January 23rd, 2020 Edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

UCC, Deaconess retire

By

from the United Church of Christ came up with over $60,000 and the Deaconess Foundation donated $40,000. With that $100,000 donation, the church purchased $12.9 million in medical debt of families living at or below the poverty line through the RIP Medical Debt program – and

Urban League opens community center on

By Sophie Hurwitz For The

Nurse alumni oppose use of Homer G. Phillips hospital name

An open letter to developer Paul McKee Jr.

By Zenobia Thompson For The St. Louis American

The Homer G. Phillips Nurse Alumni Inc.

strongly oppose your proposed intentions to name a three-bed urgent care facility Homer G. Phillips Hospital. As advocates for improving health care in the medically underserved AfricanAmerican community, we welcome the placement of a three-bed urgent care facility on the near North Side. However, we are unequivocally and adamantly against this proposed urgent care facility bearing the honorable name of Homer G Phillips.

Your intention to appropriate the name Homer G Phillips not only trivializes and diminishes the historical legacy of attorney Homer G. Phillips and Homer G. Phillips Hospital, it is denigrating. It is our understanding that Dr. Will Ross of the Washington University School of Medicine, who is also a historian of Homer G. Phillips Hospital, and The St. Louis American expressed concerns to you regarding this ill-advised decision. Unfortunately, it is also our understanding that you were not persuaded to reconsider or even publicly offer an explanation.

In The St Louis American, retired

The civil rights faithful marched three miles from the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis to Leonard Missionary Baptist Church in Midtown in the 34th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo by Wiley Price

Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Marching for MLK in STL

Rev. Traci Blackmon, who hosted the announcement at Christ the King United Church of Christ, was unflinching in identifying the underlying politics in this crucial election year.

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

Kodak Black claims he’s being abused in prison

Rapper Kodak Black is accusing the correctional facility where he is serving three years for falsifying a gun background check form of terrible mistreatment.

He detailed allegations via his Instagram account late last week.

“There is a big conspiracy going on in this building,” Black said, using the full name of the guard he accuses of, “using her position wrongfully in Miami FDC and abusing her authority,”

“She has been writing falsified incident reports on me, to take phone privileges that I get once a week while in solitary. Also, doing anything to take my gain time so that I come home literally when I am supposed to.” Kodak continued by detailing alleged issues with his visitation.

“One morning, she pulled

me out my cell to tell me she is going to, ‘Take my pretty little girlfriend off my visitation list’,” he continued. “For no other reason but to add insult to my distress. Not being able to see my significant other while locked away in this hell hole.”

He also claimed that the jail denied him a visit from his mother two days before Christmas and have continually tampered with the delivery of his mail.

“Not only does my incoming mail take an average of a month to get to me but they are messing with my outgoing mail as well,” Black said. “My family hasn’t received none of my letters for the holidays. Which is borderline cruel and unethical, but as if all this is not enough, on December 31 New Year’s Eve to be exact, I was handed an empty tray for breakfast.”

He says he has reported

the abuse but is yet to see any improvement. He ended the post by saying, “they are strategically killing me slowly in here.”

OBJ is a wanted man for slapping butt of Superdome security guard

New Orleans police were granted an arrest warrant for NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. over an accusation of simple battery after he slapped the buttocks of a Superdome security guard following LSU’s national championship

victory over Clemson. A police spokesperson told NOLA.com that police sought charges after video surfaced of the incident on social media. In the video, Beckham is shown slapping the guard and saying “get the gat” repeatedly.

The Cleveland Browns issued a statement saying that Beckham was cooperating with authorities.

Nola.com reported police “originally sought a warrant for a misdemeanor sexual battery charge,” but it was declined.

“becoming financially independent” and to raise their son between the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family,” Queen Elizabeth II said.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan to lose royal titles

It was announced on Thursday that Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan of Sussex will lose their royal titles of “His Royal Highness” and “Her Royal Highness,” when they step back as senior members of the United Kingdom’s royal family.

A new statement from Queen Elizabeth II and Buckingham Palace confirmed the news – and stated that the duo will maintain the moniker of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The couple will also repay U.K. taxpayers for renovating their Windsor home, known as Frogmore Cottage, which they will retain as their base in Britain. They will no longer receive public payment for their royal duties. The changes will take place sometime in the spring, according to Buckingham Palace. They explained in early January that they had made the decision to work towards

The statement from Buckingham Palace said, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.”

Pastor John Gray’s reality show won’t be back on OWN

Embattled Relentless Church Pastor John Gray’s television show, “The Book of John Gray,” is not being renewed for a fourth season on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

A network spokesperson confirmed to The Greenville News this week that there are no plans for new episodes after the show was part of the network’s programming for three seasons since 2016.

Officials at the network did not respond to follow-up questions about why the show was discontinued.

A spokesperson for Gray and his wife, Aventer, said the couple is considering other TV and film opportunities.

Sources: Greenvilleonline. com, Espn.com, Nola.com, Instagram.com

THE STUFF THAT HAS PEOPLE TALKING

Kodak Black

Pastor John Gray

STL County starts waitlist for public defenders

For defendants charged with lower-level felonies

By Rachel Lippmann

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Some criminal defendants in St. Louis County who cannot afford an attorney may face more delays in getting one.

The court started a waitlist for public defenders on January 2 in an effort to control the number of cases the attorneys are handling at one time.

An October 2019 review found that most of the county’s 25 public defenders were responsible for so many cases they were potentially violating the civil rights of their clients.

“The court finds that at present, the proposed waitlist can be implemented and managed without unduly endangering community safety or causing undue disruption to the effective administration of justice in St. Louis County,” Judge Gloria Reno wrote in an order establishing the list.

The St. Louis County waitlist was first proposed by Reno’s predecessor as presiding judge, Douglas Beach, in 2018. But then-St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch challenged Beach’s authority to order changes. Wesley Bell, the current prosecutor, dropped that challenge, which allows the waitlist to take effect.

Large workloads for public defenders have been a problem across Missouri for years. State lawmakers in 2013 authorized the use of waitlists to control the number of cases those attorneys are handling at one time. There are already more than 5,000 Missouri defendants on waitlists in 20 judicial

circuits covering 29 counties.

While waitlists may help reduce public defender workloads, they can cause other constitutional issues for people who need an attorney, said David Carroll, the executive director of the Sixth Amendment Center in Boston.

“There’s a lot of problems with providing attorneys early enough in the case to be effective,” he said. “When you put off a case and not provide counsel until some date off in the future, witnesses become harder to track down, memories fade, crime scenes change. There’s all sorts of problems that become compounded by pushing that off.”

In St. Louis County, the

waitlist is for defendants who are charged with lower-level felonies like theft or passing a bad check and who are not being held in jail before trial.

The court is also looking to boost the number of private attorneys who could take cases on the waitlist.

“That can be a marvelous thing and has been, particularly, in Massachusetts, as long as the members of the private bar are adequately paid for their time and they are adequately trained and supervised and the training and the supervision is done by an independent agency,” said Stephen Hanlon, the general counsel for the National Association of Public Defense and a professor at St. Louis

“The proposed waitlist can be implemented and managed without unduly endangering community safety or causing undue disruption to the effective administration of justice,” Judge Gloria Reno wrote in an order

University School of Law.

Waitlists and more private attorneys are just temporary solutions, Hanlon said.

Additional funding – or reducing the number of people charged with crimes – are the only permanent fixes.

The ACLU of Missouri filed suit in federal court in 2017, alleging that Missouri’s chronic underfunding of public defense violates the rights of defendants who cannot afford other attorneys. A settlement reached earlier this year is awaiting a judge’s approval.

Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rlippmann.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Alvin Parks needs to pay to clear his name

By James T. Ingram For The St. Louis American

The Bible reveals to us, in Proverbs 22:1, that “a good name is more desirable than great riches.” That’s a lesson the East St. Louis Township Supervisor Alvin Parks is learning the hard way.

Parks, after amassing $176,000 in fines accrued from failure to file campaign contribution reports dating as far back as 2011, is now banned from running for office by the Illinois State Board of Elections.

To add insult to injury, prior to a settlement hearing before the election board, Parks was quoted as stating that he didn’t believe that the election board actually wanted him to pay the total amount due. He speculated that the fines were simply a way to “get his attention.” It should, therefore, come as no surprise that when Parks proposed a settlement offer of $88,005, half of the total debt, that board members rejected it. What’s baffling is how steep the learning curve must be for Parks, compounded by an apparent sense of arrogance, entitlement and an obvious disregard for the rules, which stipulate that he cannot be certified for elections, even if he files for office, if there are outstanding campaign fines. Parks has served as a City Council member, city manager, mayor and, currently, as township supervisor. He holds degrees from both Morehouse College and Washington University. He should know the rules at this stage of his political career and should be astute enough to file campaign reports in a timely manner.

According to Parks, his goal is “clearing his name” with the Illinois Board of Elections. I would submit to Alvin that the road to a good name is not paved by paying one’s debts and being responsible and respectful of the law.

Were he to reach an agreement with the state, Parks’ immediate intention was to run for ESL District 24 precinct committeeman seat and, ultimately, to possibly seek reelection as township supervisor.

Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@ JamesTIngram.

James T. Ingram

Photo by August Jennewein/UMSL

Editorial /CommEntary

A philanthropic call to action

We commend heartily the leadership of the United Church of Christ, 14 St. Louis churches, and the Deaconess Foundation in raising the money to abolish $12.9 million in medical debt for 11,108 St. Louis families in 78 Zip codes — and for the messages they sent in announcing their philanthropy.

It is, to begin with, strategic and transformative philanthropy. Church bodies raised more than $60,000, which was matched by $40,000 from the Deaconess Foundation. Working with the New York-based nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, the group bought medical debt owed by families living at or below the poverty line at pennies on the dollar. There is a national movement to take advantage of the abundance of bad medical debt purchased by debt collectors, and we commend them for joining this national movement of circumventing predatory debt collection with compassionate philanthropy.

But potentially just as transformative was the way this compassionate philanthropy was announced: by calling attention to — and challenging the public to address — the underlying systemic issues. After all, why are so many low-income families being crushed by medical debt?

Rev. Traci Blackmon, who hosted the announcement at Christ the King UCC, was unflinching in identifying the underlying politics in this crucial election year. She pointed out that under Governor Mike Parson, 100,000 low-income Missouri families have been dropped from Medicaid. Most states — even neighboring Kansas — are expanding Medicaid because it is both humane and

makes financial sense. Under the Affordable Care Act — which somehow remains the law of the land after a decade of Republican attacks — the federal government pays for 90 percent of Medicaid expansion. Yet Missouri, under Parson, is contracting Medicaid. Like the U.S. president, the Missouri Governor is up for re-election in 2020. Also, it is likely that Missouri voters in November, as Blackmon noted, will encounter a ballot amendment enabling them to sidestep Parson and the equally shortsighted Missouri Legislature and vote to expand Medicaid by direct voter initiative.

“I am going to unashamedly ask that you vote,” thundered Blackmon, who is both senior pastor of Christ the King and associate general minister of

Justice and Local Church Ministries for the national UCC. “Whether you put them in office by voting or by not voting at all, you are responsible. If you sit in here and clap and you didn’t vote, I’m coming for you.”

Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation, underscored the hard edge of this philanthropy, coming as it did as St. Louis and the nation were entering the MLK Holiday weekend on Saturday, January 18. Wilson pointed out that Dr. King — that quintessential man of action — is being misrepresented by the focus on community service in his name. “We need less service,” Wilson said. “We need more action.” To all of this, we say, “Amen — and let’s go.”

This impossible choice we call plea bargaining

By Somil Trivedi For The St. Louis American

In 2006, George Alvarez was charged with assaulting a prison guard while awaiting trial on public intoxication. He knew he didn’t do it — the guards actually jumped him — but the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence at trial scared him so much that he pled guilty. Little did he know that the government had a video proving his innocence, but they buried it long enough for prosecutors to extract the plea first. George spent almost four years behind bars fighting for his innocence before finally being exonerated.

In 2015, Lavette Mayes got in a fight with her mother-in-law. She had no criminal history and had sustained injuries herself, yet a prosecutor charged her with aggravated assault, and a judge set her bail at $250,000. Unable to pay, she spent 14 months in jail awaiting trial. She lost her job. She developed health problems. Even after getting released on bond and downgraded to an ankle monitor, she struggled to resume her previous life due to the trauma she’d experienced while incarcerated. So instead of spending years fighting her case in failing health, she pled guilty. Just last year, the State of Georgia executed Ray Cromartie for a 1994 murder. The case against him was paper thin and Cromartie maintained his innocence until the end, but Georgia denied every request for DNA testing that could have set the record straight. A lesser-known fact about the case is that 20 years ago, Georgia prosecutors offered Cromartie a plea deal under which he could have been paroled after seven years and free by now. But Cromartie refused to admit

guilt, and so the state retaliated by seeking the death penalty and ultimately killing him.

These heartbreaking stories illustrate the damned if you do, damned if you don’t nature of criminal justice in America today. Succumb to coercive tactics like evidence suppression and pretrial detention like George and Lavette, and begrudgingly accept a conviction with lifetime consequences. Or assert your constitutional rights and face certain retribution.

This impossible choice we call plea bargaining takes place tens of thousands of times every day in America. It’s how over 95 percent of all state and federal convictions occur, with minority defendants receiving disproportionately worse offers. The grossly divergent sentences offered to defendants who plead guilty versus those who don’t — often called the “trial penalty” — proves just how divorced from public safety, justice, or even rationality this system is.

Plea bargaining would be an acceptable way to resolve criminal cases if it were a fair fight between prosecution and defense. But it’s not. Since roughly the 1970s and the accompanying War on Drugs, prosecutors have been handed — and in many cases lobbied for — increasingly punitive tools to pressure defendants to take bad deals. These tools include:

฀

• Pretrial detention to separate defendants from family, jobs, and community

• Mandatory minimums and sentence enhancements that ratchet up the trial penalty

• Lax discovery rules that allow prosecutors to hide favorable evidence during negotiations, as in George Alvarez’s case

• Virtually zero transparency requirements, which robs defendants, defense lawyers, and voters of the ability to scrutinize how the deals get done

• U.S. Supreme Court precedent that allows judges to rubber stamp the deals without asking the prosecutor a single question about how they used

MLK more relevant as hate crimes rise

By Marc H. Morial National Urban League

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy,” said Martin Luther King Jr. “Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.”

A report that hate crimes surged in America’s five largest cities last year has broken just as we prepare to honor the nation’s best-known victim of a hate crime.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that hate crimes were at their highest level since September 11, 2001, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, with the Jewish community being the most frequent target in all five of the cities.

“These data reflect several trends, including an escalating tribalism, where various prejudices like anti-

Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia, among others, are widely shared across a diverse grouping of people,” Brian Levin, the report’s lead author, said. “Next, local demographic changes in densely populated cities means more people are coming into contact with each other right at a time when fearful stereotypes are increasingly become the kindling for violent behavior.”

In the wake of the shooting and stabbing attacks on Orthodox Jews in New York and New Jersey, far-right trolls hoping to exacerbate racial tensions have been posing online as Jews to post racist screeds against African Americans.

Online sleuths who traced the racist plot back to the website 4chan – a site that author Elad Nehorai called “a radical breeding ground” –found slur-ridden comments like “You are throwing high-quality octane fuel” on the “fire” of Jewish-Black relations, “Let’s see some riots,” and “If you break the Black-Jewish alliance, it’s all over for the Jews.”

It’s instructive to note that the goal of white nationalists is to drive a wedge between marginalized groups. And vital that we actively and forcefully resist these efforts.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Dr. King wrote in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

“We are caught in an

Letters to the Editor

these tools. Instead, at a typical plea acceptance hearing, the judge asks the defendant whether they felt coerced, which is bit like asking the hostage if the kidnapper played fair while the hostage still has a gun to their head.

Plea bargaining as practiced today has turned our criminal legal system into a cheap backroom shakedown. There is virtually no process, much less due process. Defendants’ lives are determined primarily by power dynamics and leverage, not facts and law. And it all occurs almost entirely behind closed doors, rather than in front of a judge, a jury, and the American public, as the founders intended.

To be fair, jury decisions aren’t perfect. Juries are made of people, and people are flawed, biased, and often vindictive. They often get the verdict and/or the sentence wrong. But they’re drawn from a reflective pool of the community; in all states but one, they have to return a unanimous verdict; they get to review all the evidence; and when they get it wrong, defendants can appeal. None of that is true of the typical plea bargain in America today.

We don’t need to eliminate all plea bargains or punish all prosecutors and judges to fix the problem. Indeed, if negotiated fairly, plea deals can be beneficial to all sides and promote justice and public safety. But we need to establish commonsense guidelines around the process, such that defendants who want to negotiate can do so on a level playing field. All we ask is a fair fight.

We see this as a critical step toward ending our mass incarceration crisis, so we’re embarking on a nationwide campaign — working with advocates, defenders, prosecutors, and directly impacted communities — to educate the public and establish these rules of the road. We’ll have more for you on this front. Stay tuned! Somil Trivedi is a senior staff attorney for the ACLU.

inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

The National Urban League, as one of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Anchor Institutions, is proud to celebrate the fifth annual National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, January 21, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The day is a call to action to mobilize communities, organizations, and individuals across the United States in support of truth, racial healing and transformation.

As one of the Anchor Institutions, we stand sideby-side with racial justice and organizations representing Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and other ethnic and religious communities – tied together, as Dr. King said, in a single garment of destiny.

As disheartened as we may be by the rising level of hate crimes, and as disgusted as we may be to read the words of online trolls, we must guard against meeting hate with hate. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

The monster of racism feeds on hatred. The only way to kill it is to starve it.

Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League.

letters are edited for

Don’t understand the disrespect

I don’t understand what disrespect is being shown by naming a health care facility after Homer G. Phillips. It’s not replacing what the original facility was; it’s simply honoring the name, no different than the number of area buildings, parks, bridges and the like that are named after noteworthy figures today.

“This is an incredible opportunity for community members to be a part of ending the stigma of mental illness, as well as starting the conversations surrounding

This is not to take away anything from Dr. Will Ross’ effort to capture the former hospital’s great legacy with his book, nor disrespect anyone involved with the current senior care facility that remains in a portion of the former Homer G. Phillips complex. It seems that an opportunity to have a constructive dialog about St. Louis’ racial divide may have been missed using the article’s sensational headline. The memory of Homer G. Phillips should be celebrated. The coming health care facility should be celebrated. I look forward to both.

Brian Krueger St. Louis

Fraud of ‘stigma’

it,” Katie Grana, St. Louis co-producer and This Is My Brave program manager, was quoted in your paper. If we keep telling one another there is a stigma (I assure you people are listening), we just perpetrate the same fraud others do on ourselves.

Harold A Maio Ft. Myers, Florida

Must protect voting rights

On Tuesday, January 14, Advancement Project National Office, in partnership with Missouri voting rights advocates, celebrated a significant legal victory in the defeat of a key provision of Missouri’s restrictive voter identification law. In a 5-2 decision in Priorities USA v. Missouri, the state Supreme Court struck down a provision requiring voters to present identification with a photo to cast a ballot.

The Missouri Supreme Court decision is one more indication that restrictive voter ID requirements are about blocking access to the ballot box, not preventing voter fraud. For communities of color, the poor and the elderly – who are less likely to possess an approved photo ID – this decision is a first step in undoing the targeted scheme to suppress their vote. If we want voters to participate in our democracy,

the task ahead remains fighting to ensure that our elections are free, fair and accessible. We must protect the voting rights of the most marginalized communities and ensure they’re able to build power through the electoral process.

Judith Browne Dianis, executive director Advancement Project National Office Washington, D.C.

One of the largest weekly newspapers in Missouri CAC Audited 100% independently owned & operated

Columnist

Marc H. Morial

Guest Columnist

Somil Trivedi

Rev. Traci Blackmon, who hosted the announcement at Christ the King United Church of Christ, was unflinching in identifying the underlying politics in this crucial election year.

Photo by Wiley Price

Ancient Rome on Natural Bridge

Morgan Hill was one of 10 local artists whose winning artwork will be showcased on the Metro Transit system as part of the MetroScapes Arts in Transit, Inc. program. To create “Rome’s Chicken,” she used computer generation to juxtapose ancient ruins over a scene of a Fish and Chicken spot on Natural Bridge Road in North St. Louis, with the hope of having people reimagine the concept of traditionally valued landscapes, like those of the Roman ruins, by fusing them with dilapidated buildings photographed in North St. Louis County. She graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles and currently works on the administrative side of the industry at the Regional Arts Commission. The competition attracted 471 submissions from 224 artists who live within a 50-mile radius of St. Louis. For more information, visit artsintransit.org.

April 17 deadline for energy-efficiency loans

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is now accepting lowinterest energy improvement loan applications. Public K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, local governments including municipal, county, regional and international airports, public water and wastewater treatment facilities, and public and not-for-profit hospitals are eligible to compete for a total of $6 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects throughout the state.

The loan application period runs through April 17 for loans between $10,000 and $2 million. Loan applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis by the department’s Division of Energy. If money remains after applications have been reviewed and prioritized, consideration will be given to loans in excess of $2 million.

Loans are repaid from energy savings achieved. Loans to public schools and local governments do not count against debt limits or require a public vote or bond issuance.

For more information, visit energyloan.mo.gov or contact the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Energy at 573-751-2254 or toll-free at 855-522-2796.

Inviting a return to discrimination

By Charlene Crowell For The St. Louis American

Two important federal financial regulators are planning how the future financial needs of low-andmoderate income (LMI) communities will be met. In an effort to “modernize” the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on December 12 the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) endorsed a proposed Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPR) offered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The rulemaking move has also triggered forceful and diverging views from a host of organizations, lawmakers, and even a member of FDIC’s board. The effects of such a financial regulatory change bring potential impacts on bank branch locations and services, as well as the types and quality of credit and investment that will be conveniently available.

From its enactment, CRA was intended to provide an enforcement provision that supported earlier civil rights laws. The law also made a federal commitment to underserved communities. Even so, over the years, CRA has been contentious for deposit institutions rated for compliance and consumers who continued to claim that access and quality financial services were in short supply.

Gruenberg issued a statement of opposition to the proposal during its December 12 meeting, criticizing the proposed one-ratio measurement, noting existing “credit deserts” and the lack of consideration of a bank’s efforts to provide affordable products and services LMI consumers and those without bank accounts could access.

“[T]his is a deeply misconceived proposal,” noted Gruenberg. “It would establish a CRA evaluation framework relying on a single metric approach that would allow a bank to concentrate its CRA activity in as little as 50 percent of its assessment areas, disinvest in the other 50 percent, and still receive a satisfactory or even outstanding CRA rating.”

According to OCC’s Joseph Otting, the 2019 proposal is the result of 18 months of work by staff and comments from more than 1,500 stakeholder groups with four improvements: clarifying what counts as CRA credit, requiring agencies to publish a list of qualifying activities; preserving some assessment areas and creating others to better reflect significant concentrations of deposits; assessing what portion of a bank’s retail lending is targeted to LMI consumers; and improved reporting with transparency and timeliness.

“Every month this proposal is delayed prevents billions of dollars more from helping reach communities that could benefit from greater economic opportunity. The proposal is an important step in modernizing CRA, but it is not the final one,” Otting wrote for American Banker

But apparently the large stakeholder groups OCC consulted with has yet to include the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.

“He thinks that he has the authority to do this without having to interact with us and no matter what he thinks, we think we have a responsibility to make sure that CRA is doing what it was intended to do,” said Congresswoman Maxine Waters, chair of House Financial Services.

Waters sought but has yet to schedule OCC’s Otting to testify before the committee. Additionally, she is one of several House Members who want the 60-day comment period doubled to 120 days.

According to OCC, a meeting is still being planned; but no date has yet been finalized.

Additionally, one FDIC board member, Martin

Similar concerns came from a coalition of civil rights, consumer protection and housing industry advocates that included the NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., National Fair Housing Alliance, and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

“The proposed rules are inconsistent with the law, plain and simple. It invites a return to discrimination against communities of color and low-and-moderate income neighborhoods – a destructive, decades-old process known as redlining that the law was designed to end forever,” said the leaders.

“We should be holding banks – especially those rescued during the 2008 housing crash with taxpayers’ dollars – more, not less, accountable for their obligations to the law and our country.”

Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, interested parties and organizations can file public comments. According to Grovetta Gardineer, Senior OCC Deputy Comptroller, 85 percent of all CRA activity is supervised by OCC and the FDIC.

“We are not trying to undermine the importance of local branches,” said Gardineer. “We’re looking to ensure access to financial services but refocus needs of LMI communities. This is really making sure that banks do more.”

But for Nikitra Bailey, an EVP with the Center for Responsible Lending, the efforts by OCC and FDIC should be to strengthen-not-weaken CRA through modernization.

“CRA was created to undo the injustices created by the horrific practice of redlining, and its modernization effort must center the people, families, and communities most harmed by it. Unfortunately, today far too many underserved LMI communities remain credit starved,” said Bailey. “The fundamental goal of any new reform must be to ensure that hardworking families, including families of color, have access to sound and affordably priced credit, safe and responsible mortgages, small dollar consumer credit, and auto loans.”

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

Charlene Crowell

Urban League

Continued from A1

At the grand opening, some of those resources were on display: representatives from the census office were present, and the Head Start program was distributing toys, donated by partners at Walmart and Macy’s, to parents with young children. Walmart representatives also ceremoniously presented the Urban League with a check for $25,000.

For Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of St. Louis, this was a sort of homecoming. He is the former alderman for St. Louis’ 19th Ward, where the Community Resource Center is now situated.

“We knew that we needed more resources, we knew we needed retail services in this area. Because people here, they’re spending, but they’re not spending in their own neighborhoods, and they’re not able to have jobs in their community,” McMillan said.

“So we worked on assembling this land and creating the Martin Luther King Shopping Plaza. So I’m

very proud to continue working with this community.”

He noted that when the shopping strip was first created, it was the only one in the city with 75 percent AfricanAmerican ownership. Now, it hosts the Urban League’s 17th location in the St. Louis area.

McMillan said he hopes that this Urban League center,

with its accessible strip mall location, might be a “national model for other cities to follow.” It is truly “in the community,” he said, with thousands of people coming through the shopping plaza each week.

Current 19th Ward

Alderwoman Marlene Davis and Tom DiCarlo, regional

and on and off Medicaid.

manager for Baceline Properties, worked with the Urban League to open this new location. DiCarlo teared up while speaking about Baceline’s decision to provide the space rent-free to the Urban League.

“If we don’t invest in people, there won’t be any people in the neighborhood to

shop here,” DiCarlo said.

He also noted that there will soon be a healthcare facility going up in the strip mall and that security has been “increased,” including cameras that stream directly to the city’s Real Time Crime Center.

One year ago, the Urban League opened its location at Auburn and MLK for its Save our Sons and workforce development programs. Since then, McMillan announced at the MLK Community Resource Center opening, 225 men secured jobs through the programs – almost half of whom, he said, “had some type of record.” Leaders in the Save Our Sons program were present at the opening. By 2021, they hope to have graduated 1,000 men from the program.

State Senators Jamilah Nasheed connected the opening to the holiday.

“What we’re seeing today, we’re seeing Urban League step up to the plate and do the things that we knew Dr. King would have wanted us to do,” Nasheed said. There is much more to be done.

“If you just go left, and you go down the street, Martin Luther King, and you see the deplorable conditions on that

street, that tells us that we haven’t made it, that we have a long, long way to go,” Nasheed said.

“Because if we can’t fix up Martin Luther King [Boulevard], take his name off it!”

Representatives from the governor’s census office, which is partnering with the Urban League on the Census 2020 project to ensure people in undercounted areas are counted, spoke about the importance of pairing census efforts with community programs like Head Start and Save Our Sons.

April Walker, a recruiting assistant with the census office, noted that the most undercounted populations in the U.S. are babies and young children – and for each of them that is not counted, $1,300 in federal funding for that census district is lost per year for the next decade.

LaRonn Simmons, who is the census outreach specialist for the Urban League, said that in addition to outreach efforts, he will be heading a team that can help people fill out the census form if they have difficulty doing it themselves.

“We need us to count us,” Walker said.

Continued from A1

The church worked through RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based nonprofit organization started by former debt collectors. It uses donations to purchase unpaid medical debt of low-income families for pennies on the dollar to abolish the debt. On its site, RIP Medical Debt UCC

says it subsequently helps “recipients repair their credit reports – renewing their access to opportunities and resources that will allow them to rebuild and recover.”

enter the doors of one of our churches, but we are United Church of Christ and we love you, no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey. You are welcome here, and most importantly, God loves you, and your debt has been forgiven,’” Blackmon said.

“Not only will they receive this letter for their records, but the debt has also been removed from their credit reports,” Blackmon added.

Medical debt is the No. 1 reason for bankruptcy in the U.S.

Teara Norris, who spoke at a celebration at Christ the King UCC on Saturday, January 18, said she hopes she will receive a RIP Medical Debt letter. Frequent crises caused by the genetic blood disorder sickle cell anemia have forced her in and out of the hospital, in and out of jobs to make a living,

“I was working, but I went over the cap I was supposed to make, which caused them to cut off my Medicare and Social Security, which caused all the medical bills to pile up,” Norris said (Sickle cell disease is one of the impairments eligible for disability coverage through Medicare). “Every time I tried to go back to work, I would end up back in the hospital –and the cycle would just keep going.”

Looming as strong as Norris’ burden of medical debt is her aspiration to buy a home for herself and her family.

“Right now, we were trying to go through the process of buying a house, but that’s kind of hard with things on your credit,” Norris said.

Rev. Ginny Brown Daniels said 14 UCC churches along with the governing boards collectively donated more than $60,000 to free St. Louis families from oppressive medical bills. They are: Calvary, Overland; Christ, Maplewood; Christ the King, Florissant; Epiphany, St. Louis; Frieden’s Peace, New Melle; Grace, St. Louis; Peace, Webster Groves; Pilgrim, St. Louis; Samuel, Clayton; St. John’s Beloved Community, St. Louis; St. John’s Evangelical, Mehlville; St. John’s Cappeln, Foristell; St. Lucas, Sunset Hills; St. Phillips, Chesterfield; and the St. Louis Association Council and the Conference Council of the Missouri MidSouth Conference.

“But we cannot stop there;

we must speak out against the injustices of our healthcare system that created these inflated medical bills to begin with,” Brown Daniels said. “We have a problem in our society when people are oppressed because they dare to be healthy. We will use our voices to advocate with the poor in St. Louis city and county so that affordable healthcare is a right for all –not a privilege for a few of the wealthy.”

Rev. Rebecca Turner, pastor of Christ Church UCC in Maplewood, said when she heard about UCC churches in Chicago teaming with RIP Medical Debt, she texted Blackmon about it, but she was already on it.

“As Christian people who claim we walk in the way of Jesus, it is our joy and our duty to care for our neighbors,” Turner said. “I am willing to be taxed so that others have what they need. We pray that this action today is an inspiration, to our politicians, to our citizens, to other denominations, to people of faith in every faith to see the need that surrounds us – and to do something. ”

Rev. James Ross, pastor of Pilgrim UCC in St. Louis, said, “While this helps, it does not transform the system, and so our commitment now is to working with this body and with the people who benefit to create a world where people don’t have to worry about how they’re going to pay their medical bills.”

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation and former pastor at St. John’s (The Beloved Community) UCC, pointed out if Missouri had expanded Medicaid, this effort would not have been necessary.

“We made a $40,000 matching grant with a return of $12.9 million,” Wilson said. “Deaconess works to build power; to deploy well-being to the 650,000 children of

this community, and because we know that 1 in 5 children in our community are poor; 2 in 5 black children; 2 in 5 brown children; and children in poverty are primarily in the care of their mothers.”

Wilson said Deaconess, along with Missouri Healthcare for All, Action St. Louis, Metropolitan Congregations United and Missouri Jobs with Justice, are seeking to put a ballot initiative on the November ballot to expand Medicaid in Missouri. Rick Stevens, president of Christian Hospital, said BJC Healthcare is working to expand Medicaid in Missouri as well.

“Missouri has one of the lowest eligibility levels for Medicaid in the country,” Stevens said. “So, custodial parents are only eligible if they earn no more than 21 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $4,500 per year for a family of three. So if you are an adult, and a childless adult, there’s no minimum or maximum because you are not eligible.”

In October 2019, Chicago became the first city to get medical debt relief from UCC churches. The project will next go to UCC service areas in New England, then to Southern states and on to other locations through 2021.

“Please note that we only addressed those who are living at or below poverty – people who should not have to worry about the cost of healthcare anyway,” Blackmon said.

“And the majority of large buys we did – let’s just dispel a myth – the majority of the zip codes where we forgave $1 million and more were not zip codes of people of color. They were zip codes where the majority of people we helped were white. Why does that matter? Because the myth that expanding Medicaid is all about poor black and brown people is a lie from the pit of hell.”

Photo by Wiley Price

Wellston

Continued from A1

municipality, it has always been rich because it’s always had concerned residents who speak up and call out injustice and corruption when it occurs,” said Farrakhan Shegog, the vice president of community development for the grassroots group Wellston Community Coalition.

On Monday, January 20, hundreds of Wellston and Pine Lawn residents came together to celebrate more than just Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. They were celebrating a huge victory in the recent resolution between HUD, St. Louis County and Wellston that allows the city to build new low-income housing units, restore some of the old buildings, and demolish about 15 units that are in the worst condition. Most of all, onefourth of the city’s population will not be forced to leave the area in search of other public housing options.

Wellston Mayor Nathan Griffin said that this solution came from everyone sitting down together — including U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, state Sen. Brian Williamson and nonprofit groups.

“If you look at it, you had white men and white women, black men and black women, Republicans and Democrats, privileged and unprivileged people all around the table trying to figure out how to change a poverty community,” Griffin said. “That’s what equality looks like. That’s what Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream looks like.”

This time last year, the tenants were in a state of fear. They were told that they would receive vouchers to move to another area, but they had no idea when that would be or when the demolition would begin.

At that point, then-St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger had already agreed to HUD’s plan to level the units. However, when Stenger’s federal indictment forced him to leave his position, Wellston tenants found a new ray of hope.

Attorney Lisa D’Souza, who was representing the tenants for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, said the tenants encouraged her to set up a meeting with County Executive Sam Page’s staff because they had heard “things are different in the county now.” D’Souza’s May 2019 meeting with Page’s team led the county executive to ultimately sending a strongly worded letter to HUD on July 10, refusing to sign off on the Trump Administration’s plan to

Nurses

Continued from A1

congressman William Clay addressed the glorious history of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital and the community’s pride in Homer G. Phillips’ legacy. We agree with Congressman Clay. It is fair to say, you ignored the advice of respected representative of the African-American community – and continue to ignore it. It is interesting to note that St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson related to Dr. Ross that she thought your proposal to name the three-bed urgent care facility Homer G. Phillips Hospital was “culturally insensitive.” We want to be straightforward and clear that “culturally insensitive” is euphemistically used to explain racist situations. In the process of pursuing your ill-advised proposal, you did not consult the AfricanAmerican community most dearly invested in this historic hospital regarding naming the facility, and obviously you did not see this as an insult. There was no indication that you considered or cared what the African-American community closest to the hospital felt and our opinion. To further add insult

demolish the units.

“And the line that made me cry was the line that said, ‘I will not turn my back on the people of Wellston,’” D’Souza said, with a shaky voice at the Martin Luther King event. “All these elected officials and their staff stood behind Wellston, and Wellston has shown the country not only what community looks like but what democracy looks like.”

Following his July letter, Page was able to secure a 120day extension, which he used to work with Griffin, Clay, Blunt, D’Souza and community organizers to come up with a plan. And they did.

On November 12, Griffin sent a letter to HUD, explaining that they wanted to remove the 201 housing units from HUD’s inventory through the Voluntary Conversion Plan and make them tenant-based voucher assistance. That was the first step.

Then on December 4, Clay and Blunt made a bipartisan request to HUD on behalf of the Wellston community, asking U.S. HUD Secretary Ben Carson to consider a unique solution. They asked for both project-based housing vouchers — which would allow Wellston to build new housing units — and tenantbased vouchers — for residents who want to leave the area.

“These vouchers are essential to make redevelopment and relocation successful for our tenants,” Clay and Blunt said in a joint statement on January 13. “While this is a victory for Wellston residents, we are very aware that much work

remains to be done to ensure that no tenant is left behind in our efforts to ensure safe, affordable, and stable housing; not just in Wellston, but across Missouri as well.”

However, the deal was still incomplete until earlier this month. The planning group felt that they would need to secure enough project-based vouchers to build at least 186 units in order to attract investors. They needed 117 more project-based vouchers to make this happen. The final save came from Susan Rollins, executive director of the Housing Authority of St.

Louis County, who was able to allocate the remainder in the last hour.

“It happens to be something that we’ve never done,” Rollins said, referring to the projectbased vouchers. “We are happy to do it.” Rollins said that they are now waiting for their application to be approved in the next couple of weeks. Then a relocation specialist will start meeting with tenants to determine their desired living location. Wellston and St. Louis County will also be putting out a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the new

housing units. The developer would receive the projectbased vouchers. Also, the housing authority will work with the Port Authority of St. Louis County to secure $400,000 in re-investment funds to fund any board-up and maintenance costs during the interim period.

“From the beginning, the Housing Authority was interested in making sure the people of Wellston are taken care of,” Rollins said. “The county executive and mayor have been able to put together a solution that creates an opportunity for there to

continue to be affordable housing in Wellston. I think it’s very important, because very often in these situations housing gets destroyed.”

While Shegog commends the support from elected officials, he stresses that this is not their victory.

“It belongs to the everyday neighbor, who knocked on doors to rally behind a common goal,” Shegog said. “Now that Wellston has been saved, the people have a grassroots opportunity to have their own community create a redevelopment plan.”

n The AfricanAmerican community will not tolerate the blasphemous use of the name Homer G. Phillips Hospital.

to injury, you were rudely dismissive when AfricanAmerican voices informed you of their feelings for our phenomenal and beloved institution, Homer G. Phillips Hospital. In a paternalistic manner, you proceeded to tell the community what was best for us. Ignoring Dr. Ross’ request for an explanation and a meeting about this important matter is unforgivable. We urge you to do the right thing now: abandon the proposal to name a three-bed urgent care facility Homer G. Phillips Hospital and remove the insulting signs about a new hospital named Homer G. Phillips Hospital that are now hanging on the fence that surrounds the site. The African-American community will not tolerate the blasphemous use of the name Homer G. Phillips Hospital.

Zenobia Thompson graduated from the Homer G. Phillips School of Nursing in 1965 and went on to serve as a head nurse at Homer G. Phillips Hospital. She is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Award for leading the struggle to save Homer G. Phillips Hospital, as well as the Lifetime Achiever in Health Care Award from the St. Louis American Foundation.

Wellston Mayor Nathaniel Griffin and Pine Lawn Mayor Terry Epps close out the 5th Annual Mid-County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at New Life Empowerment Church on Monday, January, 20. They are surrounded by youth advocating for an end to gun violence.

Photo by Xavier Souter/Wellston Community Coalition

Black History Month at the Missouri History Museum

By Ellen Kunkelmann

For The St. Louis American

The Missouri Historical Society will celebrate Black History Month next month with special programs and events at the Missouri History Museum and Soldiers Memorial. Here’s what’s on the calendar.

February 4

Unflinching: The Power of the African American Vote

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote, as well as the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave most women the right to vote. The 2020 Black History Month theme, African Americans and the Vote, explores the ongoing struggle for voting rights. On Tuesday, February 4, the Museum will host an in-depth discussion of voting rights with St. Louis American columnist Mike Jones, Dr. Gena Gunn McClendon of Washington University in St. Louis, State Representative Wiley Price IV, and Dr. Devin Fergus of the University of Missouri. The program, which is open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Lee Auditorium.

February 5 Chow and Chat at Soldiers Memorial

who challenged school segregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Performances will be at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Museum’s Lee Auditorium.

February 9

The Kinloch Doc

On Sunday, February 9, join the Museum for a rough-cut community screening of The Kinloch Doc: The Story About Missouri’s First Black City. Through the eyes of former residents, local officials, and scholars, this film will show how two major political decisions—a school district merger and an airport buyout—affected the city of Kinloch. The screening will begin at 2 p.m. in the Lee Auditorium. This event is free, but advance registration is required. Visit mohistory.org/ events-kinloch-doc.

February 11

Inspiration by Example: Dr. Chauncey Granger

n All events are free and open to the public.

Bring your own lunch to Soldiers Memorial on Wednesday, February 5, and enjoy a fun and educational lunch break with staff members. This month’s theme is Lest We Forget: Black Veterans at Greenwood Cemetery. Chow and Chat will begin at 12:10pm in the Gold Star Mothers Room on the upper level of Soldiers Memorial.

February 8

The Founding of Lincoln University

After the Civil War, members of the 62nd Colored Infantry regiment founded one of Missouri’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Lincoln Institute, now known as Lincoln University. On Saturday, February 8, Dr. Miller W. Boyd III will present The Founding of Lincoln University, highlighting the effort of these soldiers and how their military service shaped the evolving ideas about liberty, freedom, and citizenship. This program will take place at 11 a.m. in the Pruitt and O’Hare rooms on the upper level of Soldiers Memorial. Sign language interpretation will be available. In the afternoon, bring your family and friends to the Museum for a free performance of Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, presented with the Rep’s Imaginary Theatre Company. What happens when Lily Polkadot moves to Rockaway, a “Squares Only” town? This musical was inspired by the Little Rock Nine, the nine African American students

MHS’s Inspiration by Example programs celebrate the lives of local African American trailblazers. On Tuesday, February 11, MHS will recognize the work of Dr. Chauncey Granger, principal of Hazelwood East High School. This program will take place in the Museum’s Lee Auditorium from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

February 15

Times a Gettin’ Harder

The play Times a Gettin’ Harder will dramatize powerful stories of the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to northern cities, and how this huge demographic shift affected US history. This free performance will be presented with A Call to Conscience, a nonprofit theatre collective that focuses on stories of oppression and change. Seating will be on a first-come, firstserved basis in the Museum’s Lee Auditorium on Saturday, February 15, at 2 p.m., and again on Sunday, February 16, at 2 p.m.

February 22

They Were Good Soldiers In “They Were Good Soldiers”: AfricanAmericans Serving in the Continental Army, 1775–1783 (From Reason to Revolution)

author John U. Rees brings to life the amazing personal experiences of black men and women fighting for freedom in the American Revolution. Join Rees for a book discussion at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 22, in the Pruitt and O’Hare rooms on the upper level of Soldiers Memorial. Books will be available for signing and purchase. Sign language interpretation will also be available. For more information about these programs, visit mohistory.org. All events are free and open to the public. Ellen Kunkelmann is associate editor of the Missouri History Museum.

from your

Art Museum Features Black Art and Culture Films

The Saint Louis Art Museum invites you to explore key moments in the history of African American visual art during the upcoming screenings of two free documentary films.

Colored Frames: A Visual Art Documentary chronicles Black artists’ struggles for visibility and acceptance in mainstream art society, as well as their experiences challenging assumptions about what constitutes “blackness.” This film, which will be screened at the Museum at 7 pm on Friday, January 24, explores the conversation of art and the Black experience and highlights the beauty that comes from variety in representation. The film includes a brief interview by Ronald Ollie who, with his wife Monique McRipley Ollie, gave the Saint Louis Art Museum a transformative gift of 81 works of art in 2017. Named in honor of Ron’ parents, the Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Art Collection includes paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by five generations of Black artists who have revolutionized abstract art since the 1940s. The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection features more than 40 works from the gift and is on view at the Museum through March 22.

Black Is the Color surveys great works

by African American artists whose contributions were neglected by the mainstream art world for far too long. This film, which will be screened at 7 pm on Friday, February 7, features art historians and gallery owners placing works by Black artists in context, juxtaposing these works with racist images of African Americans, and discussing African American artists in the larger social contexts in American history. Free tickets can be received in person at no charge at the Museum’s Information Centers. Free tickets reserved through MetroTix at metrotix.com or 314-534-1111 will incur a MetroTix service charge. Same-day tickets, if available, can be obtained only at the Museum.

Film: Colored Frames: A Visual Art Documentary (2007) Friday, January 24, 7:00 pm Saint Louis Art Museum, The Farrell Auditorium, FREE ticket required Rated PG; 60 minutes; shown with open captions

Film: Black Is the Color (2017) Friday, February 7, 7:00 pm Saint Louis Art Museum, The Farrell Auditorium, FREE ticket required This film is not rated; 52 minutes; shown with open captions

Renee Franklin Community Partnerships Director Saint Louis Art Museum

Nanette Carter, American, born 1954; “Slightly Off Keel #60”, 1999; oil on Mylar;

35 7/8 × 36 1/16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Collection, Gift of Ronald and Monique Ollie 124:2017; © Nanette Carter

Black History Month program from 1990 Missouri Historical Society Collections

“TakingCareofYou”

Lab practice offers blood tests – and education

“Patients tend to talk while they’re having their blood drawn,”

blood lab, seen here drawing blood from Gigi Smith. My Blooming Health employs a resident social worker

offers free consultations and can help connect patients to counseling and other community resources.

Danita Smith, RN, tries to plug some holes in our health care system

By Sophie Hurwitz

For The St. Louis American

Since 2013, Danita Smith, RN, has been traveling around the St. Louis area to provide blood testing services to homebound clients, who are generally disabled or elderly. Through her My Blooming Health lab practice, Smith has gained a reputation for enabling people to monitor and maintain their health when they cannot leave their homes.

Now, My Blooming Health has expanded, and for the first time in seven years it has a physical office. The new My Blooming Health walk-in lab in Overland provides free and lowcost blood testing and DNA testing services,

n “If it takes a taxing effort for you to get out to get your blood work done, you don’t go.”

– Danita Smith, RN

focusing on patients with little or no insurance coverage.

“We are not a very healthy community,” Smith said.

So, ever since she got her RN training at Lewis and Clark Community College,

she has been trying to find ways to make healthcare more accessible. My Blooming Health started off as a blog, but then as people began to contact Smith for advice, she realized the need for a mobile lab testing service for disabled and elderly patients.

“We would use our personal vehicles and go out into the homes to do blood draws,” Smith explained.

“If it takes a taxing effort for you to get out to get your blood work done, you don’t go. It’s a five-minute procedure, but it takes you all day to make it happen.”

And often, the barriers between a

By Dr. Graham A. Colditz Siteman Cancer Center

It can feel like a real victory when we discover those little tricks that make daily life a bit easier. Whether it’s a quicker way to finish chores or a simple dish that tastes like it took hours to make, it’s hard to beat the satisfaction of getting more done with less time and energy. When it comes to our health, little tricks can feel rare. But a quick and easy one many people don’t think about is stepping on a scale regularly. It’s understandable why many of us avoid it. Scales can deliver unwelcome surprises, especially if we’ve gone months or years between weigh-ins. But what regular weighing can do is prevent such surprises. By keeping track of your weight, you can note if it’s creeping up and can make small adjustments to how much you eat and how active you are. A 2015 analysis that reviewed 17 studies on regular weighing found that this simple trick not only helped people with maintaining their weight, but also helped with losing weight and keeping it off.

n “The overall evidence suggests regular self-weighing can enhance weight loss, particularly if the self-weighing is regular and continues.”

– Dr. Rachel Tabak

“The overall evidence suggests regular selfweighing can enhance weight loss, particularly if the self-weighing is regular and continues,” says Dr. Rachel Tabak, a registered dietitian and research associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. And getting started is about as easy as it gets. First, if you don’t have a scale, buy or borrow one. There are many different scales out there, but a basic, inexpensive one is all you really need. Then, weigh yourself regularly – once a day or once a week or

Khabele named head of obstetrics and gynecology

Known as outstanding physician-scientist in gynecologic oncology

By Diane Duke Williams

Of Washington University

Gynecologic oncologist

Dineo Khabele, MD, noted for her expertise in ovarian cancer research and treatment, has been named head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Khabele, whose appointment becomes effective June 1, also will be installed as the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

She specializes in treating women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and other gynecologic cancers and was selected after a national search. Khabele is known for her outstanding skills as a physician-scientist, her leadership instincts and her passion for women’s health. Khabele joins Washington University from the University of Kansas School of Medicine,

n “Her research on the pathobiology of ovarian cancer and molecular targets for novel therapies has the potential to help many women with this devastating disease.”

– David H. Perlmutter, MD

where she is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of cancer biology, director of the Division of Gynecological Oncology, and vice chair for research in the Department of Obstetrics and See KHABELE, A11

lectured at Meharry Medical College’s Cancer Summer Undergraduate Research Program in 2018.

Dr. Graham A. Colditz

said Danita Smith, RN, owner of My Blooming Health, a

who

Photo by Wiley Price

Dr. Dineo Khabele

Photo: Meharry Medical College

“TakingCareofYou”

Smith

Continued from A10

person and a lab test – like transportation, work schedules, or other commitments – may keep them from finding out critical information about their health.

“They don’t have a car, they physically are incapable, they can’t leave work, so I decided, I’ll just go out to the homes and do blood draws,” Smith said.

Now, My Blooming Health has both a mobile practice and a walk-in lab, and Smith partners with medical care providers across the region. “It was just going to be a little hobby!” she said.

My Blooming Health’s new walk-in office is meant to target a different demographic than those who use their in-home lab test services. This lab, though it welcomes everyone, is primarily designed to benefit younger uninsured clients. My Blooming Health offers highly discounted blood tests, and, crucially, helps connect patients to other forms of healthcare they might need. Unlike most blood testing labs, My Blooming Health employs a resident social worker, Ebony Glover, who offers free consultations and can help connect patients to counseling, Medicare and Medicaid, and other community resources – directly from the lab testing office.

“Patients tend to talk while they’re having their blood drawn,” Smith said. “And they have different issues – maybe they’re elderly, they’re falling, they don’t know why. They don’t know what to do with it, how to handle it – but if we don’t have the answer, we know who our resources are, that we can bring someone in to help them. There’s always somebody.”

As part of the St. Louis Care Alliance, a volunteer group of care providers of various specialties, Smith is excited to help guide her patients through her network to fulfill their needs for a healthy life beyond just blood testing.

“Where can they get appropriate food?” she said.

“When I worked in the hospital, we’d discharge people, and it’s like they’d fall into a black hole,” said

them from falling into the black hole?” Her business My Blooming Health attempts to provide a

“Where can they get financial assistance for healthcare needs? Where can they go that is affordable for any kind of healthcare facility, whether that’s therapy, or long-term issues?”

Through a resource wall, as well as robust connections with everyone from doctors to home-care providers to food banks, Smith hopes to use the new walk-in lab as both a laboratory testing center and an educational space.

“People say, ‘Oh, I’m healthy, I haven’t been to a doctor in 20 years.’ Well, that’s why you think you’re healthy,” Smith said. “No one’s been able to tell you what’s going on

because you haven’t asked, you haven’t had the test done. But if you get tested early and often you can catch things before they happen.”

To Smith, the importance of education around blood testing is personal: her father passed away of an undetected prostate cancer.

“By the time he found it, it had already metastasized to his bones,” she said. “And that happens a lot in our community, where people ignore the different symptoms. Like with diabetes and heart disease, they’re not getting tested because they feel okay. And they feel okay because they get used to the symptoms

that their body is giving them.”

Compared with white men, African-American men are more likely to develop prostate cancer and are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer, according to a study from the National Cancer Institute. So, one of the blood levels that Smith recommends monitoring is PSA, a prostate-specific antigen that shows your risk of the disease.

In addition, she hopes more people in the St. Louis area pay attention to their basic metabolic profile, “Which gives you your electrolytes,” she said, “because if those are off then there’s definitely something going on with your

overall system.”

She also sees large numbers of patients who need to monitor their blood glucose, which indicates diabetes or likelihood of diabetes, as well as patients who need to monitor their cholesterol.

My Blooming Health’s walk-in clinic offers resources to help people avoid falling through the cracks of the healthcare system.

“When I worked in the hospital, we’d discharge people, and it’s like they’d fall into a black hole,” she said.

“You see them again, they pop back up when they’re in the emergency room. So how do you prevent them from falling

Schnucks launches step challenge

Schnuck Markets has launched its first ever community-wide step challenge the five states in which the company operates

Continued from A10

Gynecology. Her appointment was announced by David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor.

“She is an outstanding physician-scientist and advocate for women’s health, and we believe she is the best candidate in the country to lead this department,” Perlmutter said.

“Her research on the pathobiology of ovarian cancer and molecular targets for novel

Colditz

Continued from A10

something in between – and keep a log of your weight. A paper log works great, or you can go higher tech with a scale that automatically logs your weight to your computer or smartphone. Overall, it’s currently

(Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin). Participants who log 50,000 steps or more now through February 29 will be entered

therapies has the potential to help many women with this devastating disease. And under her leadership, I am confident that the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology will build on its distinguished legacy to become ever more impactful as a leader in advancing women’s health at a critical moment in American medicine.”

Khabele’s laboratory, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), uses tumor samples to study ovarian cancer in mice. Such samples are used to investigate how DNA damage affects genes and how genes are regulated — or dysregulated — in ovarian cancer.

Her lab also studies inflammation in ovarian cancer and molecular pathways that

unclear what an optimal weighing schedule is, adds Tabak, but some newer studies “suggest that more frequent weighing, daily rather than weekly, is associated with better weight loss outcomes.”

The most important thing is that you do it regularly and keep up with it. As you get started, you’ll see that your weight has small fluctuations – up a few pounds

into a drawing for a chance to win 50,000 Schnucks Rewards points, the equivalent of $100. Those interested in joining the challenge may do so

lead to cell death.

Her recent research has provided the basis for a clinical trial evaluating a new approach to treating ovarian cancer when it no longer responds to chemotherapy, a mainstay treatment for the disease.

“It is truly an honor to join Washington University School of Medicine as head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,” Khabele said.

“The department already delivers outstanding clinical care, groundbreaking research, innovative training programs and community service. I am thrilled to be able to play a role in leveraging the incredible talent of this world-class institution, in collaboration with BJC HealthCare, the Siteman Cancer Center and

one day and down the next.

That’s natural. What really matters is the overall trend over time. If your goal is to lose some weight, but instead it’s steadily going up or staying the same, try to identify why that might be and make changes to what you’re eating and how much activity you’re getting. Though stepping on the scale may not always be the high point of your day, these

by texting “STEPS” to 27126, then clicking on the response link to download the Stridekick app. The app includes health and

community partners, to make an even bigger impact on improving women’s health and the health of communities locally and globally.”

Khabele is actively involved in mentoring and teaching the next generation of young scientists and physicians and recently started the first gynecologic oncology fellowship in the state of Kansas. Throughout her career, she also has volunteered in her community, including work with the local chapters of The Links Inc. in Nashville and Kansas City. The Links Inc. is an international service organization that works to enhance the lives of people of African descent.

Khabele earned her

regular check-ins can play an important role in meeting your weight goals. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, which increases the risk of many serious conditions, from cancer and stroke to diabetes and physical disability. Maintaining a healthy weight has huge health benefits for individuals – and the nation. So, stepping on the

into the black hole?”

For her, the way to stop people “falling into that black hole” is to give them a support network.

“And that’s where your various resources come in, but you have to know that those resources even exist,” she said.

“So if my clients who come through here only know me, I can figure out where they need to go from there, if they tell me what their issue is.”

My Blooming Health is located 2040 Woodson Rd #204A in Overland. For more information, call 314942-3272, email info@ mybloominghealth.com or visit http://mybloominghealth.com/.

wellness tips, the ability to earn kudos for reaching certain activity milestones, and a live leaderboard where participants can check their progress against others. Complete contest rules are available online at https://tinyurl.com/ u4p6h9j.

bachelor’s and medical degrees from Columbia University in New York City. After completing a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, she completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, also in New York.

Following four years at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Khabele joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in Nashville for nine years, with appointments in obstetrics and gynecology and in cancer biology. She also served as the director of gynecologic oncology translational research at Vanderbilt. In 2017, she joined the University of Kansas

scale regularly just may be a step worth trying. It’s your health. Take control.

School of Medicine faculty. Among many honors and awards for her research, Khabele was elected in 2019 to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She also serves as a member of the NIH Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant review committee and as program director for the Society of Reproductive Investigation. Additionally, she serves as co-chair of the Health Disparities Committee of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. Khabele replaces D. Michael Nelson, MD, PhD, who served as interim head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Dr. Graham A. Colditz, associate director of prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention. As an epidemiologist and public health expert, he has a long-standing interest in the preventable causes of chronic disease. Colditz has a medical degree from The University of Queensland and a master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Khabele

Danita Smith, RN. “So how do you prevent

solution.

Photo By Wiley Price

Healthy Kids Kids

Careers

What Is ASize?Serving

Warm Up & Cool Down

Slip Sliding Away...

Ice can be dangerous for several different reasons.

It’s important that before you embark on any kind of exercise to remember two things: warm up and cool down. Start with some slow stretches and movement (like walking) to increase your heart rate a little. Warm up for a good five minutes before increasing your heart rate.

> NEVER walk on a “frozen” pond, lake, river or any other body of water. Just because it looks frozen does not mean it is safe.

> If you are with someone that falls through the ice, first run (or call) for help. Do not try to go out onto the ice to help your friend. You can fall through the ice too.

> When walking on icecovered roadways or sidewalks, take baby steps. Walk carefully and slowly.

servings. So if the bottle states “110 calories per serving,” that means the entire bottle contains a total of 275 calories! Remember to watch those serving sizes and you’ll have better control over what you’re eating and drinking.

Learning Standards: HPE 2,

Secondly, when you are finished with any kind of strenuous (very active) exercise, take some time to cool down. You can slowly stretch your arms and legs again, and

> Also — remember to look up! Icicles injure numerous people every year. If you see large icicles forming over your front steps, ask your parents to use a broom handle to knock them off to the side before they break loose from your gutters.

> What other ice hazards are there?

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, HPE 7, NH 5, NH 7

continue with reduced speed movements until your heart rate begins to slow down. This warm-up and recovery period is important for your heart health. It also helps to reduce the amount of muscle pulls and strains.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1

Cracker-wiches

Ingredients:

Directions: Spread peanut butter on four of the crackers and top with sliced strawberries. Drizzle with honey and top with the other crackers to make four cracker-wiches. In our “Super-Size” world, we

Gayla Jackson, M.D. Primary Care Doctor

Where do you work? I am a primary care doctor for BJC Medical Group/Primary Care North County.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Bonner Springs High School, Bonner Springs, Kansas. I then earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Kansas, a Master of Science in Accounting from the University of Oklahoma and a Medical Degree from the University of Kansas.

What does a primary care doctor do? Because I am a primary care doctor, I help people with a variety of medical problems. In order to provide the best care for my patients, I order tests and I prescribe needed medications.

Why did you choose this career? I chose my career because I like helping people. I help them manage diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, and I also help them to feel better when they are sick.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? My favorite part of my job is getting to know my patients and developing a relationship with them. I also enjoy going to community events, like health fairs, to help educate people about what they can do to be healthier and feel better.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 8,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school year, at no charge.

Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

School

would like to nominate your class for a Classroom Spotlight, please email: nie@stlamerican.com.

SCIENCE CORNER

Do you love insects? You’re not alone. Entomology is the scientific study of insects, and the people who study them are called entomologists. The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization that was created to help entomologists share research and resources. The International Association of Black Entomologists (IABE) is an association created to help promote the study of entomology among minorities. They often have individual meetings during ESA conferences.

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

In this experiment, you will see how temperature affects bug activity in your community. This is the perfect experiment for fall and spring with wide variations in temperature.

Materials Needed:

• Outdoor Garden Area (this can even include landscaping of plants around the building)

• Notebook • Pencil • Outdoor Thermometer Process:

African-American Entomologist Dr. Rizana Mahroof

Meet Dr. Rizana Mahroof, an entomologist and professor for the Department of Biological Sciences at South Carolina State University. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Next, she earned her Master of Philosophy in Entomology from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Finally, she earned her PhD in Entomology from Kansas State University. She has also received a diploma in computer science from IDM Computer Studies Limited, Sri Lanka.

There are two types of

The IABE has four goals: 1. To foster communication among black entomologists, 2. Organize meetings/events for black entomologists during ESA annual meetings, 3. Assist in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of blacks in entomology graduate programs and careers, and 4. Promote the science of entomology and entomology-related careers in the black community.

membership: student and non-student. Members of IABE include professors, researchers, teachers, students, and scientists from numerous agencies. IABE is open to all people who support their goals. The purpose of IABE is to encourage minority students to seek a degree in entomology and to offer support in finding a career.

q Find an outdoor garden area to observe. Does your school have flowers or plants around the building? That will be an ideal area.

MATH CONNECTION

z Ants can lift up to five times their body weight. If an ant weighed 1.5 mg, how much weight could it lift?

x A Monarch butterfly flies about 80 miles per day. So far it has flown 45 miles.

The equation 80 – m = 45, m represents the number of miles it has yet to fly that day. Find the solution to the equation.

Mahroof’s research focuses on pest control to help preserve food. Pesticides are chemicals used that kill pests that feed on crops, but they can be very dangerous to the environment and the water supply. They can cause disease in people and animals. Mahroof researches the insects that attack crops and the safety of methods used to eliminate those insects and preserve the crops.

To learn more about entomology and how to identify bugs, visit: https://www. amentsoc.org/insects/what-bug-is-this/. Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details. I can make text-totext connections.

The U.S. Agency for International Development funded a project called Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss. Many communities face hunger when their crops are lost due to insects and pests. Mahroof was part of the team that traveled to Ethiopia and Guatemala to complete work for this project.

w Take a notebook and pencil outside and observe for 15-20 minutes. What is the outside temperature? Is it cloudy or sunny? What types of bugs do you see? Are they crawling or flying? Are they active or inactive?

e Choose a second day to observe (with different weather). Answer the same questions as #2.

r Analyze and draw conclusions. How did temperature affect the bug activity?

Learning Standards: I can follow directions to complete an experiment. I can analyze and draw conclusions. I can make text-to-world connections.

c A queen army ant can lay 135,326 eggs in five days. How many eggs can a queen lay in one month?

v On a field trip, Melvin visited an insectarium at the zoo. He took pictures of 18 species of ants, and 15 species of butterflies. If there are 330 species of ants and butterflies at the insectarium, what percent of insects did Melvin capture in his pictures?

Mahroof has published numerous articles in scientific journals and has contributed to textbooks. She has won many awards, including: University Professor of the Year from South Carolina State University in 2012, Best Professional Presentation at the 59th Annual Meeting of the South Carolina Entomological Society, and the South Carolina State University MANRRS Faculty Achievement Award.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about an African American who has made contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

b A harlequin beetle lays eggs in trees. She can lay up to 20 eggs over 2 or 3 days. After the first day, she has laid 8 eggs. If she lays 20 eggs in all, how many eggs will she lay in the second and third day combined?

Learning Standards: add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem.

Check out these entomology

MAP CORNER

Enjoy these activities that help you get to know your St. Louis American newspaper.

Activities —

Plural Words: Find and clip five plural words from the newspaper. Write their root word next to each of the plural words. Newsworthy: Find a story in the newspaper and read it. Answer the following questions: When did the story take place? Where did the story take place? What happened? Who was involved? Why is it newsworthy?

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can identify root words. I can find the key details of a news story and explain why it is newsworthy.

Katie Wright Elementary

teacher

Fiona Hill shows students

Alanna Stokes, Dustin Chambers, Kenyon Williams and Princess Carraway how to use the newspaper in education page to find STEM lessons.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

A tale of two St. Louis police unions

It’s St. Louis, so of course there is a white police officers’ association and a black police officers’ association. Both released an official statement addressing the federal lawsuit filed by Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner alleging racial bias in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (among other sectors of the criminal justice system in the city) using the Ku Klux Act of 1871. Guess what? They’re totally different.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA) – the majority-white bargaining agent for city cops – issued an odd statement on January 13 that quotes the SLPOA’s statement (that is, it’s a document that quotes itself). For the SLPOA, Gardner is not the victim of discrimination – rather, she is a criminal trying to distract from her own misdeeds.

“The union called the suit nothing more than a frantic ploy to distract the public from Gardner’s court-ordered deposition on Wednesday related to a special prosecutor’s probe into the criminal conduct of Gardner’s handpicked investigator, William Don Tisaby, who has been charged with six counts of perjury and tampering with evidence by a grand jury,” the SLPOA’s statement quotes itself. “The union called Gardner’s suit ‘frivolous and without merit.’”

Never mind that the treatment of Tisaby – a black former FBI investigator hired by Gardner to investigate thenGov. Eric Greitens when, she claims, the city cops were uncooperative – is critical to matters of fact that her law suit alleges. And it’s essential to remember that the charges against Tisaby – and any

ESOP, SLPOA respond to Gardner’s KKK Act suit

charges against Gardner that might possibly result from her deposition that has the SLPOA salivating – relate to gardenvariety witness coaching. The cops find it easy to believe that a prosecutor and her investigator would coach a witness – legally, that can be charged as witness tampering – because they know prosecutors and cops coach (and tamper with) witnesses every day of the week.

The EYE doubts that the SLPOA would object if Gardner or her staff coached (or tampered with) any witness they needed to make one of their cases. The EYE knows that the SLPOA is driving mad at Gardner after local media reported that she keeps a Brady List of cops she finds so biased or otherwise unreliable that she won’t charge their cases because she won’t use them as witnesses – and then Gardner did not deny keeping such a list. In fact, she has publicly updated and lengthened the list since then. This is a major show of defiance by a prosecutor: telling the police that they can keep these cops in uniform but she won’t charge their cases.

Let’s cut back to the statement quoting itself to see how the SLPOA feels about that Brady List.

“‘This is a prosecutor who has declared war on crime victims and the police officers sworn to protect them,” a statement by the union read.

‘She’s turned murderers and other violent criminals loose to prey on St. Louis’ most vulnerable citizens and has time and time again falsely accused police of wrongdoing. The streets of this city have become the Killing Fields as the direct result of Gardner’s

actions and inaction.’”

Speaking of “a frantic ploy to distract the public,” how about the SLPOA blaming a prosecutor first elected in 2016 for turning St. Louis into “the Killing Fields”? That phrase dates back to Cambodia in the 1970s, and the streets of St. Louis have been running red with blood every bit that long. Kimberly Gardner is not to blame for St. Louis’ homicide crisis.

The SLPOA’s statement goes on to quote itself on any number of other belligerent, distracting points, before concluding: “The union renewed its call for Gardner to step down or to be removed from office through any lawful means available.” That cleans up SLPOA business

agent Jeff Roorda’s previous – and borderline criminal – declaration that Gardner should be removed from office “by force or by choice.” With tough talk like that, the EYE thinks Roorda needs to invest in a tiki torch and go march with the other gun-happy soft boys at the next Unite the White rally.

The Ethical Society of Police (ESOP) – the majorityblack group that advocates for racial equity in policing – issued its own statement two days later. It’s a different world and a different police department. It deserves quotation at length.

Whether the City of St. Louis or the SLPOA agrees with the Circuit Attorney’s lawsuit or not, denying racial

biases are rampant is a slap in the face to minority and non-minority officers with whom we are proud to serve. The City of St. Louis and the SLPOA had another opportunity to address the racial climate in SLMPD, but once again, they have chosen to deny that racial biases are a part of the culture of SLMPD.

The statement released by the City of St. Louis about the Circuit Attorney’s lawsuit states it’s “meritless” when we all know there is a long history of racial discrimination in SLMPD that has never been adequately addressed by the City of St. Louis, the SLPOA, and leadership in SLMPD.

Furthermore, the City of St. Louis is aware ESOP was founded as a separate police association from the SLPOA because of racial discrimination in SLMPD and a lack of equal representation by the SLPOA for their black officers. We have repeatedly highlighted the disparities along racial lines with discipline, promotions, and job placement; therefore, the Circuit Attorney stating she has experienced racial bias at the hands of some SLMPD officers is far from “meritless.”

We ask the City of St. Louis to explain why Captain Ryan Cousins was awarded $1.1 million in a racial discrimination lawsuit in June.

We ask the City of St. Louis to explain the cover-up and treatment of Detective Luther Hall, who stated he was beaten like “Rodney King” by numerous white SLMPD/ SLPOA Officers, while his partner who is white was untouched.

We ask the City of St. Louis to explain the rampant corruption involved in the investigation of retired/ disabled Police Officer Milton Green, who was shot in June of 2017, months before the brutal beating of Det. Hall by a white SLMPD/SLPOA officer.

We ask the City of St. Louis to explain why there are at least 30 pending lawsuits from the Jason Stockley protest. We also ask the City of St. Louis to explain why SLMPD has made few substantial steps to address why 60 percent of black officers leave SLMPD within seven years and why there is no cultural competency training in place post-Ferguson and the Plain View Project, which again exposed a racial divide in SLMPD.

Before and after the Ferguson unrest, we repeatedly suggested SLMPD leadership and the City of St. Louis provide yearly in-house diversity training, address the hiring and background practices that adversely harm black candidates with hiring and promotions, begin the process of working with outside organizations like the Center for Policing Equity to dismantle racism, to employ social workers in SLMPD, and to provide all officers with yearly Equal Employment Opportunity Training. Most of our suggestions have not been implemented or have been ignored. Unfortunately, until the City of St. Louis and SLMPD recognizes the racial divide in SLMPD and implement our suggestions, we will continue to be national news for allegations of racial discrimination.

Jeff Roorda, St. Louis Police Officers Association (left); Heather Taylor, Ethical Society of Police (right)

Photos by Wiley Price

Business

started

Janitors continue fight for $15 minimum wage

Contract with Clean-Tech Company expired on January 8 without increase

Carole Carper will be inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame in the Radio category. She was the first female black news director in the market, working at WESL, KADI and KMJM in the 1970s. Later she became the first female of color to serve on the board of the Radio/TV News Directors’ Association. Inductees are selected for their significant contributions to journalism, management and advertising by the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Media History Foundation.

Herman C. Armstrong was selected as founding Head of School for Unity Christian Academy (ucastl. org). Opening in August, the academy will provide biblically based education in the City of St. Louis. Before UCA, he managed the Upward Bound program for the Higher Education Consortium. Armstrong holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Theological Studies with an emphasis in Counseling from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Crystal E. Ashby was selected to serve as the Executive Leadership Council’s interim president by its Board of Directors. She is the first woman president and CEO of the organization and participated in the first class of The ELC’s Strengthening the Pipeline leadership development program. She was most recently vice chair of The ELC, which seeks to increase the number of global black executives in C-Suites, on corporate boards, and in global enterprises.

By Rebecca Rivas

Of The St. Louis American

Michelle McNeal came to St. Louis a year ago to start a new life with her daughter and six-year-old grandson. She currently cleans 1010 Market St. in downtown St. Louis, while she and her family live in a homeless shelter or hotel room. Her wage is $10 an hour, and that isn’t enough for her and her family to get on their feet, she said.

“We are ordinary people, and we are trying to live a life just like everyone else,” McNeal said. “We want to maintain a life like everyone else. If you take a walk in someone else’s shoes, you won’t be so quick to judge and slow to rise.”

Since October 24, McNeal and other SEIU Local 1 janitors have been fighting for $15 an

n “The call for $15 aligns with the Ferguson Commission’s recommendation to make the St. Louis region more equitable across racial lines.”

The St. Louis American reached out to CleanTech Company representatives, who negotiate the union contract, and has not yet received a response.

However, the janitors are not only fighting for themselves. On October 23, SEIU janitors joined elected officials and community leaders to kick off the “One St. Louis” campaign, which urges higher wages to protect working families.

On Friday, January 17, Mayor Lyda Krewson signed an executive order, establishing $15 per hour as the new minimum wage for all City of St. Louis Civil Service Employees. This increase will be effective mid-February. Late last year, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to support a $15 wage for St. Louis janitors. Major

See JANITORS, B6 hour wages through their contract negotiations, which affect more than 2,100 janitors. Many of these janitors work at Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Met Square and other downtown institutions, said a union spokesman. Their contract expired on January 8 without this increase.

Krewson raises civil service minimum wage to $15

By Chris King

Mayor Lyda Krewson

Lawson Calhoun has been named chair of the Board of Trustees for Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services. Calhoun is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church and serves on the Committee on Ministry for GiddingsLovejoy Presbytery. Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services provides Christ-centered care and support to children and families in need. Its 12 programs in 28 service locations with approximately 400 employees serves an estimated 5,000 children and families throughout Texas, Missouri and Louisiana.

Hazel Erby was named the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award recipient for 2020 by the University City Board of Education. A longtime University City resident, Erby is the director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for St. Louis County. Previously she was the first AfricanAmerican woman to serve on the St. Louis County Council, becoming its longest-standing member (20042019), and was executive director of the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Drug and Substance Abuse.

State Senator Brian Williams was presented with the Individual Alumni Award during the Hazelwood School District’s 70th Anniversary Hall of Fame Celebration. A Democrat from Ferguson, he represents Missouri’s 14th Senatorial District and is a proud graduate of Hazelwood Central High School. He was the first AfricanAmerican male to be elected to the Missouri Senate in over 20 years. On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican. com

Samantha Hayes, a janitor who works at the Ritenour School District, brought her children along on a rally held December 19 that

outside Peabody Plaza then marched through downtown St. Louis.

Of The

Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1

Photo by Carolina Hidalgo / St. Louis Public Radio

Krewson

continued from page B1 address chronic understaffing across all city departments and to better attract and retain talented, hardworking, skilled employees.

“From tree trimmers, to grass cutters, to accountants, to police officers, to dispatchers, you name it, we need more of them,” Krewson stated.

morale, reduce turnover, and help fill these open positions.”

n To apply for city jobs, visit https:// www.stlouismo.gov/ jobs/.

“Constantly having positions go unfilled is hurting our ability to provide good services to our residents. More competitive pay is the right thing to do and will boost

Police officers and firefighters received a $6,000 raise in 2018. The director of Personnel is currently in negotiations with the labor representatives and expect to announce a new compensation package in the not too distant future, the release stated. “Due to tight budget constraints over the last 10 years, civil service civilian City employees have not received the raises they deserve,” Krewson stated. “There were even furloughs and no raises for several years.” To apply for city jobs, visit https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/ jobs/.

Greg Mohler, VP of Construction at BJC Healthcare; Tommy L. Davis Jr., chairman and CEO of TD4 Electrical; Scott Wittkop, president and COO of McCarthy Building Company; and John Buescher, Midwest Region president of McCarthy Building Company, are helping to raise money for the American Heart Association in its Hard Hats for Heart campaign.

‘There is some revenue to be made’ Missouri’s medical marijuana industry brings new opportunity and challenges to banks

By Corinne Ruff Of St. Louis Public Radio

Robbie Guard sees a green opportunity in Missouri’s newest industry — medical marijuana. He runs the Cape Girardeau office for MRV Banks. The 13-year-old institution has just three locations along the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. As a relatively young bank with a small footprint, it struggles to bring in new accounts. Guard hopes the newly legal medical marijuana industry will change that.

n “The risk is it’s against the law, plain and simple.”

– Max Cook, Missouri Bankers Association

“Since they are considered unbankable by many banks, it does create a supply and demand, and therefore there is some revenue to be made,” he said. Aside from MRV Banks, it’s hard to know exactly where marijuana-related businesses across the state will put their money. Most banks are staying quiet about their interest. That’s because marijuana is still federally illegal, and Missouri banks are federally insured. The contradiction between laws leaves it up to banks to decide whether the risk is worth the reward. Banks are in the business of making money, and the medical marijuana industry is expected to generate a lot of it. The Missouri Cannabis Industry Association anticipates it will grow into a $480 million-a-year industry. But banks also don’t like risk, and the marijuana industry

— which operates largely in cash — is considered high-risk. That’s why many banks are

reaching out to the state for guidance.

Dave Doering, chief examiner at the Missouri Division of Finance, said he’s been hearing from banks interested in the new market since November 2018, when voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.

Doering, who was serving as acting commissioner of the division when interviewed for this story, said the big problem for banks is that marijuana is still federally classified as an illegal drug.

“From a state’s perspective, there’s not a whole lot we can do about what’s required on the federal level, and that’s where our banks are running into trouble,” he said.

Doering said the federal government needs to pass safe harbor protections for bankers. Congress is considering such a measure, but momentum has stalled in recent months.

Max Cook, president and CEO of the Missouri Bankers Association, is also fielding calls from bankers. He said he doesn’t advise them whether to pursue the business or not; he tells banks to do their homework.

“The risk is it’s against the law, plain and simple,” he said. “Those who have chosen to put blinders on and engage at some level are running the risk of federal regulators, federal prosecutors — any number of agencies — saying, ‘All right, enough’s enough. We’re cracking down.’”

Cook said he doesn’t think that will happen, but the

As marijuana remains federally illegal and Missouri banks are federally insured, banks are reaching out to the state for guidance.

uncertainty is enough for most banks to hold off until the federal government provides clearer guidelines. For now, he said interest in banking marijuana-related businesses “seems to be fairly low.”

But that will likely change over time. In some of the 32 other states with legal medical marijuana markets, banks have had years to figure out how to do it.

Across the country, more than 550 banks and 150 credit unions currently bank the marijuana industry, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

For bankers considering serving the new medical marijuana market, there are lots of concerns: What will our shareholders think? Will it alienate other customers?

But Julie Stackhouse, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the biggest worry she hears about is whether banks can meet all the requirements.

“The marijuana business is a heavily cash business, and banks know that as they look at banking the business they will have very heightened requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering,” she said.

Stackhouse, who is also the Fed’s managing officer of supervision, credit, community development and learning innovation, said cash businesses can be a front for illegal ones if they’re not properly managed.

She said the Fed is one of

several regulators that review banks’ processes for highrisk accounts, like those in the marijuana industry. That means banks hoping to get in on the green have to keep a close eye on marijuanarelated businesses. They’re responsible for making sure businesses have state licenses, knowing the kinds of customers they serve and tracking their activity to make sure revenue is legitimate.

Whether banks suspect irregular activity or not, they must routinely file suspicious activity reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The added paperwork is a time-consuming and expensive process, which weeds out some banks.

As banks scramble to figure out how to bank marijuanarelated businesses in the ShowMe State, they need help. That’s where consultants like Stan Rubbelke come in. He works for cannabis consulting firm Avenir, which assists banks in figuring out whether getting into the new industry is worth it.

“The doctors who certify the patients — do you want to continue to bank them?

The landlord that provides the dispensary location, the employees who are getting paid by a legal Missouri business — do you want to bank them?” he said. “These are all things that a bank should be thinking about right now.”

They also have to think about the cost of opening highly monitored accounts, which could mean hiring more people or buying software to streamline the process.

With all the risks, banks aren’t being vocal about their interest in the medical marijuana industry. Rubbelke said that’s a good thing; there’s not much to gain from going public.

Guard, of MRV Banks, said he does have concerns about planting his flag in the ground around medical marijuana. He doesn’t want to hurt the reputation of his small-town bank.

“There still is a stigma about medical marijuana and marijuana in general,” he said, “but this is something that’s going to be legal in the state of Missouri.”

Follow Corinne on Twitter: @corinnesusan Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Outreach event for MBE and WBE interested in NGA West on Jan. 30

McCarthy HITT will host an outreach event for small, minority-owned and womenowned businesses that are interested in working on the Next NGA West construction project 8:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, January 30, at Cortex Innovation Hall, 4220 Duncan Ave.. The program will begin with an update on the design and construction schedule, followed by information on how companies can qualify for contracting opportunities from

a variety of presenters familiar with opportunities for small, minority-owned and womenowned businesses. Company business owners or their representatives will receive information about specific construction-bidding opportunities and requirements, as well as details about capacity-building services for sitework, concrete, electrical, mechanical, and other general construction work.

The 97-acre project site is located at the intersection of

Jefferson and Cass avenues. When complete in around 2025, the campus will include a 700,000-square-foot office building, two parking garages, a visitor center, a delivery inspection facility and secure entrance/exit points. This event is for companies only. Job fairs for individuals will be announced at a later date. Advance registration is required and can be made at http://bit.ly/NGAupdate2020registration.

Photo by Eric Schmid / St. Louis Public Radio

‘Hard Hats for Heart’

Photo by Michael Schlueter, courtesy of American Heart Association

n “I haven’t run that far since high school, I don’t think.”

— Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, on his spectacular touchdown run in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game

This week’s Prep Basketball Notebook is dedicated to the girls.

There is some excellent basketball being played in the Public High League this season. The league has a group of quality teams and very talented players who have been putting in the work.

The leader of the pack is Miller Career Academy, who has been rolling along with a 12-3 record. The Phoenix has been fixtures in the Final Four of the Class 4 state tournament, having made three trips to state in the past four years. Head coach Darrin White also recently picked up his 200th career victory at Career Academy.

The Phoenix features a very talented backcourt in senior twins Antuanae and Ajanae Garrett, who have been starting together throughout their varsity careers. Antuanae is a 5’6” shooting guard who is averaging 14.3 points, three assists and three steals while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. Senior forward Jayrissa Grayson is a 5’9” athlete who is averaging 11 points and eight rebounds while shooting 59 percent from the field.

Senior forward Rayn Talley is a solid 5’10” performer who is averaging 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game while 5’8” sophomore Kelsey Harris is averaging nine points a game off the bench. The Phoenix pulled off one of their biggest victories of the season on Monday when they defeated Kansas City Lincoln Prep 43-42 in the STL MLK Classic at Career Academy. Harris provided the drama on the day with a game-winning 3-pointer with 11 seconds left.

While Career Academy has been a consistent winning program, Vashon is an up and coming player under the direction of John Albert. The Wolverines are 9-5 while playing a very tough schedule. Vashon’s program has been sparked by the addition of some very talented freshmen in 5’10” Raychel Jones and 5’11” Kanitra Barnett.

Jones is a multi-talented wing player who is currently averaging 17.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.8 steals a game. Barnett is an inside performer who is averaging 8.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a game.

See HOOPS, B5

Sports

Girls got game

Or have superteams ruined the regular season for good?

Zion Williamson was the most-heralded and highly-anticipated rookie to enter the NBA since LeBron James in 2003. His highlight reel dunks, exploding shoes and physics-defying athleticism positioned Williamson to be an instant star. Williamson did not disappoint in the preseason. He led the Pelicans to a 4-0 start. In those games, the No. 1 overall pick averaged 23.3 points on 71.4 percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Officially, Williamson’s preseason scoring average is the highest ever recorded. Throw an asterisk on that because preseason statistics were not officially tracked until 2005. According to Mike Lynch of The Ringer, a basketball historian and researcher by the name of Todd Spehr has

a far more robust database of NBA preseason statistics. According to Spehr’s research, Williamson’s 23.3 point average is tied for the fourth-highest in NBA history – behind Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy (26.2), Wilt Chamberlain (25.8) and David Robinson (24.9). Sadly the Zion hype train went off the rails when the 6-foot-6, 285pound freak of nature suffered a torn right meniscus that required surgery. Initially the team announced that Williamson would miss sixto-eight weeks. Fast-forward 13 weeks and Williamson was finally slated to make his official NBA debut Wednesday night (Jan. 22) against the San Antonio Spurs. Without Williamson, the Pelicans limped to a dismal 7-23 start. However, the team has seemingly turned a corner

Earl Austin Jr.

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong holds his Gold Glove Award awarded to him at the St. Louis Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards dinner in St. Louis on Sunday, January 19.

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Golden Wong

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Mahomes’ magic guarantees Super Bowl will be a ratings record-setter

I know it, you know it and the NFL for darn sure knows it.

The Super Bowl is going to be the most-watched television show of the year in 2020. But this year’s edition will blow out past years’ in the ratings for one reason. His name is Patrick Mahomes III.

The Kansas City quarterback carries unsurpassed talent and confidence on to the field and they helped the Chiefs overcome respective 27-0 and 17-7 deficits in the playoffs against the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans. His team is headed to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years.

pearl is more about winning than personal achievement.

“Playing at Texas Tech, I put up a lot of stats but we didn’t win a lot of football games,’’ Mahomes told ESPN minutes after the AFC Championship victory. “I knew going into the NFL I was going to do whatever it took just to win games.’’

His leadership, intelligence, style, good looks and Muppet voice have made him not only the face of the Chiefs – he is now the face of the NFL. People who don’t follow NFL football know who Patrick Mahomes is and what he has accomplished.

Mahomes will soon top New England quarterback Tom Brady at the summit of the NFL’s list of top-selling players in terms of merchandise, the NFL Players’ Association announced Monday.

He led all players in league-licensed merchandise sales from March 1 to November 30. If Mahomes maintains his position through the end of February (the Super bowl is Feb. 2), he will end Brady’s reign. Brady has been No. 1 the last two seasons and led all players three times since 2014. As humble as he is talented – Mahomes will be the fifth-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. The world is his oyster, but this black

He proved his point on a 27-yard wild scramble for a touchdown seconds before the end of the first half that put Kansas City up 21-17 in the AFC title game. The Mahomes’ legend grew leaps and bounds on that play and so did his icon stature in Kansas City.

He later said on Twitter, “Thank you Chiefs Kingdom that one was for you. But we aren’t done yet! Yes, Mahomes and the Chiefs have a daunting task in beating the 49ers. As of Tuesday morning, the Chiefs were a 1-point favorite. The 49ers will bring a stingy defense and punishing running game with them. They are for real. A record TV audience will be watching – and the guy it most wants to see is named Mahomes.

Time for a change – again

When the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers square off in the Super Bowl, Eric Bieniemy will guide the AFC Champions’ offense and Robert Saleh will direct the NFC Champions’ defense. Both are coaches of color. Both are coordinators. Both interviewed for the Cleveland Browns head coaching position.

Patrick Mahomes will soon top New England quarterback Tom Brady at the summit of the NFL’s list of top-selling  players in terms of merchandise, the NFL Players’ Association announced Monday.

Both didn’t get it.

Bieniemy is an African American and Saleh is an Arab American.

There were five NFL head coaching job open when the season ended. Within a month, four of them went to white men. Ron Rivera, who is of Latino descent, was hired by Washington.

Two of the new coaches have never been head coaches or coordinators – at any level of football.

The Associated Press recently reported that two black candidates have been hired to 20 open head-coaching jobs in the past three years.

Rod Graves, executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, said last week the NFL is not serious in its effort to create head coaching opportunities for minority candidates.

“We believe this latest hiring cycle underlines that the league’s commitment to diversity and inclusion needs to be reevaluated,” he told ESPN.

“There is a good ol’ boy system in the league that continues to benefit only a few, regardless of merit or results. We’re in a time within our industry that demands better hiring practices. We’re striving to make a great game better.”

The Alliance, which is named for one of the NFL’s first black players and tracks minority coaching hires at the pro and collegiate levels, was scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday in Mobile, Alabama, site of Saturday’s Senior Bowl. Graves planned to announce ways to expand minority hiring.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II said on the NFL Network it’s time to address the situation – again. He is a son of the late Art Rooney, who created the “Rooney Rule” that mandates at least one minority candidate be interviewed for any NFL head coaching or GM position.

The NFL “is not where we want to be [and] not where we need to be,” Rooney said of minority hiring for top front office positions.

“The first thing we’ll do, as part of our diversity committee, is really review this past season’s hiring cycle and make sure we understand what went on and talk to the people involved both on the owner’s side, management’s side as well as the people that were interviewed.”

Rooney said after rule was passed in 2003, “there was a period there where we did see an increase in minority hiring at the head-coaching position.”

“Since then, that trend seems to reverse itself, particularly in the last few years. We need to study what’s going on and understand better what’s going on and really decide how we improve the situation.”

49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, who works with Saleh every day and says he is deserving of a head coach-

ing position, said increasing the number of minority head coaches “is always going to be a challenge.”

“Obviously, Robert Saleh is a person of color and got an interview. But I think there’s tons of coaches out there that deserve a head-coaching job (including former NFL head coach Lovie Smith and Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy,)” Sherman said.

“But those guys aren’t even getting a look. And ones that are getting a look are just getting it so they can check the Rooney Rule box off. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much you talk about it, because it’s not changing.”

The Reid Roundup

The NBA is the only professional sports league – or any major national entity – that properly recognizes Martin Luther King Day. It plays day games throughout the county and its players are dedicated to putting on a show. Here are some of the things that happened on Monday… Portland’s Damian Lillard scored 61 points in a victory over the Golden State Warriors. It is the second time in his career topping 60… During his career, Kemba Walker was 0-28 in his matchups with LeBron James. Walker, now a Boston Celtic, scored 20 points and our own Jayson Tatum tossed in 27 in a blowout victory over the L.A. Lakers… Russell Westbrook had at least one triple double over every team except Oklahoma City – for whom he used to play. He got it on MLK Day with 32 points,

12 assists and 11 rebounds, but the Thunder defeated Houston 112-107… Ben Simmons tied a career high with 34 points and added 12 rebounds and 12 assists to rack up a triple-double in the Philadelphia 76ers 117-111 victory over the Brooklyn Nets… Only six NBA players have scored 60 or more points twice or more: Wilt Chamberlain (32 times), Kobe Bryant (6 times), Michael Jordan (5 times), Elgin Baylor (4 times), James Harden (4 times), and Lillard (2 times)… Dusty Baker interviewed for the Houston Astros managerial position on Monday. His name has been connected to the New York Mets job too… Former LSU player Odell Beckham ruined a wonderful postgame for LSU players by acting a fool on the field (handing out cash to players) and in the locker room (slapping a police officer on the rear end.) His act is tired… I have made repeated calls to a telephone number connected to the St. Louis Battlehawks. No reply. Can somebody tell me how to request a media credential? I’ve written as – or more –about the team than any sports writer in St. Louis. Jeez. Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is aaareid1.

Alvin A. Reid

With Maurice Scott Jr.

Granite City H.S. fires Orlando “Doc” Gooden

Granite City High School and its Board of Education didn’t recommend the renewal of its head football coach Orlando “Doc” Gooden for the 2020 football season.

Gooden was a former standout athlete at Cahokia as a former coach with the Comanches. In addition, Gooden continued his career at the University of Missouri and at Indiana State University.

Gooden compiled a 3-6 record in his first season at Granite City despite playing a majority of talented freshmen at the varsity level and seemed to be turning the culture around in a competitive way for the Warriors.

However, this situation

Clutch

Continued from B3

Some of that decline can be attributed to the insane amount of injuries suffered by the league’s top players. Steph Curry has only played in four games this season due to a broken wrist. Perennial AllStars Klay Thompson Kevin Durant and John Wall have tallied zero games this season. Other stars such as Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kyrie Irving Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns have missed have missed significant time due to injury and/ or load management. The league and its network partners are hoping that Wiliamson’s return can help to reverse that trend. Wednesday night, ESPN was scheduled to air the matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets. The matchup featured a player averaging nearly 37 points per game (James Harden) versus the team tied for the second-best record in the West. Instead, ESPN decided to give those two playoff-bound teams the boot in favor of Williamson’s NBA debut. That’s star power.

Superteams part of the problem?

Though I have long defended players’ rights to join forces in search of NBA championships, I have little doubt that the “superteam” trend has had

Hoops

Continued from B3

Making it all work at the point guard is 5’8” senior Jalyia Smith, who is averaging 13.3 points and three assists a game. Gateway STEM is another talented team that has upgraded its schedule, which has resulted in 10 victories this season. The Jaguars have one of the area’s most exciting players in 5’9” junior guard Marshaun Bostic, who goes end to end as fast as any player in St. Louis. Bostic is a true stat-sheet stuffer as she averages 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 5.7 steals.

Bostic is surrounded by a solid group of seniors in 5’9” forward Kinnuady Daniels, 5’10” guard Amori DampierMcCloud and 6’1” forward Kaitlyn Simms. Daniels is

seems to be a bit strange. Getting only one year to turn around a dismal program for years like Granite City is not good at all, despite the recommendations from the Director of Athletics John Moad and principal Daren De Pew at the high school to rehire Gooden.

Granite City Board of Education and its Athletic Department isn’t immune to controversy. It was just two years ago that the school left the Southwestern Conference because of allegations that a gun was seen at an East St. Louis Flyers basketball game. Those allegations were unfounded. In addition, they tried to get other Conference

members to vote in favor of all installing metal detectors for all athletic events, which was voted down by conference members so fast they subsequently left.

In addition, Granite City thought that the South Seven Conference or the Mississippi Valley Conference would welcome them with open arms. However, that wasn’t and hasn’t been the case either.

Maurice Scott Jr.

According to the Illinois High School Association website, Granite City, nicknamed the Warriors, has an enrollment of 1,809

students located in Madison County. With all of their athletic woes, it must be noted, with a growing and ever present minority population, they currently don’t have any African Americans as teachers in the high school. In addition, now the only black head coach is Gerard Moore, who is the boys’ varsity basketball coach. Now, Moore, too, has been reassigned out of the high school in the last 60 days. I smell a rat at the high school, and it’s not the fault of Orlando Gooden.

a role in the league’s plummeting regular-season ratings. Think about it. Every time NBA superstars join forces they leave behind average teams with extra-regular rosters. It’s like Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion, but for basketball. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction Interest has skyrocketed in the Lakers after the organization paired LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Clippers became must-see TV when Leonard and George rode into town (at least when they both suit up on the same night). Look at those players’ former teams though. Who is checking for a LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers’ game outside of Ohio? Even with Chris Paul in Oklahoma City, when is the last time you overheard

averaging 13.5 points and 9.5 rebounds; Dampier-McCloud is averaging 10 points and 5.5 rebounds while Simms is averaging seven points and six rebounds.

Metro features one of the area’s best all-around players in 5’10” senor Faith Bland, who plays all five positions for the 9-7 Panthers. Bland is currently averaging 20.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 4.8 steals and nearly two blocks a game. She has already signed with Texas A&M-Commerce.

Another excellent individual talent in the league is senior guard Keisha Watkins of Northwest Academy, who is averaging 16.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and seven steals a game.

Howell Central remains undefeated

The Francis Howell Central

someone rushing home to catch the Thunder game? Even the defending world champion Toronto Raptors team lost much of its luster after Leonard hopped off the boat and cornrowed his way to L.A.

The biggest problem with superteams is not just that they limit the number of teams who can reasonably expect to compete for a championship. By consolidating the number of teams that house the league’s biggest stars, players have effectively eliminated interest in the other teams.

In order to combat waning interest, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has floated the idea of an in-season tournament and play-in games for the final playoff spots. Those suggestions have received a lukewarm response around the league. According to Yahoo Sports,

Spartans have enjoyed an excellent season with a 15-0 record and three tournament championships. The Spartans are an excellent passing team with talented players and great team chemistry. Howell Central had a big victory last weekend with a 57-43 win over Hazelwood Central at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Classic at SLUH. Leading the Spartans’ balanced scoring attack is 5’6” senior guard Azaria Hulbert and 5’9” junior forward Sofia Tweedie. Hulbert, an UMSL signee, and Tweedie are both averaging 12 points a game. Junior point guard Gracie Stugart is averaging 8.1 points and a team-high 5.4 assists a game. Senior guard Makayla Best is averaging 7.8 points while 5’10” sophomore Trinity Matthews is averaging 7.8 points.

and

Silver recently postponed a planned April vote regarding the potential schedule changes. Unfortunately, an in-season tournament is doomed to fail unless more NBA teams feature bona fide NBA stars. It’s not

Citizens and especially parents in this community need to take a closer look at what’s going on at Granite City High School.

Scott’s Notes

The defending Class 3A state basketball champion East St. Louis Flyers, coached by Mark Chambers, allowed CBC standout Caleb Love to score 42 points in the Cadets 68-62 victory at East St. Louis last Saturday night in the City of Champions MLK Classic. It must be noted that East St. Louis shouldn’t and won’t have any problems getting back to Peoria and the Final Four of the state tournament this year.

the responsibility of the players to ensure parity and star distribution throughout the league. That’s the job of Silver and the owners.

So far the league has tried to combat superteams through “Bird rights.” Named after Larry Bird, the rule allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents.

For instance, the Raptors were able to offer Leonard a five-year, $189.6 million contract during the offseason. The most other teams could offer him was a four-year, $140.6 million deal. He ultimately signed a three-year, $103 million deal with the Clippers.

While those numbers appear to be wildly different when you view the total contract amount, once you break them down per year, it’s really not a big difference ($38M, $35.15M and $34.3M respectively).

If the NBA wants to seriously convince superstars to stay with their original teams

However, the program has no signature wins this season, having losses to powers such as Cardinal Ritter College Prep, Raymore-Peculiar High School, Collinsville, Vashon and CBC. The Flyers have an abundance of talented players on the roster. And to all my haters who might say I’m hating, please be aware I’ve not written one word negative about the program, because of the loyalty I have to many of the players who I’ve coached on the roster and still have excellent relationships with them and their parents and families. However, it is what it is.

instead of bolting and buddying up in free agency, it will have to allow teams to resign their own players at a much higher annual salary (say $10M more per year) and limit the cap hit for those of contracts. Had Leonard been looking at a four-year, $160 million offer from Toronto versus a four-year $120M offer from everyone else, maybe he would still be in Toronto. Silver and the NBA have much work to do to reverse the trend of falling ratings. Williamson’s return will help. However, he will have to prove that he can stay healthy enough to carry the league’s ratings on his broad shoulders. Meanwhile, Silver will have to broaden his imagination to combat the buddy ball era and convince superstar players that it’s OK to stay. Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch online at stlamerican. com and on Twitter @ishcreates.

Janitors

continued from page B1

employers and institutions, including Washington University, Target and St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones’ office, have also announced plans to raise wages to $15 for employees.

State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge (D-St. Louis) remembers leading Fight For $15 walkouts in the spring of 2013 as an 18-year-old fastfood worker.

“People called us crazy,” Aldridge said. “Over time, low-wage workers have been able to push the narrative of what a living wage is throughout the country.”

Aldridge said he hopes the mayor’s announcement will have a positive influence for the union janitors’ contract negotiations. Janitors believe these policies will help address the economic and racial segregation preventing the St. Louis region from moving forward.

“While janitors will lead the way for One St. Louis, they will not stop until all working people — graduate workers, fast food workers, healthcare workers and more — earn the $15 and win the good union jobs they need to thrive and make our region more fair across racial lines,” according to a SEUI statement about the campaign.

Local 1 janitors who live and marched in Ferguson believe little has changed for working families in North City and North County in the last five years since the Ferguson uprising.

“With the region’s black residents three times more likely than white residents to live in poverty and the racial income gap widening in recent years, the call for $15 aligns with the Ferguson Commission’s recommendation to make the St. Louis region more equitable across racial lines, with $15.69 the average wage necessary to afford a basic two-bedroom apartment in the city,” according to the union’s statement.

The median wage for regional janitors is $10.75, leaving them struggling to put food on the table for their families, it states.

n “We are going through the same thing. And it will help your community because the more money you have, the more you can spend in the community.”

– Eugene Hubbard

Eugene Hubbard, 70, has been a janitor for the last 20 years. He began receiving Social Security checks at 62, but it’s not enough to retire on, he said. He has seven children, 16 grandchildren and 11 grandchildren.

“My wife tells me I always wanted a baseball team,” he said, laughing. Hubbard helps to pay insurance policies and other things for them. Many of the janitors enjoy what they do, he said, and with the current health and sanitary requirements, it’s a technical and skilled labor position. He explained that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went down and fought alongside the sanitary workers for better wages.

“We are going through the same thing,” Hubbard said. “And it will help your community because the more money you have, the more you can spend in the community.”

Barbara Dace, a janitor who works at Confluence Academy, joined Keosha Gowan, a janitor who works at Express Scripts, at a rally on December 19 that started outside Peabody Plaza then marched through downtown St. Louis.

The Rev. Cleo Smith, a Memphis sanitation who marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King when he went to Memphis in 1968 to support their struggle, joined SEIU Local 1 janitors in St. Louis on Sunday, January 12. Since last October, SEIU Local 1 janitors have been fighting for $15 an hour wages through their contract negotiations, which affect more than 2,100 janitors.

Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1

Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1

LivingIt

Glamour

Veteran model Pierre McCleary on the catwalk for the sold-out presentation of Anomaly: A Runway Fashion Experience Saturday, January 18 at The Last Hotel. The show featured nearly twenty models in 60 looks that were the creation of emerging local brand Designs by J. Stocking that ranged from everyday to eveningwear.

By

city’s structural beauty

When Brian Temple was growing up, his youth was marked by a certain curiosity when it came to buildings – both in the Penrose neighborhood he called home and beyond. He would see construction underway and find himself wondering what the finished space would look like. The buildings that were already erected would compel him to imagine how they came to be.

That curiosity inspired him to become an architect. The same wonder of the rich aesthet-

Architect turned author Brian Temple highlights some of his favorite landmarks throughout the city in ‘Product of STL.’ He will celebrate the release of the book of photographs with a signing event on January 25 at Afro Logic Art Gallery in Ferguson.

By Rebeccah Bennett

For The St. Louis American

The year 2020 is the year of satisfaction! You read right – satisfaction! For far too long, many of us have been living lives that overflow with responsibility but trickle with contentment. I’m not writing about what someone else told me, I’m sharing what I’ve experienced firsthand. There have been too many moments, days and years when I settled for “just enough” when what I really want ed was joy. How did this happen? I, like many others, became confused about the difference between pri mary and secondary satisfactions. The former, which most of us yearn for, is hard to come by in a society that lauds perpetual busy-ness, instant gratification, and surface connections. And the

latter are poor substitutes that take the sting out of feeling empty and exploited. Let’s explore these distinctions further. Primary satisfactions are what make life worth living. While the forms they take vary from person to person, the underlying impulses are usually the same. Among them are feeling cared for and supported, contributing to something meaningful and worthwhile, being pleased with ourselves, and helping others, to name a few. When we don’t experience these, because we dwell in toxic environments or lack time and energy, we reach for convenient placeholders. For example, we’ll substitute entertainment for companionship, status for achievement, looking good for feeling good and donating money for investing time. Now let me be clear, entertainment,

By Kenya Vaughn Of The

Photo by V. Lang

Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

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.

black history

Sat., Feb. 1, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library presents An Evening with Joseph “Rev Run” and Justine Simmons. Hear their secrets to lasting love and the guiding principles that have kept them together for more than twenty years. Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www. brownpapertickets.com.

Thur., Feb. 6, 6:30 p.m., 400 Plus Years of Fortitude: African-American Contributions Since 1619. Maplewood Public Library, 7550 Lohmeyer, 63143. For more information, visit www. maplewoodpubliclibrary.com.

Wed., Feb. 12, 10:30 a.m., Underground Railroad. Lecture on Missouri’s Laws on Slavery and the Underground Railroad. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Fri., Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Lift Every Voice: Black History Month Celebration. An evening of music that celebrates the music of African-American and African cultures. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.slso. org.

concerts

Jan. 22 – 26, Jazz at the Bistro presents the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.jazzstl.org.

Sat., Jan. 25, 9 p.m., Rockhouse Ent. & Black Luxury present Jeezy In Concert. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Sat., Feb. 8, 7 p.m., The Sheldon Rhythm & Jazz Series presents Christian Sands’ High Wire Trio Remembering Erroll Garner. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Jan. 29 – 30, The Cabaret Project of St. Louis welcomes Tony-nominated Broadway veteran Norm Lewis. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For tickets or more information, visit at www. thecabaretproject.org or call 314-571-6000.

Fri., Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m., 560 Music Center presents Aaron Diehl. 560 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www.560. wustl.edu.

Sat., Feb. 8, 7 p.m., The Sheldon Rhythm & Jazz Series presents Christian Sands’ High Wire Trio Remembering Erroll Garner. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sun., Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m., Fox Theatre presents Who Is Jill Scott? 20th Anniversary Tour. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Fri., Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m., Chaifetz Arena presents the St. Louis Music Festival feat. Teddy Riley with Blackstreet, Bobby Brown, Jagged Edge, SWV, El Debarge, and special host Doug E. Fresh. 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Fri., Feb. 14, 8 p.m., Whitaker World Music Concerts presents Angelique Kidjo. Born in Benin, Kidjo and her band will celebrate the electrifying rhythms, vocals and sounds of Africa. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit

Kenya Vaughn recommends

www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., Lindenwood University presents The Isley Brothers. J. Scheidegger Center, 2300 W. Clay St., 63301. For more information, visit www. lindenwood.edu.

Wed., Feb. 19, 8 p.m., The Pageant presents Raphael Saadiq – Jimmy Lee Tour. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Sat., Feb. 22, 8 p.m., A Night to Remember with Melba Moore and Howard Hewett Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

local gigs

Sun., Jan. 26, All Is Fair In Love: An Homage to Stevie Wonder. The Signature Club, 9002 Overland Plz., 63114. For more information, visit www.ifejacobsmusic.com.

Fri., Jan. 31, 7 p.m., Michael Jackson and Prince Vegas Style Tribute. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

special events

Thur., Jan. 23, 5 p.m., Gateway Wedding Show. Gateway Center, 1 Gateway Dr., Collinsville, IL. 62234. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Jan. 23, 6 p.m., St. Louis Metro East FCA presents An Evening with Isaac Bruce &Randy Karraker. Christ Church, 339 Frank Scott Parkway East, Fairview Heights, IL. 62208. For more information, visit www.fca.regfox.com.

Jan. 23 – 26, 2020 STL Auto Show. Over 500 different models from over 25 different manufacturers, motorcycles, kids’ activities, giveaways, and more. America’s Center, 701 Convention Plaza, 63101. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Fri., Jan. 24, 11 a.m., The NHL Black History Tour presented by American Legacy will be at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis Teen Center of Excellence, 9200 West Florissant.

Sat., Jan. 25, 12 noon, NHL

560 Music Center presents Aaron Diehl. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Black Hockey History Tour presented by American Legacy, This uniquely curated mobile museum will celebrate today’s stars, while also looking back at the pioneers and trailblazers who helped shape NHL history. Free and open to the public at Kiener Plaza during Winterfest, as part of the NHL All Star Game festivities.

Sat., Jan. 25, 1 p.m., Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc. S.O.S. – Save Our Sons. Calling all Black men to action town hall. Hear from speakers, visit the expungement clinic, learn about job opportunities, banking opportunities, and more. Harris Stowe University Auditorium, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.ulstl. com.

Sat., Jan. 25, 7 p.m., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Xi Zeta Chapter - Centennial Gala, Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel, 9801 Natural Bridge Road. For more information about the Gala, please call 314-3695844 or send an email to zphibxizetaevents@gmail. com.

Sun., Jan. 26, 2 p.m.,

Liberated Genius presents Celebrating Black Educators, Innovation Hall, 4220 Duncan Ave. For more information, visit Eventbrite.com, www. LiberatedGenius.com or email info@LibertedGenius.com.

Thur., Jan. 30, 10 a.m., JobNewsUSA presents a St. Louis Job Fair Orlando Gardens Events and Conference Center, 2050 Dorsett Village, 63043. For more information, visit www. jobnewsusa.com.

Thur., Jan. 30, 4 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Adulting 101: Teen Opportunity & Job Fair Explore volunteering options and meet potential employers or mentors. 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Thur., Jan. 30, 4 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Adulting 101: Teen Opportunity & Job Fair Explore volunteering options and meet potential employers or mentors. 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Thur., Jan. 30, 7 p.m., Ward Chapel A.M.E. invites you to their Winter Revival: Pressing Forward

to Paradise. 11410 Old Halls Ferry Rd., 63033. For more information, visit www. wardchapelamestl.org.

Fri., Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Science Center presents National Geographic Live! With Wildlife Photographer Steve Winter: On the Trail of Big Cats. Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, visit www. touhill.org.

Sat., Feb. 1, 9 p.m., Slumfest Awards 2020: The Four Element Party. Performances by Ricki G, KV the Writer, Katarra Parson, Jaee the Artist, and more. Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sat., Feb. 1, 11 a.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., East St. Louis Alumnae Chapter invites you to their 107th Founders Day Observance. Keynote speaker Reverend Dr. Cassandra Gould. The Regency Conference Center, 400 Regency Park, O’Fallon, IL. 62269. For more information, visit www.dsteslac.org.

Sat., Feb. 1, 2:30 p.m., Better Family Life’s 7th Annual Jr. Unity Ball. The evening will include the 5th Annual America Scores Poetry Slam, an awards ceremony, special guests, and more. 5415 Page Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. bflyouth.org.

Sat., Feb. 1, 6:30 p.m., SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital presents Heart & Soul 2020 Live and silent auctions, a theme inspired dinner, and performance by The Dirty Muggs. Proceeds benefit the Dallas Heart Center. Chase Park Plaza, 212 N. Kingshighway Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.glennon.org.

Sat., Feb. 1, 7 p.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., St. Louis Alumni Chapter invites you to their Kappa Tailgate Party. Machinists Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63044. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Fri., Feb. 7, 6 p.m., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Metropolitan St. Louis Chapters invite you to Pink Goes Red Slide & Zumba Dance Event. In support of stroke and heart disease awareness. Normandy Senior High, 6701 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63133. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., Feb. 15, 9 a.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Saint Louis Alumni Chapter presents Teen Summit: Squad Goals. Middle age to high school students are invited to learn about making money, staying fit, being your authentic self and more. University City High School, 7401 Balson Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Feb. 15, 11 a.m., Phyllis Wheatley YWCA Committee on Administration presents the 50th Annual Alberta E. Gantt Fashion Show: 5 Decades of Fashion. Marriott Airport, 10700 Pear Tree Ln., 63134. For more information, www.ywcastl.org/event/ fashion.

Sat., Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m., Ashleyliane Dance Company presents Love Spell: An Evening of Dance, Hair, and Fashion. Guests will experience live entertainment, hair and makeup looks, and fashion trends by local designers, all centered around themes of love and romance. .Zack, 3224 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., The St. Louis Cultural Flamenco Society invites you to Valentine’s a la Flamenca: ¡Solo Flamenco! Experience Andalucía through the passion of flamenco. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., NPHC Unity Party. Omega Center, 3900 Goodfellow Blvd., 63120. For more information,

Kenya Vaughn recommends

visit www.eventbrite.com.

Fri., Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Best Dance and Talent Center 3rd Annual Trivia Night Fundraiser. Heman Park Community Center, 975 Pennsylvania Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Saturdays, 8 a.m., The Ferguson Farmers Market Plaza at 501, 501 S. Florissant Rd., 63135. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

literary

Sat., Jan. 25, 1 p.m., Book Signing and Discussion for Brian Temple’s Product of STL, Afro Logic Art Gallery. For more information, visit https://www. productofsaintlouis.com/

Tues., Jan. 28, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Anissa Gray, author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

A stunning portrait of the importance of healing past heartbreak in an effort to thrive when the worst happens. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. left-bank.com.

Mon., Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Poetry Center presents Observable Readings with TJ Jarrett and Gillian Parrish. Dressel’s Public House, 419 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.stlouispoetrycenter. org/observable/.

Sat., Feb. 8., 8 p.m., Saint Louis University Music Program and the Nu-Art Series presents Jazz and Tongues: The Art of Music and Poetry, starring JD Parrin, K. Curtis Lyle, George Sams, Darrell Mixon and more, Saint Louis University Theatre in Xavier Hall, 3733 West Pine Mall.

Fri., Jan. 24, 7 p.m., St. Louis Art Museum presents Colored Frames: A Visual Art Documentary. This film chronicles black artists’ struggles for visibility and acceptance in mainstream art society. 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

theatre

Through Sun., Jan. 26, The Black Rep presents August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth. For more information, call (314) 534-3807 or visit www. theblackrep.org.

Through Jan. 26, Fox Theatre presents Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Jan. 31 – Feb. 1, Black Anthology presents Masquerade. An entirely student-run production focused on current issues and unhealthy dynamics that are being faced by the Black community. Edison Theatre, Washington University, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www. blackanthology.wustl.edu.

Feb. 7 – 8, Washington University presents Lunar New Year Festival 2020: Emerge. An annual studentrun production to showcase the diversity of individual Asian cultures through acts such as Lion Dance, Korean Fan, and

Tinikling. Edison Theatre, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www.lnyf.wustl.edu.

Feb. 21 – 23, Fox Theatre presents RENT. Follow an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

lectures and workshops

Fri., Jan. 24, 8:30 a.m., The Soulfisher Ministries invites you to Successful Second Chances Employer Panel.

Keynote speaker, Sen. Jamilah Nasheed. Panelists include Joseph McBride, LaToya Wilson, and Ken Chapman. STLCC Florissant Valley, 3400 Pershall Rd., 63135. For more information, visit www. thesoulfisherministires.com.

Sat., Jan. 25, 8:30 a.m., The Links, Inc., St. Louis Chapter presents The Relationship Spectrum: Good, Bad & Ugly Kemba Smith will provide witness of her chilling accounts with her first love that led her to a 24.5 year prison sentence. Harris Stowe Administrative Building, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Tues., Jan. 28, 7 p.m.,

Immigration Then and Now: Exploring the Making of Undocumented Immigrants. Guest speaker will be Sociologist, Ariela Schachter. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. academyofsciencestl.org.

Wed., Feb. 5, 6:30 p.m., And You Didn’t Want Me to Vote: America’s Contested Site of Power. Professor Angela da Silva will discuss the history of the vote and the maintaining of power through the lens of conflicts. Maplewood Public Library, 7550 Lohmeyer, 63143. For more information, visit www. maplewoodpubliclibrary.com.

Mon., Feb. 17, 7 p.m., Michael Smerconish presents Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: American Life in Columns. Playhouse at Westport Plaza, 635 West Port Plaza, 63146. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Feb. 1, 9 a.m., The Links, Inc., St. Louis Chapter presents Breast Health Equity Symposium. Learn how to advocate for breast health in your community. Barnes Jewish Hospital Parkview Tower, 4921 Parkview, 63121. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Feb. 6, 7:30 a.m., Force Leadership Series Panel presents Healthcare and Its Professions: Women Leading the Way. Panelists include Tracie McGhee, Candace Jennings, Christin Candio, and Dr. Michelle Jenkins-Unterberg. Nine Network, 3655 Olive St., 63108. For more information, visit www.maryville.edu.

Jan. 23 – 26, 7 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. slso.org.

Fox Theatre presents ‘Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1’ 20th Anniversary Tour. See CONCERTS for details.

When the pair reunited for the sequel in 2003, the film raked in $273M – a staggering number at the time when studios were apprehensive to bank on black actors in a huge budget feature.

“Bad Boys For Life” sees Will Smith return not only as the bigger star of the duo – but one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. As one of the film’s producers, fans have his Overbrook Entertainment production company to thank as partially responsible for making sure the follow up saw the light of day after being toyed with and teased for 15 years. Lawrence essentially stepped away from the spotlight for a lengthy hiatus – only returning to standup in the past three years and to film last year for the “Beach Bum.” Before the 2019 comedy, fans hadn’t seen Lawrence on the big screen since 2011’s “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.”

Devoted fans will see the film as worth the wait. The film is entertaining in the way that an alumni marching band pares against the current collegiate ensemble. Those watching are genuinely impressed that they can pick up their instruments and still pull together an in-sync performance after being absent from the field for years. For the franchise that introduced the world to Will Smith the movie star, filmmaking partners Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and screenwriters Chris Bremner, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan tended to opt for feelings over funny when they revisit Burnett and Lowery as detectives of a certain age.

Mike Lowery feels that the pair can still hang with the best of the cops on the Miami PD. Marcus Burnett couldn’t care less about the action of the job. He’s ready to settle down in the next phase of his life. A series of tragic events as part of a plot to avenge a drug kingpin’s takedown by police and the legal system ultimately compel the pair back on the beat to join the younger generation of cops in stopping the deadly conspirators.

While the pair didn’t have as many opportunities to flex their comedy connection, the chemistry between Lawrence and Smith was as strong as ever. Also missing from the latest installment was the tradition of a nasty diabolical villain that audiences will love to hate. Jacob Scipio had the makings

of doing so as Armando, but his character wasn’t given the depth to deliver. Even with the eye candy of Charles Melton and Vanessa Hudgens as part of Miami PD’s next generation and the celebrity cameos of DJ Khaled and Nicky Jam, Lawrence and Smith did nearly all of the heavy lifting in

Temple

Continued from C1

understand that there are cool things in St. Louis all around us,” Temple said. “And it goes beyond the typical things that are always pointed out like the Arch, Old Courthouse, Busch Stadium and places like that.”

He’ll be on hand to discuss the landmarks and everyday places featured in “Product of STL” for the books release party and signing event from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 25 at Afro Logic Art Gallery in Ferguson.

One of the things he hopes that “Product of STL” accomplishes is showcasing the variety of architecture found within the city limits.

“There are elements of modern architecture, but there is plenty of older architecture that we see – from when the city was founded there is a heavy French architectural culture,” Temple said. “I think each neighborhood has a distinct style. With that every place in St. Louis is worth seeing – from Soulard, Dutchtown, Lafayette Square to the Central West End and North City – there’s a lot to offer.”

Each of the photos has a blurb about the historical significance that details why Temple found the particular sites worth featuring in his book.

“I have a section in the

Bennett

Continued from C1

status, good looks, and money are fine, they’re just not sufficient for a happy life. The trap of secondary satisfactions also shows up in subtler ways. I often experience it in my eating habits. I reach for sugar when I long for pleasure, salt when I want flavor or excitement, and fat when I need comfort. The sad truth is that I’m not alone in my behavior. Millions of people are just like me, which is why it’s no surprise that so many of us are living with chronic illness and

“Bad Boys for Life” in making the franchise worth the revisit – and were effective in their efforts.

A silly plot twist leaves the door wide open for “Bad Boys 4” – including the possibility for Scipio to realize the potential he showcased in “Bad Boys for Life.” The hope is that

book called the ‘Water Tower Section,’” Temple said. “There are three old water towers in St. Louis – two in North City and one on South Grand. These old water towers used to regulate pressure in the sewer system. There used to be more than 400 of them throughout the United States. I believe right now there are only seven or eight remaining and St. Louis is home to three of them. I think that’s pretty cool.”

Aside from the pictures that he’s in, Temple took all of the photographs in the book – no small feat for someone who just had just picked up a camera the same year he ambitiously decided to make his city the subject of a photography book.

“I don’t consider myself a photographer. Well maybe I do now,” Temple said. “I kinda just went with it.”

He toyed with the idea for two years and moved forward with putting his vision into action last spring. Seven months later, he was a published author.

“Another motivating factor for the book was inspiring someone else to do the same thing,” Temple said. “As a young black male, it means a lot to see someone who looks like you to write a book, direct a movie or whatever it is. So, my hope is that it inspires someone else. I have two younger brothers. Hopefully they can look back on this and say, ‘my older brother was 27 and he published a book.’ And because of they will feel like ‘I

disease. We aren’t to blame for our current state. After all, our culture and economy are built upon secondary satisfactions. Yet, if we ever want to be and live well, we are going to have to depart from the status quo to pursue what we really want in life. This takes courage because it requires authenticity and comes with no short cuts or quick fixes. To get the satisfaction that we really want and surely deserve, we have to risk being real with ourselves and with others. And this will cost us, our defenses, illusions and maybe even some relationships. But what we stand to gain from our audacity is priceless – more experiences of genuine fulfill-

whoever is at the helm of the project won’t shortchange on the funny when it returns – and that fans won’t have to wait another 15 years. Bad Boys For Life is now open in theaters nationwide. The film is rated R with a running time of 124 minutes.

can do this,’ or ‘I can do that’ because they saw me finish the book.”

He worked on it in bits and pieces on weekends and after clocking out of his day job at HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm.

“It was definitely a process,” said Temple who received his Master of Architecture degree from Kansas State University. “So, to get to the finish line and see a tangible book – and see all of the support coming from it – was really the most rewarding part.” He also found the work fulfilling in that it dispels myths and stereotypes.

“Not only are these subjects – the art, architecture and signage – a product of STL, but I’m also a product of STL,” Temple said. “I feel like I’m a good product of St. Louis. I come from what some might not feel are the best neighborhoods, but I love the city where I’m from.

I think that there are gems everywhere around us, but we have to get out there and find them by exploring our city.”

The release party/signing event for “Product of STL” will take place on Saturday, January 25 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. at Afro Logic Art Gallery, 18 Church Street in Ferguson, Mo. For more information on the book, visit www.productofsaintlouis. com or e-mail: productofsaintlouis@gmail.com

ment and unfettered joy. The year 2020 is our year of satisfaction. Let’s claim it!

Rebeccah Bennett is founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC and its subsidiary InPower Institute. For more information on InPower Institute, a center for community healing and optimal living –and the programming the center (located at 4125 Humphrey in South City) provides, visit www.InPowerinstitute.com or call (314) 832-1669.

Column republished with permission from Rebeccah Bennett’s “Liberating Living” series.

Fans have waited nearly two decades for Martin Lawrence and Will Smith to return to the big screen as Miami police detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery. A full 25 years have passed since the original “Bad Boys” was released. “Bad Boys for Life” opened in theaters nationwide on Friday, January 17.

Celebrations

Reunions

Beaumont Class of 1970 has scheduled its 50-year reunion celebration for the weekend of 10/16/20-10/18/20. The banquet will be held at The Embassy Suites (downtown), 610 N. 7th St. We are currently working on finalizing plans to make this our best reunion yet! Please forward

your current contact info to: beaumontclassof1970@gmail. com, so that we can keep you informed.

Central High School Class of 1970 is in the process of planning its 50-year reunion in 2020. We are trying to locate former classmates. If you would like to receive additional information as we plan this momentous occasion, please provide your contact information to either Lillian McKinney at mamajoyce314@ icloud.com or (314) 335-9760, Eric Armstrong at elarmstr@ yahoo.com or (918) 650-

Birthday

Engagement

Ms. Louisa Beth Hardwrict and Mr. Lawrence Walls, Jr. became engaged to be married on December 24, 2019. Ms. Hardwrict is the daughter of Lee and Madeline Jackson and Mr. Walls is the son of Lawrence and Ruby Walls, all of the St. Louis area. Nuptials are planned for 2021.

3385, Sabra Morris-Pernod at Saboots@centurytel.net or (314) 703-0812.

L’Ouverture School Class of June 1962 will host an event celebrating our historic L’Ouverture Elementary School. For organization and planning, please meet with us at 3245 Geyer Ave, 63104, Saturday, February 1, 2020, 2 pm. For information, contact: Valerie at (314) 664-6270, email: valeriemiller06179@ att.net; or Evelyn at (314) 7738702.

Soldan Class of 1975 Reunion

Happy Birthday to Ashton, who turned 4 on January 12! He is a happy and loving son, brother, cousin and nephew who loves dinosaurs, The Lion King and Legos! Ashton, we love you! Happy 4th Birthday! Love, Mommy and TeTe Jessy

Committee is currently seeking all classmates to celebrate our 45-year reunion in September 2020. Additional details to follow. Please submit your current contact information to Committee members Ms. AnnieSue Preston (314) 6065618, Mr. Arvell Roberts, (314) 319-4937, or send info to SOLDANCLASS1975@ GMAIL.COM.

Vashon High School Class of 1974 is planning its next reunion. We are in the process of rounding up all classmates. To provide or update your contact information, please

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to:

email ljbady@gmail.com or contact: Joe Verrie Johnson 314-640-5842, Jordan Perry 314-724-4563, or LaVerne James-Bady 314-382-0890.

Vashon High School Class of 1975 is planning for its 45-year reunion. We are in process of getting all classmates to provide or update your contact information. Please email Millicent, centbyme1@aol.com or Elvis, elvishopson@att.net You can also send information by mail: Vashon High Class of 1975, P.O. box 8735, St. Louis Mo. 63101. Keep this date open: August 7-9, 2020.

The Hazelwood School District celebrated a milestone at the HSD 70th Anniversary Hall of Fame Awards Gala and Dance at the Renaissance Hotel. Pictured left to right: HSD Board Member Cheryl Latham, Hall of Fame Honoree Carey Davis, and HSD Superintendent Dr. Nettie Collins-Hart

Religion

Minister of gun violence prevention comes to St. Louis

Rev. Deanna Hollas of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

American staff

Last summer, the Presbyterian Church USA, a denomination of 1.4 million members, ordained the Rev. Deanna Hollas as its first minister of gun violence prevention, a move considered a first for a Christian denomination in the country.

“In the last 100 days, 10,000 Americans have died from gun violence and 22,000 have been injured,” Rev. Dr. Clay Brantley said when Hollas was ordained on July 7. “Deanna’s call is a sign of the great persistence and wisdom of God.”

“With all the gun violence in our country, it is easy to lose hope and ask: where is God?

But I am hopeful,” Hollas said. “I see God raising up so many people and churches to study and speak out and work towards ending the violence that is plaguing our nation. Change is coming. ”

On the weekend of February 7-9, Hollas will come to St. Louis and Webster Groves Presbyterian Church to teach, preach, meet with elected officials and hold a workshop on “How to Have Courageous Conversations about Gun Violence.”

On the weekend of February 7-9, Rev. Deanna Hollas, the minister of gun violence prevention for the Presbyterian Church USA, will come to St. Louis and Webster Groves Presbyterian Church to teach, preach, meet with elected officials and hold a workshop on “How to Have Courageous Conversations about Gun Violence.”

Her itinerary includes:

• A lecture on “unmasking the powers” behind the gun violence issue for students and members of the public in Graham Chapel at Washington University at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, followed by a question and answer session.

• A workshop on how to have civil and productive conversations about guns and gun violence at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church, 45 W. Lockwood, on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m., Feb. 8, which is open to the public.

• A private meeting with government officials and legislators

• Sermons during both the

8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

worship services at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church on February 9, and a presentation during the education hour at 9:30 a.m. All are welcome.

In her new role, Hollas is serving as the coordinator of Gun Violence Prevention Ministries for the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, a network which includes more than 1,200 individuals, some representing congregations, who will serve as advocates for gun violence prevention.

She sees her role as an encourager, bringing people together to listen, educating churches on the issue, giving them tools to use and

challenging them to be active, especially in this election year, working towards the prevention of gun violence and caring for its victims.

The workshop will focus on bridging gaps of misunderstanding so people can begin to talk to one another and work for change, she said.

“We will be sharing our experiences, learning how to listen, to be open, and instead of having a debate, connecting, opening the possibility that something new will arise,” Hollas said.

Hollas holds a Masters of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology and a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theology Seminary. In addition to her work as a Dallas gun violence prevention activist, she is co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX which is a covenant community of spiritual directors.

For information on Webster Groves Presbyterian Church and its Advocacy Team, contact Emmy McClelland at emmymcclelland@charter.net or call 314-962-1796.

For information on the event at Graham Chapel, contact Rev. Max Hill at ukirkstl@gmail. com or call 1- 501-940-3864.

Founded 75 years ago, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is a nation-wide community of Presbyterians who act on the nonviolence of Jesus Christ to find alternatives to violence and war. For more information, contact Executive Director Rev. Emily Brewer at info@presbypeacefellowship. org or see www. presbypeacefellowship.org.

The Message

On being a blessing

Haven’t we all been taught at one time or another that it is far better to give than to receive? Christian or not, kindness and goodwill are thought to be wonderful attributes of all of God’s people. Forgiveness and mercy are considered staples of the Christian diet. The result, we believe, is a reaping in this life or the next of God given rewards for a life spent giving with no hidden expectation of receiving in return. That all sounds good until somewhere in your world, life happens.

At a very early age we learn that life is cruel, unpredictable, and our kindness is generally taken as weakness and our generosity viewed as foolish. Life and the people in it will use you if you let it/them. Pain often comes from an attempt to help somebody who doesn’t give a damn about you. It is the reason many a good person goes bad.

People will protect themselves against this kind of personal anguish. We learn how to survive in spite of disappointment. We all eventually learn to navigate a world in which we’ve come to believe nice guys do finish last, takers succeed and cheaters, well, they cheat and win. Now here comes scripture with the edict that giving is always better than receiving. As a matter of fact, it is a Christian prerequisite. I

thought about this and came to the following conclusions. You don’t know what kind of mother you’ll be until you have children. You don’t know what kind of friend you’ll be until you become one. You cannot know the depth of your ability to love someone until you are head over heels caught up in it. You can’t really know yourself as a human being until you share your life with others, without fear, without restrictions, without conditions. For many, including me, this is tough duty because life is so cruel. However, only by being a friend can you know true friendship. Only by giving love unconditionally can you understand unconditional love. Only by being a blessing can you know being blessed. It doesn’t appear to work any other way. If you go through life just existing with a self-imposed set of criteria, then guess what? That’s what you’ll get in return: love and friendship with strings attached. You block countless blessings if your prayers include no one but you and they echo the trials and tribulations of your life only. God really shouldn’t have to ask what have you done for Him lately, when He asks so little of you in the first place. Just act like you know who He is and who we are in relation to Him. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” John 12:13.

The Women of Color and Male Partners Subcommittee is collecting winter items... ...that will be distributed inside of hygiene kits to the community during street outreach

This is an ongoing collaborative effort with partner organizations like the Restorative Justice Movement Center located at 2707 N. Taylor Ave. St Louis, MO 63113

Items can be dropped off at two locations: Rustin’s Place 1114 N. Sarah St. St Louis MO 63113

Williams and Associates 3737 N. Kingshighway Blvd. Ste. 204-206 St Louis, MO 63115

Columnist James Washington

JANITORIAL - HIRING

DEVELOPMENT POSITION

The Gateway Arch Park Foundation is seeking to fill the following open full-time position.

Individual Giving & Membership Manager: Position requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and 3-5 years of professional experience View full job descriptions and application process at www.archpark.org.

ASSISTANT LPT OPERATIONS

Staff position in support of the Loss Portfolio Transfer Department. Works within established guidelines with limited supervision.

To apply, please visit: https:// www.safetynational.com/ careers-page/

FRONT DESK AND LOBBY ATTENDANT

HS Diploma with ability to use a computer. Excellent Customer Service Skills. Position involves heavy public contact. Responsible for greeting all Authority visitors and staff with a professional demeanor and ensures all visitors are signed in via applicable sign-in protocol. Must operate multi-line telephone system, routing telephone calls and directing clients while maintaining and providing a safe and secure environment for employees and visitors of the building. Position requires professionalism, timeliness, organization and the ability to learn and explain Authority policies. Starting Salary $31,187 Annually. Apply or send resume to: St. Louis Housing Authority, HR Division, 3520 Page Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63106 by 5:00 p.m. January 28, 2020 via our website www.slha.org or email athomas@slha.org. A Drug Free Work Place/EOE.

ARE YOU A CHURCH LOOKING FOR AN PROFESSIONAL ORGAN PLAYER, PIANO PLAYER, TEACHER, DIRECTOR, OR MINISTER OF MUSIC?

If so, please call 314-652-1107

PART-TIME MINISTER OF MUSIC NEEDED EPISCOPAL CHURCH ALL SAINTS AND ASCENSION, NORTHWOODS

We ask that this person be proficient on piano, provide leadership to choir, and show flexibility as we incorporate hymns and songs from The Hymnal 1982, Lift Every Voice and Sing, II, as well as Spirituals and some contemporary Gospel. He or she will exercise ministry at regular Sunday services and additional services as needed.

Resumes may be sent to the attention of: Priest-in-Charge Episcopal Church of All Saints and Ascension 4520 Lucas and Hunt Road Northwoods, MO 63121

FULL-TIME PROGRAM MANAGER

Behavioral Health Network of Greater STL seeks a full-time Program Manager for Complex Care. We are committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce that represents the communities we serve. More info & apply at: bhnstl.org/career-opportunities

LOCUST BUSINESS DISTRICT SEEKS RFPS FOR SERVICES

The LBD is seeking vendors to provide a range of services. These services include:

• District Security • Street Sweeping

• Weeding & Trash Removal

• Marketing Services

• Audit Services

For more information, go to the LBD website at www.locustbusinessdistrict.com or email us at info@locustbusinessdistrict.com.

CONTRACT DEFENSE ATTORNEY

The Family Court of St. Louis County is seeking an attorney to perform the equivalent of full time legal work as juvenile defense counsel in delinquency cases. The contractual position is created. The monthly retainer is $5,000 per month. The position is subject to annual renewal and continued availability of funding.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Graduation from an accredited law school, possession of a current license to practice law in the State of Missouri, at least two (2) years of trial experience preferably in juvenile, family or criminal law with additional years of trial experience or any equivalent experience being preferable.

To apply, candidates should send a cover letter and resume to Faye Snow, Director of Human Resources, Circuit Court of St. Louis County, 105 South Central Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105. Applications must be received by 5 PM, Friday, February 14, 2020.

Note: Any selected individual will be required to submit to a drug screen and background check prior to hire. EOE. Please contact the Human Resources Department at 314 615-4471 (voice) or RelayMO711 or 800 735-2966 if you need any accommodations in the application process, or if you would like this posting in an alternative form.

RESIDENTIAL MONITOR

Residential Monitor needed for Supportive Housing Program. AAS degree desired. Please reply to Program Director Doris Magwood at (314) 679-5407.

STUDENT SERVICE COORDINATOR II

Do you have a background in business, marketing, or student services? Missouri S&T Global Learning is seeking the right candidate for its Student Service Coordinator II position (Job #00025196). This position serves as the main point of contact for our St. Louis extended site, located in Des Peres, Mo., providing day-to-day student support and recruitment services for distance education and professional and continuing education. For more information and to apply, visit https://hr.mst.edu/careers/staffemployment/. An Equal Opportunity Employer

FULL-TIME PERMIT TECHNICIAN

The City of Clayton is now accepting applications for a full-time Permit Technician in the Planning & Development Department.

To apply, visit www.claytonmo.gov/jobs. EOE

LEGAL ANALYST

Handle various operational needs of the Legal Department. To be responsible for the management and collection of data, and to develop and support Legal Department key performance indicators and analytics.

To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational.com/ careers-page/

DIRECTOR-CUSTOM APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Responsible for the management and direction of system application development for all custom applications. In particular, release planning, software coding, standards enforcement and supervisory duties. Ensures user satisfaction across all owners of custom applications in the organization. Ensures on-time delivery of SN Enterprise, IMS, Pricing model and public facing custom developed systems as well as other systems assigned to teams led. To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational.com/careers-page/

PROJECT MANAGER & ASST. PROJECT MANAGER

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking a Project Manager and Asst. Project Manager. Go to www.greatriversgreenway. org/jobs-bids/ and submit by February 20, 2020.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking a Volunteer Coordinator and a Greenway Operations Supervisor. Go to www.greatriversgreenway. org/jobs-bids/ and submit by February 28, 2020.

DO YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN BUSINESS,

MARKETING, OR STUDENT SERVICES?

Missouri S&T Global Learning is seeking the right candidate for its Student Service Coordinator II position (Job #00025196). This position serves as the main point of contact for our St. Louis extended site, located in Des Peres, Mo., providing day-to-day student support and recruitment services for distance education and professional and continuing education. For more information and to apply, visit https://hr.mst.edu/careers/ staff-employment/. An Equal Opportunity Employer

VOLUNTEER MANAGER

The Gateway Arch Park Foundation is seeking to fill the following open full-time position.

Volunteer Manager: Position requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and 3-5 years of professional experience

View full job description and application process at www.archpark.org.

ASSISTANT CLAIMS – LARGE CASUALTY MAIL

Responsible for various tasks related to: categorizing, imaging and processing incoming mail

To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational. com/careers-page/

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Ready Readers has an opening for a Volunteer Coordinator. Please visit https://www.theromegroup.com/ job/6145/ready-readers-st-louiscounty-22-volunteercoordinator/ for a complete job description. Deadline has been extended to Jan 24th. No phone calls please.

with mental health issues. Must have personal lived experience as a Y/ YA with mental health challenges in past 10 years & demonstrated interest & skill in working with Y/YAs. More info & apply at: bhnstl.org/career-opportunities

See https://socialpolicyinstitute.wustl.edu/

Professional Liability Manager - Professional Liability Program – Job #46115: Manages the investigation of claims alleging medical professional liability. Analyzes and evaluates incident reports and lawsuits. Reviews medical records and performs interviews of members of the health care team. Prepares investigative reports for Director and Legal Counsel regarding potentially compensable events covered by the Self-Insured Professional Liability Program, and other reports as requested by Senior Management. Coordinates case development and case management. Participates in risk financing efforts. Develops and provides education programs to departments; coordinates communications with affiliated hospitals. Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree, 7 years of experience analyzing, interpreting and communicating medical information, 5 years of managing professional liability matters and/or patient safety measures for physician programs. Planning Manager – Joint Office of Strategic Planning – Job # 46029: The Planning Manager serves as an in-house consultant and trusted advisor by assuming an active role in the management and coordination of strategic planning and business development initiatives for Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM), Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) and St Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH). The Planning Manager works under general supervision to advance the organizations’ tripartite missions. Required Qualifications: Master’s degree required (MHA, MBA, MPH), Proven success in strategic plan development, financial analyses, meeting facilitation, etc. Preferred Qualifications: 2 years of

and

Director, Billing Services/AR Management - Anesthesiology Billing – Job # 46468: Responsible for the management of the Anesthesiology Department’s billing team including charge capture, coding, denial management and follow up in order to deliver optimal financial performance in the collection of the Departments fee for service activity. Position has 3 manager level direct reports and a full team of 33, annual revenues of more than $90m. Provides insightful billing reporting and business counsel to Department and Divisional leaders to ensure optimal charge and revenue capture. Works effectively with Medical School Physician Billing Services leadership to ensure collections and payment processes are optimal for Anesthesiology.

Senior Reporting Services

REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking qualifications for Bond Counsel. Go to www. greatriversgreenway.org/ jobs-bids/ and submit by February 14, 2020

REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking proposals for Office Alarm System, Security Cameras, Personnel Access and Phone Services. Go to www. greatriversgreenway.org/ jobs-bids/ and submit by February 14, 2020

BIDS

Curtiss-Manes-Schulte, Inc. is soliciting bids from MBE/WBE/ SDVE/DBE subcontractors and suppliers for work on the MU Library Depository, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Bids are due Tuesday, February 4, 2020 by 1:00 pm and can be faxed to (573) 392-4527 or emailed to shawn@cms-gc.com. For more information, call Shawn @ (573) 392-6553.

Curtiss-Manes-Schulte, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for North Ave and Marshall Ave Sanitary Replacement (IR) under Letting No. 13424-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Friday, February 21, 2020, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for:

SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drainlayer’s license required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer

CITY OF ST. LOUIS

ST.

LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Solicitation For Bids (SFB) for Ground Maintenance and Clean Up 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) 890-1812. This SFB may also be obtained by visiting our website at www.flystl. com/business/contract-opportunites.

Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: University of Missouri Library Depository Construct Phase 2.

This is a 10,000 sf addition to the existing Depository. Project includes but is not limited to the following scopes of work: selective demolition, concrete foundations and flatwork, architectural precast, structural steel, rough and finish carpentry, casework, solid surface countertops, waterproofing, air barrier, sheet metal flashing and trim, caulking, doors, overhead doors, aluminum storefront, drywall, flooring, acoustical ceilings, painting, wall protection, toilet accessories, extinguishers, storage racks, roller shades, fire sprinklers, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, earthwork, utilities and concrete paving.

A prebid meeting will be held at 1:30 pm on January 24, 2020 in the General Services Building, Room 194B, University of Missouri. The prebid will be followed by a walk-through at the site.

This project has a diversity participation goal of 10% MBE and 10% combined WBE, DBE, Veteran Owned Business and 3% SDVE.

Bids for this project are due on February 4th, at 1:30 p.m. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Evan Chiles at 816-878-6003 or emchiles@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (816-878-6249)

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

SEALED BIDS

BidsforDomestic

, NWRegional YouthCenter, KansasCity, Missouri,Project No.H1905-01 willbereceived byFMDC,State ofMO,UNTIL 1:30PM, February13,2020 via

MissouriBUYS.

Biddersmustbe registeredtobid. Forspecificproject informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

SEALED BIDS

BidsforInterior

MSHPAircraft Hangar,Jefferson City,Missouri, ProjectNo.R200701willbereceived byFMDC,Stateof MO,UNTIL1:30 PM,2/13/2020via MissouriBUYS.

Biddersmustbe registeredtobid. Forspecificproject informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

(RFP) to be received by Forest Park Forever (FPF), located at 5595 Grand Dr. in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. 63112 until Feb. 7, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. for the World’s Fair Pavilion Comfort Station Renovation Project. RFP docs are available in PDF format at www. forestparkforever.org/bids or for review of hardcopies at FPF during office hours.

Equal opportunity bidding event. Women and Minority in Business are encouraged to participate.

CAMPUS-WIDE RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM RFP 2020

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to supply and install a “turnkey” radio communication system including required local, state or federal permits and licensing. Bid documents are available as of 1/15/2020 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SERVICES, CERVANTES CONVENTION CENTER EXPANSION/MODERNIZATION. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM CT, FEBRUARY 5, 2020 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from BPS website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room-Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535.

25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING SERVICES, CERVANTES CONVENTION CENTER EXPANSION/ MODERNIZATION. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM CT, FEBRUARY 4, 2020 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from BPS website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room-Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535.

25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Bellefontaine #2 Sanitary Relief (Chambers Rd to Coburg Lands Dr) under Letting No. 12092-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Thursday, February 20, 2020, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drain layer’s license required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

LETTING NO. #8714 CONCRETE

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on February 25, 2020, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps. org(BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

A mandatory pre-bid conference for all contractors bidding on this project will be held on January 28, 2020 at 10:00 A.M. in Room 305, City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis MO 63103. NOTE: Contractors that attended the pre-bid conference for Project SP-111 or SP-112 are eligible to bid on Project SP-113 without attending the SP-113 pre-bid conference.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

RFP #: 57820022

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting sealed proposals to Design, Procure and Install Playground Equipment and Fall Zone Material at the William L. Clay, Sr., Early Childhood Development/ Parenting Education Center (Clay Center) located at 10 North Compton, St. Louis, Missouri 63103.

A mandatory Pre-bid conference and walk-through will be held on Thursday, February 6, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. at the Clay Center in the Gross Motor Room.

The sealed proposals will be accepted (in sealed envelopes, clearly marked “PROPOSAL FOR CLAY CENTER PLAYGROUND” in the Purchasing Office (Room 105) of the Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., Administration (HGA) building located at 3026 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103, until Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. The proposals will then be publicly opened and the names read in conference room 208 located in the HGA building at 10:15 a.m.

A copy of the Request for Proposals can be obtained by contacting Barbara A. Morrow at email address: morrowb@hssu.edu, faxing: (314) 340-3322 or calling (314) 340-5763.

The University reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive all informalities in proposals.

LETTING NO. #8715

2020 Capital Main Replacement Program – Twenty (20) Inch Main in Lindenwood Pl.

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on March 3, 2020, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http:// www.stl-bps.org (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

REQUESTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (the “Partnership”) has issued multiple open Requests for Qualifications (“RFQs”) for various projects initiated in 2020, including separate RFQs for MWBE professional-services firms, marketing and communications firms, legal-services firms, catering firms, printing-service firms, and a wide variety of other professional-services firms. These are “Open” RFQs from which the Partnership may refer during 2020, as projects become available.

The Partnership will accept qualifications throughout 2020; however, firms are encouraged to submit qualifications by January 23, 2020. Qualifications should include the information indicated in the applicable RFQ, which may be obtained from the Partnership’s web site at www.stlpartnership.com. Qualifications may be emailed to hbean@stlpartnership.com.

This RFQ shall not be construed as an offer. Submission of qualifications does not obligate the Partnership to consider a responding firm for any project or contract. 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

will be held on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, at 1:30 PM in the Ozark Conference Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044. All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

INVITATION TO BID:

E.M. Harris Construction Company (EMH), 2600 Delmar Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103, seeks subcontractor bids for Park East Apartments, located at various addresses in the Forest Park South East neighborhood of St. Louis. Scope of work involves rehab of 24 existing apartment buildings (73 apartment units), including, but not limited to, selective demo of flooring, cabinets, vanities and toilets, new flooring, painting, masonry, finish carpentry, roofing and gutters. Pre-bid walk through TBD. Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises are strongly encouraged to bid. All workers must be OSHA 10 certified. EMH is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Project plans & specifications are available for viewing online through an Invitation to Bid and at:

• MOKAN Plan Room, 4666 Natural Bridge, St. Louis, MO 63115

• EMH Plan Room, 2600 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103

All bids due to EMH office by 1 pm, Monday, January 27, 2020, fax: 314-436–6691. Project contact: Phil Krull: phil@emharris.com.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation will be seeking bids for the University of Missouri – Women’s & Children’s Hospital located at 404 N Keene St, Columbia, MO 65201. The project includes the following scopes; Metal Fabrications, Fire & Smoke Assemblies, Roof Accessories, Applied Fireproofing, Firestopping, Hollow Metal Doors & Frames, Door Hardware, Gypsum Board Assemblies, Acoustical Ceilings, Fire Suppression, Mechanical – HVAC, and Electrical.

The current drawings are available from Paric through our SmartBid software, or from http://operations-webapps.missouri.edu/pdc/adsite/ad.html. Please submit proposals and/ or questions to mwalburg@paric.com.

This project has the following participation goals: 10% MBE business participation 10% WBE/DBE/Veteran Owned business participation 3% SDVE business participation

Cable Included 314-740-1878

ROOMS FOR RENT FALL SPECIALS!

Swag Snap of the Week

Ten years of Young Leaders. That’s right, we are a decade in the game of recognizing the best and brightest that the region has to offer by way of the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Young Leaders Awards and Networking Reception and I can’t wait until we gather again for the fellowship, well-warranted praises for those young people helping shape the region and overall inspiration. And my own personal guru Rebeccah Bennett will be back as mistress of ceremonies when we take over the sixth floor of the Four Seasons at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 20. Every single year I attend, I leave wanting to do better and be better – and everyone who has been over the years will co-sign that the feeling is mutual and infectious. You have just under a month to bring your best corporate executive swag together to slay like a boss. For more information, visit www.stlamerican.com or call (314) 533-8000.

An amazing Anomaly. Listen, when I tell you I got my whole entire life from the Anomaly Runway Experience presented by Designs by J. Stocking Saturday at the Last Hotel, understand that I was so on fire and uplifted by what our city has to offer that I walked all the way to my car with my coat open and didn’t notice that 20 degree temperature drop. The looks on the runway, the slayage in the seats by the tastemaker audience and the overall energy by the event had me bragging on the talent in our town –from designer Jasmine Brown to the production team of folks that helped her pull the evening together in grand fashion. The whole night was top notch. If y’all do it again next year, consider moving it to the fall and having it on the rooftop. Those are my only notes. They were serving lewks on that catwalk – so much so that I am strongly considering a Designs by J. Stocking original evening gown for Salute.

Week two of the black Greek getdown. I promised last week that I would give y’all a sip of strolls and pretty girl socializing that went down in the name of J15 (also known as the AKA Founder’s Day) well the lovely ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha were sitting pretty at the Marquee for a cute little mixer Wednesday night. I saw some of my favorite pretty girls with the 20 pearls. Hey Lee Haynes. Hey April McKinney. But my mingling with the Divine Nine carried on all the way through Saturday when I stopped by for a second round of kicking it with the Sigmas in

By Delores Shante

as many weeks with Shades of Blue 2020 at the Polish Heritage Center. I thought I had missed the party because Blac Youngsta is a rarity amongst the new crop of rappers in that he gives a whole entire show as opposed to snippets and excerpts, which I will get to shortly. But back to the frats and sorors in blue and white. I got in just as things should have been wrapping up, but the party didn’t stop when the clock struck 12 like it should have because folks were taking their sweet time easing out of the door. The lights were on and the folks were not going home. I thought at any moment that a little elderly polish woman would tell the folks “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here” with a heavy accent. It didn’t come to that, but I was almost certain it would. Few things are more telling about how good a time folks are having by their unwillingness to leave. And an extended party hour was in order for the Sigmas for helping their sisters of Zeta Phi Beta celebrate their centennial. And plenty of the other Greeks were on deck to kick it with them both.

Saturday service with Blac Youngsta. Thanks to Phil and his Liquid Assets crew, St. Louis had the chance to experience Blac Youngsta’s Church on Sunday tour – on Saturday – at the club. No, he didn’t get saved and turn Pop’s into a revival center. Actually, he seemed to sound more savage as far as the explicit content of his lyrics and onstage antics. I can’t say that I was expecting anything else, but if he named the tour after church, he could have at least come out in a choir robe like Nando STL did that one time. Oh well, he didn’t. But what he did do is give a whole entire full-length show – as per usual. I think that’s the

reason why I don’t give him as much flack about performing to tracks, because it assures that he has the stamina to be on stage for an hour. I will always give him props for working the stage, even if he could use a stage/production manager to apply all that energy to a fully produced and polished live performance. Youngsta didn’t pull the most impressive sized crowed I’ve seen at Pops, but it was respectable considering that he’s basically here every season. And can I talk for a second about how some woman was walking through the crowd in a bootleg Adidas presents Ivy Park by Beyoncé outfit? Already girl? I was so thrilled with her creativity and resourcefulness in trying to make it look like an original that I couldn’t be mad. I wish I could say I felt the same about her Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” wig game that she topped the look off with, but I can’t.

The blast that was Bowties and Stilettos. The folks came to party with the Umbrella Group on Saturday at Dos Salas as they presented their annual Bowties and Stilettos bash. They’ve held that party at places all over the city – and once in the county –and I must say that it is a guaranteed vibe no matter where they have it. Folks put on their good clothes and have a good time and Damion aka Super Ego is going to do the absolute most with his blazer and I’m not mad. And they brought that same energy for the 2020 edition.

Triumphant Brunch-ish. Speaking of consistent vibes, Koncepts and the stylish experience they serve up monthly with Brunch-ish was at it again Sunday at Quattro Trattoria + Pizzeria. I really felt like I had stepped into one of the social scenes from “Insecure” when I turned the corner from the Westin lobby and saw all the beautiful black folks in the middle of fellowshipping over food as DJ AJ killed it on the tables at a decibel level that was conducive to conversation. I was expecting Issa Rae to turn around whipping that sew in she’s serving in her new film “The Photograph” at any second. I ran into my girl Lisa West and her wonderful boo Duan as she and the family celebrated her sister Leslie’s birthday. It was a great gathering within a gathering. Brunch-ish goes down every fourth Sunday from 12-3 p.m. and I’m

Once again promoter Phil Assets brought the concert heat with rising rap star Blac Youngsta. And true to form, Youngsta delivered yet

Brunch-ish made for a birthday meal between best friends as Ashley and Coco met up Sunday afternoon @ Quattro

Mel’s birthday bash was lit, and Dre was there to enjoy every minute of it with her Friday @The Marquee

Supported by his mom Yolonda, Kimberly, Kisha and Tiffany Mark Harris II took a break from keys to snag a pic with his biggest fans @ The Dark-Room Friday

Kimmykakes314 and Rick were in the building to turn up on the dance floor Saturday @ DosSalas for Bowties and Stilettos

Promoters Raphael of The Umbrella Group and Super Ego Mitch were dapper as usual for their presentation of Bowties and Stilettos Saturday @ DosSalas

Vocalist Shanell and Dabriel attempted to hang in the cut incognito Friday @ The Dark Room

LaShaunda and Sharnell came to kick back as Mark Harris and Friends were jamming out @ The Dark Room Friday night

Chi, RahJa Janala, Pierre and Dani with designer Jasmine Stocking Brown before she debuted her latest collections during Anomaly Saturday @ The Last Hotel

Black Ceaser and his future wife

Evelyn Moore, Christina Bailey, Desiree Coleman were making moves behind the scenes to keep things flowing @ Anomaly Saturday @ The Last Hotel

Wellness 2020

ALL CAUSES HAVE ADVOCATES. BUT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV ONLY A CHAMPION WILL DO.

Introducing Vivent Health, founded on the combined expertise of AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, Rocky Mountain CARES and St. Louis Effort for AIDS. And steadfastly dedicated to serving anyone and everyone affected by HIV through our comprehensive prevention, care and treatment programs. Learn more at ViventHealth.org

A Safe Space from Abuse

Any mother can attest that being pregnant and the mother of toddlers is hard enough without the added stress of an abusive partner. That was the situation “Malita” (not her real name) was enduring just a few months ago. Realizing she had to take action to save herself and her children, Malita fled to a domestic violence shelter. She had escaped the abuse but her next steps were unclear. It wasn’t that she didn’t have resources, she did, but she needed additional help. Malita’s education would qualify for a good job, just not one lucrative enough to save a deposit and first month’s rent on top of everyday expenses.

Malita was facing an uncertain future. Statistics tell us that Malita is not an outlier. Domestic violence is the number one reason women and children become homeless in America; more than 80 percent of homeless women and children have experienced domestic violence.

But the story does not end there. Malita, and women like her, finally have an alternative thanks to a federal grant through the City of St. Louis and administered by YWCA Metro St. Louis. Partners in the grant include Healing Action Network, Vatterott Properties and ArchCity Defenders. The program is designed to quickly find permanent housing in St. Louis City or County for women, or women and children, who are homeless due to domestic violence or sexual assault. Details of the grant were announced by St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and YWCA last fall.

That’s why Malita’s story has a happy ending. She was referred to the Rapid Re-Housing program at YWCA and today is living in safe, permanent housing. She gave birth shortly before moving in to her family’s new home. Malita proudly calls her residence her family’s “ first home.”

Why a personalized diet can help you achieve better results

(StatePoint) From custom-designed sneakers to tailor-made sunglasses, the trend of personalization is going head-totoe, and for good reason, making its way to the world of weight loss and wellness.

Specifically, researchers have been studying two converging topics in recent years. One is the importance of body type in determining the combination of fats, carbohydrates and protein that will provide the best results for a given individual. The other is the variability of results associated with a single diet – the idea that if two people start the same diet at the same time, their results could be drastically different.

On top of that, consumer research shows that people overwhelmingly prefer personalized experiences. Sixty percent of consumers agree that personalization is essential to weight loss and overall wellness.

Here’s what to know about why personalized diets are becoming so popular and how to find the right diet for you:

The Importance of Body Type

The places your body stores excess fat may be the single greatest predictor of health outcomes. This is the concept behind Nutrisystem’s assessment of the four most common body types: “Apple,” “Pear,” “Hourglass” and “Rectangle.”

“We’re going a bit old school here, because these categories have stood the test of time for a reason. They provide crucial information on how you respond to food intake and can help you to adjust what you eat based on your goals,” said Courtney McCormick, corporate dietitian at Nutrisystem.

Body type can also influence how macronutrients like fat, protein, and carbs are processed. To fulfill your individual needs, first determine your body type,

Referencing body types—the four most common being, so called apple, pear, hourglass and rectangle—provides nutritionists crucial information in developing personalized diets.

food preferences and goals, then look for a weight loss plan that takes these important factors into consideration.

One Size Does Not Fit All

In the Diet Intervention Examining the Factors Interacting with Treatment

Success, known as the DIETFITS study, its large, randomized research that compared low-fat versus low-carb dietary patterns found no difference in weight loss between them. But drilling down into the data, one can see great variability. Some dieters gained weight while others lost a lot. But it’s not always about weight outcomes. Recent research has shown that factors such as body shape may play a bigger role in the determinants of health risks than body weight

alone.

For instance, a woman who is apple-shaped tends to carry her extra weight in the mid-section. She would see best results on a lower-glycemic nutrition plan that is lower in refined carbs and higher in healthy fats and protein.

“Research shows that one size does not fit all when it comes to weight loss and disease prevention,” said McCormick. “That’s why we’ve created a unique, personalized approach that’s easy to follow and designed to help participants lose weight and get healthy.”

While it’s no secret that achieving one’s weight loss goals is challenging, personalizing your plan can help make things easier, ultimately providing you a greater chance of success.

Photo by Adobe Stock Photos

Brain scientists tap into the secrets of living well longer

By Sharon Jayson Kaiser Health News

AUSTIN, Texas — Retired state employees Vickey Benford, 63, and Joan Caldwell, 61, are Golden Rollers, a group of the over-50 set that gets out on assorted bikes – including trikes for adults they call “three wheels of awesome” – for an hour of trail riding and camaraderie.

“I love to exercise, and I like to stay fit,” said Caldwell, who tried out a recumbent bike, a low-impact option that can be easier on the back. “It keeps me young.”

Benford encouraged Caldwell to join the organized rides, which have attracted more than 225 riders at city rec centers and senior activity centers. The cyclists can choose from a small, donated fleet of recumbent bikes, tandem recumbents and tricycles.

“With seniors, it’s less about transportation and more about access to the outdoors, social engagement and quality of life,” said Christopher Stanton, whose idea for Golden Rollers grew out of the Ghisallo Cycling Initiative, a youth biking nonprofit he founded in 2011.

But that’s not all, according to brain scientists. They point to another important benefit: Exercising both body and brain can help people stay healthier

longer.

The new thinking about aging considers not just how long one lives, but how vibrant one stays later in life.

“If you’re living, you want to be living well,” said Tim Peterson, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Most people who were interested in life span and were studying genes – which control life span – switched to ‘healthspan.’”

“Healthspan,” a coinage now gaining traction, refers to the years that a person can expect to live in generally good health – free of chronic illnesses and cognitive decline that can emerge near life’s end. Although there’s only so much a person can do to delay the onset of disease, there’s plenty that scientists are learning to improve your chances of a better healthspan.

The work takes on special resonance in light of a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that life expectancy in the United States has decreased in recent years. A rise in midlife mortality (ages 25 to 64) has dragged down the overall expectancy.

“The idea is to make people productive, healthier and happier longer and more capable taking care of themselves,”

How to boost optimism and make happiness your habit

By Vivien Williams Mayo Clinic News Network

An increasing body of research suggests that optimistic people are healthier and happier than those who are pessimistic. But what if you’re pessimistic and have difficulty seeing the bright side of things? Even if you are a negative thinker, you can teach yourself to make happiness a habit. Dr. Richa Sood, a Mayo Clinic general internist, said “Optimism is sort of a mindset.”

She says you can train your brain to make optimism a habit.

“The brain is beautiful. The brain changes. We call it neuroplasticity,” Sood said.

So, if you purposefully choose to think positively regularly, eventually the brain will form new pathways, and you will become more optimistic.

Dr. Sood has three tips on how to start: gratitude, building self-worth, and improving your health.

Gratitude “Feeling grateful for things that are going right in life builds our optimism. Having a sense of meaning and purpose, being driven by some altruistic intentions and actions,” said Sood.

Building self-worth “How do we build self-worth? Well, surrounding ourselves with people who believe in us is a big one,” she said.

Improving your health “That would mean exercising, eating healthily, maintaining our body weight, staying away from toxins,” the doctor said.

Try these three ways to help train your brain to make optimism part of your everyday life.

said Andreana Haley, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin who is among this breed of researchers working to understand healthspan. “We now live a long time with a lot of chronic diseases, and it’s not fun. It’s costly – in terms of productivity, caregiving responsibilities, cost of health care.”

Haley, who collaborates with exercise physiologists, nutritionists, behavioral neuroscientists and physicians, said researchers from many other disciplines are studying healthspan, such as nurses, speech pathologists and pharmacists.

Their work is inspired by an aging U.S. population with changing needs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10,000 people a day turn 65, the nation’s fastest-growing population segment.

“We have a lot of people who will need to be taken care of in the next 50 years,” she said, “and fewer young people to do the care.”

Haley, with UT’s Aging and Longevity Center, focuses her work on midlife, which she defines as ages 40 to 60, a time when health choices can have a big impact on older years. She’s especially interested in brain health.

Her team is collaborating with UT’s Human Laser Lab to pilot the use of low-level light therapy to increase brain energy and improve cognitive performance.

Because of this close brain-body connection, any degeneration in the brain affects not only cognitive function but also areas that control weight, appetite, personality, mood and blood pressure.

Online games and brain-training exercises have become popular as another way to keep the brain sharp.

However, research on brain training reflects mixed results, including a study

published last year in the journal Neuropsychologia, which “calls into question the benefit of cognitive training beyond practice effects.”

Still, aging experts urge people as they age to work to keep mentally active, as well as physically active, to lengthen their healthspan.

One of the country’s largest continuing-care companies, Acts Retirement Communities, offers residents weekly social-based classes for brain fitness and memory developed by Cynthia Green, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai in New York City. Green said her brain health approach, available since 2015, is offered at 150 retirement communities around the country.

Some of the Acts communities are participating in a two-year study about memory improvement supervised by a researcher at the University of Alabama.

Helen Marner and her husband, Jim, both 76, are study participants at Indian River Estates, an Acts community in Vero Beach, Fla.

“I’m always interested in bettering my health, my brain and my body,” Helen Marner said. “I’m interested in keeping myself as alive and current and bright as I can.”

Marner bikes, swims and attends exercise classes. The former kindergarten teacher also sings in two choirs, designs and sews quilts, and is active around town as well as at Indian River Estates.

Mary Beth Vallar, 74, and her husband, Bill, 88, joined the study at Vero Beach.

“We figured it couldn’t hurt,” Mary Beth Vallar said. “They’re teaching us certain techniques to remember people’s names and remember lists and sequences. Their techniques are very helpful.”

To remember a list, techniques include taking a mental snapshot of it, organizing the items into categories or linking one word on the list to another. As for names, said Robin Leatherow, the Vero Beach community’s fitness director, a creative strategy could be making up a story in your mind about the name or repeating it to yourself.

“There’s a lot of different things you can do for brain health,” said Theresa Perry, Acts’ corporate director of wellness services. “One is to engage with other people. We thought it would be good for our residents and better than sitting in front of a computer and playing games by yourself.”

Because research shows that people who stay active and exercise their brain “tend to be healthier and have better brain function and will be physically healthier because of the brain-body circuitry,” the recent shift to improve healthspan makes sense, said Peterson, of Washington University.

“It’s quality of life versus quantity of life,” he said. “It’s probably as simple as that.”

Mario Treviño on a Golden Rollers group ride to help relieve pressure and increase circulation after receiving toe surgery

Photo courtesy Kaiser Health News

Real talk about the effects of stress

A conversation with local psychologist Veronica Shead

By Georgia Scott

Of The St. Louis American

“Slow down, let go of perfectionism, laugh” are the top three suggestions by the American Institute of Stress as simple steps one can start today to help overcome stress in 2020. “Accept that you cannot control everything, do your best, maintain a positive attitude” fall under the Anxiety and Depression Association of America’s “Tips to Manage Anxiety and Stress.”

But do broad, cookie-cutter lists really help? Would Eugene Hubbard, the janitor who spoke from the heart at the MLK parade about the indignity of not making enough money to feed his family really benefit from drinking herbal tea?

“A lot of the times, people talk about self-care but they don’t really

talk about some of the sources of their stress,” explained Dr. Veronica Shead, a clinical psychologist and St. Louis native, who said it’s more powerful to practice understanding the source of your stress, and to be more in the moment of when stressors kick in.

“Basic tips are all well and good, and you really do need tools to deal with stress, whether it’s taking a bath or learning meditation or deep breathing exercises, or even just simply understanding mindful activities; but a lot of times people aren’t aware of where the sources of their stress lie. With that, I mean sometimes the one thing to change may not be the addition of something, but perhaps the subtraction of something in your life.”

According to a 2019 Gallup poll, Americans are among the most stressed-

out populations in the world, with 83% of US workers suffering from work-related stress and 55% of Americans feeling stressed throughout the day.

Money, work and family are consistently listed as among the most common causes of stress in America. Veronica cautioned that those groupings are too general.

“Many times, people aren’t paying attention to specifics. Maybe it’s burnout on their job and what that looks like and what the source of that is. Maybe it’s not recognizing whether that relationship could be toxic or how they could better communicate with that person,” she said.

“So I think one of the things when we talk about self-care, is that, yes, people need to think about ways to be kind to ourselves, but sometimes that’s not necessarily empowering us to make changes to the source of the stresses in our lives to begin with. You’re dealing with the symptoms and not the source.”

Referring to America’s “mental health nonsystem.” the Psychiatric Times published an article on January 17 admonishing the U.S. as being one of the worst places in the world to have a mental illness. Dr. Shead illustrated that point by offering a common household analogy.

“It’s kind of like, if you have something rotting in your refrigerator and just continue to use a really nice air freshener and you never throw out whatever is the source of that smell. You just keep covering it up and it gets worse and it gets worse. And soon it doesn’t matter how much you spray – the smell isn’t going to go away. And that’s exactly it. People aren’t taking the time to be mindful of the source of their stress.”

Being mindful or introspective, admits Dr. Shead, can be challenging.

“It seems overwhelming to just sit with yourself. But sincerely, if you practice mindfulness and you sit with yourself sometimes you begin to realize that what’s bothering you didn’t start with what so and so said in the email at work. Or maybe it did, and now you’re at home with your family and you’re still keyed up by that. And it’s also knowing what’s triggering things within you.

And those are the more powerful moments to do some form of self-care activity. It’s in that moment when you are frustrated. You can’t stop and go and take a bath, but you might be able to stop for five minutes and go for a walk or take a deep breath and do a breathing exercise. Often people are so overwhelmed that they feel as though that one big self care activity isn’t enough because they aren’t taking those little steps to really get to the source of what’s going on.

Popular among mental health professionals is the recommendation that

Dr. Veronica Shead

meditation will help relieve stress and increase mindful self-care. In fact, according to Global Wellness Summit, meditation has had the “meteoric growth” that yoga did 20 years ago.

Veronica explained how to be mindful a bit differently. “Being mindful doesn’t take, kind of this longstanding meditation. You don’t have to chant. And while yoga is absolutely great, that first step to mindfulness is literally just starting to think about the point at which you became angry, or the point in which you became bothered.”

“And that doesn’t take a lot of soul-searching introspection. Literally it just takes you sitting there and reflecting on the fact that that bothered you. And naming it. And sometimes you can actually change it by removing yourself from the situation. But the power of even naming that that email bothered you, that the person who came into the office and did not say hello bothered you – just acknowledging that one thing lends power to what mindful self-reflection is.”

Dr. Shead works with a national team providing consultation to other mental health providers to develop groups for persons of color to address race-based stress and trauma. She explained that some stress is deep-seeded because it results from past trauma. “A person’s lived experiences directly impacts how he or she reacts to situations.”

“There can be an inherent amount of stress that you’re bringing into some situations. And some of it can be racially-based trauma. Because black people have definitely dealt with racism, which influences how many cope with situations. People who deal with racism, sexism, and/or being treated poorly on the job; being talked down to, or having a bad boss – all that stuff is real. But that’s where you start to name it. Because you’re starting to see where it’s coming from. Begin to ask yourself if it is in every single aspect of your life or is it in particular spaces? And that‘s where the power lies to make change.”

One thing that can save your life

Four St. Louisans reveal what they do to relax, get centered and stay focused

By Georgia Scott

Of The St. Louis American

Globally, one in six people has at least one mental or substance abuse disorder, with anxiety disorder ranking #1. Addressing the need to find something that helps you reduce stress, psychologist Dr. Veronica Shead, said doing at least one thing can actually save your life.

“It can be that simple, she said. “And sometimes—and here’s the big truth for that is that—if we don’t have something specific that we are consciously working toward or that we have con-

Tracy: Personal shopper, jeweler

The beauty and beautiful healing power of precious stones and crystals really help keep my anxiety at bay.

Three years ago, my daughter and I were brutally attacked outside of a Chicago nightclub. We were celebrating my birthday and a man attacked us with the kind of raw violence you only see in movies. I ended up with a broken collar bone and shattered ankle. But the anxiety really set in afterward, as I wondered why, WHY didn’t anybody—not the bodyguards, not the people standing around watching, not the police called to investigate, not the prosecutors in charge of giving me and my dughter justice... why didn’t anyone help?

Honestly, I couldn’t even deal with a psychiatrist. I tried but he was horrible. Thankfully, I had my jewelry. I’d already been working a lot with precious stones to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Then, while I was laid up in neck and ankle braces for months, I could feel my anxiety calming down in my heart and my mind as I sorted through certain stones and crystals. Working with amethyst, jade, unakite, garnet and other stones, as well as crystals, metal and even lava stones brought me peace. I even created a pendant using half-inch chunks

sciously added that we know is healthy in our lives, then we unconsciously have something else.

And that something else is food, or that something else sex, or alcohol or drugs. Some people have work.”

“We might think we don’t. But we have something else. And that something else might be more harmful and is kind of doubly impacting what’s going on.”

“So that one thing literally can be lifesaving, it can be life changing. Especially if it’s substituting for something that could be damaging. So whether it’s –for instance, you taking a walk. Nobody

Imani: Entrpreneur, social activist

I enjoy notebook journaling. I find that notebook therapy allows me to do personal planning, in addition to remembering what’s important, my goals and it stores my memories.

Some people use it for emotional release. I use it for all of those things, all at once. I don’t always write a lot. Sometimes just a paragraph.

I started in 1995. I can still put my hands on that first journal. Sometimes I go back and read an old journal. All of my memories are there.

I don’t need to be in a special place with a particular view. I’m a lover of stationery and pens. It’s more about having those special tools when I can. Pens, paper, stickers, colored pencils.

of rock salt.

High-fashion wellness jewelry is my art, my creative outlet. I’ve done extensive studying in order to best combine a balanced combination of beautiful, naturally sourced material to create client-specific pieces. And people really embrace it. They know my jewelry isn’t just a look, but it’s absolutely a source of calm, or motivation, or energy.

I work primarily online, over the phone, and through face-to-face appointments. Sometimes I also join pop-up events. Anyone can email me at takencareof365@gmail.com

said that you have to go to the gym and do x, y, and z. You can walk, or stretch. You can sing. You can pray. You can call a friend. There are ways to do things that can be impactful and effective.”

“Again, taking at least that one thing, or concentrating on one change that you want to make, or just being able to take that a moment – I can promise you, taking that moment for somebody, can probably save somebody’s job, and save somebody’s life – if we just take it.”

Dr. Shead said walking and playing with her dogs bring her joy. Here, four other St. Louisans describe their thing.

Alice: Executive assistant

The one consistent thing I do is indulge in the calming, healing benefits of a long soak in a hot bath.

I started years ago when I began working out pretty heavily. I was sore all the time. My trainer told me that the best thing for that is proper nutrition and epsom salt.

When I was doing the epsom salt thing, I wanted something that had a little punch. So I began researching how to make my own bath salts. For instance something that reduces stress or boosts my mood.

And I discovered that making them is equally therapeutic.

It’s a very holistic approach that helps my body recover from the workout process. Now, my bath salts are a staple of my self-care routine.

I started sharing them with my friends, and then I began getting orders as word started to spread. The most popular ones for wellness are Lavender Journey, for anxiety, and Soulful Dream to help you sleep better. I sometimes sell at pop-up shops, and take orders on email at darkmatterselfcare@gmail.com

DeAndre: Concert promoter I have exercise and my faith in God. Exercise is something I do for me, personally. Everything else, I’m putting plans into action, doing everything for my business, and my family. Exercise is for me. Where I can put me first. When I’m exercising, I’m at peace. When I’m outside running around the track, that’s when I feel closest to God. And when I look to God, I’m good. In fact, I go into every new endeavor with no fear. Because I know God wants me to win. I know it. As human beings, we are made up of positive and negative energy. While you have one part that’s telling you can do it, you have another telling you that you can’t. That doubt gives you every scenario why it won’t work. But since I know and believe that God wants me to win, I don’t listen to those things. I only deal with the positive. Even if it doesn’t go exactly the way I think it’s supposed to go, then I know maybe it’s a detour. If it doesn’t work out the way I envisioned it would, I say it’s a detour that God wanted me to take. And in that detour, maybe He wanted me to pick somebody up and maybe take him to the finish line with me. That’s how I look at it. I take a step back and think “alright God, what are you trying to show me?”

And then I do self-reflection. I look at my life. If something happened or is supposed to happen. Am I good? Am I treating everybody with respect. Am I showing love to people? Am I being real? Am I being up front with people? And that’s important to me.

Because my thing is, it’s so many people out here being so crooked and being so foul. How can you expect for something positive to happen in your life when you’re putting negativity out. People really in their heart think they’re gonna make something happen, materialize something even though the last three people they talked to, they lied to them, cheated them, deceived them. But now you want something. You want God to bring something to you, but you’re not putting that energy out in the world. And I’m conscious of that. I’m 100 percent conscious of that. I make sure I put that energy out in the world.

Photo by Phoebe Landrum