Accidents and Disasters

Head-On St. Peters Crash Kills Ruth Thimmig, 91, Donald Gemienhart, 90; Charges Expected

A 91-year-old woman and 90-year-old man have both died after a head-on collision in St. Peters. The St. Peters Police Department is still investigating the fatal crash that happened on Saturday around 5 p.m. when officials say a 42-year-old female driver crossed a center lane of traffic and struck ... More >>

Fanning the Flames

Hurricane Isaac: Forget Louisiana, It's Great for Missouri!

Hurricane Isaac, the storm no Republican could stop, blew across the Gulf and hit southeast Louisiana on Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, the winds had slowed to a mere 70 miles per hour, which prompted the National Weather Service to downgrade it to tropical storm status. Nonetheless, storm water h ... More >>

School Bus and Metro Bus Collide, Injuring Several Students

St. Louis Fire Department officials have confirmed that a school bus carrying approximately 20 middle-school students was involved in a traffic collision with a Metro bus this morning. The accident occurred at 7 a.m. near the intersection of North Kingshighway and Page Boulevard. Several students an ... More >>

New Madrid Fault Stretches, Rolls Back Over for Another Ten Minutes Sleep

​A 4.0 earthquake within the New Madrid Seismic Zone gently shook southeast Missouri Tuesday morning at 3:58 a.m. The quake was centered about nine miles east of Sikeston, Missouri, and no damage or injuries were reported.Just ten days ago, engineers, scientists, emergency first responders and ear ... More >>

Sweet, sincere, cloying, average, beautiful: Oscar nominees, in brief

Let's Twist Again, Vicariously

Judgment Awarded Against Suspect Charity Aiding Joplin Tornado

Photo: Albert SamahaThe Joplin tornado leveled the town and killed more than 160 people.​Here's an update to a story we originally reported on back in July. Yesterday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced that his office had received a consent judgment against Puerto Rico-based charity ... More >>

Missouri Sues Dubious Charities Collecting Money for Joplin

crowdrise.com/JoplinMissouriTornadoAlivio Foundation has raised more than $9,700 online for Joplin, but where is the money?​Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced today that he's filed suit accusing two alleged charities of defrauding donors who thought they were helping victims of the J ... More >>

Baby Killed After Car Lost Control at I-55 Loughborough Exit

The 7100 block of Idaho, where an out-of-control vehicle from I-55 came to its deadly stop.​File this one under devastating:A 17-month-old baby has died after an early morning accident July 4. Police say the driver of the car carrying Bella Houston lost control of her vehicle on I-55 near the Loug ... More >>

June Rainfall Could Triple St. Louis Average for Month

Area rain gauges runneth over in June.​Surprise! It's raining -- again. The National Weather Service warns that St. Louis is likely to see strong thunderstorms mixed with heavy rains throughout the day and into the evening. Today's precipitation could help triple the region's normal rainfall for J ... More >>

Documentary Will Feature Joplin Globe's Tornado Coverage

​OK, so we get that it's annoying when journalists stroke each other within their own little media bubble, but permit us one moment of congratulatory naval-gazing. Today's Post-Dispatch ran a guest editorial written by editors at The (Washington) Missourian, singing the praises of Joplin's l ... More >>

Dine Out at These Local Restaurants -- Help Joplin [Updated]

Sweet TomatoesSalad bar Sweet Tomatoes is just one local eatery donating to the Joplin tornado victims. ​Update: Another restaurant is the latest in the string of eateries to donate to the Joplin relief effort. This time, area Culver's (4140 Rusty Road, South St. Louis County; 314-845-0964 or ... More >>

Rare Fungal Disease the Latest Horrible Thing to Hit Joplin

image viaZygomycosis: the next horrible thing to hit Joplin.​Just when you thought things in Joplin couldn't get any more post-apocalyptic, the Huffington Post reports this morning that a rare and deadly fungus is now infecting tornado survivors. Zygomycosis happens when soil or vegetative m ... More >>

Jam for Joplin Concert to Benefit Tornado Survivors is Tonight

​In the two-and-a-half weeks since a massive tornado leveled the town of Joplin, Missouri and left over 140 people dead and scores more injured and homeless, the enormity of the event is still staggering. People across the state and beyond have banded together to help survivors with food, clot ... More >>

4.2 Magnitude Earthquakes Strikes St. Louis

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake rattled the St. Louis region around 3:10 a.m. today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor originated near Richwoods, Missouri, (approximately 51 miles southwest of St. Louis) and could be felt as far away as Alabama. No injuries or major damage have been re ... More >>

Joplin Tornado: 600 Animals Still in Limbo

Toto's not the only dog whose life was upended by a tornado -- rescue workers in Joplin have helped 900 animals.​You can see their faces on the web site for the Joplin Humane Society: eager, sad, hopeful.They are the animals of Joplin, Missouri, displaced by the tornado that tore through town two ... More >>

Joplin Tornado Relative to St. Louis (Map)

Struggling to get a sense of the size of the Joplin tornado? Look no further. Below is a map showing the twister's path relative to St. Louis. ​As you can see, the path begins at Lindbergh Boulevard and travels east though Ladue, Clayton, Forest Park and the Central West End before ending at the r ... More >>

Final Death Tally From Joplin Tornado: 134

Mike MezuelThe tornado that tore through Joplin on May 22 killed 134 people.​It's official.There are no more residents of Joplin, Missouri, on the missing person's list. There are no human remains that haven't been accounted for. The final number of fatalities, attributed to the tornado that tore ... More >>

Tornado Alarms Got You Down? Move to Corvallis, Washington

The Ingalls would have been better off staying in Wisconsin. And why, oh why oh, did we ever leave Ohio?​With all the flooding downstate, and the tornadoes that destroyed one wing of Lambert and almost all of the city Joplin, and the golf-ball-sized hail that pummeled parts of St. Louis yesterday, ... More >>

Tornado in Joplin, Missouri, Kills at Least 89

Not the actual tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, yesterday afternoon -- but pretty scary, too.​So the world didn't end on Saturday. But residents of Joplin, Missouri, could have been forgiven for wondering yesterday if the apocalypse was merely a day late. A tornado ripped through the town in ... More >>

Insult to Injury? Missouri Offers Flood Victims Free Campsites

Meet your new neighbor!​Are you one of the unlucky souls who lost their home in the recent flooding? The State of Missouri is really sorry about that. In fact, they'd like to do something for you. They'd like to give you a temporary new home! A place that real-estate agents might generously descri ... More >>

Tornado Relief at Ferguson Restaurants This Friday, May 6

Jennifer SilverbergCork Wine Bar in Ferguson​Between the devastating outbreak of tornadoes in the South and this past weekend's killing of Osama bin Laden, the tornadoes that struck north county last month might seem like a distant memory.For victims of that storm, however, the need for help remai ... More >>

The "Tornado Alley" Menu: Terrible Timing or Terrible Taste

Courtesy Erin K. Thompson, Seattle Weekly​Mike Seely, former RFT staff writer and now editor of our sister paper Seattle Weekly, passes along this item from the Emerald City: 5 Spot, a restaurant that adopts the cuisine of a different region every few months, is currently featuring the foods of... ... More >>

Godzilla's Path Of Destruction

Radiation! It's In Your Food! Put Down the Geiger Counter, Poindexter.

Wikimedia Commons​ The truly horrible catastrophe in Japan keeps threatening people nearly two weeks after the initial earthquakes and tsunami. The nuclear power plants are damaged and there's radiation in the water, spinach and milk! Quick! Stop all exports of these products to the U.S.! Bec ... More >>

Let's Twist Again, Vicariously

Homophobe Physicist's Solution to Gulf Oil Spill Was Right in Your Kitchen Cabinet

image viaThe solution to the BP oil spill?​Last spring, you may recall, Washington University physicist Jonathan Katz got kicked off a panel assembled by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu that was supposed to figure out how to stop the BP oil spill. Katz's banishment had less to do with his scien ... More >>

Nine Confirmed Tornadoes Touch Down Near St. Louis New Year's Eve

crh.noaa.gov​The National Weather Service has confirmed that nine twisters struck ground in and around St. Louis around mid-day December 31. The tornadoes destroyed several homes in Robertsville and Sunset Hills. In St. Louis an EF-1 twister with winds between 80 and 100 m.p.h. carved a path (righ ... More >>

Artgasm: This Weekend's Art Openings, October 29 - 31, 2010

German photographer Murat Türemis traveled to Indonesia right after the 2005 Tsunami and again in 2010 to document the progress and changes. View his black and white photographs of the devastation at the Webster University May Gallery through November 24. Find details on this event and more in the ... More >>

When the Water Recedes

Chopper Down in West County; Missouri Highway Patrol Pilot Killed

The crash site (blue marker) is just a mile or two from the airport.​A Missouri Highway Patrol helicopter crashed around 11 a.m. this morning in unincorporated west St. Louis County killing the pilot. He was the only person in the aircraft. No one on the ground was injured.According to reports, th ... More >>

For Your Next Vacation, How About Some Twister Chasing?

Yes, it's the end of September and summer vacation season is officially deader than the Cardinals' playoff hopes. But it's never too early to start planning for next year. A couple of University of Missouri professors report that Missourians who are sick of float trips and paranoid about the e coli ... More >>

Lawsuit: Victims Injured by East St. Louis Police Hoopty

Finally! An excuse to run that photo of Jackie Gleason (as "Sheriff Buford T. Justice") in Smokey and the Bandit. Thanks, ESL!​Hey, it gets East St. Louis officers from Point A to Point Z. Who cares if the siren and police lights don't work? That's the claim made by three St. Clair County resident ... More >>

Is Anybody Really "Tarballing" BP Gas Stations?

Image viaGone tarballin'!!!!​When Unreal heard a rumor that St. Louis BP gas stations had seen an uptick of people pooping on their restroom floors -- apparently in protest for the worst environmental disaster in American history -- we called up quite a few of 'em. Most said there was no increase ... More >>

Study: Region Unprepared for Massive Quake from New Madrid Fault

​A University of Illinois study released last week reports that St. Louis, Memphis and other towns near the New Madrid fault line are ill-prepared for a possible 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The study commissioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency found that such a temblor could leave 3,500 ... More >>

AP Tries to Put Gulf Oil Spill in Perspective, Fails Miserably

Image sourceThe Count. Now an AP scribe?​Is constant bad news about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill getting you down? Then take heart in the fact that all the gooey black stuff washing up on white sand beaches, ravaging Louisiana marshlands, and choking pelicans to death wouldn't even fill the Sup ... More >>

How Big is the Gulf Oil Spill in Comparison to St. Louis?

Pretty damn big, as this Google Earth mock-up reveals:That's an oil spill, not a Rorschach test.​Thee map reflects the size -- about 2,500 square miles -- of the Deepwater Horizon spill as of May 6. The leak is still gushing out at least 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day with no end in sight as ... More >>

Photo: Tornado Track Through Des Peres on Saturday

​It's official. The National Weather Service confirms that a tornado did touch down in Des Peres during Saturday's violent storm front that hit the St. Louis region around 4:30 p.m. April 24. According to the weather service, the twister touched down in a Des Peres subdivision and traveled northwe ... More >>

New Madrid Fault Overdue for Earthquake

​Betcha didn't know that February is Earthquake Awareness Month in Missouri. Betcha also didn't know that Missouri is overdue for a significant earthquake. Those two issues were what Governor Jay Nixon and other officials discussed last week at a meeting in the town of New Madrid, home to the faul ... More >>

FoodWire: Trattoria Marcella Closed Until Friday After Car Crash

Trattoria Marcella (3600 Watson Road) will be closed until this Friday evening to repair damage from a car that crashed into its front entrance this weekend. No one was injured in the accident, which occurred several hours after the restaurant had closed. For more information on reservations, call ... More >>

Euclid Records Starting Limited-Edition 45 RPM Singles Series, Culled from Live Performances. Steve Wynn First Performer, Art Chantry Designing Sleeve

Tremor Time Again: Did You Feel the Earth Move?

In St. Louis and Illinois, a 5.2 Earthquake Wakes Us Up.

Eat for the Cause

Life After the Storm

One year later, a glimpse at New Orleans' music scene.

Critical Fatwa

Week of February 16, 2006

Big River Hurricane Relief Concert

Thursday, December 29; The Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Boulevard)

ON SHAKY GROUND

The earthquake hazard here may be greater than you think. And planning for it is less than you'd expect.