Aggregator

The City of St. Louis got a massive amount of money from the federal government for Covid relief – more than $500 million or about half of the city's entire yearly budget. In August, the city approved a plan to spend the first $135 million of that money. The plan included something pushed by Mayor Tishaura Jones – $500 checks for roughly 10,000 city households based on income and impact of Covid on finances. "This money would go directly into the pockets of St. Louisans who need it the most,"…

A company hired by Missouri officials to help review applications for the state's medical marijuana program has been ordered to pay $28 million to one of the applicants it rejected.

Wise Health Solutions, a joint venture between Oakland, California's Oaksterdam University and Nevada-based regulatory compliance company Veracious Investigative, was awarded a contract by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in August 2019. According to a press release from the company at that time, its purpose was to "review applications for prospective medical cannabis businesses, in anticipation of Missouri's burgeoning medical cannabis industry."

But, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, the heads of at least one company that was passed over for a license believe that the process was unfair. St. Charles-based GMT Consulting, one of many groups who applied to be a part of the state's medical marijuana industry, leveled a lawsuit against Wise Health Solutions, asserting that its methodology in scoring potential participants was flawed, even going so far as to accuse the company of corruption.

The case wound its way into arbitration, and GMT prevailed.…

A Washington University professor says Missouri has an opportunity to evaluate its cybersecurity practices after a flaw on a state-run website exposed the personal information of thousands of workers.

Jill McCormick shook her head and lifted her eyes to the ceiling.  “What is the hold up for getting that money directly to [tenants]?” McCormick, a tenant advocate with the nonprofit Action St. Louis, asked St. Louis’ new director of human services, Yusef Scoggin, at a community meeting Tuesday. The city has received more applications […]

The post If Missouri doesn’t spend its federal rental and utility assistance money it could lose it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It’s been almost exactly a decade since a fire ripped through one of the massive buildings of the Crunden-Martin complex in December of 2011. I came back in January of 2014, and little had changed since the conflagration except some… Continue Reading →

Some do, others don't, and there are good reasons for each.

The restaurant occupies the space formerly home to Cafe Osage.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s sprawling social spending and climate package has been slimmed down into a still-massive $1.75 trillion plan that he and top congressional Democrats are attempting to wrestle through after months of negotiations. Snipped from that proposal are a number of key priorities for Democrats, including an attempt to create the first […]

The post What’s in — and out — of Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Since Gerry Wiegmann ventured on his own to start Wiegmann Associates in 1995, two things have remained constant for the company — the mechanical contractor specializes in HVAC systems, and a Wiegmann has always been heavily involved in the company’s operations. But nearly everything else about the business has changed.

James Probstein cannot verify the urban legend that surrounds the chicken wings at his Ladue mainstay, Sportsman's Park (9901 Clayton Road, Ladue; 314-991-3381), but the rumors have been swirling for years. The word on the street is that Jackie Smith, the NFL Hall of Famer and former co-owner of the restaurant (along with James' dad Norman), was the person who brought Buffalo wings to St. Louis when the restaurant opened in the 1970s.…

The beginnings of Robhots can be traced back to January 2014 in Colorado, out of a need for a quality and consistent edible that was extremely effective. Starting in our rental house, Robhots quickly gained a following and a reputation for a great tasting, consistent gummy.…

Creating educational opportunities across race and class is imperative not only for underserved populations, but also for our economy and business sector as a whole.

I pulled up to the drive-thru window and a most pleasant lady asked for the order. The place, in simple terms, was not your colorful, shiny emporium, but rather an order window and a friendly face.

Unusual objects are lurking in the Missouri Historical Society Collections! Some seem spooky to modern viewers, like death masks. Others sound gross, like art and jewelry made of human hair. And some present us with mysteries, like this coffin handle that spent more than half a century buried underground in Virginia before somehow making its …

Continue reading "The Mystery of the Traveling Coffin Handle"

Lynn Hinton, an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher with the Parkway School District at Northeast Middle School, will be honored by The St. Louis American Foundation as an "Excellence in Education" awardee at the 2021 Salute to Excellence in…

America’s favorite drag queen, Trixie Mattel, has spent some time in St. Louis these past couple of days recovering from emergency surgery.

The television star, YouTube celebrity, podcast host, makeup entrepreneur, icon and skinny legend was headed into St. Louis for an event at Webster University but an emergency appendix surgery ruined all of those plans.


A Tweet posted last night said that Mattel was recovering at St. Mary’s hospital after Mattel’s appendix “basically imploded” on the airplane into town. Mattel hadn’t felt well lately and this explains it all.


That Tweet has since been removed but you know that Mattel is speaking the truth because this tweet from last night showed Richmond Heights as the location and referenced a Lindsay Lohan clip that is extra funny when one is bored and laid up in a hospital bed because their appendix got turnt.


We reached out for an interview but Mattel’s people declined.…

The air is getting chillier, pumpkins are perched on porches and children across the country are planning their spooky costumes. Holidays and other festivities during a pandemic can spark both …

Homer G. Phillips Hospital was internationally known as a state-of-the-art institution and for training Black medical graduates, when few institutions in the U.S. did so. Former nurses and a historian remember its legacy.

In this "bonus" episode, Farrakhan Segog talks to St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum about his work on a commission tasked with drawing Missouri Senate districts. Shegog was interviewed for a larger story on the state legislative redistricting process, which has historically deadlocked. Shegog, though, is optimistic.