July 13th, 2017 Edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

Cops balk at mayor’s tax hike

By Rebecca Rivas

Of The St. Louis American

‘Our conference is a conference for St. Louis’

By Chris King

The St. Louis American

Of

The 2017 National Urban League Conference will come to St. Louis July 26-29, with Centene Corporation

– led by CEO Michael Neidorff, who chairs the National Urban League’s Board of Directors – and World Wide Technology, led by founder and chairman David Steward, the title sponsors. The American talked to Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, about what to expect when the conference comes to town and how the Urban League is responding to the disruptions of the Trump presidency.

Heather Navarro wins special election for alderwoman in landslide

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Heather Navarro, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, will become the 28th Ward’s new alderwoman, after she won by a landslide in the July 11 special election.

Navarro won with 68.85 percent of the vote, beating Independent Democratic candidates Celeste Vossmeyer’s 15.7 percent and Steve Roberts Sr.’s 14.35 percent.

“What we have accomplished over last eight weeks has been incredible,” Navarro said to her supporters Tuesday night at Dressel’s Public House in the Central West End. “We have a grassroots campaign that’s going to keep on going.”

Navarro will fill the seat that was left open when Lyda Krewson was elected mayor in April. Krewson, who was the 28th Ward’s alderwoman for 20 years, was the first to give Navarro a big hug when they learned of her win.

“You have yourself a wonderful new alderwoman,” Krewson

n “The national Urban League is not just there when protests take place – we stay, and we build, and we work, and we try to empower the community.”

–

Marc Morial, Urban League president

President Marc Morial discusses National Urban League Conference coming to St. Louis See

St. Louis American: What will people in St. Louis experience when the Urban League national conference

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

Family of Nelsan Ellis opens up about actor’s death

This week “True Blood” fans were stunned after the sudden death of co-star Nelsan Ellis at the young age of 39. Ellis’ family graciously opened up about his cause of death in hopes of helping others.

A statement from Nelsan Ellis’ manager reads,

“Nelsan’s father has bravely agreed for me to share the circumstances of Nelsan’s heart failure. Nelsan has suffered with drug and alcohol abuse for years. After many stints in rehab, Nelsan attempted to withdraw from alcohol on his

own. According to his father, during his withdrawal from alcohol he had a blood infection, his kidneys shut down, his liver was swollen, his blood pressure plummeted, and his dear sweet heart raced out of control.

On the morning of Saturday July 8th, after four days in Woodhull Hospital, Nelsan was pronounced dead. Nelsan was a gentle, generous, and kind soul. He was a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, a nephew, and a great friend to those that were lucky enough to know him. Nelsan was ashamed of his addiction and thus was reluctant to talk about it during his life. His family, however, believes that in death he would want his life to serve as a cautionary tale in an attempt to help others.”

Keyshia Cole hit with lawsuit

victim has filed suit against Cole. According to reports, Sabrina Mercadel has filed a civil lawsuit against Keyshia Cole seeking $4 million in damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of body part, medical expenses, loss of earnings and future earnings.

The case is pending.

Blac Chyna granted restraining order against Rob K.

Blac Chyna was granted a temporary restraining order barring Rob Kardashian from coming near her or posting about her online.

The reality star appeared in court Monday morning with her attorneys as she sought to stop what she alleges is cyber-bullying by Kardashian.

Back in 2014, singer Keyshia Cole was arrested on assault charges after attacking a woman she found at her then-boyfriend, Cash Money CEO Bryan “Birdman” Williams’, Los Angeles penthouse.

This week, the alleged

Kardashian posted personal information last week about his relationship with Chyna on his Instagram account, including sexually explicit images of his former fiancée whom he accused of cheating on him and using him for his fortune.

Outside of court, Chyna’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, said they were granted everything they sought in their petition.

“As we have said all along, revenge porn is a form of domestic abuse,” Bloom said. “It is

also a crime in California and 38 other states.”

Attorney Robert Shapiro represented Kardashian, who did not appear in court. Shapiro said his client stipulated to the restraining order and agreed to follow all the conditions.

The attorney said Kardashian’s concern now “is the health and welfare of the baby and both parents are going to work toward that goal.”

Maia Campbell tells LL he can keep his help

Former actress Maia Campbell does not want a helping hand from her former “In the House” co-star, LL Cool J.

The actor and rapper asked his social media followers for help finding Campbell after a disturbing video surfaced that appears to show Campbell asking a man at an Atlanta gas station for drugs.

It’s not clear if LL Cool J got in touch with Campbell, but she declined his offer in a new video, saying, “I don’t need help, I just need a benefit concert for mental health.” Campbell says she’s doing “good” and describes herself as a “real serious person.” LL Cool J responded on Twitter, “You can’t help someone who doesn’t want your help.”

Sources: CNN, Eurweb.com, Tidal.com

Keyshia Cole

Nelsan Ellis

Keeping graduates on track for college

Center offers guidance on scholarships, transcripts and more

By Melinda Oliver For the

St. Louis American

For recent St. Louis high school graduates, the Delmar Loop is a summer hotspot. With popular eateries and trendy clothing stores lining the streets, it is an instant draw for young people in the city.

And that’s exactly why St. Louis Graduates, a collaborative network of college access provider organizations, opened their High School to College Center in the Delmar Loop at 618 N. Skinker Blvd. five years ago.

“That’s where they want to be, so that’s where we want to be,” said Allison Williams, co-chair and senior vice president of programs at Wyman, one of the College Center partners.

The High School to College Center, which is open on Tuesday and Thursdays, is in business for the kids and is ready to meet them where they are. With college counselors and a scholarship staff on site every day, it is fully equipped to handle any questions students may have.

In St. Louis, 41.3 percent of adults overall have an associate’s degree or higher, while only 26 percent of African-American adults in St. Louis do. Alan Byrd, dean of enrollment services and co-chair of St. Louis Graduates, said this can largely be attributed to “summer melt.”

“Summer melt is a national phenomenon where almost 40 percent of low-income, minority students who have been admitted to college will

Trump policies contribute to climate of fear and hate

By Kristen Clarke Guest columnist

Attorney General Jeff Sessions does not go far enough in responding to the spike in hate incidents that we have seen across the country in the last several months.

He has failed to address the fact that more than 100 federal law enforcement agencies are not providing hate crimes data to the FBI. Moreover, the Trump Administration’s executive orders and policies toward African Americans, Latinos, other communities of color, Muslims, LGBTQ communities, immigrants and refugees have undermined the trust that is necessary for communities and victims to freely report hate crimes to law enforcement.

not be enrolled come August,” Byrd said. “This is a direct result of unequal access to resources.”

Getting admitted into school is just the first step for students. Laura Winter, project director of St. Louis Graduates, said that there are almost a hundred different things students must have completed in order to be ready to begin classes in the fall.

“Students need to fill out FAFSA, find scholarships, housing, collect immunization records, and much more,” Winter said. “It can be extremely confusing and challenging. We’re here to make that process as easy as possible.”

Students who visit are asked to fill out a brief online survey Bridgeit2College (powered by College Bound), then meet directly with a counselor.

With so much to be done, the center is encouraging the community to hold themselves

“accountable in eliminating racial and economic disparities in postsecondary degree completion.” The organization is supported and made up of dozens of community partners, from universities and St. Louis Public Schools to corporations and foundations.

“It takes a village, and we are a community solution,” Winter said.

Supporting students in their quest for a college degree is good for the community, she said. Not only is college essential to a student’s future, but it is also essential to the future of the region. The region needs them to succeed.

“This issue is morally and economically imperative,” Winter said. “A degree results in a higher income. It also creates people who are more civically engaged and adds to the work force. Students deserve the opportunity to be educated.”

The center has served 800-

plus students since opening in 2012. Their goal is to help 60 percent of adults acquire an associates or bachelor’s degree by 2025. They are certainly on their way, and their alumni who come back to pay it forward is a great example of their impact.

Aja McCoy, a student at Xavier University of New Orleans, is a testament to this.

“The High School to College Center helped me obtain my transcript and figure out my financial aid and loans,” McCoy said. “I hope I can help students bridge the gap and get from point A to B in their pursuit of college.”

The High School to College Center, 618 N. Skinker Blvd., is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.stlouisgraduates. org/HStoCollegeCenter, email info@stlouisgraduates. org or call (314) 932-6956.

We are participating in a Hate Crimes Summit hosted by the Justice Department to underscore that a strong federal response is needed to confront the scourge of hate incidents now gripping the nation. While it is critical that the Department of Justice redouble its commitment to effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes, any actions it takes must be understood in the context of the policies and positions that the department has taken that promote the marginalization of minority communities and contribute to a climate of fear and hate.

It is in this context that the Lawyers’ Committee is offering several specific suggestions concerning the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes and around hate crimes reporting, data collection, and training and outreach. We know that until this administration’s policies and practices are reversed, we will continue to see the surge in hate incidents and hate crimes devastating our communities. At every turn, we will continue to hold this administration accountable and press the Justice Department to carry out its obligation and duty to fully and fairly protect the civil rights of all Americans.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Communities Against Hate partner, leads the Stop Hate Project. The Stop Hate Project works to strengthen the capacity of community leaders, local government, law enforcement, and organizations around the country to combat hate by connecting these groups with legal and social services resources and creating new ones in response to identified needs. The project’s resource and reporting hotline for hate incidents, 1-844-9-NO-HATE (1-844-966-4283), connects people and organizations combating hate with the resources and support they need.

Kristen Clarke is president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Photo by Wiley Price

Kai Weeden-Carlock discusses financial aid with advisors from The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis at The High School to College Center, 618 N. Skinker Blvd.: Edinam Bello, practicum student; Aja McCoy, intern; and Teresa Steinkamp, advising director.

Guest Columnist Kristen Clarke

Editorial /CommEntary

Greitens uses St. Louis crime as prop for national ambitions

Rarely has Missouri’s fractured political community come to any consensus but everyone in this state who watches politics has concluded, after watching Governor Eric Greitens in office for a halfyear, that he is interested in nothing other than his own national political ambitions. This carefully crafted political professional – funded, via dark money, by we know not whom – brought his non-stop campaign for national attention to North St. Louis on Monday, July 10, co-signed by St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and some out-of-town clergy so poorly prepared that the pastor who introduced the mayor called her “Linda.”

This was nothing but an out-state road show produced for out-state consumers and, ultimately, for Greitens’ political future. Now the out-state voters who elect Republicans like Greitens and fear cities like St. Louis can be reassured that cities are crime-ridden hellholes, but at least our governor (who never quits telling you he is a Navy special forces veteran) showed up with the cavalry (in this case, a handful of beefy Missouri Highway Patrol troopers) to do something about it. It may even be good for Greitens’ true agenda (that of elevating Greitens) that he was shouted down and booed by the locals who turned up for his road show. “See, there is no helping those people” would be the out-state takeaway, with the reaffirmation of the hopelessness of “those people” being a benefit to Greitens, who lacks the insight and genuine concern actually to combat the chronic urban ills that create and sustain a climate for violent crime.

“This governor has consistently taken actions to hurt St. Louis city, including

reducing the minimum wage and withholding state funds for its Neighborhood Watch program. To come to St. Louis peddling his own crime agenda with no input from community, clergy and state elected leaders is disingenuous,” state Rep. Michael Butler (D-St. Louis), House Minority Caucus chairman, said in a statement. “The only effective way to permanently reduce crime is to bring economic hope and community policing to high-crime neighborhoods. Such hope is unlikely when Missouri’s governor

n Greitens withheld almost half of a million dollars in St. Louis crime prevention funds from the state budget.

embraces tired old economic and policing polices that attack urban residents and uses inflated rhetoric that will scare off businesses thinking of investing in St. Louis.” We agree with Butler wholeheartedly.

Butler pointed out that Greitens withheld almost half a million dollars in St. Louis crime prevention funds from the state budget, plus $475,000 in Neighborhood Watch funds. Those cuts in critical state funds – plus the incalculable cost to public morale to see a minimum wage increase enacted by city legislators taken away by out-state politicians and this young, rogue governor – will do much more to foster violent crime than a few state troopers manning highway exits will ever do to reduce it.

“But what is most appalling is Greitens’ absolute disrespect of the black community,” Butler stated. “He strolls into a majority-black city for a press conference with two black clergymen from Southeast Missouri and dozens of mostly white law enforcement officers to make an announcement that was directed to the black community. The message was as subtle and sickening as possible: We are going to lock you up! Greitens was heard saying to law enforcement officers the night before, and again after the press conference, ‘We are going to get ‘em.’”

Butler stated a different agenda: “No, Mr. Greitens, we are going to get you! Our community will not be used as pawns in your campaign for higher office. Our leaders will continue to fight back and speak out against your assault on our policy agenda. If crime is going to be reduced in our areas, it will be because our community leaders have already stood up and invested themselves in their neighborhoods. You should join our efforts and abandon your charade of old solutions.”

Again, we agree with Butler. Though we must add: If Greitens were to abandon his charade, he would evaporate. As a governor he is a living, walking, double-talking charade.

This young, ambitious, mysteriously funded politician has not yet demonstrated any concept of ethics or sense of responsibility to all of the people he was elected to serve. Like the man elected to U.S. president on the same day, whose “political outsider” playbook he shares, Greitens has given us no reason to believe this man elected as governor is at all suited for the job.

Commentary

We do not need a crusader in chief

The speech President Trump delivered July 6 in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square might have been appropriate when Britannia ruled the waves and Europe’s great powers held dominion over “lesser” peoples around the globe. It had nothing useful to say about today’s interconnected world.

Eugene Robinson

“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive,” the president said. “Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”

Trump added what he probably thought of as a Churchillian flourish: “I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph.”

Triumph over whom?

Trump mentioned “radical Islamic terrorism” as one of the enemies posing “dire threats to our security and to our way of life,” but he didn’t stop there. He went on to add Russia and – weirdly – “the steady creep of government bureaucracy”

Letters to

Correction

to the list. It is appalling that the president would describe patriotic public servants as a kind of fifth column that “drains the vitality and wealth of the people.” But what does Trump mean when he speaks of “the West” and its civilization?

If the president read a few history books, he’d know that for most of the last 2,000 years, China and India were the world’s leading economic powers and Europe was a relatively primitive backwater. He’d know that Europe rose

n But what does Trump mean when he speaks of “the West” and its civilization?

to dominance not by erecting walls, but by opening itself to the rest of the world – its resources, products and people. There is nothing pure about Western civilization. Its ability to absorb and incorporate outside influences has proved a great strength, not a weakness. Imagine Italy without tomato sauce, a gift from the New World – or the United States without the hightech companies founded by immigrants, gifts from the Old. Of course Trump is right to call for a united front against terrorism. But the solution, in a globalized world, cannot be to hunker behind walls, however

the editor

will provide St. Louis with one of the best police department in the country.

big and beautiful those walls might be. Industrial supply chains cross borders and span oceans. Words and images flash around the globe at the speed of light. Global issues, such as nuclear proliferation and climate change, demand global solutions. Like it or not, we are all in this together. The correct response to the terrorism threat, which is real, is to isolate it as an abomination that is as much a grievous insult to Islam as to any other faith – and that has taken the lives of far more Muslims than non-Muslims. The wrong response is to posit that “the West” is besieged by, and therefore at war with, a hostile civilization. That’s a fight in which everyone loses. Trump did finally make clear that the United States remains fully committed to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that an attack on one member of the alliance is tantamount to an attack on all. He was tougher on Russia than in the past, and he cited “propaganda, financial crimes and cyberwarfare” as “new forms of aggression” that must be countered. But viewing the fight against terrorism as some kind of civilizational Armageddon is wrong. Trump seems to view himself as the West’s defender against 1.6 billion Muslims, almost all of whom want only to live in peace. We need a capable president, not a crusader in chief. Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson@ washpost.com.

By Marjorie Innocent Guest columnist

Our representatives are on the brink of instating a health care plan that epitomizes separate and unequal. Thirteen U.S. Senators – all white men – sat behind closed doors in Washington, D.C. and crafted a replacement to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their proposed bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), based off of the House’s American Health Care Act (AHCA), would only benefit people like themselves – healthy, wealthy white men – and quarantine the rest of the country into the confines of high-cost, low-quality health care. The Senate’s inequitable protection plan would disproportionately hurt the sick, the poor, the elderly, women and people of color. It would make healthcare more expensive for seniors and people who are already sick, increase out-of-pocket costs for doctor’s visits, slash subsidies to help low-income people pay for health insurance, and cut Medicaid support to states by nearly $1 trillion. In more than 20 years as a health and social policy professional, I have witnessed the dire consequences of African Americans living without health care, and I have watched the ACA repair some of the most egregious inequities in our health care system. If the Senate bill passes, the impact will devastate, and, in many cases, lethal. The current version of the Senate’s health care plan proposes to cut more than $834 billion from the Medicaid program over 10 years and phase out additional funding for its expansion. At the same time, the bill proposes tax cuts of over $660 billion that will largely benefit high-income individuals and big businesses – with 40 percent profiting the top 1 percent of earners. In effect, cuts to Medicaid for the poor and to premium subsidies for low-income people will serve to refund the rich.

for states to participate in the program. The increased costs would be hurtful to all elderly Americans, most of whom experience a decline in income, but they would be especially crippling to African-American seniors, who experience poverty at twice the rate of their white counterparts.

The Senate’s plan grants several allowances to states that hold the potential for serious harm. The plan permits states to opt out of providing essential health benefits that made coverage under the ACA more comprehensive, such as maternity and mental health care. States that opt out of providing these essential benefits would receive their share of $138 billion over 10 years to help offset the states’ cost for covering those who need care most and thereby likely set up high-risk insurance groupings. This provision would incentivize states to mark up the cost of coverage for people with certain needs, ostracizing them to their own costly risk pool. Under the new bill, low-income families and individuals would be significantly hurt by the cuts to Medicaid, which would kick 14 million enrollees out of the program. Proposed changes to Medicaid would mean that the federal government would only fund 50 percent of the program (it funds 95 percent under the ACA), making it more unlikely

The ACA cut the uninsured rate for African-American adults by almost half between 2010 to 2015 and eliminated the inequity in uninsured rates between African-American and white children. For the first time in history, thanks to the ACA, a black child is no longer more likely to be uninsured than a white child. The new bill threatens to undo all of this progress. Suddenly, health care and insurance will once again be out of reach for many African Americans, nearly a quarter of whom were living below the poverty line in 2015.

The BCRA is an assault on the health of women of all races. The bill would prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding for one year, including Medicaid and Title X, despite its status as a source of care for services that women need, such as contraception and screenings for cancers and STDs.

The ACA is the most comprehensive legislative effort to improve and democratize health care access in our nation’s history. We need to bolster the ACA’s promises of progress, not regress to conditions that were unacceptable then and are indefensible now.

Marjorie Innocent is senior director of NAACP Health Programs

A photo caption in our June 29 edition misprinted the contact number for people interested in joining the Clean Sweep initiative, whose next project - CleanSweep: Hamilton Heights / Wells-Goodfellow - is planned for Saturday, July 29, with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Better Family Life Cultural Center, 5415 Page Blvd. The correct number to call is (314) 381-8200. We regret the error.

Retro police department

Pursuing the June 29 issue of The American seemed like convoluted time travel: Reddit Hudson’s open letter to black cops; black cop shot by white cop; police underpaid; city losing officers to other departments; and yet another police overtime scandal. Is it really the 21st century? The city is not even a decade into managing the police department and it already seems retro, like mid-20th century. The mayor and aldermen of St. Louis have an opportunity before them, but will they use it to improve policing in St. Louis? The opportunity: selection of a new chief of police. Will he/she be a progressive tool of the 21st century from outside St. Louis’ “Where’d you go to school?” community, or someone “connected” within the department?

Does Mayor Lyda Krewson recognize the fact that policing progress in St. Louis hinges on control of the police employment office, fair, equitable job assignments and a transparent and just promotional system? A diverse police population hired under sophisticated employment standards and working in a progressive environment in which job assignments and promotions are open and just

Michael K. Broughton Green Park

Protect the Clean Water Rule

I am writing to inform readers that the EPA has just proposed to repeal the Clean Water Rule, which provides key protections for the drinking water of 2,498,142 Missourians. After seeing what happened in Flint, Michigan, it is hard to understate the importance of ensuring safe drinking water for all communities. In 2015, the Clean Water Rule restored federal protections to 72,626 miles of Missouri’s streams, which

help provide drinking water to 2,498,142 Missourians. The rule also protects wetlands, which help filter out pollutants and provide wildlife habitat. More than 800,000 Americans – including 7,166 Missourians – urged the EPA to adopt the Clean Water Rule. Yet the new EPA is now proposing to dismantle it. Repealing this rule turns the mission of the EPA on its head: The agency charged with protecting our sources of drinking water would instead leave them open to pollution. It defies common sense, sound science, and the will of the people of Missouri. EPA should reconsider this reckless repeal and stand up for our drinking water.

Amy Wang St. Louis

Columnist

Marjorie Innocent

Columnist

Metro Public Transit Art Program seeks entries

Metro Arts in Transit is offering local artists a way to share and display their work across the St. Louis region and to get paid for their creations. Artists who reside within 50 miles of St. Louis are invited to enter their works to the 2017 MetroScapes, a public transit art program that showcases local art at Metro transit locations. If selected for the program, their works will be reproduced as large-scale posters which will be installed and on display at more than 200 MetroBus shelters.

Artwork selected for the program will also be reproduced as smaller, limited-edition posters available for purchase by the public. Each artist will receive three copies of the limited-edition poster and $1,000 for the use of their original image in the MetroScapes program. Local artists can submit up to three images for consideration. All entries must be submitted online using Submittables, available through the Opportunities page of the Metro Arts in Transit website at artsintransit.org. Submitted images need to be high-resolution, with a minimum 300 dpi. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, August 22.

Clean-Sweep: Hamilton Heights / Wells-Goodfellow

The Clean Sweep initiative to clean up city neighborhoods – a partnership between Habitat for Humanity St. Louis, Better Family Life, Inc., St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church, Leonard Memorial Church, The Tabernacle Church, Thessalonian Church, Torchbearers 2, the City of St. Louis, the JVL Neighborhood Association, area businesses and families – will host Clean-Sweep: Hamilton Heights / Wells-Goodfellow on Saturday, July 29, with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Better Family Life Cultural Center, 5415 Page Blvd. To register, call (314) 381-8200.

Climber concentrating

Senators must vote no on TrumpCare, yes to life

By Rev. Cassandra Gould Guest columnist

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a new analysis on Monday, June 26 showing that the U.S. Senate health care bill makes even deeper cuts to Medicaid than the House bill, even after President Trump said the Senate bill should have more “heart.”.

The Senate bill would strip affordable, comprehensive coverage for working families; phase out Medicaid for seniors, children, and people with disabilities; leave tens of millions of people uninsured and millions more facing drastically higher premiums and out-ofpocket costs, all to give massive tax cuts to the wealthy few. Over 74 million seniors, children, people with disabilities, veterans and low-income workers depend on Medicaid. The Senate’s version of TrumpCare will also decimate protections for the one out of two people with pre-existing conditions and allow states to opt out of essential benefits like substance use treatment, prescriptions and maternity care.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” When our elected leaders prioritize profits over people, it is clear where their hearts lie. The senators who wrote this bill should be ashamed of themselves, but we need Senators Blunt and McCaskill to show us you care for Missourians and say no to Trumpcare and yes to life.

We particularly want to ask Senator Roy Blunt how will he respond when The Creator asks, “When I was sick, did you help me or did you take my healthcare?”

Antona Brent Smith is the mother of a child with multiple illnesses, including the very rare eosinophilic esophagitis and eosinophilic gastroenteritis, asthma, severe food allergies and environmental allergies. “I am worried that at age 13, her preexisting conditions will mean we can no longer afford her health care,” she says. “Her condition requires endoscopies with a biopsy to determine her eosinophil (white blood cell) count. These are at a minimum yearly if in remission and quarterly, when she is not. This bill would be devastating to our daughter.”

She has a challenger for our senators: “I am asking, begging Senator Claire McCaskill, a neighbor in Kirkwood, and Senator Roy Blunt to think of this Missouri child who had her first surgery at age 15 months. Is her life important enough to vote no on this bill?”

Rev. Cassandra Gould is executive director of Missouri Faith Voices, a statewide multiracial and multi-faith non-profit organization committed to racial and economic justice.

Rev. Cassandra Gould

Maryiana Jones, 6, made her climb to the top during Fair St. Louis in Forest Park on Sunday, July 2.

Photo by Wiley Price

MORIAL

Continued from A1

comes here?

Marc Morial: We’re glad to be in St. Louis for the second time in 10 years. We continue to celebrate the tremendous work of the St. Louis Urban League, now under Michael McMillan’s leadership, and previously under the leadership of Jim Buford, who is a St. Louis icon, and also remains involved in the work of the national Urban League as a member of our Board of Trustees. St. Louis is the home of our board chairman, Michael Neidorff, who’s really stepped up to

TAX

Continued from A1

also trigger an automatic rise in the city’s business tax, or use tax. And that estimated $3.9 million in revenue would go towards social workers for the police department, afterschool programs, summer jobs, public defenders and recreation programming – or “pet projects,” as the union called them.

The union focused their ire at Krewson because “she certainly did not warn us that the proposed tax would be split up for a number of new programs unrelated to police pay.”

Somehow, the union sees the money that would go towards supporting crime prevention programs as a “slap in the face to every member.” They believe that both the $19.5 million in sales tax revenue and $3.9 million generated from the use tax should go directly towards their salaries.

The letter stated that the union decided to take their “case” to the full Board of Aldermen. On July 7, Alderman Jack Coatar of the

ensure the success of this conference, and has assembled great support from the business and civic community in St. Louis. Our conference is not just a conference for visitors. Our conference is a conference for St. Louis. By that I mean that we have tremendous opportunities for people to participate in an empowerment experience. So we have a career fair, a college fair, what I would call “expo hall,” or the “Annual Empowerment Experience,” where there are companies, organizations, associations who want to connect with people in St. Louis. On Saturday we’ll have Family and Community Day, and we’ll be giving away thousands of backpacks to

7th Ward led the effort – on the union’s behalf – to amend Board Bill 60 to earmark the full $12.8 million that the police were set to receive from the sales tax revenue for salaries alone. The original bill stated that $8.3 million would go towards salaries and $4.5 million for pensions and benefits. That would have forced the city to come up with $4.5 million to cover the pension and benefit costs – or reallocate the money for the “pet projects” for this purpose. Coatar’s amendment was defeated.

Alderman Terry Kennedy, who represents the 18th Ward and is the chairman of the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, was at a funeral when the full board voted on Board Bill 60 on Friday. He had not fully read the union’s letter but gathered the basics, he said. In response, he said that policing is only one part of crime prevention, and the programs that were proposed in Board Bill 60 are proven by experts to decrease crime.

“Social programming and work creation can begin to eliminate the crime indicators that lead people into crime,” Kennedy said. “Areas that have high crime have few

kids. That’s in addition to the thought leadership events and the plenary sessions and the panels. And all of the things I described – the career fair, the expo hall, the college fair—are free and open to the public.

St. Louis American: What dollar amount would you assign the value to our local economy of having this conference here?

Marc Morial: About $10 million – a $10 million impact, which is a significant impact.

St. Louis American: I’ve heard you call the St. Louis Urban League affiliate the “flagship affiliate.” Is that still how you would describe it?

recreational programs for youth. They have poor housing conditions, poor job opportunities, poor access to health care, and they have low standard educational institutions. You are looking at families of high stress, trauma and lack of social services. You cannot argue that there is some merit in funding programs that address those indicators.”

He also said that funding these programs and raising police salaries are both important.

“Police are not trained in social services,” Kennedy said. “When you don’t have the social services, you end up throwing that responsibility on them. They are not trained for that.”

Salaries and overtime

The letter states that St. Louis County’s recent sales tax increase to pay for higher police salaries has put the city in dire need to raise their own officers’ salaries – or lose them to the county.

The starting salary for a police officer in St. Louis County is $40,162, and in the city it’s $43,140, according to the city’s Budget Office. With the sales tax increase,

Marc Morial: They are absolutely one of the very best affiliates in the country, the only affiliate that has scored a 5-star rating on all of its previous performance assessments. What they have been able to do in St. Louis is serve tens of thousands of people in multiple locations, in multiple programmatic areas, as well as serve as a social justice and civil rights voice in the community.

I’m impressed that they’ve been able to transition their leadership from Jim Buford to Michael McMillan, who has not lost a single step, and who has begun to build a new facility out in Ferguson, which underscores the fact that the national Urban League is not just there when protests take

the county will now start at $52,208, according to the county.

With the city’s increase, city officers could get about a $6,000 raise, said Paul Payne, the city’s budget director.

However, Payne said he has repeatedly tried to include one point into the conversation: “Our pensions are way better,” he said.

The city’s cost for police pension is at 45 percent of payroll, he said. For comparison purposes, St. Louis County’s pension cost as of the year 2015 was just under 23 percent of payroll, he said.

If the sales tax is approved, the police would get 66 percent, or $12,825,000, of the sales tax revenue and the fire department would receive 28 percent, or $5,475,000. Firefighters always receive the same pay raises as police by law; there are just fewer of them.

The money for police would go towards filling the 111 empty spots open on the force and towards pay raises, Krewson said.

The Circuit Attorney’s Office will get $1.2 million because reducing crime isn’t “all about cops,” Krewson said. The funds for both the

place – we stay, and we build, and we work, and we try to empower the community.

St. Louis American: Some say it’s an unprecedented time on our national political scene, with this incredibly disruptive president. What does it mean to do an Urban League national conference at this time of this administration?

Marc Morial: It means that we must protect our progress and we must resist the rollback. So we continue to be constructive, but we are aligned in resisting any effort to roll back civil rights protections, roll back investments in education and workforce and housing, roll back the Affordable Care Act.

prosecutors and public defenders ($975,000) will help get people to trial more quickly – rather than being detained in jail for long periods of time, she said.

The letter also states that the union will not sign off on “an agreement that doesn’t include significant raises and full funding of sergeants overtime.”

The mention of overtime was fairly bold considering that a recent audit by the Comptroller’s Office showed that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department repeatedly violated the law and went over budget on overtime pay by almost $5 million between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.

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

The department spent $13.4 million on overtime, instead of the budgeted $8.5 million. This is because management of overtime was “inadequate,” it stated.

The audit gave examples of three officers who earned between $62,800 and $77,000

We’re going to resist any effort to strip agencies of their ability to enforce civil rights laws, because that’s what our mission is. We must resist. While at the same time, we take the position that if Congress decides to put forth an intelligent infrastructure plan, we will work with them to ensure that it benefits our community. A So we’re going to be focusing on the work we need to do in these difficult and challenging times. We’re in it for the long haul, we’re in it for the long run.

For more information on the 2017 National Urban League Conference in St. Louis, visit http://conference. iamempowered.com.

in overtime pay. The 342,400 of overtime hours in the audit’s timeframe “could not be verified whether or not the officers actually worked these hours because detailed time sheets and adequate supporting documents were not maintained.”

In response, the department told the auditor that staff shortages caused the excessive overtime hours.

Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green of the 15th Ward voted against both Coatar’s amendment and Board Bill 60. She said the union’s stance on funding supportive services was “unfortunate.”

“We spend 0.3 percent of our budget on health and human services and 54 percent on public safety,” Green said.

“The $4 million added to crime prevention programs is just a drop in the bucket of what the city needs for true crime prevention. I’d hope that the SLPOA would be committed to tackling the root causes of crime, not just adding more funds to their own budget, especially when there are $5 million in overtime funds that were spent by the department without the use of proper accounting procedures.”

NAVARRO

Continued from A1

told the crowd.

Gail Farwell, 28th Ward Democratic committeewoman, said Navarro’s win represents a “new beginning.”

“The 28th Ward is ready to move forward, and she’s going to be a great leader,” Farwell said. “She going to get young people involved who haven’t been involved. She’s going to do a lot to bring the whole ward together.” Farwell said she’s already done much to energize the ward, especially young families.

Navarro, 38, started the Central West End Families and Friends community group, which tries to attract young families to the neighborhoods and support them so they stick around when their children enter school. The group raised funds to redevelop Samuel Kennedy Park, which is a small triangle of land near Euclid Avenue and Delmar Boulevard that now has water and climbing features for kids.

COP

Continued from A1

to assist at a crime scene that unfolded right outside his front steps while off-duty. Although he wasn’t close friends with Green, Carter wanted the injured officer to know that his community supports and cares about him.

So on Saturday, July 1, Carter and community activist Bill Monroe set up a simple stand in an Aldi’s parking lot to sell snow cones and hot dogs to raise money for Green and his family. By mid-day, more than 200 people had come through, including the acting chief of police and several elected officials. They raised $2,400 in eight hours. Some residents who passed through called Green “Mr.

“It’s right on the Delmar Divide,” Navarro told The American previously. “It’s got to be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life to develop that park. Because of the nature of the Central West End and all the education choices, you got a lot of kids who wouldn’t normally meet each other.”

Navarro moved to St. Louis in 1997 to attend Washington University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and a law degree. Before joining the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, she spent more than three years practicing as a civil rights lawyer at a private firm in St. Louis. There, she helped parents of children with special needs obtain muchneeded services. She also represented those who had experienced discrimination based on their race or disability.

She now fights for environmental protection and justice. Navarro said she will now “scale back” at the coalition but still be involved at the executive level. Navarro can’t imagine living

Clean Cut.” They said he was the type of officer who would call the parents of black teenagers when he pulled them over to let them know what was going on – much to the parents’ gratitude.

“I know all officers can’t do this all the time; however, it made me feel a sense of community policing that’s protecting & serving,” Barbara Whitley Campbell wrote in a Facebook post to Green. “My husband & I appreciate you!” Carter said Green was much loved in the community.

“We have to let police know that when they are doing the right thing, we’ll rally behind them,” Carter said.

Normally people in the community wouldn’t blink at an incident like Green’s getting shot and just pass it

anywhere else but St. Louis, she said, and her love for her community is at the heart of why she wanted to become an alderwoman.

off as “another dirty police” officer shooting a black man, Carter said. But the fact that it was a beloved officer who was shot made people particularly saddened and frustrated.

On June 21 at about 10:30 p.m., Green was relaxing with his family in his North St. Louis city home when he heard “commotion” nearby and went outside to scope it out with his departmentissued weapon, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s incident statement.

At that time, three black males, two of whom were 17, had crashed a stolen car on the 5900 block of Astra Avenue. The young men fled on foot, and two officers chased and fired shots at them. One of the young men was hit in the ankle. When the black officer came

One of the concerns that she hears most from residents and business owners is regarding safety, and that’s one of the first issues she intends to dive

out to assist, two officers ordered him to the ground and he complied. They soon recognized the 11-year veteran on the force and told him to stand up and walk toward them, according to the statement.

But then another officer, a 36-year-old white officer, arrived on the scene and “observed this,” the report stated. Somehow, the officer “feared for his safety,” and he shot the black cop in the arm, according to the statement.

The police department did not release the names of any of the officers involved. However, it did state that seven officers went on administrative leave after the incident, as per department policy. The Force Investigative Unit, which focuses on officer-involved shootings, responded, and an

into, she said. “And we need to have been investing yesterday in the environment, education and economic development for

investigation is ongoing.

That night, Acting Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole –surrounded by the mayor and some top-ranking officers – told media at the scene that the off-duty officer was shot in the arm “during the exchange of gunfire” between the suspects and the officers.

At noon the next day, the department tweeted out the incident statement that revealed the fact that the white officer had shot the black officer.

O’Toole and Mayor Lyda Krewson were quick to make a public statement about the incident that didn’t reflect the truth, Carter said, but they haven’t been willing to speak publicly about their mistake since then.

“In my opinion, they are stalling for time,” Carter said. Krewson and O’Toole have both talked about addressing

youth,” she said. Equitable development is another issue at the top of her priority list. She’s interested in learning more about community benefit agreements, or contract provisions that would require developers to give back to the communities surrounding their real estate projects if the developers are seeking tax incentives. Moving the city forward using a racial equity lens and addressing the city’s disparities are also among her priorities.

Navarro was happy to see that 26.17 percent of voters in the ward came out to the polls for a special election.

“Our community is engaged, and they are ready to take action,” Navarro said. She thanked her supporters for standing out at the polls in 100-degree heat – to which many yelled back a slightly exhausted, “You’re welcome.”

“We have a lot to celebrate tonight,” she said. “Tomorrow we rest, and then we are going to get to work doing everything we can for the city of St. Louis.”

racism in the city, but “why not racism in the police department?” Carter asked. Monroe said that they also need to talk about the fact that “all black people are not a threat.” However, he said he was happy that the community came forward and showed their appreciation and support for the city’s officers at the fundraiser.

David Jackson, who attended the fundraiser, agreed that people in the community “are in full support of the police department,” despite there being “those bad few.” Green’s injury is unfortunate, he said.

“It makes you question,” Jackson said. “You have an officer come on the scene and he just starts shooting? If you are that afraid, then maybe you shouldn’t have a gun.”

Heather Navarro thanked supporters Tuesday night at Dressel’s Public House in the Central West End after her landslide victory in the July 11 special election for 28th Ward alderwoman. Navarro won with 68.85 percent of the vote.

Photo by Rebecca Rivas

Trump election commission condemned as tool for voter suppression

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Tony Rothert, legal director of ACLU of Missouri, said that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s campaign to gather voter information, as vice-chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, is “nothing more than a guise for laying the foundation for more voter suppression across the nation.”

Kobach issued letters to Secretaries of State seeking disclosure of identifying information on voters across the country. Kobach requested state voter roll data, including: the full first and last names of all registrants, middle names or initials if available, addresses, dates of birth, political party, last four digits of social security number if available, voter history from 2006 onward, active/inactive status, cancelled status, information regarding any

felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information.

“The ACLU of Missouri will make a Sunshine Law request to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to ensure that the office maintains the integrity of public records and does

not give any Missourian’s private information over to this administration’s voter suppression campaign,” Rothert said.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said in a statement that his office had only been asked to provide “‘publiclyavailable’ information, which we would share with any

person or organization making an open records request. We will protect Missourians’ private information.”

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, also condemned Kobach’s move.

“This meritless inquisition opens the door for a misguided and ill-advised commission to take steps to target and harass voters and could lead to purging of the voter rolls,” Clarke said. “We urge Secretaries of State who received a letter from Kris Kobach to reject this request and discourage state and local officials from participating in this Commission’s dangerous activities.”

Clarke encouraged citizens to call its Election Protection hotline 866-OUR-VOTE (6878683) to report complaints or any suspicious activity regarding the activities of the Election Integrity Commission.

Judge Zel M. Fischer is Missouri’s next chief justice

American staff

Judge Zel M. Fischer became Missouri’s next chief justice on July 1 by order of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He succeeds Judge Patricia Breckenridge, who remains on the court. His term as chief justice will run through June 30, 2019.

Fischer grew up in Watson, the most northwestern city in Missouri and was educated in the Rock Port public schools. He received his bachelor of arts degree, majoring in both philosophy and political science, in 1985 from William Jewell College in Liberty and his law degree, with distinction, in 1988 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He then clerked for Supreme Court of Missouri Judge Andrew Jackson Higgins, who had completed his own two-year term as chief justice just a year before.

After completing his clerkship, Fischer worked in the private practice of law in northwest Missouri from 1989 to 2006, when he was elected

associate circuit judge in Atchison County. In October 2008, he was appointed to the Supreme Court, where he led an effort for trial judges throughout the state to have advanced education and training to preside over cases involving complex science or technology issues. Fischer and his wife, Julie, live in rural northwest Missouri and have four children.

Chief Justice Zel Fischer

Greitens protested for cutting minimum wage while pledging support for STL crime fighting

One of St. Louis’ chief law enforcement officials – and the only black leader in public safety in the city – attended Governor Eric Greitens’ press conference about crime in St. Louis on Monday, July 10, but as a bystander.

“I wasn’t invited,” St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts told The St. Louis American Betts tried to hear Greitens talk over protestors attacking the governor for not vetoing a state bill that will negate St. Louis’ ordinance setting up gradual increases in the minimum wage in the city. City minimum wages already have been increased to $10 an hour, but will be cut back to $7.70, the state minimum, when the law goes into effect in August.

Greitens was trying to announce that Missouri Highway Patrol troopers have started patrolling interstates in the city, to free up more city police to patrol city streets, and that he had directed state agencies to work with city departments and schools to provide services, such as trauma counseling, that might prevent crime. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson also attended and welcomed the state’s support.

But Greitens could scarcely be heard over an improvised sound system at Riverview Plaza in North St. Louis, as protestors were much more numerous and vocal than the elected officials.

“Increase wages, decrease crime!” one protestor shouted.

“Poverty makes crime!” shouted another.

“Pay the workers, don’t incarcerate them!” shouted yet another.

One pastor’s protest of the governor was more personal and based on personal experience.

“You’re a liar!” Rev. Clinton Stancil, senior pastor of Wayman AME Church in North St. Louis, thundered at the governor.

Sheriff Betts was asked if it makes sense for the governor to cut wages and pledge to decrease crime in the same city.

“You can’t,” Betts said. “You can’t take bread out of folks’ mouth and expect them to be happy. You can’t do that.”

But Greitens had not consulted him or even invited him to the press announcement. Betts said he is used to being left out of public safety conversations, though his department is responsible for transporting prisoners and guarding the courtrooms where they are tried.

“We hear about more money for police, but that’s more arrests and more court cases, so more work for my staff,” Betts said. “I need deputies. We need witnesses to testify. But who is going to testify if there is no adequate protection for them when they show up in court? I need deputies.”

Betts also noted that he has a degree in criminology, as well as family and friends who are incarcerated, so has a uniquely nuanced perspective on crime. He also is a rarity in St. Louis – a black man in a leadership position in law enforcement, when there is so much hand-wringing about how law enforcement should be more diverse and inclusive.

“But the governor didn’t invite me,” Betts said.

Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green of the 15th Ward attended the press event, also on her own initiative, and lined up with the protestors, not the elected officials. “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime,” her sign read, an insight from Aristotle “Poverty is the root cause of crime,” Green said. “You can’t take away people’s paychecks and reduce crime. We’re talking about paying police more while the governor just cut the minimum wage for every worker in the city, and the mayor’s not fighting that

Monday, July 10, but as an uninvited bystander. Greitens’ appearance was

and community advocates for being imposed upon the community without local input.

by local elected

by

“I was elected to bring more jobs to Missouri,” Greitens said. “The minimum wage increase hurts the people it is supposed to help.” Greitens has previously argued that higher wages “kill jobs.”

However, in 2016 the National Employment Law project reported that employment has increased 68 percent of the times the minimum wage has increased since 1938. Further, industries most affected by the minimum wage did even better, with retail seeing increases in employment 73 percent of the time and leisure and hospitality seeing increases 82 percent of the time the minimum wage has been increased. The researchers found “no correlation” between rises in minimum wages and dips in employment.

Denunciations from black state legislators came fast and hard.

“By labeling St. Louis ‘the most dangerous city in the United States of America,’ Eric Greitens does more harm than good,” state Rep. Michael Butler (D-St. Louis), House Minority Caucus chairman, said in a statement. “That is the hyperbole of a professional politician exploiting a problem to advance his career, not the thoughtful response of a governor genuinely interested

in addressing the problem.” Butler said he wished the governor showed his alleged concern for safety in St. Louis when reviewing the state budget.

State Rep. Joshua Peters (D-St. Louis) also said the governor should put his alleged concern into action with his budgeting priorities.

“If Governor Greitens cared about combating crime in St. Louis, after moving his own home and family to Warren County from St. Louis, maybe he could start by giving our Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner the additional funds she needs to prosecute career criminals,” Peters said. “Maybe he could support more funds for our schools to combat truancy. More funds for drug rehab and social services.”

“I have been working hard to get money in the budget for neighborhood organizations to fight crime in their communities since I was elected in 2012 and succeeded this year,” Butler wrote in an op-ed published by The American. “Recently, Greitens withheld almost half of a million dollars in St. Louis crime prevention funds from the state budget. The Governor axed $475,000 in Neighborhood Watch funds, that I had worked so hard for, to help citizens in high crime areas reduce crime in their community. This is a bipartisan, and arguably noncontroversial proposal, that the governor has indicated is not important to him.”

The press event – on a steaming hot July day –was poorly organized. The governor’s press release sent media to a non-existent intersection. He had rounded up some out-of-town clergy to bless his event in St. Louis, but they were so poorly prepared that the first preacher to speak introduced Mayor Krewson as “Linda.” Her name is, in fact, “Lyda.” The carpetbagging preachers received special scorn from the protestors. One young man kept walking close enough to where they could hear him clustered on the other side of the blue wall of cops to yell, “Hey, Reverend Bishop Chicken Wing!”

Photo

Wiley Price

St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts attended Governor Eric Greitens’ press conference about fighting crime in St. Louis on

slammed

officials

Nasheed calls Greitens ‘cruel’ for cutting Rx assistance for low-income seniors

American staff

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed is calling out Gov. Eric Greitens for his administration’s attempt to mislead the 63,000 lowincome, elderly Missourians about his budget’s slashed funding for the Missouri Rx program and the skyrocketing prescription costs they’ll soon see because of it.

In a letter to impacted seniors, dated only two weeks before the cuts go into effect, Greitens’ Department of Social Services (DSS) blamed the program’s expiration on “a law passed in 2014.” What the letter failed to mention is that Greitens is the first governor in a decade not to fight for Missouri’s seniors by renewing and funding the program.

“Less than five months ago, the governor unveiled a budget that kicked 63,000 seniors off Missouri Rx, a program supported for years

by Republican and Democratic governors alike. This cruel decision targeted some of the most vulnerable individuals in our state – something no one should stand for,” Nasheed said in a statement.

“That’s why Gov. Greitens’ Department of Social Services is now misleading these vulnerable Missourians about the real reason their prescription costs are about to go up. This is pure doublespeak from an administration that’s pledged to end politics as usual. If Gov. Greitens is truly committed to his budget, he ought to take responsibility for it instead of deceiving the more than 60,000 Missourians who will lose coverage because of his cuts.”

In 2006, former-Governor Matt Blunt and formerLt. Governor Peter Kinder implemented the Missouri Rx program to assist seniors on Medicare with prescription drug costs. The law included

a sunset provision so that subsequent governors and legislatures could review and renew the program so long as the need continued.

In 2011 and again in 2014, former-Governor Jay Nixon worked across the aisle with Republicans in the General Assembly to continue the program.

In 2017, legislation was filed to continue Missouri Rx so that more than 63,000 low-income, elderly Missourians would not lose the prescription drug assistance. However, Greitens did not include funding for the program in his budget proposal and thus far has not included the Missouri Rx issue in his multiple special session calls.

As a result, on July 1, under Greitens’ budget plan for Missouri Rx, 63,396 Missourians on Medicare will no longer receive this assistance.

Governor’s task force to reform Corrections is short on community advocates

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

In the wake of a series of scandals in the Missouri Department of Corrections, Governor Eric Greitens signed an executive order forming a task force to reform Missouri’s corrections system. The 21-member task force will be comprised mostly of politicians (such as the governor and state legislators), appointed state officials (such as the director of the Missouri Department of Corrections and a member of Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board), and criminal justice insiders (such as the state’s chief justice, a prosecutor, a public defender and police officers). Only three members of the task force will represent the community or advocates from outside the criminal justice system: a representative from a

victim services organization, a former offender and a member of the public, with all three appointed by the governor. It will be chaired by Missouri Director of Corrections Anne Precythe or her designee.

According to a press release, “this task force will follow a data-driven approach to develop policies that improve public safety, reduce corrections spending, and reinvest savings in strategies that can decrease crime and reduce recidivism. A bipartisan group will work with The Council of State Governments Justice Center to merge data across criminal justice agencies and leverage lessons and research from other states to improve our criminal justice system.”

According to the executive order, the task force will be guided by a number of

principles and goals, including: maintain a safe and effective correctional system; maintain capacity for our most violent offenders; provide evidencebased interventions to reduce recidivism and deter crime; ensure accountability and set clear performance measures for our criminal justice system; minimize the need to increase prison capacity; and increase public safety through a reinvestment of a portion of any identified savings into other areas of the criminal justice system, or other public systems, which have been proven to reduce recidivism.

The governor ordered the task force to produce a written report of their recommendations by December 31 and to develop omnibus legislation based on their recommendations for the 2018 legislative session.

‘Die in’ to protest GOP health care bill

Protestors holding signs in the shape of tombstones held a rally and “die in” outside Busch Stadium on Sunday, June 9 to dramatize the potential negative effects that the GOP health care bill will have on ordinary Missourians. They also handed out fliers detailing the effects of the GOP bill and urging Missourians to contact Senator Roy Blunt to

oppose it. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GOP-sponsored health care bill would deprive 22 million Americans of health care coverage in the next 10 years, and even more thereafter.

Cuts in Medicaid would place children, the elderly and persons with disabilities at high risk of losing health care coverage. “Average Americans

Obituary

M. Betty Brown, nurse and nursing teacher

M. Betty Brown was born Minnie Elizabeth Henry on Thanksgiving Day, 1917, in Corona, N.Y., to George F. and Ida Belle Coleman Henry. The eldest of eight children, George, William, James, Patrick, and Ida Henry, she is survived by sisters Lucille Watson and Juanita Jones. At the age of 16, Betty took complete charge of her life, became self-supporting, and excelled scholastically. In 1940 she entered Harlem Hospital School of Nursing from which she graduated with honors. She then received a scholarship to Columbia University Teachers College where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in public health nursing, and went on to receive a Master of Social Work degree at Howard University, and undertook postgraduate studies at Washington (St. Louis), Temple, and New York universities.

Betty served as an instructor of nursing and supervisor of pediatric nursing at Freedman’s Hospital (Washington, D.C.), teaching supervisor at Willard Parker Hospital in New York City, and staff nurse for the N.Y.C. Department of Health. She was director of the nursery school of the N. J. Council of Churches, and the Home Missions Division for Migrants; then, she was employed successively as Young Adult Program Director, YWCA, St. Louis; rehabilitation case-

Betty Brown

worker, Community Coordinating Center, Ft. Wayne, Ind.; medical caseworker, Riverside Hospital, N.Y. teacher of pre-nursing at the Clara Barton Vocational High School, N.Y.C.; and school social worker, N.Y.C. Board of Education. She “officially” retired in April 1980 and returned to D.C. In New York she worked with the Minisink Children’s Center as consultant and board member; was on the board of the Addicts’ Rehabilitation Center; recruited for Big Brothers; was active in the CHUM (Community Hands United Mutually) program; and served as Big Sister for several children. Betty sponsored two young African children, one to come to America. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Betty has served as board member, chairman of Operation Teen Lift, and member of the Career Conference of that service-oriented organization.

Other community activities include member of the

board and of the education and political action committees of the Coalition of 100 Black Women, life member, former board member and chairman of the health committee of the NAACP’ member of the Harlem Branch of the League of Women Voters; member of SEVAS (a peace group for international understanding); a volunteer at the Greater Harlem Nursing Home; leader and Council Ring member of Camps Farthest Out, Habitat for Humanity, Operation Crossroads-Africa, American Red Cross, and Children’s Hospital, Washington, D.C. She also found time for hobbies—travel, fishing, nature study, dramatics, swimming and dancing. She was a member of the Golden Dolphins, the Energetics and the Funtastics, until a stroke in the ‘90’s, but it did not stop her from dancing at the annual dances of the Banneker Dance Club at Martins Crosswinds. She was delighted when several gentlemen would swing her around on the dance floor in her wheelchair, dancing her to the music. She also enjoyed writing, especially poetry. Betty’s greatest interest was in her personal spiritual growth – which must have been tremendous, to generate so much caring. She was well-respected, well-loved, and will be sorely missed.

1,

M.

Chelsea Mayo named 2017 Young Visionary

Chelsea Mayo was recently named the 2017 Jamala Rogers Young Visionary.

Mayo received her degree in social work from the University of Missouri. In the fall, she will attend Webster University to study clinical mental health counseling. Growing up in Ferguson, she saw first-hand how trauma affects African Americans. Mayo said the years of systematic racism in the criminal justice and educational systems has stirred a passion in her “to educate black communities on what mental illness looks like and to incorporate mental health into these communities’ overall wellness.”

The annual contest attracts those area young people who are working for social justice and making a difference in their community. The award is named after Jamala Rogers, a respected community leader and organizer who has inspired thousands of young people to use their time, talents and skills to uplift their communities in meaningful ways.

The Jamala Rogers Young Visionary Award is a project of the Youth Council for Positive Development. The Youth Council has developed thousands of young people and advocated progressive youth policies since 1980. For more information or to make a donation, visit www. positiveyouthdev.com.

OBS launches Black Jurors Matter campaign

American staff

The Organization for Black Struggle has launched a campaign focused on educating African Americans about the important of jury duty. The campaign comes after years of the group’s work on issues that end in the judicial system and seeing the jury pool demographics shift against black defendants. The campaign is also motivated by concerns voiced by defense attorneys whose clients end up with all-white or nearly all-white juries.

Black jurors are twice as like to be struck from juries as their white counterparts. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have a

designated amount of juror strikes that are legal. The U.S. Constitution guarantees a jury of one’s peers and peremptory strikes can be illegal if they deliberately discriminate against a prospective juror’s race or ethnicity.

OBS founder Jamala Rogers said the daily stipend for jury service is discouragingly low for those workers whose employers may let them off but who don’t pay for the days off.

“The current juror system needs to be seriously revamped, Rogers said. “There are some citizens that get called for service regularly while others I know have never been called to serve. We must elevate jury duty to that of being a radical act of civic participation.”

Chelsea Mayo

Business

Local students place third in national business competition

St. Louis Chapter of National Black MBA Association organized team

American staff

High school students from the National Black MBA Association – St. Louis Chapter won third place in the 2017 National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Leaders of Tomorrow National Business Case Competition. The NBMBAA-St. Louis Chapter’s Leaders of Tomorrow case team of Prince Azoro, Hazelwood West High School; Kristina Edwards, McCluer North High School; Kamya Moore, Hazelwood Central High School; and Darius White, Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School travelled to Chicago, Illinois for the Leadership Summit and Business Case Competition held June 21 – 25. As a culminating event for the Leaders

n “These students studied a Harvard Business Case on FitBit and created a four-prong marketing strategy to enhance the product, grow revenue and successfully articulated their concept to C-Suite executives.”

– Dana Townsend, NBMBAA-St. Louis Chapter president

of Tomorrow program year, the NBMBAA National Headquarters hosted local chapters at a 4-day youth leadership training conference.

The Leaders of Tomorrow Leadership Summit included guest speakers, breakout sessions, college and career tours, fun social activities and a business case competition, which the NBMBAA-St. Louis Chapter’s Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) team won third place.

“The St. Louis LOT chapter shined during the leadership summit. From the beginning they were able to conquer every obstacle and challenge put before them,” said Kyvia Moss, NBMBAA-St. Louis LOT program director.

“They truly encompass all of the leadership traits required to be successful in life. It has been my honor to guide them through their journey in the program. It was not me alone that

See STUDENTS, B2

City won’t sue over state GOP wiping out STL minimum wage hike

By Jason Rosenbaum Of St. Louis Public Radio

If it were up to Cynthia Sanders, St. Louis would sue to stop a state bill from voiding the city’s minimum wage increase. Sanders, a janitor who saw her pay go from $8.50 an hour to $10 an hour earlier this year, said it’s not right for workers like her to get a raise “and then just take it back.” It isn’t clear whether there will be a lawsuit, but if so, Mayor Lyda Krewson won’t be the one behind it. The Democrat told St. Louis Public Radio in a statement that while she strongly supports the city law bringing the minimum wage up to $11 an hour by 2018, the legislature

n Republicans who support the minimum wage ban have said there’s little debate that the state has the ability to overturn city and county laws.

has the right to overturn it. Republican Gov. Eric Greitens announced he would let a bill by Rep. Jason Chipman, R-Steeleville, go into effect August 28 without his signature. The measure bars any city or county from having a different minimum wage

than the state, even those that are “currently in effect or later enacted relating to the establishment or enforcement of a minimum or living wage.”

Despite her disapproval of Greitens’ decision, Krewson said there’s not much the city can do about the law that initially took effect in 2015 but wasn’t reflected on paychecks until earlier this year.

“When the legislature first passed this bill to preempt [St. Louis’ minimum wage law], certainly there were several discussions with the city counselor’s office,” Krewson said. “And the thought was this was not a winnable case for the

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Col. Anthony P. Mitchell is the new executive officer for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works in Washington, D.C., responsible for overseeing the civilian functions of the U.S. Army. He is leaving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District, where he has been commanding officer. He is succeeded as District Engineer by Col. Bryan K. Sizemore.

Ronald A. Norwood was awarded the 2017 St. Louis County NAACP Medgar Wiley Evers Legal Advocacy Award. He is a member at Lewis Rice and chair of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. His wide-ranging practice includes representing financial institutions in commercial and tort litigation matters and representing health insurers, health maintenance organizations and health care providers in litigation disputes.

David Noble joined the Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers, Inc.’s Community Advisory Board. He is Community Development and CRA Officer for Midland States Bank. Myrtle Hilliard Davis CHC is a Federally Qualified Health Center serving more than 30,000 patients annually across four site locations in the St. Louis Region.

Natascha Harried joined Fontebella Maternity Home as program director. Its mission is to empower homeless young women facing an unplanned pregnancy by providing them a safe place to live and the opportunity to become independent. She will formulate and facilitate training and personal development programs for residents. She was also recently elected president of the Board of Directors of MCCB Transitions, Inc.

Teri Murray was re-elected as board treasurer for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). She is dean of the School of Nursing at Saint Louis University. Previously for AACN she chaired the Doctoral Advancement in Nursing program and Government Affairs Committee and served as mentor in the New Dean Mentoring Program, among other leadership roles.

Mayfield

Diann Mayfield started Mayfield Errand Services & More LLC, a homebased business in the Bridgeton dedicated to helping people with errands, shopping, services and appointments: “We handle the daily errands that bind you down. Let us free up your time.” Visit mayfielderrandserv. wixsite.com/stlouis or call (314) 8960097.

On the move? Congratulations! Send your

com

Anthony P. Mitchell

Ronald A. Norwood

David Noble

Natascha Harried

The St. Louis Chapter of the National Black MBA Association’s Leaders of Tomorrow National Business Case Competition team: Prince Azoro, Hazelwood West High School; Kamya Moore, Hazelwood Central High School; Kristina Edwards, McCluer North High School; and Darius White, Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School.

Diann

Teri Murray

How to save money while welcoming a new pet to your home

By Nathaniel Sillin

Whether it’s a dog, cat or another furry (or scaly) friend, many people have pets who are more than just animals –they’re part of the family.

Pets can be friends, they can offer nonjudgmental companionship when you’re feeling down and they can put a smile on your face. To provide the best care for a pet, you’ll want to be able to afford their needs, including the basics like food and healthcare. With this in mind, think carefully and review your budget before deciding to welcome an animal into your family.

Choose a pet that you can afford. While the initial cost of adopting or buying a pet is relatively small compared to the long-term expenses, the type of pet you choose does matter.

Admittedly, you might visit the pound and fall in love with a dog or cat. What can you do? The heart wants what the heart wants. Research is a must if you want to take costsaving measures, though. For example, larger animal breeds may be more expensive to care for, partially because they simply eat more food. And if you’re taking in a dog you’ll want to consider the cost of training, which could set you back several hundred dollars.

Lifespan is another consideration. Hamsters, gerbils and some types of fish may only live a couple of years. A pet turtle, on the other hand, could live several decades.

Keep your pet healthy and happy. Health care can be one of the most expensive aspects of pet ownership. As with humans, it’s often best to invest in preventative care rather than treat emergencies. Follow your pet’s recommended vaccination schedule and treatments, spay

or neuter cats and dogs and visit the vet at least once a year for a checkup. Finding and dealing with health problems early on isn’t only less expensive, you may be able to prevent serious problems and improve your pet’s quality of life. Some types of preventative

care don’t require a visit to the vet, although you can still ask for recommendations. For example, brushing your dog’s teeth (with special toothpaste) can help prevent teeth and gum problems.

Consider pet insurance to cover emergencies. When a pet is part of the family, you’ll do anything to help him or her. You may want to have an insurance policy to help cover emergencies that you might not be able to afford otherwise. Particularly if you have a highrisk breed, a pet that tends to escape or you live in an area

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Republicans who support the minimum wage ban have said there’s little debate that the state has the ability to overturn city and county laws. That’s what happened in 2013, when lawmakers from both parties passed a bill that struck down St. Louis and St. Louis County’s ordinances that required banks to negotiate with homeowners going through foreclosure. Republican lawmakers also contend that different minimum wages across the state hurts the economy.

“We’ve had business owners calling certain legislators … talking about what effect that could have on not only summer jobs and their inability to hire summer workers, but the impact that it could have on many families when they have to let these people go,” state Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, said last

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led them to victory, they have themselves and the village of mentors that came together to aid them. I am excited about their future and the future of the LOT Program.”

The LOT National Business Case Competition was held as part of the Leaders of Tomorrow Leadership Summit. This scholarship case competition was designed to help participants develop real-world critical thinking and problem-solving skills by addressing a business case study. Teams of participants

cats, including age-based diet recommendations.

Once you’ve found a food that you and your pet likes, you may be able to get a discount by signing up for a subscription delivery service online. Or, if you don’t mind the workout, consider buying in bulk at a warehouse club.

Have a plan for when you’re unavailable. Another responsibility pet owners take on is making sure their pet is looked after while they’re away. The least expensive option may be to find a neighbor or friend who also has a pet and exchange free petsitting services. Otherwise, you can look for a well-reviewed doggy daycare center or boarding service. You could try one of the several apps that connect you with someone who can feed, walk or play with your pet. If you’re away for several days, the apps can also help you find someone who will spend the night or take your pet to their home.

Bottom line: Taking a pet into your home and caring for them can be a rewarding and wonderful experience. It can also be life changing. Review the potential immediate and long-term costs to help ensure that you’ll be able to provide for a pet once they join your family.

with a lot of other potentially aggressive animals. Before buying a policy, read up on how pet insurance works. There can be important differences between pet and human policies.

Save money on nutritious food. Once you bring a pet home, it’s your responsibility to provide for them. You can ask your vet for food recommendations (and free samples) based on the pet’s type and age. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has general nutrition tips for dogs and

month.

Someone like Sanders or the labor union that represents her could file a lawsuit aimed at striking down the state bill.

But Marcia McCormick, a Saint Louis University law professor, has doubts that legal action would save the city’s minimum wage ordinance, adding that “municipalities are pretty much at the mercy of the states because the state controls all of the structural power.”

She pointed out the bill doesn’t stop St. Louis from requiring city contractors to pay workers higher than the minimum wage, which she says could be an opportunity to help the city’s low-income workers.

“That wouldn’t reach everybody,” McCormick said.

“But it might reach a large enough chunk of people to sort of build future political will to repeal the preemption.”

Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa’s financial education programs. To follow Practical Money Skills on Twitter: www. twitter.com/PracticalMoney. This article is intended to provide general information and should not be considered health, legal, tax or financial advice. It’s always a good idea to consult a tax or financial advisor for specific information on how certain laws apply to your situation and about your individual financial situation.

A city is going to lose when a local ordinance conflicts with state law in most instances, according to University of Missouri-Columbia law professor Richard Reuben. After all, he said, states “create counties, they can shut ’em down.”

worked together to present their case to a panel of judges. Case competition winners were awarded scholarships, paid directly to their educational institution.

Participating students represented over 20 cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Central Florida, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles Louisville, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. where they were all active participants in the Leader of Tomorrow programs operated by some of NBMBAA’s local chapters.

“I’m so proud of our Leaders of Tomorrow high school students for placing third in the country at case

But courts have typically given cities leeway to pass ordinances that focus on “primarily municipal functions,” he said, such as placing regulations on a park or putting stipulations on government contracts. He said there’s a “fair argument” to be made that a city setting its own minimum wage falls into that category.

“And these are the kind of arguments that would go to the judicial treatment of a minimum wage law as an essentially local matter. I don’t think it’s spurious. I think it’s a reasonable claim to make,” he said. What happens next is more than just a philosophical exercise for Sanders, the janitor. She said she used her boost in pay to buy more food for her grandchildren, and added it’s a “slap in the face” that her wages are going down. Follow Jason on Twitter: @ jrosenbaum. Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

competition,” said Dana Townsend, NBMBAA-St. Louis Chapter president.

“These students studied a Harvard Business Case on FitBit and created a four-prong marketing strategy to enhance the product, grow revenue and successfully articulated their concept to C-Suite executives. It’s times like this when media outlets need to show positive images of our African American youth doing amazing and extraordinary things.” This is the second time the St. Louis Chapter LOT case team has competed in the final round. In 2014, the St. Louis Chapter was the national champion.

n “This year, I feel like a lot of guys didn’t trust each other.”

– DeMarre Carroll’s parting shot after being traded from the Toronto Raptors to the Brooklyn Nets

Sports

InsIde the nBA

‘Quiet swag’

Glowing reviews following Tatum’s Summer League debut

The initial reviews of Jayson Tatum’s debut with the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Summer League have been glowing.

The former Chaminade College Prep All-American has excelled in his first five games the Celtics have played in the Utah Summer League in Salt Lake City and the Las Vegas Summer League.

In three games in Utah, Tatum averaged 18.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and shot 47 percent from the field. In his first game in Las Vegas, Tatum put up 27 points and 11 rebounds in the Celtics’ victory over the Los Angeles Lakers summer league entry in front of a packed house at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV.

Tatum has been getting buckets in a variety of ways, from step-back jumpers, mid-post fadeaways and slashing moves to the basket. His offensive game looks quite advanced for someone who is only 19 years old. Tatum’s stellar Summer League play has not gone unnoticed by members of the Celtics’ organization.

“He reminds me of a young Paul Pierce,” said assistant coach Walter McCarty to Boston.com, after Tatum’s 27-point performance against the Lakers. “He has that ability just to be cool. He doesn’t get too frantic. He just lets the game come to him. And he’s got a quiet swag about him.”

“He kind of has an old soul, with a pro-like approach,” said Celtics Summer League coach to the Boston Herald. “He doesn’t get rattled or show a lot of emotion.”

In his debut, Tatum scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and scored the game-winning basket on a 17-foot jumper in the Celtics’ 88-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He also added 23 points, 10 rebounds and two assists against the San Antonio Spurs.

Tatum was the Celtics’ No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft in late June.

Mayweather-McGregor press tour begins

If press conferences were tallied by judges, score the opening round for the highly-anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor would’ve been tough to call. During Tuesday’s inaugural press conference, the two trash-talking fighters faced-off in Los Angeles to officially begin the hype train for their upcoming boxing match. Many of the barbs traded were filled with four- and five-letter words that cannot be republished in this family newspaper. Both fighters came out swinging. McGregor mocked Mayweather’s alleged IRS problems, his excessive rules on which gloves are prohibited for the fight and Mayweather’s limited number of knockouts. Mayweather countered with his usual “Money” talk, discussed his perfection in the ring and called McGregor “Mr. Tap Out” in reference to his three MMA losses via submission.

To nobody’s surprise, McGregor, who once called Nate Diaz a “little cholo gangster from the hood” infused race bigotry into his trash talk. “Dance for me, boy!” McGregor shouted at Mayweather, who was shadowboxing at the time. “Dance for me, son!” Mayweather didn’t take the bait. Instead he went to his backpack and pulled out a $100 million check. The press conference was crass, sometimes corny, but entertaining. The traveling circus will continue to Toronto, Brooklyn and London this week.

Though McGregor was a little more skilled with his trash-talking delivery and a little wittier in his verbal jabs, he doesn’t stand a chance when the two superstars meet in the ring on Aug. 26. Despite all the talk, I expect McGregor to be embarrassed against Mayweather.

Much like former boxing great James “Lights Out”

and

Earl Austin Jr.

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

The former Chaminade College Prep All-American has excelled in

League in Salt Lake City and the Las Vegas Summer League.

Of all the 2017 NBA Lottery draft picks, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has been the surprising storm of the NBA Summer League.

On Saturday in Las Vegas, Tatum dominated his third game of the summer, tallying 27 points and 11 rebounds in the Celtics’ 86-81 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Behind Tatum’s stellar play, the Celtics squad of summer leaguers are 4-1. He starred in three games in Salt Lake City before the show moved to Las Vegas and his Celtics won a pair.

With a pro-Lakers crowd on hand and No. 2 pick Lonzo Ball on the L.A. roster, Tatum took over early and was by far the best player on the court.

Celtics summer league coach Walter McCarty had glowing praise for the rookie, saying “He reminds me of Paul Pierce.”

Tatum made 9 of 19 shots, including his only 3-pointer.

As for the many Lakers fans in the crowd rooting against him, Tatum said, “It took me back to college (at Duke). I felt like I was playing North Carolina.”

Ball played much better on Saturday than he did in his 2-for-15 shooting debut in the Summer League. He registered a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in 34 minutes. He made 5 of 13 shots and 1 of 5 three pointers.

While that delighted Lakers fans, Tatum stole Ball’s spotlight.

Tatum was asked to play is fifth game in seven days – and his first in the second of backto-back games – and it showed. He had his poorest shooting effort of the summer, closing with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Celtics did top the Portland Trailblazers 70-64, though.

“Today was a little tougher, back-to-back, I was tired, body was aching,” he said.

“There’s going to be days like this, back-to-back, you’re feeling like this, but the team won so that’s all that matters.”

In his first five games, Tatum averaged 18.9 points and 9.2 rebounds.

“(I’m) just getting acclimated,” Tatum said.

“Be with the team, the coaches, and just get comfortable… It’s a process. I’m getting more comfortable each and every day, it takes time.” Time is on Tatum’s side.

SportS EyE

Reid

With Alvin A.

Celtics’ Tatum tearing up NBA Summer League

MLB lacks black bosses

The St. Louis Cardinals’ respective promotions of John Mozeliak to president of baseball operations and his former assistant Michael Girsch to general manager could help the franchise now and in the future. Unfortunately, it does nothing to help remedy one of Major League Baseball’s biggest shortcomings – a lack of diversity in front office jobs.

According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, Arte Moreno of the Los Angeles Angels is the lone minority controlling owner.

No minority person has served as president or chief executive of a franchise since 2011.

While there were 10 minority managers in 2009, six years later that number is down to three.

Richard Lapchick, Institute

for Diversity and Ethics in Sport director, recently told the L.A. Times “baseball needs to be concerned.”

In 1999 former commissioner Bud Selig laid out an edict that teams should consider minority candidates for front office job openings. This might have led to an increase, but the numbers have dropped and Lapchick says MLB must set a new course.

“Just bringing in a diverse pool of candidates has not produced the numbers they want. The number is low enough and has been low enough for the past couple years that there has got to be a way to come up

with a bigger hiring pool,” he said.

Bill Shaikin, author of the Times article, wrote that Commissioner Robert Manfred has created a 16-man committee to advise owners in “on-field matters.”

It includes three owners, three team presidents, three baseball operations chiefs, four managers and two Hall of Famers, which Manfred calls “some of the best minds in our game.”

Here’s the catch - only two committee members are minorities.

“Our industry, I believe, is suffering as a result of the lack

of diversity,” said Tony Clark MLB Players Association director.

“Diversity offers a perspective and experience that can be a part of the conversation and can’t be replicated any other way than to access the talent that has that history and that perspective and that experience.”

Renee Tirado, MLB vice president of talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, said “this is not an affirmative action program” in response to the new wave of GMs with no baseball experience but hold Ivy League degrees and/or corporate backgrounds.

He said he is looking for “A+ kids,” adding that baseball has done a poor job of recruiting minorities for jobs before they consider working “at Goldman or Google.”

“I want programs in place in which we take people who make progress in the baseball operations area and work with them on their career path, and on rounding out their skills, so we know we are creating a pool of qualified candidates that are available to take those jobs. And then I want clubs giving a genuine opportunity to diverse candidates,” said Manfred.

“After that, the numbers are going to shake out the way they’re going to shake out.” My guess is that attitude will little to really shake up the status quo.

Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the

Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is #aareid.

Alvin A. Reid

Of all the 2017 NBA Lottery draft picks, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has been the surprising storm of the NBA Summer League.

InsIde sports

With Earl Austin Jr.

Torrence Watson commits to Ohio St.

Whitfield High star shooting guard averaged 28 points a game as a junior

Whitfield High School

basketball standout Torrence Watson has given a verbal commitment to The Ohio State University. The 6’5” shooting guard announced his commitment on his Twitter account on Monday night. He chose the Buckeyes over a final group of schools that included Missouri, Saint Louis U., Michigan, Vanderbilt, Butler, Creighton, Kansas State and Marquette.

A four-star recruit, Watson

is currently ranked the No. 56 player in the Class of 2018 by the recruiting website ESPN. com. He is also ranked in the Top 100 by Rivals.com. Watson is one of the most dynamic offensive players in the state of Missouri. As a junior, he scored a school-record 808 points and averaged 28 points a game to lead the St. Louis metro area in scoring. Watson led the Warriors to a 22-10 record and a berth in the Class 3 state championship game. He will enter his senior year with 1,618 points. Watson has been playing with the Ramey-Jets United 17U team during the summer grassroots season in the Adidas

Ramey Jets United basketball headed to South Carolina for Adidas Nationals

The Ramey Jets United 17U boys basketball team will be headed to Spartanburg, S.C. for the Adidas Uprising Series Gauntlet Finale. They qualified for the national tournament by finishing with a 6-2 record during the Gauntlet regular season, which included stops in Atlanta, Dallas and Indianapolis. They were also champions of the NY2LA Swish n Dish in Milwaukee in April. The team members are (first row, left to right) Courtney Ramey (Webster Groves), Deandre Campbell (Parkway Central), Telly Wright (Hazelwood Central), Jared Phillips (Cardinal Ritter), head coach Terrell Ramey. (second row, left to right), Yahuza Rasas (St. Mary’s), Jerome Reed (Paducah, KY), Joseph Reece (Vashon), Gaven Pinkley (Hillsboro), Torrence Watson (Whitfield).

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thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to be in attendance in Las Vegas. Estimates for Mayweather’s take range from $200-400M for the fight. Meanwhile, McGregor is expected to earn $75-$126M. The only other fight with such staggering earnings was Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao Fans were very disappointed in the actual fight. In the ring, McGregor will be much more aggressive than Pacquiao was. However, judging by the training tapes that have been released to the public, McGregor is simply too slow, too green and not skilled enough to have any type of chance at beating Mayweather. The fight will truly be easy money.

NFL contract envy

NBA free agency is a time where NFL stars have to avert their eyes to avoid the glare of the bright, shiny NBA contracts. In 2017, Derek Carr will be the NFL’s highest paid player. The Oakland Raiders QB will earn $25M in the upcoming season. At least 15 players in the NBA will eclipse the $25M mark during the 2017-18 season. Furthermore, quarterbacks are generally the only NFL players that make NBA money. Le’Veon Bell has the largest contract for running backs at $12.1M. That’s around the same amount of money that Jeremy Lin and Wilson Chandler earn in the NBA.

A big reason that NBA players break the bank is because team’s only field a 15-man roster compared to the 53-man rosters in the NFL. However, the NFL earns approximately $6 billion in revenue while the

Uprising Gauntlet Series. Watson averaged 13 points a game to help lead Ramey-Jets United to a 6-2 record in the Gauntlet regular season and a berth in this week’s Adidas Gauntlet Finale in Spartanburg, S.C.

Local quarterbacks commit to the Service Academies

A pair of standout Class of 2018 quarterbacks from the St. Louis metro area have given verbal pledges to the US Service Academies in the past week. Tionne Harris of Vianney has given a verbal commitment to the US Army

at West Point. The 5’9” 185pound Harris led the Golden Griffins to the Class 5 state championship last season. As a junior, Harris accounted for more than 4,000 yards of total offense and 32 touchdowns. He passed for 2,549 yards and 19 touchdowns while rushing for 1,502 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Quarterback Christian Perez of East St. Louis has given a pledge to the US Naval Academy on Monday night. The 6’2” 185-pound Perez transferred to East St. Louis after a standout junior season at O’Fallon. As a junior, Perez passed for 1,781 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Panthers.

St. Louis Surge to host WBCBL Nationals

The St. Louis Surge clinched a spot in the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League postseason with a 90-79 victory over the Midwest Flyers last Saturday night at Washington University.

As a bonus, the Surge will also be hosting the WBCBL National Tournament, which will be held on August 5-6 at Fontbonne University. St. Louis won the national championship in 2014 in New Orleans and last season in San Antonio.

The Surge (9-0) will conclude its home regular season on Sunday as they host the Arkansas Stingers at the Washington University Fieldhouse. Tip-off is at 2:05 p.m.

Local hoopers head to national tournaments

NBA earns approximately $3 billion. Most of the NBA’s contracts are mostly-guaranteed, with team-options sometimes tacked onto the end. In the NFL, players can often be cut at any time. Only the signing

Le’Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the NFL’s highest-paid running back. He will earn just $12.1 million during the 2017 season. Meanwhile, NBA stars like Steph Curry will earn more than $30 million per year.

Torrence Watson

Minority firm gets $311K demo contract on NGA West site

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Premier Demolition, a local minority union contractor, has been awarded a $311,000 demolition contract to help pave the way for construction of the new National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) West campus on the near North Side of St. Louis, the mayor’s office stated on Friday, July 7. Premier will demolish the Buster Brown Blue Ribbon Shoe Factory, a building constructed around 1900 when St. Louis was one of the nation’s largest shoe manufacturing cities. Predemolition began this week. A dozen pallets of the salvaged brick (about 560 bricks per pallet) will be used as part of the construction of the new NGA West, according to the city’s release. Other salvageable bricks will be hauled to a nearby recycling facility chosen by the contractor.

Inclusion commitments on $1.75B buildout still unclear

Because of the size of the factory, LCRA Holdings, which is managing the site preparation, has allotted nearly 75 days for the full demolition and site clearance. LCRA is the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, a five-member board and support staff that oversees many aspects of public and private real estate development in the city of St. Louis. During the demolition, short-term lane closures may be necessary to ensure a safe perimeter. Signs will be posted to alert drivers. Of the 137 structures that stood within the 97-acre site for NGA West, 132 have been demolished. Another was physically relocated just outside of the NGA’s site boundary.

The $1.75 billion NGA West will be built within both a Promise Zone – a high-poverty community where the federal government partners with local

leaders to increase job creation and economic investment – and a HUB Zone, an area where Historically Underutilized Businesses get a preference with obtaining government contracts.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers previously told The American that a “project contracting officer” would decide the minority participation goals for the entire project.

n “We are still conducting research on project labor agreements and are open to discussion.”

The contracting officer will set inclusion goals at the federal minimum – 14.7 percent minority and 6.9 percent women workers, goals that do not reflect city’s minority population or ensure that local workers get a piece of the pie.

– U.S. Army on NGA West

The St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council proposed to the NGA that at

least 37.81 percent of all labor hours on the facility go to minorities, which more than doubles the inclusion goals set forth in federal guidelines. The St. Louis union council also proposed that at least 23.28 percent of all labor hours would go to St. Louis city residents, and 6.9 percent of all labor hours would go to women. These goals are based on an extensive disparity study, which found that St. Louis has the capacity to employ this number of minorities. The NGA project will likely create 425 construction jobs and 250 “immediate indirect jobs” connected to the construction. Employment opportunities for minorities have been a center of discussion since the Ferguson unrest. The American previously asked

the Army Corps if the region’s attention on this matter would encourage the Army to consider higher minority workforce goals. The Army responded, “We are still conducting research on project labor agreements and are open to discussion.”

NGA currently aims to award five percent of its contract dollars nationally to disadvantaged businesses. In fiscal year 2014, it only achieved 0.87 percent – not even a full percent. The agency’s goals for HUB Zone business contracts was three percent, and in FY 2014 the agency awarded zero dollars to these businesses. The agency awarded 12.42 percent to small businesses in the same year, meeting less than half of the agency’s 28 percent goal.

The American asked the agency’s Office of Small Business why they struggled to award contracts to HUB Zone and disadvantaged businesses.

In an email, a NGA

spokesman wrote that the challenges in meeting these goals include “the size of the requirement and the lack of capability” and that the agency continues to “work on innovative approaches to provide more opportunities for small business to be the prime contractor.”

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis), who represents the North City area where NGA West will be built, has repeatedly said that the federal government owes the area its reinvestment after its disastrous Pruitt-Igoe housing project and the devastation it left behind. Clay said that NGA and the Army Corps both have a responsibility to ensure that local and minority residents have employment opportunities on the project.

“That would have to be an understanding between the owner (NGA) and the Army Corps,” Clay said. “They have to set those goals. I intend to advocate for those goals.”

IRS means ‘all’ when it says report ‘all’ your income

By Alma M. Scarborough Guest columnist

Over the years I have had so many clients come to me and say, “I received this letter from the Internal Revenue Service and it says that I did not report ‘all’ my income.” Let’s discuss the Internal Revenue Code, briefly. The Internal Revenue Code is quite literal in its terminology. Therefore, if it uses the word “all,” it really does mean “all.”

Should you work two jobs and get one Form W-2, the “all” means for you to report the other earnings, whether you have a W-2 or not. If you are a sub-contractor and do not receive a Form 1099 from the contractor, you are still obligated to report “all” the earnings from that job. Should you receive no W-2, no 1099, no interest statements, no dividend statements, this does not preclude you from reporting “all” your income.

And it is “all” on you to find out what it is. Heads up: Congress’ favorite word ever is “except.” The use of the word “except” alerts you to the fact that there is an exception to the rule you are currently reading. Generally those exceptions will reference another code section. Because there are exceptions to some rules,

the code guides you to the section where the exception is written. If you have ever used tax software that is why they do not provide answers to your direct situation; they provide you with all the possible answers to your situation, because there are so many exceptions. So if you do not recognize the right “drop down,” you could end

up somewhere that you did not note the exception. The Internal Revenue Code is also a dictionary unto itself. Often terms used within a code section may not be clear or may not be of “common use” definitions. Some code sections have specific subsections labeled as “Definitions.” So do not always use your Webster’s dictionary or Google; to get your definition; go to the section that provides the definition to the sub-section. Got it? Finally, when you see in the Internal Revenue Code “No/None,” it means exactly that. If a code section uses the word “no,” then there are no exceptions, unless of course they are defined.

Alma M Scarborough, proprietor of Scarborough’s Tax Affair, Inc., is an enrolled agent. Email taxhitlady@ sbcglobal.net, call 314-6211402 or visit www.taxhitlady. com.

Alma M. Scarborough

iHeart splits with Tammie Holland

Local radio staple no longer on 100.3 The Beat FM

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Longtime radio personality

Tammie Holland was let go from 100.3 The Beat FM Friday morning (July 7). Her departure was the latest in a wave of changes for the station – which is part of the iHeart Media umbrella – over the past few years.

After initially working in television, radio proved to be a good fit for Holland when she joined the Tony Scott Morning Show. She was as a featured personality on what was then Majic 104.9. The pair meshed well as they shifted from morning to afternoon and back again. She eventually rose to the rank of co-host.

In 2014, Scott was let go after 25 years at Majic. Holland inherited the morning show and jumped in headfirst.

n “I’m just so thankful for all of the love and support I’ve received over the years.”

- Tammie Holland

Majic 100.3 became 100.3 The Beat and Holland held her post through the format switches for nearly three years – until a syndication deal with iHeart station’s Hot 97 Breakfast Club meant that she would move into the midday slot.

Her outgoing personality, natural charm and heart for the community made her an easy ambassador for the station and iHeart.

In addition her on-air duties, Holland often served as mistress of ceremonies for several high profile events in the region – most recently the 107th Annual Annie Malone May Day Parade –where she offered encouraging words and plenty of laughter.

“I’m just so thankful for all of the love and support I’ve received over the years,” Holland said. It seems like a lifetime ago that Holland started out delivering the entertainment news for Tony Scott Morning Show. In the near two decades since, she became a personality in her own right. The pair shared the spotlight towards the end of his epic St. Louis radio run at Majic –and when he left in 2014, the show went on. Holland hadn’t even settled in to going solo when the events in Ferguson drew an international spotlight on local media. Holland was one of the first media on the scene that fateful day on August 9, 2014. Even before she

See HOLLAND, C4

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

As a 15-year soul veteran, Jill Scott has a broad enough musical catalog to present plenty of options as far of the type of show she is able to deliver. Fans never know what they are going to get (other than a great show) until she graces the stage, but her live performance track record is such that they are always along for the ride.

Saturday night, she chose to gift the soldout crowd at the Fox with a grown woman groove. She kept reminding the audience it was “real live music.” She proved it by offering rearrangements of her hits that made for refreshed interpretation – but not to point they were too unrecognizable to truly enjoy. Over the course of the evening, Scott also inserted

Vintage

Jill

Scott’s STL return features soul, selflove and politics

inspirational messaging, encouragement of selflove and a politically charged call for activism. Poet Staceyanne Chin opened the show. Though Scott is a spoken word artist herself and often inserts the pieces featured in her albums into her live shows, the audience didn’t seem particularly interested in anything other than music to kick off their night – at least at first.

After she stepped forward and introduced herself, she asked them to give them more energy and they begrudgingly complied.

“I didn’t come here to hear no damn poetry,” one audience member heckled. But by the end of her set, Chin had the audience’s undivided attention – even a co-sign of the formerly disgruntled heckler. A poem that she wrote eviscerating Donald Trump turned reluctant listeners into her amen chorus – as did her “updated remix” of Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

No one knew it at the time, but Chin’s performance was a hint of what was to come from Scott later on in her set.

Cinema St. Louis spotlights emerging local talent

Annual

STL Filmmakers

Showcase

takes place this weekend at The Tivoli

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Each year that Cinema St. Louis presents its St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, the bar seems to be raised with respect to the type of films written, directed, acted and produced by local talent.

Several of them– particularly the short films

“Displaced and Erased” by Emma Riley and “He Who Listens” by Maalik Shakoor and Maxine Du Maine – could blend in among the films at any given festival in any location. It’s

fantastic that they are a product of our cinema scene – which has historically been seen as anything but a hub for filmmakers. That has changed, thanks to technology, talent and access provided by Cinema St. Louis and others within the local film community. Of the 15 film featured at this year’s festival – which takes place from July 16-20 at

Maxine DuMaine’s ‘Spitting Image’ is among the selections featured at Cinema St. Louis’ annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, which takes place from July 16-20 at The

The Tivoli – five have black directors and six have subject matter that is of interest to African Americans. Emma Riley’s historical documentary “Displaced and Erased” sheds light on the little known thriving black community that existed in Clayton before rezoning and development of the 1950s pushed them to areas like Kinloch and Wellston. Rev. Dr. Delores Graham spoke of her days at Attucks Elementary School

Tammie Holland

Tivoli.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Soul singer Jill Scott gave St. Louis fans a show to remember at The Fox Theatre Saturday night.

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.

concerts

Fri., July 14, 6:30p.m., Now 96.3 presents Now Night Out feat. Flo Rida, AJR, and Allen Gates. St. Charles Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, 63303. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

July 14 – 15, Jazz St. Louis presents Erika Johnson. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103.

Thur., July 20, The Pageant presents Waka Flocka Flame 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Fri., July 21, 8 p.m., 95.5 The Lou District Rhythms Concert Series feat. Jon B and Silk. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www. stlballparkvillage.com.

Fri., July 21, 8 p.m., Platinum Power Moves

After Hours presents Lyfe Jennings & David Holister. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, call (314) 8699090.

July 21 – 22, Jazz St. Louis presents the Montez Coleman Group. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 571-6000 or visit www.jazzstl. org.

Sun., July 23, 6 p.m. (5 p.m. doors), Community Women Against Hardship Summer Jazz Benefit Concert featuring Montez Coleman, Anita Jackson, Tony Suggs, Jeffrey Anderson with special guest Yancyy, Harold and Dorothy Center for Jazz, 3536 Washington.

Wed., July 26, 7 p.m., The Ready Room presents The Wailers. 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 8333929.

Sat., July 29, 7 p.m., The Ambassador presents Monica. With special guest Dirty Muggs. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., July 30, 7 p.m., United Negro College Fund of St. Louis presents An Evening of Stars Benefit Concert with Chante Moore Additional performances by Denise Thimes, Cedric the Entertainer, and more. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

local gigs

Fri., July 14, 7 & 9 p.m., Kim Massie Tribute to Aretha Franklin and Etta James. The Beale on Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, 63102. For more information, visit www.bealeonbroadway. com.

July 14 – 15, Jazz St. Louis presents Erika Johnson. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103.

Sat., July 15, 12 p.m., 3rd Annual Soulition Park Jam. Prepare yourself for a rhythm-filled, soul-infused day of music with DJ Reminise, Nappy DJ Needles, Willpower, and many more. Strauss Park, 3534 Wasington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sat., July 15, 7:30 p.m., Straighten Up & Fly Right: Chuck Flowers Salutes the Nat King Cole Trio. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., July 15, 6 p.m., Skinker DeBaliviere Summer BBQ Concert feat. GalaxyRed. We will also have a youth art tent and the community resource area. Greg Freeman Park, 6000 Kingsbury Ave., 63112.

For

For more information, call (314) 862-5122 or visit www. tinyurl.com/bbqconcert2017.

Sun., July 16, 5 p.m., BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups presents Point of It All: The Music of Anthony Hamilton 700 S. Broadway, 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Wed., July 19, 8 p.m., PHE L!VE presents OpenMicChallenge - St. Louis. First round: 10 Artists perform and judges choose top 3; second round: Top 3 artists perform one song and crowd picks winner. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, call (314) 300-8831.

special events

Thur., July 13, 10:30 a.m., United 4 Children invites you to their 5th Annual Golf Tournament. Norman K. Probstein Golf Course - Forest Park, 6141 Lagoon Dr., 63112. For more information, call (314) 531-1412 or visit www. united4children.org.

information, call (314) 4464431 or visit www.caastlc.org.

Tues., July 14, 11 a.m, Missouri History Museum presents Fundisha Family Dance Workshop. Wiggle and wind with Mama Lisa in this free community dance class driven by the rhythms of the drums. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.mohistory.org.

Wed., July 19, 10:30 a.m., Project Pinx presents Dance Black America: St. Louis. This performance will highlight several locally initiated civil rights movements through dance presentation by area youth. Missouri History Museum.

Wed., July 19, 6 p.m., Operation Food Search’s Chocolate Baking and Tasting Event. Kakao Chocolate owner, Brian Pelletier, will discuss the varieties of chocolate and which types to use for specific recipes. 1644 Lotsie Blvd., 63132. For more information, visit www.cooklearnshare.org.

Sat., July 22, 5 p.m., African Diaspora Council Annual Dinner: Honoring Nelson Mandela’s Life & Legacy African Cultural Center, 1425 Ferguson Ave., 63133. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

information, visit www. peabodyoperahouse.com.

Sun., July 23, 2 p.m., Northside Seventh-Day Adventist 1st annual Community Fest. 9001 Lucas & Hunt Rd., 63138. For more information, call (314) 8680707.

Sun., July 23, 7:30 p.m., Big Girl’s Entrepreneurs presents Big Girl Magic featuring special guest BOLO The Entertainer Blackmon’s Plaza, 127 Collinsville, East St. Louis IL.

July 27 – 28, National Urban League Hackathon For Social Justice. An opportunity to use technology to create a viable solution to a social issue. America’s Center, 701 Convention Plaza, 63101. For more information, visit www. nulhackathon.eventbrite.com.

Sat., July 29, 12 p.m., Midwestern HBCU and Greek Summer Picnic. Tilles Park, 9551 Litzsinger Rd., 63124. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sat., July 29, 7 p.m., Mind Over Magic. A modern, edgy, family friendly, interactive magic show. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

comedy

Sun., July 16, 7 p.m., Helium Comedy Club presents Meet Me in St. Louis…Dammit feat. Anthony Session. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, visit www.helimcomedy.com.

Sat., July 22, 7:30 p.m., Burlesque Bad & Bougie Comedy. Sugar Brown, discloses her diaries through standup comedy and sexy burlesque dance. Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Fri., July 28, 7 p.m., The Laugh Lounge Comedy Club presents Paul Mooney Live. 11208 W. Florissant Ave., 63033. For more information, call (314) 921-2810.

Thur., July 13, 11 a.m., CAASLC invites you to an Employment & Resource Fair. Confirmed employees include General Motors, Whelan Security, and more. St. Louis Community College - Florissant Valley, 3400 Pershall Rd., 63135. For more performances. 1400 Market St., 63103. July 31 – Aug. 4, Ozzie Smith’s Sports Academy Basketball Camp. The instructors will stress the Big 5: shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, and defense while instilling life skills. Brentwood High School 2221 High School Dr., 63144. For more information, call (314) 9638689.

Sat., July 22, 5 p.m., Dancing with the Stars Live: Hot Summer Nights. 1400 Market St., 63103. For more

Sun., July 30, 7 p.m., Peabody Opera House presents Bring It! Live. They’re back with hotter than ever, never before seen

literary

Thur., July 13, 7 p.m., Left

Webster University presents ‘Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary.’

information, see FILM.

Bank Books hosts author Edward Moore, author of The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues A paradoxical marriage brings together the people of Plainview with Blues guitarist Eli Walker, who once vowed to never set foot in the town again. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108.

Wed., July 19, 7 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents The Making of an All-American City: East St. Louis at 150. Hear from the book’s contributors about this collection of insightful essays that cover East St. Louis’s turbulent history. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Wed., July 19, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Bruce Olson, author of That St. Louis Thing: An American Story of Roots, Rhythm and Race, Volumes 1 & 2. Over 100 years of the city’s famed musical development placed in the context of its civil rights movement. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108.

Fri., July 14, 6 p.m., Enjoy Maplewood presents the 12th Annual Let Them Eat Art. Featuring live art demonstrations by regional artists, live music, and food & drink. Sutton and Manchester, 63143. For more information, visit www.cityofmaplewood. com.

July 15 – 16, Visual Narcos invites you to King of All I Survey…The Solo Exhibition by Kas King. Magnify Art Gallery, 904 S. 4th St., 63103. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., July 16, 6 p.m., Good Journey Development Foundation cordially invites you to Art in Our World. Beauty Ngxongo will demonstrate the wonders of Zulu Basket Weaving. Exodus Art Gallery, 5075 Delmar Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. goodjourney.org.

Thur., July 16, 6 p.m., Good Journey Development Foundation cordially invites you to Art in Our World Beauty Ngxongo is an exceptional artist from South Africa and will demonstrate the wonders of Zulu Basket Weaving. Exodus Art Gallery, 5075 Delmar Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. goodjourney.org.

Fri., July 21, 11 a.m., St. Louis ArtWorks Summer Sale. View and purchase the work the apprentices have created in the summer program. 5959 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.stlartworks.org.

Through October 7, The Pulitzer Arts Foundation presents Blue Black curated by Glenn Ligon, The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 3716 Washington Blvd. For more information, visit www. pulitzerarts.org.

lectures and workshops

Fri., July 14, 5 p.m., Vitendo 4 Africa presents STL Queens Night – Immigrant Women Empowerment Forum. Learn about business growth strategies and professional development, asset building, networking. 10700 Pear Tree Dr., 63134. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., July 15, 8:15 a.m., SCORE Seminar – How to Start and Manage Your Own Business. Learn to assess your prospects, define the initial direction you need, and determine how to move forward to realize your dream. Fontbonne University, Anheuser Busch Hall, 6800 Wydown, 63105. For more information, call (314) 5396601.

Sat., July 15, 10 a.m., First Time Homebuyers Seminar. Join Tiffany Hamilton and Nisaa El-Hasaan to learn ins and outs of what it takes to find a home, get into a home, and financing options. 8001 Dale Ave., 63117. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., July 20, 7 p.m., St. Louis Rogues’ Gallery. Join Shayne Davidson as she shares how she scoured various sources to track down information about the accused people depicted in the St. Louis Police Department’s rogues’ gallery. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112.

Sat., July 22, 1 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Confederate Currency: The Color of Money – Depictions of Slavery in Confederate and Southern States Currency. Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave., 63115. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

theatre

July 13 – 19, The Muny presents All Shook Up. When Chad, the mysterious hipswiveling roustabout arrives in town, suddenly everyone’s lip-curling and all shook up with secrets, music and love. 1 Theatre Dr., 63112. For more information, visit www.muny. org.

July 14 – 16, TLT Productions LLC presents Tangled. In an ultimate trial of trust, three friends test their bond and go where no three women have gone, for principal and the love of money. Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Through July 16, First Run Theatre presents Dreaming in Black and White. In 1963 Virginia, dreams and fears collide when Pearlene, a black caretaker, is hired to help care for Sonny, a white man with heart disease. 726 Leland Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. firstruntheatre.com.

July 21 – 23, COCA presents Disney’s Beauty & the Beast. A classic story of a young woman and a prince trapped under an enchantress’ spell, which only needs the

July 28 – 30, The Fox presents Mamma Mia! Now it’s your turn to have the time of your life along to ABBA’s greatest hits, with an enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. fabulousfox.com.

July 28 – Aug. 6, Hawthorne Players present Once Upon A Mattress. This beloved musical version of “The Princess & the Pea”. Florissant Civic Center Theatre, 1 James J. Eagan Dr., 63033. For more information, visit www. hawthorneplayers.info.

Aug. 3 – 5, Ragtime the Musical. Set in the volatile melting pot of New York at the turn of the century, three distinctly American tales are woven together. Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee Ave., 63104. For more information visit www.brownpapertickets. com.

health

power of love to break. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. cocastl.org.

July 21 – 23, Metropolitan Community Theatrical Productions presents Play. This play will remind you that when the seed of love is planted early and you put God first He can save a family. Sun Theater, 3625 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, call (314) 324-9175.

July 21 – Aug. 17, Stages St. Louis presents 9 to 5 The Musical. A hilarious musical that explores friendship and revenge as its heroines strives to break the glass ceiling. Robert G. Reim Theatre, 111 S. Geyer Rd., 63122. For more information, visit www. stagesstlouis.org.

Sat., July 15, 11 a.m., African Community Health Fair. We will have health screenings, fitness demonstrations, wellness workshops, entertainment, and more.

James Milton Turner Park, North Sarah, 63113. For more information, call (314) 8759277 or visit www.eventbrite. com.

Mon., July 17, 8 a.m., Project AWARE Youth Mental Health First Aid Training. This is the initial help offered to adolescent youth developing a mental health or substance use problem, or experiencing a mental health crisis. Behavioral Health Response, 12647 Olive Blvd., Ste. 200, 63141. For more information, call (314) 628-6229 or visit www.bhrstl.org.

spiritual

July 17 – 19, Greater Mt. Caramel Missionary Baptist

Church Youth Revival 1617 N. Euclid Ave., 63113. For more information, visit ww.facebook.com.

July 18 – 22, Higher Ground International Ministries Conference 2017 Faith Miracle Temple, 870 Pershall Rd., 63137. For more information, visit www. regonline.com.

July 24-July 28, Missouri Midwest Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, under the leadership of Bishop Elijah Hankerson III, presents its COGIC Second Annual Holy Convocation, Jude 3-4 Kennerly Temple Chruch of God In Christ, 4307 Kennerly Ave. St. Louis, Missouri 63113. For more information Call Pastor Travis J. Cox 314-761-5148.

Thur., July 13, 12 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents Secret Tunnel Warfare Film Screening During WWI, American forces planted 600 tons of explosives in secret tunnels under German trenches. Learn the details of the operation and why it ultimately failed to end the warfare. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112.

July 14 – 18, Webster University presents Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary. A thoughtprovoking film about an outside-the-box thinker whose music continues to impact people. 470 E. Lockwood Ave., 63119. For more information, visit www.events.webster.edu.

Sun., July 16, 2 p.m., St. Louis Art Museum presents the Fashion on Film Series: Fresh Dressed. The history of Hip-Hop, Urban fashion and its rise from southern cotton plantations to the gangs of 1970s, to corporate America, and everywhere in-between. One Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www. slam.org.

The Ambassador presents Monica. See CONCERTS for details.

After an intermission,

Scott and her deluxe band –equipped with a percussionist and horns – kicked into the type of sound typical of the legendary classic soul and funk bands of days gone by. Her opening numbers felt more like a medley thanks to the streamlined groove that was too funky for interruption. She started the show with “Be Ready,” before jumping right into “Golden” and “Whatever.” Scott slowed it down for “Long Walk,” “Prepared” and her latest hit “Can’t Wait.” Then she gave the crowd a grown-folks-only portion spearheaded by the sexually charged “Crown Royal on Ice” that carried on into “The Way.” She picked up the pace with her go-go inspired “It’s Love,” which she transitioned into the EU classic “Da Butt.” Scott kept the pace while jumping

back into her original music with “Sock It to Me.” Just before she slowed things back down, Scott got political. She talked about how people of color have been forsaken and victimized in America since the nation’s origin.

“Listen, everybody who came here [America] was trying to escape something,” Scott said. “If you remember that is our history and work together … we have to join together as a people. This is a trip. People try to separate and pull us apart, but I know who I am.”

Scott encouraged everyone to unite and take a stand against injustice and protect the human rights of everyone by any means necessary. She told them to use their voices to inspire change –which she revealed was what inspired her to write the song “My Petition.” Scott performed the song against the video backdrop of the countless individuals

are facing

who have died at the hands of law enforcement – including Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Sean Bell, Sandra Bland, John Crawford and 7-year-old Aiyana StanleyJones.

Her call for activism continued with a cover of The Brand New Heavies “Brother Sister.”

Scott also encouraged the audience to actively practice self-love and actively pursue their dreams repeatedly over the course of the evening.

“You have to say ‘each day I promise to love myself a little bit more than the day before’,” Scott said to the crowd.

Her motivational moment allowed her to transition back into her regularly scheduled musical programming with “Hate on Me” before her “He Loves Me” finale – which as usual showcased her impressive gift as a vocalist with a Spanish excerpt that pays homage to classical music.

HOLLAND

Continued from C1

arrived, Holland used her social media platform to try to get answers. She reposted an image of Louis Head holding a makeshift sign made out of cardboard that said “The Ferguson Police just executed my unarmed son,” that floated through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter immediately after unarmed teen Michael Brown was fatally shot by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.

In the caption she asked for people to fill her in on the details. Soon after, Holland was on the ground in the Canfield Green Apartments comforting an understandably inconsolable Lezley McSpadden. She appeared on Holland’s show days after her son’s death. The two seemed to share a genuine connection, which stemmed from Holland’s natural warmth.

“I’ve always enjoyed hearing her on the radio,” Danielle Brown said via Facebook. “I didn’t know her personally, but she was always so humble and personable and welcoming on the air.”

She is the same in person.

CINEMA

Continued from C1

with vivid fond memories, as she did the neighborhood near Clayton and Bonhomme that was once her neighborhood. Riley weaves in words and footage of James Baldwin as she unfolds the story of Clayton as one of many black communities that were demolished for the sake of white progress.

Maalik Shakoor and Maxine Du Maine created a film that will leave viewers asking some of life’s bigger questions. In

Holland never seems to meet a stranger. When listeners would come up to her, they would walk away feeling as if they made a new friend.

Holland is yet to comment on her departure, and it is too soon to know what’s in store for her next – but based on the

“He Who Listens,” a young homeless man sits at the steps of a dilapidated building in Baden, one of the region’s most blighted areas, and does his part to spread joy. Instead of panhandling, he blesses passers-by with fresh cut flowers. His kind spirit leaves such an impression on one man that he invited him to his home, where the two share a deep conversation on faith. A series of revelations at the dinner give special significance to their chance encounter and make for a life-changing experience for them both.

Du Maine has two films that are a part of this year’s show-

response to her departure, she will be dearly missed from the airwaves.

“Wishing Tammie the best of luck in her future,” said Facebook user Prisnice Watford. “I will miss her laughter.”

case. “Spitting Image” tells the story of a young man who is caught up in the vicious cycle of crime and violence and seems destined to follow the footsteps of his father. Other films that may be of interest include St. Louis ArtWorks “Blues & Ragtime: The Sounds of St. Louis” and Lynelle White’s “An Uber Tale.”

Cinema St. Louis’ St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase takes place from July 16 – July 20 at The Tivoli, 6350 Delmar. For more information, visit http:// www.cinemastlouis.org/st-louis-filmmakers-showcase

THE ST. LOUIS REGION

Since 2007, the number of people dying from opioid (heroin, prescription painkillers & fentanyl) overdose has skyrocketed. We all know someone who’s been affected.

Overdoses don’t have to happen

Know the risk factors: a period of sobriety, an illness, injecting, mixing with alcohol or other drugs, or any amount of fentanyl.

Overdoses don’t have to be fatal

Naloxone (Narcan®) can reverse an overdose, and is available without prescription at many pharmacies –or for free through the MO-HOPE Project. Together we can save lives

For more information on overdose risk factors, treatment options, or to get resources to reverse an overdose, visit mohopeproject.org or call NCADA at 314.962.3456.

Continued from C1

Tammie Holland

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Jill Scott

Art Museum Celebrates Film and Fashion

The summer is heating up at the Saint Louis Art Museum with our annual Art Hill Film Series. Grab your blanket and head to Art Hill in Forest Park on four Friday evenings starting July 14 for the city’s biggest outdoor cinema. Join the fun each Friday night at 6 pm with music, food trucks and a variety of activities including a selfie station complete with a red carpet. Live performances will be featured each week from 7 –8:30 p.m. showcasing Blues, Retroboogie, Pop and Jazz. All films are free and begin promptly at 9 p.m. On July 14 and August 4, the series will also feature Miki’s Closet, the Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s state-of-the-art fashion truck.. The Museum is rolling out the red carpet with four of Oscar’s Best Dressed film nominations featuring stunning costume designs. We kick-off the series on July 14 with 1997’s “Titanic” starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio, an epic, action-packed romance set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the luxury steamship. “Dreamgirls” takes to the screen on July 21 starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Foxx telling the familiar story of a young female singing trio who get their big break in the early 60’s. The 1955 romantic thriller, “To Catch a Thief” directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Grace Kelley and Cary Grant, an all-time favorite for moviegoers, will be shown on July 28. We conclude this year’s season on August 4 with “The Devil Wears Prada” starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, a comedy-drama film about big dreams in the New York magazine fashion world.

This year’s fashion-themed Film Series coincides with Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015, an exhibition showcasing the bold and rich history of menswear. The exhibition explores the complex dialogue between menswear and social and political events, from violent upheavals to youth rebellions. Reigning Men looks at how fashion designers throughout history have challenged traditional notions of menswear and masculinity. The exhibition on view through September 17 is drawn primarily from the renowned collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which organized the exhibition. We invite you to be part of this year’s Art Hill Film Series celebrating fashion, music, and films. There will be a wide variety of food trucks or bring your coolers and picnic baskets. Free parking throughout Forest Park and seating at the

Art Hill Film Series will be available on a first-come, firstserved basis. In the event of bad weather, the Museum will announce any delay or cancellation on slam.org/filmseries, Facebook and Twitter. For more information about the Art Hill Film Series, visit slam.org/ filmseries.

Following in the footsteps of the Black Artists’ Group

The Teens Make History Players perform “BAG Then; BAG Now” perform every Thursday and Friday at 11 a.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. in the Des Lee Auditorium on the lower level of the Missouri History Museum. The play is about 40 minutes long. The last performance will be on Saturday, August 5.

History Museum program mixes work of young artists with reflections on artistic ancestors

By the Teens Make History Players For The St. Louis American

As Teens Make History Players, our job here at the Missouri History Museum is to help visitors connect with the past through museum theatre. We routinely research, write and perform plays about a wide range of historical subjects and make them relatable for our audiences. We particularly love when we can connect to our topics in a personal way, as we do in BAG Then; BAG Now Our play accompanies the exhibition #1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis, so we started our research process by reading all of the exhibit’s content. Together we decided to narrow our focus to the Black Power movement. When we drilled down even more, we discovered the Black Artists’ Group (BAG). Immediately, we knew it was the right topic for us.

The Black Artists’ Group was a collective that existed in St. Louis between 1968 and 1972, when black artists and musicians faced many struggles. They were often excluded from venues, and it was hard for them to gain

exposure. So a group of local musicians, dancers, actors, poets and visual artists decided to work together to feature black art, teach younger talent, and encourage black pride.

BAG was known for its collaborative work. For example, music and visual arts often accompanied theatre to create a multimedia experience. Although the group wasn’t explicitly political, it identified as an artistic extension of the Black Power movement because it aimed to foster black consciousness. BAG only existed for a short time, but it made a strong impact on the community.

In our plays we like to share stories that not many people know about, but focusing on BAG also offered us an opportunity to do something else: showcase our own artistic talents. We are a group of nine high schoolers from all around St. Louis, and we each have our own background, stories, dreams and talents.

At our core, though, we all identify as artists in some way. Some of us are poets. Others are dancers. Some of us mix music, and some of us rap. We realized that in many ways we are following in BAG’s footsteps.

We learned more about BAG through our research at the Library and Research Center, using primary sources such as oral history transcripts and newspaper articles. Because we knew we wanted to perform our own art in the play, we each researched a different BAG member who had talents similar to ours, including actor/director Malinké (Robert) Elliott, poet Shirley LeFlore, and musician

Oliver Lake. We found a promotional book the group created, and we listened to some of BAG’s music. In March we were able to test our ideas during a daylong workshop with professional playwright Idris Goodwin, who helped us move from the research phase to the writing phase. With his guidance, we wrote a whole draft in just one day! Goodwin gave us different prompts that we used to explore our own artistic identities and BAG’s legacy. BAG Then; BAG Now is a little bit different from the plays we have produced before. There are traditional scenes that tell the group’s history and how people from different backgrounds came together to collaborate on a variety of projects. Between those scenes are interludes that feature our own talents, such as poetry, spoken word, dancing, and music – and they are all original work. These pieces help showcase us as individuals, but they also bring us together as a group. In this way, we are following BAG’s legacy of multimedia performances and unity. We would love for you to come to our play, learn more about the Black Artists’ Group, and see how its members continue to inspire us.

We perform BAG Then; BAG Now every Thursday and Friday at 11 a.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. in the Des Lee Auditorium on the lower level of the Missouri History Museum. The play is about 40 minutes long. Our last performance will be on Saturday, August 5.

Celebrations

Scholarship Winners

Twenty area high school seniors are the recipients of Vantage Credit Union Quest For Education Scholarships valued at $1,000 each. Winners of the scholarships were judged on their essay response to the question, “If you could have one do-over in your life, what would it be and why?” and a combination of honors/awards; participation in extracurricular, community and volunteer activities; employment and recommendation letters. Students from 16 public schools and four private schools, in both Missouri and Illinois, won scholarships.

Reunions

Beaumont High Class of 1967

will meet at the Normandy County Library, 7606 Natural Bridge Rd., 63121 on Saturday, July 22, 2017 at 1 p.m.

Beaumont High Class of 1968 Reunion Committee will begin planning for our 50th Class Reunion to be held in

St. Louis, Missouri in 2018. For more information contact Vanetta Cobbs, 314-869-5665, or email vanetta.cobbs@ sbcglobal.net.

Beaumont High Class of 1978 will celebrate its 40-year reunion in 2018. For further information, please contact: Marietta Shegog Shelby, 314-799-5296, madeshe@ sbcglobal.net.

Cleveland High School is hosting a reunion for all attending 1980-1984 on August 19, 2017 at Catering To You Banquet Center (12775 New Halls Ferry Rd., Florissant, MO 63033) For information, please contact Babette Perkins-Anderson at 314-345-0939.

Anniversaries

Ronald and Del Weston of St. Louis celebrated 38 years of marriage on July 7. They are grateful for these precious years together and look forward to more memories as God continues to bless their union. Congratulations to Robyn and Reginald L. Austin Sr. who will celebrate 25 years of marriage July 25! Vacation plans to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic are in place for later this month.

Kinloch High Class of 1967 Committee has finalized plans for an outstanding “50th Year Class Reunion.” If you haven’t received your registration letter or email, please call 310-346-7235. You may also email your contact information to alreemc@aol. com .

Northwest High Class of 1978 is planning its 40 year reunion for next year. PLEASE reach out to our classmates, tell them get ready for this. If you have any questions please contact Sly at ( 314) 397-0311 or email us at northwestbluedevils@78gmail. com. Check us out on Facebook Northwest High School-Class of 1978.

Soldan High Class of 1965 will be holding first Luncheon on August 8, 2017 at 2 pm at Bristol Seafood Grill’s Creve Coeur Room, 11801 Olive Street, 63141, 314-567-0272. No need to send any money. Each person will pay for their meals at the restaurant. Your family members and Friends are welcome to join us.

Sumner High Class of 1972 reunion will be held September 15-17, 2017 at the Airport Hilton, 10330 Natural Bridge Rd., 63134. Please contact Earlene Brown 314-2267019/314-534-0467 or Jazelle Brown 314-954-1470 or Kathi Washington Scott 314-4454715.

University City High Class of

1982 has planned a awesome weekend for our 35th reunion July 29-31, 2017. For tickets and information please call Kimberly Milton-Nelson at (314)541-9568 or Patricia Yates-Mcintosh (314)2291675.

Vashon High School will celebrate its 90th anniversary October 5-7, 2017 for alumni, students and community activities to celebrate educational commitment and tradition. For additional information, go to Vashonhigh. org or contact Elvis Hopson, elvishopson@att.net, (314) 535-0243, Pearl Lake, lakep6@aol.com, (314) 3880743 or Cozy W. Marks, Jr., jr3810@sbcglobal.net, (314) 383-5682.

FREE OF

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: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine St.

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to:

Kate Daniel, 2315 Pine St., St. Louis, MO 63103

Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

Swag Snap of the Week

High hopes for Tammie Holland. By now it’s old news that Tammie Holland’s time at iHeart/100.3 The Beat has come to an end, but I still wanted to make sure that I got a chance to wish her well on whatever her next endeavor is – and keep your girl posted so I can let the masses know. My heart sunk when she told me she was being let go, but sometimes doors close so that other ones can open. I would be lying if I didn’t say I won’t miss hearing her crazy laugh across the airwaves, but I know everything happens for a reason. I do want to give her props for taking over the show from Tony with no experience as a main personality and making the show all her own. I want to throw it back and use a saying from another of my favorite former Majic personalities in my well wishes for Tammie, “May the windows of heaven open and pour upon you an abundance of blessings.”

Jamming with Jill Scott. I got my whole entire life from Jill Scott show Saturday night at The Fox. I got such life that I went and bought a t-shirt. She gave a new groove to her classics, but didn’t mangle them to the point where I didn’t enjoy them. There were a few folks on Facebook complaining that her hour and 45-minute show was too short. Somebody please let them know that the last concert you want to be caught up in is one that never ends. If Jill Scott had done every song she could have, most of us would have hit it before her final bow. She was giving life in a red pantsuit that looked like somebody named Ms. Phyllis used to kill the game with in circa 1987. She served up more than one NSFP (Not Safe for Partyline) moment. Naturally it was during “Crown Royal.” I’d give the show a 9 out of 10. And poet Staceyanne Chin was a pleasant surprise. Folks weren’t feeling her when she came out, but they got into that epic read of Donald Trump, that’s for sure.

Black Women over everything. I spent a bunch of time with the black creative community this weekend and as always their artistic expressions inspire me and give me hope in the next generation. Friday night I stopped by Urb Arts for the Adrian Octavius Walker curation “Black Women Over Everything.” It featured all sorts of pieces that reflected women of color as the queens that we are. I was thrilled to see it so packed up in there too. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it would be Maxine Du Maine’s piece with the accompanying video. In the midst of the space full of artists and art lovers were some of my favorite folks, including Tracie McKeown, Sarita Moody and Asha Hornaday (none of these ladies ever get it wrong…not ever).

A Jeezy anniversary. Phil Assets had Jeezy come through the Ambassador Friday night for the Liquid Assets 9th Anniversary bash. I was expecting quite a few more folks in the building. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t win – because there were bottles poppin’ left and right and VIP was jam packed even though general admission was roomy as all get out. I must say that every time Phil brings a famous act through that they put on a full-fledged show and not the little three-song special appearance. Jeezy was no different. He did snippets, but he had a whole batch of them.

Saturday night art party. For my second outing with the creative crew Mad Art Gallery got an extreme makeover Saturday night thanks to Art, Mimosas and Pancakes. It was an amazing time. I’m convinced I was a visual artist or artsy rapper in my former life because every time I get around this crowd I feel especially at home. My boy Brock Seals was one of the minds behind the event and I’m so glad he thought of it. I never would have thought of Pancakes and mimosas outside of a snooty brunch affair – and leave it to the creative people to make individualized artwork out of the batter. The who’s who of the creative scene had Mad Art packed and the people who experienced the gathering super pleased.

Alright now After 7! Was I the only one who was pleasantly surprised by the show that After 7 put on for the 95.5 The Lou/Rockhouse Ent presentation of Ladies night out Sunday night at The Pageant? Before I even get to the music, let’s talk about how the place was almost at capacity. I know Kevon Edmonds still has a voice that is like butter after all of these years, but the group put on a show that was so well executed and comprehensive that it could play Vegas. And that Keithy (the non-Edmonds in the group) was serving choreography with high kicks and hip swivels for days. I didn’t think they had enough hits for a full on show, but they gave a bit of the old and new and delivered life in the process. Guy Torry served giggles. My boy Guy Torry made the most of coming back for his 30 year high school reunion (Class of 1987 CVPA stand up!) by booking a four day run of shows at the Funny Bone. I hadn’t seen him on stage in a minute and I’m so glad that I stopped through. Either I had forgotten how funny he was, or his 20 plus years in the game have made him a polished veteran. Perhaps it was a bit of both – either way it was hee-larious. Who was that brother towards the back left that decided that he was going to make laughing a team sport. He was slapping fives with the fellas and grabbing the ladies shoulders as he hollered at every joke? The laugh buddy hemmed me up when he saw me hollering at how Guy perfectly described Donald Trump as a cheez it. And I almost fell out laughing when Guy got to talking about his divorce. When he said his wife left him for “nobody,” I was almost as through as when he said he spent $200K on his wedding. I was like “how did I miss this baby Kimye extravaganza?” He said he had to do it big because he proposed on the “Tonight Show.” I don’t care if he proposed on the moon; $200K on one day is a bit much.

Leslie, Dana and Lashanda showed off their roses from 95.5 The Lou FM @ The Ladies Night Out concert starring After 7 Sunday night @ The Pageant

Ashely and Shadress of DELUX await Jeezy as Boogie D of Hot 104.1 FM hyped the crowd for the rap star Friday night

2016 Youth Poet Laureate Bisa Adero was presented as the winner of the 20th Grand Slam by MK Stallings @Urb Arts on Sunday

The Ladies of The Ambassador were ready for Jeezy Friday night

Sandra, Mike, Lynn, Catina, S.O.L CEO Melanie and Kenny during the Spreading Our Love Benefit Skate Party Saturday night @ Skate King

Issac, artist Eazyyokeart and Jeff enjoying the atmosphere at Art, Mimosas & Pancakes Friday night @ Mad Art Gallery

Café Soul co-founder Nichol Stevenson got a chance to chop it up with the one and only Jill Scott after her show Saturday night at The Fox Theatre.

Violinist Rivvio and visual artist Brock Seals were in the building for Art, Mimosas & Pancakes Saturday night @ Mad Art Gallery

Curator Adrian Walker and co-curator Danielle McCoy during the opening reception of the exhibition “Black Women Over Breathing” Friday @ Urb Arts

HOT 104.1 FM’s own Miss Pooh and Princess Stormm enjoying themselves as Jeezy prepares to hit the stage Friday night @ The Ambassador

John Monds, host of 95.5 The Lou FM’s Love & R-n-B, with Ladies Night Out headliner After 7 following their phenomenal show Sunday night at The Pageant

Photos by Victoria Said It and V. Lang

St. LouiS american Career Center

ST. LOUIS DISTRICT ENGINEER

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is seeking applications for the St. Louis District Engineer. This senior management level position is responsible for planning, organizing, and delivering all operations, design, and support activities in the St. Louis region with a team of approximately 700 employees. The St. Louis District Engineer leads the development and delivery of transportation programs; builds and sustains effective partnerships with city and county officials, the Metropolitan Planning Organization/Regional Planning Commission, and other transportation constituents; represents MoDOT to leverage resources and innovation to solve the transportation needs of the area; serves as a champion, change agent, results driver, and key public relations agent on transportation issues and other major organizational issues as needed; responds to the public, legislators, community leaders, and city and county officials on transportation needs and operations; and communicates the department’s goals and objectives to the public and district employees. For more information and to view the entire job description, please visit our website www.modot.org/jobs.

Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Candidates must be licensed or be prepared to achieve licensure as a Professional Engineer in the state of Missouri and have over nine years of experience in highway or transportation engineering, including at least five years of supervisory experience, with knowledge and experience in delivering innovative transportation solutions. MoDOT offers an excellent benefits package. Respond in strict confidence by submitting resume and cover letter by AUGUST 7, 2017, to:

Michaelene (Micki) Knudsen, Human Resources Director

MoDOT Human Resources Division

P.O. Box 270, Jefferson City, MO 65102 Phone (573) 751-7449 Fax (573) 526-0058

SLDistrictEngineer@modot.mo.gov

Equal Employment Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer, M/F/D/V

HUMAN RESOURCES

DIRECTOR

Responsible for leading the daily organizational HR function including development and implementation of HR policies, programs and services. Bachelor’s degree in HR Management or related field and 6-8 years HR experience. See job description at www.stl.unitedway.org. Please send cover letter and resume to: careers@stl.unitedway.org

PROJECT MANAGER –CIVIL ENGINEER

St. Louis Development Corporation has an opening for a Project Manager with a degree in Civil Engineering along with at least two years of experience. Full description can be found on-line at www. stlouis-mo.gov/sldc select “Careers at SLDC” and follow the online application process.

SLDC offers a full range of benefits including deferred comp, 401(a), and medical insurance. SLDC is an equal opportunity employer. Successful candidate must be a St. Louis city resident or establish residency within 180 days of completing a probationary period.

SLDC values a diverse workforce, and is an equal opportunity employer.

PASTORAL VACANCY

Mount Ivory Missionary Baptist Church is seeking candidates for the position of Pastor. The candidate for pastor should be licensed, trained and ordained in the Baptist Ministry. To request an application, please e-mail lbs11@att.net or call 314-303-6837.

Mail to: Linda Simms, Pastoral Search Committee, 4111 Goodfellow Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63120 by August 15, 2017.

SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS

Normandy Schools Collaborative

Now Hiring School Bus Drivers

We offer paid training and a starting rate of $15.00 per hour Apply at: www.normandysc.org

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION COUNSELOR

Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with the State of Missouri wanted in St. Louis. Salary $38,808-$40,776 (depending on qualifications). Master’s degree preferred. Will consider bachelor’s degree in counseling with social service background. Please apply online at dese.applicantpro.com/jobs/

Public Works Street/Park Laborer

The City of Jennings is accepting applications for the position of Public Works laborer. Duties include street maintenance and repair, snow plowing and maintenance to public buildings and facilities.

Must have current valid driver’s license and have or be able to obtain a commercial driver’s license, class B. (CDL/B permit required before starting work.) Experience in concrete and asphalt work or operation of heavy equipment such as a dump truck, street sweeper or high lift preferred. Hours 7:00 to 3:30, Mon-Fri, with some evenings or weekends. Starting salary $27,573 without CDL/B (W4), $28,801.50 with CDL/B license (W5).

Applications available at Jennings City Hall, 2120 Hord Ave., 63136 or online at cityofjennings.org. Include copy of driver’s license with returned application. Applications accepted through 5:00 p.m. Friday, July 14, 2017. No resumes accepted without our application.

VISITOR EXPERIENCE REPRESENTATIVE, P-T

The Missouri Historical Society seeks a part-time Visitor Experience Representative. Visit www.mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

NHPRC DIGITIZATION SPECIALIST AND CATALOGER

The Missouri History Museum seeks a temporary, part-time NHPRC Digitization Specialist and Cataloger. Visit www.mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer STAFF ACCOUNTANT

The Missouri History Museum seeks a Staff Accountant. Visit www.mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

EMPLOYMENT MANAGER

The

is

per day, seven days a week service; therefore, work involves shift, weekend, holiday, and overtime assignments.

Applicants must be twenty-one years of age at the time of filing the Employment Application. United States citizen. High school diploma or equivalent. No prior police or law enforcement experience is required. Applicants must possess and maintain a valid Missouri driver’s license while employed by the City of St. Louis. Applicants must meet eligibility standards for licensing as a peace officer, as determined by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, Peace Office Standards & Training (POST) Program.

Bi-weekly rate of pay for a Police Officer (Trainee) is $1,539.00. For Police Probationary Officer, the annual rate is $41,815.28. To apply, visit the City web site at http://stlouis-mo.gov/jobs. Additional information concerning the Police Officer (Trainee) process can be found on the St. Louis Police Division’s website at http://stmpd.org.careers.shtml Or contact: City of St. Louis Department of Personnel 1114 Market Street, Room 700 St. Louis, MO 63101 (314) 622-4308

Applications

Position requires City residency within 120 days of completion of

working test period. An Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is seeking applications for an Employment Manager in its Central Office Human Resources Division. This position coordinates, supervises, leads statewide projects, and provides guidance and counsel to district human resources managers and supervisors on the department’s employment activities related to civil engineer recruiting, criminal background checks, fitness for duty and return to work, FMLA, ADA, EAP, employment policies and procedures, and the employment application system, and works with external entities on work force development issues.

Successful candidates will possess a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources/ Personnel Management, Business or related field. Certification as PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP is a plus. Six years of experience in human resources is required.

The entire job description can be viewed at www.modot.org/jobs. To apply, respond in strict confidence by submitting resume and cover letter to: EmploymentManager@modot.mo.gov. The application deadline is July 20, 2017.

MoDOT offers an excellent benefits package and our Central Office was recognized as a 2016 Gold Level Recipient of the American Heart Association’s Fit-Friendly Worksites Recognition program.

EEO/AA

& Omega Driving Service Now Hiring, Starting off @ $10.00/hr Give Gary a call for

JEWISH COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CARE MANAGER

Provide on-going care management services that identify needs and provide linkages to community resources for adults, adolescents and children living with a serious mental illness. Apply online: WWW.JFCSAPPLY.COM with cover letter and resume. Jewish Family & Children’s Service –St. Louis EOE M/F/D/V

Pattonville Fire Protection District is accepting applications for a PartTime Fire Inspector position. Must meet minimum qualification, please see website at www.pattonvillefd.com for details. Apply at 13900 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton, Missouri, 63044; from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., June 23rd through July 14th, 2017.

PASTOR

Local Baptist Church is accepting applications for a Pastor. We are a strong core of faithful members seeking a committed and spiritual leader. Please forward resume to 3927 N. Market Street St. Louis, MO 63113.

PARTNERSHIP SALES & SERVICES MANAGER

Explore St. Louis has an immediate opening for a Partnership Sales & Services Manager within our Partnership Department. Primary duties include; generating new partners and secure retention of current partners, through telephone, email and personal visits. This position will generate new sales and work to maintain lasting partners. Will be required to conduct sales visits to potential clients and locations and will identify and develop accounts as assigned.

The ideal candidate will be able to build and maintain business relationships; must have knowledge of the St. Louis community, area attractions and venues. Experience with the hospitality industry preferred. Bachelor’s degree and 3-5 years sales/marketing experience. Must be able to work a flexible schedule and obtain and keep a valid driver’s license. Applicants please email resume with cover letter to jobs@explorestlouis.com. NO PHONE CALLS! EOE.

PUBLIC WORKS LABORER

The Gatesworth is HIRING Full-time Housekeepers Full-time Houseman/ Floor Tech Days, Evenings, and Over-nights

Please send your resume to recruiting@thegatesworth.com.

HEALTHCARE OUTREACH COORDINATOR

The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for Public Works Laborer. Apply at www.richmondheights.applicantpro.com/jobs/ by Wednesday, July 5th.

DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

De Smet Jesuit High School seeks highly qualified candidates for the full-time position of Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the 2017–2018 school year. Successful candidates will have a master’s degree in education or academic field and a minimum of three to five years of experience in providing diversity-related programming to adolescents. More information is available at https://www.desmet.org/ about/careers. Send a resumé, cover letter, and three references to Katie Martin, Assistant to the President, at kmartin2@desmet.org. Application materials will be accepted through July 14.

SCHOOL BUS DRIVER NEEDED

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis is looking for a school bus driver. Interested? Apply at bgcstl.org/careers OR call 314-335-8017.

Full Time. Reports to Director, Medical & Research Initiatives. Responsible for outreach to ancillary healthcare and service providers for the Alzheimer’s Association, St. Louis Chapter. The position has primary responsibility for conducting outreach to social workers and case managers as well as local Area Agencies on Aging, home care service providers with the goal of developing mutually beneficial direct referral relationships. Measurable outcomes are increased referrals from service providers to Association programs, increased Care Consultation delivery and expenditure of the respite funds.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor’s degree with 2 years post graduate work experience. Background in social services, sales, marketing and dementia with knowledge about the goals of the Alzheimer’s Association helpful. Demonstrated professional networking / relationships management skills and experience. Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Outlook and strong ability to use Excel. Experience with Access database application preferred. Strong organizational skills, detail oriented and ability to plan, coordinate and manage budgets and programs Experience working with clerical staff and volunteers.

Please submit your résumé and cover letter, including salary requirements and a minimum of two professional references to Stl-hr@alz.org

YOUTH LEADER SPECIALIST I/II Youth Leader Specialist I/II positions at

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of the County of St. Louis (the “LCRA”) is soliciting proposals from qualified contractors to provide lawn care services for multiple, scattered parcels located throughout St. Louis County, Missouri. More than one contractor may be selected to perform the services, which generally consist of performing seasonal lawn maintenance, including grass cutting and debris removal. The parcels to be serviced are set forth in the Request for Proposals.

To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Monday, July 24, 2017. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to dallison@stlpartnership.com, or to Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of the County of St. Louis, c/o St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, ATTN: Dustin Allison, General Counsel, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2300, St. Louis, Missouri 63105. DBE, MBE, and WBE firms are encouraged to bid.

The Request for Proposals may be obtained from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership’s web site at www.stlpartnership.com. The LCRA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Any questions should be directed to Dustin Allison, General Counsel, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership at (314) 615-7663 or dallison@stlpartnership.com.

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

DISTRICT

SEWER

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am August 11, 2017 to: Replace Feedwater Line

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9048 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SEALED BIDS

for RenovationsMontauk Lodge, Montauk State P a r k , S a l e m , Missouri, Project No. X1609-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 8/3/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

SEALED BIDS

f o r L i g h t i n g

Upgrades, Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO, Project No. O1619-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30

PM, 8/3/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

SEALED BIDS

for HVAC Replacement, Main Building & GroupHomes, Hawthorn Childrens Psychiatric Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, Project No. M151801 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 8/10/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http:// oa.mo.gov/ facilities

Airport Properties Division Manager

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure IT Research and Advisement Services from Gartner, Inc. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@stlmsd.com.

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

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Smith & Loveless Model 4B2A*1 Pump, Impeller and Assembly/Motor. The District is proposing single source procurement to Midwest Equipment Company, Inc. because they are the exclusive representative for Smith & Loveless in the St. Louis Area. Any inquiries should be sent to ltreat@stlmsd.com.

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

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: REPLACEMENT EQUIPMENT FOR EXISTING FINAL CLARIFIER. EVOQUA WATER TECHNOLOGIES LLC is the sole manufacturer for Envirex Clarifier/ Settler components for use in and compatible with the original equipment. The District is proposing single source procurement for this equipment because EVOQUA WATER TECHNOLOGIES LLC is the only available source. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com.

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

ST. LOUIS

METROPOLITAN

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am August 16, 2017 for: RAS Flow Meters

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9056 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am August 11, 2017 to: Replace Feedwater Line

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9048 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid.

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

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am August 15, 2017 to: Carbon Media Replacement

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9050 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Lacorn Ct 7738 Sanitary Sewer (IR) under Letting No. 12649-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 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 District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

BID NOTICE

St. Louis Community College intends to purchase licensing for Gartner Executive Programs and Core IT Research for Higher Education which has been determined to qualify as a “Sole Source” purchase. Any vendor who does not agree may file a protest via email at stlccbids@stlcc.edu referencing B0003652 by 5:00 P. M. (local time) on July 18, 2017. Additional information may be accessed on our website at www.stlcc.edu/purchasing or by calling (314) 539-5227. EOE/AA Employer.

BIDS

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is accepting bids to perform asphalt overlay approaches to 2 grade crossings in East St. Louis, IL. Illinois Route 15 (Missouri Avenue) at DOT Crossing 803108D, and Bond Avenue at DOT Crossing 803112T. Bids will be accepted through July 26, 2:00 p.m. CST. Bid documents can be obtained by emailing kwiedwilt@ TerminalRailroad.com .

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has procured service for: Digester BLDG Heat Exchanger Replacement. HABERBERGER INCORPORATED was used in the Best Interest of the District for the service and install. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Oakview Terrace 2606 Combined Sewer (IR) under Letting No. 12640-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Thursday, August 10, 2017, at a place designated.

Bids will be received from companies that are CURRENTLY on the District’s Engineering Department’s approved contractor list for Small Sewer Infrastructure Repair (IR)

Or

Are currently Pre-Qualified in the District’s Sewer Construction category Or

THE BIDDER is to submit a list of five (5) references for similar type projects that have been completed within the last three years; this list shall include a point of contact (POC) and a telephone number where the POC can be contacted. The list shall also include the dates for which the bidder provided the service. The District may require the bidder to submit a supplemental list of references during the evaluation process; this list has the same requirements as the original list.

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.

BID REQUEST

KCI CONSTRUCTION REQUESTS

SUBCONTRACT PROPOSALS FOR THE MSD BRANCH STREET PUMP STATION REHAB PROJECT. PROPOSALS ARE DUE IN OUR OFFICE BY 10 A.M. ON AUGUST 9, 2017. PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING IN OUR OFFICES AT: 10315 LAKE BLUFF DRIVE, ST. LOUIS, MO, 63123. 314-894-8888. A PRE-BID MEETING WILL BE HELD IN OUR OFFICE AT 3:00 PM ON JULY 26, 2017. KCI IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

INVITATION TO BID

MBE SUBCONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that Super Excavators, Inc. is requesting quotes from qualified MBE Subcontractors & Suppliers for the following project: Re-Bid Caulks Creek Pump Station B Force Main, bidding on August 1, 2017 at 2:00PM with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District. We are soliciting quotations for all trades including the following segments of work, and any others that may have inadvertently been left off of this list: site work, abandonments, curb replacement & removal, dewatering, chain link fencing, protection & restoration of site, seeding & sodding, concrete sidewalk, asphalt paving, pipe supply, quality control and testing, field engineering / surveying, temporary power, hauling & disposal, traffic control, site security, and other associated works. We will be hosting prebid meeting on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 1:30pm, at the SITE Improvement Association Office at 2071 Exchange Drive, St. Charles, MO 63303. The purpose of this meeting is to disperse pertinent project details, and provide an opportunity for Certified MBE subcontractors, suppliers, or manufacturers to meet and discuss specific opportunities with Super Excavators. We encourage all interested MBEs to attend. Please contact Pete or Jeff at (262) 252-3200 or email plans@superexcavators.com for additional information, to request copies of project documents, for assistance with bonding/insurance, and/or to discuss available opportunities. Complete all negotiations prior to July 28th at 5:00PM. Super Excavators, Inc. N59 W14601 Bobolink Avenue, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051. An Equal Opportunity Employer.

PUBLIC NOTICE

WAITING LIST OPENINGS

The Housing Authority of St. Louis County will open its PUBLIC HOUSING Waiting List for sizes ONE (1) through FIVE (5) BEDROOM UNITS ONLY. Applications will be accepted ONLINE ONLY at www.haslc.com beginning Monday, July 17, 2017 8:00 a.m. Registration will close on Friday, July 21, 2017 at 12 Noon. No applications will be accepted after the deadline date and time.

Applicants needing assistance in completing an online application or who do not have access to a computer may be assisted from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 pm. to 4:00 p.m.at the site offices indicated below or at the Housing Authority of St. Louis County’s main office.

Applications will be accepted 24 hours a day during the time the waiting list registration is open. Applicants may use any device where Internet access is available and must have a valid email address to apply. Applicants whose family size does not meet the bedroom requirements will have applications rejected. PLEASE REMEMBER IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO COME TO THE HOUSING AUTHORITY TO APPLY AS ALL APPLICATIONS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED ONLINE.

LOCATIONS FOR APPLICANTS REQUIRING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR ASSISTANCE:

METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

SULPHUR YARD - VACTOR TRUCK DISPOSAL BUILDING CONTRACT LETTING 12835-015.1

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Sulphur Yard – Vactor Truck Disposal Building under Letting No. 12835-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Tuesday, August 15, 2017.

The work generally includes the construction of a two bay pre-engineered metal building, measuring 44’ x 66’-10” as described in the Drawings and Specifications. The Engineers Opinion of Probable Cost for this project is $700,000.

Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing or Building Construction

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 1710 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.

A non-mandatory Pre-Bid conference, including site visit, will be held at 10:00 AM CT on Thursday, July 27, 2017, at the Sulphur Yard Administration Building, 1900 Sulphur Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, in accordance with Article 6 of the Instructions to Bidders.

NOTICE

Lincoln University of Jefferson City, Missouri, is currently accepting qualification statements for architectural and engineering professional services for the Mitchell Hall Rehabilitation Project until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. For additional information, please contact the Office of Design and Construction, 309 Young Hall, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri, (573) 681-5084 or by email at huffer@lincolnu.edu

Sheila M. Gassner, Executive Director Facilities and Planning Lincoln University

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS # 57817180, Payment Management System

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting sealed proposals for a campus-wide Payment Management System. A copy of the RFP is available by calling (314) 340-3325, emailing: barskys@hssu.edu or faxing a written request to: (314) 340-3322.

Proposals will be received until 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 24, 2017 and should be mailed or delivered in sealed envelopes clearly marked “Proposal for Payment Management System” to Harris-Stowe State University, Attn: Shelley Barsky; 3026 Laclede Ave., Room 105, St, Louis, MO 63103.

Notice is hereby given that the Metropol- itan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 631032555 until 10:00 a.m. on July 14th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Replace #4 Influent Pump Check Valve at Grand Glaze Treatment Plant Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 8991 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.6269 to request a copy of this bid.

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

Fraternal Organization

Pull-Tabs, Dispensers and Related Services

The Missouri Lottery is accepting bids for the purpose of establishing a contract for fraternal organization pull-tabs, dispensers and related services . The bid document with the specifications can be obtained by going to http://www.molottery.com/ learnaboutus/bid_opportunities.shtm or by contacting Judy Martin at judy. martin@molottery.com or 573-7514050.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is confirming: VACTOR Brand Combination Sewer Cleaning Vehicle. The District is proposing single source procurement to COE EQUIPMENT, the Proprietary Parts and Technology for Repair. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com

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

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure funds as described in Ordinance 14612: in agreement with SMARTGEOTECH, Inc; The District is proposing Single Source Procurement to SMARTGEOTECH Inc. for Technological Upgrade to the current Everest application. Any inquiries should be sent to ltreat@stlmsd.com

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

Religion

Observing Ramadan in Trump’s America

Muslims reminded that power rests with God, not human rulers

By Eric E. Vickers For The St. Louis American

In the nearly 40 years since I decided to embrace the faith, each year within the Muslim world – known as the Uuma –both the end and the beginning of Ramadan have been sources of mild controversy and conflict because its time and length depend on the moon.

There is a 12-month calendar followed by Muslims and a great many in the world whose months are determined by the rotations of the moon around the earth – the lunar calendar – rather than the earth’s revolving around the sun – the solar calendar, which America and most of the world uses. I found fascinating the discussions about the planets, their orbits, and the entire cosmic universe contained in the Muslim Holy Book, the Qur’an.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar calendar, with each year the months evolving according to the moon, rather than being the fixed calendar dates of the solar calendar, with the result that the months of the two twelve month calendars do not coincide. The ninth month of the lunar calendar this year happens to be the sixth month of the solar calendar, June, meaning that Ramadan this year fell in the longest days of our calendar year 2017.

Meaning that during this month of June, from the time

of dawn to dusk – about 4:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. – Muslims could neither drink anything to quench their thirst nor eat anything to satisfy their hunger. Over a billion humans become for a month each year nocturnal creatures, as their normal bodily need for fluids and food can only be met during the night, mostly sleepless nights, occupied by prayer and scripture reading. This physiological process that Ramadan puts the human being through rests on a spiritual underpinning. It was during June over 14 millennia ago that a new religion came into the world, Islam, which translated in Arabic means submission to God. Although the state of the world today is obviously vastly different than 1,400 years ago when the founder of the faith began his mission to teach to the Arabs and all mankind what all the prophets who had preceded him had taught – i.e. monotheism, one God – today in America, Muslims suffer near the same peril of public and authoritarian threat as the founder and his few followers faced then.

He confronted the rulers of his time with the idea that there was an all-powerful unseen creator and ruler over the universe whose power exceeded theirs. He warned that if they did not end their unjust and oppressive ways, God would take them to task. Some six centuries after the

Local Muslims attended a Donald Trump rally in protest when he campaigned for U.S. president in St. Louis on March 11, 2016

death of Jesus Christ, this mortal middle-aged man, uniquely named Muhammad, began speaking aloud, while alone in a cave during Ramadan, words that came to his tongue as a revelation. Over the next 22 years that were the remainder of his life, he recited publicly words that were verses and stories –poetic, practical, inspirational and instructional – that came to him. These words, Muslims believe, were the Word of God that Muhammad was called upon by Allah – the Arabic word for God - to recite and have recorded in writing as an unchangeable and imperishable book, the Qur’an, which translated in Arabic means recitation.

Since my first Ramadan in

Maturing in Christ

As someone who has come to Christ as hopefully a mature our adult, I’m often challenged from time to time as ministers and Bible study leaders and others of faith, talk about the process of becoming a mature Christian. The challenge is in knowing what it means to mature as a person and applying some of those same principles to the maturation process as it relates to faith and knowledge.

Faith as a concept is pretty easy to understand. The knowledge I’m speaking about accompanies the experience of knowing God’s word. As such, just like a mature adult, your behavior starts to be dictated by your experience and your knowledge.

1981, and because of the nature of the lunar calendar to unfold in the opposite direction of the solar calendar, I have experienced the fast through all the seasons and their varying hours of daylight and darkness, and through all the rulers from Reagan to Trump. In the sixth month of his presidency, Trump, a fomenter of Muslim fear, found himself in the ninth month of the lunar calendar. Now 1,438 years after Muhammad fled for his life from Mecca to Medina, Muslims in the millions in America in 2017 find themselves having endured fasting during the longest days of daylight and shortest days of darkness of the year – a reminder to them that power rests with God.

Your decisions are affected and guided by what you know, what you’ve been through. For the mature Christian, your faith is easily expressed in words. However, your deeds, your actions now have parameters set in stone due to your experiences of faith. So the more you know about God’s word and God’s will, the more responsive you become in what you do, don’t do, say, don’t say etc. Forgiveness is an example of what I’m talking about. The more you accept the truth of Christ in your life, the more mandatory it becomes to forgive those who have in some way ‘trespassed’ against you. A mature Christian knows if you don’t forgive your enemies, God will not forgive you. How dare you not at least undertake the notion of forgiveness when Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so we all could be forgiven!

Some people refer to this as knowing that you know that you know. It is a process, however. It does take time. Maturity requires proof of action, and it is this action that I’m saying challenges me more often than not.

It is not always easy to do the right thing. But for the mature Christian, it is purely a matter of knowledge that easily lets you know what the right thing is. It’s what you’re supposed to do in all situations and circumstances. The more mature you become in your faith, the more evident it becomes in your behavior and hopefully, prayerfully, also in your attitude.

However, I think you pass the real test when your maturity readily surfaces in what you think. The thought process of the mature Christian is where I find myself these days. I guess you can say I am now a proponent of “you are that you think.” I believe faith does move mountains. And as I start to move mine, I’ll be living proof of what they say about mustard seeds.

Columnist James Washington

Photo by Lawrence Bryant