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The site at the North County Recreation Complex will expand testing capacity by 1,000 tests per week.

Funding, not legal authority, has been the real issue preventing a stronger response from City Hall when owners fail to maintain historic properties.

Investigators looking for a cause are leaning toward accidental, police say.

Gov. Mike Parson wants lawmakers to act by Feb. 1.

This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.


Amending Missouri’s open records law to permit government agencies to withhold more information from the public — and charge more for any records that are turned over — is among Gov. Mike Parson’s priorities for the 2022 legislative session.

Among the changes, which were outlined in a presentation to Parson’s cabinet that was obtained by The Independent through an open records request, is a proposal to allow government agencies to charge fees for the time attorneys spend reviewing records requested by the public.

Such a change would reverse a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling against Parson’s office that found attorney review time was not “research time” under the Sunshine Law and thus could not be charged.

The presentation, which was prepared for a Nov. 10 meeting of Parson’s cabinet, included slides on the legislative goals of Parson, who was referred to as “G57.”

The slide on proposed Sunshine Law changes dubbed the proposals as “Good Government” reforms and described the changes as ones that would “benefit political subdivisions, the legislature and state government.”

But transparency advocates say the changes would diminish the public’s ability to hold public institutions accountable.

“If they succeed in accomplishing this wish list of changes, it will make it incredibly difficult and expensive for Missourians to get access to information about what their government is doing,” said Dave Roland, director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri, a libertarian nonprofit that advocates for government transparency.

Kelli Jones, spokeswoman for the governor, did not respond to a request for comment.

‘Important to him’

A handful of bills have already been filed for consideration during the 2022 legislative session that touch on various changes outlined in Parson’s cabinet presentation.

State Rep. Bruce DeGroot, R-Ellisville, once again filed legislation that aims to shield constituents’ email addresses and telephone numbers from public disclosure if they were submitted for the sole purpose of receiving newsletters or other alerts.

The bill, which was passed by both the Senate and House last year, was ultimately vetoed by Parson, in part, due to a subsequent court ruling related to the Sunshine Law and provisions related to the Office of Child Advocate’s authority that were added later in the session.

This year’s bill includes many previously proposed provisions, but it also includes new measures that DeGroot said were proposed by Parson’s office over the summer.

“I really liked the House version last year,” DeGroot said, “and then the governor came to me, and obviously, this was something that was important to him.”

DeGroot said it’s not his intent to have information hidden from the public. He hopes the bill will lead to a conversation on finding a “happy medium” between information being made accessible without overburdening government agencies.

“We have to have good investigative reporting going on on government, and that’s healthy, in my opinion,” DeGroot said.…

(AP) — St. Louis-based Centene Corp. has reached a $21.1 million settlement with New Hampshire over the inaccurate reporting of pharmacy benefit services cost, that state’s attorney general said Friday. …

Mississippi Nights was a St. Louis nightclub that featured live music. It was open from 1979 to 2007. Mississippi Nights stood at 914 1st Street, on Laclede’s Landing. Originally a country venue, it is primarily remembered as a rock club,

The post Mississippi Nights, St. Louis appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

More Covid-19 testing will be available in St. Louis and St. Louis County beginning Monday. On Sunday, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, in coalition with the city of St. Louis' Department of Health and other public health entities, announced they would start appointment-based testing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday at 1408 N. Kingshighway Blvd. The drive-thru originally was scheduled to start Monday but officials told KSDK they needed more time for “planning purposes.” “Covid-19…

The U.S. says Ameren could act more quickly to close the plant. The utility says the move "is not a simple matter.”

The first phase of the hotel is opening this year.

“It was nice to be in St. Louis and not have to worry about which righty throwing 100mph was trying to take my lunch that day," said Cardinals player Harrison Bader.

Another local Walmart has closed temporarily to allow time to clean, in response to the Covid-19 surge. This comes as the Walmart in Bridgeton also announced the closure of its store for the same reason. This location in St. Louis County reopened Sunday after being thoroughly sanitized. The Arnold location, at 2201 Michigan Ave, sent a release Sunday morning saying it was closing on Sunday at 2 p.m. The store goes on to say it will remain closed through Monday to give associates time to restock…