In a unanimous decision, the Festus City Council agreed last night to sell its municipal airport to an investor group that plans to expand the facility's runway while also creating a mixed-use development on the property. The group of nearly 50 investors, calling themselves Citizens for Airport Economic Expansion (CAEE), won the purchase with a bid of $2,275,000. The airport was recently appraised at slightly less than that amount. The lone other bidder for the property was Wing Enterprises, whi
Photo: Jennifer SilverbergTom Kerr inside his sand mine.Organizers are planning two parties this weekend in an old sand mine outside Crystal City that they boast will be the best blowouts in many, many millennia. Greatest party since the Stone Age, they claim. Heading up the efforts is Tom Kerr, owner of the mine and a character who factored heavily in an RFT cover story I wrote last year about a proposed iron-ore smelter in Crystal City. (Kerr is adamantly opposed to the smelter which would ope
flickr.com/photos/cottergarageA Granite City sunrise.Parts of Madison County, Illinois, have the second-most poisonous air in the country, according to a new report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. Most alarming was one particular Granite City neighborhood, located near U.S. Steel Corp., whose residents have a 1,100 in a million chance of developing cancer from airborne toxins. Only one other area in the country -- a neighborhood in Los Angeles -- had greater cancer risks. (The ave
Crystal City Mayor Tom SchillyThe residents of Crystal City opposed to an iron-ore smelter in their community had one of their wishes come true last week. State Auditor Susan Montee finally released her audit of City Hall. The group Concerned Citizens for Crystal City (C4) organized a petition drive last year requiring the auditor to investigate the way the city conducts its business. The audit found number of problems in the way the city solicits bids and purchases g
