinema plays at the Hi-Pointe Theatre from April 26-28 and May 3-5.

Bergstrom previously directed The Rep's productions of "The 39 Steps" and "It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play."

Baseball fans will have the opportunity to meet St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith on Tuesday afternoon.

by Lizzie Presser

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Federal lawmakers introduced a legislative package on Tuesday that would expand heirs’ property owners’ access to disaster relief and provide assistance in clearing titles. Heirs’ property refers to land that has been passed down informally within families; without clear titles, owners can be ineligible for government aid and their land vulnerable to forced sales. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Texas, decided to introduce legislation after reading a ProPublica-New Yorker investigation on the legal and financial risks of holding land as heirs’ property.

More than a third of Black-owned land in the South is heirs’ property. The practice of conveying land without a will dates to Reconstruction, when many Black families did not have access to courts, and it continued through the Jim Crow era. The ProPublica-New Yorker story examined how heirs’ property owners can be locked out of federal assistance and compelled by courts to sell their land against their will.

The first of two bills, the HEIR Act of 2024, sponsored by Fletcher, along with Rep. Nikema Williams, a Democrat from Georgia, and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, proposes amending Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations to ensure that heirs’ property owners without a clear title can use alternate documentation to qualify for disaster aid. The language echoes a policy adopted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2021, after a Washington Post analysis revealed a pattern of denying assistance to heirs’ property owners.

Fletcher noticed that HUD did not make similar changes. “When you look at the big picture data, it is really staggering to see the amount of lost generational wealth because of how this system operates,” she said. “The ProPublica article really brings to light what an incredible injustice this is and has been, and we need to be thinking creatively and holistically about how we can use the tools we do have to solve these problems.”

Nketiah Berko, an Equal Justice Works fellow, sponsored by the Rossotti Foundation, at the National Consumer Law Center, says that increasing heirs’ access to federal aid is critical. “When it comes to disasters, so many of the places that are most environmentally vulnerable are also areas that have histories of different types of property ownership — whether that’s uncleared title or communal homeownership,” he said. “It’s crucial that federal disaster relief programs recognize this and are tailored to the needs of these most vulnerable communities.”

A second bill, the HEIRS Act of 2024, sponsored by Williams and Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida, along with Fletcher and Cleaver, proposes two programs to fund legal assistance for heirs’ property owners, who often cannot afford legal services to safeguard their ownership. The bill would authorize $300 million over 10 years for HUD to reward states that adopt or have adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act; the law expands heirs’ rights when their ownership is challenged. These HUD grants could be used to help heirs’ property owners clear titles and cover associated fees. In addition, the bill would create a $10 million program for each of the next five years for HUD to fund eligible nonprofits that provide legal assistance to heirs’ property owners.

“This is really significant,” said Heather K. Way, director of the Housing Policy Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. “More and more pro-bono legal programs have been popping up to help heirs’ property owners, but even if they have access to attorneys, there are fees and expenses associated with clearing title that can be a major impediment. This program would provide funding for those costs.”

Way also noted that HUD could make some of these proposed changes on its own by encouraging states to allow heirs’ property owners greater flexibility in qualifying for disaster aid, before federal legislation works its way through Congress.

In a statement, a HUD spokesperson wrote: “Strengthening the way HUD’s disaster recovery funds serve survivors is one of HUD’s highest legislative priorities.” The department made no comment on the specific bills.

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The proposal comes after hackers temporarily shut down a regional law enforcement system last year.

Hip-hop stars Pitbull and T-Pain are coming to St. Louis this September as part of the newly-announced "Party After Dark" tour.

Trolley cars will be on the route this weekend but only for operator training.

After an extensive six-month search that identified three well-qualified finalists, Kate Bergstrom was selected to join the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis as the eighth Augustin Family Artistic Director in the company’s 58-year run. Officially starting in the role on May 13, Bergstrom is already busy moving to the city and becoming familiar with the staff and region. St. Louis theatergoers may already be familiar with Bergstrom, who directed well-received productions of The 39 Steps in 2021 and 2023’s crowd-pleasing holiday production It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

ST. LOUIS -- Each month on FOX 2, we select the recipient of our Proud to Serve award.  Today, we salute Jennifer Jefferson, a Marine Corps veteran.  She and her husband both served in the Marines.  Following active service, Jennifer began volunteering with the FOCUS Marines Foundation as a mentor, team leader and Board member.  She eventually [...]

The St. Louis Watercolor Society is holding it's 24th Annual Juried Exhibition at the St. Louis Public Library- Central Library in the Carnegie Gallery from April 8 to April 26. […]

The post 24th Annual St. Louis Watercolor Society Juried Exhibition appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

The grant money will enable households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy.

When Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare in Clinton received $1 million from the state last year to expand its cancer treatment options, the small hospital was ready to match the grant. The new facility providing radiation therapies opened in December, saving patients from the region a drive to Kansas City or Springfield or doing without the […]

The post Match rules limit spending of Missouri’s federal infrastructure funds as deadlines loom appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The art museum will host a naturalization ceremony in hopes of making it an annual tradition.

The average number of stops downtown increased 15.9% in February compared with March 2023, according to the study.