Email Author Laura Higgins

2000 Stories by Laura Higgins

• Dress Rehearsal

  published December 6, 2000

  After three decades in sales, wearing starched shirts and pressed suits, weathering the ups and downs of commissions and the pressures of... More >>

• Last Call

  published November 22, 2000

  Half-an-hour passed, then an hour, and the clock was still ticking. As night inched its way toward sunrise, four friends waited outside the... More >>

• The Accidental Politician

  published October 25, 2000

  The mayor faced an important and unexpected decision as the career of one of St. Louis' most powerful elected officials came crashing down in the... More >>

• Net Nemesis

  published September 6, 2000

  After Walt Volkenannt retired from a long career as a federal employee, he and his wife, Donna, decided to build a brand-new home in St. Peters.... More >>

• True Believer

  published August 30, 2000

  From his office at 1006 Olive St., Craig Heller heads north on 10th Street, walking about a block to an 11-story brick building still best known... More >>

• Daycare Nightmares

  published August 9, 2000

  At a KinderCare daycare facility in Florissant on a cold January morning in 1999, a driver accidentally left three children in the van... More >>

• Raising a Stink

  published August 2, 2000

  When Sean McGivern formed the tiny Kat Box King company back in 1992, he figured he'd come up with a product that answered the prayers of... More >>

• The Scarlet Letter

  published June 28, 2000

  In six years as principal of Normandy High School, Alvin Smith says that he has earned a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense leader. His boss,... More >>

• Sun Sets on the Boulevard

  published June 28, 2000

  In the late 1970s, the nonprofit organization Paraquad bought a vacant motel in the Central West End and, using a loan from the U.S.... More >>

• No Way Out

  published May 24, 2000

  As a prisoner at the St. Louis County Jail, Wendy Huddleston spent her waking hours working earnestly toward earning free phone passes -- taking... More >>

• Throwing in the Towel

  published May 10, 2000

  For the past three years, a dark cloud has hung over the nonprofit agency that runs the Head Start program in the city of St. Louis since federal... More >>

• Two Steps Forward

  published April 26, 2000

  The family of Albert "Little Al" Evans, a boy who was severely lead-poisoned while living in a South St. Louis apartment, has agreed to settle for... More >>

• The Lead Menace

  published April 12, 2000

  The location for the third annual National Lead-Safe Housing Conference and Exposition last May couldn't have been more fitting: St. Louis, with... More >>

• A Tale of Two States

  published April 12, 2000

  Back in the late 1960s, Boston was the center of research activity in the study of the health consequences of lead poisoning in children, and the... More >>

• In the Hands of the Father

  published March 1, 2000

  As a civilian employee of the U.S. Army in North St. Louis, David Richardson began investing his money in real estate by amassing a portfolio of... More >>

• High Society

  published February 23, 2000

  On the second floor of the Humane Society of Missouri's sprawling headquarters at 1201 Macklind Ave., a woman wanders the halls with a big black... More >>

• SHORTCHANGED

  published January 12, 2000

  For years, the big basement room at the nonprofit Wesley House in North St. Louis served as a classroom for the Head Start program, where on... More >>