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Major Central West End apartment tower gets hearing at city board despite opposition from Alderman Tina Pihl.

Jury selection is underway in the trial of a former St. Louis police officer accused of rape.

JERSEY COUNTY - At 10:56 p.m. on Monday, December 12, 2022, the Jersey County Sheriff's Department was advised of a single-vehicle accident, with a rollover, near Davidson Road on Illinois State Highway 109. The Jersey County Sheriff's Office said the single occupant of the involved vehicle was initially treated on the scene before being flown to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. The accident is still under investigation by the Jersey County Sheriff's Department.

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ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Some may be dreaming of a white Christmas this year. Last year's holiday was a little warm, with a high of 67 degrees. Will it be cold enough for the white stuff in St. Louis? We checked the charts to see what the past has to say about this year's forecast. [...]

EDWARDSVILLE − Trinity Lutheran Ministries in Edwardsville hosted its seventh annual Ugly CHRISTmas Sweater 5K Race on December 10, 2022, and this event, along with other activities at the church and school, raised more than $8,000 for area charities. Participation in the Ugly CHRISTmas race was also strong with nearly 200 runners entered. Proceeds from this year's race were given to the Ed-Glen Food Pantry and Edwardsville Neighbors In Need. Pastor John Shank presented checks for $1,500 to each organization following the event. Trinity's school held its annual Holiday Shop earlier this month, where students were given the opportunity to purchase presents for friends and family members at school, with all of the proceeds going to the Ed-Glen Food Pantry. This year's Holiday Shop raised more than $5,800 for the food pantry. The school also held a canned food drive for the Glen-Ed Food Pantry, and more than 1,800 items were collected and donated to the organization. Prizes ar

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by David Hammer, WWL-TV

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with WWL-TV and The Times-Picayune | The Advocate. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

This is Part III of an investigation into how Road Home, the federally funded program to rebuild Louisiana after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, underpaid people in poor neighborhoods while giving those in wealthy ones more of what they needed to repair their homes. Read Part I: The Federal Program to Rebuild After Hurricane Katrina Shortchanged the Poor. New Data Proves It.

Rebuilding a home in a poor neighborhood can cost a lot more than the house is worth on paper. So after Hurricane Katrina, when the U.S. government decided that home values would factor into rebuilding grants, it left many Louisiana homeowners short.

Why the federal government required that has long been a mystery. It had rarely, if ever, allowed home values to be used to calculate rebuilding aid after a disaster. It doesn’t allow it anymore.

But it did for Katrina. That formula hurt poor neighborhoods, most of which in New Orleans were majority Black, according to an investigation published this week by WWL-TV, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, and ProPublica.

Louisiana's Road Home Program Had a Fatal Flaw, Rooted in Partisan Politics

Now, the news organizations have pieced together what led officials to use home values to calculate aid for Road Home, the largest housing recovery program in U.S. history. In Congress and the White House, leaders were worried about federal spending and how Louisiana corruption would come into play, the news outlets found.

So when Louisiana officials negotiated with congressional leaders and the White House, they settled on pre-storm value as a way to achieve two goals: Help Louisiana rebuild after an unprecedented disaster, but limit the size of the check.

In doing so, they created a system in which many poor homeowners would get less money than they needed to rebuild, perpetuating long-standing inequities in New Orleans.

“The tension was always, are the American taxpayers paying more than what the value was worth and what the current market held?” said Don Powell, President George W. Bush’s coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding.

“One man’s accountability,” he said, “is another man’s red tape.”

A Key Meeting in Texas

The back-to-back 2005 hurricanes of Katrina and Rita devastated south Louisiana, damaging or destroying 305,000 housing units. Most homeowners didn’t have sufficient insurance to cover all rebuilding costs. Louisiana leaders were concerned that without a massive injection of federal housing aid, communities would never recover.

In December 2005, Congress allocated $11.6 billion to Louisiana and Mississippi. Louisiana got $6.2 billion, of which state leaders said they would use about $4.5 billion to rebuild owner-occupied housing.

Those leaders said that wasn’t enough even to start a housing recovery program; the Louisiana Recovery Authority estimated it needed at least $14 billion to run what would later become Road Home.

State officials worked to convince the federal government to give them more. Powell was the intermediary.

“I was a fiduciary trying to represent the American taxpayer and trying to make sure that the people along the Gulf Coast were taken care of,” said Powell, now 81 and retired.

The negotiations were intense, he recalled, in part because of the fraught relationship between then-Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, and the Republicans who controlled the White House and Congress. Blanco, who died in 2019, had complained loudly when GOP-led Mississippi got almost half of the initial aid package, despite having just 20% of the damaged housing units.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., presented the biggest obstacle to getting more money, former Powell aide Taylor Beery said. Just days after Katrina, Hastert suggested large parts of New Orleans should be “bulldozed” and said spending billions of dollars to rebuild the city “doesn’t make sense to me.” (He later backtracked, saying he meant the city should be rebuilt in a way that protected residents.)

Louisiana’s reputation for graft also worked against it, according to former LRA officials. State leaders repeatedly promised to be good stewards of federal aid.

Beery and former LRA staffer Adam Knapp said factoring in the value of homes was raised in a series of meetings as a way to limit the price tag.

In January 2006, Powell said, three LRA board members — Xavier University President Norman Francis, shipbuilder Boysie Bollinger and investment banker David Voelker — went to Powell’s home in Amarillo, Texas, to make their case for more money.

Powell recalled that “several folks,” including “some staff members in Congress,” suggested using homes’ pre-storm value to limit grants. He doesn’t know exactly who first mentioned it, because federal and state staffers had already addressed a lot of those details beforehand.

Bollinger, a Republican who acted as a liaison between the Bush and Blanco teams, confirmed that pre-storm value was first brought up during those tense negotiations, but he doesn’t remember who raised it. Francis, who is 91, was not available to comment, and Voelker died in 2013.

Powell indicated there was no discussion about how using pre-storm value could lead to unequal impacts. “I think that’s one of the misfires,” he said.

Building a Housing Program From Scratch

When Louisiana leaders returned from Texas, they had a commitment from Congress to provide $4.2 billion more in recovery aid. Combined with the initial appropriation, Louisiana now had enough to run a $7.5 billion housing recovery program. (It ended up being a $10 billion program.)

LRA Executive Director Andy Kopplin and Walter Leger, who headed the LRA’s housing task force, introduced the housing plan a month later, in February 2006, with a presentation that read, “Louisiana contributes up to pre-storm value” to cover home repairs.

Without another disaster program to model it on, Leger said the LRA took cues from the Victim Compensation Fund set up after the Sept. 11 terror attacks — which was also designed to compensate people for their losses.

In order to get money to people as quickly as possible — and follow federal rules — Louisiana officials ended up compensating people for their losses even before they rebuilt, rather than reimbursing them for repairs as work was completed. HUD had to issue a waiver from its disaster aid rules to allow Louisiana and Mississippi to do that.

When HUD later approved similar waivers for Louisiana and Texas after hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, the Federal Register entry said there was little data on how compensation money had been used during previous programs. The only examples it cited were the programs run by Mississippi and Louisiana after Katrina and Rita.

The U.S. government now forbids state and local governments from using HUD’s disaster recovery grants to compensate people for losses after a disaster, so home values are no longer a factor. Since 2010, HUD has required states to reimburse people for approved expenses, including repairs.

HUD made that decision after it and Louisiana settled a federal lawsuit in which Black homeowners and housing advocates alleged discrimination by Road Home.

“After the Road Home settlement, HUD made the decision that, for future disasters, it would not permit its recipients of disaster relief to distribute ‘compensation for loss’ directly to homeowners as an eligible use of that money,” De’Marcus Finnell, deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said in a written statement.

“HUD and other federal partners recognized the shortcomings of the federal response in Louisiana,” Finnell said, “and have worked to improve those programs in the 15 years since.”

People Who Need the Most Help “Are Given the Least”

Even after Road Home launched, the LRA changed how it would calculate grants several times, which resulted in larger grants. Each formula still capped initial awards at a home’s pre-storm value.

Under the final formula, approved in November 2006, damage assessments would be done on every home. Grants would be based on the home’s pre-storm value or its damage assessment, whichever was lower. Road Home would subtract any payments from insurance or FEMA, plus a penalty for those who didn’t have insurance. The maximum award was $150,000.

In interviews, former LRA board members and staffers said they realized factoring in home values would mean some people would get more help than others, but they thought an affordable loan program for low- to middle-income homeowners — later converted to a grant — would eliminate the gaps.

The news organizations’ analysis of state data found those additional grants helped. But even with that extra money, people in the poorest areas of New Orleans had to cover an average of 30% of their rebuilding costs after Road Home, FEMA aid and insurance. In the wealthiest areas, where residents had far more resources to draw on, the shortfall was 20%.

The state Office of Community Development took issue with the analysis, but none of the points it raised affected the news organizations’ findings. Leger and Kopplin said they found the findings troubling.

How Road Home’s Grant Calculations Led to Different Outcomes

The first to make waves criticizing how grants were calculated was Melanie Ehrlich, a genetics professor at Tulane University School of Medicine. She had founded a grassroots organization, Citizens Road Home Action Team, to advocate for Road Home applicants.

Melanie Ehrlich stands outside her home in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)

In October 2006, she emailed Leger to ask him to allow applicants to choose whether their grants would be based on pre-storm value or the cost of rebuilding. By then, nine months had passed since that meeting in Amarillo.

Leger shot her down, saying the Road Home “has always contained a grant cap of the lesser of pre-storm value or $150,000.” He wrote, “Neither the limited budget nor time would allow for change in the cap.”

Later that month, Ehrlich sent Leger and other officials a chart showing that using pre-storm value on homes with lower appraisals meant people who needed the most help “are given the least help.”

Leger said he agreed and took her complaint to HUD officials. He got HUD to allow the state to include land values in property appraisals, but he said the agency still insisted that initial calculations had to be capped at the property value.

At the next LRA meeting in December 2006, Leger reported that HUD had insisted on limiting grants to pre-storm value, according to board minutes.

Walter Leger, then-chair of the Housing and Redevelopment Task Force for the Louisiana Recovery Authority, testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Jan. 29, 2007. (Ellis Lucia/The Times-Picayune)

“This wasn’t and isn’t the way America should fund major disaster recovery,” Knapp said in an interview. Political battles led to budget shortfalls in Road Home, he said, and “budget was always the problem to the program design.”

Leger said he didn’t remember any of the 16 other LRA board members, including the eight Black members, ever raising concerns about inequitable impacts of the grant formula.

Two Black former board members, Francis and Virgil Robinson Jr., said in 2010 they never realized the formula could end up being discriminatory. This month, another Black former board member, Calvin Mackie, said he raised concerns about using home values but they were lost in the shuffle.

“Everyone was rushing to get a workable solution,” he said, “and get the money out the door.”

His father, whose home in the Gentilly neighborhood flooded in Katrina, didn’t get anything from Road Home, he said. “My dad died in the process of fighting for the money, and in the end we got $0,” Mackie said. “For me, it’s real. I’m still living it.”

Jeff Adelson, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, and Sophie Chou, ProPublica, contributed data reporting.

The $30 million second phase of the first new apartment construction in Maplewood in many years has finished and is open for leasing.

Philadelphia's largest health care system has landed another executive from St. Louis-based Ascension for a top leadership role.

The St. Louis School Board is expected to vote Tuesday on sponsoring Confluence Academies, a network of five charter schools across the city.

JERSEY - The Jersey Community Hospital Ambulance Association donated some early Christmas presents Monday to other colleagues in law enforcement. "The Ambulance Association purchased these 'jump bag' first aid kits to donate to Grafton Police Department, Jerseyville Police Department, Jersey County Sheriff's Office, and Brighton Police Department. "We are so grateful for the working relationship we have with these great officers and how much help they provide to our ambulance crews," JCH Ambulance Association said. "Jersey County is very blessed. "Also a huge thank you to Santa Claus (Steve Pegram of Got Faith) for making this just a little bit more special."

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Under its new ownership, the software firm plans to expand the geographic footprint of its customer base and explore wider application of its technology beyond the cleaning industry.

A Creve Coeur-based IT equipment leasing and resale company has expanded its European operations with two new subsidiaries.

This is a woman sketching the scenery near the west end of the Île de la Cité, the famous island in the middle of the Seine in the center of Paris. The bridge up ahead is the Pont des Arts, and the dome to its left is the Institut de France.

A hearing began Monday in St. Louis to decide if the murder conviction for Lamar Johnson should be thrown out.

WOOD RIVER – Midwest Members Credit Union is proud to sponsor the “Oiler of the Month” program at EAWR High School. A senior student is selected each month by members of EAWR faculty. Each student is awarded a certificate and a Subway gift card. The Seniors selected each month will have the opportunity to compete for a $1,000 “Oiler of the Year” scholarship at the end of the school year. October’s winner is Mia Seibert. Mia is a Senior at EAWR and is involved with varsity cheerleading, the National Honor Society, Spirit Club, RBGA Young Adults Committee, and Big Sisters. Mia has received honors for gold renaissance and all-conference in cheerleading. After graduation Mia plans to obtain a degree in athletic training or physical therapy at Illinois State University. Congratulations Mia and we all wish you good luck in your future! Midwest Members Credit Union has been serving your community for over 87 years. To find out more information about Midwes

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A Maine mother is warning other parents after her 10-month-old daughter nearly died after accidentally swallowing a toy. Folichia Mitchell tells Good Morning America that her daughter wound up in the hospital after swallowing a water bead, a toy meant for her eight-year-old son. The tactile toys are marble-sized and water-absorbing. They are often used to reduce stress and anxiety while helping to develop focus and attention. The National Poison Control Center and the American Academy of Pediatrics say water beads can expand inside a person and cause a life-threatening intestinal blockage. The incident is a reminder to know the signs of poisoning and choking and the steps to reverse the effects of each, says Aminat Ogun, MD, a family medicine physician at OSF HealthCare in Champaign, Illinois. “Make sure there are no loose coins around - no small toys they can pick up and swallow,” Dr. Ogun advises as a first step. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has

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ST. LOUIS - In the Missouri and Arkansas Region, Red Cross disaster response volunteers have also provided relief and comfort after home fires and other local disasters, including responding to tornadoes that ripped across the two-state region, and flooding that impacted the St Louis area . Since January 1, 2022, more than 330 Red Cross disaster workers in the Missouri and Arkansas Red Cross Region have deployed to more than 30 events from coast to coast to help ensure no one faces a crisis of any size alone. Since January 1, 2022, nearly 3,200 disaster responses in the Missouri and Arkansas Region (primarily home fires, but also tornadoes, flooding or damaging wind events have resulted in more than 11,500 people receiving assistance in the region. In the Greater St. Louis chapter, approximately 625 disaster responses (primarily fires, but also floods, tornadoes, wind event responses) , have resulted in Red Cross assisting more than 2,120 people . Blood donations:

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