Public Finance

12 St. Louis Food and Drink Deals and Freebies for Tax Day

Today is Tax Day, also known as mass chaos at the Springfield Post Office Day. Whether today finds you scrambling to get your info in order or basking in the smug satisfaction of submitting your taxes weeks ago, there is a reward: food and drink deals at restaurants across the St. Louis area. Once ... More >>

Photos: Senator Roy Blunt Promotes Mental Health Plan, Irritated By Gun Control Questions

Late Friday afternoon, Senator Roy Blunt held a press conference at the Betty Jean Kerr People's Health Center in St. Louis to promote his plan to improve mental health treatment across the country. The time is right, he told reporters, since people want concrete actions taken in response to the ... More >>

Former St. Louisan Charged as Ring Leader of Identity Theft Operation

You may recall Patrina Taylor, the Creve Coeur Williams who tried to use a dead person's IRS tax refund check to take the cash for herself. Well, the feds now believe she was merely one "cooperator" in a larger identity theft ring, run by a former St. Louisan living in the South. Tania Henderson, a ... More >>

GOP State Senator Rob Schaaf on Missouri's Obamacare Deadline: "Deadline Schmedline."

November 16, folks. That's the deadline for Missouri to decide whether our state government will set up the "insurance exchange" required by the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), or whether the feds will swoop in and set it up for us. It's only one week away, so Daily RFT called Republican sta ... More >>

Review Preview: Go! Gyro! Go! and Feed Me Banh Mi

This week, I'm back on the food-truck beat, checking out Go! Gyro! Go! (@GoGyroGo; 314-496-3970) and Feed Me Banh Mi (@FeedMeTruck; 314-299-2900). The stretch of North Broadway south of Olive Street is an acutely bland corridor of downtown, fifty shades of gray and then some. There looms the Feder ... More >>

Mizzou Report Shows that Missourians Are Absolutely Average

If you get excited about lists comparing states to one another -- as Daily RFT does -- then now is time to rejoice. David C. Valentine, director of the Missouri Legislative Academy at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri has concocted the mother of all lists, Snapshot M ... More >>

Amended Illinois Strip Club Tax Passed by Senate Committee

It's not a law yet, but the Illinois Senate Public Health Committee unanimously passed an amended version of Sen. Toi Hutchinson's (D-Chicago Heights) "skin tax" bill. Rather than the originally proposed $5 per patron charge (with the money collected going to fund rape crisis centers) Illinois strip ... More >>

When I.R.S. Means I'm Really Starving: Where to Find Food Specials on Tax Day

Today is tax day. Normally it's April 15, but because it fell on a Sunday this year, Americans have an additional two days to get their shit together. If you're responsible and not scrambling a la the people of Springfield, then you have one more reason to be happy today: As usual, in honor of tax d ... More >>

Tobacco Tax Campaign Has Become a Pile-On

Image viaLotta butts in this campaign​Right now, all kinds of folks are clamoring for an increase in Missouri's tobacco tax -- at 17 cents per pack, the lowest in the nation. Yet so far, nobody's pulling in exactly the same direction.   Yesterday, state Representative Mary Still, a Democ ... 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 >>

Drury Hotel in Chesterfield Loses Five-Year-Old Tax Appeal

Death and taxes: Drury learned this one the hard way.​When St. Louis County assessed Chesterfield's new Drury Plaza Hotel at $23.1 million in 2006, even though the hotel had not yet opened, the owners cried foul. The St. Louis-based company proffered its own appraisal of the property -- this one s ... More >>

Reports: Legislative Leaders Approve Subsidies for China Hub

Legislators make the numbers add up.​Word is that Republican leaders in the Missouri House and Senate have hammered out a deal to provide $360 million in tax credits to subsidize construction and flights for a proposed cargo hub at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. The full legislature woul ... More >>

John Steffen Re-Indicted; Feds Claim St. Louis Developer Defrauded Bank

In 2007, John Steffen (far left) and another developer, Craig Heller, received recognition from First Lady Laura Bush.​Nine months after a court dismissed a federal indictment against John Steffen, the U.S. Attorney's office is again filing charges against the developer, who's best known for trans ... More >>

Federal Funding Cuts Could Hurt St. Louis' China Hub Project

Did our China hub just get grounded?​The House of Representatives today passed an FAA Reauthorization bill that could thwart efforts to create a trade hub with China at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The bill includes funding for the Airport Improvement Program that currently allocates $ ... More >>

Mayday McCaskill Caught in a Tailspin Over Private Plane

Look, I can explain. I was suffering altitude sickness.​A once high-flying Missouri politician plummeted to Earth yesterday. The only question now: Can she survive the wreckage?  Claire McCaskill's reputation took perhaps its biggest hit in her nearly five years in the U.S. Senate on Mo ... 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 >>

Comment of the Day: McCaskill as Tax Imposer

Today's comment comes in response to an article on how Missouri's Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill, recently acknowledged that she'd failed to pay personal property taxes on her private airplane. In responding to a McCaskill supporter, commenter "Hector Garbanzo" let loose this impressive screed ... More >>

Rex Sinquefield's Placement on St. Louis Art Museum Board Violates Law

Sinquefield: Francis Slay has his back on museum placement.​The Post-Dispatch this morning follows up on a story Daily RFT broke months ago. That's the fact that Rex Sinquefield, the financier who spent $11 million to get a recall of St. Louis' earnings tax on next month's ballot, is not registere ... More >>

Amendment to Defund Planned Parenthood Passes in the House

Imperiled.​After a heated, three-hour debate last night, the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon passed an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood by a vote of 240 to 185. The Senate, which retains a slim Democratic majority, is expected to vote on the measure in the coming weeks.The Pence ... More >>

Food Safety Law Leads to Food Tracking Frenzy

Now that the federal food safety law is in effect, the Washington Post looks at what food producers are doing to meet new criteria for food traceability. The law requires all parts of the food distribution chain to be able to quickly trace where food items came from through electronic records to ... More >>

Board of Aldermen Turn up the Heat

​Today's Board of Aldermen meeting kicked off with a complimentary Christmas concert by the Rosati-Kain High School choir. After the warblers finished their hymns about a poor baby shivering in a chilly night, the city's lawmakers voted to help ensure St. Louis children never go to bed cold. Coin ... More >>

Jennings Turns Over Police to County Cops; Department Misused Federal Funds

​One down, dozens more to go. This week the Jennings City Council voted to turn over the reins of its police department to St. Louis County law officers. The move followed the revelation that Jennings police misused tens of thousands of dollars in federal funds to be used to conduct DWI checkpoint ... More >>

Lady Gaga Can't Save "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Image ViaLady Gaga at Monday's rally.​Missouri Senator Kit Bond joined his Republican colleagues and three Democrats yesterday in defeating a defense spending bill that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy allowing gays to openly serve in the armed forces. (Sen. Claire McCask ... More >>

St. Louis Named 11th-Worst City for Sales Tax

It adds up.​Another day, another city-ranking listing St. Louis as the worst city for __________ (insert blank). Today's survey comes from the website Business Insider that names St. Louis as one of the "15 Cities with Ridiculously High Sales Tax."St. Louis ranks in at No. 11 according to Business ... More >>

India's Wheat Surplus Rots While Country Continues to Suffer Malnutrion

With half of its child population malnourished, India has more wheat than it can store, which could lead to global food inflation. The Associate Press reports that India has no place to store a wheat surplus that could feed 210 million people. Instead, 17.8 million tons of wheat is rotting in the el ... More >>

Missouri's Sales Tax Holiday Begins Today; Don't Pay Tax on Clothes, Computers

'Cause really, this is what the Tea Party was all about.​Rejoice ye patriots! Today through Sunday in the land of Missouri back-to-school shoppers can free thyselves from the shackles of government tyranny. That's right, this weekend is Missouri's sales tax holiday for "school" goods, such as clot ... More >>

Missouri Legislators Approve Tax Break for Ford -- Let's Hope Governor Nixon is Right

Missouri showers Ford -- in a good way.​In the end Governor Jay Nixon got his way. His special-session bill to provide nearly $150-million in tax giveaways to Ford Motor Co. and its suppliers overcame rounds of criticism and a 20-hour filibuster yesterday with Missouri legislators finally approvin ... More >>

The Dive Bomber Learns the State of the Union at LaRocca's

If you want to learn political theory, go to school. If you want to learn about the reality of politics, go to a neighborhood bar.I arrived at La Rocca's ten minutes into the State of the Union address. Five men sat at the bar, silent, engrossed in the speech. They turned to look at me as I tiptoed ... More >>

Hey St. Louis, About That Billionaire Knocking on Your Door...

​Attention St. Louis City residents: If this guy knocks on your door in the next few weeks, don't worry. He's not -- we repeat not -- a Jehovah's Witness. Though he is attempting to convert you. His name is Rex Sinquefield, and he wants your help eliminating the city's 1 percent earnings tax. Sinq ... More >>

Metro to Voters: Pass Our Tax or We'll Cut Ya' in Half

That's pretty much the message that Robert Baer, president and CEO of the Metro transit agency, delivered to St. Louis County voters in today's Post-Dispatch. Baer says that if county voters do not approve a half-cent sales tax in April, the agency will be forced to cut half its service beginning ne ... More >>

No Justice: We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

Another Local Elected Official -- Mike McMillan -- Reportedly Under Scrutiny

Local license collector said to be subject of inquiry​Both KMOX and the St. Louis Business Journal are reporting that License Collector Mike McMillan is the subject of a federal investigation. KMOX says the FBI is looking at McMillan; the Business Journal says the U.S. Treasury Department requeste ... More >>

When Happy Apples Go Bad; No Tax Credits For You!

flickr.com/photos/uibriainWho says Missouri Department of Economic Development director Linda Martinez is soft on immigration? For the first time ever, Martinez's agency has stripped a local business of tax credits for having once employed "illegal aliens."Federal court records show that Joette Reid ... More >>

Thompson Coburn Law Firm to Stay Downtown

So Long for Now, Sarah

Forum on Paul McKee's North-Side Doings Devolves into Name-Calling

My hot Mexican girlfriend makes me hang out with her whole family.

Can't a guy get some one-on-one time?

Late Fee

Mayor's office goes to bat for Bell but gets shut down by Darlene Green

Dollar for Dollar

The politics of Vince Schoemehl's fundraiser for Frankie the Saint

There's No Place as Bad as This Home

Assessment flap doesn't bode well for the county's ambience

Ballpark Pillage

Proposed Cardinals boondoggle gives new meaning to fuzzy math

Taking the Plunge

St. Louis' suburban cities have been competing for years to build the biggest and best places to play. Around here, keeping up appearances is serious business.

Misplaced Morality

There's nothing holy about the war on family planning

Will the Real John Ashcroft Please Stand Up?

Missouri's junior senator says he is a pro-consumer health-care reformist. But the insurance companies, HMOs and big business, which give him millions, think he's on their side.

Wages of the City

Even if the living-wage proposal passes, don't look for any drastic changes for many St. Louisans eking out a living on minimum pay

Hand-Me-Down District

After 32 years, Bill Clay is retiring from his congressional seat. He wants to leave it to his son, but a crowded, eccentric field of candidates is contesting the will.

OUR OLD HOMETOWN FIGHTER PLANE

NO MERCY FOR THE KIRKWOOD SCHOOLS

DES PERES HAS GONE MAD.
BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.

A Frightening Talent for Politics