December 28th, 2017 Edition

‘We aren’t going to talk about any investigations’

O’Toole promotes white cop who allegedly beat black undercover cop

By Rebecca Rivas

Boys and toys

‘Students

reading in a unique way’

By Melinda Oliver

Disputing 241-year sentence for nonhomicide crimes committed when 16

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

When Bobby Bostic was 16, he and a friend committed a pair of armed robberies in St. Louis just before Christmas in 1995. Two people were shot at but not harmed. Bostic was tried as an adult and sentenced to 241 years in prison. He is up for parole in 2091, when he would be 112 years old.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take on Bostic’s case and reject his sentence as unconstitutional.

“Bobby Bostic should get a chance to show that crimes he committed as a teen do not define him,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri. “The Constitution demands nothing less.” In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Graham v. Florida that the Eighth Amendment “prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.”

The decision requires that the state provide a “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.”

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Although she wasn’t selected as the Democratic nominee in the race for 8th Ward alderman, Annie Rice will run as an Independent candidate in the February 13 special election to replace former alderman Steve Conway. “I’m in,” she wrote on Facebook, before her official statement. “Let’s do this, 8th Ward.” Conway, who held the position for 27 years,

Photo by Wiley Price

Louis American

Kevin Perkins, 3, and his brother Courtney Perkins, 4, got toys for Christmas during Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers’ Santaland Christmas Toy Giveaway on Friday, December 22.

Photo by Wiley Price

Bobby Bostic

Interim St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole

Woerner Elementary School, Mrs. Freddie Johnson’s 5th grade students Demarcus Merrill, Jason Conejo, Austin Lopez, Hunter Tebeau and Dion Krasniqi learned how static electricity works from using an experiment from the Newspapers In Education (NIE) section of The St. Louis American

Cathy Sewell, NIE manager

Annie Rice

Royals and government at odds over Obama wedding invite

Prince Harry and Meghan Markel want the Obamas at their wedding, but the British government…not so much. According to The Sun, government officials are asking Prince Harry to keep the Obamas off the guest list out of fear of infuriating Donald Trump

“Harry and fiancée Meghan

Markle have told aides they want the former US president and wife Michelle at their big day on May 19,” a source told The Sun.

“There are deep fears among senior Foreign Office and No10 officials that another perceived national snub will make it impossible for Theresa May to meaningfully engage with Trump. A senior government source

said, “Harry has made it clear he wants the Obamas at the wedding, so it’s causing a lot of nervousness. Trump could react very badly if the Obamas get to a Royal wedding before he has had a chance to meet the Queen. Conversations are ongoing about and ministers will eventually have to decide. If the PM lays down the law, Harry will just have to suck it up.”

Janet shuts down Jermaine Dupri dating rumors

Last week, Janet Jackson was spotted in Atlanta celebrating with Jermaine Dupri, which kicked reconciliation rumors into Sources close to Jackson told Entertainment Tonight that nothing could be further from the truth. “Jackson and Dupri are simply “the best of friends,” and it’s only natural that she would reconnect with him in his hometown,” the insider told ET. “They are close, and she’ll always have a warm place for him in her heart. Both Janet and Jermaine are warm people, so it’s not unusual that there would be hugging or hand holding, even in public.”

Jim Jones’ mother’s home burns on Christmas day

Rapper Jim Jones took to Instagram to count his blessings after letting fans know that his mother’s home burned to the ground on Christmas. His post read as follows:

“Today I was blessed wit th greatest Christmas gift in my life thus far and tht is my family gettin out of th house safe sound n wit out injuries We can always buy new houses new cars new evrything but we can’t buy a new family On th flip side watchin my momma house burn touch my soul in ways I couldn’t imagine I wasn’t raised wit my mother but my son was and his whole life of memories gone in a flash If u know me then u know I’m gonna buy my family th biggest house I can afford and fill it wit more love The devil is always workin but so is my God I got faith Merry Christmas”*

Minaj high on the trash list.

“For me, personally, I think that a lot of what Nicki did was trash musically,” Charlamange said. “I didn’t like a lot of her moves behind the scenes.”

He also said he couldn’t remember a time when a superstar of her caliber put out three records at the same time and none of them became a chart topper.

“By the way, the ‘No Fraud’ record had the iHeart Stimulus Package –meaning that you gonna play every hour on the hour on every urban station throughout the country and she even might have even been on some of the pop stations,” Charlamange said. “She had Wayne and Drake on the record and that record didn’t go. That record didn’t grow.” Budden jumped in to drive the point home.

Joe Budden and Charlamange Tha God trash Nicki Minaj

Joe Budden and Charlamange Tha God served as co-hosts for “This Year Was Dope/ Trash” on Revolt TV and the duo put Nicki

“Nicki, I know you are watching this, because you watch everything,” Budden said. “I know you are a little sensitive and I know you think that I may have an issue with you. I do not have an issue with you – except for, you cannot post your accolades on Instagram every day for the year. I’m gonna call you trash. Because you don’t have to continually tell us.”

*Spelling and grammar as it appeared in original post.

Sources: ET.com, The Sun, Instagram, Revolt.com

Jermaine Dupri

Joe Budden

Bruce Franks, family of Cary Ball Jr. call for investigations

By Rebecca Rivas

Of The St. Louis American

The family of Cary Ball Jr., who was shot 25 times by St. Louis police on April 24, 2013, is once again trying to seek justice against the two officers who killed him.

“They were so close to him that four of the bullets went through his body and came back out,” Cary Ball Sr. said about his son’s death. “You hear about professionalism and about what officers are trained to do. I believe they stepped out of bounds from officers and became murderers –to shoot 25 rounds into one man.”

At a December 20 press conference, State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. (D-St. Louis) said he is requesting that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department turn over all evidence and reports from the Cary Ball Jr. shooting to the Circuit Attorney’s Office. He said he will also request that the new U.S. attorney in Eastern Missouri do a parallel investigation to seek Color of Law and civil rights charges.

Franks will deliver a formal letter to each office making these requests, he said. The police department, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Jensen’s Office and Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Office did not respond to the American’s request for comment.

“It’s time to make our city safer and to see real and effective change,” Franks said. “We need to make every effort to, first, inform the public – as well as mobilize the public – to put an end to this kind of police violence. That is what I hope to accomplish with these investigations.”

At the press conference held at Fifth Baptist Church in North St. Louis city, Ball’s mother, Toni Taylor, said, “This has been a tough battle. We’re coming up on five years of Cary’s death next year in April ... I want justice for my son.”

In January 2016, William Harmening, a former police officer who teaches forensic psychology at Washington University, released an independent report, based on the facts in Cary Ball Jr.’s 282-page police report.

“Numerous individuals witnessed this incident and were interviewed by detectives,” Harmening wrote.

“Their statements are almost entirely consistent, which is highly unusual for an incident such as this.”

Not one of the witnesses said that Ball had a gun in his hand when police started shooting. And none of them saw Ball try to shoot at the police, as the officers claimed in their statements, he said.

“There is simply no plausible or justifiable reason for two police officers to shoot 29 times at a suspect who is not shooting back, with most of the shots fired from near point blank range,” Harmening wrote. “This fact alone should have caused a grand jury investigation to be initiated.”

Previous efforts to seek justice, including a wrongful death lawsuit and an FBI investigation, failed because they were faulty, he wrote.

At the end of 2013, former police chief Sam Dotson requested that the FBI investigate the case to “make sure we are as objective and thorough as possible,” Dotson said. The FBI

found that the officers’ use of deadly force was justified, the U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan announced in June 2014.

However, Harmening did a Sunshine request to find out if the FBI had re-interviewed the witnesses or officers, or re-examined the incident scene. But no documents were ever provided, he wrote.

“One can only conclude that there are no relevant documents because there never was a real investigation carried out by the FBI,” Harmening said.

On April 24, 2013, Ball, 25, was driving home from his catering job at a downtown banquet hall, when a police car turned on its lights behind him at Delmar Boulevard and 18th Street. Rather than pull over, Ball led Officers Jason Chambers and Timothy

Boyce on a high-speed chase through the downtown area, police said. He crashed his car on the 1000 block of North 9th Street, allegedly grabbed his automatic handgun and started running east on Carr Street, according to police. When residents heard the crash around 9:45 p.m., several came out of their homes. Several residents saw Ball stop running, throw down his gun and put his hands in the air. Ball started kneeling on the ground, with his hands up, when the two officers came running towards him, witnesses said.

Witnesses saw the police come up to about eight feet away from Ball, look down at Ball’s gun on the ground and start shooting. Then they handcuffed him.

“Cary Ball Jr.’s death has caused

the community a great deal of emotional distress,” Carlos Ball, Cary’s brother, told The American in 2013.

“There were kids out on the street who saw what happened. One woman told me her six-year-old daughter now urinates on herself every time she sees a police officer.”

Both officers, Chambers and Boyce, are still on the force.

On May 1, 2013, the day of his funeral, Ball was set to receive an Emerging Scholar Award from St. Louis Community College – Forest Park, where he was studying human services and had a 3.86 grade-point average. He wanted to be a social worker.

Carlos said, “He was supposed to be at the ceremony that evening, but instead he was getting buried.”

Photo by Wiley Price

State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. held a press conference on December 10 to request investigations into the 2013 St. Louis police killing of Cary Ball Jr. He was surrounded by Cary’s father, Cary Ball Sr., his mother Toni Taylor and his brother Carlos Ball.

Editorial /CommEntary

2017 Person of the Year: Rev. Traci Blackmon

One of the defining moments of 2017 was the Unite the Right rally staged in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11-12. The motley groups of white supremacists and neo-Nazis poorly labeled as the “alt. right” – when there is nothing “alternative” about their very old-school ignorance and hatred – came out of their social media hiding holes to chant Nazi slogans and misappropriated Black Lives Matter chants. This is part of the noxious base of President Donald Trump, who receives their ideas from his former White House advisor Stephen Bannon and current White House advisor Stephen Miller. Notoriously, Trump said there were “some good people” marching in the name of white supremacy in Charlottesville.

Among those bearing witness to this madness – a much larger crowd than the united right itself – was Rev. Traci Blackmon. Rev. Blackmon was present at many places where humanity and democracy were under assault in 2017. Though still pastor of her home church, Christ The King United Church of Christ located in of Florissant, she is now more than a local force to be reckoned with. The courageous witness she bore in Ferguson, both on the streets as a clergy supporter and on the Ferguson Commission as a policy-maker, gave her national visibility, and she went national. She now has a national leadership position as executive minister of Justice and Witness at United Church of Christ, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

She is no longer ours alone. She belongs to America now. This nation sorely needs her. Rev. Blackmon’s leadership always moves at so many levels. She brings courage and physical leadership in the form of sudden, overpowering hugs for people who look under imminent threat of collapse, and she often finds herself in the presence of people enduring more than anyone should bear. She also has a mind for policy reform and systemic change. And, like any called pastor, she brings the power of the word. She is a truthteller at a time when lies are diverted with claims of “fake news.”

“My tears were not tears of fear, but tears of mourning. It is a sad moment in our nation – and yet not an unpredictable one, given the current social and political tone of this presidential administration,” Rev. Blackmon wrote in this newspaper about confronting hate and ignorance in Charlottesville.

“I cried because I recognized this moment, not as an escalation of white supremacy in this nation, but rather as its death rattle. And I know that the dying breaths of white supremacy will be long and arduous and violent. I know that there will be casualties on all sides.”

As I See It -

This is a prophetic voice that must be heard.

“I am stating unequivocally that this president’s hateful rhetoric and the focus of GOP policies in this current administration have stoked and exploited fears in ways that embolden white supremacist groups,” Rev. Blackmon wrote in these pages.

This is a prophetic voice that must be heard.

St. Louis needs you, Rev. Blackmon. We need your audacity, intellect, fearlessness, charisma and dedicated leadership. But we know America needs you more. We honor you as 2017 Person of the Year in St. Louis for your principled, prophetic leadership this year, but we will need you more than ever, all over St. Louis and these United States, as we face the daunting challenges of 2018.

There is power in the black vote

By Roger Caldwell Guest columnist

There is something happening in America, and it starts with the power of black women. It started a long time ago when they were queens, and we see the evidence in their work ethic and their ability to achieve under impossible odds. When black women are behind you, their passion and drive can move mountains.

In the 2017 Alabama senate race, the largest voting segment of the population was black women, in which 98 percent of that group voted Democrat. Black men voted Democrat at 93 percent, and together they were the largest core group of Democrats in the election, and many experts think this was the reason Doug Jones won the election.

“We learned valuable lessons last month and last night – we invest early and in our communities, we win,” said DNC Black Caucus Chair Virgie Rollins. “The DNC knows black voters are a force to be reckoned with at the ballot box, and that’s exactly why we used a nearly $1 million investment to mobilize Alabama’s AfricanAmerican, millennial, and faith communities. And to help boost turnout, we made sure we had our own staffers on the ground engaging black leaders and implementing organizing programs.” Democrats now have a template that they can use around the country to get the black vote out. Investing a large part of $1 million into the black community is a significant amount of

money that will change black voting habits during mid-term elections. When Black voters are informed and mobilized, they vote.

According to the New York Times, “Black voters turned out in force, handing Mr. Jones a decisive lead in Alabama’s cities and predominantly black rural counties. In Jefferson County, home to Birmingham and its whiter suburbs, turnout exceeded the 2014 governor’s race by about 30 percent, and Mr. Jones nearly matched Hilary Clinton’s vote total there. Other populous, heavily AfricanAmerican counties, including Montgomery and Dallas County, where Selma is, also exceeded their 2014 turnout.” As I talk to many African Americans in Orlando, many have a pessimistic attitude about organizing and mobilizing the black vote in 2018. Many think we have lost our excitement with the voting process, and even with the Democratic Party.

But I believe the problem in the black community is leadership, financing and supporting the black media. In order to galvanize our community, our leadership must agree on a strategy, communicate the information with our media, and stay organized and be determined.

“And so for all little girls out there who need somebody

to believe that you’re better than your circumstances. I need you all to remember that Black girl magic is real,” said Keisha Lance Bottoms, newly elected mayor of Atlanta.

Many experts expected Keisha Lance Bottoms to lose this election to a white candidate, but she won by 800 votes. She won with help from the hip-hop community, and a collaboration of progressive whites, black women, Hispanics, and the LGBT community.

The African-American community is making the difference if a candidate wins or loses an election all around the country. The Democratic Party understands the power of the black vote, but black folks are not in many powerful executive positions and party leaders are reluctant to spend money in the black community. But if the Democratic Party during the mid-term elections spends millions of dollars in the black community and treats us as the cornerstone of the party, the results will be phenomenal. Democrats have the opportunity to win back the Senate, and make the House more competitive and closer in terms of numbers.

There is power in the black vote, and the black community is not taking full advantage of its influence and power. Once the black community takes full advantage of its power, there will be a major transformation in American politics. Our leaders must work for the majority of the American people, as opposed to the rich and major corporations.

Roger Caldwell is a columnist for the NNPA.

Commentary

Use the ballot box to control Trump in 2018

Just a few more days and this awful, rotten, no-good, ridiculous, rancorous, sordid, disgraceful year in the civic life of our nation will be over. Here’s hoping that we all –particularly special counsel Robert Mueller – have a better 2018.

Many of us began 2017 with the consoling thought that the Donald Trump presidency couldn’t possibly be as bad as we feared. It turned out to be worse.

Did you ever think you would hear a president use the words “very fine people” to describe participants in a torchlit rally organized by white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan? Did you ever think you would hear a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations thuggishly threaten that she would be “taking names” of countries that did not vote on a General Assembly resolution the way she wanted? Did you ever think the government of the world’s biggest military and economic power would reject not just science but empiricism itself, preferring to use madeup “alternative facts” as the basis for major decisions?

We knew that Trump was narcissistic and shallow, but on Inauguration Day it was possible to at least hope he was self-aware enough to understand the weight that now rested on his shoulders, and perhaps grow into the job. If anything, he has gotten worse.

By all accounts, the president spends hours each day watching cable news, buoyed by the shows that blindly support him – “Fox & Friends,” “Hannity,” a few others on Fox News – and enraged by those that seek to hold him accountable. His aides have had to shorten and dumbdown his daily briefings on national security in an attempt to get him to pay attention. Members of his Cabinet try to outdo one another in lavishing

him with flowery, obsequious praise.

Trump and his enablers have waged a relentless war against truth in an attempt to delegitimize any and all critical voices. He wields the epithet “fake news” as a cudgel against inconvenient facts and those who report them. Can a democracy function without a commonly accepted chronicle of events and encyclopedia of knowledge? We are conducting a dangerous experiment to find out. Since its founding, the nation has treasured civilian control of the military as a restraint on adventurism. Now we must rely on three generals – Trump’s chief of staff, his national security adviser and his secretary of defense – to keep this rash and erratic president from careening off the rails.

n Many see clearly Trump’s unfitness but continue to support him because they fear the wrath of his hardcore base and see the chance to enact a conservative agenda.

The president’s Republican allies in Congress, who have the power to restrain an out-ofcontrol executive, have rolled over in passive submission. Many see clearly Trump’s

Letters to the editor

Give the gift of education

Congratulations to Normandy for raising its scores on the Annual Performance Report from 7.1 percent to 62.5 percent in three years, a nearly an 800 percent increase. I feel fortunate to live in a country that is constantly striving to improve the quality of education. The state of education however, in many countries around the world is dismal. Some 263 million children around the world who ought to be in school are not. Millions more that are in school, are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.

The Global Partnership for education (GPE) is a global fund dedicated to providing access to quality education in the poorest countries. Thanks to U.S. Representative Wm. Lacy Clay for being the first congressman from Missouri to cosponsor HR 466, which supports the GPE. I urge St. Louisans to ask representatives Wagner and Luetkemeyer, and Senators Blunt and McCaskill, to cosponsor the House and Senate versions, respectively, and give these kids the gift of education

Sri Jaladi, Creve Coeur

Trump admin does not condemn slavery

There was an opportunity for the White House to apologize for John Kelly’s comments and make clear that this administration truly represents all Americans. They failed.

unfitness but continue to support him because they fear the wrath of his hard-core base and see the chance to enact a conservative agenda. History will remember this craven opportunism and judge it harshly.

I haven’t even mentioned Trump’s nepotism – installing his daughter and son-in-law as high-ranking advisers, with portfolios they are in no way qualified to handle – or his inability to staff the executive branch with the best-andbrightest types who customarily serve.

The year has been terribly depressing – but not paralyzing. The day after Trump’s inauguration, a much larger crowd descended on Washington for the Women’s March, an immense show of resistance. That passion might eventually have faded away, but all evidence suggests it has not.

In November, Democrat Ralph Northam won the governor’s race in Virginia, a purple state, by a surprisingly big nine-point margin. His coattails were long enough to elect so many Democrats to the state House of Delegates that control of the chamber is still undecided pending recounts. And then on December 12, Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in a special election for a U.S. Senate seat – in Alabama, of all places, one of the most Republican states in the nation. These races were not about D’s versus R’s. They were about sanity versus insanity, reason versus chaos. They were about Trump, and he lost. So Godspeed to Mueller in his investigation. The rest of us – Democrats, independents, patriotic Republicans – should work toward the November election. Our duty is to elect a Congress that will bring this runaway train under control.

Instead, the Trump White House refused to disavow or apologize for Kelly’s defense of the Confederacy and even failed to condemn the institution of slavery when given the chance.

This administration’s attempts to erase the past and present struggle of people of color needs to cease immediately.

The Americans hurt most by these comments do not seek to change history books. They want this president and

his staff to actually open one. They wish for a government that acknowledges their history of suffering, empathizes with their pain, and looks to right past wrongs. With Trump at the helm, this wish appears to be no closer to reality than John Kelly’s untruthful comments.

Brian Gabriel, deputy press secretary DNC, Washington, D.C.

Columnist Roger Caldwell

Rev. Traci Blackmon, executive minister of Justice and Witness at United Church of Christ and pastor at Christ The King United Church of Christ in Florissant, was a member of the clergy who traveled to bear witness at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11-12.

Columnist

Eugene Robinson

Santa student

Hazelwood Schools public forums

The Hazelwood School District has announced the dates for its winter and spring Board of Education Community Forums, informal discussion panels with leaders in the district. The Winter Community Forum will take place Thursday, January 11 at Hazelwood East High School Library and the Spring Community Forum will be on Thursday, April 12 at Hazelwood Central High School Library. The discussions will feature Superintendent Dr. Collins-Hart as well as three Board members, and will be moderated by a member of the Hazelwood PTA Council.

New summer program on climate

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is accepting applications for a summer program inviting ten undergraduate students to study the impact of humans on the climate and environmental conditions. SIUE is seeking 10 students, five archaeological and five ecological, for the program, taking place June 4 through July 27, and entitled Exploring Evidence of the Anthropocene: Archaeological and Ecological Interdisciplinary Research Experiences for First Generation Students in the Upper Mississippi River System. Students will conduct original research and participate in field studies. Interested applicants can apply at siue.edu/STEM/REU through January 19.

Why she never ate her lunch at school

By Bernita Bradley TriceEdneyWire.com

She was quiet, completed all of her work on time, and followed the rules daily. Occasionally she laughed when the other children were being silly but at playtime she kept to herself.

One day during summer camp I realized that she never ate her entire lunch. She would eat the warm veggies on the side or maybe the peaches that came as a desert, but the sandwich and prepackaged foods she’d take off her tray and leave to the side. Her tray was always empty when she dumped it in the trash, so what did she do with the food? No wrappers were there, just the tray and empty containers from the hot foods she ate.

The next day I paid even closer attention as she took the food again off the tray. She looked around the room when it was time for her table to dump their trash. She quickly went over to her cubby, opened her book bag, and put a sandwich and orange inside.

I began to notice just how strategic this little young lady was. She took the longest time collecting her things from her desk at the end of the day. With any papers she needed to take home was a pop tart or breakfast bar she had saved from the morning.

The teacher made it a point to offer the students the classroom leftovers. The girl would raise her hand with a number of other students and take whatever was there on the sink in the snack bowl. None of them were allowed to pick over food they knew they weren’t going to eat.

I approached Mrs. H. after she walked the third grade students to the front door for pickup. Have you noticed that little C. always saves her food and takes it home? She nodded and said no words, as if waiting to see my response.

The school had rules that breakfast and lunches not eaten were supposed to be returned to the cafeteria. Our parent committee had addressed this issue with food service workers two years prior. Daily trash bags full of lunches were being thrown away and children who were hungry, denied the opportunity to eat. For safety reasons, the school had made extra food available for kids to have seconds but whatever was left still needed to be sent back.

I shared with the teacher how we fought to allow children to access extra food and for universal lunch. She relaxed and began to share with me how she knew which students needed food in her class. To make sure the other children weren’t aware of it she offered leftovers to everyone.

She explained that little C. had a younger sister, and she always takes food home for her as well. She also shared that every Friday the school announced a meeting called the backpack club half an hour before school ends. I had heard this announcement but thought it to be a reading club.

No, it was a group of students that teachers identified who needed additional help with food. Weekly they were given a backpack full of food to take home that was donated by teachers and staff. Backpacks were used to camouflage the food so the students’ needs were kept confidential. The backpacks were returned on Monday morning to the office.

To think, a third grader strategically looking out for her family. I was outdone. I never said anything else about it, but in every classroom I assisted in I made a point to follow Mrs. H.’s lead. I reminded students not to take food they knew they wouldn’t eat and offered them leftovers.

The next school year we began hosting monthly food drives and gave away food to anyone in the neighborhood. No questions asked. The school partnered with a fresh fruits and vegetables organization that brought prepackaged food, cleaned and cut in individual bags.

I often think about this little girl and how sweet she was and, even more so, how strategic. It prompts me to never be wasteful when others are in need.

This piece originally appeared on the Detroit School Talk Blog. Bernita Bradley is a mother of two, a 24-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter, and a long-time advocate for Detroit parents and students.

Bernita Bradley

Jennings Junior High School 7th grader Airyka Harris, 13, talked with teacher Angela Keys before school ended for the holiday break.

Photo by Wiley Price

patrolling the protests downtown following the notguilty verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial. At one point, police surrounded the protestors at Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue on all sides and forcibly arrested more than 120 people.

During this disturbance, the black cop, Luther Hall, was brutally beaten, according to those who know him. Yet the white cop has not been reported as getting assaulted by arresting police. Police sources said Marcantano and two other officers, Randy Hays and Dustin Boone, are named in a federal investigation into Hall’s beating, as well as other police actions on September 17. The three officers have not been charged for any crime.

When The American asked O’Toole if he was aware that Marcantano was under federal investigation for beating Hall before he promoted him, he said, “We aren’t going to talk about any investigations.”

Then O’Toole quickly left the room, preventing any follow-up questions.

In an email to the department’s spokesperson, The American then asked why Marcantano was promoted

RICE

Continued from A1

ballot. But in this case, they both decided to vie for the Democratic nomination.

Rice is a civil rights and immigration lawyer and Black Lives Matter activist. Fehler is a data analyzer, best known for his documentary “The PruittIgoe Myth” and making maps after elections.

At a contentious December 19 meeting, the city’s Democratic Central Committee voted to give that Democratic nomination to Fehler.

“That decision is within

and whether the department is investigating his actions against Hall. The department has not yet responded.

Following the protest, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri filed a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis, arguing that the police department’s treatment of protestors was not justified. The case is pending; however, a federal judge has already ordered the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to stop using chemical weapons and adopt other protocols to protect the constitutional rights of those observing, recording or participating in protest activity.

Several people testified at a hearing in October. Iris and Alex Nelson, a recently married couple, testified that they had left their apartment on Washington Avenue that Sunday to see what was going on after noticing the increased police presence.

Iris said that as she and her husband walked around the neighborhood, they stuck to the sidewalks and crossed the streets legally. But as they tried to return to their building, they found their path blocked and then realized they were closed in on all four sides.

Alex, who is a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, said he realized quickly from his training what was happening.

the power of the committee in special election circumstances, and though I believe a primary process is always more democratic, I respect the committee’s ability to choose their nominee,” Rice said in her statement.

“What I cannot accept is the committee’s decision to ignore the voices of my neighbors in the 8th Ward in favor of politics as usual.”

Rice said she presented the committee with signatures of support from more than 560 residents in the ward, which were collected since Conway was appointed as assessor. That total is two-thirds of the

The two got down on the ground to avoid seeming like they were resisting arrest. Iris testified that she did not see anyone defying the police’s

orders. Nevertheless, both were pepper sprayed while on the ground; Alex was sprayed several times while his eyes

n “What I cannot accept is the committee’s decision to ignore the voices of my neighbors in the 8th Ward in favor of politics as usual.”

– Annie Rice

votes Conway received in the 2015 Democratic primary, and three-fourths of the votes needed to beat his closest challenger, she stated.

“Such strong support from the ward in such a short amount of time clearly indicated where the people of the 8th Ward stood prior to the nomination,” Rice said. “Instead of taking my

One of the St. Louis city police officers who allegedly beat a black undercover city cop during a September 17 protest was promoted on December 21 by Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole.

were open, blinding him for several hours. He said he was then dragged across the ground and zip-tied as tightly as possible. He testified that

he was hit in the head with an implement he couldn’t see, and that a police officer said, “Do you like that, cocksucker? We’ll see you again tomorrow night.”

Alex said he knows from his military training that his treatment was improper.

“It’s reminiscent of counterterrorism tactics,” he said in his testimony.

The couple was arrested and held for over 20 hours with no access to medical care.

Although Hall did not testify at the hearing, the ACLU presented evidence that an undercover officer was among those “gathered up, beaten and arrested.”

Those close to Hall said that his treatment was similar to that of the Nelsons, and he sustained serious injuries. The morning following the arrests, O’Toole told the media, “I’m proud to say the City of St. Louis and the police owned the night. Our officers are doing outstanding work.”

O’Toole is among the six finalists in the search for a permanent police chief.

Mayor Lyda Krewson and Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards said they would name a new chief before the end of the year.

Jessica Karins contributed to this report.

neighbors’ voices seriously, multiple committee members described bringing these voices to their consideration as ‘disrespectful’ to the committee and ‘meaningless.’ I do not think my constituents are meaningless and I find such an anti-democratic position unconscionable.”

At the meeting, she told the committee that she “had

not planned to run as an Independent,” not that she wouldn’t run as one, she told The American. And since the meeting, the calls asking her to run have been multiple and loud. On Thursday, December 21, a billboard went up that stated #RunAnnieRun in bold purple letters at Interstate-44 and Kingshighway Boulevard. In small print, it stated, “Paid for by Draft Annie for 8th Ward Alderman.”

“I don’t know where it came from,” she told The American “I have my suspicions. I thought it was Photoshopped at first. I had to go drive there to see it. It was a lot of pressure, but in a good way.”

In her statement, she said she believes her service within the Democratic Party demonstrates her political values. Not only is she the 8th Ward’s committeewoman, but she was also elected to represent the 5th Senate District as committeewoman to the state Democratic Party. And she sits on its Platform Committee. She said, “Make no mistake: I still believe strongly in Democratic values, inclusion equity, and a government that works for all of us, regardless of whether there is a “(D)” after my name on this ballot.”

Photo by Wiley Price

The court based the ruling in part on the growing scientific recognition that the brains of children under 18 remain undeveloped, including the parts needed for behavioral control.

“Missouri should not, by manipulating sentence structures and charges, be permitted to avoid this Court’s clear limitation on sending juvenile non-homicide offenders to die in prison,” the ACLU stated in its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court filed last week.

On December 12, 1995, Bostic and then 18-year-old Donald Hutson robbed a group of six people at gunpoint while they were delivering Christmas gifts to a needy family in St. Louis, according to the ACLU’s petition. During the robbery, two people were shot at. One received a tetanus shot because the gunshot grazed his skin. The other testified that he was shot at but not injured at all.

After the robbery, Bostic and Hutson forced a woman into her car and drove off. After driving around with her in the car, they robbed her and then, at Bostic’s insistence, let her go, the petition states. In the process of robbing the woman, Hutson, who was also the person demanding money from her, put his hands down her pants, in her bra and in her boots to search for money.

The woman testified that she feared Hutson was going to rape her, but that Bostic prevented Hutson from doing so, the petition states.

After letting the woman go, Bostic and Hutson threw their guns in the river and used the money to buy marijuana. Bostic was pulled over by the police and ultimately charged with 18 counts.

The trial judge gave Bostic a demeaning speech during his sentencing hearing, calling him a “fool” for not pleading guilty

STUDENTS

Continued from A1 football and draw comics that detail what they read,” Johnson said.

“This gave me the idea to come up with a ‘Main Idea’ graphic organizer. I’ll assign students an article and ask them to highlight the main idea, three supporting details, and a few other things. At the end of the worksheet, students are asked to reflect and give their opinion on what they just read.”

Johnson has been teaching with The American’s Newspapers In Education (NIE) program for as long as it’s been running at her school, which is three years. Now the state’s largest NIE program, The American has offered it for six years. With support from corporate partners, The American distributes newspapers to 7,000 students, in nearly 300 classrooms, in eight participating area school districts every week.

and “poor little Bobby.” Then she issued him the equivalent of a life sentence without parole.

“You’re gonna have to live with your choice, and you’re gonna die with your choice because, Bobby Bostic, you will die in the Department of Corrections,” Circuit Judge Evelyn Baker said. “Do you understand that? Your mandatory date to go in front of the parole board will be the year 2201. Nobody in this room is going to be alive in the year 2201.” Judge Baker did exactly what the federal court forbids, the ACLU argues.

“Indeed, the Circuit Judge specifically used Mr. Bostic’s

work to better incorporate and improve the program along with fellow educators.

“The nominees and winners of this program understand and recognize the value of the newspapers,” said Cathy Sewell, a 24-year veteran of NIE programs who manages The American’s program.

“They really take advantage of the program and its many resources. They use the whole paper and incorporate it into educating their students regularly.”

n “I noticed how much they enjoyed reading the Sports section of The St. Louis American. I started asking them to pick out important ideas in articles.”

Though The American’s dedicated NIE pages have clear points of focus –the STEM section highlights science and technology subjects and the Healthy Food page tackles the issue of nutrition and exercise – Sewell believes that “the whole newspaper is important and of value” and encourages educators to teach beyond those pages, as Johnson does.

– Freddie Johnson, NIE teacher

The NIE program recognizes how integral educators are in making the program such a success and awards exceptional teachers every year with The Golden Apple prize. This year Johnson was awarded, along with Christopher Gardner, a fifth and sixth grade teacher previously at Vogt Elementary School.

Johnson was recognized at her school during an assembly. She was unaware she had won until she noticed her close friends and family members were in attendance.

“I was completely shocked,” Johnson said. “It was really nice. My kids inspire me to be a better teacher every day. Everything is about them and for them.”

After a teacher becomes a recipient of the award, they are invited to join a Teacher Advisory Committee with the NIE Program where they can

Sewell said that when teachers incorporate newspapers into their classrooms, the possibilities for learning are endless.

“What I have found is that when teachers truly embrace the program, there is a great opportunity for students to learn and experience reading in a unique way,” Sewell said. “The paper is cool and colorful and current.”

Some teachers get creative in their approach to the program, often using the paper to invent their own projects and assignments to use in the classroom. Customizing different parts of the program helps students begin to process what they are learning and how it relates to the world outside of the classroom.

“The program supports excellence in education by cultivating newspaper/school partnerships,” Sewell said, “and it influences students to take an interest in reading and what is happening in their communities.”

n “Bobby Bostic should get a chance to show that crimes he committed as a teen do not define him. The Constitution demands nothing less.”

– Anthony Rothert, ACLU of Missouri

immaturity – in particular, his unwillingness to listen to adults urging him to take a plea deal and his inability to take responsibility for his actions –as a reason why he should die in prison,” the petition states.

After Bostic’s trial, Hutson pleaded guilty to all counts of robbery, attempted robbery, assault and kidnapping. He will be eligible for parole next year.

“The Missouri Supreme Court believes the ruling only applies when a state uses the magic words ‘life without parole,’” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director, ACLU of Missouri. “We believe otherwise. Not only is this sentence unconstitutional, it is reprehensible.”

Promising state legislation

While the ACLU aims to set a precedent for Missouri with Bostic’s case, the state legislature is also showing a renewed interest in keeping children from being tried in adult courts.

Right now, Missouri is one of only seven states that excludes all 17-year-olds from the juvenile justice system.

State Rep. Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon) has pre-filed his “Raise the Age” legislation to change that.

Under his bill, 17-year-olds will no longer be automatically charged, jailed, and imprisoned as adults the day they turn

Citizens selling guns

A prospective seller with a shotgun walked to get into line during the City of St. Louis’ Gun Buyback Day on Saturday, December 23. City officials decided to try a gun buyback program after homicides hit a 20-year high.

17, even for the most minor offenses.

The ACLU “strongly supports” Schroer’s legislation, and it has bipartisan support. Several attempts to pass such legislation in the past have stalled.

Raising the age will not prevent 17-year-olds accused of serious offenses from being prosecuted as adults. However, about 93 percent of 17-year-olds arrested in Missouri in 2015 were accused of nonviolent or misdemeanor offenses.

Schroer said, “Our juvenile justice system is better at holding kids accountable and getting them on the right track.”

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Be a Tourist in Your Own Town

St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission

Must-sees in St. Louis

Area

attractions and

shows into the new year

By Kiara Bryant For the St. Louis American

A new year is coming. What are your plans for 2018? We recommend getting out more. It’s highly likely that you’ll find more fun things to see and do and learn something new. For starters, there are so many ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve, including Katt Williams and Mike Epps at the Scottrade Center Sunday night. For one-night only these comedians will come together onstage for this holiday performance.

We encourage you to make the most of the season as the fun doesn’t stop just because the holidays are over and winter has settled in. ‘Tis the season for ice skating; you can visit Winterfest at the Arch in Kiener Plaza until New Year’s Day. Steinberg Ice Skating Rink in Forest Park is open every day through March 1 and Shaw Park Ice Skating Rink in Clayton is open through Feb. 25. You can also hit the slopes at Hidden Valley Ski Resort in Wildwood. When you don’t want to brave the cold, you can visit indoor museums. It’s your last chance for the amazing Discovery of King Tut exhibit at the Saint Louis Science Center as it ends on Jan. 7. We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 15 and MLK events in the area are another reason to visit the Missouri History Museum and The Saint Louis Art Museum.

The MLK Family Celebration (Jan. 13-15) at Missouri History Museum strives to reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. You can participate in workshops throughout the museum including youth activism and engagement, and more to discuss how to make a difference in your community and learn more

about Dr. King’s March on Washington. This event was created for children under 14 years of age and the first 100 kids to attend will receive a free storybook. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, the “#1 in Civil Rights” exhibit at the Missouri History Museum continues through April 15. The Saint Louis Art Museum will also offer their Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration featuring a keynote speaker, spokenword, and music performances by a church choir on Friday, Jan. 19 from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Farrell Auditorium. Don’t forget that The Magic House and City Museum are also great places to visit this time of year.

The Black Rep’s 41st season continues with August Wilson’s dramatic play “Fences” at the Edison Theatre at Washington University, Jan. 3-21. You’ve heard of “Fences”; its August Wilson’s dramatic play where the father, a former star of the Negro Baseball League, becomes bitter and it takes a toll on his relationships with his family. This promises to be a great show. Visit The Black Rep’s website for ticket information.

Maybe you’re not familiar with PAW Patrol, but your kid surely is. They’ll want to see “PAW Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure,” when the show comes to the Peabody Opera House on Jan. 20-21. The pups will need all paws on deck for this one including the help of your little one to make it a fun filled memory.

If you’re looking for a new ride, bring the whole family along and find the car of your dreams at the 2018 St. Louis Auto Show (Jan. 25-28). As the largest automobile event in the St. Louis area, you are sure to find what you’re looking for. Check out 500 new cars, trucks, SUVs and luxury vehicles from over 25 manufacturers all underneath one roof at America’s Center.

These are just a few ideas to get your year started. There are many more events coming up that you won’t to miss and you can find them at www.explorestlouis.com.

Winter Getaway at the Missouri History Museum

By Lindsay Newton For The St. Louis American

The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park is bidding farewell to the year with its annual Winter Getaway program, which runs now through December 31. Each day starts at 10:30 a.m. and is filled with fun, free activities designed to engage the whole family.

Throughout Winter Getaway families can enjoy live music performances, a puppet show, and make-and-take workshops where kids can get creative with art projects inspired by the Museum’s special exhibits Panoramas of the City and #1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis. Hands-on projects include crafting miniature quilts that celebrate diversity, using 2D cameras to tell stories, and making buttons that show support for a cause.

On Thursday, December 28, at 10:30am and 11:30am, families are invited to participate in a movement workshop called Boas & Bowties: A Roaring 20s New Year’s Eve Party. There, kids will don party attire and learn dances from the 1920s, including the black bottom and the Lindy hop. The workshops are led by Lisa Gage. Better known as Mama Lisa, she is the president, founder, and artistic director of Fundisha Enterprises, an organization that empowers the community through the preservation of African culture and the celebration of performing arts traditions from the diaspora. For the past ten years Mama Lisa has entertained audiences of all ages at the Museum through storytelling, movement workshops, and performances, and we’re very excited to have her back for this special event.

On Friday, December 29, families are invited to join the St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature Initiative to celebrate The Snowy Day. Written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, this classic picture book was one of the first in the 20th century to have an African American child as the main character, and just this year the US Postal Service released stamps that feature Peter in his cuddly red snowsuit. Julius Anthony, president of the St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature Initiative, says it’s important for St. Louis families to know that they can access books by African American authors from right here in our community. On this special day, seven local authors, including Julius Anthony himself, will present The Snowy Day as well as their own books. While they’re here,

The Missouri History Museum’s Winter Getaway program, which runs now through December 31, is filled with fun, free activities designed to engage the whole family, including make-and-take workshops where kids can get creative with art projects.

families can play in buckets of snow, warm up with cocoa and cookies, write a Snowy Day-stamped letter, and make snowflakes and snowballs that won’t melt in their pockets.

The end of the year is often a time for celebration and contemplation. Saturday, December 30, is Resolution Day. Families can drop into the New Year’s Resolution Lab anytime from 10:30am to 2:30pm to make photo albums and picture frames to store their favorite memories from 2017. As they reflect on the passing year, they’ll be encouraged to start making plans for 2018. Kids will be asked to think about how they picture themselves in the new year, what goals they want to set, and what adventures they want to embark on. Before or after visiting the Resolution Lab, families can participate in up to three different resolution workshops to explore how to make some simple changes to improve themselves and the community.

Local educator Tabari Coleman will facilitate a Youth Activism and Engagement Workshop where students in grades 2 through 5 and their caregivers can learn how to stand up for something they believe in. Kids will have the opportunity to learn more about the activities and qualities of activists, identify and explore famous and everyday activists,

and create their own posters with personal messages for the community. In a second workshop led by St. Louis Earth Day, families can also learn about recycling, conserving resources, and reimagining new uses for ordinary items. In addition to honing skills for activism and keeping our planet clean, healthy habits are the focus of a third workshop hosted by HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. The grand finale of the Winter Getaway series is a Noon Year’s Eve party from 10:30am to 12:30pm on Sunday, December 31. Kids can make New Year’s hats and their very own miniature ball drop crafts. Live music by Fire Dog will fill the Museum, and you won’t want to miss it when the clock strikes noon: A balloon drop and large amounts of confetti, noisemakers, and high energy are sure to put a smile on everyone’s face. We hope your family can make a trip to the Missouri History Museum and enjoy some time together as we celebrate the end of 2017. Be sure to check www.mohistory. org/wintergetaway for a fully updated schedule of activities for each day.

Lindsay Newton is Youth and Family Programs manager at Missouri History Museum.

If you haven’t seen the “#1 in Civil Rights” exhibit at the Missouri History Museum, it continues through April 15.

County Council turns county executive into county clerk

If your political attention at the end of 2017 was focused on the village idiot who’s holding the American presidency hostage, you may have missed the political earthquake that shook St. Louis County at the end of the year.

The St. Louis County Council under Chairman Sam Page and Vice Chair Hazel Erby dealt County Executive Steve Stenger a crippling, if not fatal, political blow. They took political control of the 2018 County budget and, with it, effective control of county government.

And it wasn’t even close.

The County Council voted 6-1 to turn the county executive into the county clerk.

Page and Erby have formed a formidable partnership and created a highly effective council coalition that now seems to have grown from 4 to 6. This would mean they can pass anything they want and override any veto with a vote to spare.

If this holds going into 2018, Stenger is a political dead man walking. A county executive who has lost his ability to influence the council has lost his ability to govern the county.

The EYE gives Page and Erby, not allies early during Stenger’s term, high marks for understanding their mutual interests and building a partnership that took advantage of their individual political strengths to make an effective team. They are both in the right roles to advance the political and policy interests of their constituents and bring competence and integrity back to County government.

Digging under Stenger

Remember when Stenger tried to take out County Auditor Mark Tucker because he most likely saw the writing on the wall? Well, this week, Tucker published his audit plan, which offers a preview of his audit workload in 2018. The plan ranges from Stenger’s practice of giving his cronies lucrative County leases to police overtime pay. Two audits especially caught our eye. First, Tucker plans to review the County’s practices around sexual harassment claims and to review the County’s policies designed to prevent sexual harassment. The increased –and overdue – attention on workplace treatment of women merits a close look at County government to ensure that victims are protected and that perpetrators are dealt with appropriately.

The second noteworthy audit is the audit of Stenger’s discretionary fund. One County politician told us that he is asked almost every day if Stenger installed a washer and dryer in his office and paid for it with taxpayer funds. This seemingly preposterous rumor

has gained enough traction among politicos in St. Louis County that separating fact from fiction is worth the auditor’s precious time.

City audit looms

It has been almost eight years since the City of St. Louis was audited, and the city police department has not been audited since the city regained control over it from the state in 2013. Some citizens have launched a petition to change that, and now the Board of Aldermen may consider voting for a comprehensive audit.

At an aldermanic committee meeting on December 14, Alderman Joe Vaccaro of the 23rd Ward argued for passing a resolution that he sponsored to launch an independent audit of all city departments. He was met with varying levels of support from his colleagues, many of whom were concerned that the cost associated with an audit might necessitate a cut to city services.

Alderwoman Carol Howard of the 14th Ward said it might be more fiscally responsible to consider the finding from the most recent audit in 2010 and implement recommendations from that time than conduct a new audit, which would cost around $2 million.

“We don’t have, really, $2 million now,” Howard said.

Vaccaro said the bill he introduced was a response to public outcry that he has seen not just in his ward, but in nearly every neighborhood in the city.

“This is not about an old audit,” Vaccaro said. “This is about a demand.”

Vaccaro said he thought it was unlikely that conducting an audit would undercover fiscal wrongdoing among city employees, but that going through the process and making any necessary changes could increase public trust in the city government.

That public demand for an audit has taken the form of a local organization, Audit STL, which has been collecting signatures on a petition calling for a full audit of city government.

Matt Carol-Schmidt, the treasurer of the grassroots group Audit STL, spoke at the meeting and said group’s efforts had been a response to an audit of the police department released in May by Comptroller Darlene Green

The audit found that the police department repeatedly violated the law and went over budget on overtime pay by almost $5 million between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.

“There is no oversight review to control overtime pay budget, therefore, no incentive for section leaders to stay within the budget,” the audit stated.

The department spent $13.4 million on overtime, instead

of the budgeted $8.5 million amount. This is because management of overtime was “inadequate,” it stated. Green also found that hundreds of thousands of hours of police officer overtime could not be verified.

Carol-Schmidt said the group wanted a more comprehensive audit of the city’s spending on public safety to be conducted by State Auditor Nicole Galloway, in order to ensure an independent party looks for other evidence of wrongdoing.

“I think Alderman Vaccaro and I are of different views about what we might find, but he’s right that if we don’t find anything, the public is going to feel better about [city government],” Carol-Schmidt said.

Galloway makes the final decision on whether to conduct an audit, so that investigation could be prompted by either the collection of 6,527 signatures from St. Louis citizens or by a board resolution.

“If we can do this together, we’d rather do it through you guys, because it’s cold and I don’t like collecting signatures,” Carol-Schmidt said.

Several other city officials also spoke about their views on the resolution, including Budget Director Paul W. Payne. Payne said one of the most significant findings from the 2010 audit have not been implemented.

“It wasn’t a financial finding at all, it was more, better communication,” Payne said.

That was the issue of the computer system used in the comptroller’s office, which was installed in the early 1980s and, according to the audit, “does not provide information necessary to efficiently operate the city. The current system does not always provide information needed by city offices, and as a result, several city offices are maintaining separate financial records at additional expense to the city.”

This system is still in place

today. In fact, the city paid $1.5 million to install a new computer system, but they never received it, Howard said.

St. Louis officials entered into a contract with software company New World, which was paid up-front for a new system they never delivered. New World has since been bought out by Tyler Technologies, she said.

Howard suggested the Board of Alderman could consider spending the money to upgrade that system, rather than conducting another audit. She also said spending millions on a comprehensive audit could lead to a cut in services, including garbage collection, that her constituents already complain are underfunded.

“If I’m going to have to sacrifice city services to do an audit, it does not make sense to me,” Howard said.

There has been some confusion over whether the Board of Aldermen has the authority to request an audit through a resolution. City

The St. Louis County Council Chairman Sam Page, Vice Chair Hazel Erby and Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray listened at a council meeting on January 3. They have formed a formidable partnership and created a highly effective council coalition that has disempowered County Executive Steve Stenger.

by Wiley Price

Counselor Julian Bush said in a letter to Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green of the 15thWard that there is nothing in the City Charter that “withdraws this power” to ask the state auditor to perform an audit. However, there is also nothing that says it has the powers, said representatives from Audit STL, which is less than “confidence-inspiring.”

“We would prefer to follow the petition pathway, as it is the clearest one, legally,” said Glenn Burleigh of Audit STL. “The resolution route opens the city to uncertainty and potential legal costs. We are continuing to gather signatures, until we have confidence that a state audit of the city’s complete finances has commenced.” And they are well on their way to hitting the mark. Vacarro said the aldermanic Legislative Committee will most likely meet again next week to take up the resolution again.

Photo

School nurse named finalist for Nurse of the Year

Ferguson-Florissant School Superintendent

Joe Davis (left) and school board Vice President Courtney Graves congratulated Paulette Rene’ Luckett when she was named a finalist as The March of Dimes Nurse of the Year. She is a nurse at Berkeley Middle

School. The March of Dimes Nurse of the Year program is a statewide event that recognizes exceptional nurses in Missouri and the Metro East area by creating awareness of professional excellence. Each year The March of Dimes receives hundreds of applications

across

A record 8.8 million enroll for Obamacare

Republican tax reform removes mandate to purchase health insurance

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

If you were automatically reenrolled into a 2018 Marketplace health insurance plan, you have another 60 days to go to Healthcare.gov to make changes to auto selections.

“If they have not gone and actively chosen a plan, they do get that 60-day window starting January 1 if they do want to go back to the Marketplace and actively choose a plan,” said Nancy Kelley, director of Expanding Coverage initiative for Cover Missouri.

“It’s just for people who had a Marketplace plan, which they were notified it was going to be ending December 31 (discontinued) and they were auto re-enrolled into whatever the Marketplace picked for them.”

Despite an Open Enrollment period that lasted only 45 days, very little federal advertising and scheduled maintenance shutdowns at healthcare.

gov during usual peak enrollment times, a record 8.8 million people enrolled for health insurance during that condensed window.

Ironically, the special enrollment period is longer than was open enrollment. States operating their own marketplaces have longer enrollment periods, some until the end of January.

n Despite an Open Enrollment period that lasted only 45 days and very little federal advertising, a record 8.8 million people enrolled for health insurance.

As Republican congressional leadership celebrate their new tax plan which removes the penalty for not having insurance under the Affordable Care Act, that action that could make it more expensive for those who are insured – while chipping away a major building block of Obamacare.

n Tax filers who have to pay the penalty for this year should not celebrate yet. Kelley said the penalty doesn’t go away until 2019.

“Our larger concern is stability of the market, and the experts are telling us that this will probably make it destabilize a little bit more,” Kelley said. “Some people will choose not to purchase insurance, and some of those folks will be the

healthy younger ones who essentially less expensive to insure. And so that leaves a more expensive risk pool so the insurers then will raise their premiums to offset that expected higher cost.”

Tax filers who have to pay the penalty for this year should not celebrate yet. Kelley said the penalty doesn’t go away until 2019.

“People will still need coverage in 2018. We don’t want people to get confused and not get coverage if they can,” she said. “Some people will qualify for that Open Enrollment period depending on their circumstances.”

If in the last 60 days, you have experienced a major life change – lost a job, got divorced, legally separated or married, birthed or adopted a baby, placed a child in foster care, or experienced a death in the family that makes you no longer eligible for your current insurance coverage – then you qualify for the Special Enrollment period.

Additionally, the millions of persons who are disabled or with live with limited incomes who qualify for Medicaid or for state-run Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) can enroll immediately.

By Kecia Gaither, MD Guest columnist

A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. Regular contractions that cause the cervix to open are considered premature or preterm labor if they begin before 37 weeks. A baby delivered before 37 weeks is considered premature and is at higher of health problems. But preterm labor doesn’t always result in premature birth.

There is a lot that can be done to delay premature birth and many women who experience premature labor eventually deliver at 37 weeks or later. The key is early treatment. Preterm labor can’t always be avoided but women can reduce their risk by doing their best to avoid the factors that put them at risk and recognizing its symptoms so they can be treated promptly.

Who is at risk for preterm labor?

n Preterm labor can’t always be avoided but women can reduce their risk by doing their best to avoid the factors that put them at risk.

Women at greatest risk of preterm labor are those carrying multiples and those who have had a previous premature labor or birth. Additional medical and lifestyle risk factors include: smoking and abuse of alcohol or drugs, inadequate prenatal care, age below 17 or above 35, underweight before pregnancy or too little weight gained during pregnancy, previous uterine or cervical surgery, health conditions (such as high blood pressure, preeclampsia, or diabetes), and a short interval between pregnancies (18 months or less). What are the warning signs of preterm labor?

Some of the symptoms of preterm labor can be confusing because they are hard to differentiate from normal symptoms of pregnancy, like backache and even contractions. Contractions, which may be painless, are felt as a tightening and softening of the abdomen. Women should know how to recognize harmless Braxton Hicks contractions, which are common in the third trimester and are often mistaken for labor.

Braxton Hicks contractions are sporadic, do not increase in frequency or intensity, and can often be curtailed by moving or changing position. Contractions that are regular and occur every 10-12 minutes or more often may be preterm labor. If in doubt, call the

Kecia Gaither, MD

Healthy after-school meals offered at County Library branches

St. Louis County Library and Operation Food Search will provide after-school meals to children at two SLCL branches starting January 2. The Weber Road and Natural Bridge branches will serve a healthy grab-and-go light meal along with activities for kids and teens from 3-4:30 p.m. Monday–Friday during the school year. Meals will be available free of charge for children ages 5–18.

The Weber Road Branch is located at 4444 Weber Road in South St. Louis County

The Natural Bridge Branch is located at 7606 Natural Bridge Road in Normandy. SLCL and Operation Food Search have partnered for several years to bring meals to children during the summer months. In 2017, over 15,000 summer lunches were provided. This is the first time the organizations have offered after-school meals at library branches.

Kristen Sorth, director of the St. Louis County

Trump

By Jessica Karins

Library said the organizations are

‘improperly politicizing public health agencies’

Semantic ban ‘compromises the life-saving work of the CDC,’ advocates claim

For The St. Louis American

The White House has issued a new guideline to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), banning them from using seven specific words in their 2018 budget documents.

Policy analysts were told in a 90-minute briefing by the Trump administration not to use the terms “diversity,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “science-based” and “evidencebased.” The order has drawn widespread controversy and condemnation from non-profit organizations that work on health issues.

“While we continue to be in contact with the administration, CDC, and other agencies regarding these reports, restrictions on these terms, in any manner, demonstrate this administration’s troubling lack of commitment to science and we are seeking further clarification,” the statement said.

n “This administration calls into question its commitment to science and the health of all communities, including racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.”

Five leading organizations focused on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) issued a joint statement against the guidelines. The organizations are AIDS United, NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors, NMAC and the AIDS Institute.

“Thanks to bipartisan support in Congress and the executive branch, we have made incredible progress against HIV over the last decade. But budget proposals delineate policy priorities, and in rejecting science and evidence along with other commonly understood health language, this administration calls into question its commitment to science and the health of all communities, including racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.”

The organizations said they were particularly concerned about the inclusion of the terms “transgender” and “diversity.” This, they said, represented a disturbing hints that the CDC might be encouraged to turn away from its duty to protect

marginalized communities.

“Evidence suggests the transgender community is particularly vulnerable to HIV and STDs,” they stated.

“As citizens and residents of this nation, they should be treated with fairness and respect. As human beings, they are entitled to dignity and affirming care.”

The inclusion of “fetus” on the list has raised concerns among some pro-choice

activists and organizations that the administration may be signaling a harsher policy on abortion.

“If these semantic issues are going to result in bad science or bad policy, that’s something we’re very concerned about,” said Jesse Lawder, vice president of marketing and communications at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest

Missouri.

Other organizations speaking out against the new guidelines included Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.

“The federal government is improperly politicizing our public health agencies,”

Children’s health coverage funded through

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Federal funding for state-run Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, was allowed to expire in

LABOR

Continued from A10

obstetrician.

Other symptoms of preterm labor that should prompt a call to the doctor include: ruptured membranes, indicated by watery fluid that leaks or gushes, lower back pain that isn’t alleviated by changing

in health. As a

for change,

September. Now states and health providers have a threemonth reprieve on worrying about where the money will come from to provide care for children. CHIP was funded through March 2018 in the Republican’s stop gap funding measure that keeps the government operating until January 19. Some 9 million children in the U.S. receive health insurance through CHIP.

position or other means, a change in the type or amount of vaginal discharge, increased pelvic pressure, a feeling that the baby is pushing down and vaginal bleeding. What can be done to stop preterm labor?

For many women, preterm contractions stops on its own. When it doesn’t, the steps taken depend on the duration of the pregnancy,

the state of the cervix, whether the membranes have ruptured, the baby’s growth, gestational age, and position. If the pregnancy is less than 34 weeks and there are no indicators for an immediate delivery, treatment to delay delivery may include antibiotics to prevent infection, corticosteroids to accelerate the baby’s development, and drugs that

If there is a positive to note about changes taking place to health insurance under the Republican administration, it is that tax credits for those insured in the marketplace remain.

inhibit contractions. Women who are at risk for preterm labor should carefully adhere to the guidelines for a healthy pregnancy. They should eat a well-balanced diet, get plenty of rest, see an obstetrician regularly, avoid unhealthy habits, and manage their stress levels. Some women who have had a previous premature rupture of the membranes may be given

“The tax credits, which 80 percent of Missourians and people in the United States qualify for, are still in place,” said Nancy Kelley, director of Expanding Coverage initiative for Cover Missouri. “And

a hormone (progesterone) via injections/vaginal suppositories, that help to prevent a repeat preterm delivery. We’ve made remarkable strides in our ability to monitor and manage every aspect of the pregnancy and the baby’s development and improve the likelihood of a good outcome.

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were told by the Trump administration not to use the terms “diversity,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “science-based” and “evidence-based.”

Lawyers’ Committee’s Executive Director Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal said in a statement. “This effort compromises the life-saving work of the CDC. It makes it even more challenging to reduce health disparities and will exacerbate negative health outcomes, particularly in vulnerable populations and marginalized communities.”

March

so, as those premiums go up – this year we saw the tax credits also increase, so a lot of people wind up not paying so much more for premiums each month.”

Kecia Gaither, MD, MPH, FACOG, a perinatal consultant and women’s health expert, is a double board-certified physician in OB/GYN and Maternal-Fetal Medicine in New York City. She is director of Perinatal Services at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, a member of NYC Health + Hospitals System in Bronx, New York.

Youth enjoying a free summer lunch at a St. Louis County Library branch. Starting January 2, free after-school meals will be served at the Weber Road and Natural Bridge branches.

Seven-hundred guests cruised for the cause at the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club’s Sheer Elegance No.29 runway fashion show. The fund-raiser chaired by St. Louis American Controller Robin Britt generated $140,000 in pledges for young women’s programs and spotlighted 40 girls on Dec. 9 at the Hyatt Regency by the Arch. Highlights included fashions by “Project Runway” alumni, an appearance by Actress Cleo King from Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” international model Jennie Runk and performances by Morgan Taylor of ShowMeArts Academy, Steel Drummer Mango Jay, Best Talent Center and the Miami All Stars from Jennifer Lopez’s World of Dance show.

Mathews-Dickey President & CEO Wendell Covington, Jr., Mayor Lyda Krewson, Mathews-Dickey Co-Founder and Emeritus President Martin Luther Mathews and US Federal Judge E. Richard Webber.

FOX 2’s Bonita Cornute; Mathews-Dickey President & CEO Wendell Covington, Jr.; Sheer Elegance Award Winners Radio One Promotions Director Chesley Waddell, University City School District Superintendent Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley and Mayor Lyda Krewson; Mathews-Dickey Co-Founder and Emeritus President Martin Luther Mathews and KMOX Radio Total Information AM Co-Host Debbie Monterrey.

Sheer Elegance No. 26 honoree Kira Downing models island inspired ensemble by AJ Thouvenot, “Project Runway” alum.

Morgan Taylor of ShowMe Arts Academy performs “How Far I’ll Go” from the movie “Moana.”

The Mathews-Dickey teen Honorees and tween Littles celebrate successful dance performances at “Walk That Isle,” the 29th Sheer Elegance fashion extravaganza.

St. Louis American Controller & Sheer Elegance Chair Robin Britt welcomes the audience to “Walk That Isle”.

The Sheer Elegance No.29 Honorees perform their finale dance to Sia’s “The Greatest.”

The Miami All Stars, who took part in the 2017 edition of Jennifer Lopez’s TV show “World of Dance” and previously on “America’s Got Talent,” brought the rhythm of the islands to the runway in three Latin-flavored dance performances.

The stage is set for the island adventure that was Sheer Elegance No.29 “Walk That Isle.”

Island décor like this palm tree made of pineapples transported guests from the St. Louis winter to the tropics at Sheer Elegance No.29 “Walk That Isle.”

Honoree Kaitlyn Faber is escorted by Brent Benjamin, Director of the St. Louis Art Museum and international Model Jennie Runk.

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Edward Hogan models fashion by Shan Keith, alumnus of “Project Runway: Under the Gunn” Season 1.

Model Brianne Taylor wearing fashions by Michael Drummond.

The Little Mermaids from Mathews-Dickey stole everyone’s heart with their dance performance.

Sheer Elegance Co-Chair Arti Sharma hits the stage to “Walk That Isle.”

St. Louis American Controller & Sheer Elegance Chair Robin Britt, Sheer Elegance No.29 Honoree Patrice and Mathews-Dickey President & CEO Wendell Covington, Jr.

Mathews-Dickey Co-Founder and Emeritus President Martin Luther Mathews, Sheer Elegance Honoree Makara Worthy and Actress Cleo King, star of the Netflix original series “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

‘We meet the community where they are’

Bill Fronczak was named new vice president of Development at the International Office of Boys Hope Girls Hope. The organization provides a variety of services aimed at helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds graduate from high school and college. Fronczak previously spent 23 years as vice president for Institutional Advancement at the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

Dara S. Taylor has been promoted to director of Diversity and Inclusion at Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization. In her new role, she will focus on promoting health equity and diversity across all programs of the organization. Taylor has worked with Community Catalyst for eight years.

Roderic I. Pettigrew, MD, is assuming two leadership positions at Texas A&M University. Pettigrew will become the chief executive officer of the university’s new “EnHealth” program, which aims to integrate engineering into its healthcare programs, and the executive dean of a new engineering medicine program, EnMed. Pettigrew will step down as director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

By Jessica Karins

a once-a-month check is not ideal. I really wasn’t

accepting of all that.”

Daniels said acupuncture helped her get back on her feet, and she began applying for jobs.

Then she kept applying and kept applying. With a one-year gap in her resume, she was getting only rejections back.

Then Daniels saw an event on Facebook that she thought could help her – the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment’s (SLATE) “Workforce Wednesday.” Every Wednesday, SLATE holds interviews at its offices, matching job seekers with companies looking for employees.

Daniels had been selling jewelry to make

ends meet, but her water and electricity had been shut off -- she just wanted to find a job. Any job. When she met with a SLATE job counselor, that’s what she told him. “I’m telling him my story, and I’m like, ‘Can you please dumb down my resume?’” Daniels said. “He’s said, ‘Why would you want me to do that?’ And I’m like, ‘Because as soon as people see the resume and they see that I have a master’s degree, they don’t want to hire me. They feel like I’m overqualified.’”

One place, though, was interested in hiring

See PRINCE, B2

Jada Boykin is taking on a new role at Wells Fargo in Corporate Communications. Her new position centers around managing and consulting online content strategy, and working to develop a rich, simple and engaging digital experience for the company’s 270,000-plus team members. Boykin previously worked as an e-business consultant at Wells-Fargo.

Basil O. Oyibo graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas as U.S. Air Force National Guard Airman 1st Class. The eight-week program includes training in military discipline and studies, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. Oyibo, who is originally from Nigeria, graduated from St. Louis Community College in 2011.

Alandrea Stewart earned her Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Leadership from Maryville University. Stewart is the director of Student Support Services at HarrisStowe State University (HSSU). She joined Harris-

hands-on education programs like FIRST Robotics.”

Fronczak

For The St. Louis American

Roderic I. Pettigrew, MD

Alandrea Stewart

Basil O. Oyibo

Dara S. Taylor

Jada Boykin

Alice Prince, executive director of the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), joined an action in North St. Louis on October 3 when protest leaders canvassed North St. Louis to introduce citizens to social services and to register voters.

Photo by Vincent Lang

Add civil rights voices to housing policy reform discussions

By Charlene Crowell Columnist

Wherever you live, or household size, home is a special place where children are raised, and memories are made. Owning a home is also the largest single investment that most families make in a lifetime.

Since the nationwide housing crash, family outcomes have varied. While some households have witnessed full recovery, others –often people of color – wonder when or how they too can turn the proverbial financial corner.

wrote to leadership of both committees on December 15.

The organizations that signed on were the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development, the Center for Responsible Lending, National Fair Housing Alliance, NAACP, UNIDOSUS, the National Urban League, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Now, nine national civil rights organizations are demanding to know why deliberations on the future of affordable home ownership now underway with both the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and its counterpart, the House Financial Services Committee, are being conducted in private.

Charlene Crowell

“Our constituents represent the majority of future homebuyers, and any system that is not structured so as to ensure that they have fair access to safe and sustainable mortgages will not serve the country well,” the coalition

Central to these discussions is the future of two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

During the housing crisis, The Federal Home Loan Corporation, more commonly known as Freddie Mac, and the Federal National Mortgage Corporation – Fannie Mae – went into federal conservatorship. As a result, the entities created decades ago by Congress to reduce the cost of credit for low and moderate-income households have remained in government control.

Now, as much of the housing market has recovered, questions are being posed

Since the nationwide housing crash, family outcomes have varied. While some households have witnessed full recovery, others – often people of color – wonder when or how they too can turn the proverbial financial corner.

as to when or how the two GSEs will return to private operations. Secondly, as housing costs continue to soar for renters and homeowners alike, affordable housing is a growing concern nationwide.

Without an affirmative policy in place, many low-andmoderate-income consumers, as well as consumers of color could easily question whether fair access to mortgage credit will be possible for them.

PRINCE

continued from page B1

Daniels – SLATE itself. After that initial meeting, and three interviews, she accepted a job as a case manager for Youth Build, an education program for young people ages 16-24 who are aging out of foster care, lack a high school diploma or are otherwise at-risk.

Daniels’ clients participate in a nine-month program that earns them a certificate as either a construction worker or a pharmacy tech, as well as working towards a high school degree or furthering their education in other ways.

Daniels’ case is not atypical. Alice Prince, the executive director of SLATE recently appointed by St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson, said SLATE sets a positive example for other employers by finding job seekers opportunities in its own office.

Moreover, she said, they treat every client as an individual, providing everything from job opportunities for professionals like Daniels to GED programs.

“We’re not just giving out jobs and opportunity,” Prince said. “We’re also giving out hope.”

Prince is out to transform the culture of SLATE, starting with its new hours. The agency is now open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., both earlier and later than most other parts of city government. The request, Prince said, came from the

The civil rights organizations’ letter gave committee chairs a list of items they want to be addressed, including supporting federal anti-discrimination laws, providing adequate capital to taxpayers and the housing system and ensuring equal treatment for small lenders.

community, and SLATE responded.

“We don’t operate from nine to five because you can’t save a life between the hours of nine and five,” Prince said.

Prince is both optimistic and enthusiastic about SLATE’s potential. The agency has also embarked on a “Skill Up” challenge, aiming to train and certify 500 people in 100 days. They are on track to graduate 125 people from pre-apprentice programs, 125 from technology skills programs, 125 from healthcare certification programs, 75 people from entrepreneurship

n “We’re not just giving out jobs and opportunity. We’re also giving out hope.”

– Alice Prince, executive director of SLATE

programs and 50 people from GED/High School Diploma programs.

“We meet the community where they are,” Prince said.

SLATE is aiming to reach out to as many people as possible – Mondays at the office are English Language Learners Day, followed by Veterans’ Day on Tuesday, Workforce Wednesdays and Double-Dose Thursday for professional-level job seekers.

“There’s not been a true entryway, in a true, aggressive, intentional way, to get unemployed people jobs,” Prince said. “After a while,

Historically, black people and other consumers of color have experienced difficulties accessing private, conventional mortgage loans. Should housing finance reform fail to preserve access and affordability in mortgage lending, this problem could worsen.

For Nikitra Bailey, an EVP with the Center for Responsible Lending, a firm commitment to affordable housing goals are essential to any housing policy discussion.

“The GSEs’ affordable housing goals have made a tremendous impact on helping creditworthy borrowers purchase homes,” Bailey said. “They are also a metric for accountability to address underservice to important and often excluded market segments, including people of color, low and moderateincome families, and rural communities. The goals must be strengthened and fully enforced, not rolled back.”

Charlene Crowell is the communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene. crowell@responsiblelending. org.

the unemployment becomes chronic. There’s not been a true, intentional way to develop our workforce.”

But the jobs are there, Prince said. At SLATE, they find jobs for all kinds of applicants, and if job seekers lack the skills, SLATE helps with that too. Prince finds that there are many jobs available even for applicants with felony records, and the agency itself sets an example by hiring people with records. SLATE also helps those with records who want to work in health care apply for good cause waivers that can allow them to pass a background check. The strongest outreach program SLATE has, Prince said, is word-of-mouth referrals.

“We have street credibility,” Prince said. “People in the community know we are very authentic, and our passion and purpose, it’s real.” Daniels is an example of that, too. She’s referred many friends and family members to SLATE programs, including her daughter, who lacked direction after dropping out of high school. After Daniels got the job at SLATE, her daughter started attending a job training program.

Daniels was especially thrilled when, after hearing state Representative Bruce Franks speak at a SLATE event, her daughter decided to vote for the first time.

“[SLATE] is like a family,” Daniels said. “Everybody works together. If you came in down, you will not leave that way.”

Scholarship Foundation receives $50K grant from Newman’s Own

The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis was awarded a $50,000 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation to support its interest-free loan program. The $50,000 grant will be used to provide financial assistance to students in need. In 2017, the Scholarship Foundation awarded $3.8 million in direct financial support through interest-free loans and grants.

The Scholarship Foundation began its long relationship with Newman’s Own Foundation through A.E. Hotchner, a long-time friend and business partner of Paul Newman, who received an interestfree loan from The Scholarship Foundation to attend college nearly 80 years ago. Hotchner graduated from Washington University with degrees in history and law and went on to become a renowned writer and playwright with dozens of books, plays, and movies to his credit.

For more information, visit www.sfstl.org or call 314-725-7990.

UP Companies buys scaffolding system with workplace safety grant

The UP Companies (Power UP Electrical Contractors + Square UP Builders) was one of 37 Missouri businesses awarded safety grants from Missouri Employers Mutual (MEM), a provider of workers compensation insurance. The $7,875 grant funded the purchase of equipment advancing workplace safety.

The UP Companies used the grant money to purchase a ReechCraft PowerPole power scaffolding system. The system will help reduce fall hazards by eliminating the need for workers to climb up on a roof to tie off a pole, or remove it.

The UP Companies is one of the region’s largest full-service MBE-certified contracting companies. For more information, visit www.theupcompanies.com or call 314-865-3888.

n “Run every single time and pass to the light-skinned dudes and the skinny dudes.”

— Golden State Warriors rookie Jordan Bell, on his role on the team

Sports

PreP BasketBall noteBook

With Earl Austin Jr.

2017 Austin Achievement Awards

Plus, St. Louis ‘All-American’ Small School Football Team

The St. Louis “All” American Prep Football Teams for 2017 have some high level players at the small and large school levels.

The Small School Team features some high quality talent, particularly from powerhouse programs Lutheran North and Trinity. Both schools are producing some prime-time Division I college prospects that are being recruited from coast to coast. The Large Schools Team is made up of talented players from throughout the metro area, including Class 6 state champions CBC and fellow Show-Me Bowl recipients Pattonville and Ladue. Along with the unveiling of the “All” American Team also comes the naming of the 2017 Austin Achievement Awards.

Earl Austin Jr.

The St. Louis American Small Schools Offensive Player of the Year is junior quarterback Isaiah Williams of Trinity, while the Defensive Player of the Year is defensive end Ronnie Perkins of Lutheran North, who recently signed with Oklahoma.

The Large Schools Offensive Player of the Year is running back Hassan Haskins of Eureka, a 2,000-yard rusher who is headed to Michigan. The Large Schools Defensive Player of the Year of defensive back Deandre Campbell of Parkway Central.

The St. Louis American Lineman of the Year is senior Michael Thompson of Parkway North, who was a dominant performer on both sides of the ball.

The Freshman of the Year is wide receiver Jordan Johnson of DeSmet, who had quite a debut with 655 yards receiving and nine touchdowns.

In the ClutCh

With Ishmael H. Sistrunk

The gift that keeps on giving

Diddy and G League players surprised with internalized racism for Christmas

The holiday season is supposed to be about joy, gladness and good tidings. But what do you get professional athletes or superstar music moguls that potentially have everything? For American Airlines and a Bay Area news anchor, the answer is internalized racism.

Flying While Black On Christmas Eve, Memphis Hustle (G League) players Marquis Teague and Trahson Burrell boarded an American Airlines flight (operated by Envoy Air) headed from Dallas to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. According to a report by The Undefeated, a first-class passenger, in the giving spirit, handed the coachbound basketball players two blankets (given complimentary to first-class passengers) in a random act of kindness. Before the players, both African-American, had a

chance to feel the warm fuzzies about the friendly gesture, a black male flight attendant accused the players of stealing the blankets. After an argument over the disparaging and untrue allegations, the flight attendant refused to fly unless Teague and Burrell were booted off the plane.

American Airline officials obliged the ridiculous demand and removed the players from the flight. Teague, Burrell and a Hustle assistant coach were all placed on a later flight, causing them to miss their team’s holiday dinner. After being called out for their foolishness, American Airlines issued a half-hearted apology.

“We apologize for what occurred on this flight,” American Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed told The Undefeated. “We take pride in bringing people together,

B5

Yup, nothing says “bringing people together” like kicking people off

blanket.

the flight attendant refused to

his job with the players

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Marquis Teague of the Memphis Hustle was kicked off an American Airlines flight on Christmas Eve after being falsely accused of ‘stealing’ a free blanket.

Photo by Wiley Price

The St. Louis American Small Schools Offensive Player of the Year is junior quarterback Isaiah Williams of Trinity.

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Let’s kiss 2017 goodbye and welcome in a new year with these STL sports wishes

In a year that saw many black NFL players have a true impact on America by simply kneeling during a song played before a game, anything is possible in sports in 2018. Here are some thoughts and wishes for players, teams, owners and fans in the coming 12 months.

May Marcell Ozuna find happiness in St. Louis and success on the field. He’ll be far from Miami in miles and cultural difference. The city where he now plays continues to struggle with racial injustice and political incompetence. Hitting a baseball and catching it can sometimes take a backseat to the realities of the world around you.

mental errors that plagued the Cardinals last year – unless they are told to tone it down.

May Dexter Fowler avoid injury and fans’ ire. If he gets off to a slow start – and the Cardinals do as well –everything will be his fault. By the end of last season, it was stab-in-the-back city at the stadium, and many daggers were pointed at Fowler. A move to left field is in the works, but his centerfield days aren’t over.

May Cardinals fans accept the team’s Hispanic flair. Pitcher Carlos Martinez and Ozuna are the embodiment of what many white players and fans don’t like about the style of play demonstrated during the World Baseball Classic.

Jose Martinez is slated to be the Opening Day first baseman and veteran Yadier Molina will be behind the plate. This team will be “Bravo Brave El Birdo,” as Orlando Cepeda used to say.

May Jose Oquendo and Willie McGee be allowed to truly guide players. McGee spoke at a recent fundraiser in the fall and he told the gathering, “I hope they let me do what I want to do” as a Cardinals coach. The “they” obviously includes manager Mike Matheny and the front office. Oquendo returns as third base coach, and neither he or McGee will tolerate the

May the Cardinals recognize their diversity. I mentioned the Hispanic players and the lone black Cardinal, Fowler. For many games, Kolten Wong will be at second base and Tommy Pham will be in centerfield. Enos Slaughter is somewhere making a mad dash for some Rolaids.

May the Cardinals trade for Chris Archer. Adding the game’s best, young black pitcher to the Redbird lineup would be phenomenal. He was 10-12 with a 4.07 ERA last year with undermanned Tampa. Don’t let that fool you. He’s a potential 20-game winner and we need another one of those in St. Louis.

May Ezekiel Elliott have learned a painful lesson. Look, the guy got a crappy deal from Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL. I still think he is going to pursue legal action against both, plus his accuser. However, if his unwarranted six-game suspension – and loss of salary and future earning power – slows down his lifestyle and makes him a more responsible, some good

could come from all that has happened since July 2016.

May Jerry Jones have learned a painful lesson.

Hopefully, Jones will learn that his edict that black players must stand for a song and not kneel created more chaos within the Dallas Cowboys organization. There is a smoldering fire of unhappiness amongst black players that he must deal with this offseason. Black free agents will possibly avoid Dallas, too.

May defense attorney Scott Rosenblum not be as busy in 2018. At least not handling the cases of black athletes and entertainers.

May Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards catch fire. Beal’s team was just 19-15 as the week began, but led the Southeast Division. The Wiz need to repeat the strong second half they recorded in 2017. Beal’s 25 points led the Wizards to a 111-103 victory over the host Boston Celtics on Christmas Day and he’s averaging 23.1 points and 3.5 assists per game.

May Jayson Tatum continue his solid rookie season. The Celtics made the steal of the 2017 draft when they acquired the multi-talented Tatum after his one season at Duke. The Chaminade product is averaging 14 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. ESPN ranks him as the NBA’s second-best rookie behind the Philadelphia 76ers Ben Simmons.

May the Wizards, 76ers battle in playoffs – then in preseason game here. Both would be fun to watch from a St. Louis perspective.

May Cuonzo Martin come to understand Missouri fans. Following the loss to Illinois last Saturday, the “he’s not a good coach,” “he can just recruit,” “he never was as good as the hype,” comments started pouring in on Martin. A strong run in the SEC should shut up most detractors. I look for Missouri to reach the SEC Tournament final in St. Louis.

May Michael Porter Jr. make a wise decision. Speculation is growing that the uber-talented freshman will return and play for the Tigers this season after undergoing back surgery on Nov. 21. If he’s 100 percent healthy (NOT 85 or 900, that’s great. If not, then it is not the move to make.

May the St. Louis Blues acquire Evander Kane. The dynamic player-of-color has been the best part of the Buffalo Sabre’s disappointing season and is listed by USA TODAY as likely to be traded. He scored 28 goals last year, and has already registered 15 goals and 18 assists this season.

May St. Louis drop the spurned lover complex. The L.A. Rams are headed to the playoffs. Instead of following the impressive turnaround under first-year coach Sean McVay, the MVP-caliber season of running back Todd Gurley and dramatic maturation of quarterback Jared Goff, the local sports media treats us to stories about TV ratings and rantings about owner Stan Kroenke.

May Missouri have covered against Texas in the Texas Bowl. The Tigers were giving three points on Wednesday night. It’s nice to start the new year with a little extra cash in one’s pocket, right? Happy New Year!

Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, is a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and can also be heard on Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box.” His Twitter handle is @ aareid1.

May the Blues, Darlene Green find peace. She’s not the bad gal, Blues. As comptroller, she’s one of few city politicians that actually does her job –guarding the city’s credit rating and its financial future. She’s not trying to harm the Blues, she’s trying to save the city from itself.

Alvin A. Reid

May Marcell Ozuna find happiness in St. Louis and success on the field.

PREP

Continued from B3

The Coach of the Year is Pattonville’s Steve Smith, who guided the Pirates through a tough schedule all the way to a berth in the Class 5 state championship game and a nearupset of undefeated Staley in the Show-Me Bowl.

The Team of the Year in St. Louis is the CBC Cadets who returned to the winner’s circle as the Missouri Class 6 state champions. Despite a rash of injuries to top players, the Cadets stayed strong and came away with their second state title in four years.

The Game of the Year was the classic district championship game between Lutheran North and Trinity when North won an epic 48-46 showdown on a Friday night in early November.

The Turnaround Story of the Year is the Lindbergh Flyers. Lindbergh finished the 2016-17 season with a 3-7 record a year ago, but stormed back this season to post a 10-2 record behind a potent and very entertaining offensive attack.

The Comeback of the Year came courtesy of the Riverview Gardens Rams In the Class 4, District 1 semifinals, “The View” trailed Fort Zumwalt East 27-0 in the first half and 34-14 in the third period. Led by stellar dualthreat quarterback Lawrence Johnson, the Rams stormed back to take a dramatic 42-41 victory.

The Performance of the Year came from Pattonville High quarterback Kaleb Eleby who was incredible in the Pirates’ loss to Staley in the Class 5 state-championship game. Eleby passed for 410

yards and five touchdowns, including a last minute drive to give the Pirates the lead in the closing seconds.

Here is a look at the St. Louis “All” American Small Schools Football Team:

Offense

QB: Isaiah Williams, Trinity (Jr.)

RB: Canaan Brooks, Lutheran North (Sr.)

RB: Donovan Marshall,

Lutheran North (Sr.)

RB: Michael Keller, Hillsboro (Sr.)

RB: Jared Price, Cardinal Ritter (Jr)

WR: Marcus Washington, Trinity (Jr.)

WR: Jameson Williams, Cardinal Ritter (Jr.)

WR: Antonio Burks, St. Mary’s (Sr.)

WR: Ryan Thompson, MICDS (Sr.)

OL: Jack Buford, Lutheran North (Jr.)

OL: Ira Henry, Trinity (Jr.)

OL: Jordan Jenkins, McCluer South-Berkeley (Sr.)

OL: Jordyn Slaughter, Althoff (Sr.)

OL: Kevon Billingsley, Lutheran North (Soph).

RET: Bryce French, Lutheran St. Charles (Sr.)

ATH: Tavian Willis, McCluer South-Berkeley (Sr.)

ATH: Titus Baker, Miller Career Acadmey (Jr)

UT: Nick Lotts, Lutheran North (Sr.)

Instagram.

“Attention to the Carolina PANTHERS!! ATTENTION NFL! This is a chance to make history!!! There are NO AFRICAN AMERICAN MAJORITY OWNERS IN THE NFL!!!! I WOULD LIKE TO BUY THE CAROLINA PANTHERS!!! Let’s GOOOOOOO!!!!! Spread the word. Tell the world! No joke.”

joke about,” Wofford said in a statement. “For that I sincerely apologize to Mr. Combs, his fans and everyone who was offended. Dozens of Diddy’s twitter followers have accused me of playing on racial stereotypes. That was not my goal. But I understand my comments had that impact and for that I sincerely apologize.”

Defense

DL: Ronnie Perkins, Lutheran North (Sr.)

DL: Averyon West, McCluer South-Berkeley (Sr.)

DL: D’Vion Harris, Lutheran North (Jr.)

DL: Bobby Matthews, MICDS (Sr.)

LB: Shammond Cooper, Trinity (Jr.)

LB: Devin Ruffin, Lutheran North (Sr.)

LB: Keshon Spraggins, Lutheran South (Sr.)

LB: Isaiah Azibuike, Lutheran North (Jr.)

DB: Jared Phillips, Cardinal Ritter (Sr.)

DB: Justin Strong, Althoff (Sr.)

DB: Bryce Childress, Trinity (Sr.)

DB: Devon Blanchard, McCluer South-Berkeley (Sr.)

ATH: Mookie Cooper, Trinity (Soph.)

ATH: Lavel Harris, St. Mary’s (Sr.)

UT: Austin Thompson, MICDS (Sr.)

UT: James Frenchie, Trinity (Soph)

Here is the St. Louis “All” American Large Schools Football Team

Offense

QB: Kaleb Eleby, Pattonville (Sr.)

RB: Hassan Haskins, Eureka (Sr.)

RB: Bryan Bradford, CBC (Sr.)

RB: Kyren Williams, Vianney (Jr.)

WR: Cameron Brown, CBC (Sr.)

WR: Marquis Majors, Fort Zumwalt West (Sr.)

WR: Rico Payton, Lindbergh (Sr.)

WR: Dale Chesson, Ladue (Sr.)

OL: Michael Thompson, Parkway North (Sr.)

OL: Caron Coleman, Pattonville (Sr.)

OL: Kader Ndiaye, Fort Zumwalt North (Sr.)

OL: Nick Williams, Ritenour (Sr.)

OL: Dwight Oregon, Belleville West (Sr.)

ATH: Tionne Harris, Vianney (Sr.)

ATH: Maurice Massey, Francis Howell North (Jr.)

RET: Jason Hawkins, Parkway North (Sr.)

UT: Mann McGruder, Ritenour (Sr.)

Defense

DL: Michael Thompson, Parkway North (Sr.)

DL: Terron Williams, East St. Louis (Sr.)

DL: Cameron Meeks, Ladue (Sr.)

DL: Qadry Taalib, Vianney (Sr.)

LB: Eric Owens, East St. Louis (Sr.)

LB: Theo Price, Lindbergh (Sr.)

LB: Javon Kirk, Hazelwood Central (Sr.)

LB: Jaden Brown, CBC (Jr.)

DB: Deandre Campbell, Parkway Central (Sr.)

DB: Dallas Craddeith, Hazelwood Central (Sr.)

DB: David Ellison Jr., Pattonville (Sr.)

DB: Lonnell Boyd, CBC (Sr.)

ATH: Kendall AbdurRahman, Edwardsville (Sr.)

ATH: Arther Green, Parkway Central (Sr.)

UT: Jordan Jackson, Ladue (Sr.)

PreP AThLeTe of The Week

The standout junior guard has been stellar in leading the Pioneers to a 5-0 record to start the season. Last week, Loyd had 29 points, eight assists and six steals in an 88-71 victory over Miller Career Academy. He followed up with 26 points on 11 of 15 shooting from the field and seven steals in a 56-49 victory over

Lafayette. For the season, Loyd is averaging 25.8 points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals for the undefeated Pioneers. Loyd will lead Kirkwood into this week’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Meramec. The Pioneers, the No. 4 seed, faced Troy in the first round on Wednesday afternoon.

The ST. LouiS AmericAn coLLege AThLeTeS of The Week

Jalen Henry

Damien Loyd Kirkwood – Boys Basketball on board, airline officials should’ve sent him home early with a nice, shiny pink slip for Christmas. Apparently, the angry flight attendant must be focused on Making American Great Again. Black people with first-class blankets simply cannot be tolerated, not even on Christmas Eve.

Anchor shades Diddy

Last week, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced he would sell the team following the season. A report by Sports Illustrated alleges that Richardson and the Panthers have made “multiple confidential payouts for workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment and use of a racial slur.”

After the announcement of the impending sale, Sean “Diddy” Combs publicly announced that he would seek to purchase the Panthers via

The next day, Bay Area sports anchor Henry Wofford went on The World According to Darya and made the following remarks about the possibility of Diddy becoming the NFL’s first black owner:

“The guy looks high right there in this video,” Wofford said. “He looks like he smoked a blunt and drank a 40. Come on, I’m not taking him seriously.”

After a swift and thorough dragging on social media, Wofford, who is also black, quickly backtracked and apologized for perpetuating racial stereotypes with his ignorant comments.

“Although it was said in an attempt to be funny, I realize insinuating a person may be drunk or on drugs is nothing to

It remains to be seen whether Combs, who has an estimated net worth of $820 million can put together the funding to buy an NFL franchise. However, between the NFL’s Kaepernick situation, Richardson’s racial slur(s) and Wofford’s utter disbelief that a black man could seriously hope of owning an NFL franchise, it’s clear that the NFL needs a black owner. Currently, the NFL only fields two owners of color. Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-American owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kim Pegula, an Asian-American, serves as co-chair of the Buffalo Bills with her husband Terry Pegula, who is Caucasian.

A big part of the disconnect is the high price tag of

NFL franchises. The Panthers were recently valued at $2.3B. However, the Richardson family owns 48% of the team, which would translate to roughly $1.1B for a potential owner. According to Wikipedia, there are only three black Americans with that kind of coin; Oprah Winfrey ($3.1B), Robert Smith ($2.5B) and Michael Jordan ($1.14B), whose money is tied up with the Charlotte Hornets. That doesn’t mean that a group of wealthy, black investors can’t come up with the money to buy the team. With all of its current troubles, NFL owners are likely dying to prove how not racist they are. Therefore it’s the perfect time to get some more color in those NFL executive suites.

Nearly 70 percent of NFL players are black. It’s long overdue to get at least one seat at the table. Whether it’s Diddy, Oprah or some other unnamed wealthy, black businessperson, it’s time!

Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

The 6’9” senior forward from Springfield, IL is enjoying an impressive final season for the Cougars. Henry had a season-high 26 points and 12 rebounds in the Cougars 76-75 victory at South Alabama. He also had two blocked shots in the win. He also had 19 points, six

Continued from B3 rebounds and one block in an 88-76 victory over Chicago State. For the season, Henry is averaging 17.6 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 45 percent from the field, 43 percent from 3-point range and 70 percent from the free throw line.

Niauni Hill

Lindenwood-Belleville – Women’s Wrestling

The sophomore standout from Oakland, CA continued her individual dominance in the 155-pound weight class. Hill won the championship at 155 pounds at the NAIA Invitational in Campbellsville, KY. Hill finished a perfect 4-0

SIU-Edwardsville – Basketball in winning the championship in her weight class, which included two victories by pinfall and one by technical fall. Hill also won all three of her matches to win the 155-pound championship at the MidSouth Championships in Williamsburg, KY.

Lutheran North’s Canaan Brooks is one of four running backs named to the St. Louis

“All” American Football Team.

Photo by Wiley Price

Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of the wealthiest people in hip-hop, announced that he is interested in purchasing the Carolina Panthers. However, Bay Area sports anchor Henry Wofford disregarded the music mogul’s interest, saying, “He looks like he smoked a blunt and drank a 40!”

Study: Blacks work jobs at high risk of automation

Jobless rate could explode if automation is not properly implemented

By Frederick H. Lowe North Star News Today

Black men and women consistently suffer the highest unemployment rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups, and it’s about to get worse.

Joblessness among blacks is expected go even higher because 30 jobs blacks work in are at high risk of automation, according to a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington D. C.-based think tank for black elected officials.

“Twenty-seven percent of African-American workers are concentrated in 30 occupations at high risk of automation. By comparison, these 30 occupations account for 24 percent of all white workers and 20 percent of all Asian-American workers,” according to the report “Race and Jobs at High Risk of Automation.”

African Americans are one-and-a-half times more likely to be cashiers, cooks, combined food preparation and serving workers, fast food workers, production workers, laborers, freight/ stock material movers, security guards, bus drivers, taxi drivers and chauffeurs.

For example, there are 3.3 million cashiers and 580,000 are black or 3.22 percent of the AfricanAmerican workforce compared to 1.92 percent

of the white workforce and 2.54 percent of the Asian workforce.

There are 500,000 taxi drivers and chauffeurs and 143,000 are African-American or 80 percent of the black workforce compared to 21 percent of the white workforce and 87 percent of the Asian workforce.

“While automation will create new types of jobs, the African-American community faces a unique combination of well-documented challenges that make it particularly vulnerable in labor-market transitions,” the report said.

“These challenges include: an average household net worth that is one-tenth of whites, making periods without income particularly difficult.”

The study also noted that automation could increase the African-American unemployment rate from 7.5 percent to more than 20 percent. On the other hand, economic disruption, if properly harnessed, can create new opportunities that address long-standing social inequities, the study reported. The U.S. Bureau for Labor Statistics reported that November’s unemployment rate for black men and women was 7.3 percent compared to whites at 3.6 percent, Hispanics at 4.7 percent and Asians at 3.0 percent.

Reprinted with permission from www. northstarnewstoday.com.

Future carpenters at McCluer

The lifetime activities class at McCluer High School completed a project-based learning project making several bean bag toss boards. The students designed, built and finished the details of the boards using only hand tools: clamps, handsaws, hammers, squares, and tape measures. Materials were donated by the Carpenter Apprenticeship Program.

Top of the concert crop

By Kenya Vaughn

Of The St. Louis American

As far as concerts, 2017 didn’t provide moments for St. Louis so unforgettable that the year will be forged in anyone’s brains. Especially as a follow up to the year of Beyoncé at The Dome, which is also known to some as 2016. But looking back, there were some solid –even stellar – performances. Listed below are the best of the shows that left a lasting impression.

Chance The Rapper – As an artist without a major label, Chance The Rapper was already having the best year ever when he sold out the Scottrade Center. He was still riding high on multiple wins at The Grammy Awards a few months before and the type of buzz typically reserved for a full-fledged cultural phenomenon. His performance illustrated why he was worthy of the industry’s undivided attention. He sang. He danced. He had 15,000 hip-hop fans praising God. He even flew in soul singer Maxwell to serenade for a snippet of selections as a Mother’s Day gift to his mother.

John Legend – Of the nearly dozen times I’ve seen a live John Legend performance, the lone disappointment came as the opening act for Sade’s much-anticipated return to St. Louis. All has long been forgiven, and his “Darkness and Light” tour at The Fox gave us Legend

at his absolute finest. Arena-scale effects in a somewhat intimate venue added to the appeal of a night that was captivating on the strength of Legend’s music and his ability to engage with “better than the record” renditions of his catchy ballads and much more. The show proved his staying power and that he’ll live up to his name as a major contributor to soul music for his

generation and beyond.

Leslie Odom Jr. – An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr. at Powell Hall featuring the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra managed to surpass the

No girls left out at Girls Rock Week

Pierre Laclede schools ‘celebrates and empowers young ladies’

By Mekhi Lawson Of Academy Journalism

This year, there was a Girls Rock Week held in October at Pierre Laclede Junior Career Academy. In the gym, everything was pink: pink balloons, pink ribbons and pink words on banners for cancer awareness. There was a girl speaker named Legacy Jackson. There were no girls left out. The song sung was “I’m Beautiful.” The soloists were Andria Harris, Andreya Harris, and Zakurreya Weaver. The girls really like to sing. The girls sang with a loud and high pitch Girls Rock was attended

students, some teachers, and some doctoral candidates from Saint Louis University. They talked to the girls and ate with them. The food they ate was salad, spaghetti, cake, and lemonade.

Blackballed

Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The Black Rep, will star as Troy Maxson in the upcoming production of “Fences,” which runs Jan 3-21 at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Fences returns to the Black Rep stage for Season 41

By Kenya Vaughn Of The

St. Louis American

On the heels of Denzel Washington’s Academy Award-winning film adaptation of August Wilson’s “Fences” last year, The Black Rep will continue its 41st season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning play starting next week at Washington University’s Edison Theatre. Thirty years ago, “Fences” debuted on Broadway with a cast led by stage and film legend James Earl Jones that also included Mary Alice, Frankie Faison and introduced a thenunknown Courtney B. Vance. Jones, Alice and director Lloyd Richards earned Tony Awards for their performances. Vance, who went on to become an Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actor, earned his first Tony Award nomination for his performance in “Fences.”

The girl students from the Academy Journalism program at Pierre Laclede Junior Career Academy were active in the Girls Rock Week introduced to the school this past semester.

n “Fences” tells the story of Troy Maxson, a talented athlete whose gifts were stifled by racism and segregation.

The 2010 stage revival earned Washington and Viola Davis Tony Awards for acting, as well as a “Best Revival of a Play” Tony Award. Davis also won an Academy Award for the 2016 film adaptation.

“Fences” tells the story of Troy Maxson, a talented athlete whose gifts were stifled by racism and segregation. By the time his beloved sport of baseball is integrated, Troy is too old to play – and rightfully bitter.

The 53-year-old is forced to grapple with what could have been had he come along a generation later while barely making a living as a garbage man. And even in the profession that he was forced to settle for, Troy still faces racial inequity as he attempts to provide for his family.

The weight of his disappointments bears down on Troy and haunts the relationship between the patriarch and his children – particularly his youngest son Cory, who shows promise as an athlete.

Either as a byproduct of Troy’s past hurts, or out of a fierce desire to protect Cory from a racist system that continually stifles the black community– or perhaps a bit of both – Cory and Troy repeatedly clash over the teenager’s interest in sports. An avenue of opportunity has arisen through Cory’s promising ability on the football field. His experiences are much different than Troy’s. But in 1957, with the Civil Rights Era is

Girl’s Rock was the idea of DaMaris A. White, principal of Pierre Laclede. This was the

Rap stars Lil Wayne and Migos will help St. Louis close out the year in a major way when LooseCannon Ent. presents them for special concert billed as The Resolution on Friday, December 29th at Chaifetz Arena. The hiphop show will also feature rising local rap trio KiDGoalsS.

Photo by Chris King

by Pierre Laclede

Guest Columnist Mekhi Lawson

Chance The Rapper

SZA

Mary J. Blige

Jill ScottJohn Legend

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

How to place a calendar listing

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com OR

2. Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

holiday haps

Through December 28, 7:30 p.m., Peabody Opera House presents ELF the Musical

Thur., Dec. 28, 6 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents a Kwanzaa Celebration. Light the Kinara, hear poetry, do crafts, and more. Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., 63118. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Through December 29, Community Lifeline presents Winter Break Camp. Children will participate in science themed days that include aviation simulation with Hip-Hop dance, kitchen chemistry and crafts. New Life Community Church, 1919 State St., East St. Louis, IL. 62205. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Dec. 30, 1 p.m., Kwanzaa Celebrataion in the Loop featuring the students from the Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Prep Academy, Create Space, 6325 Delmar.

Sat., Dec. 30, 6 p.m., 2017 Indie Artist Award & Pre New Year’s Eve Party. An awards show for the best independent artists, entertainers, DJ’s, and more in the region. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.indieartistexhibition. com.

Through Dec. 30, St. Louis Union Station welcomes The Polar Express Ride. 1820 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. stlthepolarexpressride.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 5 p.m., Family Friends New Year’s Eve. Festivities will include children’s characters, performers, giveaways, fireworks at 9 pm, and more. Kiener Plaza, 601 Market St., 63101. For more information,

visit www.facebook.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 7 p.m., Red Carpet New Year with Justin Hoskin & The Movie. 212 S. Tucker Blvd., 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., Poetic Justice Open Mic –NYE 2018. Hosted by Corey Black with music by Michael Franco. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. poeticjusticeopenmic.bigcartel. com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Party. Hosted by Derrty Dj C Note. La Rose Room, 2723 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., 63106. For more information, call (314) 5333022.

Sun., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Ultimate New Year’s Eve Party. Tickets include open bar, buffet, party favors, and champagne toast. Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch, 315 Chestnut St., 63102. For more information, visit www.stlouisarch.regency.hyatt. com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., AllN-1 Entertainment presents The Final Count Down New Year’s Eve Party. Tickets include live music, champagne toast, and party favors. Mandarin Banquet Hall, 8008 Olive Blvd., 63130. For more information, call (314) 6903660.

Sun., Dec. 31, 8:30 p.m., 2 Jo’s Entertainment presents New Year’s Eve Bash with Zapp & DJ Kut. Tickets include dinner, party favors, and champagne toast. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., Dread Out 2017. The annual Jamaican style Reggae New Year’s Eve Bash featuring the

The Guide

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Infrared Rockers. Attendance prizes, food, and party favors included. Rowan Community Center, 1401 Rowan Ave., 63112. For more information, call (314) 229-7018.

Sun., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., Afro Sexy Cool NYE. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit ww.eventbrite.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 10 p.m., Majic 103.7 & The Jewel present A New Year’s Eve Affair feat. Cherelle. Hosted by BJtheDJ with Master of Ceremony, Mr. Gary – King of Hospitality. Jewel Event Center, 407 Dunn Rd., 63031. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Through Jan. 1, Missouri Botanical Garden presents Garden Glow. Enjoy s’mores, festive drinks, and more than one million lights throughout the garden. 4344 Shaw Blvd., 63110. For more information, visit www. missouribotanicalgarden.org.

concerts

Fri., Dec. 29, LooseCannon Ent. Presents Resolution 2017: Lil Wayne & Migos,

Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www. thechaifetzarena.com.

Dec. 29 – 30, Jazz St. Louis presents Good 4 the Soul Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. jazzstl.org.

Sat., Dec. 30, 8:30 p.m., DewMo Productions presents Boosie Live. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Tues., Jan. 16, Steve Litman presents Lalah Hathaway, The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. For more information, visit www.thepageant.com.

Sat., Jan. 20, 7 p.m. The All Stars of Hip-Hop featuring DMX, E-40, Scarface, MC Lyte, Young Bloodz, Murphy Lee & Kyjuan, Tela, Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.chaifetzarena.com.

local gigs

Fri., Dec. 29, 7 p.m., Everything’s Fly presents Soul Plane. A local RnB concert showcasing some of the city’s best talent.

Sat., Jan. 6, 6:30 p.m., 32nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Missouri Statewide Celebration Kickoff. With keynote speaker Bakari Sellers. Harris Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., Jan. 6, 8 p.m., The St. Louis Underground Hip Hop Tournament, Round 1. Fubar, 3108 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. ticketfly.com.

Sat., Jan. 6, 9 p.m., Agitate the Airwaves presents the St. Louis Local Hip Hop Showcase. Featuring 9 artists and a special guest. Way Out Club, 2525 S. Jefferson Ave., 63104. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Jan. 11, 11 a.m., National Career Fair presents the St. Louis Career Fair Live Hiring Event. DoubleTree at Westport, 1973 Craigshire Rd., 63146. For more information, visit www. nationalcareerfairs.com.

Palomino Lounge, 5876 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sun., Dec. 31, 7 p.m., Doughboy Tyke and Friends Concert. Fubar, 3108 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Jan. 6, 8 p.m., The St. Louis Underground Hip Hop Tournament, Round 1. Fubar, 3108 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. ticketfly.com.

Sat., Jan. 6, 9 p.m., Agitate the Airwaves presents the St. Louis Local Hip Hop Showcase. Featuring 9 artists and a special guest. Way Out Club, 2525 S. Jefferson Ave., 63104. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

special events

Thur., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., The Original Throwback Thursday Reunion 4. Featuring DJ AJ, Tossin Ted, and DJ OMB. The Laugh Lounge, 11208 W. Florissant Ave., 63033. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., Jan. 11, 6 p.m., New City School Open House. Hear from the Head of School and more. 5209 Waterman Blvd., 63108. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.newcityschool.org/ winter-oh.

Thur., Jan. 11, 7 p.m., The Saint Louis Poetry Slam. All poets are welcome to compete. Urb Arts, 2600 N. 14th St., 63106. For more information, visit www.urbarts.org.

Fri., Jan. 12, 11:30 a.m., Christian Hospital presents the First Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Luncheon. Proceeds help support Christian Hospital Foundation’s community health and patient care initiatives. 11133 Dunn Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.christianhospital. org.

Jan. 13 & 15, 10 a.m., Missouri History Museum presents the MLK Family Celebration. Kids 14 and under can take part in Youth Activism and Engagement Workshops, create peaceinspired art projects, and dive into St. Louis history. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Mon. Jan. 15, 5:30 p.m., Coalition of Black Trade Unionists St. Louis Metro Chapter presents The 40th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Awards Banquet. Sheet Metal

Steve Litman presents Lalah Hathaway at The Pageant. See CONCERTS for details.

Workers Hall Local 36, 2319 Chouteau Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. cbtustl.com.

Sat., Jan. 20, 11 a.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Alumnae Chapter’s Founders’ Day. The RitzCarlton, 100 Carondelet Plaza, 63105. For more information, visit www.DST-SLA.org.

Sat., Jan. 20, 5 p.m., 6th Annual An Evening with the Cardinals. Join featured guests Whitey Herzog, Willie McGee and Keith Hernandez as they reminisce about the 1982 World Series. St. Louis Union Station Hotel, 1820 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. thenccs.org/cardinals.

Jan. 26 – 28, COCA presents Momentum. A mix of cutting-edge hip-hop and contemporary dance across a broad range of styles brings members of COCAdance and the COCA Hip-Hop Crew together. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www.cocastl.org.

comedy

Sun., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Scottrade Center presents Katt Williams and Mike Epps. 1401 Clark Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.scottradecenter.com.

Jan. 11 – 13, Helium Comedy Club presents Preacher Lawson! 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, visit www. heliumcomedy.com.

Fri., Jan. 26, 7 p.m. & 10 p.m., Steve Litman presents #SheReady Tour starring Tiffany Haddish, The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. For more information, visit thepageant.com.

Through December 31, Mickalene Thomas: Mentors,

Muses, and Celebrities The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Blvd. St. Louis, 63108. For more information, visit http://camstl. org/ or call (314) 535-4660.

Tues., Jan. 2, 7 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents American Indian Art, Symbols, and Meanings. Dr. Carol Diaz-Granados explores the ways in which imagery conveys tells a story about people of the greater Cahokia region. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Fri., Jan. 5, 5 p.m., Opening Reception for Shabez Jamal: A Free Space between Intersections. The exhibit celebrates queer Black men at the intersection of race and equality, contrasted against the backdrop of desertion

and abandonment. Erica Popp Studios + Gallery, 3271 Roger Pl., 63116. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., Jan. 13, 7 p.m., Opening reception for Portfolio Gallery’s presentation of All Colors Visual Arts Invitational & Juried Exhibition, the exhibition runs through February 28 and features the work of invited African-American and juried artists from across the country. St. Louis Artists’ Guild, 12 North Jackson Ave., 63105. For more information, visit www.stlouisartistsguild.org.

Fri., Jan. 19, 7 p.m., Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Celebration – 1960Now: Social Justice Movements, Past and Present. Sheila Pree Bright’s #1960Now, depicts photographs linking today’s

CIC@CET, 20 S. Sarah St., 63108. For more information, visit www.visionboardevent. com.

Mon., Jan. 8, 5:30 p.m., SCORE St. Louis presents The Importance of a Business Plan. AnheuserBusch Hall, Fontbonne University, 6800 Wydown Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www.stlouis. score.org/local-workshopsseminars.

Mon., Jan. 8, 6 p.m., SCORE St. Louis presents Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights. Kirk Damman, Lewis Rice, LLC, will discuss all of these topics and why they matter. Anheuser-Busch Hall, Fontbonne University.

Tues., Jan. 9, 7:15 a.m., Olin Business School presents 6 Executives. 60 Ideas. 60 Minutes. Knight Hall, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, call (314) 935-3622.

protest movements to those of the 1960s. St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www.slam.org.

Through Feb. 4, National Blues Museum presents The Blues in Black and White –The Blues Photography of Kirk West. 615 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www. nationalbluesmuseum.org.

lectures and workshops

Sat., Jan. 6, 10 a.m., Painefree Coaching & Consulting presents The Power of Vision: A Vision Board Event. An event featuring networking, inspirational testimonials, a guided workshop, and more.

Tues., Jan. 9, 12:30 p.m., St. Louis Office of Financial Empowerment presents Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Learn how to apply, reduce monthly payments, and receive tax-free forgiveness on student loans. 1200 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. stlofe.org/events.

Wed., Jan. 10, 1 p.m., Grace Hill Women’s Business Center presents Office Hours with a Banker. Take time to meet with a banker, to discuss commercial lending, financing, credit or options of loans. 2125 Bissell St., 63107. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Jan. 20, 9 a.m., JLW Sr. District invites you to a Tax Law, Fundraising, and Tax Law Seminar. Open to Pastors, Church Leaders, and Trustees. Green Memorial Church of God in Christ, 113 Clayton Ave., Sikeston, MO 63801. For more information, call (314) 805-3480.

Sat., Jan. 13, Second Saturday Divorce Workshop with Laura Boedges, Financial Advisor, HighTower St. Louis (Magna Place Building), 1401 S. Brentwood Blvd., Ste. 550, St. Louis, MO 63144. For more information, call 314598-4068 or e-mail lboedges@ hightoweradvisors.com.

Mon., Jan. 22, 6 p.m., SCORE St. Louis presents Developing Financial Projections for External Financing. Business owners and entrepreneurs will learn to raise funds from external lenders to finance their business operations. AnheuserBusch Hall, Fontbonne University.

theatre

Through December 31, Fox Theatre presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Jan. 3 – 21, The Black Rep presents Fences by August Wilson starring Ron Himes and Linda Kennedy, Edison Theater, Washington University, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www.edison.wustl.edu.

Jan. 11 – 14, JPEK

CreativeWorks Theatre presents The Meeting Stage Play. A depiction of the supposed meeting of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they debate their varying approaches to social problems. Zack, 3224 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

spiritual

Fri., Dec. 29, 7 p.m., Pinky Promise Ferguson presents Pajamas with a Purpose. Embassy Suites, 11237 Lone Eage Dr., 63044. For more information, email pinkypromiseferguson31@ gmail.com.

LooseCannon Ent. Presents Resolution 2017: Lil Wayne & Migos. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Continued from C1

highest expectations set for the Tony Award- and Grammy Award-winning former star of the Broadway sensation “Hamilton.” It’s been a year since he stepped out from his portrayal of Aaron Burr to try his hand at a career in music. He proved himself a double threat with a velvety tenor voice and an incredibly skilled band that included St. Louis’ own Michael Mitchell – and he proved that his future is as bright as the show that made him famous.

Jill Scott – For her return to the Fox Theatre, Jill Scott came through in a way that her fans haven’t seen since her storied Sugar Water Festival performance at the then UMB Bank Pavilion Amphitheatre back in 2005. Scott looked and sounded phenomenal and spoke to the masses with a set list that ranged from self-love to social justice.

Janet Jackson – She made us wait a while – okay, longer than a while – after teasing us three times with rescheduled performances. By the time the “State of the World” tour arrived at Chaifetz Arena in October, she had some serious milestones under her belt. She had married, had a baby at age 50 and divorced. The tour had even changed names in the time it took to come to fruition. But a 51-year-old Jackson made it worth the wait with a highenergy show that proved age is nothing but a number and that Janet is still one of the most reliable all-around entertainers

BLACK REP

Continued from C1

in the game.

Jidenna – With the release of his debut album “The Chief” earlier this year, Jidenna didn’t repeat the smash success of his 2015 debut single “Classic Man.” But when he came to the Ready Room on tour to support the album, he wowed the crowd with stage presence, energy and performance caliber typically reserved for artists with true staying power.

Emily King – armed with an acoustic guitar and dim lights, under-the-radar R&B/soul singer Emily King delivered the type of musical experience that earns new fans – even though everybody in the Ready Room were already sold on the singer’s mellow brand of soul. King has been on the scene for nearly 15 years, but has yet to

in its early dawn, Troy refuses to allow his son to rest his hopes and aspirations in sports – mainly because he lived during a time when the only blacks allowed on the field in major league sports were there to clean them. A solid support system in the

crack the surface of mainstream R&B. The mix of a pristine voice with recurring infectious grooves through selection for her offensively underrated catalog proved that she’s ready whenever the world decides to catch on.

Metro Boomin and Big Sean – The irony of St. Louis native super-producer Metro Boomin being responsible for the biggest hits from Atlantabased rap stars is only eclipsed by him and collaborator Big Sean (with special guest Shorty Da Prince) making a free, surprise pop-up show one of the best live music offerings of the year. St. Louis was one of only two stops for the show that promoted the duo’s “Double or Nothing” album. The other was Big Sean’s hometown and

form of his best friend Bono and rock of a wife Rose aren’t enough to curb the rage and resentment that affect Troy’s choices – and rob him of peace and contentment.

“Fences” returns to the Black

Midwest sister city Detroit. The show itself was a magical experience that heaped praises on our region – which they said is often overlooked when it comes to hip-hop – and encouraged the capacity crowd to live their best lives for 2018. The rapper and producer tag team told the audience that anything they can imagine is possible because of how the Midwest builds such strong stock while powering through a show that left no hit or featured verse unperformed.

Mary J. Blige – From the moment she took the stage for her “Strength of A Woman” tour at The Fox, the queen of hip-hop soul made it plain with a performance that essentially expressed “You can play with my emotions, but don’t mess

Rep for the first time in nearly 20 years. The 2017 production will star Black Rep founder and producing director Ron Himes as Troy Maxson and feature Robert Alan Mitchell as Bono, Brian McKinley as Cory, Steve Page as Lyons, Joe Rutlin as Gabe, and Lena Williams as Raynelle.

The upcoming run will include familiar faces from the Black Rep’s previous staging of “Fences” in 2000. Linda

GIRLS

Continued from C1

first year it was held.

“My idea was to celebrate and empower young ladies to strive for excellence as well as commit to setting

with my pocketbook!” Her visit was raw and real as she candidly shared the details of her messy breakup with ex-Kendu Isaacs through her music and narrative interludes that spelled everything out and shamed him for his attempted run on her finances as part of the divorce proceedings. She was vintage Mary J. Blige for the entire set that should have been subtitled “The Woman Scorned Tour.”

SZA – With five Grammy nods under her belt, thanks to a critically and commercially acclaimed debut album that came from left field and shook the industry with R&B that perfectly speaks to the millennial, SZA had a lot to prove when she took the stage for a pair of sold-out shows last week at The Ready Room to close out her “CTRL” tour. In the city of her birth, with her

Kennedy will reprise her role as Rose Maxson – and Lorna Littleway will once again direct.

“How timely that The Black Rep kicks off the New Year with ‘Fences,’ August Wilson’s family drama exposing racism in sports,” said Littleway, “, at a time when American black athletes on the football field and basketball courts are challenging the status quo in the fight for social justice.”

goals for success,” White told Academy Journalism. “There were activities every day that allowed the students to reflect, pledge and fellowship in a sisterly fashion.”

She said a similar week of events just for the school’s boys will be held in the spring semester.

release of her first album this summer.

Honorable mentions

St. Louis’ very own rap star Nelly proved that classical music and contemporary hip-hop can be a winning combination when the Grammy Award-winning rapper and Grammy Award-winning Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra paired up to perform some of his biggest hits.

Rapper Future made his comeback complete with a surprisingly well-rounded headlining performance of his “Nobody’s Safe” tour that doubled as the Hot 104.1 FM annual hip-hop summer showcase at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.

The Black Rep’s production of August Wilson’s “Fences” will begin with preview performances on Wednesday, January 3 and Thursday, January 4. The show will open on Friday, January 5 and continue through Sunday, January 21 at Washington University’s Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth. For tickets and additional information, visit www.theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3810.

Academy Journalism is a partnership between

entire family watching in the wings, the pressure was on. But SZA lived up to every bit of the hype that set her apart from her peers with the

The St. Louis American and St. Louis Public Schools founded by DaMaris White, principal of Pierre Laclede Junior Academy, where Megan M. O’Brien runs the program with a staff of volunteers organized by The American.

Janet Jackson

Big Sean & Metro Boomin

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

Religion

Mama Lisa teaches Kwanzaa in Houston

Mama Lisa recently led a workshop on Kwanzaa at ProVision Academy, a charter school in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Houston, where she was visiting her daughters. “It was a workshop for all girls, and none of them had ever had training on Kwanzaa or a formal African dance class before, Mama Lisa said. “I was surprised but pleased to help them get started.”

Kwanzaa is an Afrocentric cultural observance originated by Maulana Karenga based on African first fruits festivals. Its seven principles are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (SelfDetermination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).

AARP launches Faith-Based Initiative Tool Kit

AARP announced has released its first African-American/Black Faith-Based Initiative Tool Kit. This self-service tool kit was created by AARP experts in collaboration with faith leaders from across the nation as a resource to aid in addressing the unique issues that affect many African-Americans aged 50+ in the faith-based community.

According to a 2016 AARP survey, 80 percent of AfricanAmerican adults age 50 and older were involved in religious or spiritual activities. The African-American/Black FaithBased Initiative Tool Kit was designed to harness this aspect of the African-American cultural experience. The survey also implied that as adults aged, they became less involved in religious/ spiritual activities. The new tool kit seeks to help engage those able to stay involved.

“We noticed our members transitioning from the choir stand to the sick and shut-in list,” said

Jacqueline Burton, president of the Conference of National Black Churches. “We want our members to stay involved as they age, and this toolkit can serve as a framework to help refresh ministries that cater to older members.”

The tool kit is divided into four

issue sections:

Key Learnings: Data and statistics about African-Americans in the United States and lists tips for organizing and sustaining an effective ministry.

Your Health: Information about adopting a healthy lifestyle, care giving and an in-depth guide

to understanding Medicare and Medicaid.

Your Wealth: Resources designed to help older adults understand their finances. This section covers everything from keeping a competitive edge in the workplace to understanding Social Security benefits.

Your Life: Solutions for adopting a healthy perspective about aging and navigating life’s transitions. Also includes an index of resources that promote digital literacy and fraud protection.

“The ultimate goal of the Faith-Based Initiative Tool Kit is to assist clergy in building and enhancing their ministries by helping to educate their 50-plus parishioners on various topics – from Medicare and Social Security to digital literacy and healthy aging,” Williams said.

The full African-American/ Black Faith-Based Initiative Tool Kit is available free online at https://tinyurl.com/ya9nnyfm.

The Message

Never walk in darkness

I have at times talked a little about “Faith Walk,” and it dawned on me that I have also questioned just what that meant. Maybe you can explain it better than me.

Some claimed to see a transformation in me as I have come to Christ. Others have said, “As you go through this walk.” Obviously, I’ve used the term myself when trying to explain my different view of the world when seen through a new pair of spiritualized eyes. The whole experience has been and continues to be extremely dynamic.

I’m just curious about the “walk” reference. I suppose when you think about it, many in the bible had truth revealed to them on a walk or, on a journey. God has seen fit to communicate to many a saint while they were going from one place to another, or, even through the spiritual travel of a dream. It’s a simple enough analogy.

What is more meaningful than a walk or a trip with someone whom you respect, admire, love or can learn something from? One of my most memorable things to do was to go for a walk with my children when they were toddlers. There was something about them discovering and exploring the world around them with absolutely no fear, because they knew I was there. Today, I can go anywhere with my wife. It really is the journey and not the destination for me.

That might be why people refer to discovering God as “walking in faith.” Factually stated, the effort to get closer to God requires movement. I think the walking analogy is merely a human attempt to speak to that movement in a spiritual direction. The best example is of course Enoch.

“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Genesis 5:24. What a blessed way to go.

Beginning your spiritual journey can best be described as taking the first step towards truth. Once taken, your life changes forever. You change. I know I did. So I guess this faith walk thing is merely a public or in some cases a private acknowledgement that one is letting God order your steps in this, His world. If you do this, God will lead you right to Him.

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” John 8:12.

So when you get up in the morning, think about this and let God order your steps. Make a deliberate effort to listen and hear where God is telling you to go, or not to go. They say faith comes by hearing. What better way to hear than by taking a stroll with the Lord. If you are seeking Him, He is very easy to find.

Columnist James Washington

St. LouiS american Career Center

Start Your Career with the Y!

Empower more than yourself. Please join us for the Gateway Region YMCA Winter Career Fair Saturday January 6th from 12p-3p. Meet with our hiring managers for on-the-spot interviews and to learn more about our great benefits. We are hiring for the following positions Summer Camp, Before/ After School Care, Aquatics (lifeguard/Swim Instructor) & MORE! To find a location near you and register for the career fair please visit www.gwrymca.org/careers Questions? Please email recruitment@gwrymca.org or 314-436-1177

SYSTEMS ANALYST (SAP)

Dubal America, Inc., Creve Coeur, MO.

Sprt SAP sys fnctn w/o intrptn. Reqs: 8 yrs of exp as an SAP Conslnt in the indstrl mfg ind. Req exp: 8 yrs of exp utlzng SAP SD/LE & rltd intgrtn pts, incldng Crdt Mgmt & Rsk Mgmt; 4 yrs of exp utlzng SAP IS-OIL MAP areas, F&A pxng & Dfrntl invcng; 8 yrs of exp utlzng SAP vrnt configs w/ cnstrnts & vrnt tbls; 8 yrs of exp w/ SAP pxng incldng cond exclsns; 8 yrs of exp utlzng Trde-to-Stck prcs w/ STO; 8 yrs of exp crdntng otbnd dlvy prcs, incldng Pkg & Btch mgmt; 7 yrs of exp prcsng shpmts incldng shpmt cstng (Trans w/ Hndlng Unit Mgmt); 8 yrs of exp w/ Otpts, Rte Dtrmntns, Lstngs/Exclsns, Txt Dtrmntn & othr Mstr Data (Cstmr Mstr, Mtrl Mstr, Pxng Condtns); 8 yrs of exp crdntng SAP Ordr-to-Csh prcs, incldng qttns & cntrcts & Avlblty chck; 8 yrs of exp in prepng FDS utlzng SAP SD dbs tbls & usr exts; 4 yrs of SAP exp in Almnm Prcs Ind SAP prcs & prcdrs; 4 yrs of exp in mngng off-shre team SAP Dvlpmnt prjct dlvbls & deadlns; & SAP Certfctn in Ordr Flflmnt. Send resumes to: Walid Hassan, whassan@ dubalamerica.com.

POLICE OFFICER

The City of Eureka (population approximately 11,000) is accepting applications for a full-time Police Officer. There is no application deadline, and interviews will be conducted periodically until the position is filled. Application and job description available at Eureka Police Dept., 120 City Hall Dr., Eureka, MO and on the City’s website at www.eureka.mo.us. Starting salary is $50,500.00, plus excellent benefits. For additional information, call 636-938-6600 (Relay Missouri: 1-800-735-2466). The City of Eureka is an EOE/ADA employer.

ALGONQUIN NURSES HOME HEALTH CARE

is looking for Nurses, C.N.A’s and Home Health Aides for full or part time positions to care for elderly and disabled individuals in their home. Applicants must have reliable transportation with a valid driver license and proof of insurance. Clear background screening, clean drug test need only apply. * Competitive wages /one on one client care /paid holidays medical/dental insurance /paid wkly /referral bonus & much more! Please call 314-822-8158 or go online to register www.algonquinnurses.com

Looking for Quality Cleaners

EARN EXTRA MONEY PART TIME OR FULL TIME EVENINGS Mon-Fri $9.00/hr + North & West County Cleaning Clear background check required Call 636-444-9055

SPECIALIST – PSA PREMIUM AUDIT

The Premium Audit Specialist will work both collaboratively and independently while self-directing their work processes to meet corporate objectives and goals related to the accurate and timely completion of primary premium audits. The specialist will conduct audit processes for applicable excess accounts, substantiating the accuracy of policy classifications, exposure base, exposure information, inclusions/exclusions, status of subcontractors etc. The Specialist will also facilitate the order process for applicable excess accounts.

To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

FULL TIME RECEPTIONIST

Forest Park Forever is seeking a full time receptionist. You can view the job description and apply on-line using the URL link below. Forest Park Forever is an Equal Opportunity Employer. https://www.cbizems.com/ extranet/recruiting.aspx?id=2A2725CB-7BD6-40E1-9E124BEC3B92A10E&src=stlamerican&rqid=65D648D1-7799-4646A067-B68E6A04AD02

ASSISTANT – PSA TECHNICAL OPERATIONS

Responsible for leading the back scanning effort and providing support in our continued transition to Image Now. In addition to assisting with technical support for systems and software used by the Policy Services department including performing and coordinating user testing of system implementations and upgrades.

To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

ASSISTANT – PSA POLICY OPERATIONS

Responsible for monitoring and follow through of service related requests for the Policy Operations unit, and tracking all Primary Workers’ Compensation, Commercial Auto, and General Liability transactions to include: New Business, Renewals, Endorsements, Cancellations, Reinstatements and Non-renewals. This position includes the accuracy in which transactions are issued and distributed to our customers.

To apply, please visit: www. safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

DIRECTOR OF UMBRELLA CLAIMS

Position Summary

The primary responsibility of this full-time position is the maintenance and operation of Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being to keep building and grounds clean and safe. The secondary responsibility is logistical support of meeting rooms and convening spaces. Duties include regular cleaning, operation and preventative maintenance of building systems (mechanical, electrical and plumbing), set-up and transition of meeting rooms and assisting Deaconess Center Manager as needed.

To learn more about this opportunity including responsibilities, qualifications, and how to apply, visit the Deaconess Foundation website: http://www.deaconess.org/coordinator-building-maintenance

LEADER INTERN

Deaconess Foundation will sponsor a network of Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® programs for children in grades kindergarten through five in the St. Louis region. The Servant Leader Intern serve as classroom facilitators delivering an Integrated Reading Curriculum to a class of no more than ten students for 7 weeks during the summer. The Servant Leader Intern will lead afternoon enrichment activities, chaperone field trips, and lead parent workshops and community outreach activities.

To apply for this position, visit Deaconess Foundation’s website - http:// deaconess.org/cdf-freedom-schoolsservant-leader-intern.

To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab. www.stlamerican.com

Overall responsibility for runoff operations related to the Umbrella program. Position reports to Senior Vice President - Claims.

Greensfelder has a full time opening for a Litigation Legal Administrative Assistant in the Construction Law Practice Group. We have defined assignments, however, our staff focus on teamwork & supporting each other to better balance workloads. Therefore, strong teamwork & communication skills are highly desired. Qualified applicants will type at least 70 wpm & have excellent attention to detail, grammar, organizational, proofreading & customer service skills. 2+ yrs of litigation experience required. Additional duties consist of providing support services including typing, time entry, transcription, electronic filing, scheduling & various other administrative duties. Apply online at https://www.greensfelder. com/Careers-Professional-Staff-Positions.html.

MANAGER, DEACONESS CENTER FOR CHILD WELL-BEING

Position Summary The primary responsibility of this fulltime position is relationship management and constituency support services for the program activities of Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being to optimize its profile as the regional hub for child-friendly public policy advocacy. The secondary responsibility is managing routine operational processes for Deaconess Center. Duties include prospecting, triaging and aligning potential community convenings; supervising building maintenance and meeting logistics; coordinating hospitality; and assuring proper documentation of use to inform evaluation and compliance standards.

To learn more about this opportunity including responsibilities, qualifications, and how to apply, visit the Deaconess Foundation website: http://www. deaconess.org/manager-deaconess-center-child-well-being

NOTICE TO MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (MBE) (AFRICAN AMERICAN AND/OR HISPANIC AMERICAN)) ADVERTISEMENT RIVER CITY CONSTRUCTION, L.L.C. AMERICAN SETTER DRIVE, ASHLAND, MISSOURI, 65010, (573) 657-7830 (PHONE) (573-657-7381 (FAX) IS SEEKING QUALIFIED SMALL, DISADVANTAGED, MINORITY, VETERAN OWNED AND WOMEN’S BUSINESSES FOR THE CITY OF ASHLAND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY- ASHLAND, MISSOURI FOR THE SUBCONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: EXCAVATION, SITE WORK, LANDSCAPE, CONCRETE, MASONRY, METALS, EQUIPMENT, ROOFING, GLAZING, CARPENTRY, DOORS AND HARDWARE, SPECIALTIES, FINISHES, SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION, CONVEYING SYSTEMS, HVAC, MECHANICAL, PLUMBING, ELECTRICAL. ALL INTERESTED AND QUALIFIED SMALL, DISADVANTAGED, MINORITY, VETERAN OWNED AND WOMEN’S BUSINESSES SHOULD CONTACT, IN WRITING, (CERTIFIED LETTER, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED) JOSH SANDERS OR JOE SEYMOUR, TO DISCUSS THE SUBCONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES. ALL NEGOTIATIONS MUST BE COMPLETED

PRIOR TO THE BID OPENING BID DATE OF 1/19/2018 @ 1:00 PM. PROPOSALS WILL BE EVALUATED IN ORDER ON THE BASIS OF LOW RESPONSIVE BID RECEIVED. CERTIFICATION OF DBE/WBE/MBE/VBE STATUS AND FEDERAL ID NUMBER MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH BID.

INVITATION TO BID

Alberici Constructors, Inc. requests bids on:

Mechanical: Boiler and Steam Heaters Furnish and Install

Electrical: Mill B Distribution Furnish and Install

From qualified and certified MBE/WBE subcontractors for the following project: Italgrani USA

Bid Date:

Mechanical - January 5, 2018 by 4:00 PM CST

Electrical – January 5, 2018 by 4:00 PM CST For more information, please contact: Precious Jackson at pjackson@alberici.com or 314-406-7988

Alberici Constructors, Inc. encourages all Small, Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises to participate in this project and hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this project, disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit proposals in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color or national origin in consideration for an award.

SEALED BIDS

for Renovate HVAC & Controls, St. James Veterans Home, St. James, Missouri, Project No. U1503-03 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, January 18, 2018. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http:// oa.mo. gov/facilities

CITY OF ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Request For Proposals (RFP) for

Marketing Advisory Services

Bids Wanted

Bid documents may be obtained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Airport Properties Division, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., or by calling (314) 426-8184. This RFP may also be obtained by visiting our website at www.flystl.com/ business/contact-opportunites.

Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for DESIGN SERVICES FOR DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING DRIVE LIGHTING AND SIGNAL INTERCONNECT – PHASE III, FEDERAL PROJECT

STP-9901(643), ST. LOUIS, MO. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM, CT, January 5, 2018 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps. org, under On Line Plan Room – Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535. 14% DBE participation goal for this project.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for DESIGN SERVICES FOR CLIMATE CONTROL PROJECTS, PACKAGES 2 AND 3, ST. LOUIS

LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 P.M., CT, January 11, 2018 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps.org, under the On Line Plan Room – Plan Room, or call the City of St. Louis, Board of Public Service, at 314-622-3535. 25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Comprehensive Legal Services

The Great Rivers Greenway District is seeking the services of qualified professionals for Comprehensive Legal Services. Specifications can be found at www.greatriversgreenway. org. Respondents should submit one sealed package marked with “COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL SERVICES” of their proposal by 10:00am, CST, January 17, 2018. Questions or information related to this request should be directed to: Mike Carson, Director of Finance & Administration at 314-4361540 or via email mcarson@grgstl.org

SUBMITTAL LOCATION: The Great Rivers Greenway District 6178 Delmar Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63112 Great Rivers Greenway reserves the right to reject any or all proposals.

EOE

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

DISTRICT

SEWER

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on January 31, 2018 to contract with a company for: MARBLE/CARPET FLOORING PROJECT-MARKET ST.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9271 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING DESIGN SERVICES FOR HALL STREET IMPROVEMENTS, PHASE 1, EAST GRAND TO ADELAIDE, ST. LOUIS, MO, FEDERAL PROJECT STP-5404(603). Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM, CT, January 4, 2018 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room – Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535. 15% DBE participation goal for this project.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC

SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for Professional Engineering and Field Survey Services for Louisiana Calm Streets, St. Louis, MO, Federal Project TAP-9901(649). Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM, CT, January 10, 2018 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room – Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535. 14% DBE participation goal for this project.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Collinsville Great Streets Project

East-West Gateway has issued 4 RFPs seeking submittals from consultants to provide planning services for the Collinsville, IL Great Streets project. The planning work will include: an economic assessment, an environmental infrastructure analysis, a transportation analysis, and urban design. Submittals are due no later than 1:00 p.m. on January 17, 2018. Submittal details and specifications can be obtained at www.ewgateway.org or by calling 314-421-4220 ext. 263.

Visit our Website at www.stlamerican.com

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for 2017 CRS Collector Overlay Program, St. Louis County Project No.CR-1708, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on January 10, 2018 Plans and specifications will be available on December 18, 2017 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: REPLACEMENT OF TROJAN WIPER CANISTER SEAL KITS. The District is proposing single source procurement for this equipment because RAY LINDSEY COMPANY is the only known available source for the equipment. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (the “Partnership”) solicits proposals from qualified engineering and planning firms to analyze the existing conditions of Old Olive Street Road in St. Louis County, Missouri, and develop a plan to redesign Old Olive Street Road for mixed use in accordance with the 39

master plan.

To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Thursday, January 18, 2018. Proposals should be sent by email to hbean@stlpartenrship.com, or to St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, ATTN: Howl Bean II, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2200, St. Louis, Missouri 63105. DBE, MBE, and WBE firms are encouraged to bid.

The Request for Proposals may be obtained from the Partnership’s web site at www.stlpartnership.com. The Partnership reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Any questions should be directed to Howl Bean II at (314) 615-7663 or hbean@stlpartnership.com. St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

BID PROPOSAL

KCI Construction requests subcontract proposals from MBE, WBE, and SDVE businesses for the Franken Hall Renovation, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Project Number B201841 Plans and specifications are available • To view electronically from: www. drexeltech.com in their eDistribution plan room

• To view at our Camdenton office: 5505 Old South 5, Camdenton MO 65020

• By requesting a Dropbox Link from jmorrow@kciconstruction.com

Subcontractor bids are due by 1:00 p.m. Thursday, January 18, 2018. You may email bids to jmorrow@kciconstruction. com or send a fax to 573-346-9739. Please call if you have any questions: 314-2006496.

PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC HOUSING WAITING LIST OPENING

James House Apartments – 0/1 bedroom, 4310 St. Ferdinand, 63113 (314)535-3399. Accepting pre-applications online at www.slha.org beginning January 10, 2017 at 8:00a.m. and closing 11:59p.m. January 12, 2017. Applicants with disabilities that need assistance in completing an online application or who do not have access to a computer can be accommodated at 4310 St. Ferdinand or SLHA Corporate Office located at 3520 Page from 8:00a.m to 5:00p.m. on January 10, 2017 – January 12, 2017.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for 2017 CRS Cape Seal Program, St. Louis County Project No.CR-1758, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on January, 10, 2018

Plans and specifications will be available on December 18, 2017 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am January 29, 2018 for: BEARING ASSEMBLIES FOR FILTER PRESS REBUILDS

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9274 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

THE VILLAGE OF HANLEY HILLS CANDIDACY FILING IS SCHEDULED TO OPEN ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2017 AT 8:00 A.M. AND WILL BE CLOSED ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018 AT 5:00 P.M. PLEASE SEE THE CITY CLERK FOR ANY INFORMATION REGARDING ELECTION CANDIDACY.

Election Day: April 3, 2018

Candidacy Information can be obtained from: The Village of Hanley Hills 7713 Utica Drive St. Louis, MO 63133

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure an agreement for submersible pump repairs for Sulzer/ABS pumps. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service because State Motor & Control Solutions is the only authorized service center for pumps that are manufactured by Sulzer/ABS in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SEALED BIDS

for C

n Services, Springfield Region, State of Missouri, Project No. ZASIDIQ-8007, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, Thursday, January 18, 2018. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

& NOTICES (CONTINUED)

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure an agreement for submersible pump repairs for KSB pumps. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service because Missouri Machinery & Engineering Company is the only authorized service center for pumps that are manufactured by KSB in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@ stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

www.stlamerican.com

CITY OF ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Solicitation For Bids (SFB) for Fleet Maintenance & Auto Body Repair

Bids Wanted Bid documents may be obtained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Airport Properties Division, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., or by calling (314) 426-8184. This SFB may also be obtained by visiting our website at www.flystl.com/ business/contact-opportunites.

Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race,color, religion, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference,limitation, or discrimination.“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.”

Call Angelita at 314-289-5430 to place your rental/real estate ad today!

(District) will receive sealed bids for Grand Glaize WWTF

Switchgear, Tank and Screen Repairs under Letting No. 12495-015.1, at

2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. All bids are to be deposited in the bid box located on the First Floor of the District’s Headquarters located at 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, prior to the 2:00 p.m. bid deadline.

The work to be done under

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on January 22nd, 2018 to contract with a company for: SCADA Technical & Application Support Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9268 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

JKadlet

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure through an emergency need a Third Party Administrative Services company. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service and has procured Thomas McGee for a six month contract. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Swag Snap of the Week

during the year’s top Day Party Eat Drink Chill

2017 is nearly a wrap. Okay, so y’all know what it is…this is the last Partyline of the year. That means while you were yule tiding it up on spiked eggnog in the name of Christmas, I was sifting through my notes and what not to sum up the entertainment and nightlife scene of 2017. The last couple of years it has come in the form of awards. I’m feeling the need to keep it that way. So, in the words of Wale, let me get right to it.

“I’m Just Here for the Coins” Award. All the rhinestone and space age pimpin’ silver in the world couldn’t deflect from the fact that “the baddest chick” Trina wanted to be anywhere but on that crowded stage at Mystic. Speaking of Mystic, T.I. and his Hustle Gang tore the roof off Pops’ earlier that night, so I’m assuming it’s because the crowd wasn’t what he expected based on the concert win that he couldn’t erase the low-key scowl from his face as he walked through and waved his way out the door.

“You’ll Be Better Off Entertaining Yourself Instead of Watching This Tired Performance” Award. It may seem like I have an issue with Florida after this. I don’t, but oh well. I’ve seen more energy from little knuckleheads rapping to themselves roaming the halls after sneaking out of in-school suspension during a bathroom break than that pitiful Kodak Black performance at The Pageant. And I wouldn’t be surprised if news broke that Trick Daddy was Kodak’s biological father because they have the exact same pitiful stage presence DNA. He caught heat the year before for disrespecting black women. But his words didn’t hurt my feelings as much as his tragic contribution to that otherwise decent New Year’s Day hip-hop review at Chaifetz Arena burned my ears and eyes. Rubbing your third trimester stomach and telling us to “look lower” leaves you no room to bash us. Boy, bye. And nothing you can tell me will make me believe me anything other than Spice 1’s appearance at The Marquee was nothing more than an extended microphone check.

The “I’m Giving You All Kinds of Life And I’m Sure You Didn’t Expect It” Award. Mannie Fresh on the tables at The Marquee. I know he technically goes by “DJ Mannie Fresh,” but I never imagined he could slay the tables like that until his celebrity DJ spin session. Rising alternative R&B singer Khalid’s headlining set at HG for Hot 104.1’s Who’s Next also crept up and tickled my fancy.

“It’s Me Surprise” Award. I would be lying through my teeth if I didn’t tell you that I thought I would be waiting until 2061 to see Janet Jackson hobble on stage on a walker and mumbled through her hits to make up for her missed shows. But she showed up in top form with buns of steel and showed out!

“I Might Not Be Doing Arenas, but My Humor Will Still Have You Hollering” Award. I did more howling in small comedy clubs than anywhere else in 2017. From Marlon Wayans, Deon Cole, Roy Wood Jr. and Sinbad gave me some of the biggest laughs in small places thanks to their respective runs at The Funny Bone and Helium. The laugh masters that tickled me included St. Louis’ own too. Guy Torry had me weak when he worked in shows at The Funny Bone in conjunction with his high school reunion. And Jessie Taylor picked up the slack for Jess not necessarily Hilarious at The Laugh Lounge and I was thrilled to see Maurice G on stage there again too – and yes, he’s still as fine as you remember him.

“We Won the Internet” Award. This one is a four-way tie. We didn’t get to keep Sharon Reed very long as an anchor for KMOV-TV. She was one of many who got snatched up by bigger markets due to their impressive work during the Ferguson unrest. We lost her to ATL, but we were reminded of what got away when a clip of her getting racist troll Kathy Rae all the way together with the classiest of clap-backs live at the news desk. Sharon Reed had all the boys tuned in to the 10 o’clock news during her jaunt of a career here. Now they love her even more after seeing Kathy Rae learn the hard way that Sharon is a beautifully poised SAVAGE. Did anyone else peep the look she shot the whole studio? Sharon’s parting side-eye will be my designated “try me if you want to” face of 2018. Since I’m on clapbacks, let’s talk about another one heard ‘round the world. Tishaura Jones’ letter to the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was an epic read about how they were steady targeting her during the mayoral race, but it boiled down to “You mad? Well, stay mad!” with a side of “Who gon’ check me, boo?” Brian Owens and his daddy did the doggone thing with their cover of Sam Cooke’s “Change Gonna Come” that became the Soul of Ferguson: Father and Son Edition. Don Cheadle said 10 years ago that he could close his eyes and feel Cooke’s spirit when Brian sang that song when Cheadle came to UMSL to campaign for Barack Obama. I still haven’t forgiven him for that mess of a Miles Davis movie, but he was spot-on about Brian – and that viral video proves that Brian gets it from his daddy! And last but certainly not least, J’Den from KidGoalsS (or however they capitalize it) raked in nearly 24 million views for the cutest of all the dances in the craze of choreography to Ayo and Teo’s “Rolex.” My soul wouldn’t set right if I didn’t give an honorable mention to the Prairie cows. And by Prairie, I mean the street near Vandeventer. They became social media sensations when they escaped in broad daylight in the middle of the North Side. They were like “We’ll take our chances in these streets, but you will not be slaughtering us!”

Ricky Rock supported his sister Leslie “Frizzy” Hughes and his Wife Valerie at the lovely debut of Frizz Fest 2017 in June @ Tower Grove Park

Mocha Latte was one of many guests for King Kerry’s big 4-0 birthday bash last month @ 1204 Washington

Supa Fly, Foxy Brown, Laura and Pointe Dexter were definitely in the Halloween spirit

Keely, Karin, Kaysha, Belinda created new memories

on the Sunday before Labor Day @ BPV

St. Louis Alumni, Kandyman and Ty represented for the Kappas as the Beta Nu chapter celebrated their 75th anniversary @ Harris-Stowe in July

Comedian and actor Marlon Wayans with fan Cheryl after his sold-out show in August @ Helium Comedy Club

Briana and Juan basked in one of the best brunch sets in 2017 with Chef Jack @ Taha’s Twisted Tiki back in July

Hello Jizzo, supported by Drea Vocalz, delivered one of the best local performances @ TLT’s Black Boy Joy in June @ Kranzberg Arts Center

Rance John and Terry Armstrong launched their TCM collection of beard grooming products with a super stylish affair @ Urb Arts in November

St. Louis American’s own Jonathan Irving with five-time Grammy Award nominee SZA after her sold-out show Sunday night at The Ready Room. SZA, who was born in St. Louis, had an incredible 2017 thanks to the critical and commercial success of her debut “CTRL.”

Photos by V. Lang

Adrian Walker and Danielle McCoy presented the ‘Black Women Over Breathing’ Exhibit as part of ARTC in July

2017: American eclipse

It’s fitting that parts of the United States, including the St. Louis region, experienced a total solar eclipse in 2017. The year that Donald Trump – unfit, both morally and intellectually – was sworn in as U.S. president saw, at times, a total eclipse of our values as a diverse democracy, invigorated by immigrants, protected by the Constitution, governed by the rule of law with a complex separation of powers.

The litany of Trump’s assault on these – and other – core values of our democracy hardly needs restating; many of them appear in the year’s timeline that follows. Most shockingly for African Americans, the Trump administration could not bring itself to issue a clear condemnation of American slavery when questioned. The president said there were “some good people” among the Nazis and white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville. Trump then campaigned for a credibly accused pedophile in Alabama who publicly said America was last “great” during slavery.

Like the solar eclipse, which interrupted a beautiful sunny day, Trump inherited a growing American economy, with positive indicators such as broader health insurance coverage, and a spirited national conversation about police violence and its roots in white supremacy. Yet in a very short time, Trump has done a great many things to undermine our nation’s progress under President Obama.

After the solar eclipse had passed, we saw some of the simple things that we had taken for granted as if anew, for the first time. If American democracy is to survive Trump, the darkness he is sewing must awaken us as abruptly and vividly. We must wake enraged that this man and his enablers in the morally bankrupt Republican Party are trying to return this country to a time before full civil rights – before full participatory democracy – it’s not even paranoid to say a time before emancipation. We must resist Trump and Trumpism.

It’s time to wake up, stay woke, and fight – resist – for a better 2018 and beyond.

January

5 – The HuffPost publishes statistics showing the death rate in St. Louis County’s Justice Center is twice the national average.

6 – “Hidden Figures,” a film depicting the lives of black women who worked as mathematicians and engineers at NASA during the Space Race, premieres at theaters nationwide.

as a school district after nearly 10 years.

11 – 12-year-old Kameill Taylor is abducted while walking to a school bus stop. Taylor is found alive two days later, and North City residents organize to increase neighborhood patrols and protect children.

12 – KMOV runs a story about mayoral candidate and city treasurer Tishaura O. Jones’ travel expenses, drawing controversy and criticism of the media for applying a double standard to Jones’ campaign.

17 – A painting by Missouri high school student David

Pulphus is removed from a prominent hallway in the U.S. Capitol because it includes depictions of police officers with pigs’ heads. U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, who selected the painting for display in a high school art competition, vows to challenge its removal. Clay and Pulphus later file a federal 1st Amendment suit over the action.

19 – Eight candidates for St. Louis mayor appear at a youth forum at Harris-Stowe State University. The only candidate not present is Lyda Krewson

20 – St. Louis is one of many cities to host a Women’s March in protest of the inauguration of new president Donald Trump

27 – President Trump signs an executive order banning refugee admissions for the next 120 days and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. The order draws protests around the country, including at St. Louis’ airport, and draws federal law suits.

February

6 – Former Secretary of State Jason Kander endorses Tishaura Jones in the race for St. Louis mayor. Current mayor Francis G. Slay endorses Lyda Krewson

Tishaura Jones declines an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial board. In a letter published by The American, she explains her decision, calling out what she sees as racism and bias in the paper’s political coverage.

14 – Black police organization the Ethical Society of Police announces plans to file a complaint with St. Louis’ Civilian Oversight Board alleging corruption and racism within the police department.

19 – Vandalism is discovered at a University City Jewish cemetery, with over 200 headstones left damaged and toppled over. A fundraiser organized by Muslim-American activists raises over $20,000 for repairs.

20 – Tishaura Jones gains endorsements from several major progressive groups, including MoveOn. org, Democracy for America, and the state Service Employees International Union.

23 – Local workers and members of Missouri Jobs with

JANUARY 27 – President Trump signs an executive order banning refugee admissions for the next 120 days and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

JANUARY 6 – “Hidden Figures,” a film depicting the lives of black women who worked as mathematicians and engineers at NASA during the Space Race, premieres at theaters nationwide.

Justice rally at SSM St. Louis University Hospital to demand that SSM follow through on its promise to raise wages to $11 per hour for all workers.

24 – State Representative Bruce Franks endorses Tishaura Jones for mayor.

28 – The Missouri Supreme Court rules that St. Louis’ minimum wage can be raised to $11 an hour without conflicting with the state minimum wage of $7.65.

March

2 – Former St. Louis police captain Ryan Cousins sues the city, claiming discrimination. Cousins alleges that a group of mostly white officers conspired to make him a scapegoat for unlawful acts they committed during a burglary investigation.

3 – The National Urban League announces plans to hold its 2017 national conference in St. Louis.

7 – Lyda Krewson wins the Democratic primary to become the likely next mayor of St. Louis, edging out her closest opponent Tishaura Jones by 888 votes. Jones easily beats two other black candidates that had polled better than her throughout the campaign, Lewis Reed and Antonio French

10 – State representative Bruce Franks briefly announces that he will run as a write-in candidate for St. Louis mayor, but then retracts the announcement, saying he does not want to give Gov. Eric Greitens the opportunity to leave his statehouse seat open.

13 – St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch releases additional video footage of Mike Brown to the press, attempting to debunk claims that footage was strategically withheld during the trial of police officer Darren Wilson for Brown’s killing. The release shows that footage shown in a documentary about the incident was heavily edited.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council files a federal lawsuit against the city of Maplewood alleging the city’s “chronic nuisance ordinance” is discriminatory. The ordinance revokes the housing permits of households which generate two or more police calls within 180 days.

15 – St. Louis business organizations file a motion for the case of the city’s law raising the minimum wage to $10 to be reheard in the Missouri Supreme Court. St. Louis employees lost nearly $35 million in wages since the law was supposed to take effect.

18 – Rock and roll originator and St. Charles, Missouri resident Chuck Berry passes away at age 90.

21 – The ownership group advocating for a professional soccer stadium in St. Louis, SC STL, promises to invest millions of dollars in youth soccer and job training programs. Two propositions on the April 4 ballot will determine whether the stadium receives public funding.

April

4 – Lyda Krewson becomes the first woman to be elected mayor of St. Louis.

City voters reject a sales tax increase to subsidize the construction of a professional soccer stadium, but approve one that will fund city services, including a new MetroLink extension.

7 – Politicians and community leaders criticize outgoing Mayor Slay for failing to adequately provide for displaced residents of the New Life Evangelistic Center, a controversial homeless center opposed by downtown residents that the city ordered to close.

19 – On her first full day in office, Mayor Lyda Krewson announces the retirement of Police Chief Sam Dotson and the beginning of a search for a new police chief and director of the public safety.

24 – Robert Parson Jr. becomes the first African American to serve on the Florissant City Council.

25 – People’s Health Centers opens the $6 million People’s Center for Children’s Health for medical behavioral needs of youth aged 3 to 17.

Non-profit Concordance Academy for Leadership, which supports those returning from prison and seeking employment, opens new headquarters in Westport.

28 – The St. Louis American Foundation hosts its 17th annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards.

29 – Boxer Anthony Joshua defeats Wladimir Klitschko to become IBF and WBA heavyweight champion.

May

5 – A $10 minimum wage takes effect in St. Louis City.

6 – The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus hosts a

MARCH 18 – Rock and roll originator and St. Charles, Missouri resident Chuck Berry passes away at age 90.

APRIL 4 – Lyda Krewson becomes the first woman to be elected mayor of St. Louis.

Photo by Wiley Price

“State of Black Missouri” forum discussing issues including crime and the justice system, education and black-owned businesses.

Inaugural St. Louis Black Rodeo takes place at Chaifetz Area.

9 – St. Louis Action Council, ArchCity Defenders and Decarcerate St. Louis raise money to bail out mothers being held in St. Louis jails for Mother’s Day.

Trump fires James Comey as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation after Comey refused to end investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia.

11 – Mayor Krewson says closing the medium security jail known as the Workhouse is “unfeasible” after activists protest poor conditions in the facility.

15 – More than 100 students in the Hazelwood School District stage a walk out in solidarity with their teachers’ demands for better contracts. The students are suspended, but later reach a settlement with help from the ACLU.

17 – Trump appoints David Clarke, the Milwaukee sheriff known for managing a jail facility where four people were found dead in a six-month period, as the administration’s liaison with local law enforcement in the Office of Partnership and Engagement.

25 – Mayor Krewson forms a 13-member Citizens’ Advisory Committee to assist in the search for a new police chief.

26 – Lezley McSpadden, the mother of Mike Brown, receives her high school diploma as the first ever

graduate of Jennings High School’s adult education program. Her daughter, Deja Brown, graduates on the same day.

Kristine Hendrix, a member of the University City school board, files suit against the City of St. Louis for civil rights violations after being arrested and tased at a Black Lives Matter protest. Hendrix is represented by ArchCity Defenders.

30 – The confederate monument in Forest Park is tagged with “Black Lives Matter” and anti-racist graffiti, sparking further conversation about whether it should be removed.

June

1 – A new law requiring Missouri voters to show a photo ID at the polls takes effect. Politicians, including state Senator Jamilah Nasheed and St. Louis treasurer Tishaura Jones, say the law will result in voter suppression.

6 – Activist and New York Daily News columnist Shaun King calls for a boycott of the NFL after team owners blacklist quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who protested police violence by kneeling during the National Anthem.

8 – Former FBI director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee that President Trump pressured him to drop the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Ethical Society of Police holds its first public meeting on the search for a new police chief. ESOP president Heather Taylor points to racial disparities in

promoting officers as a problem the new chief should confront.

12 – Missouri parole board member Don Ruzicka resigns in response to a report finding he taunted inmates during parole hearings by asking them to guess the “word of the day” rather than asking relevant questions about their cases.

Three African-American baseball players from St. Louis, D.J. Stewart, Anthony Herron and Derrik Watson, are chosen in the Major League draft.

16 – A jury acquits Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot black St. Louis native Philando Castile during a traffic stop.

20 – At a public meeting, University City residents express their opposition to a plan to construct raw sewage tanks in their neighborhood. In response, the Metropolitan Sewer District agrees to move the tanks underground.

21 – A black off-duty police officer, Milton Green, attempting to help with an arrest, is shot and wounded in “friendly fire” by a white officer as he approaches the scene. The white officer claims he saw Green as a threat, prompting charges of racial bias.

22 – Destiny Payne, 19, files a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis, claiming she was held without charges for 15 days after witnessing acquaintances commit a robbery.

23 – The Missouri State Conference of the NAACP issues a travel advisory warning African Americans against traveling to Missouri due to racial inequity in law enforcement and encroachment on civil rights by the Missouri Legislature.

25 – Mayor Krewson announces the Missouri Civil War Museum has agreed to remove the controversial Confederate monument from Forest Park.

July

2 – Black St. Louisans commemorate the 100th anniversary of the East St. Louis Riots, when a mob of 3,000 white men incensed about the employment of black industrial laborers formed a mob that left 40 black residents dead.

9 – Protesters from a number of St. Louis progressive groups hold a “die-in” to express opposition to the Republican health care bill before Congress, calling on U.S. Senator Roy Blunt to oppose it.

10 – Missouri governor Eric Greitens is disrupted at a St. Louis press conference by protesters calling on him not to cut St. Louis’ local minimum wage.

11 – Heather Navarro, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, wins a special election to become 28th Ward alderwoman, filling the seat left vacant by Lyda Krewson’s election as mayor.

17 – The Ferguson Police Department begins using new software to track race, gender and age of those involved in traffic stops and flag officers engaging in excessive use of force as part of police accountability efforts.

21 – As temperatures reach over 100 degrees, Inmates and protesters rally against the conditions inside St. Louis’ Medium Security Institution, also known as the

JUNE - 25 – Mayor Krewson announces the Missouri Civil War Museum has agreed to remove the controversial Confederate monument from Forest Park.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

JULY 26 – The Ferguson Community Empowerment Center opens on the former site of the QuikTrip convenience store burned down during protests.

Workhouse, which has no air conditioning. Temporary air conditioning units are installed, but concerns about the Workhouse remain.

26 – The Ferguson Community Empowerment Center opens on the former site of a QuikTrip convenience store burned down during protests. The center is sponsored by the Urban League and the Salvation Army.

The National Urban League hosts its 107th annual conference, hosting a community empowerment fair and discussing the response to Ferguson protests.

August

1 – The murder trial of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in the 2011 killing of black St. Louis resident Anthony Lamar Smith begins. Stockley waives his right to a trial by jury, leaving the decision to judge Timothy Wilson

4 – Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green brings reporters from The St. Louis American and The Riverfront Times, as well as activists from Decarcerate STL, on an undercover tour of the Workhouse. The observers document unsanitary conditions, understaffing and medical neglect.

11 – The Ferguson documentary “Whose Streets?” is released nationally after earning critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival.

12 – Far-right activists and white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. During the protest, a man drives his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring 19 people and killing one woman. The attacker is later reported to be a Nazi sympathizer.

16 – A day of festivities at the Missouri History Museum celebrates the 160th anniversary of the day Dred and Harriet Scott were granted freedom from slavery in an 1857 jury trial.

SEPTEMBER 15 – Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley is found not-guilty in his murder trial for the killing of black 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Protestors take to the streets the day of the verdict to demand accountability and racial justice – and stay there for weeks.

19 – St. Louis comedy legend and activist Dick Gregory passes away at age 84.

20 – Missouri state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal apologizes for posting on Facebook that she hoped for the assassination of President Donald Trump, but refuses to resign.

21 – St. Louisans gather to witness a total solar eclipse.

22 – Governor Eric Greitens issues a stay of execution in the case of convicted murder Marcellus Williams. Williams was found guilty of the 1998 killing of former Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle, but his attorneys argued DNA evidence exonerated him.

28 – Activists and family members of Anthony Lamar Smith gather on the steps of Carnahan Courthouse to question why the verdict in the Jason Stockley murder case has not yet been released. Police erect barricades around downtown government buildings.

State legislation lowers St. Louis’ minimum wage from $10 per an hour to $7.70 per hour, despite the objections of many local residents, politicians and businesses.

30 – State Representative Warren Love responses to the vandalism of a Confederate monument in Springfield National Cemetery by posting on Facebook that the vandals should be “hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

September

4 – Union protesters hold a “Show Me 15” rally before St. Louis’ Labor Day parade, criticizing Governor Greitens and the Republican-dominated legislature for their “Right to Work” policy and calling for a $15 minimum wage.

5 – Conflict between St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and the County Council begins when Stenger

calls for the council to fire Mark Tucker, the county’s only auditor and the only black auditor in the state.

7 – Amazon announces that it will spend more than $5 billion to construct a second headquarters building in North America. St. Louis is one of many cities to make a bid to become the company’s new location.

12 – The HuffPost launches its national “listening tour” with its first stop in St. Louis, partnering with The St. Louis American for its kick-off event.

15 – Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley is found not-guilty in his murder trial for the killing of black 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Protestors take to the streets the day of the verdict to demand accountability and racial justice – and stay there for weeks.

In his ruling, Judge Timothy Wilson writes that Smith as an “urban heroin dealer” was likely armed, though only Stockley’s prints were found on a weapon present at the scene. The phrasing is interpreted by many as evidence of racial bias.

16 – Protestors, adopting a tactic of economic disruption, hold protests at several suburban malls. Events including concerts by Ed Sheeran and U2 are canceled, and area universities hold walk-out events in solidarity. Property damage, including shattered windows, is seen in the Delmar Loop.

17 – Police arrest 123 people throughout the day, many at the scene of Mayor Krewson’s house, where some protesters commit vandalism. Video footage of police officers trampling 63-year-old white protestor Laura Jones goes viral.

18 – Over 100 protesters, reporters and bystanders are caught up in a “kettle” and arrested en masse. Kettling is a controversial technique in which officers block off exits on all sides, preventing anyone from leaving the scene without being arrested.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Photo by Wiley Price

19 – ACLU lawyers announce plans to sue over the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s policing of protests, including unjust arrests and indiscriminate use of chemical weapons.

20 – The St. Louis Board of Estimate and Appointment agrees to adopt a one-year pilot program bringing body cameras for police officers to St. Louis.

21 – A “white ally” protest outside Billy Joel’s concert at Busch Stadium is met with little police disruption and few arrests, in contrast to actions led by black protestors.

22 – Small businesses owners sign on to a statement expressing solidarity with protestors and calling for perspective about the importance of broken windows vs. human lives.

25 – Protestors wear blue tape covering their mouths at the “Blue Silence is Violence” march to demand the firing of interim St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole. Clergy members speak out against the arrest of Rev. Karla Frye, who was charged with a felony after interfering with a police officer who held her 13-year-old grandson in a chokehold at a protest.

October

1 – In Las Vegas, gunman Stephen Paddock opens fire at a country music festival from his hotel room nearby. Paddock kills 58 people and injures 546 before committing suicide. The incident becomes the deadliest mass shooting by one individual in U.S. history.

Protest organizers canvass the North Side of St. Louis to register voters and promote job training opportunities.

3 – More than 200 protestors gather to block off all six lanes of eastbound 1-64 for nearly an hour. Police make 143 arrests.

8 – Family members of VonDerrit Myers Jr. mark the third anniversary of his shooting death at the hands of an off-duty St. Louis police officer with a candlelit vigil.

11 – Harris-Stowe State University hosts a “Protest to Policy” panel with speakers including state Representative Bruce Franks and Mayor Krewson. Audience members interrupt to demand more immediate action from Krewson and the removal of the interim police chief.

13 – Mayor Krewson names Circuit Court Judge Jimmie Edwards as St. Louis’ new director of public safety. Edwards, a judge since 1992, is known as a juvenile justice reformer and founder of a school for students facing expulsion.

22 – Families of those killed by St. Louis police lead a “die-in” protest in front of police headquarters.

23 – Lawyers for the ACLU and the City of St. Louis present their legal arguments in a federal case filed by the ACLU alleging police violation of protestors’ constitutional rights. The hearing begins with testimony from protestors and bystanders about the misuse of kettling and chemical munitions.

24 – At a public meeting, audience members call on members of the Citizens Advisory Committee to include those most directly impacted by police violence in the

DECEMBER 19 – Reginald Clemons pleads guilty to the murders and rapes of sisters Robin and Julie Kerry in 1991 after a decadeslong legal battle and many professions of innocence.

search for a new police chief. After a contentious public comment portion, the committee votes to do so.

25 – Mae Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut, visits St. Louis for a science education program at the St. Louis Science Center.

30 – The St. Louis County Council files a lawsuit against County Executive Steve Stenger over a hiring freeze in the auditor’s office, claiming Stenger has not distributed funds meant to hire additional auditors.

St. Louis Police Captain Ryan Cousins returns to work after the city’s Civil Service Commission found he had been wrongfully terminated. The commission found Cousins was punished out of proportion compared to white officers; the police department appeals the decision.

November

6 – St. Louis Public Schools’ Special Administrative Board holds the first of a series of public meetings seeking input on whether the district should return to elected school board governance after 10 years.

7 – St. Louis voters approve Proposition P, which increases sales tax by a half cent to fund pay raises and other expenses in the Department of Public Safety. World Wide Technology cuts the ribbon on its new headquarters in Westport Plaza, a seven-story building intended as an open and collaborative workspace.

9 – Concordance Academy of Leadership launches an employment agency aiming to connect formerly incarcerated job seekers with St. Louis-area employers. The St. Louis American’s publisher, Donald M. Suggs, accepts the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Missouri Historical Society.

Blake Strode becomes the new executive director of ArchCity Defenders.

The Washington Post publishes the first of several stories alleging sexual relationships between Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, then in his mid-thirties, and girls as young as 14. Moore does not

drop out of the race.

13 – ArchCity Defenders files a lawsuit aiming to close the Workhouse, St. Louis’ controversial mediumsecurity prison.

15 – A warehouse fire at 3937 Park Ave. burns for hours and raises health concerns about potentially hazardous smoke.

17 – Gov. Greitens and the Missouri Housing Development Commission eliminate state tax credits for low-income housing.

20 – The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI St. Louis Division open an investigation into the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for potential civil rights violations during the Stockley protests.

30 – Matthew Lieberman, a former fundraiser for County Executive Steve Stenger, is charged with a racially motivated gun crime after allegedly hurling slurs and firing shots at a gas station employee.

December

1 – Normandy Schools Collaborative becomes provisionally accredited after nearly 10 unaccredited years.

2 – Mt. Beulah Missionary Baptist Church plants crosses on its lawn for 193 victims of 2017 homicides in St. Louis city and county.

5 – An independent investigation releases a report finding that former Attorney General Chris Koster and St. Louis police withheld DNA evidence in a civil trial over former police officer Jason Stockley’s fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.

Longtime Democratic Congressional representative John Conyers, the longest-serving African American in history, resigns from Congress amid allegations that he sexually harassed former staffers. Democratic senator Al Franken, also accused of harassment, announces his resignation a few days later.

8 – The Environmental Protection Agency puts the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, where a smoldering underground chemical reaction near radioactive waste, as one of 21 sites requiring immediate and intensive environmental action.

Mayor Krewson announces a gun buyback program with the goal of getting illegal guns off the streets, to be funded by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the St. Louis Police Foundation.

12 – Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green announces plans to run against aldermanic president Lewis Reed in 2019.

14 – The finalists to become St. Louis’ next police chief answer questions from the public at a forum revealing their identities for the first time. Protesters strongly object to the consideration of interim chief Lawrence O’Toole

19 – Reginald Clemons pleads guilty to the murders and rapes of sisters Robin and Julie Kerry in 1991 after a decades-long legal battle and many professions of innocence.

In Memoriam 2017

January 16 – Avant-garde jazz drummer and Black Artists Group (BAG) co-founder Charles “Bobo” Shaw, 69, passed away in hospice care.

February 12 – Legendary jazz vocalist Al Jarreau, 76, passed away in Los Angeles. His death came days after announcing his retirement from touring via Twitter.

February 18 – Clyde Stubblefield, 73, the drummer whose work with James Brown made him among the most sampled musicians in history.

February 27 – After 55 years of service to the NAACP at the local, regional and national levels, Ina M. Boon,90, passed away in a North County nursing home.

March 12 –Joni Sledge, 60, a founding member of the R&B vocal group Sister Sledge, was found dead Friday in her home in Phoenix.

March 12 – Robert “P-Nut” Johnson, 69, vocalist for Bootsy’s Rubber Band, Parliament and Funkadelic died after a lengthy illness.

March 18 – Music icon and rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, 90, passed away in his St. Charles home.

April 7 –Patricia McKissack, 72. In partnership with her late husband Fred, she authored scores of books for young readers – Many of them centered around AfricanAmerican history.

April 12 –Comedian and actor Charlie Murphy,57, passed away

after a battle with leukemia.

April 17 – Noted philanthropist

Mary Ann Lee, 90, passed away in her beloved hometown of St. Louis.

May 5 –

Edward

Crawford –the young man featured in the Ferguson photo captured by St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer Robert Cohen.

May 20 –Former St.

Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Donald Lee Eddric Franklin, 69, passed away after a two-year battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

June 13 – Pastor Carlton Lee, 34, a central figure in the Ferguson unrest died suddenly of a heart attack.

June 19 – Dr. Susan ColbertThreats, a board-certified internist who practiced general internal medicine for over 25 years.

June 20 –

Prodigy, 42, the New York rapper, who along with Havoc comprised the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep died after of complications from sickle cell disease.

July 3 – respected civic and business leader Hubert H. Hoosman Jr., 60, was killed in a head-on collision in Spanish Lake.

July 8 – Nelsan Ellis, 39, actor was best known for his work on HBO’s True Blood and for roles on CBS’ Elementary and films like The Help and Get On Up.

July 23 –James Finley,76, an acclaimed photojournalist and member of the Missouri

Photojournalism Hall of Fame, died of peripheral vascular disease.

August 11 – Pioneering black OB-GYN Dr. Stanley Ladelle Anderson,49, died after a battle with cancer.

August 19 – Pioneering comedy legend and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, 84, passed away after a brief illness.

August 29 –Photographer and St. Louis American contributor Carl Bruce,79, passed away after a valiant battle with cancer.

September 2 –Mrs. Shirley Smith, wife of the late jazz saxophonist Tab Smith.

September 6 – St. Louis justice activist, attorney and radio personality Lizz Brown passed away after battling cancer.

September 22 – Singer Charles Bradley, 68, who was known for his raspy voice and stirring performances, died after a battle

with stomach cancer.

October 22 – Antoine “Fats” Domino, 89, a titan of early music thanks to piano-based hits such as “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Blueberry Hill” and “Blue Monday.”

October 24 – Emmy Award and Grammy Award winning actor and singer and St. Louis native Robert Guilliuame,89, passed away after battling prostate cancer.

November 3 – Long-time St. Louis sports broadcaster Bill Wilkerson, 72, passed away after a brief illness.

November 10 –Sister Mary Antona Ebo, 93, one of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most reluctant but eventually most powerful converts to the civil rights movement.

November 17 –Earle Hyman, 91, a longtime stage and TV actor who was best known for playing Bill Cosby’s

father on “The Cosby Show.”

Nov 20 – Della Reese, 86, a jazz singer and actress and later found television stardom on the drama “Touched by an Angel,” died from a lengthy illness.

November 28 – Elisha Brown, long time businessman and community leader and founder of BrownKortkamp Realty passed away.

December 6 – Saint Louis University criminal justice professor and Ferguson activist Norm White, 64, died suddenly of a heart attack.

December 10 – Simeon Booker, 99, a trailblazing Black journalist who broke ground as the first full-time African-American reporter for The Washington Post.

December 24 – Don Hogan Charles, 69, The first African American staff photographer hired by the New York Times.

Ina Boone Charlie Murphy

Carl Bruce

Della Reese

Carlton Lee

Nelsan Ellis

Chuck Berry

Dick Gregory

Lizz Brown

Sister Mary EboAl JarreauRobert Guilliuame

We call a realization like this an Unlock. Rethinking your charitable giving strategy could help lift your impact.

At Wells Fargo Advisors, our expertise is identifying insights that better enable our clients to look at their situations differently. It’s how we help strengthen their philanthropic efforts. And it’s led us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management providers in the country.

wellsfargo.com/Unlock