U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

EPA Puts Off Clean-up of Nuclear Dumpsite, As Lawsuits Pile Up and Activists Circle the Wagons

It'll take a few billion years for 8,700 tons of radioactive waste illegally dumped in a suburban landfill in St. Louis County in the 1970s to stop emitting deadly radionuclides. But before that happens, if this apocalyptic cocktail of Cold War-era nuclear byproducts and municipal toxic waste (jus ... More >>

17 Missouri Women Who Could Kick Todd Akin's Ass

Or, Why You Shouldn't Be Ashamed to Be a Female Voter in Missouri It's become pretty clear over the past few weeks that Todd Akin hates women. Oh, he hasn't said that in so many words -- which is actually pretty surprising since he doesn't seem to care much about the possibility of offending his fe ... More >>

Tame the Mississippi: A river rat's guide to enjoying our big brown stream

Before Computers, Giant Model of Mississippi River Determined Flood Risks

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers via PlacesThe Mississippi River model during its last days of use in the early 1970s.​This spring, computer models helped the Army Corps of Engineers determine the exact outcome of flooding when the agency made the controversial decision to blast the Birds Point Levee ... More >>

Armchair Analysis: Saving Cairo From Flood Was Financial Wash

Cairo (red dot) sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The photo on the left shows the normal condition of the rivers; the image on the right is after the Birds Point levee was destroyed.​The Army Corps of Engineers decision last month to blast the Birds Point Levee to save the ... More >>

Joplin Tornado Three Weeks Later: Looters, Do-Gooders and One Giant Mess

Albert SamahaThe mangled wreckage of a red car illustrates the tornado's merciless power. The vehicle's other half was found nearly fifty yards away.​ EDITOR'S NOTE: The Riverfront Times' Albert Samaha traveled to Joplin this weekend, three weeks after the southwestern Missouri city was struck ... More >>

Google Photos Show Midwest Flooding at Caruthersville, Missouri

Sarah FenskeFlooded farmland near New Madrid, Missouri, taken last weekend after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers detonated the Birds Point Levee.​ We've got more astonishing photos of Mississippi River flooding to share this morning, thanks to the nice people over at Google. This latest set s ... More >>

Google Earth Photos Show Midwest Flooding

courtesy of Google and GeoEyeThis recent aerial view shows just both the Ohio River and the Mississippi River spilling over near Cairo, Illinois.​After we detailed our road trip through the flooded Missouri Bootheel and Cairo, Illinois, in a blog post yesterday, we heard from someone at Google, wh ... More >>

Mississippi River Flooding Pictures from Cairo, IL

The big worry may be about the Mississippi River flooding Memphis right now, but the area outside of Cairo, Illinois, was pretty wet Saturday.​It's high drama along the Mississippi River these days -- as the river reached near record levels last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the diff ... More >>

Corps Blasts Levee South of Cairo; Ohio River Begins Receding Immediately

Army Corp of Engineers via KFVSExplosives detonate the Birds Point levee last night.​The final decision to breach the Birds Point levee along the Mississippi River came at 5 p.m. yesterday. Five hours later, explosives lit up the night sky and shook the earth as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers de ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Army Corps of Engineers Like Greek Myth

​Today's comment of the day comes in response to the Army Corps of Engineers decision to blow up the Birds Point levee south of Cairo. Commenter Mike N. writes: That's one way for the Corps to ensure job security -- build levee, blow up levee, rebuild levee, repeat. It's like a bizzaro Myth of ... More >>

Population Trends Shows Cairo Disappearing With or Without Flood

Cairo: Stuck between a couple wet spots.​In 1950 the city of Cairo, Illinois, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, had 12,123 inhabitants. By 2010, just 2,831 called the city home. That's a decline of more than 76 percent in 60 years or a 12.6 percent loss per decade. More ... More >>

Ameren Installs "Swan Diverters" on Power Lines to Save Migratory Birds

Coutesy Ameren Missouri​A helicopter team is performing aerial daredevil work near Alton this week in an effort to save migrating trumpeter swans, the largest waterfowl in North America.  On Monday specialists with Haverfield Aviation began installing "swan diverters" from power lines running ... More >>

KKK-Recruiting Union Official Booted from Federally-Funded Job Site

An officer with a local union has been booted from a federally-funded work site -- for passing out KKK propaganda on the job.Recruiting for the KKK can get you fired.​The man, an officer with the Local 53 chapter of the Laborers International Union of North America, has not been named. But Adolphu ... More >>

Union Leader Recruited for KKK on Job Site, NAACP Says

A board member for a local union has been distributing promotional material for the KKK on a St. Louis County job site, officials with the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP alleged this morning.One T-shirt featured on www.kkk.com​Adolphus Pruitt, the NAACP's vice chair for legal redress, tell ... More >>

Map: The Mississippi River is a Meandering Stream, Indeed

Here's a cool map of the course of the Mississippi River over the past 10,000 years as it has flowed from Cape Girardeau to Donaldsonville, Louisiana. ​Howard N. Fisk, a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers consultant, rendered the illustration above back in 1944. You can view (and download) more of his ma ... More >>

Feds Fork Over $78.5 Million To Keep Asian Carp Out of The Great Lakes

Image ViaKanye does not put Asian Carp in his mouth.​Lawmakers from across the upper Midwest are still carping all over each other. This time, however, they're arguing about how effective $78.5 million in (mostly) federal funds will be in keeping invasive Asian Carp out of Lake Michigan.Just a few ... More >>

White House Will Host Midwest Governors to Discuss Asian Carp

Think of it like the beer summit only fishier. Officials from the White House Council on Environmental Quality announced yesterday that they will host governors from across the upper Midwest in early February to discuss how to stop Asian Carp from invading the Great Lakes.The announcement comes on t ... More >>

RFT readers have nostalgia for Northwest Plaza, hope for Larry Burgan and Doug Lindsay

Meltdown in Venice: Larry Burgan wages an uphill battle to prove he was poisoned by radioactive waste

Video: Larry Burgan Claims Radioactive Waste Caused Health Problems in Venice, Illinois

This week's RFT feature story, "Meltdown in Venice" features Larry Burgan of Granite City, Illinois, and his fight to prove that his former employer is responsible for radiation poisoning that he believes damaged his health and the health of those who live nearby the factory.Here's a video interview ... More >>

Chesterfield Studio Saved From Wrecking Ball

Wiegand sculpts statues of ilk like Bob Hope and Stan Musial. ​Don Wiegand's studio in Chesterfield Valley ain't going anywhere after all. Lawyers for the sculptor and the Army Corps of Engineers announced yesterday that they'd inked an agreement allowing Wiegand to stay put at 1 Wiegand Driv ... More >>

Activists Make Progress in Attempt to Save Wiegand Foundation from The Wrecking Ball

A spokeswoman for the grassroots group trying to save artist Don Wiegand's Chesterfield Valley studio says the Army Corps of Engineers appears to be backing down from its plan to condemn Wiegand's property in order to make way for a levee. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond and Congressman Todd Akin have s ... More >>

Wiegand Foundation in Chesterfield Valley Under Threat of Demolition

A group called Save our Studio held a rally in Chesterfield Valley last night in an attempt to save sculptor Don Wiegand's home and studio from the wrecking ball. Wiegand's three-acre property, which is also home to the Wiegand Foundation and a popular party spot for area nonprofits, is nestled off ... More >>

Con Man Bill Jakob: In His Own Words

Bill JakobIn the course of reporting "Hornswoggled," this week's feature story about the con man Bill Jakob, RFT obtained a transcription of a sworn deposition that Jakob gave earlier this year as part of a $7.25 million civil rights lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court.Federal investigators warne ... More >>

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

What Does the St. Louis Corps of Engineers Say to $250 Million Stimulus Check?

flickr.com/photos/cottergarageDam. As in "now we can finally finish that locks and dam renovation up there in Granite City." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers here in St. Louis recently received nearly $250 million -- part of the $4.6 billion the Corps was appropriated under the Recovery Act.

An Arrow Runs Through It: Bowfishers take aim at Asian carp

Sacred Garbage?

Native Americans trash plans to expand a sprawling Illinois landfill.

CSI:IRAQ Goes to Court

St. Louis archaeologist Sonny Trimble takes the stand in Saddam Hussein's trial, and the nation is riveted.

CSI:IRAQ Goes to Court

Forensic archaeologist Sonny Trimble takes the witness stand in Baghdad, and the nation is riveted

Gob Story

Exxon pulled out of its Clinton County coal mine nearly a decade ago. Locals still live with the mess.

Two of a Kind

Fans of rootsy rock are forced to choose between two promising shows

Profanity Rock

Week of December 11, 2002

Little Fix

How a contractor on the hotel project screwed up but got paid extra

Grave Losses

Lax laws and uncaring bureaucrats cause Missouri to erase another prehistoric mound

The Right to Answers

Nobody knows why the babies are dying near Weldon Spring. But the grownups can't help asking whether the site's toxic stew is to blame.

Invasion of the Swiss

Proposed cement plant in Ste. Genevieve would be foreign to our lungs

Cementing a Deal

A giant quarry and the world's largest cement kiln are being welcomed by Ste. Genevieve County. But the operation may leave St. Louis gasping for air.

A Sewer Runs Through It

The River des Peres tells the history of St. Louis -- our relationship to nature, to this place, to our own waste. Now there's talk of "beautifying" the river we never got around to cleaning.

After the Deluge

Since the Flood of 93, Chesterfield boosters have used millions in public money to raise a levee and turn the bottomlands into a boomtown. But betting against the river is risky business.

Best Riverfront Attraction

Two Pecan Tree Pond

Collision Course

Gateway International Raceway is speeding to expand parking. But environmentalists are waving a red flag.

Water Wrongs

William Least Heat-Moon tests the current state of America's rivers

Voodoo Engineering

New plans for a levee in St. Charles County raise concerns about flooding in Illinois and the completion of Missouri's popular Katy Trail

DAMMED TO ETERNITY

James Scott was sentenced to life in prison for causing a destructive levee break during the Flood of '93. But was he simply an easy scapegoat for a town raging at its devastation?

The Low Road

Hazelwood officials cast their lot with the developer of a controversial project in the flood-prone Missouri Bottoms. Their gamble is tearing the North County community apart.

Depth Charge

River diver Dennis Georges has one of the most dangerous jobs going -- and loves it

Letters to the Editor

Of Wetlands and Wal-Marts

One development at a time, Missouri has lost 87 percent of its wetlands. And that means more floods, more damage, more levees, more bucks. The story of one Supercenter and how progress comes at a price.