MONDAY, JANUARY 22. It’s an ice day for most of the metro — school’s off, City Hall goes remote. Fortunately, it’s all melting by the afternoon, with temps finally rising after a frigid week. The heat seems likely to dissipate in Clayton, however: Its school board terminates its contract to buy the former Caleres HQ for an ill-defined Empowerment Campus Project.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23. It’s much warmer today, but Jefferson City shows no signs of a cool-off. Senate President Pro-Tem Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) removes four members of the state’s annoying new Freedom Caucus from committee chairmanships — and that means not just a cut to their office budgets but also (gasp!) the removal of their designated parking spots in the Capitol garage. Best of all, he calls them “swamp creatures,” an insult no one could argue with after spending three seconds with this crew. Of the 17 hours and 52 minutes the Senate has been in session, the Missouri Independent quotes Rowden saying that caucus members have held the floor for 16 hours and 45 minutes for “filibusters of things of no consequence whatsoever relative to a piece of policy.” Also, bad news for former Alderman Jeffrey Boyd; a judge says no to his request to get out of prison early.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22. Much, much warmer (it almost feels like spring) but it’s also intensely foggy. A hostage situation at the Drury Inn downtown ends with no injuries — nice job, St. Louis Police. (Never thought we’d say that, eh?) Governor Parson gives the State of the State and stakes out the terribly controversial position of increasing penalties for people who expose minors to fentanyl and increasing funding for childcare. Compared to the Freedom Caucus, he looks almost presidential.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23. It’s warmer still, but fog persists. AI-generated nudes of Taylor Swift flood social media channels. Even the White House says it’s alarmed.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24. Fog turns to rain, and a vacant building that housed many homeless people collapses in the 3900 block of South Grand. The fire department finds no fatalities — but suggests that the cause of the collapse was simply the building’s mortar washing away. Terrifying thought in this city of brick. In St. Louis County, 21-year-old Ramon White is sentenced to two life terms for killing a man during a botched carjacking in 2020 in Berkeley. In Manhattan, Donald Trump is slapped with a $83.3 million jury verdict for refusing to stop trash talking E. Jean Carroll. The disgraced former president was previously found liable for abusing Carroll in a trial last May.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25. More gloom. A car is stolen in Jennings with two kids inside, but both are recovered without incident. Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) kicks off her campaign in north county with about 500 people in attendance, including alderpeople Rasheen Aldridge, Daniela Velazquez and Megan Green. In Creve Coeur, an officer handling a suspected DUI gets a scare when another driver, also suspected of driving drunk, crashes into his car. No one is seriously injured.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26. It’s a sporty Sunday as the Blues notch their fifth straight win in Los Angeles. For those who aren’t boycotting the NFL for screwing over St. Louis, football offers a mixed bag: Detroit loses the NFC championship to San Francisco, which feels like a blow to all good Midwesterners — but the Missourah Chiefs continue their march toward the Super Bowl with a victory over Baltimore to take the AFC crown. In St. Louis, the weather has been so gloomy for so long, even the local branch of the National Weather Service is getting crabby. It tweets that it’s been 166 hours “and counting” of clouds. Even so, the sun will come out tomorrow — and we can’t wait.
