Previously On

LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20 KSDK’s Christine Byers breaks the story of the month: The tragic double amputation of a visiting teen volleyball player is due to a St. Louis driver named Daniel Riley — and despite facing felony charges over allegations he stole a gun at gunpoint in 2020, Riley was not in jail, allowing him to instead wreak havoc on the St. Louis streets. Blame Kim Gardner! In response, Gardner tries to blame the judges who failed to revoke Riley’s bond after repeated violations. Aware of the total dysfunction in Gardner’s office, no one’s buying it.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 Riley appears in court, charged with second-degree assault and armed criminal action over Saturday’s car crash. This time the judge orders him to stay in jail. N.B.: Apparently judges do have the power to do that!

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return! Catholics face an annual dilemma: Return to the office with ashes on and risk looking pious or wipe them off and risk feeling duplicitous. You can’t win. Meanwhile the Post-Dispatch publishes no fewer than nine stories about Kim Gardner. Newly minted political columnist Joe Holleman even finds an anonymous source who doesn’t like Gardner’s press releases.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Gardner fails to resign by noon — and at noon-ohone, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey files for removal. Gardner makes clear at her 2:30 p.m. press conference

Escape Hatch

that she isn’t going to resign, and she can’t be forced into providing a coherent answer for anything. So we get a pack of supporters shouting down a pack of reporters. Fun.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24 What have we missed while spending a week glued to The Kim Gardner Show? Let’s see …. A plan to expand Medicare coverage for lowincome moms is in trouble; Republicans added language barring women from benefits if they have abortions, and that could doom it with the feds. Meanwhile, other Republicans want to amend the state constitution to make clear that Missouri neither funds nor will tolerate abortion, two things already fully in evidence.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 A meeting of the St. Louis County Council devolves into filibuster and chaos after Chairwoman Shalonda Webb insists that any meaningful discussion of the Sunshine Law must happen in private session. Because nothing is so good for transparency as closed doors. Also: St. Louis City SC takes its first match, besting Austin 3-2. The roar from the standing-room-only crowd at Amsterdam Tavern could be heard for a half-mile.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 Four people are killed and four more injured after a crash at the worst intersection in the city, Forest Park and Grand. This one ain’t Kim Gardner’s fault. But who do we scapegoat for broken infrastructure, total absence of traffic enforcement and drunk, high St. Louis drivers?

We ask three St. Louisans what they’re reading, watching or listening to. In the hot seat this week: three folks involved in music, art or literature.

Griffin Reed, marketing associate, University of Chicago Press

Listening to: The Goldberg Variations by Glenn Gould

“The perfect music for March — spare, reflective, beautiful, timeless.”

Amy Miton, filmmaker, The Brothers Go to Sleep

Watching: Magic Spot (2022, Roxburgh)

“A funny and strange DIY movie that demands you live in its universe and rewards you for doing so.”

Taylor Fogel, keys and vocals, Glory N’ Perfection

Watching: Hee Haw

“Everyone is always smiling and laughing, and I like when they do a big sing-a-long.”