Jefferson City

There's A (Fake?) Body On The Glass Ceiling Of the Missouri House of Representatives

It's the second to last day of the Missouri legislative session, and things are getting pretty weird. And, no, we're not talking about seersucker suits. This morning, a body appeared on the glass ceiling of the Missouri House of Representatives in Jefferson City. It is hopefully just a dummy of so ... More >>

Missouri Theater Slammed For Iron Man Event Featuring Men With Fake Tactical Gear, Guns

The Goodrich Capital 8 Theaters in Jefferson City is facing a lot of backlash this week over an Iron Man 3 event featuring men in fake tactical gear and some with toy guns. Management says it was all part of a fun event involving local comic book fans -- and that the whole incident is being blown wa ... More >>

"Military Mafia:" Missouri Legislature Softball Team Wears Rifle T-Shirts (PHOTO)

Did you know that the Missouri legislature has a softball tournament? And did you know that one of the teams this year was called Military Mafia? Daily RFT and our reliable Jefferson City tipsters have got you covered! Last week, the photo to the right, big version below, arrived in our inbox. An ... More >>

State Senator John Lamping Caught Parking in Handicapped Spot, Apologizes [PHOTO]

An abuse of power? State Senator John Lamping was caught parking his car -- with official Senate license plates -- in a handicapped spot in Jefferson City last week. A tipster who snapped the photo sent it to Fired Up! Missouri, which tweeted it out, saying, "Do @JohnLamping's official tags give h ... More >>

Missouri Catholic Conference on Anti-Abortion Bill, Rape Victims: "Those Are Difficult Cases"

One of the more controversial proposals at the Missouri legislature this year is a GOP bill that would allow doctors to refuse to perform procedures that "violate his or her conscience or principles." Critics, like Planned Parenthood, say this is "denial of care" legislation that could prevent rape ... More >>

Rod Jetton: Missouri Lawmaker Ensnared in Sex Charge Now Operates Newspaper

Three years after he was tied to a sexual assault, Rod Jetton is back in Jefferson City. The Republican who served as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009 launched The Missouri Times last month. Jetton boasts that the weekly paper will be a "different kind of media outlet" dedicated to covering ... More >>

Blooper Videos: The Best On-Air Weather Broadcast Meltdowns in the Midwest

In honor of the Facebook meltdown of FOX 2 Meteorologist Chris Higgins this week -- part of an angry response to his haters -- here at Daily RFT, we decided to compile some of the best recent weather broadcast debacles in the midwest for your viewing pleasure this Friday morning. From angry weath ... More >>

Jay Nixon's New Airplane (and Its Fake Twitter Handle) Take Flight

This was inevitable. Last week the new $5.6-million airplane allegedly purchased to shuttle Gov. Jay Nixon around Missouri was the talk of Jefferson City. And as any controversy goes these days, "PlaneGate" now has its very own Twitter handle @KingAirJay. The first (and so far the only) tweet went ... More >>

Some Firefighters Can Live Outside City Limits, State Supreme Court Rules

Yesterday, the Missouri Supreme Court basically told St. Louis city firefighters: "If you have seven years of service under your belt, go ahead and move outside the city limits if you want."So they can finally leave, at last. But will they? "Some will, some wont," says Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis S ... More >>

ACLU: Proposition A for Local Control of Police is a Huge Mistake. Reject It!

Once upon a time in Missouri, back in the Civil War, our governor's heart belonged to the Confederacy. But St. Louis and its mighty police force leaned Union. So the governor and his legislator pals in Jefferson City created a state board to control us. That system is still in place a century and a ... More >>

State Rep Jamilah Nasheed: Governor's Control of STL City Police "Built on Evil and Hatred"

This November, Missourians must will decide whether to release St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department from state control -- a vestige of Civil War politics -- and allow the city to oversee its own cops.  Few people have wanted this more than state Representative Jamilah Nasheed of the 60th di ... More >>

[PHOTO] Wild Bobcat Prowls Near Missississippi River. How Common are These Big Felines?

A reader up in Pike County, Illinois just sent us a photo of a bobcat. It was taken automatically by a wildlife camera on their property near the Mississippi River -- and in broad daylight. It's a totally sweet picture -- and as loyal readers know, Daily RFT lurves blogging about animals (albino hum ... More >>

Lawsuit Against Paul McKee's Northside Regeneration Transferred to Supreme Court

Missouri's Eastern District Court of Appeals has finally weighed in on the lawsuit to thwart developer Paul McKee's $8.1 billion, 1500-acre vision for a new North St. Louis.  Judges Robert Dowd, Mary Hoff and Sherri Sullivan agree with 22nd Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker, who ruled in July 201 ... More >>

Rush Bust Unveiled in MO State Capitol Amid Lies, Secrecy and Bitterness

Oh, that we were in Jefferson City right now, under the capitol dome, on the House floor where, at this very minute, legislators are proudly unveiling the latest statue to grace the Hall of Famous Missourians: the long-awaited (by somebody, probably) bust of Rush Limbaugh. But wait! It looks as tho ... More >>

Man Beat 3-Year Old to Death, Blames it on Hit-and-Run Driver

​Out in Morgan County, Missouri, between Jefferson City and Sedalia, police were faced with an easily-solved puzzle. They'd been called to the scene of a hit-and-run driver on Highway 135, where Blake Litton, 3, had allegedly darted into the road and been killed by truck around 5:10 a.m. on Thursd ... More >>

Jeremy Essig is About to Get Raw & Personal (And Record a CD in Brennan's Basement)

​Standup Jeremy Essig put in seven years as a road comic, recorded three CDs and has opened for the likes of Zach Galifianakis and Jeffrey Ross. By  2009, he was sick of it. All of it.  So he enrolled in journalism school at Mizzou. He also landed a political reporting gig in Jefferson C ... More >>

Marvin Rice: Ex-Sheriff's Deputy Accused of Murderous Rampage

Marvin Rice: Apparently he didn't get enough of prison in his day job. ​A former sheriff's deputy turned jailer stands accused of killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend over the weekend and then leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in a shootout at a swank hotel Jefferson City hotel. The ... More >>

Spend a Night in the Jeff City Jail

image viaYou, too, can spend an exciting night in jail.​If you haven't made any summer vacation plans yet, hoo boy does the Cole County Sheriff's Department have a deal for you! For a mere $30, you can spend the night in the new county jail in Jefferson City and you don't even have to get arre ... More >>

28 Percent of Missouri Legislators Don't Have College Degrees

Meanwhile, in Jefferson City...​Aha! Finally, everything coming out of Jefferson City makes sense!Missouri legislators are less educated than their counterparts in other states, according to an analysis out today in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Just 69 percent of Missouri representatives and ... More >>

Missouri to Drug Test Welfare Recipients

Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor; we'll drug test them!!​The third time proved to be the charm.After floating bills the previous two years (Exhibit A, Exhibit B) that would allow officials to drug test federal welfare recipients in Missouri, lawmakers in Jefferson City finally got enough ... More >>

More Restrictions on Reproductive Health Move Forward in the House

Not if the pharmacist doesn't want you to have them.​Today in Jefferson City, Missouri representatives added language to a bill that places more hurdles in front of women seeking legal abortions, in addition to fettering their access to emergency contraception.The bill, HCS HB 28, first came befor ... More >>

Scares in Jeff City That Aren't About Politics

Boo!​Something ghostly may be happening in our state capital...and it has nothing to do with the budget.The decommissioned Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City is offering tours of its gruesome cells and and execution chamber. Those seem scary enough, but if that doesn't shiver your timbe ... More >>

Captain America En Route to Missouri Capital

Image viaThis guy is schlepping through the Show-Me state​So the guy walking from state capital to state capital dressed as Captain America has almost reached Jefferson City. Why, pray tell? To raise awareness that huge numbers of our nation's veterans are homeless.Daily RFT has news for this Alle ... More >>

Hundreds of Bank Safety Deposit Boxes Go Unclaimed in Missouri

More than a thousand of these were popped open today in Jefferson City.​Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel cracked open 1,200 safety deposit boxes today sent to his office from banks across the state. Among the curios inside the boxes were gold coins, military medals, 19th-century U.S. currency and ... More >>

Win a Poster of This Week's RFT Feature Story About The Hoodlum Priest

Win this poster!​This week's Riverfront Times' feature story -- "Forgive Me Father, For I Have Cinama'ed -- tells the story behind the making of The Hoodlum Priest, a 1961 film depicting the life and times of St. Louis clergyman Father Charles Dismas Clark. "Now listen, kid. I ain't no squar ... More >>

Spotted: LOLs in the Halls of Power

Oh, those waggish bean-counters in Jefferson City! On a trip to our lovely state capitol yesterday, your correspondent spotted this droll acknowledgment, posted outside the office of budget chair Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City), that the state ain't got its money right.​

Missouri Legislators Are Storm Tough -- Unlike Illinois Pansies

State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O'Fallon) photographed on her way to work this morning.​Say what you will about Missouri legislators, there's one insult you cannot hurl at our state's elected officials. They're not wussies when it comes to the weather. Yes, while their counterparts in Illinois turn an ... More >>

Urban Hunters Kill 45 Deer in St. Louis County; 91 in St. Charles

Image ViaDeer hunting in the St. Louis 'burbs isn't confined to Big Buck Hunter.​Missouri's four-day urban deer hunt ended Monday with more than 587 deer harvested in the metro areas of St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia-Jefferson City. Boone County (home to Columbia) led the countie ... More >>

Buzzkill: Jefferson City High School to Have Breathalyzers at Prom

And you thought prom was painful enough when you were drunk? Just try it sober.​Teenagers in Jefferson City who show up buzzed to prom on Saturday won't make it inside the big dance.The school plans to have cops at the door and submit all attendees to a breathalyzer. Those found to have been drink ... More >>

Dozens of Cats Euthanized After Discovery in Wretched Jefferson City Home

Crazy Cat Lady as depicted on The Simpsons​The house reeked of cat urine. Nearby neighbors complained that the felines living in the Jefferson City home were so numerous they had to spray them with a hose to get the animals off their backyard patios. And on Monday, the Jefferson City Animal Contro ... More >>

Effort to Convert Jefferson City Prison to Office, Retail Space Gets Boost from EPA

Image Via​The Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it is awarding $234,221 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to to conduct a brownfield assessment of the former Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. The prison closed in 2004 as the oldest continuously ... More >>

Old Missouri State Pen Now Proposed Site for Shops, Offices, Prison Museum

Missouri State Penitentiary Redevelopment Commission​Ah, if only the walls of the old Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City could talk! Well, OK, most of the stories would probably be kind of dull, and the vocabulary might be a little less than savory, but the fact remains: The 177-year-ol ... More >>

Has Republican State Rep. Mike Cunningham Proposed a Bill to Save Christmas?

house.mo.gov/gallery/010203-142.jpgThe Missouri House of Representatives in Jefferson City​Missouri formally recognizes only four public holidays. Martin Luther King Day and Columbus Day, you're already familiar with. Jefferson Day (April 13) or Lincoln Day (February 12), perhaps not. And that's i ... More >>

What Is this Emo of Which the Kids Speak? TV News Knows

The Daily RFT linked a video from last night's KSDK broadcast about the apparently dangers of the "emo lifestyle." The story's tied to the case of Alyssa Bustamante, a 15-year-old from outside of Jefferson City charged with killing her 9-year-old neighbor: Reporter: "For young people, the world 'e ... More >>

Dive or Not? Arena Bar and Grill Tests the Dive Bomber

Robin Wheeler​Can a bar be a dive if it has flowers planted in front and offers issues of local foodie magazines? Can a dive bomber be a dive bomber if she goes to a bar and drinks nothing but iced tea?Yes, if I'm having lunch at Arena Bar and Grill. This tavern on the bottom level of a rambling ... More >>

What Did St. Louis Twitter About Last Night?

Just some of the hot Twitter action you might have missed last night, Monday June 1:Alyson Carter AKA Shanghai Lily of the Arch Rival Roller Girls.Robin Wheeler Mama likes to knit, listen to loud music, cook, write, cuss & refer to herself in third person.

Wednesday, March 25: Morning's Newz

They're back! Representatives with the St. Louis Cardinals and developer Cordish Co. were in Jefferson City yesterday pitching their latest proposal for Ballpark Village to the Missouri Development Finance Board. Last week the team unveiled temporary plans to turn the site into a softball field. But ... More >>

Taser Use Under Debate Across Missouri

Wikimedia CommonsA group calling itself the Coalition to Control Tasers is asking the Columbia, Missouri, police department to review its policy on the use of the weapons.According to the Columbia Missourian, the coalition wants the police department to adopt a 52-policy guideline outlining how and ... More >>

Super Bowl Drunkard Sacks His Daughter

Offsides. Offspring. 15 to 20 Years.Ever wonder what the football penalty "illegal motion down field" means?  Well, here's one possible definition. In what may be the worst case of mistaken identity ever, a man from Jefferson City has been charged with raping his daughter after drinking too muc ... More >>

Timber!

Chain saws at the ready, AmerenUE confronts the vestiges of the '06 storms.

Road Warrior

The ride’s been bumpy, but Pete Rahn has made quite an impression since taking over at the reins at the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Snapple Nectarine White Tea

Schnucks, 60 Hampton Village Plaza; 314-353-5060.

Parlor Game

The St. Louis Pizza Haus proves that even when pizza's kinda bad, it's still pretty good

Rip's Riposte

Week of December 18, 2002

No-Look Legislation

The good that doesn't get done and the bad that does in Jeff City

Solitary Man

Lifer Bill Herron knew exactly how to get out of jail -- until 16 years ago, when the Missouri Department of Corrections locked him in solitary

Best Local Politician

George "Buzz" Westfall

Missing the Big Picture

Missouri's tax system needs an overhaul, not a holiday

Take the Public Out of This Ball Game

IMAGINE A BETTER NEWSPAPER

"Imagine St. Louis": Fighting for truth, justice and the American way?