Franklin County

Vapor Nozzles On Their Way Out at St. Louis Gas Stations

They've been around for well over a decade, but now the accordian-like bibs on gas nozzles at metro St. Louis gas stations are headed toward extinction. Last year the EPA determined that the vapor-trapping nozzles are no longer needed because most cars on the road these days come equipped with dev ... More >>

Hit-and-Run: William Gallagher Allegedly Fled Cops, Crashed Car, Killed Virginia Bedrosian, 87

Update: St. Louis resident William Gallagher, eighteen, has been charged in the hit-and-run crash this week that killed 87-year-old Virginia Bedrosian. Our original coverage is below. A probable cause statement form the circuit attorney's office says that Gallagher is facing charges of second-degr ... More >>

Neighbors Take Aim at Plans for Gun Range in Franklin County

Local cattle farmer Jeff Stein says an effort to bring a gun range to rural Franklin County will create a "war zone" atmosphere and expose nearby residents to the sound of gunfire from dawn to dusk. Stein was one of some 50 concerned citizens who packed a county zoning board meeting last month to ... More >>

Missourians File Petition With White House to Secede From Union

Missouri has joined a growing list of states petitioning the federal government for secession in the wake of President Obama's reelection. Residents in at least 20 states have posted petitions on the White House's "We the People" website. "We the People" allows anyone to suggest a policy initiativ ... More >>

Vernell Loggins Receives Life Sentence for Killing & Dismembering Stephanie Fields

Vernell Loggins Jr. avoided the death penalty in court yesterday, instead receiving a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole for the 2009 murder of his girlfriend, Stephanie Fields. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.Loggins stabbed Fields a reported 25 times and then dismemb ... More >>

In Prohibition drama Lawless, looks trump drama

Red, White and Boom! Nothing says "Happy Birthday, America" like a 500-gram cake

DEA Nets 21 Arrests in Huge Meth Ring Bust

The DEA, the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit, and the police departments of Kirkwood and Pacific conducted a joint operation early Wednesday morning to break up a methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution ring. Twenty-one suspected meth cooks from Franklin and Jefferson counties are ... More >>

Mobile Home Fire Reveals 50 One-Pot Meth Labs

Firefighters responded to a mobile home blaze Monday at Pacific Summit Estates in Franklin County, reports The Washington Missourian. Witnesses told police that they saw a man and a woman run from the home while smoke was pouring out of it, then get it into separate cars and drive off. That was susp ... More >>

Which St. Louisans Have the Strongest Livers?

It's no secret that folks in the St. Louis region like to throw a few back from time time. Sometimes every day, in fact. We live in a beer town, and many of us are quite proud of that piece of our cultural heritage, thank you very much. But is it possible to split up the alcohol-consumption demogra ... More >>

Road Rage Shooter Gets Comeuppance When His Victim Shoots Back

​Update: The suspect has now been identified as 18-year-old Xavier S. Minden of St. Louis. Original story follows... An unidentified 35-year old Franklin County man survived a harrowing ordeal that began with him and his two young children being followed on the road, shot at and then turning the ... More >>

Meth Busts Less Frequent in Southeast Missouri

The meth-law debate continues to boil. In Southeast Missouri, long known as a hotbed of meth labs, crimes related to the illicit stimulant have dropped since many cities began requiring a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in meth, the Southeast Missourian reports toda ... More >>

The trail of an international child-porn ring led to a tiny house in the woods outside St. Louis

Brian Nieves: State Senator Sued For Assault, False Imprisonment

Nieves: Don't get him angry.​The political consultant who claimed he was beaten, held hostage and intimidated during a run-in last August with then state representative Brian Nieves has filed a civil suit against the politician in Franklin County Circuit Court. The lawsuit accuses Nieves, now a st ... More >>

Mark Robbins took on the Missouri State Highway Patrol and won. So why's he still pissed?

Wildwood Latest Missouri City to Require Prescription for Pseudoephedrine

Thirty-one Missouri cities now ban the over-the-counter sales of these drugs. When will all of Missouri follow?​The west St. Louis County 'burb of Wildwood last night became the 31st Missouri city to ban over-the-counter sales of psuedoephedrine. The drug -- found in such cold medicine as Sudafed ... More >>

Missouri Leads Nation in Meth Lab Busts -- Again

Photo: Jennifer SilverbergMeth lab detritus seized last year in Franklin County.​For the tenth year in a row, Missouri led the nation in the number of meth lab seizures last year. In 2010, Missouri law enforcement busted 1,960 meth labs, a 10 percent increase over the 1,774 busts in 2009 and a 53 ... More >>

The ASPCA's Tim Rickey on Dog Fights, His New Unit -- and Finch Fighting?

Keegan HamiltionTim Rickey's job is to stop animal fighting.​In December, the ASPCA, or American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, hired former Missouri State Highway Patrolman Terry Mills for a new position as Animal Fighting Specialist.As RFT staff writer Keegan Hamilton detailed ... More >>

Missouri Gives Gay Trooper Killed on Duty a Highway, Still Denies Benefits to His Partner

Cpl. Dennis Engelhard​A stretch of Interstate 44 in Franklin County will be dedicated today to Missouri Highway Patrol trooper Dennis Engelhard. That's the same highway on which Engelhard was killed last Christmas Day when an SUV lost control in the ice and snow and struck the trooper as he assist ... More >>

This Holiday Season, Give 'Em an Animal Farm (Not the Orwellian Kind)

image viaTiny the Goat is in need of a sponsor.​Have a horrible fear of crowds? Feel like sleeping late on Black Friday? The Humane Society of Missouri has the solution for you! Instead of hiking out to the mall, sit down at your computer (you don't even have to get out of your pajamas!) and g ... More >>

Ed Hillhouse: New Director of East-West Gateway

​Well, that only took about 15 months. Yesterday the East-West Gateway Council of Governments -- the metro agency responsible for divvying up federal transportation funds and ensuring that regional leaders play nice with each other -- named Ed Hillhouse as its new director. The spot had been empty ... More >>

James Kornhardt and Steven Mueller: Life in Prison in Murder-for-Hire Cold Case

James Kornhardt​Today's news is somewhat anticlimactic. When they were found guilty in June for murder, the charges required that they be sentenced to a minimum of life in prison. Still, today's sentencing of James Kornhardt and Steven Mueller to life prison terms brings final closure to a murder- ... More >>

Nervous 'bout Nieves: Readers are wary about aspiring pol's alleged temper

Nieves on Nieves: "There Is No Way They Will Ever Control Brian Nieves"

​So, now the real story we meant to highlight in this morning's St. Louis Beacon before we got distracted. The article comes from political reporter Jo Mannies who ventured down to Washington yesterday to attend the prayer vigil for Brian Nieves, the Republican state senate candidate accused in a ... More >>

Who is Daily RFT's "Ass Clown of the Week" -- August 6 - 13?

​Whoa! It's nearing quittin' time and we've yet to post this week's Ass Clown of the Week nominations! You know the rules, vote for the person or group whose words/actions brought them the most shame and/or embarrassment this week. 1. Brandon Phillips: The Cincinnati Reds infielder was left eating ... More >>

Missouri Tea Party Suffers (Roy) Blunt Trauma in Primary

Image viaLet's be Blunt -- the Tea Party didn't stand a chance.​The tea baggers don't mince words when it comes to Roy Blunt. Before yesterday's primary, a coalition of more than two dozen Missouri Tea Party organizations called the longtime Republican congressman "a career politician and Washingt ... More >>

Police Discover 35 Meth Labs in One Home In Franklin County

Image sourceNeither delicious nor nutritious​Ok, "meth lab" might be a bit of a misnomer in this case. The tweaker in question was using the "shake and bake" recipe for cooking the drug. The Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit reportedly found at least 35 plastic bottles containing residue ... More >>

Death of a Tweaker: Washington Man Kills Self in Jail Cell

Jennifer SilverbergSgt. Jason Grellner says that few meth addicts actually commit suicide while in jail.​Meth can really screw you up -- and we're not just talking about your teeth. Heart problems. Strokes. And, as the RFT's Keegan Hamilton reported in a feature story last month, the new shake-and ... More >>

Michael McPherson & Natasha Spence: Franklin County Couple Allegedly Tried to Booby-Trap Meth Lab With Nine Pounds of C-4 Explosive

Image sourceAnd...boom goes the dynamite.​What happens when a military demolitions expert comes home from Iraq and starts hanging out with his meth-cooking high school buddies?According to an indictment in Eastern Missouri Federal Court and a local narcotics detective, he tries to booby-trap a met ... More >>

Are Some Missouri Counties Ignoring Meth Labs?

Provided by the Missouri State Highway PatrolMissouri meth labs in 2009. Click for larger image.​While the focus of this week's RFT feature is meth lab explosions and the impact that injured meth cooks are having on hospitals across the Midwest, the story also touches on the reasons why meth has r ... More >>

Methology 101: Old-school meth labs give way to "shake and bake"

How to Make Meth The Shake and Bake Way

Keegan HamiltonThe components of a traditional anydrous ammonia meth lab​This week's RFT feature story takes an in-depth look at a relatively new method of manufacturing methamphetamine known as "Shake and Bake" (cue the Talladega Nights/Ricky Bobby jokes) and the impact the process is having on b ... More >>

County Brownies Announce A Crackdown on Area's Barney Fifes

​Ever been pulled over in the county by a Barney Fife type? Good news. You now have a direct line to the St. Louis County Police Department Intelligence Unit (314-615-4692), who wants to hear all about your experience with a fake cop.Freaked about a proliferation of unlicensed po-pos masquerading ... More >>

Does McKee Have Private Financial Backing to Execute His Plan? Local Attorneys Say NO

Photo by Jennifer Silverberg Paul J. McKee, Jr. -- Can he pull off his $8.1 billion plan? One of the major arguments driven home by the four attorneys and four plaintiffs trying to bring down Paul McKee's plan for the north side (check out this week's feature) is, basically, SHOW ME THE MONEY ... More >>

Warning to Smurfers and Meth Cooks: State Reps Want to Block Your Supply Line

http://www.flickr.com/photos/viknanda/ / CC BY 2.0​As you and your seedier friends know, one cannot buy huge amounts of meth ingredients, such as pseudoephedrine, in the same place at the same time in Missouri. What you can do, however, is go "smurfing," i.e., pharmacy-hopping to purchase many sma ... More >>

Overhauled South Grand Wins Praise from Urban Planners for Being Completely Great Street

Astute city-watchers will have noticed some changes on the six-block stretch of South Grand Boulevard between Arsenal and Utah in the past few months: fewer driving lanes, new stoplight patterns, wider crosswalks and those weird little bulb things to keep impatient drivers from trying to cut ahead a ... More >>

The Big Bloody: Man Charged with Killing Girlfriend, Chopping Up Body

Vernell J. Loggins Jr.​A man with a history of erratic behavior for frightening and stalking people, was charged yesterday with killing his girlfriend and dismembering her body. Vernell J. Loggins Jr., 37, was arrested Wednesday in the very apartment complex where the killing took place.A maintena ... More >>

Why Not Require Prescriptions for Psuedoephedrine?

​Today's Post-Dispatch has an interesting article about psuedoephedrine -- one of the key ingredients for the making of meth. Yesterday, officials in Union joined another Franklin County city -- Washington -- to become the second municipality in the nation to require a prescription for the sale of ... More >>

Accused Drug Dealer from Rural Missouri Lived Life Like Episode of Miami Vice

Where were you guys?​The only characters missing from a drug case made public yesterday in federal court in St. Louis were detectives James Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.  According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Daniel Bryan Webster, a car dealer from Stanton, Missouri, (approximately 60 miles ... More >>

Hornswoggled!: Welcome to Gerald, Missourah — the town that did just fall off the turnip truck

Michael Devlin Charged With Attempted Murder

Spittin' Images

Unreal finally understands how to operate our fleet of Mercedes Benzes. Plus: A fashion update for a local hero and a de-gumming of STL sidewalks.

Monster Next Door?

From Webster Groves High to Imo’s Pizza to a cheap apartment in a forlorn corner of Kirkwood. For years Michael Devlin was all but invisible. Now he’s Public Enemy No. 1.

Foul Play

Why is everyone out to get Randy Wichman?

Too Many Cooks

Missouri’s days as the nation’s Meth Lab Capital are numbered. So what’s next?

Best Low-Carb Snack

Uncle Jerry's Snacks

Letters

Week of January 31, 2001

Getting Off Easy

He drugged her and raped her. "This," the judge told them, "is why you don't go to bars." Then, ignoring the jury's advice, he gave the rapist probation.

Card Sharks

The St. Louis Cardinals want your money for their $370 million ballpark. But before the game begins, somebody needs to reshuffle the deck.

News of the Weird