Jefferson City

Answers to the Riverfront Times 2012 News Quiz

In January Riverfront Times published its annual "News Challenge" -- 78 multiple-choice questions testing how well readers paid attention to current events over the past twelve months. Within a week, more than 100 of you submitted your answers to us. A few weeks later a dozen readers e-mailed a simi ... More >>

Senator Kevin Engler Introduces Bill About Bedbug Reporting

​Citing both an increase in the number of infestation reports in Missouri communities and a special request from state health officials, State Senator Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) introduced legislation yesterday that sets new standards for tenants and landlords when it comes to reporting bedbugs.

Birthers Alive and Well in Missouri Legislature

​We know. You thought the conspiracy surrounding President Barack Obama's birthplace was so 2009.But, hey, we're talking about Jefferson City here, a place where everything -- fashion, movies, hairstyles -- arrives after everyone else everywhere has moved onto the next thing. So is anyone really s ... More >>

Church of Scientology's "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Exhibit Returns to St. Louis

Psychiatry buffs rejoice and praise Xenu! The "state-of-the-art international touring exhibit" Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, sponsored by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights is returning to Missouri for the first time since its appearance at the Jamestown Mall three years ago! You can catch ... More >>

Fight Over Missouri's Cigarette Tax Heats Up; Lung Association Gives State Failing Grade

​Missouri received its annual report card last week from the American Lung Association. The result ain't pretty. The state earned an "F" for tobacco prevention and control (spending just $58,693 last year to prevent tobacco use statewide); an "F" for smoke-free air (with legislators refusing to pa ... More >>

Educators Go on TV to Discuss Dropout Crisis

​Not much has changed since Riverfront Times reported on the school dropout crisis back in January of 2009. Since 2004, the high-school graduation rate in the St. Louis public schools has slid from 61 percent to 45 percent, 30 percentage points below the average for the state of Missouri. Nobo ... More >>

St. Louis Airport Director Gung-Ho on Cargo Hub

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge has done her part. Will legislators follow?​As legislators in Jefferson City yesterday continued to debate $360 million in tax credits to help fund an international cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the airport's director, Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, plowed f ... More >>

Airport Commission to Vote on China Hub Today

Wikimedia CommonsSt. Louis Aerotropolis: Will it leave the gate this week?​Yesterday in Jefferson City, legislators meeting in a special session took up the controversial topic of providing $360 million in tax credits to subsidize a trade hub with China at Lambert Field. "St. Louis Aerotropolis" i ... More >>

Let the Dems keep hating: Jamilah Nasheed could pull off the political coup of the century

Swollen Missouri River Forces Amtrak to Reduce St. Louis to Kansas City Service

The Union Pacific line west of Jefferson City as viewed this morning.​Flood waters along the Missouri River have forced the Union Pacific railroad to divert its freight trains to a line of track the carrier shares with Amtrak. The resulting congestion has forced the passenger train to temporarily ... More >>

Meet the Lobbyist Responsible for Missouri's Low Cigarette Tax and Open Container Laws

Peanut-butter sandwich: As distracting to Missouri drivers as an ice-cold beer.​He's the man who famously argued that drinking a beer while driving is no more dangerous than eating a peanut-butter sandwich behind the wheel. And, thanks to him, Missouri remains one of the few states in which you ca ... More >>

St. Charles County Council Bans New Forms of Synthetic Marijuana and Cocaine

K3 is one of the synthetic marijuanas that replaced the previously banned K2.​St. Charles County last night became one more region of Missouri that won't wait for Jefferson City to pass a statewide ban on the sale of new forms of synthetic cocaine and marijuana. By a unanimous vote yesterday, coun ... More >>

Leader of St. Louis Tea Party Defends Recruiting Lobbyist Gary Wiegert

Bill Hennessy loved his uncle Pat, a union man.​Bill Hennessy, co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, is out with an online video defending his decision to ask the former head of the St. Louis police officers' union, Gary Wiegert, to lobby in Jefferson City on behalf of his party. Readers of Daily ... More >>

Non-Racist St. Louis Tea Party Has Odd Way of Showing It

The handiwork of St. Louis Tea Party lobbyist Gary Wiegert's has been described as "race-baiting" -- and that's a Republican who said that.​We know. We know. Despite the findings of the NAACP and the curious links between its better-known mouthpieces and hate groups, the Tea Party is not a racist ... More >>

Missouri's Immigrant Population Dwindling, Says Panel

Joan Suarez of Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates; immigration-rigths attorney Pari Sheth, Kim Allen Murray of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and former Gov. Bob Holden.​The state of Missouri and the St. Louis region are shedding its once robust percentages of immigrants, and if not ... More >>

Vote for Me In Tiger Blood Tourney!

Your (least?) favorite blogger v. Bob Watson.​March Madness extends beyond the basketball floor this year for Missouri political junkies.Over at Fired Up! Missouri they've created what they call the "Tiger Blood Tourney" -- a 64-person bracket pitting politicians, activists and journalists in head ... More >>

Mo' Money, Mo' Ethics? Missouri Senate Committee Says Yes

Melissa MeinzerWhat? We thought Missouri had no increased funding for anything!​Stop the presses.We actually have good news coming out of Jefferson City!Even though the state of Missouri is broke, the Senate Appropriations Committee has resisted Governor Jay Nixon's suggestion to scale back fundin ... More >>

Missouri Legislature Targets Midwives

The Missouri Medical Association is trying to stop midwives -- again.​Four years ago, the Missouri Legislature decriminalized midwifery -- making it legal for a woman who's certified by one of two national midwives' organizations to deliver babies here.But the state's physicians don't like the com ... More >>

Wash. U. Study Got It RIGHT: Smoke Eaters Don't Work

Martin Pion is founder of MO-GASP (Missouri Group Against Smoking Pollution)​Washington University researchers recently released a study of smoking pollution levels in various restaurants and bars in metro St. Louis. Airborne nicotine was used as a measure of secondhand smoke (SHS). Important ... More >>

R.I.P. Michael Schafermeyer, A.K.A. the Frozen Food Section's Helias, 1978-2010

Michael Schafermeyer​Michael Schafermeyer, a prominent DJ on the St. Louis underground rap scene, died early yesterday morning in Baltimore, of an apparent alcohol and drug overdose. He was 31. Schafermeyer grew up in Jefferson City, taking his DJ moniker Helias from his eponymously named hig ... More >>

State Rep. James Viebrock Wants to Feed the World...With Missouri Horse Meat

Horse: We're told it does not taste like chicken.​A bill wending its way through Jefferson City would allow Missouri to become the only state in the U.S. to process horses for human consumption. State Rep. James Viebrock, a Republican from outside Springfield who's sponsoring the legislation, beli ... More >>

St. Louis Police Commissioner Springs Drunk Nephew From Jail, Delivers Him to Fancy Downtown Restaurant

Image Via Vincent Bommarito in his restaurant Tony's​Those five measly DWI's the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department issued on Mardi Gras? Well, make that four measly DWI's.One of the arrests was Christopher Campo, nephew to Vincent Bommarito, the proprietor of the esteemed downtown ea ... More >>

Mayor Francis Slay, Others, Testify to Lawmakers on Local Control of St. Louis Police

Da' Mare: Francis Slay​Mayor Francis Slay reiterated his case for local control of the St. Louis police department yesterday.Speaking last night to the House Special Committee on Urban Issues in Jefferson City, Slay told lawmakers that the system in place since the Civil War -- in which the gover ... More >>

Poison Control Receiving Calls on K2, Synthetic Marijuana

​The head of the Missouri Poison Center says his agency has received 20 calls in the past few weeks from teenagers stoned on synthetic marijuana such as the K2. Dr. Anthony Scalzo tells KMOX radio this morning that teens age 14-19 have called his agency complaining of anxiety, agitation, elevated ... More >>

Mo. State Senator Gary Nodler Doesn't Want Gay Troops to Offend Islamic Nations

Gary Nodler: Leader of a queer debate in Jeff City.​Updated 11:50 a.m.Gary Nodler just called Daily RFT to inform us that Post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger got the context of his argument wrong during yesterday's committee meeting debating whether or not gays should be allowed to openly serve ... More >>

Mo. State Senators Think They're in D.C., Argue Federal Budget, Health Care Reform

Mr. Schmitt goes to Washington, err Jefferson City.​Attention State Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale): The Missouri Capitol may look like the U.S. Capitol. (Indeed, the building in Jefferson City is modeled after the one in Washington D.C.) But let us remind you of one little thing: You're a state ... More >>

Missouri Chief Justice: "Tough on Crime" is not "Smart on Crime"

Justice Price: Don't throw the book at criminals, read it to them.​The chief justice for the Missouri Supreme Court, William Ray Price Jr., delivered his "State of the Judiciary" speech to the General Assembly yesterday. Price used the time to berate legislators over laws they've made that incarce ... More >>

Missouri Lawmakers To Meet With Medical Marijuana Patients Next Week

image via Group wants state senators to support Sour Diesel​Next Wednesday, February 10, members of the group Sensible Missouri -- self-described as "patients having a diagnosis that could be ameliorated through the use of cannabis" -- will travel to Jefferson City and lobby state lead ... More >>

News from the Far Right: Taitz Tells Patriots to Take Up Arms; Davis Might Run for Senate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewaliferis/ / CC BY-ND 2.0​Voila a couple of quick political tidbits during this no-one-gives-a-sh$t week. 1) First, the always-responsible Dr. Orly Taitz -- a California attorney who believes President Obama is not really a U.S. citizen -- posted a literal call to ... More >>

Missouri Public Defenders Fight for Right Not to Represent All Accused Criminals

​Any good cop TV show has the same line. Just as the criminal is being placed in shackles, the police officer states: "You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, the state will provide you one." Did you know, though, that that line isn't necessarily true? At least not in Mi ... More >>

Claims of Cynthia Davis' Ass-Clownishness Substantiated

house.mo.govCynthia Davis may have won last week's highly-coveted Ass Clown of the Week award (though she was only Keith Olbermann's Worse Person in the World for the week, not Worst), but was it deserved?Some of our commenters thought that Keith didn't go far enough. Despite popular opinion, Daily ... More >>

Congressman Clay's Divorce Spilling Into a "He Said, She Said" Affair

U.S. Rep. William Lacy ClayLacy Clay's divorce filings remains under seal, but that hasn't stopped the congressman and his wife from commenting on the break-up. Yesterday, Ivie Clay, released a statement saying that she was shocked to first find out about her husband's divorce filing last week throu ... More >>

Tours Planned For Old Missouri State Penitentiary. If Only It Still Had World Famous Street Art To Attract Visitors...

The Columbia Missourian reported over the weekend that several state agencies are pushing to open the doors of the old Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City to tourists.One hundred years before Alcatraz opened, the Missouri State Penitentiary was in operation. When it closed on Sept. 15, 200 ... More >>

Wednesday, March 11: Morning's Newz

Today all the juicy news comes from the East Side. In a story buried deep in this morning's Post-Dispatch, courts reporter Robert Patrick tells an amusing tale about two Illinois strip clubs arguing over trade secrets. Yesterday the Penthouse Club in Sauget sued a former employee, Michael McLean, on ... More >>

Memo: Post-Dispatch Editors Announce Layoffs

Up Show-Me Creek: Blisters, hellish heat, a boatload of vomit and lots of painkillers. It's all part of the Missouri River 340 race.

Hot Contender: If looks count, Sarah Steelman may be your next governor

John Doe in a Clayton Kitchen: X Marks the Spot

Children of a Lesser State

A contractual snafu keeps kids from their foster and adoptive parents

Base Motives

Well-heeled cities and developers keep TIF reform at bay

Letters

Week of February 21, 2001

Prop B: Voters vs. the Phantoms

It’s not sweeping campaign reform, but it is a good idea whose time has come.

The Benetton Four

Meet the men who sparked a lawsuit

The Boys from Boonville

In 1963, a group of African-American runaways and truants was sent to a rural reform school. Then the nightmare began.

Capitol Ideas

Mr. Silva goes to Jefferson City

WHAT? YOU THINK SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH CITY HALL?

St. Louis holds onto its old things -- including the 1914 city charter

WHEN PRO-LIFE MEANS MORE ABORTIONS

COMMUNICATION SHAKEDOWN

MCI WorldCom and the state are raking in windfall profits from the captive customers in Missouri's prisons

Felonies and Misdemeanors

City Limits

A coalition of St. Louis mayors looking to change the city's charter finds the going rough