March 17th, 2016 Edition

STL city, county key to MO win for Clinton

Hillary, Bill, Chelsea and Sen. Booker visits help propel her narrow victory

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Though Hillary Clinton would finally win the Missouri presidential preference primary by just over 1,500 votes, or 0.2 percent, in unofficial results, the campaign closed down the local

watch party before all election returns were in without celebrating victory on Tuesday. But the crowd – which included, at various times, aldermanic President Lewis Reed, attorney general hopeful Jake Zimmerman and state Rep. Stacy Newman – had plenty to celebrate, as Clinton won

by

voter turnout set a new record for a presidential preference primary, with more than 1.5 million people (or 38.86 percent of registered Missouri voters) casting

In unofficial results, upstart loses Missouri by only 1,500 votes

By Rebecca Rivas

The

Bernie Sanders supporter Bruce Franks Jr., an activist running for state representative, watched disappointing election returns at the local campaign watch party at Bootlegging BBQ on March 15.

The Urban League’s Ferguson effect

Lasting positive change stemming from unrest detailed at 98th Annual Dinner

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

The Ferguson unrest was top of mind for Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis President and CEO Michael McMillan at the organization’s 98th Annual Dinner on Monday, March 14 at the Grand Marriot.

n “It is our collective responsibility to make sure America sees what a city can go through and come out better than it was to start with.”

– Michael McMillan

As he updated more than 1,200 guests on current and upcoming initiatives and programming – and presented two awards –Ferguson was presented as a catalyst for community renewal.

“We will make sure that this community has a beacon of hope in what was a sign of urban decay and racial relations problems,” McMillan told the crowd, which included many of the St. Louis area’s civic, corporate, community and faith leaders.

Following the August 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown Jr. and the ensuing protests, Ferguson became a national symbol of systemic racism within municipal courts and the dysfunctional relationship between African Americans and law enforcement.

McMillan pointed out that that racially

Superintendent Zone offers non-academic supports to SLPS’ neediest schools

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Hillary Clinton was engulfed in support and love during a surprise campaign visit to the O’Fallon

on Saturday, March 12.

Foxy Brown denies stumping for Trump

Rapper Foxy Brown is clearing up any misunderstanding over her choice for president, after the New York Daily News reported she was a fan of Donald Trump and that her next single could be a tribute to the GOP frontrunner.

The report quoted Brown (born Marchand) as saying of Trump: “No matter how many people sabotage his campaign, it keeps growing and growing and growing.” And, “I know so many people won’t agree with me and will try to change my mind, but I’m a smart girl. I’m excited…I haven’t been this excited in so long. I know people say he’s a racist, but that’s just crazy.”

The Daily News also quoted Brown as saying she would be doing “a lot” for Trump in the coming months.

She took to Instagram to state that she is “in no way endorsing Trump” and that her words had been misconstrued.

“What I said verbatim was

Trump had tenacity, much like I said Hillary Clinton, I love dearly and Bernie Sanders, I absolutely adore.”

The media, Brown wrote, “Per usual… sensationalizes everything.”

LAPD rejects DNA tests for knife said to be linked to O.J. Simpson case

A TMZ report claims tests on a knife linked to O.J. Simpson failed to find any DNA that could provide insight into the former NFL star’s infamous murder case and has been rejected by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The department’s rejection on Tuesday (Mar. 15) is the latest development to occur since the knife turned up.

According to USA Today, the weapon was allegedly given to a retired police officer years ago after it was purportedly found buried on the grounds of Simpson’s former Los Angeles home. The officers, who considered the knife unimportant and tossed it in a tool box, recently took the weapon out to have it framed.

The knife is notable for its possible connection to the 1994 double murder of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole

Brown Simpson, and friend Ronald Goldman

Sony buys out Michael Jackson’s publishing stake in deal worth $750M

Variety is reporting that the Sony Corp.

struck a deal with Michael Jackson’s estate to acquire the late singer’s interest in their joint music business for $750 million.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing, established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and Jackson, touts itself as the world’s leading music publisher. Together with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV owns or administers more than 3 million copyrights; it also controls “New York, New York,” “All You Need Is Love,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Moon River,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “The Mission Impossible Theme,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Stand by Me” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

The parties expect to reach a definitive agreement by March 31.

of this transaction, is considered one of the smartest investments in music history.”

Amber Rose says Beyoncé gets a pass for being raunchy

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Amber Rose says that Beyoncé doesn’t catch any heat for being provocative, while she and Kim Kardashian are slammed for nudity and suggestive clothing. In an excerpt from the interview, Rose says: “It’s [expletive], and this is the thing: They come at me and Kim so hard because I was a stripper and she had a sex tape. So if we could sing, it would be OK if we were on stage half-naked. We all love Beyoncé, but she’s on stage half-naked and twerking all the time, yet people say, ‘oh, she has talent so she’s able to do that.’

“This transaction further allows us to continue our efforts of maximizing the value of Michael’s Estate for the benefit of his children,” estate co-executors John Branca and John McClain said. “It also further validates Michael’s foresight and genius in investing in music publishing. His ATV catalog, purchased in 1985 for a net acquisition cost of $41.5 million, was the cornerstone of the joint venture and, as evidenced by the value

Sources: The New York Daily News, TMZ.com, Instagram, The Daily Beast and Variety. Amber Rose

“We don’t have the talent that Beyoncé has, so we get criticized as former sex workers, but at the end of the day we’re just women — we’re all women — and we should all embrace each other. No one is greater. We’re all the same. So, to criticize us as incapable of being smart businesswomen because Kim has a reality show and I’m a socialite and we don’t sing is stupid.”

Elementary school students produce their own news

Koch TV in Riverview Gardens district encourages viewers to do ‘better than your best’

By Carolina Hidalgo

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Fifth-grader Saniya Bryant sits at a desk at Koch Elementary, meticulously studying a set of questions. Behind her, a lime green cloth hangs from the ceiling. Across from her, a fourthgrader swivels a video camera in her direction.

“Quiet on set.” Saniya is prepping herself to conduct an interview for Koch TV, the school’s student-run online newscast. Originally a public speaking course for fourth- and fifth-graders, the class morphed into a news operation this year.

Every Thursday, students gather in a converted teacher’s lounge at the Ferguson-area school in the vRiverview Gardens School District to do research, prepare questions and write scripts. They record each other in front of the makeshift green screen with Principal Howard Fields’ personal Canon equipment and an iPad teleprompter.

They often interrupt the show to burst into song – a “Hello?” spoken into a mic becomes a quick Adele impersonation – and crack jokes –“You sound like some chicken without seasoning!” – but Fields is quick to point out the valuable skills they’re learning while having fun.

“They’re working on critical thinking, literacy, listening –components they’re being assessed on outside of Koch TV,” he said. “Everything we do is about impacting student achievement.”

A former high school basketball

coach, Fields brings a coaching mentality to the news team. He reminds students to play their part –producer, anchor, cameraman – and work together.

“Mr. Fields steps back and lets us do what we’re capable of,” said fifthgrader Myauna Hayes, whom Fields describes as a star reporter. “We’re all in this together.”

Originally designed as a way to build confidence and improve writing skills with the allure of television, Koch TV has also become an outlet for the kids to share their stories with the world.

For many Koch students, the presence of news crews in their neighborhoods often signifies tragedy

grader Jamyla Bolden

Now, the kids have a chance to show their school and community in a brighter light. Koch TV’s coverage of the new playground featured footage of students dancing, paired with more than half a dozen upbeat interviews with teachers and neighbors.

“When I was younger, I used to hate watching the news,” said Saniya, who is 11 years old. “It would scare me.”

n “They’re working on critical thinking, literacy, listening – components they’re being assessed on outside of Koch TV.”

– Principal Howard Fields

or loss. Less than a mile away, a bronze dove is embedded in the sidewalk along Canfield Drive near the spot where 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr.’s body lay for hours after he was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer in August 2014.

This past fall, a groundbreaking ceremony for Koch’s new playground attracted media attention after the shooting death of a classmate, fourth-

“They don’t put happy stuff,” added her classmate and best friend, Karen Lomax. The girls wear matching necklaces, each with a purple peace sign surrounded by rhinestones.

“If I were in charge of the news on TV, I wouldn’t just say, ‘Today this person got shot.’ I would say, ‘But they were loved. Their memory is going to be around.’”

As they learn to share their

news in their voices, the fledging reporters look to former journalists Cordell Whitlock and Allison Blood for guidance. Every week, they volunteer time outside of their jobs at the St. Louis County executive’s communications office to teach the students the fundamentals of news gathering.

“Be truthful,” Blood told students as she handed out worksheets and candy one afternoon. “That’s what the news is about.”

Whitlock said the newscast has been a natural next step to the public speaking class he and Blood originally launched last school year.

The final product, which is uploaded to YouTube and shared with parents, allows students to see their focus and hard work pay off.

They also get to serve as role models for younger students. The show is peppered with reminders to work hard, come to school and “do better than your best.”

The phrase, which has become a mantra for Koch students, closes out every show.

“We need for kids to know they can do better than they did yesterday,” said Fields, who had the motto painted in the school’s lobby after becoming principal in the fall of 2014.

The phrase serves as a reminder to him as much as to his students and staff. The year before he started, Koch

received 14 out of 70 possible points on its state report card. After Fields’ first year, that number jumped to 42. The score contributed to Koch’s district, Riverview Gardens, being named the most improved in the state for the 2014-15 school year. Riverview Gardens is one of two unaccredited districts in St. Louis County. The other is nearby Normandy.

Koch TV reporters have covered the accreditation issue, producing a segment about a recent public hearing on the district’s status for their third episode.

“Many students recognize that there are people who believe that this school, this school district, is not as good as the others,” said Melanie Powell-Robinson, spokeswoman for the district. “And they want to let people know that great learning does occur here.”

On this recent afternoon, Karen heads to the anchor desk to deliver lines for the closing sequence. She and co-anchor Amorion Bland joke together onscreen as Myauna sets up the teleprompter and counts down. Looking straight into the camera, the anchors thank Koch TV’s viewers and end with their usual reminder: “Until next time, always do better than your best.”

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Koch Elementary Principal Howard Fields helps Koch TV students set up equipment as they get ready to record a segment.

Photo by Carolina Hidalgo / St. Louis Public Radio

Editorial /CommEntary

White Democrats need black voters to win Remember

Looking at the numbers from Missouri’s presidential preference primary on Tuesday, March 15, it seems clear – if these unofficial results are certified by the Missouri secretary of state – that black voters brought Hillary Clinton her narrow victory in Missouri, just as they brought her more impressive wins in Southern states like North Carolina where the Democratic Party has a higher proportion of African Americans and Hispanics. Her current trajectory towards the Democratic nomination was begun on Super Tuesday when she won major victories over Bernie Sanders in Texas, Virginia and other Southern states with huge margins in counties with many blacks.

Voters in St. Louis County and city both favored Clinton over Sanders by the same decisive margin of 55 percent to 44 percent, an 11 percent advantage. Statewide, the margin was incredibly slim - 49.6 percent to 49.3 percent, an advantage of only 0.3 percent. Of course, the most significant difference between the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas are that they have more African Americans than Missouri as a whole. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Missouri is 11.8 percent African-American, while St. Louis County is 23.9 percent black and the city has a plurality of 47.5 percent African Americans. Simply put, black people won this election for Clinton by the tightest of margins. In St. Louis city, the pattern was undeniable. The 11 city wards with the highest margin of Clinton voters were all majority-black North St. Louis wards with black aldermen, starting with Ward 27 (where Clinton beat Sanders by 1,410 votes, almost her entire statewide margin) and Antonio French’s 21st Ward, where Clinton beat Sanders by 1,289 votes. Sanders did not beat Clinton in one single majority-black ward in St. Louis. This should mean greater attention for our issues and concerns if – as we hope – Clinton goes on to win the Democratic nomination and the U.S. presidency. As Senator Cory Booker told The American when he was in town on Sunday, “If Hillary Clinton wins this primary and wins the presidency, it’s clearly going to be because of African-American votes. And there is a loyalty that the Clinton have to people who helped get them over. So I know that she is committed philosophically, morally, spiritually –but politically, she is also very, very committed.” We might add that we trust the political selfinterest of any politician much more than their proclaimed philosophy, morals or spirit, so we would expect a President Hillary Clinton to pay very close attention to the concerns of Black

America.

We hope that other white Democrats running for statewide office in Missouri – Chris Koster, Jason Kander, Jake Zimmerman, Russ Carnahan, Judy Baker – pay close attention to Clinton’s primary results and keep them in mind as they campaign for their primary elections on August 2 and the general election on November 8. We often see Democrats, and especially Missouri Democrats, working themselves to death to court what our editorial board member Mike Jones calls “the mythical out-state white Democrat.”

The best return on their investment of time and money is here in their base. These candidates need to make themselves better known in black communities and make the case to our people that they deserve our support. This is especially true in light of Clinton’s likely nomination – and the torpor that will then descend over the mostly young, white voters newly energized by Bernie Sanders. Nevertheless although most black millenials voted for Clinton, many voted for Sanders.

If Hillary Clinton is on the ticket in Missouri on November 8, most black people who come to the polls in a presidential election year are going to vote for her. But how many black people will come out to vote? The Democrats must wage an aggressive voter mobilization effort, coordinated with credible black leadership. And when African Americans come out to vote for Clinton, will they keep voting as they move down the ticket? That question should put every Democratic candidate on notice that they need to go to work immediately.

Ferguson wise to sign consent decree

Just before polls closed on Tuesday, the Ferguson City Council unanimously – and finally – voted to sign the consent decree negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice. Vanita Gupta, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement, “We are pleased that they have approved the consent decree, a document designed to provide the framework needed to institute constitutional policing in Ferguson, and look forward to filing it in court in the coming days and beginning to work with them towards implementation.” We, too, are pleased – and look forward to monitoring Ferguson’s progress toward constitutional policing and genuine justice in its municipal courts.

Commentary

Protests show resistance to Trump

By Eugene Robinson Columnist

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The organized protest in Chicago that led Donald Trump to cancel a planned rally Friday may someday be remembered as the Dawn of the Resistance. Trump has fueled his campaign’s rise with the angriest and most divisive political rhetoric this nation has heard since the days of George Wallace. No one should be surprised if some of those Trump has slandered or outraged respond with raised voices.

The Constitution’s guarantee of free speech applies to everyone, Trumpistas and protestors alike. Trump said over the weekend that he wants demonstrators who gatecrash his rallies to be arrested, not just ejected; he vows that “we’re pressing charges” against them. Someone should educate him: Peacefully disapproving of a politician and his dangerous ideas is not a crime.

Trump seems not to understand that demonstrators have the legal right to protest – and that a candidate for president of the United States has no countervailing right not to be protested.

I’m talking about nonviolent demonstrations, of course – but nonviolent does not necessarily mean quiet, timid or small.

On Friday, thousands of Trumpistas gathered in the University of Illinois at Chicago arena for one of the candidate’s set-piece rallies. They knew what to expect from Trump – the bragging about the size of his lead in various polls, the dissing of rivals “Little Marco” Rubio and “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz, the ranting and raving about immigration, the repeated vow to “make America great again.” They might have anticipated that a few

demonstrators would briefly interrupt the proceedings, giving Trump the opportunity to strut and preen in alpha-male splendor as he ordered security to “get ‘em outta here.”

But what no one fully realized until too late was that the crowd had been infiltrated by hundreds of highly organized protesters. As this circumstance became clear to Trump’s supporters, tension mounted. The demonstrators held their ground, knowing they had as much right to be there as anyone else.

Aware that the demonstrators would do something but unsure of what that might be, Trump canceled the event.

Announcement of the decision drew a big cheer from the protestors – and a howl of frustration from Trump supporters, who expressed their displeasure with epithets and shoving. Three people were injured in the skirmishes that ensued. Trump later groused that “troublemakers” and “thugs” had violated his free-speech rights. But consider what he tells his audiences: Mexican immigrants are rapists, foreign Muslims should be barred from the country, the United States should reinstitute torture for terrorism suspects and “go after” their families. He has the absolute right to say these things. But those who believe in the hallowed American values of openness, tolerance, decency and the rule of law have the absolute right to say “No!”

Earlier that day, there were 32 arrests in demonstrations against a Trump rally in St. Louis; a large group of protesters had gathered to

By Tiffany Anderson For The St. Louis American

Rodney McAllister would have been 25 year old this year, if he had lived beyond 2001.

Fifteen years ago, when I was principal at Clark Accelerated Academy, my staff and I faced one of the most difficult tragedies I have ever faced in my 22-year career in schools. Rodney’s 4th grade teacher, Ellery Clark, and I learned Rodney had died tragically.

On March 6, 2001, through our absentee list –and Rodney’s homework assignment in his pocket from the night before that had his name on it – his 10-year-old mangled and mutilated body was identified after he was killed by a pack of stray dogs overnight.

Rodney cried all night, neighbors heard, but no one opened their doors. His mother was jailed for neglect and later released. Memorials were held. The public was outraged that this could even happen in our city.

Following his death, a memorial was built and Mr. Clark and I led his classmates to the park. The students carefully wrote the message that is reflected on the memorial today, and our handprints and names are captured forever within the concrete at the memorial site. The tree that was planted is now tall, and each summer is filled with leaves. It’s a sight to see when it’s full.

Seeing life grow each year through the tree in that spot surrounded by a gloomy picture of what should be a beautiful park gives another message to us all.

In 2001, Rodney’s classmates wrote to the city asking for a stray dog law, which was passed.

The mayor signed it at our school, and all in the community pledged to make

Letters to the editor

Warning to Democrats

The President of the United States is not a legacy position. No one is owed support for their candidacy. The idea that party leaders pick the presidential candidate is archaic and, in this political environment, don’t expect Democrats to follow like lemmings if you choose anyone but the most popular (by actual vote) candidate.

places at police stations in St. Louis County. Forty polling places in St. Louis County are located in buildings that also have police stations, and the majority of these polling places are found in towns with a majority African-American population.

the city safer and to better care for our children.

Today the memorial is not cared for by the city that helped place it. The park is in need of repairs. Even on the day Rodney died, Mr. Clark and I are left to clean the memorial each year ourselves. The lives of all children are important, and we show it in our consistent actions. How we care for the most vulnerable makes a strong statement about who we are and what kind of city and county we want to become.

Having grown up in St. Louis, I am encouraging all in public office to do more for our children who are depending on us all. In Rodney’s memory, let’s all strive to be a city known for how we nurture and help the most vulnerable, our children. On March 6 and all year long, we remember beautiful Rodney McAllister. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Jennings School District, has accepted the position of superintendent of Topeka Public Schools.

confront the candidate and his supporters. At almost every Trump event these days, in fact, at least a few individuals rise to protest – and face the rage of the crowds, which Trump stokes rather than soothes.

These protests are important because they show that Americans will not take Trump’s outrageous nonsense lying down. The hapless Republican Party may prove powerless to keep him from seizing the nomination, but GOP primary voters are a small and unrepresentative minority – older, whiter and apparently much angrier than the nation as a whole.

There is a school of thought that says, in effect, do not push back against the bully. Those who take this position argue that protests only heighten the sense of persecution and victimhood that Trump encourages among his supporters. And the net effect may be to win him more primary votes and make it more likely that he gets the nomination.

I understand this view, but I disagree. I believe it is important to show that those who reject Trumpism are as passionate and multitudinous as those who welcome it. Passivity is what got the GOP into this predicament in the first place; imagine how different the campaign might be if so many Republicans who abhor Trump hadn’t meekly promised to support him if he became the nominee.

Protests show the growing strength of popular opposition to Trump. They may not embolden Republicans to take their party back at the convention in Cleveland.

But vivid displays of outrage might help energize voters to come out and reject Trump in November. That might be the last line of defense.

Trying to torpedo the candidacy of a populist movement candidate running on the Democrat ticket will backfire. Those torpedoes may come round to sink your ship! If Bernie Sanders survives the never-ending innuendo and half-truths from the media talking heads backing Clinton and manages to garner the majority of the popular vote, those running the Democrat Party would be wise to declare Sanders the Democrat candidate.

For the past five decades, I’ve voted overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates at all levels of government. But if the party leaders continue their overt and juvenile shenanigans to give Clinton the Democrat nomination, I – and I’m sure thousands of others – will stay home on Election Day.

Michael K. Broughton Green Park

Police stations are not neutral polling locations

The Black Law Students Associations at Washington University School of Law and Saint Louis University School of Law are deeply concerned about the placement of polling

As made clear by the U.S. Department of Justice investigation, policing and municipal court practices in Ferguson violated the law and undermined community trust, especially among African Americans. Further, African Americans and lowerincome Missourians are disproportionally impacted by arrest warrants for minor traffic offenses.

In a comprehensive report on the St. Louis County Police Department, the Police Foundation found that AfricanAmerican drivers were far more likely than white drivers to be stopped. Once stopped, African Americans were more likely to be searched by a police officer, yet less likely to be in possession of contraband. Nationally, adult African-American males are incarcerated at more than six times the rate of adult white males.

Given the years of systematic oppression on the part of the police and other system actors, police stations are not neutral polling places.

Every citizen’s right to vote is fundamental. The United States Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims, called the right to vote a fundamental right because it is “preservative of all rights … any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.”

Even practices that do not

intentionally discriminate should be examined in order to determine their effects in practice. For these reasons, we respectfully request that the St. Louis County Board of Elections move the polling places to more neutral locations.

Black Law Students Associations Washington University School of Law Saint Louis University School of Law

Grateful for Nancy Reagan Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House. She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice.

Our former First Lady redefined the role in her time here. Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer’s, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives. We offer our sincere condolences to their children, Patti, Ron, and Michael, and to their grandchildren. And we remain grateful for Nancy Reagan’s life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again.

Barack and Michelle Obama Washington, D.C.

Guest Columnist Eugene Robinson

Philos support veterans

National Philo President Arlecia Stamps, Helen Crockett, Shirley Dye, Marlene Soyk, Marie Taylor, Ollie Crate and Loistine McGhee Sutton visited with Sylvester, a veteran of the U.S. military in St. Louis, when the Central Region Philo Affiliates of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority donated gift bags to veterans at the John Cochran Division of the VA St. Louis Health Care System on North Grand Boulevard on March 4 during the 76th Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Central Region Conference.

Great Rivers Greenway, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District and Missouri American Water seek volunteers for the 8th annual Confluence Trash Bash from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 19. Area residents are invited to join cleanup efforts, helping to improve the condition of local waterways. To date, volunteers have removed more than 5,400 tires and about 100 tons of trash from area streams and rivers. Volunteers can choose from the following locations for check-in between 8-8:45 a.m.:

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, 10950 Riverview Dr. Missouri River Relief, 10950 Riverview Dr. (will travel by boat to cleanup site) Big Muddy Adventures, 10950 Riverview Dr. (will travel by canoe to cleanup) Creve Coeur Park, 2160 Creve Coeur Mill Rd. Creve Coeur Park using boats on Mallard Lake, 2160 Creve Coeur Mill Rd. Florissant Sunset Park, 2300 Sunset Park Dr. City of Bridgeton, 13217 Ferguson Ln. City of Hanley Hills, 7713 Utica Dr. Overland (call 314-427-2401 or 314-662-2401 for location and registration information)

What does the license collector do?

By Mavis Thompson For The St. Louis American

The License Collector’s Office is authorized by Missouri State Statute to license businesses that operate in the City of St. Louis. It is a fee-revenue-generating office which collects business license fees and distributes approximately $61 million annually to the city’s general fund and other city and state agencies, such as Saint Louis Public Schools, public libraries, MSD, and a state fund for the blind. Pursuant to statute, a percentage of these fees are retained to operate the office, which includes over $90,000 annually for leasing office space in City Hall. The office doesn’t receive any revenue, cars or salaries from the City of St. Louis. Since taking office, we have achieved major accomplishments, including but not limited to the following.

On track to eliminate multi-year delinquencies. To date, we have attained 100 percent compliance from such businesses that we have contacted, resulting in an additional $100,000 of revenue.

Drafted and implemented a Comprehensive Business Closure Policy. Because our No. 1 goal is to keep businesses in business, we enforce this policy only when we have exhausted all efforts to bring a business into compliance.

Proposed ordinance to increase late fees. This is an attempt to generate more revenue for the City.

Introduced new methods of payment. Payment options now include telephone, credit, debit and online.

Increased staff salaries. This was an attempt to match staff job duties and work performance. We also, raised the minimum salary to $11/hour for entry-level positions.

Volunteers needed to clean waterways n The License Collector’s Office distributes approximately $61 million annually to the city’s general fund and other city and state agencies.

Specific cleanup sites will then be assigned near each of the starting locations. At noon, participants will return to their selected lunch location for a celebration and free lunch. Prizes will be awarded to volunteers who find the weirdest, biggest and most expensive trash that morning. All are welcome, and no experience is required. Individual volunteers, civic groups and youth organizations are encouraged to attend. Volunteers should dress for the weather and bring a water bottle and gloves. Trash bags will be provided. Transportation is available for school and other groups by contacting Colleen Scott with the Missouri Department of Conservation via email at Colleen.Scott@mdc.mo.gov. For more information, email greenwaynetwork@gmail.com. To register online, visit https://www. greenwaynetwork.org/projects-issues/confluence-trash-bash.php.

Convened forums related to business topics. Topics include tax preparation, entrepreneurship for seniors and veterans, impact of the Affordable HealthCare Act and MBE/WBE/DBE certification.

Ongoing collaboration. We work more closely with other entities that impact the licensing process.

Initiated “City Business Open House” series. At these events, businesses can showcase and/or sell their products and services in the City Hall Rotunda.

Multicultural messaging. We published informational literature in Braille, Spanish, Bosnian and Vietnamese to accommodate the evolving demographics of the city.

Clean audit. We earned a “No Deficiencies/No Recommendations” audit of our Finance Department from the Comptroller’s Office.

Best Place to Work. We received 88.29 score from the St. Louis Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in St. Louis edition.

Your license collector is at work for you. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Mavis Thompson is the license collector for the City of St. Louis.

Mavis Thompson

URBAN

Continued from A1

tinged tragedy was familiar territory for the Urban League.

“Urban League as an institution was founded in 1918 as a result of the race riots in East St. Louis,” McMillan said.

“Eighteen months ago in the city of Ferguson, the Urban League once again faced a challenge to remain true to our mission and our founding purpose just like we did in 1918.”

In his President’s Report, McMillan provided details of the organization’s response to Ferguson.

“The creation of the Save Our Sons program was literally founded on the streets of Ferguson after talking to the youth of the region,” McMillan said. “Many of these young men were frustrated with being unemployed and unemployable and the many challenges they faced in the criminal justice system.”

CLINTON

Continued from A1

a vote. Since voter turnout was even higher in the city (42.17 percent) and county (46 percent), where the proportion of African Americans is higher than the statewide average, the black vote played a decisive role in Clinton’s narrow victory.

Black support – indeed, love – for the candidate was evident several days before the election, on Saturday, March 12, when – in the words of 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French, who served as Clinton’s deputy communications director for the Missouri primary – the campaign brought “Hillary to the ‘hood.”

Clinton was scheduled to speak that day in Affton – 94 percent white in the 2010 census – but French worked

According to the report, more than 200 AfricanAmerican men have been placed with jobs through the program since it began only a year ago. The audience responded with a rousing applause when two of the Save Our Sons graduates, Kameryn Thames and Taron Booker, stood at the lectern as part of the awards recognition period.

The Urban League presented the Chairman’s Award to Regional Business Council Executive Director Kathy Osborn and the Award of Merit to St. Louis American Publisher and Executive Editor Donald M. Suggs. It also gave $5,000 scholarships to each of the young men in the name of Osborn and Suggs, funded by area businessman Marvin Miller.

“They have worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to make sure that this region is moving in the right direction,” McMillan said of Osborn and Suggs. A few hours before the dinner, The Urban League

with the campaign to sneak her into the O’Fallon Park YMCA in his very black 21st Ward in a surprise visit just before.

The tone of the event was evident from the moment the candidate entered the small meeting room at the Y. Reed, who was standing near the door, grabbed Clinton with a hug. State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, who was sitting near the door, jumped up and grabbed her for another hug. Then Clinton kept hugging. Next she hugged French’s aunt, Katherine Bennet, who was sitting in the front row. Then veteran North St. Louis political operator Rodney Hubbard Sr., who was sitting next to Bennet, got his hug.

After a 10-minute campaign speech – where she branded Donald Trump, the leader in the Republican primary, as a political arsonist and her Democrat rival as an angry but unrealistic dreamer – Clinton

unveiled its expanded plans for its Ferguson Empowerment Center that will be built at Ferguson Ground Zero on land donated by QuikTrip after the gas station there was torched during protests. McMillan announced that the center would triple in size after receiving more than $2 million in expansion funding.

stepped into a selfie throng that outlasted her speech.

Anyone who wanted a selfie with the candidate got one.

Clinton many times grabbed the phone from her admirer and took the picture herself before handing it back. Once she got going, she began to point out elder citizens or especially young children and ask for the picture herself.

Secret Service agents did their best to maintain a perimeter around the candidate, but it was hopeless. North St. Louis wanted to get their hands on Hillary Clinton and get their picture taken with her. And Clinton – often derided as cold by her opponents – seemed to want that intimacy just as much.

There was, of course, calculation behind the event. With Missouri’s presidential preference primary just three days away, the campaign was trying to energize the base to canvass and get people to the

They plan to break ground on the center later this spring and have the center completed before St. Louis hosts the Urban League’s national convention in 2017.

The Ferguson Community Empowerment Center will house the Urban League and five other agencies.

“It is our collective

polls on election day.

“People who come to events like this, we vote,” French told the crowd before Clinton arrived. “But that’s not where our responsibility ends. We need you to go out there and knock on doors.”

The campaign continued with voter mobilization events in the days leading up to the primary.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) visited St. Louis on Sunday, March 13 to help kick off the St. Louis phone bank. He is that state’s first African American U.S. senator and the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

“On the issues that matter when I was a mayor working on urban issues, issues facing communities struggling with high violence, with high unemployment, with many people who are playing by the rules that are struggling to get ahead, but yet aren’t, she’s clearly the best candidate for

Kameryn Thames and Taron Booker, graduates of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ Save Our Sons program, were congratulated by the organization’s President and CEO Michael McMillan at its 98th Annual Dinner on Monday, March 14 at the Grand Marriot.

responsibility to make sure America sees what a city can go through and come out better than it was to start with,” McMillan said. “We will transform the site of the QuikTrip that was burned down and literally be a Phoenix rising out of the ashes to show this community how we can move forward and how North County

those communities. She has a better plan, and frankly she has the grit and the toughness to implement these things,”

Booker said in an interview with The St. Louis American “So when it comes to struggling communities, the kind of changes that she can make are practical and may seem like incremental, but they make a big difference to those communities that are struggling to get into the middle class.”

Chelsea Clinton made several local campaign stops for her mother on Monday, March 14. At Urban Sprouts Child Development Center in Olivette, she pointed out that Hillary has been working to increase health coverage and drive down the costs of health care since Bill Clinton’s first presidency in the early 1990s. She did not mention Sanders or his proposal to push for a single-payer health plan that would undo the Affordable

is getting better.”

Keynote speaker Michael Eric Dyson said Ferguson is everywhere.

“There’s really a Ferguson in every community across this nation,” Dyson said. “Where disproportionately black and poor people are victimized by serious suffering, the abuse by their own government and municipalities which extract from them tolls that are unfair and unjust – and then imposes upon them a denial of their political and their social viability.”

He challenged everyone to continue the work at community renewal as the world watches for a post-script: “You have the opportunity to continue a trajectory that speaks to your values, your vision, and your virtues as human beings who were locked in warfare against the ignorance that would dare repudiate the tremendous democratic values we have nurtured as a nation.”

Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s health reform. But she said that Hillary will “protect the work of Barack Obama” on health care.

She pointed to the considerable improvements in American health care under the ACA, saying that in 2015 more American women received “the full complement” of prenatal medical services and delivered their children in medically approved environments than at any other time in history, thanks to the ACA.

Chelsea stressed that the next president will have to work with a Republican majority in one if not both houses of Congress, and Hillary has a better track record than her opponent of accomplishing things in that climate.

“We need a president who has a record of finding common cause,” Chelsea said. “Our children can’t wait for all the stars to align.”

Photo by Carl Bruce

SANDERS

“Everybody has worked so hard for Bernie,” she said. “I’ve seen the blood, sweat and tears. I’ve been to four rallies myself. You can’t tell me that we can’t take this. We want it so bad.”

After Clinton won all five states – Florida, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri –in the Super Tuesday elections, Sanders congratulated her. But he also tried to give hope to all those like Bush who were watching the results in utter disappointment.

“With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination,” he said in a statement.

Possibly even more incredible than the nerveracking election was the recordhigh voter turnout. Statewide, 38.86 percent or more than 1.5 million registered Missouri voters turned out – topping the previous 2008 presidential preference primary record of approximately 1.4 million votes and 36 percent turnout.

In St. Louis County and city, that percentage was even

SLPS

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 schools with greatest need. The 18 neediest schools were designated as the Superintendent Zone.

“Looking at the combination of factors, we were really able to tease out those schools that were the lowest performing, but also the ones most in need of wrap-around services,” Clay said.

“These are services provided by the social worker, the counselor and the nurse. These are nonacademic services, but it’s providing social and emotional counseling resources to the students. Just as importantly, it’s about supporting the families.”

The Support Services Department includes nurses, counselors, social workers, enrollment services, family community specialists, students in transition, parent engagement, community education and afterschool.

While the social worker supplies support and connects resources to the families, Clay said the counselor provides in-school guidance to support a positive culture in the school.

“Counselors are trained to deliver lessons, especially at the elementary level, on what it means to be a good friend – anti-bullying, those kinds of things,” Clay said. “They are able to provide additional support to young people who may be having a particularly difficult time.”

Each of the Superintendent Zone Schools has a family and community specialist whose job is to engage families and, “Clay said, “bring them into the life of the school on a more regular basis.”

This includes setting up Parent Teacher Organizations and making sure they are functioning well, setting up events at the school – Muffins with Mom, Donuts with Dad –and organizing “informational nights about the academic program so parents are aware of what their children are

higher. In the city, 42.17 percent of residents cast their ballots, totaling 76,729 votes. And in St. Louis County, 45.8 percent of residents or 296,480 voted – beating out the county’s 2008 primary record of 43 percent turnout. The city’s 2008 turnout was 42.97 percent.

“Tuesday’s turnout shows Missourians are more engaged than ever and they are excited to participate in their democracy,” said Adam Kustra, Missouri political director for the Sanders campaign. “Senator

being taught and how they can support them at home,” Clay said.

Support services can be triggered in many ways. At Columbia Elementary School, a school in the Superintendent’s Zone, the secretary calls the parent or guardian when a child is reported as absent. In most cases, once the issue is worked out, the school social worker will pick up the child and bring him or her to school.

Medical services are among the non-academic supports.

“In these schools in the most challenged areas, there are many health issues,” Clay said. “We are talking about diabetes, asthma, chronic conditions that you really need a nurse there every day monitoring.”

In addition to administering medication, the fulltime onsite nurse coordinates vision, dental, hearing, health screenings and immunization clinics. If it is determined that a child needs additional services, such as dental care

Sanders message of a political revolution will continue to push citizens to stay involved not just in the presidential race, but in elections up and down the ballots for years to come.”

Ferguson activist and state representative hopeful Bruce Franks Jr. told the crowd that Sanders has ignited a fire among people who thought they didn’t have a place in “establishment politics.”

“I never thought a little black kid from South Side St. Louis would be running for state representative,” Franks

and eyeglasses, they get free curbside service at the school –with their parent’s permission, of course.

School nurse Deborah Edwards said the Affinia dental van brings oral care to students and Healthy Kids Express offers screening for vision, hearing, height, weight and physical fitness. Kid’s Vision for Life and BJC HealthCare are district partners, she said.

Edwards said other community partners include the Amanda Luckett Murphy Hopewell Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri and the Little Bit Foundation, which donates clothing for students who do not have proper clothing or hygiene items.

Hopewell provides an onsite counselor, Edwards said. Services provided include occupational therapy, speech therapy and psychological testing.

Clay noted that the funds that support the Superintendent

Bernie Sanders brought his campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president to Affton High School on Sunday, March 13.

said in a speech after the final numbers came in. “It’s candidates like Bernie who encourage candidates like us in our local elections to get up there and run.”

St. Louis Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green of the 15th Ward said she decided to run for office for the same reason many are supporting Sanders.

“We feel like the establishment isn’t working for us,” she said in her midnight speech. “We have a responsibility to keep this going. This revolution does not

Zone come from the desegregation settlement, which is dwindling.

“This upcoming year is the last year that we will have access to those dollars, and then they will dwindle significantly after that,” Clay said. “Part of our tax levy is to maintain those dollars that have been supporting schools in this very unique kind of way.”

An increase in the tax levy for the district is on the April 5 ballot in the city as Proposition 1. If passed, Proposition 1 would increase the operating tax levy for the district by $0.75. That equates to an additional $71.25 per year for the owner of a $50,000 home or $107.25 per year for the owner of a $75,000 home. This increase would generate an estimated $27.8 million in new revenue each year for the district and charter schools. A simple majority is needed to pass the initiative.

stop in Missouri, it does not stop next week, it does not stop next year.”

Both Green and Franks spoke at recent rallies in the area, where Sanders’ usual talking points on a “rigged economy” and a “corrupt campaign contribution system” riled up the crowds. When his campaign started 10 months ago, he trailed Clinton by about 70 percent in national polls.

“I think what this campaign is about in its deepest sense is asking the American people to think outside of the box and think outside of the options that the Congress and the corporate media ask you to choose,”

Sanders said at a campaign rally at Affton High School on Sunday, March 13. He said he envisions a government that works for everyone – not just the top onetenth percent who own almost as much wealth as the bottom ninety percent. That message especially resonated strongly with activists who are pushing for higher minimum wages.

Also, a large number of his supporters at Tuesday night’s watch party – who were also

the volunteers knocking on doors and making phone calls – have been active in the Ferguson movement. His statements on fair policing have not gone unnoticed locally.

“When we talk about criminal justice reform, if a police officer breaks the law, like any other public official, that officer must be held accountable,” Sanders said at the Affton rally.

Supporters often cite Sanders’ integrity. On Super Tuesday, the Art Bar on Cherokee Street offered a free beer and a grilled cheese and bologna sandwich for anyone who came in with an “I Voted Today” sticker. One man in his 30s, who was enjoying the voting bonus, said he hadn’t voted in years because he has lost faith in the political system.

“But it felt really good to vote for Bernie today,” he said, noting that he’s followed Sanders’ career for years. “He has a big heart and he’s honest, and that’s what we need right now.”

Follow this reporter on Twitter @RebeccaRivas.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

First food

Mother’s milk is baby’s best food

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Breastfeeding provides for the baby the way nature intended. Through mother’s milk, women are uniquely equipped to give all the fluids, immunity, vitamins (except vitamin D) and nutrients their babies need.

It is economical, convenient (no bottles and water to sterilize, no powders to mix and formula to warm) and breastfeeding is the choice for many women who want to give their baby his or her best start in life.

n Through mother’s milk, women are uniquely equipped to give all the fluids, immunity, vitamins (except vitamin D) and nutrients their babies need.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months, and to continue breastfeeding for a year or as long as desired by the mother and baby.

Community Birth and Wellness Center

The Community Birth and Wellness centers, located in Ferguson and in O’Fallon, Missouri, they offer breastfeeding support, prenatal care and birthing options to expectant and new mothers.

Executive Director Brittany Tru Campbell is the executive director at the Ferguson location. She said breastfeeding is an important part of the health of the baby and the bonding between mothers and their babies.

“Breastfeeding helps bring about the feel-good hormones, such as oxytocin, which helps create that bond and it also helps her stabilize those hormones in her body and it also helps her to adjust back

Leslie Dudley of St. Louis breastfed 10-monthold Kaleb for eight months and said it was well worth

HIV

disparity still exists for women of color

Of all the public health messages that have been spread across the country, I hope by now the majority of people acknowledge that HIV infection is not just a “gay white man’s disease.” The nonchalant attitude of the ‘80’s was clearly a misinformed belief that HIV was not in every sexual community but only in those of men who have sex with men. Heterosexual individuals felt immune to the risks at that time until that infamous November day in 1991 when Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive. I honestly believe that for most people his announcement made HIV more realistic and closer to home.

HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, destroys certain important cells that are used in fighting infection, thereby weakening the immune system. There is no cure for HIV but it can be controlled with medication and proper care by an infectious disease doctor.

Certain groups within the United States are more likely to get HIV depending upon geography, risk behaviors and the type of sexual partner with whom they engage.

To date, the best prevention against HIV is barrier protection with a condom but this is only true when the condom is used consistently and correctly. Yet, I am always amazed at the number of people who continue to have unprotected intercourse. Therefore, when patients admit to me that they are participating in such risky behavior, I often ask, “do you trust this person with your life?” Some actually respond no, yet they continue their dangerous behavior.

In the United States, one in four people living with HIV, are women. Per the CDC, Black/African American and Hispanic/Latina women are disproportionately affected by HIV as compared with women of other races/ ethnicities. Of the 137,504 estimated number of women living with diagnosed HIV at the end of 2013, 61 percent were African American, 17 percent were Hispanic, and 17 percent were white. Heterosexual sex is the main cause of new HIV infections in women and in most cases women were unaware that their partners were HIV positive. There exists many challenges to preventing HIV in minority communities. First of all, women of certain ethnic backgrounds tend to prefer partners from similar backgrounds, thereby increasing their exposure to the virus. Secondly, the risk of getting HIV via vaginal intercourse is higher for women than men and the risk is greater in the receptive partner in anal sex. In a behavioral survey of heterosexual women at increased risk of HIV, again per the CDC, 25 percent of HIV-negative women reported having anal sex without a condom in the previous year. Furthermore, having co-infections with sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea greatly increase the likelihood of getting or spreading HIV.

Though new HIV diagnoses declined from 2005-2014 by 40 percent and the highest decline was seen among African Americans, a disparity continues to exist particularly for women of color. The CDC, physician groups, public health advocates, and grassroots organizations are all fighting to tame this wild beast called HIV. Please join us in the fight! Spread the word!

Your family doctor, Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D. Assistant Professor SLUCare Family Medicine yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com

Amanda Owens chose breastfeeding after giving birth at the Birth and Wellness Center.

Photo by Wiley Price

Denise HooksAnderson, MD

Photo by Valerie Sadler

New rankings show where Missouri Counties could improve health

St. Louis

City

ranks

among

lowest;

St. Louis County ranks 20th among 115 counties

Indicators paint an unhealthy picture in portions of Missouri when determining the healthiest counties in the Show Me State, particularly in the southeast. According to County Health Rankings data released March 16 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI), St. Charles County ranks healthiest in Missouri, and Pemiscot County in the Bootheel is the least healthy county in the state.

The seventh annual Rankings compare the health of nearly every county in the nation. Local-level data allows each state to see how its counties compare on more than 30 factors that influence health including education, housing, jobs, smoking, access to healthy food, and more.

According to the 2016 Rankings, the five healthiest counties in Missouri, starting with most healthy, are St. Charles County, followed by Platte County, Christian County, Clay County, and Perry County. The five counties in the poorest health, starting with least healthy, are Pemiscot County, Dunklin County, New Madrid County, Mississippi County, and St. Louis City.

Health factors and health behaviors considered in the 7th Annual County Health Rankings include factors such as tobacco use, diet and exercise, etc.

“The County Health Rankings show how important it is to examine all the conditions that impact well-being and can help families thrive,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, RWJF president and CEO. “Communities around the nation are using the County Health Rankings to drive

improvements in education, housing, job training, healthy food options, and more, as they work to build a Culture of Health.”

This year, the Rankings took a closer look at the differences in health between urban, rural, suburban, and smaller metro counties and found that:

The green map represents health outcomes considered in the 7th Annual County Health Rankings, based on equal weighting of length and quality of life.

• Rural counties not only have higher rates of premature death, but also nearly 1 in 5 rural counties saw rises in premature death rates over the past decade, while most urban counties have experienced consistent improvement.

• Rural counties have higher rates of smoking, obesity, child

poverty, teen births, and higher numbers of uninsured adults than their urban counterparts.

• Large urban counties have lower smoking and obesity rates, fewer injury deaths, and more residents who attended some college.

• Large suburban counties have the lowest rates of child-

hood poverty and teen births. The 2016 Rankings Key Findings Report highlights some new measures including residential segregation among blacks and whites, drug overdose deaths, and insufficient sleep and how they contribute to health.

“The Rankings data are only as valuable as the action it inspires and the lives it improves,” said Bridget Catlin, PhD, MHSA, co-director of the County Health Rankings.

“Whether it’s addressing health gaps between counties or the concentration of poverty in rural or residentially segregated communities—targeting resources to the people and places in greatest need is essential to building a Culture of Health. The Rankings are an important springboard for conversations on how to expand opportunity for all to be healthy.”

The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps tools, which include a database of evidence-informed approaches, personalized coaching, and a range of other resources, can assist communities in their efforts to improve health. Look further into the rankings by visiting www.countyhealthrankings.org.

Work climate contributes significantly to working moms’ decision to breastfeed

New study finds supervisor, co-worker attitudes, comments matter more than employer accommodations

Breastfeeding is healthy for baby and for mom. It has a positive impact on childhood obesity, infections and allergies, is linked to a lower likelihood of mothers getting ovarian or breast cancers later in life and to a more positive maternal-child relationship. Research from the University of Houston Department of Psychology found, however, there are obstacles to mom and baby receiving the full benefits.

“We know here in the U.S. women generally go back to work within 12 weeks,” said Christiane Spitzmueller, associate professor of industrial organizational psychology.

“For them to continue to manage exclusive breastfeeding at work they have to take breaks, and that’s where many women

MILK

Continued from A8

important for babies born early.

“Whenever a mom breastfeeds when she has a premature baby, her body creates milk for that baby at that point, which helps stabilize that baby and allow [him or her] to continue to grow and become strong,” Campbell added.

The Center works with the Perinatal Resource Network under the Maternal Child and Family Health Coalition. During prenatal care at the Center, women receive information about breastfeeding, and staff will answer any questions or address any concerns.

After delivery, the midwife and nurse assist mothers in

quit.” The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continuation of breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. The Affordable Care Act requires employers to provide time and a space for mothers to express milk.

Using a data set from the Centers for Disease Control, Spitzmueller and her team examined survey responses from 859 women returning to work to see if their work experiences were predictors of their breastfeeding decisions. They measured moms’ intention to breastfeed their child, the workplace climate and the presence of ‘instrumental breastfeeding support,” like sufficient break times, lactating

initiating breastfeeding as soon as the newborn shows signs of readiness, which is usually within the first half hour to an hour after he or she is born.

“I want my baby to have the most natural way,” said Jazmine McDonald of Florissant. “I feel that God gave us milk to give it to our babies, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

McDonald said she plans to breast feed until her daughter naturally weens herself.

Leslie Dudley of St. Louis breastfed her son Kaleb for eight months, while she worked and attended school. However, you have to structure your time accordingly.

“In order for your baby to get the most milk, you have to pump … I would say, every two hours. It can be a little

rooms and refrigerators to store expressed breastmilk.

Of the 859, just over 300 women managed to continue breastfeeding for a year. Only

bit difficult, especially when you are working, going to school or maybe you have a busy day, but it is well worth it,” Dudley said. “But you definitely have to have some discipline.”

Both McDonald and Dudley are first-time mothers and Center clients who speak highly of the warm, personalized, professional attention they received in an unhurried manner.

The Center also has an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant on staff and it offers classes, home visits, and in-office consultations to help mothers succeed in their breastfeeding goals. The breastfeeding support is also open to families who do not give birth at the Center.

Breastfeeding is healthy for baby and for mom.

seven continued breastfeeding exclusively for the recommended six months.

“Things like having a refrigerator to store expressed breast-

For more information about the Community Birth and Wellness Center, visit www. mybirthandwellness.com.

I AM: Breastfeeding

There is additional support for women who are breastfeeding, through the St. Louis Breastfeeding Coalition who received CDC funding for a collaborative proposal to reduce disparities in breastfeeding by implementing peer and professional support for African American and underserved communities.

The collaboration is called I AM: Breastfeeding (named by women in the community), which consists of breastfeeding peer counselors and lactation specialists who promote breastfeeding in the African American community and

milk or having space to pump breastmilk are really helpful, but in our study the support for those wasn’t as we might expect,” she said. “It was really the more intricate, social interactions, like listening to other people’s jokes or that they’re more committed to pumping during the day than to working that had a stronger impact on women’s decision to continue, especially exclusive breastfeeding, than these official support mechanisms.”

Additionally, Spitzmueller says women with a supportive supervisor were eight times more likely to continue exclusive breastfeeding than women with a non-supportive supervisor. The study recommends more training for supervisors that indicates the health bene-

provides support to moms who want to breastfeed.

“Breastfeeding was a simple choice. I want the best for my children, I was born with everything I need to birth them, nourish them, and nurture their spirits,” said Denecia Harrell, of I AM: Breastfeeding. She is a certified lactation counselor, doula, childbirth educator and chairwoman of Community Birth and Wellness Center.

“The bond between you and baby, along with the health benefits will be forever gratifying,” she added.

“They do home visits – and they do a lot of support by text or phone too. It’s really wonderful,” said Mary Ann Merz, project director. “There’s a monthly group at Ferguson library the fourth Tuesday of the month and we always serve

fits to their new-mom employees, and illustrates how breastfeeding is a health-related work behavior that could help retain good employees.

“When women are at work they’re perceived as employees and their career identity is the priority, rather than their identity as a woman and as a mother. When a woman needs to pump breast milk, that immediately emphasizes her maternal and non-workplace role as over her career role,” Spitzmueller said.

“Workplaces have become fairer, but when there are competing life demands I don’t think we’ve been as successful as we could be or should be.” The study is published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

nourishing food for the family.” Dads and other children are welcome. The next IAM: Breastfeeding meeting takes place Tuesday, March 22 from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Ferguson Library, 35 N. Florissant Rd.

“You get to see a mother nursing an 18-month-old and get to see how normal that is,” Merz said. The group also works as a resource or partner to other community organizations and groups that work with infants and mothers.

For more information, call Denecia at I AM: Breastfeeding (314) 400-8205 or visit their page on Facebook, Instagram or at the St. Louis Breastfeeding Coalition website http://www.stlbreastfeedingcoalition.org.

St. Louis Artist Jen Everett speaking at Saint Louis Art Museum this Saturday

Join the Saint Louis Art Museum as we celebrate Women’s History Month with our annual If It Wasn’t for the Women program. Women of Color, Behind and Through the Lens will include a trio of talented female photographers as they discuss representations of cultural and gender identity in their work. Featured among the panelists is emerging photographer Jen Everett.

Jen Everett moved to St. Louis in the early 2000s, leaving behind her hometown of Southfield, Michigan. She remembers always having a love for artistic expression and was influenced at an early age by relatives like her grandmother and father, whom she calls “the family photographer.” Ms. Everett’s current work speaks to the themes of gender and sexual identity coupled with concepts of “blackness.”

Her artwork also explores the three-dimensional possibilities of photography, which Everett combined in her series Imitable Blackness. This interest in blending sculpture and photography comes from her time at Tuskegee University in Alabama where she earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture. Currently working in the building industry, Everett has said architecture “continues to inform my (art) process in many ways.”

Like most artists, Jen Everett is influenced by past life experiences and her personal environment. Her photography has also been shaped by other artists she admires including the renowned Carrie Mae Weems, who is celebrated for her use of themes of race and gender in her photography. Coincidentally, the Saint Louis Art Museum owns two of Weems’ photographs. However, Ms. Everett’s greatest inspiration is her own lived experiences. She remarks “As a queer, black woman I am compelled to make work that speaks to my experiences and evolves as I do…. it is a healing of sorts I once hear Howardena Pindell say in an interview that her work is a painkiller. I feel the same way.”

Everett’s work has been exhibited in various spaces around St. Louis, including Washington University’s Diversity Center, and she has garnered growing recognition as an artist to watch.

She has also received grants from the Saint Louis Regional Arts Commission and was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in October 2015. If it Wasn’t for the Women: Women of Color, Behind and Through the Lens takes place Saturday, March 19 at 10:30 am in The Farrell Auditorium. Jen Everett will be joined in conversation by fellow contemporary female photographers Wendy Red Star and Priya Kambli. If It Wasn’t for the Women: Women of Color, Behind and Through is a free program but tickets are required. Tickets may be reserved on-site at the Museum’s Information Centers, online through MetroTix, or by phone at 314.534.1111. Tickets purchased or reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge. For more information visit: slam. org.

Courtney M. Baxter Contributing Writer, Romare Bearden Minority Graduate Fellow, 2015-2016

From Everett’s series Black August, 2015 ©Jen Everett

WEEK 28

ONE SMALL CHANGE is an ongoing series that challenges us to take very small steps toward being more environmentally-friendly. If we all participate then ONE SMALL CHANGE can make a big difference! participate, then ONE SMALL CHANGE can make a big difference!

TAKE CARE OF YOUR STUFF!

This might not sound like the biggest deal in the world but taking better care of your stuff can make a huge difference in the amount of waste you create. Everything from phones to clothes, toys to dishes will eventually need to be replaced. Everything eventually breaks down so the longer you can keep your stuff nice then the less ends up at a landfill. A few steps that can be taken to improve the care of your household items include organizing them, storing them properly, and cleaning them regularly. According to some reports we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago and this one small change can help get us back on track. And, of course, if you do need to replace an item in your home remember to recycle the old one instead of throwing it in the trash.

THIS CHANGE SAVES TONS OF STUFF FROM THE LANDFILL! !

PRESENT:

Healthy Kids Kids

Healthcare Careers

When we’re lucky enough to have a chance to go out for dinner, there are a few ways to stay healthy with our food

right away. You can enjoy those leftovers for lunch the next day!

baked or grilled options.

> Ask the server how the different menu items are

> Avoid gravies, cheese sauces and other kinds of toppings that often just add fat and calories.

Dining Out.

Brandi Gregory, Staff Nurse – Neurology/Neuroscience

See if the restaurant will

The Smart Way!

As soon as you’ve divided your plate into the right size servings, ask your server for a to-go box. Go ahead and box up what you don’t need to eat

First Day of Spring!

prepared. Fried, sautéed, and even simmered can all mean, “cooked in oil.” Instead, choose

March 20, 2016, is the first day of spring.

With spring comes warmer weather and longer days (later sunset).

Make it a habit to spend as much time playing outside as the weather allows.

Some fun outdoor games to play include tag, kickball, basketball, Frisbee, and bicycling. Choose activities that increase your

A BMI (Body Mass Index) is a generic way to calculate where your weight falls into categories (thin, average, overweight, obese). However, it’s a good idea to remember that a BMI may not take into consideration many things such as athleticism (how athletic you are), your bone density and other factors. Discuss your BMI with your doctor if you have any

> Stick with water to drink. Not only will you save money, but you won’t be adding in extra calories with a sugar-filled drink.

> What are other ways to stay healthy while dining out?

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

heart rate and breathing. You want to have fun, but it’s also a great way to help keep your heart, lungs and body healthy.

Make a list of your favorite 10 activities to do outdoors.

Compare your list with your classmates and create a chart to see what are the most popular.

Learning Standards: HPE 1,

questions. The formula to calculate your BMI is 703 X weight (lbs) ÷ height (in inches/squared) or search

“BMI Calculator” to find an easy fill-in chart online. If your number is high, what are some ways to lower your BMI?

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, NH 5

Banana Dippers

Ingredients:

2 Large bananas (cut into 1 ½ inch chunks)

¼ Cp. Low-fat peanut butter

¼ Cp. Granola, raisins, cranberries, nuts or coconut

Directions: Spread the peanut butter on one end of the banana and dip into the nut/fruit mix.

Where do you work? I work at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Where did you go to school?

I graduated from Lindbergh High School and earned an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) from St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

What does a neurology/neuroscience staff nurse do? I teach kids how to take care of themselves during and after their illness. I also get to give kids ice cream with their medications. When I have free time, I get to play games with patients.

Why did you choose this career? When I was younger, I was sick and had to stay in the hospital. I saw how nurses made a difference and it inspired me to want to help others when they are sick.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I enjoy my job because I get to make kids, who are sick with many different illnesses, feel better. I’m also able to meet people from all over the world

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

The St. Louis

award

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Washington Elementary School 5th grade teacher

Angela Guemmer, shows students Cory Irving, TamaraDaiey, Teonna Dixon, Melkavious Davis how to build a bridge using a design process found in the newspaper. Washington Elementary is in the Normandy Schools Collaborative.

Louis American

SCIENCE CORNER

Real Life Equations

Have you ever realized how often you use math in your daily activities? If you are shopping, you use math to calculate the total amount spent, the discounted price after a sale, the sales tax, etc. If you are cooking, you use math to adjust the recipe for the appropriate number of servings. If you are making plans with a friend, you need to look carefully at the time and plan a schedule. How long will it take to get to your meeting

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

In this experiment, you will use a partner to solve patterns.

Materials Needed:

• 2 or More Players • One Big Piece of Paper for Each Player

• Markers

Procedure:

q Each player will draw two grids that have 6 squares across the top and 6 squares down the side for a total of 36 squares.

place? What time will you need to leave?

You can write an equation to solve these types of problems. For example, if 5 friends are splitting the cost of a pizza equally, and the pizza is $14,

ew Next, each player will think of a repeating pattern that goes from one end of the grid to the other. Players draw their patterns on one of the grids (do not show your pattern to other players).

MATH CONNECTION

Directions: For each problem, write an equation that represents the word problem and solve it.

the equation would read: 5C=14 (C represents the cost for each person). Solve the equation and you have your answer. Many people create equations to determine how much material they will need for a project, or to alter a recipe, or to plan a budget. Can you think of a way that you use equations?

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details. I can make text to world and text to self connections.

Square Walk Equations

z 8 students were collecting food for the canned food drive. There were 96 cans collected total, with each student collecting the same amount.

How many cans did each student collect? __________

x Aaliyah has a total of 275 books on two bookshelves. If she has 168 books on her first bookshelf, how many books does she have on her second bookshelf?

c On a spelling test, the highest score was 26 points higher than the lowest grade. The sum of the two

Finally, using the blank grid, the other players have to try to figure out each other’s patterns. They can do this by marking an X in the squares that they think are part of the pattern. The player who thought of the pattern then tells them if they are right or wrong. Taking turns, who can guess their opponent’s pattern first?

Analyze: What kinds of patterns did you come up with? How did you go about figuring out other people’s patterns? How many different patterns were created during your game?

Learning Standards: I can follow a sequential process to complete an experiment. I can analyze results and draw conclusions.

grades was 146. Find the two scores.

v Kenneth works for $8 an hour. A total of 25% of his salary is deducted for taxes and insurance. He is trying to save $450 for a new laptop. How many hours must he work to take home $450 if he saves all of his (after tax) earnings? _________________________________

Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem. I can write an algebraic expression to solve a problem.

SCIENCE STARS

Mathematics Educator Grace Alele Williams

Grace Alele Williams was born in Warri, Nigeria, in 1932. She attended the local schools that the government offered and pursued a math education at Queens College, Lagos, and the University College of Ibaden. Williams wanted to take her education further and she received government assistance to attend the University of Vermont. While there, she had many issues due to segregation. She transferred to the University of Chicago. In 1963, she graduated with a PhD in mathematics education. She was the first Nigerian woman to receive a doctorate degree.

She returned to Nigeria where she worked for the Department of Education at the University of Ibaden. Williams became the first female math professor at the University of Lagos, where she worked from 1965-1974. She participated in the African Mathematics Program to help make changes to mathematics education in Africa. In 1985, she became the first female Vice-Chancellor of an African university when she worked at the University of Benin.

Williams served as a member of the African Mathematical Union Commission on Women in Mathematics in Africa, and as Vice-President of the Third World Organization for Women in Science. She has received many honors, such as the Order of the Niger and the Nigerian Academy of Education’s Merit Award Winner. In 1994, she gave the Distinguished Annual Lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies. She was elected as a Fellow of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Academy of Education. She is also the Chairwoman of AMUCWMA, the African Mathematical Union Commission for Women in Mathematics.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I can make text to world and text to text connections.

MAP CORNER

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

Activity One —

Key Questions Chart:

Whenever you evaluate any type of media (including the newspaper), there are 5 key questions to ask yourself. Who created this message? What creative techniques are used to attract my attention? How might different people understand the message differently from me? What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented (or omitted) in this message? Why is this message being sent? Choose an article from the newspaper and answer these 5 key questions.

Activity Two —

Identify the Landform: Find a national and international city dateline in today’s newspaper. After locating the datelines on a map, decide on which of the main landforms (plains, plateaus, mountains, hills) each city is built.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can evaluate and analyze information. I can use the map and identify landforms.

American’s

winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 7,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school year, at no charge.

Teachers, if you are using the St. Louis American’s NIE program and would like to nominate your class

Photo by Wiley Price/St.

Protestors disrupt Trump campaign rally

“They talk about protesters and all of that, but they don’t talk about what’s really happening. They don’t talk about the love. There’s such love in this room,” Donald Trump told audiences at a campaign rally held Friday, March 11 at Peabody Opera House.

Those who saw the exchanges between Trump supporters and anti-Trump protestors outside the rally did not experience the love he spoke about.

“Build the wall! Build the wall!” Trump supporters angrily shouted at a small group of protestors. They meant the wall that Trump promises to build between the United States and Mexico if he is elected president. The rally was staged just days before the March 15 presidential preference primary in Missouri.

Trump supporters seemed to be extremely bothered by a looped recording that the protestors had playing in the background during their demonstration. It simply stated, “We are all immigrants.”

“Well, at least we were legal!” one Trump supporter shouted. Their reactions were venomous as they accused demonstrators of being jobless welfare recipients with nothing better to do but protest.

One Trump supporter attempted to calm down certain

members of his group.

“They have the right to say whatever they want – we don’t have to react that way,” the middle-aged man with long hair and a camouflage Trump trucker hat said. “One of the things that is so great about our country is that they have the right to say what they want. Don’t give them a reason to think bad things about us.”

Trump supporters outnumbered protestors about 50 to 1. The line to enter the Peabody Opera House stretched for several blocks, twice around the venue. Every seat of the 3,500-seat theater was filled. Thousands more would have to settle for hearing Trump’s voice through a speaker system as they stood outside.

Trump said that his supporters had reason to be mad. “We’re not angry people, but we do get angry when we see the stupidity with which our country is run and how it’s being destroyed,” Trump said.

His mention of President Barack Obama elicited a constant stream of boos that continued with the mention of Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

“Hillary Clinton would be another four years of Barack Obama,” Trump said. He continued to bash Clinton by saying that she reads from a teleprompter when delivering speeches. Trump told his

only if asked.” In chaotic crime scenes, the coalition believes officers should notify individuals of the recording at the earliest possible safe opportunity.

The policy also states that police officers can review the video before they write their incident reports, but the coalition argued against this.

“This is a definite ‘no,’” said Rachel Kent, executive director of the Peace and Economy Project and a coalition member. “We all know that memory can be very fluid, and it can change. Right now the law is based on the officers’ perceptions. Did an officer reasonably perceive that he was in danger?” Kent said it’s important to have both accounts – the video and the officer’s perceptions. She also said that the public would not have the opportunity to review the video before submitting their incident accounts, and this would give preferential treatment to the officers in the case of a discrepancy.

audience that he didn’t have anything prepared beforehand – and it sounded like it. He said speaking off the cuff makes for “good adrenaline” and “it’s more exciting this way.”

About the only policy position he made clear was his intention to build that wall at our southern border. He blamed “illegals” for contributing to crime in America – pointing out incidents of violent crimes where the perpetrators were not legal citizens. He even implied that Mexicans are to blame for the heroin addiction crisis among white suburban youth. He was interrupted by protests at least a half-dozen times. One incident stopped the speech for a full 10 minutes.

After saying how despicable the protestors were, he pointed out that having them there was “exciting.” “Who wants to just listen to a long, boring speech?” Trump said “They add flavor to

these things.”

He initially told the police to be easy on the protestors. He admitted he didn’t want to, but because of the media – whom he called the most dishonest human beings on earth – he had to.

“They take 10 minutes of clips, and if one policeman accidentally moves a finger and touches this wise guy it’s like, ‘Oh, it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,’” Trump said. “The police were abused for 10 minutes. It should have been the other way around. We better toughen up and stop with this political correctness because it’s driving us down the tubes.”

Thirty-two arrests were made during the course of the afternoon. Nearly all of them took place after Trump concluded with his remarks. Protestors and supporters faced off as they exited Peabody Opera House and at the area

out front where the overflow audience had been listening.

One of those detained was an African-American man with a bloodied face. When someone asked what happened, he attempted to speak, but instead of words blood poured out of his mouth as he tried to move his lips.

“I’m not saying he didn’t do anything, but where is the person that did this to him?” an onlooker asked as the young man was carried off by police. “Where is the assailant? He should be arrested too.”

One woman who worked downtown passed though the commotion as she returned from her lunch break.

“I hope all of y’all out here protesting will be out there to vote,” she said. “Because if y’all don’t, we all in trouble.”

Activists respond to body cam policy

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has been operating body-worn cameras on city streets for almost 90 days, but just last week the police commissioner informed an aldermanic committee and city residents about his policy on the three-month pilot program. At a March 10 hearing, the Public Safety Committee heard from activist groups about their opinion of the policy.

“The police leadership seems to have a tendency to make decisions behind closed doors,” said Kayla Reed, an activist with the Don’t Shoot Coalition.

“As we continue to highlight recommendations for body cameras, we have to recognize that this is not the first time the St. Louis police have entered a policy without public input or support.”

At the hearing, the Body Camera Coalition – which includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the Don’t Shoot Coalition and Drone Free St. Louis –presented a united front in their critique of the policy and offered suggestions. Overall, the coalition felt that the policy has too many gray areas, including when the cameras are turned on and whether or not officers must tell people that they are being recorded.

The coalition believes that the cameras must be recording whenever an officer is interacting with the public. However, when interviewing crime victims and witnesses, the officers should ask those individuals if they want the cameras to stay on, the coalition members said. The commissioner’s policy states that officers are never required to turn off cameras upon request, and officers can use their discretion on whether or not to keep filming.

Giving the power to turn off the cameras to the victims and witnesses promotes cooperation, according to the coalition.

The coalition believes that the officers should always notify people about the cameras, while the policy states that officers are “required

The disciplinary measures for not turning on the cameras are not clearly defined, she said, and they should be. The coalition also recommended that a third-party governmental agency store the footage and manage access requests for both the public and police.

As far as public access to the video footage, ACLU of Missouri Executive Director Jeffrey Mittman said the department should follow the same rules that are stated in the Missouri Sunshine Law. According to the law, information is not open to the public until after an investigation is completed. And just as names and private information are blacked out on incident reports, faces and other identifying information should be blurred out in the footage for anyone not charged of a crime, he said.

“I think that ACLU brought some good points about making sure that the public has more say-so in the process,” said Alderman Chris Carter (27th Ward).

Activist John Chasnoff said the coalition has been trying to get a copy of the department’s policy since November. In response to Chasnoff’s Sunshine Law request that he submitted in November, the department said that they didn’t have a written policy on the cameras yet and no emails had been exchanged internally regarding the cameras. He renewed his request in early December once the program began and received a copy of the policy on January 12. Soon after, the coalition then held town hall meetings with the community to discuss the department’s policy. From citizen input, the coalition drafted its recommendations. Recently the coalition provided the aldermen with an informational sheet that compared its stance on certain aspects of the body camera program with the official policy.

Chasnoff said the aldermanic committee had planned on holding a hearing in last fall but postponed it. The coalition recently asked the aldermen to reschedule the hearings. Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Kennedy, alderman of the 18th Ward, then asked Police Commissioner Sam Dotson to present the policy before the committee on March 3. The pilot program ended this weekend, according to a department spokeswoman, and Dotson will now evaluate the officer surveys they gathered. She also said the evaluation process will include public input but did not elaborate on how Dotson planned on engaging the community. The department has no set date for when they will officially begin using the body cameras, she said.

Alderman Antonio French of the 21st Ward believes that the board should pass an ordinance instead of having only an internal policy on body cams.

“The police chief can change the policy at any time,” French said. “So if you get a new chief, you get a new policy.” Many cities pass ordinances, he said, because it allows the public to weigh in. “I prefer an ordinance,” Carter said. “I think it’s better to have us set things in stone because we will make sure we put people first.”

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Trump supporters and protestors discussed their differences outside a Trump campaign rally held Friday, March 11 at Peabody Opera House.

Business

MARCH 17 – 23, 2016

Clay hosts Small Business Exporter Forum at World Wide Technology

By Chris King Of The St.

Louis American

“The Small Business Exporter Forum” hosted by U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay on Friday, March 11 at World Wide Technology’s global headquarters in Maryland Heights was a reunion, of sorts, between WWT founder and chairman David Steward and the event’s star attraction, Fred. P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

After Steward made brief remarks, Hochberg said he worked for the Small Business Administration when WWT – now a $7.5 billion company with 4,000 employees – was still classified as an 8(a) business. The 8(a) Business Development Program is a business assistance program for small disadvantaged businesses.

“There is not a more successful example of an 8(a) company in the entire country than World Wide Technology,” Hochberg said.

Hochberg also had warm words for his local host, Congressman Clay, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the bank. Hochberg said Clay and the

n “There is not a more successful example of an 8(a) company in the entire country than World Wide Technology.”

– Fred. P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States

entire Missouri congressional delegation were supportive of the Export-Import Bank during a bitter struggle for its reauthorization that resulted in the bank lapsing for five days and four months (“not that I was counting,” Hochberg quipped).

When the bill to reauthorize the bank was finally passed by Congress and signed by the president, Hochberg said, “Congressman Clay was the first to call to congratulate me” – and to invite him to St. Louis for this forum. It was an informational forum designed to educate local business owners about the services

provided by the Export-Import Bank. Hochberg said its primary role is two-fold: “We reduce risk and unleash opportunity.”

The bank reduces risk, he explained, by offering export credit insurance. This product addresses the fear many business owners have in starting new business overseas: “How am I going to collect on a sale five, six, seven thousand miles away?” This insurance transfers the debt from some small business in, say, Missouri, to the U.S. government.

“We pay, then go collect,” Hochberg said. “People don’t like to default on the U.S. government. Remember gunboat diplomacy? That was collecting debts.”

Mark Klein, the regional director for the Export-Import Bank based in Chicago, later tried to remove the hint that the U.S. military would be sent out to collect on the bank’s debts. “But bad things do happen when a government export credit agency starts collecting from you,” Klein said. “Your bill tends to move to the top of the stack.”

Trades offer Community Workforce Agreement to NGA

By Jeffrey Aboussie Guest columnist

There is no doubt that if the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) were to select North St. Louis city as the location for its new Western Headquarters that it would be a big benefit to the city. Retaining the NGA’s 3,100 employees while driving reinvestment in North St. Louis would certainly make a significant impact to the city, state, and region.

But we believe there are additional opportunities to make lasting, positive change, change that will help the NGA, the federal government and its priority initiatives to invest in urban areas, and the region’s workforce, which would be greatly benefit from an increase in minority training and hiring.

That is why, on behalf of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council of St. Louis, AFL-CIO, and our affiliates, I recently wrote to NGA Director Robert Cardillo to propose an innovative West Community

n It is our goal to build the skills and capabilities of minority and women workers who will be trained and will work on this project.

with participating unions so that they can learn the skills that will help them be employable for the rest of their lives. City residents and people living in designated Promise Zones within the region will receive priority status.

Though our proposed St. Louis Community Workforce Agreement, the region will truly begin to address issues and challenges raised by the Ferguson Commission, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments’ report on racial disparities, the Office of St. Louis Mayor Slay, and the Governor’s Office of Equal Opportunity.

It is our goal to build the skills and capabilities of minority and women workers who will be trained and will work on this project. And when this project is completed, they will have the skills and training to go to work on the next project – and so on.

Our Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) is based on three key goals.

People On The Move

Ronné Patrick Turner was appointed vice provost for admissions at Washington University. She will be responsible for planning and directing the recruitment of undergraduate students and for implementing strategies to increase the strength and diversity of the student body. She also will oversee Student Financial Services. Previously she was associate vice president of enrollment and dean of admission at Northeastern University.

Samuel Achilefu was named the inaugural Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine. His research includes developing technologies that help surgeons see cancer cells and kill other cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. He holds 56 patents, including for novel methods, drugs and technologies to see and treat human diseases. He also is a Siteman Cancer Center research member.

Felicia Pulliam was named as director of policy and community engagement for FOCUS St. Louis. She will be responsible for the organization’s community partnerships, events and outreach. She also will serve as director of the new FOCUS Impact Fellows program. She has been with FOCUS St. Louis since 2012 and previously served as director of development.

Arthur Williams Jr. has accepted a position as director of marketing for The Valley, a Stone Bridge Senior Living Community in Florissant. He has more than 12 years of experience in long-term care, including assisted living, but primarily in skilled rehabilitation centers. He is an ambassador for the Greater North County Chamber of Commerce and was recently appointed to the North County Inc. Board of Directors.

Patricia Brown was recognized as one of 20 to Watch Education Technology Leaders for 2015-2016 by the National School Boards Association. She is the technology integration coach at Old Bonhomme Elementary School in the Ladue School District. Recipients are recognized for “their ability to inspire colleagues to explore and embrace innovative technology solutions and instructional strategies.”

Niyi Coker was awarded Best Director of a Short Documentary at the 2016 International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London for his film “Ota Benga.” His producer Joel Glassman won the Scientific & Educational Award. Coker is the E. Desmond Lee Professor of African/African-American Studies in the Department of Theatre at the University of Missouri St. Louis.

well as existing journeymen to become apprentices

Ronné Patrick Turner

Felicia Pulliam

Arthur Williams Jr.

Patricia Brown

Samuel Achilefu

Niyi Coker

David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technology; Fred. P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States; and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay at WWT’s global headquarters in Maryland Heights on Friday, March 11.

Photo by Steve Engelhardt

Tips for planning a property-sharing vacation

By Nathaniel Sillin

If you’ve thought about renting property on vacation, keep in mind that it’s become a lot easier – and in some ways, harder.

Much of the vacation rental process has moved online, making the process simpler and more accessible. Also, the so-called “sharing economy” has allowed more people in the lodging business renting rooms and dwellings. In fact, a 2015 study by consulting firm EY notes that in one year alone, the world’s dominant online room-sharing company – less than 10 years old – added more listings to its inventory than the largest global hotel companies added rooms during the same period. So vacation rentals are easier than ever, right? Possibly, but you still need to protect your money against disappointing choices and possible fraud. Before committing to any kind of property rental or propertysharing vacation, do your homework. Here are five tips to get started:

1. Evaluate your destination fully. The busiest tourist destinations generally have the broadest range of lodging options – from luxury hotels to hostels. Vacation rentals are usually a happy medium, located in desirable neighborhoods with a homey

NGA

continued from page B1

feel and kitchen availability that can make a stay a lot cheaper. However, every destination has certain ways of handling vacation rentals. While the newer generation of property-sharing companies might be active here, evaluate traditional options like vacation property brokers and listing services to compare prices and offerings. Also, search the name and address of the vacation property you’re considering with the words “vacation rental scam” to see if any indication of fraud, crime or other trouble turns up.

2. Check local shortterm rental laws. While it’s generally easier to do this domestically than abroad, make sure the kind of vacation rental you’re considering is legal. Check recent news clips or contact a local tourism bureau or chamber of commerce to see whether your target municipality doesn’t have legal or zoning restrictions on your chosen rental.

3. Verify the renter personally and with local experts and agencies. If your renter is reputable, he or she should be more than willing to have a detailed conversation about the property, costs, financial arrangements and onsite rules – including deadbolt locks you can control if you are renting rooms within

Employment: It is estimated that during the construction phase of NGA West, 1,350 construction jobs will be created. These will be construction workers whose skills will build the exacting facility needed for this critical project. Once the facility is operational, not only will it house the current 3,100 NGA employees, but will also stimulate the revitalization of the surrounding North Side area, creating thousands of new job opportunities in an area that desperately needs them.

Opportunity: Our CWA will create unprecedented

their residence. Make time to call the local tourism bureau, chamber of commerce, or the local chapter of the Better Business Bureau (http://www. bbb.org)

4. for any details about the renter or the property. Ask the renter for referrals from previous renters, if

life-long career opportunities for minorities and women.

Our BUD program has already placed 85 percent of the graduates from its first three programs into apprenticeship programs and actual jobs. With a goal of over 37 percent of all hours worked committed to minorities and women, this project will open up sustainable career opportunities for urban core residents that are ready

possible, and consider the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Scam Watch travel page (https://www.consumer.ftc. gov/taxonomy/term/877 ) for extensive updated advice on renting out-of-town property.

5. Ask for all completed agreements and liability insurance documentation

to take on the rebuilding of the community, and with the training and skill set to do so.

Revitalization: The North St. Louis area proposed for NGA West offers the federal government a dramatic opportunity to demonstrate how positive government decisions can act as a catalyst for massive rehabilitation of a depressed urban core with

6. Weigh all spending risks of the rental transaction. If you’re planning to rent vacation property, take the extra step of calling your credit card and travel insurance companies to determine whether they offer any particular protections in case something goes wrong with the rental. It’s a good way to review the full range of protection available to you on any out-of-town trip. And if a vacation landlord asks for advance cash payment –particularly wired money – be very cautious. Many travel scams begin with wired cash.

Bottom line: Planning an upcoming vacation? Before you commit to a vacation rental, vet the owner and the property thoroughly.

Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa’s financial education programs. To follow Practical Money Skills on Twitter: www. twitter.com/PracticalMoney.

before paying. Before you reserve, ask to see all contract information with pricing and scheduling information filled in as well as proof of insurance on the rental property. You should understand all payment and property rules affecting your stay and what might happen if there is accidental damage to the property while you’re there. Share these documents with your home or rental insurer for input before you sign. If a renter hesitates to share this information, you might want to consider other options. Also, review your personal health, property and liability coverage to make sure you’re protected during the trip.

new businesses, homes, and recreational and entertainment facilities. This project will create not just construction jobs for the NGA campus, but thousands of new job opportunities for area residents.

St. Louis winning the NGA West project and our implementation of the Community Workforce Agreement to build the new headquarters will serve as an example for future construction projects locally and nationally to adopt and build on. It will also change our region’s landscape and show the rest of America how

to make their economies more fair, inclusive and equitable as they look to revitalize their urban cores.

This innovative proposal should make clear that the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council is committed to working together with the NGA and local, state and federal officials to keep NGA West in the City of St. Louis.

Jeffrey Aboussie is the executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO.

n “Certainly based on Dr. McKee’s research, there’s a link, because she’s found CTE (a degenerative brain disorder) in a number of retired football players.”

– Jeff Miller, NFL senior VP for health and safety

Sports

Jayson Tatum’s last state tourney

By Earl Austin Jr.

The spectacular high school career of All-American Jayson Tatum will come to an end this weekend on the floor of the Mizzou Arena at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

The 6’9” McDonald’s AllAmerican will lead Chaminade College Prep into the Final Four of the Class 5 state tournament. A young man who has accomplished everything at the prep level, Tatum will try to finish his career by leading the Red Devils to the state championship that has eluded him and his teammates for the past four years.

Chaminade (25-5) will face Metro Catholic Conference rival SLUH (20-9) in the state semifinals on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Springfield Kickapoo (282)will face Lee’s Summit (29-0) in the other semifinal game at 8:30 p.m.

The winners will meet for the state championship on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The third-place game will be held on Friday at 2:45 p.m. Tatum enters the semifinals averaging a team-high 29.1 points and 9.9 rebounds a game. He scored 45 points in Chaminade’s 80-61 victory over CBC in the state quarterfinals. He is just 23 points away from surpassing former Chaminade All-American Bradley Beal as the school’s alltime leading scorer. The Red Devils has plenty

SLU should consider Hampton’s Edward Joyner Jr. for coaching post

~ See ‘Sports Eye’ page B4 ~

By Earl Austin Jr. Of The St. Louis American

The girls basketball dynasty that is Incarnate Word Academy will be seeking its fourth consecutive state championship this weekend in Columbia.

The Red Knights are the headline team at the Class 4 state tournament, which will be held at the Mizzou Arena. Incarnate Word (25-4) will take on MICDS (25-4) in the semifinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The winner will take on the OwensvilleBenton winner for the state championship on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The third-place game will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. Incarnate Word enters the Final Four on a 19-game winning streak, with two of those victories coming against MICDS. The Red Knights are led by 5’9” sophomore guard Sonya Morris, who averages 12 points a game. Senior forward Abbey Hoff, a Miami of Ohio signee, averages 11.8 points. Talented freshmen Rickie Woltman and Kiki Britzman combine to averaged 16 points a game.

MICDS is led by the senior dynamic duo of 6’2” forward Taylor Baur and 5’9” point guard Rachel Thompson. Baur is averaging 20 points and 9.9 rebounds a game. She was recently named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state

All across the globe, people at barbershops, water coolers, gyms, break rooms, classrooms, Internet forums and beyond, love to debate about the top basketball players in the game. Impassioned fans dish out hyperbole, statistics, awards, antidotes and key moments to make their points. I’m choosing to share my comprehensive list of positional rankings with the readers of In the Clutch. This week, we kick it all off with the NBA’s top five floor generals.

and

game. It says a lot that Wall is on the brink. The explosive point guard has always been able to blow past defenders easily, but he’s finally developed into a respectable long range shooter as well. He now knocks downs treys at 34%. Unfortunately, he also turns the ball over four times per

#5: John Wall Washington Wizards For years, former #1 pick John Wall was considered overrated. After failing to reach the playoff in his first three seasons, the murmurings came that Wall would never live up to the expectations of being the top pick in 2010. Back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals shut up the naysayers. Though the Wizards are in a bit of a slide this season, Wall is still doing the

Of the St. Louis American

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

SportS EyE

With Alvin Reid

SLU should consider Hampton’s Edward Joyner Jr. for coaching post

Hampton University and the University of Virginia share the same state and a berth in the 2016 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That’s about all the two schools share.

The unlikely duo will face each other at 2:10 p.m. Thursday, March 17 when their respective tournaments begin in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Pirates are the 16th seed in the Midwest Regional, while the Cavaliers are the top seed. Virginia was a 24-point favorite Tuesday – yet I would take the Pirates and those two-dozen points. Why? Hampton coach Edward Joyner Jr. Joyner Jr.’s team will be making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in his six years at the school as champion of the MEAC Conference.

raced to stand on a short wall behind his bench to pump his fist and celebrate with Hampton fans. When was the last time there was enthusiasm displayed by a coach in Chaifetz Arena? Try never.

After last year’s win against Manhattan, the youthful coach was asked about the daunting task of facing Kentucky and how he would prepare for the game. He picked up his cellphone and pretended to call Jesus. He asked Jesus how to handle Kentucky and Jesus immediately hung up.

Last year, Hampton “upset”

Manhattan 74-64 in one of the NCAA Tournament play-in games before falling to eventual Final Four representative Kentucky. Hampton hung with the heavily favored Wildcats for much of the first half before falling 79-56. Joyner Jr.’s skill as a coach and unbridled enthusiasm make him somewhat unique – and it should make him a candidate for SLU’s coaching vacancy.

SLU basketball needs a fresh face. It needs better players, better recruiting and more energy. This is no time for a retread and/ or recently fired coach or one that is closer to retirement than to winning NCAA Tournament games.

Joyner Jr. was the 2015 HBCU Male Coach of the Year and his Pirates also played in the 2014 CBI postseason tournament. He is the winningest coach in Hampton’s history since it moved up to the Division 1 level.

n Edward Joyner Jr.’s skill as a coach and unbridled enthusiasm make him somewhat unique – and it should make him a candidate for SLU’s coaching vacancy.

Yahoo Sports calls Joyner Jr. “the kind of coach you want to see succeeding at this time of year because he seems to have a way of adding to the fun.”

After Hampton spanked South Carolina 81-69 in the MEAC championship, Joyner Jr. shook the hands of opposing coaches and players and then

HBCU teams do not have the facilities or recruiting budget of schools in the Atlantic 10, but Joyner Jr. has found a way to win. SLU does not match up with BCS conference members when it comes to those same budgets, but a guy like Joyner Jr. would be able to take what he is given and win. He’s already doing it.

SLU will most likely play a waiting game to see what shakes out in the tournament before naming a coach. Many teams will be interviewing during Final Four weekend in

Houston because the national coaching conference is held on the same weekend. While his season will most likely end on Thursday, SLU should give him a call and set up an interview. For those who ask why, I counter with “why not?” It isn’t like SLU has anything to lose.

No, I didn’t pick Kansas

My bracket this year isn’t too crazy – and I didn’t pick my Kansas Jayhawks to win the national championship. I didn’t pick them to reach the Elite Eight. Too many heartbreaking,

early tournament losses in the past and too much California in the Sweet 16 game.

Of course, I hope I’m wrong.

My consolation is that I have Cal beating KU, surprising Miami and Oklahoma to reach the Championship game. They will finally lose to North Carolina, who I pick as champion.

Other highlights of the Reid Bracket Northern Iowa, dramatic winner of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, will reach the Sweet 16 after beating Texas and Texas A&M.

While Syracuse and Michigan should not have been selected for the tournament over Monmouth, both will do well. Michigan will have beaten Tulsa in the play-in game and will shock Notre Dame before losing to West Virginia.

Syracuse will top Dayton before bowing out against Michigan State – who will lose to Virginia in the Midwest Regional Final.

Speaking of Tulsa, you can say what you want about coach Frank Haith but he hit the ground running and has his team in the tournament. Meanwhile, down at Mizzou... The NCAA did not do

Irons leads Vashon to semifinals

Wolverines headed to Columbia for first time in a decade

Edward Joyner Jr. was the 2015 HBCU Male Coach of the Year and his Pirates also played in the 2014 CBI postseason tournament. He is the winningest coach in Hampton’s history since it moved up to the Division 1 level.

Villanova a favor by setting up a matchup with Temple in Brooklyn, N.Y. I find ‘Nova coach Jay Wright a bit arrogant and will enjoy watching his team make another early exit from March Madness. Unfortunately, Baylor and Oklahoma will meet in the West Regional Final, canceling a chance for two Big 12 teams to advance. The Sooners win at the buzzer. My pitfalls will come because I have too much faith in the Big 12 and not enough in the Big Ten. If Cal departs the first weekend of the tournament, I’m in trouble. Let the games begin!

By Earl Austin Jr.

Louis American

Of The St.

The last time the Vashon Wolverines were a factor on the statewide basketball scene was 10 years ago when they defeated Springfield Kickapoo for the Class 5 state championship. Since then, the Wolverines have been off the radar since the departure of Hall of Fame coach Floyd Irons. Well, the Wolverines are back in the spotlight with a coach named Irons leading the way. Tony Irons, the son of Floyd Irons,

has Vashon in the hunt for a state championship once again as the Wolverines are headed to Columbia for the first time in a decade.

Vashon (24-4) will take on Sikeston (28-1) in the Class 4 semifinals on Friday at 6 p.m. Jefferson City Helias will face

St. Joe Lafayette (27-3) in the other semifinal game at 7:45 p.m. The winners will meet for the state championship on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. The third place game will be on Saturday at 12:50 p.m.

Tony Irons is still one of the youngest coaches in St. Louis, but has proven to be one of the best. Vashon will become the third program that he has taken to the Final Four. Irons took Imagine Prep to the Class 4 Final Four and Madison Prep to the Class 3 Final Four, including a state championship in 2013.

The Wolverines are a deep and talented team led by junior guard Daniel “Peanut” Farris, who is averaging 13.7 points a game. The 5’11” Farris is also one of the area’s best clutch performers. He does much of his best work in the fourth quarter of big games.

Working with Farris in the backcourt are 6’0” junior guard

n Tony Irons, the son of Floyd Irons, has Vashon in the hunt for a state championship once again as the Wolverines are headed to Columbia for the first time in a decade.

Casey Cody-Jackson and 6’0” freshman Mario McKinney. Both are averaging seven points a game.

Up front, the Wolverines are led by 6’8” junior Levi Stockard III and 6’7” senior Daimon Taylor. Stockard is averaging 9.4 points while Taylor is averaging 6.8 points a game. Senior Jermaine Walker is a 6’4” swingman who can play multiple positions.

Vashon’s semifinal showdown with Sikeston will

be one of the most anticipated games of the weekend. A powerhouse program from Southeast Missouri, Sikeston and Vashon both spent time as the No. 1 team in the state throughout the season. Sikeston is led by 6’3” sophomore forward Fred Thatch, Jr., who is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. The Bulldogs are also led by 6’0” senior guard Dominique Dyes and 6’3” senior forward Juwon Kimble. Jefferson City Helias and St. Joe Lafayette are no strangers to the Final Four in Class 4. Helias has an excellent backcourt in 6’2” senior Sam Hutsing and 5’11” sophomore Landon Harrison. Lafayette has one of the state’s top juniors in 6’4” guard Caleb Bennett and a talented sophomore guard in 5’9” Diego Bernard.

Alvin Reid

With the so-so talent of the then-Hornets (not Pelicans), it was excusable. However, he’s been a part of some extremely talented teams in Los Angeles. Before his injuries, Blake Griffin seemed to be the man in Clippertown. However, Paul has shown with Griffin out of the lineup that he’s still more than capable of holding it down and can be both the number one option on offense and the key distributor. He also leads the league in steals. As we see more shoot-first point guards taking over the league, CP3 could be one of the last of a dying breed. He’ll go down as one of the Top PGs of his generation.

#3: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

Despite his All-Star snub, Lillard is a bona fide monster. Like the others, he has a well-rounded stat line of 25.7 points, 6.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. However, the biggest affirmation for Lillard is his team’s record. The Trail Blazers currently sit at 35-33, good for 6th in the uber-competitive Western Conference. That is after losing four out of five starters in free agency, most notably All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge Everybody in the world assumed the Blazers would be in contention for the worst record in the league, yet they are poised to make the playoffs on Lillard’s back.

Lillard has dropped 50 points twice this season, both times against All-Stars. He seems to bring his best game against other top-tier point guards. Even though his overmatched squad just took a 12894 walloping to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland is likely playoff-bound solely due to Lillard’s outstanding play. Put

GIRLS

Continued from B3

of Missouri. Thompson is averaging 13.1 points a game. Baur is headed to Princeton while Thompson has signed with Colgate. In the Class 5 semifinals, Kirkwood (25-4) will take on Francis Howell (26-3) on

BOYS

Continued from B3

of other weapons, led by 6’9” senior Tyler Cook, who is averaging 12 points and seven rebounds a game. Senior guard Mike Lewis is averaging nearly 10 points a game. Providing more size up front for the Red Devils are 6’10” senior Will Gladson and 6’7” sophomore Jericole Hellems.

Chaminade will be taking on SLUH for the third time this season, with the Red Devils winning both previous contests. SLUH will be making its second consecutive appearance in the Final Four under the guidance of head coach Erwin Claggett. The Jr. Billikens are led by its talented backcourt of junior Brandon McKissic and senior Matt Nester. The 6’2” McKissic is averaging 15.4 points a game while the 5’11” Nester is averaging 12.7 points. Juniors B.J. Wilson and Brett Smith are a pair of capable 6’7” post players while senior guard David Jackson has really come on strong during the postseason. The second semifinal game features the two top Class 5 teams outside the St. Louis area. Undefeated Lee’s Summit is led by its talented backcourt of seniors Blake Spellman and Nick Larkin. The 6’0” Spellman has signed with Northern Kentucky. Springfield Kickapoo has not lost a game to a team from the state of Missouri, having lost two games to national competition. The Chiefs are led by 6’7” forward Jared Ridder and a trio of talented guards in Isaac Johnson, Niekie Thomas-Fontleroy and Cameron Davis.

Paul on the Blazers and I doubt they would be in the same position. What’s scary is that Lillard is only in his fourth season. Once they get some more talent around him in Portland, he will be a serious problem for all other teams. When the game is on the line, Lillard has that “Kobe” look. He’s a stone cold killer with his entire career ahead of him.

#2: Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder Westbrook is the most versatile and most-beastly player

Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The winner will take on either Kickapoo or Liberty for the state championship on Saturday at 2:40 p.m.

Kirkwood is making its first ever appearance in the Final Four after defeating Parkway North 58-52 in the state quarterfinals last weekend. The Pioneers are led by 5’9” senior guard Jordan Roundtree, who averages 17 points a game.

on this list. Westbrook is like a prime Mike Tyson on the basketball court. He simply beats down defenders with brute strength and blazing speed. While Paul and Wall and flirting with 20/10, Westbrook is a lock to become the 10th player on that list with averages of 24 points, 10.4 assists and 7.4 rebounds. He also leads the league in triple doubles this season with 12. While Westbrook was long-considered as Kevin Durant’s sidekick, it’s now possible that he’s the better

Roundtree is a University of Missouri signee. Kirkwood also received a big boost with the return of 6’2” junior Lauryn Miller, who came back from an ACL injury suffered in July. In nine games, Miller is averaging 12 points and seven rebounds a game. Miller had 18 points and eight rebounds in the victory over Parkway North. Sophomore guard Jayla Everett is a talented shooter who

player. If nothing else, they’re on even terms. That says a lot considering before Durant’s injury woes last season, he was universally considered the second-best player in the world. Westbrook is a fearless warrior who sucks the souls out of opposing players and then dunks on them. It’s like Tesla took him into their factory and installed one of those “Insanity” buttons that makes him go from zero to 60 mph in less than a second. He’s tied also for second in the league in steals at 2.1 per game. If it

averages 10 points a game. Francis Howell is a wellbalanced team led by 5’8” senior guard Danielle Berry, who is averaging 15.3 points a game. Senior Morgan Wilborn is a 5’10” forward who is averaging 10.7 points while 5’8” senior Carly Harper averages 11 points a game. All three players are capable 3-point shooters.

weren’t for the Jordan-esque, game-changing run of the #1 man on the list, he’d have a serious argument as the top guy in the league.

#1: Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors I’ll be brief with Curry, because he has let his game do

the talking on the court. There are critics out there who point to his lack of assists (6.5) or criticize his defense in effort to diminish his greatness, but I’m deaf to the hate. Curry is the best basketball player alive. He leads the league is scoring (30.4 pts), has shattered his own record in 3-pointers made (322) while shooting at 46% from downtown. And if you hadn’t noticed, Curry’s downtown, is much different than other shooter’s. Curry’s player efficiency rating (PER) leads the league at 32.40. Westbrook is second with 28.1

Aside of the individual stats, Curry and his Warriors are challenging the 1995-96 Bulls all-time best record of 72-10. Sub any of the other top PGs for Curry and I don’t believe they’d be the same. Curry is what makes the Warriors go. Because of his incredible shooting ability, and his ability shake defenders with his sick handles, Curry is essentially unguardable. Whether wide open or fading away with a seven-footer in his face, Curry’s shots are money. The defensive game plan against the Warriors is basically to pray Curry has an off night. The only thing that can derail the Warriors championship hopes is a serious injury to Chef Curry. If you’re one of those individuals who like to be cute and make a contrarian pick against Curry, ask yourself how many signature plays your selection has this season and then compare them to Curry. While many other players are carrying their respective teams on their backs, Curry is carrying the entire league. Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

St. LouiS AmericAn PreP AthLeteS of the Week

Jordan Roundtree and Lauryn Miller

Kirkwood Girls – Basketball

The dynamic duo led the Pioneers to their first ever appearance in the Final Four of the state tournament after victories over Washington and Parkway North.

The 5’9” Roundtree averaged 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals in the two victories while the 6’2” Miller averaged 17.5 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Roundtree had 21 points, six rebounds and three steals in the 54-35 victory over Washington. She added 11 points and eight rebounds in the 58-52 victory over Parkway North in the state quarterfinals. Miller had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks against Washington, then followed up with 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks against Parkway North. For the season, Roundtree is averaging a team-high 17 points a game while Miller is averaging 12 points and seven rebounds a game since returning from a ACL injury three weeks ago.

Kirkwood will take on Francis Howell in the Class 5 state semifinals today at 3:30 p.m. at the Mizzou Arena.

Stephen Curry is the best basketball player alive. He leads the league is scoring (30.4 pts), has shattered his own record in 3-pointers made (322) while shooting at 46% from downtown.

CLAY

continued from page B1

Hochberg said their insurance also has worked as a sales tool for many companies that use the service, including Rogue Ales out of Oregon, which found that one overseas buyer doubled its order with the bank’s credit insurance.

The bank “unleashes opportunity,” Hochberg explained, primarily through its working capital guarantee program. This program helps provide American businesses doing exports with operational funds. “We give a 90 percent guarantee to your local bank to give you working capital,” Hochberg said, “while you wait for payment from overseas.”

Charles Alack, the CEO of Semi-Bulk Systems, Inc., based in Fenton, spoke on a panel of Missouri companies that do extensive export business. Alack and a partner purchased from Monsanto Company two technologies that they developed when they worked for Monsanto. Now they have many global clients that purchase their systems for mixing powders that go into everything from ice cream to toothpaste to paint.

“Selling to industrial clients, there is a lot of competition that puts pressure on contractors to stretch out the payment terms,” Alack said. “There is no way we could do that without the bank’s help.”

Right now, Alack said, the company is working out a deal

with the largest paint customer in India. “The payables are solid,” he said, “but we do need to finance it.”

John Clark, CEO of Masterclock, based in St. Charles, said his company is not yet an Export-Import Bank client, but it will become one now that he knows of its services. In fact, he once used a ruse claiming to have something like export credit insurance to get an overseas client to pay up.

Masterclock makes precision timing instruments, and Clark negotiated a large sale to a new client, a jewelry factory in Vietnam. The agreement was that the client would pay 50 percent up front, then Masterclock would send the product. If it worked, then the client would pay the other half, and if not both the product and the first payment would be returned.

When Clark’s emails to the client were ignored for 45 days after delivery of the product, Clark warned his contact at U.S. Commercial Services (the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration) that he would use him in a false threat. Clark then emailed the client, copying U.S. Commercial Services, threatening to begin a collection action “backed by the power of U.S. Commercial Services” – and the client coughed up the monies owed.

“Nobody really wants to screw around with the U.S. government,” Clark said. “Partnering with the Export-

Business Briefs

Import Bank will give me the confidence that we know we will be able to go collect these funds.”

Alack said the protections the bank provides are essential to a U.S. company doing export business. “You can’t even think you are in the export business,” he said, “without this support.”

Clay said the Export-Import Bank supports almost 20,000 jobs in Missouri and it has helped generate $1.47 billion in exports from the state since 2007. He said the bank has helped 125 Missouri companies create 9,390 direct jobs and another 10,000 jobs from secondary suppliers.

“The bank’s support has been especially important to small and medium-sized businesses,” Clay said, “which account for nearly 90 percent of the bank’s transactions. Tens of thousands of smaller companies that supply goods and services to large exporters have also benefitted from the bank’s activities.”

The bank generates revenue – $7 billion in revenue above its operating costs, according to Clay – which it pays into the U.S. treasury.

And the bank is open to new business. Self-consciously pitching his voice like a salesman, Hochberg read off the bank’s phone number –(800) 565-3946 – and said, “Operators are standing by now to take your call!”

For more information, call (800) 565-3946 or visit www. exim.gov.

Doing business with Missouri Secretary of State

Secretary of State Jason Kander is hosting a class on doing business with his office

6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 at University of Missouri Extension Center, 260 Brown Road in St. Peters.

Participants will receive an overview of the Secretary of State’s office, the online business filing process and have an opportunity to connect with a representative from the state office for technical questions regarding the business filing process.

The guest speaker will be Jon Barry, deputy director of the Business Services Division for the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. The office is responsible for the creation and maintenance of all business entities doing business in the state, the commissioning and regulation of notaries public, and the processing of Uniform Commercial Code lien filings. There is no cost to attend but registration is required. Call 636-970-3000 to register.

Financial Focus

By Aaron Ezell

Time for Annual 401(k) review?

Once you’ve started contributing to your 401(k) plan and funded it with investments that are appropriate for your needs, you might think you’re in good shape and that your 401(k) is now on “autopilot.” But that type of thinking can actually be counterproductive, because to get the maximum benefits from your 401(k), you’ll need to revise it over time to reflect changes in your life and in the investments that make up your plan. That’s why it’s a smart move to review your 401(k) holdings annually — and now is as good a time as any to see what you’ve got, where you’ve been and where you might be headed. What should you look for when you review your 401(k)? First and foremost, make sure you’re saving enough to help reach your retirement goals — or that you’re at least putting away as much as you can possibly afford. Next, evaluate whether your investment mix is still suitable for your individual goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. You might be surprised at how much your holdings can “evolve” without your having

done anything to them. For example, during long bull markets, the value of your 401(k)’s stock-based accounts may have risen substantially, and you might find that these accounts now make up a greater percentage of your portfolio than you had originally intended. As a result, you’re now taking on more risk than you’d like. Conversely, during a bear market, the percentage of conservative investments in your plan — such as bonds and other fixed-income vehicles — may grow to such an extent, relative to your stocks, that your 401(k) may not be providing you with the growth opportunities you need to pay for the retirement you’ve envisioned. To prevent either of these scenarios, you may need to periodically “rebalance” your 401(k). Your life’s circumstances provide you with another reason to review your 401(k)’s investment mix. When you

By

Documenting Maya

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.

– Maya Angelou

Of her many gifts, rising was what Renaissance woman Maya Angelou seemed to do best.

She rose out of the clutches of sexual abuse, beyond the stereotypes and statistics of teen mothers, and out of the grips of racism and segregation to become an international treasure.

Next Thursday, March 24, audiences will be able to see for themselves when her life goes on display in the place where it all began.

Washington University Libraries and the Missouri History Museum will present the St. Louis premiere of the new documentary “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” as part of Washington University Libraries’ Henry Hampton Film Series at the History Museum. Angelou’s life was so full and complex that even the gifted writer herself couldn’t have imagined the personal, professional and

On the Pulse of jazz

Emanuel

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“America’s true classical music is jazz,” said drummer and St. Louis native Emanuel Harrold. “It perfectly expresses what we have gone through as a people in this country.”

Harrold is a part of the hip-hop generation. He’s even produced for hip-hop artists like De La Soul. But he is among a growing core group of talented musicians who are intent on bringing the flavor of their culture to genre – and, in a sense, returning jazz to its originators – as he stands on the shoulders of fellow St. Louis-area jazz greats like Miles Davis and Clark Terry.

Harrold currently travels the world with fellow St. Louisan Jahmal Nichols as the rhythm section for Grammy Award-winning singer Gregory Porter.

An original member of the band whose musical backdrop helped catapult Porter into the international jazz scene’s stratosphere, Harrold had a hand in defining and constructing the singer’s now signature sound.

They were among the last class of jazz musicians to make their bones at Harlem’s famed St. Nick’s Pub.

“After about the third or fourth year of playing together a couple of times a week, I was like ‘man, this could really be something,’” Harrold said. “The way it used to hit people, the room was like shaking – literally. The energy was so electric, and the vibe was just crazy.”

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

During the height of the Ferguson unrest, poet and activist Cheeraz Gormon was a constant presence on the frontlines.

Sometimes she was righteous anger personified during protests and community programming.

In other moments she was sharing words inspired by the tragic turn of events in the region’s backyard that gripped a nation.

But last Saturday it was all about

love as she celebrated a milestone at the Centene Center for the Arts.

A diverse group of family, friends, supporters and fellow artists came to help Gormon commemorate the one-year anniversary of her book of poems entitled “In the Midst of loving” with a special live performance.

Accompanied by a live band and backup singers, she shared a sizable portion of the book – 18 poems –over the course of the evening.

With one broad stroke, “In the Midst of Loving” explicitly covers

nearly every range of emotion that comes with thoughts, feeling and act of love – including how the absence of love (for self, others and

community) can impact one’s soul.

A body of work 14 years in the making, Gormon’s first published book of poetry also deals with suicidal tendencies, urban decay and the complexities of black women’s quest for self-acceptance among the mainstream Eurocentric standards of beauty.

He said he wanted a white girl with a black girl’s [expletive]…

Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery’s grandson gunned down

and

was

C1

Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Andre Montgomery, grandson of Sweetie Pie’s owner

star of the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” Robbie Montgomery,

fatally shot

night in North St. Louis.

Photo by Kenya Vaughn

St. Louis native Emanuel Harrold currently travels the world with fellow St. Louisan Jahmal Nichols as the rhythm section for Grammy Awardwinning singer Gregory Porter.

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

How to place a calendar listing

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

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

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

concerts

Mar. 20, 8 p.m. The Pageant welcomes Bone Thugs and Harmony Celebrating 20th Year of “Tha Crossroads.” 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Mar. 23, 8 p.m., The Pageant welcomes Tank. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Sat., Mar. 26, The Ambassador welcomes Denise LaSalle and Theodis Easley. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Mar. 26, 9 p.m., Voce presents An Evening of Smooth Jazz with Jazz Saxophonist Jeanette Harris 212 S. Tucker Blvd., 63102. For more information, visit www.janetteharrisband.com.

Sat., Mar. 26, 10 p.m., Sofrito: A Night of AfroLatin Beats with The DJ JMo. Lucha, 522 N. Grand Blvd., 63103.

Sun., Mar. 27, 8 p.m., RockHouse Entertainment & Good Fellas Ent. present Rick Ross. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

local gigs

Fri., Mar. 18, 9 p.m., Do the Spike Thing with DJ Nappy Needles. A party celebrating the music of Spike Lee’s classic films including School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo Better Blues, and more. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ artbybiko.

Sat., Mar. 19, 6 p.m., North Side Community School and Kingsway East Conservation Association host Spring Is In

The Air Jazz Concert. The concert features local jazz great Danita Mumphard. Proceeds will beneit both organizations. North Side Community School, 3033 N. Euclid Ave., 63115. For more information, call (314) 385-9502 or visit www. northsidecommunityschool. org.

Sun., Mar.20, 6 p.m., Ocean Management Wealth presents Date Night featuring Soulo with special guests Chuck Flowers, Larry Greene and Mystic Voyage. Rustic Goat, 2617 Washington. For more information, call (314) 3683242.

Fri., Mar. 25, 9 p.m. (8 p.m. doors) , Next Up Artist Challenge, Knockouts Bar and Grill, 11208 W Florissant Ave, Florissant, MO 63033.

Sat., Mar. 26, 9 p.m., Voce presents An Evening of Smooth Jazz with Jazz Saxophonist Jeanette Harris 212 S. Tucker Blvd., 63102. For more information, visit www.janetteharrisband.com.

Sat., Mar. 26, 10 p.m., Sofrito: A Night of AfroLatin Beats with The DJ JMo. Lucha, 522 N. Grand Blvd., 63103.

Sat., Apr. 2, 8 p.m., Howard Neal Entertainment presents Aretha Franklin Tribute Show and Dance. Argosy Casino, 1 Piasa St., Alton, IL. 62002. For more information, call (573) 301-0105 or visit www.eventbrite.com.

special events

Thur., Mar. 17, 5:30 p.m., #Ferguson Neighborhood Policing Steering Committee Meeting. Tell #Ferguson what policing SHOULD look like. Ferguson residency NOT required to attend. First Baptist Church, 333 N. Florissant Rd., 63135. To register,

SLU Great Issues Committee presents Kareem Abdul-Jabar. See LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS for details.

Featured Event

Sun., Mar.20, 6 p.m., Ocean Management Wealth presents Date Night featuring Soulo with special guests Chuck Flowers, Larry Greene and Mystic Voyage. Rustic Goat, 2617 Washington. For more information, call (314) 368-3242.

(See LOCAL GIGS)

visit https://form.jotform. com/60626731391152.

Sat., Mar. 19, 6 p.m., North Side Community School and Kingsway East Conservation Association Benefit Jazz Concert. For more information, visit www. northsidecommunityschool.org

Sat., Mar. 19, 2 p.m., Westport Plaza and Maryland Heights Parks and Recreation present the Second Annual Bunny Hop Easter Parade. The parade will begin promptly at 2pm in the back of the Plaza. Children will be lead through the village by the Easter Bunny himself gathering eggs and candy from various stops along the way. 111 Westport Plaza Dr., 63146. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Sun., Mar. 20, 3 p.m., Elon’s Fashion Closet and Curvalicious Fitness Fashion present the Fierce and Fit Spring Fashion Show. Royal Vagabond House, 4315 Westminster Pl., 63108. For tickets, visit www. eventbrite.com/e/fierce-andfit-spring-fashion-showtickets-20970960708.

Through Mar. 27, Missouri

Botanical Gardens hosts 2016 Orchid Show: Where the Wild Things Grow. Approximately 500 orchids are on display at any one time. This year’s Orchid Show offers visitors the chance to learn more about the habitats of orchids and how they adapt to changing environments. 4344 Shaw Blvd., 63110. For more information, visit www.mobot. org.

Sun., Apr. 3, The Made Moguls 2nd Annual B.L.A.C.K T.I.E. Charity Dinner. Crowne Plaza Saint Louis – Downtown, 200 N. 4th St., 63102. For more information, visit www. mademoguls.com.

Thur., Apr. 7, 5:30 p.m., United 4 Children’s Lighting the Way Dinner and Auction Gala. Marriott St. Louis Hotel, 800 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www.united4children. org or contact Deanna Finch at (314) 531-1412 or finchd@ united4children.org.

Fri., Apr. 8, 6:30 p.m., Rainbow Village’s 20th Annual DinnerAuction and Gala: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Four Seasons, 999 N. 2nd St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 567-

1522 or visit www.rbvstl.com.

Sat., Apr. 16, Imagery International’s 10th Annual Because I’m Worth It Gala. 1Norwood Hills Country Club Dr., 63121. For more information, call (314) 7078103 or visit www.imageryintl. com.

The St. Louis Senior Olympics. The events are open to everyone. Athletes must be at least 50 years old, but there is no maximum age. For more information, visit www.stlouisseniorolympics. org.

comedy

Mar. 17 – 20, Helium Comedy Club presents Aries Spears. Helium Comedy Club, 1155 Saint Louis Galleria, 63117. For more information, visit www.st-louis. heliumcomedy.com.

Sat., Mar. 19, 7 p.m., JC Supper Club presents Comedian Jason Jenkins & Friends. For our March show we have St. Louis King of Comedy, Jovan Bibbs. 9053 Riverview Dr., 63137. For more information, call (314) 299-2146 or (314) 598-1978.

Sat., Apr. 16, The Festival of Laughs starring Mike Epps and Rickey Smiley and featuring Earthquake, Tony Rock and Coco Brown. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

literary

Fri., Apr. 8, 7 p.m., Maryville Talks Books hosts author Krista Tippett, author of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information, visit www.left-bank.com.

Wed., April 13, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books and the National Blues Museum present James McBride, who will sign and discuss his new book, Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. This event is free and open to the public, but please RSVP at www.leftbank.com/mcbride.

Wed., Apr. 20, 7 p.m., Phyllis Lawson signs and discusses Quilt of Souls. Left Bank

Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.left-bank.com.

Sat., Mar. 19 & 26, 2 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents From Darkness Cometh the Light. Linda Kennedy stars as Lucy Delaney, an African American woman who won her freedom in a lawsuit just prior to Dred Scott’s and who lived and worked in St. Louis for the rest of her life. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 746-4599 or visit www.mohistory.org.

Through April 10, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd—it’s what every baseball player dreams of. In 1947, Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier, while Satchel Paige and his Negro League All-Stars were barnstorming against their white counterparts in the Majors. It was baseball by day and jazz by night as the impassioned and devoted players tried to find their place in a country on the verge of change. 130 Edgar Rd., 63119. For more information, call (314) 968-4925 or visit www. repstl.org.

Saturdays through Apr. 30, Teens Make History presents Where Did You Go to High School? In a series of short scenes, the TMH Players recount some of their own experiences with the famous “St. Louis question” and demonstrate how high school experiences are so much more than a stereotype. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 7464599 or visit www.mohistory. org.

Saturdays through Mar. 26, 2 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents From Darkness Cometh the Light Linda Kennedy stars as Lucy Delaney, an African American woman who won her freedom in a lawsuit just prior to Dred Scott’s and who lived and worked in St. Louis for the rest of her life. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 746-4599 or visit www.mohistory.org.

Apr. 1 – 3, The Fox presents Tyler Perry’s Madea on the Run. In trouble with the local

authorities, Mabel Simmons, notoriously known as Madea, is on the run from the law. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. fabulousfox.com.

arts

Mar. 17, The Resale Shop, a charitable project of NCJWSt. Louis Section, will hold its first ever Recycled Art Sale. For more information, please contact Stacy Kress, NCJW Marketing Manager at (314) 993-5181 or skress@ncjwstl. org.

Fri., Mar. 18, 6 p.m., Opening Reception for In-Stalled. With a long tradition of artists having actual working experiences in art museums, this exhibition showcases works by artists who spend the majority of their time caring for famous works of arts by world renown artists, while simultaneously developing their own art practice. Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, Webster University, 8342 Big Bend Blvd., 63119. For more information, call (314) 246-7171 or visit www. dadahwebsteru.com.

Sat., Mar. 19, 10:30 a.m., St. Louis Art Museum presents If It Wasn’t for the Women: Women of Color, Behind and Through the Lens. One Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For tickets, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Through March 19, Pulitzer Arts Foundation hosts Kota: Digital Excavations in African Art. The exhibition examines a new digital database created by Belgian computer engineer and independent researcher Frederic Cloth to study and reveal the hidden histories of Kota reliquaries. Featuring nearly ifty of these guardian igures, visitors will go through a visual process to detect groupings and similarities between the sculptures that will enhance understanding of their origins, creation, and

function—information that has largely been considered lost. 3716 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.pulitzerarts.org.

Fri., Mar. 25, 5 p.m., projects+gallery presents HAUTE Hip-Hop Closing Party. We will be celebrating the closing of the exhibition with local hip-hop music artist. Hip-hop artist Bates and fellow female emcees from St. Louis’ own Femcee Nation Organization, as well as DJ Agile One, will perform throughout the evening. 4733 McPherson Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. projects-gallery.com.

lectures/ workshops

Sat., Mar. 19, 9:30 a.m., Woman’s Place will offer a free workshop, Building Boundaries, Learn how one’s boundaries are shaped and ways to set personal boundaries of your choosing. 8300 Morganford Road in Affton. All women are welcome. Pre-registration is required. Call 314-645-4848 to reserve your place.

Tues., Mar. 22, 6:40 p.m., SLU Great Issues Committee presents Kareem AbdulJabar. He will be speaking about his NBA career, his time as the U.S. Cultural Ambassador, and a variety of other topics. 20 N. Grand Blvd., 63103.

Wed., Mar. 23, 6:30 p.m., The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis hosts Free Workshop For Student Financial Aid Award Letters. This workshop will assist students and families in analyzing and comparing financial aid packages.. 8215 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information or to register, call 314-725-7990 or visit www. sfstl.org.

Thur., Mar. 31, 5 p.m., Kemper Art Museum

hosts Panel Discussion: Technology, Ethics, and Laws. Washington University, One Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, visit www. kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.

Wed., Mar. 30, 9 a.m., The Basics of Writing a Business Plan. In just 3 hours, learn key elements of a business plan including: writing style tips, required content, how to use a business plan as a management tool, a greater understanding of what a business plan should look like and how to get started. Dislocated or laid off workers registered with jobs.mo.gov can attend this workshop at NO COST. 212 Turner Blvd., 63376. Please call (314) 657-3768 or visit www.missouribusiness.net for more information.

health

Sat., Apr. 2, 8 a.m., Saint Louis University’s Geriatric Education Center, the Alzheimer’s Association St. Louis Chapter, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omicron Eta Omega Chapter are offering a Free

Geriatric Screening. This event is for anyone age 65 years or older. The screening will include frailty, nutrition, and cognitive function. Friendly Temple M.B. Church, 5515 Martin Luther King Dr., 63112. For more information, call (314) 977-8848 or visit www.alz.org/stl.

Sat., Apr. 30, St. Louis PKD Chapter is hosting a Kidney Fight Trivia Night Fundraiser, The PKD Foundation is the only organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for PKD. Machinists’ District 9 Building, 12365 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton, MO 63044. Contact Kris Conant at kidneyfighttrivianight@gmail. com or call 314-973-6597 to register.

May 1, Six Flags Rollercoaster Race, 10K race or 5K run/walk on an exciting course at Six Flags St. Louis that goes through and around the park with scenic view of their world-famous coasters. Age group awards, cash prizes, and refreshments after the race. Not a runner? Enter original Roller Coaster Ride

event, and we’ll track your coasters throughout the day as you try for a total distance of 5K! Registration includes a Six Flags ticket ($61.99 value), a shirt and finisher medal for each event entered, and free parking ($20 value). Registration fees start at $45. For more information, visit www.rollercoasterrace.com/ stlouis.

spiritual

Mar. 18 – 20, The City of Life Christian Church presents their 2016 Missions Weekend. Mar. 18: 6 p.m. Marriage/Singles Round Table “So You Want to be Married”; 8 p.m. FRESH Youth Service “Ignite the Fire.” Mar. 19: 9:15 a.m. continental breakfast; 10 a.m. Leadership Round Table Discussion with Dr. David K. Bernard. 8333 Fullerton Ave., 63132. For more information, call (314) 995-9797 or visit www. thecityoflife.com.

Mar. 23 – 25, 6 p.m., EMFJ Jurisdictional Men’s Conference featuring prayer, workshops and worship

Services , Nazareth Temple COGIC, 3300 Marshall, St. Louis, MO 63114. For more information contact Elder Kenneth Williams, EMFJ Men’s Conference Coordinator via email: minkwilliams@ yahoo.com or Call (314) 5410342.

May 20, Healing & Mending Ministry presents their 7th Annual Fresh Anointing Women’s Retreat. Guest Speakers: Pastor Jackie Allen, Minister Jeanne Vogt & Dr. Laurette Pickett. Deposit is due of $50.00 ASAP. Contact: Pastor McCoy-Email: healingm2@gmail.com http:// www.healmending.org

Through Mar. 31, 9 a.m., AARP Tax Assistance Eligible Seniors may call the AARP tax help line and schedule an appointment for free tax preparation assistance. St. Louis Public Library, Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave., 63109. For more information or to register, call (314) 525-1660. Through Apr. 11, University of Missouri St. Louis hosts Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. St. Louis Public Library, Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 367-4120 or visit www.slpl. org.

Through Apr. 11, 12 p.m., AARP Tax Help. St. Louis Public Library, Kingshighway Branch, 2260 S. Vandeventer Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 5251660.

Through Apr. 15, 10 a.m., AARP Tax Aide. We will provide free tax preparation assistance throughout this tax season by appointment only. St. Louis Public Library, Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave., 63115. For more information or to register, call (314) 525-1660.

The Ambassador welcomes Denise LaSalle (left) and Theodis Ealey (right). For more information, see CONCERTS.

HARROLD

Continued from C1

Porter packed out the Touhill last month, but 10 years ago they were playing until 4 a.m. at St. Nick’s, the historic dive where the most of the jazz masters came to unwind –including Miles Davis.

“James Carter, Wynton Marsalis, my brother (Keyon Harrold) … they would all come through,” Harrold said. “There would be so many great musicians in the room together in the same time vibing. It was almost like church.”

They took their show on the road in with their first stop as a touring group in Kazakhstan.

“Man, that was a trip,” Harrold said.

He would go on to record with Porter on the Grammynominated “Water,” “Be Good” and “Liquid Spirit,” which earned Porter a Grammy award for Best “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.”

As the heartbeat of the band, Harrold was over the moon about Nichols joining him as a bassist nearly two years ago.

“We’ve been playing together for over 20 years,” Harrold said of Nichols. “Trying to describe our sound is it’s like trying to explain a St. Paul Sandwich or Imo’s pizza.” Delicious and “so St. Louis” pretty much sums them up as well.

‘Straight outta Ferguson’

For him, his brother Keyon –who often plays with Porter on a regular basis and is a member of R&B star Maxwell’s horn section – the musical training of the 16 Harrold siblings began in sanctuaries across the region.

“Man, we were on call,” Harrold said. “You had to be ready at any moment to perform an A and a B selection.” Rooted in Kinloch, but “straight outta Ferguson,” Harrold’s skills were further honed as a part of his grandfather Frank Harrold Sr.’s drum and bugle corps.

“I’ve played for as long as I can remember – even before I could remember,” Harrold said.

His professional drumming career began at the age of 17. He performed with local jazz

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

n “With church, you have format. Jazz, it’s more like an abstract piece of art.”

– Emanuel Howard

MAYA

Continued from C1

about two centuries of living into 86 years before she passed away in 2014.

With her impactful words and profound wisdom in particular, Angelou compelled generations to rise as well – and be a version of themselves that God would smile upon.

Named in honor of her most famous poem, “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in January 2016.

It is the first feature documentary about the worldrenowned writer, performer and activist.

The film provides a comprehensive look at Angelou’s life and work, including her St. Louis roots, her years in Ghana during the decolonization of Africa, her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and her tenure as one of America’s most influential voices.

From Alvin Ailey to Oprah Winfrey, Angelou’s wise counsel and encouragement left lasting impressions on cultural giants and global influencers.

Angelou’s art and life were always intertwined with her politics, as evidenced by her close ties to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, as well as her friendship with fellow uncompromising author James Baldwin.

Her countless accolades

include being the recipient of both the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom – and she was chosen to deliver her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

In doing so,2she became only the second poet, and first African American, to recite a poem as part of the presidential inauguration festivities.

She has also received dozens of honorary doctorates from higher learning institutions around the world.

Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and Bill and Hillary Clinton are among those who pay tribute to Angelou and her complex and varied life in “And Still I Rise.”

Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

The Henry Hampton Film

Series was established in 2014 by the Washington University Libraries’ Film & Media Archive. The Hampton Film Series seeks to share the stories of underrepresented groups through the medium of documentary film. The series is named after Henry Hampton, a St. Louis native and Washington University alum who in 1968 created Blackside, Inc., the largest African American-owned documentary film production company of its time. Blackside created what is still considered the most definitive documentary series on the civil rights movement, “Eyes on the Prize.”

“Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” will screen at 7 p.m. at the Missouri History Museum’s Lee Auditorium, 5700 Lindell Blvd., on Thursday, March 24. Eugene B. Redmond, scholar, educator, poet and longtime friend of Angelou, will join the film’s co-director Rita Coburn Whack for an audience Q&A after the screening.

The screening is free, but seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, firstserved basis. To help manage the expected crowds, attendees must acquire a (free) ticket to enter the Auditorium at the event.

Tickets will be issued at the south museum entrance. Attendees cannot pick up tickets from friends or family - each attendee must be present to get the free ticket. For more information about the event, visit www.mohistory.org or call (314) 746-4599.

legends like Ptah Williams and Willie Akins before he left St. Louis to attend The New School in New York City, where he received his BFA. It was in New York where he found his rhythm in jazz because of its complexities and infinite room for improvisation.

“With church, you have format,” Harrold said. “At some point, you still have your ad libs and your own interpretation or improvisation of that tune. And you have the liberty to play it a different pace than the day before.”

But jazz is diving into the deep end.

“With church, it’s almost like you’re painting the same picture, but adding different strokes of color each time,” Harrold said. “Jazz, it’s more like an abstract piece of art –it’s like a ‘knowing the rules

in order to break them’ kind of thing. But you have to know the rules.”

By sprinkling his own influences and musical experiences, he’s on a mission to deliver jazz back to hip-hop.

“We are taking elements of what we’ve gone through and are expressing it through the music,” Harrold said. “Like Miles said, there is only good music and bad music – so let’s make music good.”

Harrold hopes to have a hand in helping jazz continue into his generation and beyond, and sees the music as a vehicle to help young people tune into those who paved the way for them to saturate popular American culture via hip-hop.

“It’s the ambition. It’s the drive. It’s the passion of a people through a sound,” Harrold said of jazz. “It is where it begins for us – this music is our contribution to the world.”

For more information about Emanuel Harrold, visit www. emanuelharrold.com.

GORMON

Continued from C1

Street smarts wrapped in a Caucasian shell

I try my best to forgive

Pull facts from the history books

To reason with his pathology

To strip the non-from the sense

But it’s evident he just wants pieces of me

The topics and subject matter of “In the Midst of Loving” may sound contrasting, but through her wordplay Gormon packaged them together so cleverly the book reads like the lyrics of a conceptual soul music album.

Gormon’s live presentation of “In the Midst of Loving” spoke to the experiences of Generation X and Millennials, but bridged the gap between the elder generation by being

set to the music of Sade, Stevie Wonder and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, among others. The cadence of her delivery caught the groove of the music with precision. New-school problems with old-school music – everyone seemed to relate as Gormon met them in the middle.

Beautiful Sad Girl, Only if you know that you were good enough maybe you wouldn’t grind your teeth when you slept. Maybe if you didn’t give other people’s opinions so much credit you wouldn’t sit at home on beautiful days staring out the window of your 13th floor apartment overlooking the Willamette River feeling lost.

She unapologetically and fearlessly expressed feelings and thoughts that many share internally, but are often afraid to even whisper aloud out of fear of disrespecting the legacy of the strong, successful black

superwoman who can easily bear the constant weight and burdens of society in a fierce pair of stilettos.

Job…check Man…check

Bank account…check

Wanting to checkout Because the outside doesn’t reflect the same emptiness you feel within

As she revealed the intimate truths of herself and others through her work, she connected with the audience in a special way. Her listeners also seemed to find pieces of their own matters of the heart within her selection of poems.

“Love makes no promises,” Gormon said. “Only humans do.” For more about Cheeraz Gormon, or to purchase a copy of “In the Midst of Loving,” visit http://www. cheerazgormon.com/.

Just Born

On February 25, proud parents David and Tiffany Charles welcomed Sydney Odessia Charles at 11:16 a.m. and Isabelle Nicole Charles at 11:19 a.m. Sydney was 4 lbs 15 oz, 19 inches long. Isabelle was 5 lbs 10 oz, 20 inches long.

Reunions

Beaumont Alumni Class 1968 will have its 48-year class reunion will be June 11-12, 2016. Meetings for the reunion will be at Florissant Valley Library Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd., S. Florissant, MO 63031, 4th Saturdays of the month. For more information call 314-

869-8312.

Beaumont High School Class of 1971 is planning its 45th year reunion for July 22-24, 2016. Please send your contact information (address and phone number) to Gladys Smith at beaumont1971alumni@aol. com.

Beaumont High Class of 1984 can stay updated via our Facebook page “Beaumont Class of 1984”. We meet the last Friday of every month. Contact Rochelle Williams at rochellewilliams001@yahoo. com.

Soldan High Class of 1966 has planned its 50-year

Celebrations

Installation

On April 4th, 2016, Ryan M. Branson, Sr. will be installed as the first African-American High Priest (Presiding Officer) of OrientalRabboni Chapter No. 78, Royal Arch Masons, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons—an Appendant Body of the Masonic Family.

Birthdays

Wishing my mom, Colette Mclemore, double congratulations— first, she passed part one of her test to earn her Ph. D at Saint Louis University. She also celebrates her birthday on March 31.Congratulations, Mom!

Happy 4th Birthday to Alana Mason! She celebrated her special day on March 14. Love, Monica Mason

reunion for September 9-10, 2016 at Christian Hospital Atrium, 1111 Dunn Road St. Louis, Mo 63136. For more information, please contact: Meredith Wayne Farrow, 314.521-8540, Robert Collins, 908.313-5002 or Marilyn Edwards Simpson, 341.837-7746. Facebook, soldan class of 1966 or email: stlsoldan1966@yahoo. com.

Soldan Class of 1971 is planning its 45th year reunion for: June 17-19, 2016 at the Ameristar Casino Resort & Spa, One Ameristar Boulevard, St. Charles, Mo 63301.

Soldan Class of 1976

M. Branson

Alana Mason

reunion will be held June 10-12, 2016. For more information, email soldanclassof1976@yahoo. com or Facebook: Soldan High School Class of 1976.

Sumner High School Class of 1966 is planning their 50th Class Reunion. Please contact Ella Scott at 314-436-1696, Els2188@sbcglobal.net with your name, address and email or join the Sumner Class of 1966 Facebook Group page.

University City High School Class of 1976 is planning its Fabulous 40th year class reunion for June 24-25, 2016. We need your contact information. Please email your information to: weareuc76@

gmail.com or call the UCHS Class of 76 voicemail at 314301-9597.

University City Class of 1981 35th reunion will be August 5-7, 2016. Please send your contact information to Denise Weatherford -Bell at msdenise38@yahoo.com.

Vashon January and June Classes of 1966 will celebrate our 50 year reunion October 7-9, 2016 at the Hollywood Casino. Contact Marilyn Stuckey, Chairperson, 314-438-8338, email: masystucup@att.net or Janice Holland, Co-Chairperson, 314-727-1695, email: jholland1695@att.net for more information.

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, graduation, 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. St. Louis, MO 63103 FREE OF CHARGE

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

Ryan

Colette Mclemore

Ecumenical Leadership Council adds Central Missouri chapter Trust in the Lord

Wooten: clergy band together for political clout to ‘more equitably distribute public resources’

American staff

African-American pastors with churches located in Fulton, Columbia and Jefferson City were welcomed into the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri, as a new chapter on Saturday, January 31. With the formation of the Central Missouri chapter, the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri now has chapters in St. Louis, Kansas City and Southeast Missouri.

n “A unified Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri can leverage our ability to reach and influence the state’s population of AfricanAmerican voters.”

– Bishop Lawrence Wooten

The immediate goal of the Ecumenical Leadership Council is to organize AfricanAmerican pastors across the state of Missouri for the purpose of economic and political empowerment.

“The strategy of the council is to work with political candidates and elected politicians in order to achieve the political goals that will more equitably distribute public resources among all of Missouri’s residents,” said Bishop Lawrence Wooten, president of the St. Louis chapter of the council.

“Since African Americans represent 13 percent of Missouri’s population, African Americans should receive 13 percent of public resources for schools, healthcare, and access to economic opportunities – just like the rest of Missouri. A unified Ecumenical Leadership

Members of the new Central Missouri chapter of the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri.

Council of Missouri can achieve those goals and more by leveraging our ability to reach and influence the state’s population of African-American voters.”

Currently the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri represents over 400 predominantly African-American churches across the state of Missouri.

Church hosts forum on sex and STDs

North St. Louis Restoration Group –in collaboration with PEACE Weaving Wholeness, Northside Workshop, and St.

Peter A.M.E. Church Steward Board – hosted Women, “Let’s Talk About Sex! Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit” at St. Peter A.M.E. Church, 4730 Margaretta Ave. in St. Louis, on March 12.

According to Safer STD Testing, St. Louis has the second-highest rate of reported STDs which include, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, C, Herpes, Syphilis, and HIV. This has also been confirmed by a 2014 CDC

report. In addition, rates of STDs among seniors is on the rise. According to a January 2014 New York Times report, “The Department of Health and Human Services released a little-noticed report on Medicare a few months ago that had this startling statistic: In 2011 and 2012, 2.2 million beneficiaries received free sexually transmitted disease screenings and counseling sessions. And more than 66,000 received free H.I.V. tests.”

Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show rapid increases in STDs among older people. Between 2007 and 2011, chlamydia infections among Americans 65 and over increased by 31 percent, and syphilis by 52 percent. Those numbers are similar to STD trends in the 20- to 24-year-old age group, where chlamydia increased by 35 percent and syphilis by 64 percent. Missouri Foundation for Health sponsored this women’s health symposium.

Sometimes words alone cannot convey meaning and feelings the way we’d like them to. Trust is a good example of what I’m talking about. My reference point for this is, “Trust in the lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all things acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6.

Have you ever been betrayed by somebody you trusted implicitly? How’s that “trust somebody else” thing working for you now? See how easily misplaced trust can put you in a terribly vulnerable place? It’s uncomfortable. To some of us, it’s abnormal. It ain’t fun. Yet in this passage, we are instructed to put our trust in the Lord.

Are you able to put trust in your heart after devastating betrayal? In the real world, that stuff hurts. Once destroyed, trust don’t come round here anymore.

Extreme caution usually follows crippling betrayal. New relationships end up based on mistrust and prove it to me, not blind faith and unconditional trust.

Columnist

How are you treating God in the trust area? “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2. Now exactly, who’s proving what to whom?

Are you requiring God to prove something to you before you trust Him? Are you demanding (knowingly or not) from God those same things you demand from someone, anyone, before you would even consider granting him or her your love?

Isn’t it so easy to require proof before love is given? It is so easy to demand the impossible from folk who can’t give it to you.

The error in thinking here is your relationship with God cannot be based on those same worldly principles rooted in betrayal and disappointment. God has already proven His love for you, and it is unconditional. Our obligation is to confront our demons that have plagued us for years, and that includes all the pain that comes with them.

The only thing that matters at that point is coming to grips with the truth of God’s trust. “Consider the generations of old and see: has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?” Ecclesiastes 2:10. God loved us first, and He still does regardless of what anybody else has done to you. “For the Lord is compassionate and merciful; he forgives sin and saves in times of distress.” Ecclesiastes 2:11.

Let it go. Enjoy the reality of who you really are. Trust is really not that complicated when betrayal is impossible.

James Washington

- Carol B.

(Regional Recruiter for Dierbergs Markets)

TEACHERS

GUIDANCE COUNSELOR

De Smet Jesuit High School seeks highly qualified candidates for the full-time position of guidance counselor for the 2016-2017 academic year. Candidates should be qualified to provide personal and academic counseling in both individual and small group settings in an all-boy secondary school environment. Preference will be given to those who hold a master’s degree in counseling, and experience counseling in a faith context. More information is available at https://www.desmet.org/about/careers

Send a resume, cover letter and three references to Anna Oliver, Assistant to the Principal, at aoliver@desmet.org. Application materials will be accepted through April 1

SPANISH TEACHER

De

THEOLOGY TEACHER / CAMPUS MINISTER

De Smet Jesuit High School seeks highly qualified candidates for the full-time position of theology teacher/ campus minister for the 2016-2017 academic year. Candidates should be qualified to

REQUESTFOR BIDS

REQUESTFOR PROPOSALS

INVITATION TOBID

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

DUE DATE: MARCH 25, 2016

Materials Inspection & Testing forthe Riverdes Peres GreenwayAlabama to Mississippi RiverProject Great Rivers Greenway District (the District) is seeking proposals from interested and qualified firm(s) to complete field inspections, materials testing, special investigations and reports during construction of the River des Peres Greenway project located in St.Louis City and County, Missouri.

Proposals will be received at the offices of Great Rivers Greenway District, 6174ADelmar Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63112 and will be accepted until 2:00pm Central time, March 25, 2016. Any submittals received after this deadline will be returned unopened. The District reserves the right to waive informalities in qualifications, and to reject any and all qualifications submitted.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) and details may be obtained from the District’s website, www.greatriversgreenway.org or by contacting Carey Bundy, Project Manager, at cbundy@grgstl.org All responses and any accompanying material become the property of the District. By submitting a response to this request, firms and agencies accept all the terms and conditions of the RFP.

This RFPdoes not obligate the District to pay any costs incurred by any respondent in the submission of proposal or in making necessary studies or design for the preparation thereof, or for procuring or contracting for the services to be furnished under this request for proposals.

INVITATION TOBID

1710 Macklind Ave., St. Louis MO 63110. All negotiations must be completed prior to 1 p.m. on March 30, 2016. AN EQUALOPPORTUNITYEMPLOYER

Asia and Erica came through to kick it with St. Louis’ own King of Comedy Cedric The Entertainer. He was in the building at HG for Social Saturdays, which served as the official after

Condolences to Miss Robbie and the family. Before I get started, let me take a second to send prayers to Miss Robbie, Tim and the whole Sweetie Pie’s family as the deal with the tragic loss of her grandson Andre Montgomery. We just wanted to take a second to offer condolences and let you know that your family is in our thoughts.

The curious case of K-Ci and JoJo. Now, back to your regularly scheduled disgraceful programming.... I made my first trip to the newly remodeled IP54 and it was as soulful as in its former lives. The purpose of my visit was to see K-Ci and JoJo “whoo-yeah” the stage down, but I got a healthy serving of Café Soul while I was at it. Regulars like Katrina Reece, Tasha B, Trunesia Combs, Wildman and Tiorah graced the stage. Tru’s take on “Somebody Else’s Guy,” and Tasha B’s version of Milyra’s “Go Outside in the Rain” had the 70s babies in their zone. It’s a shame that the headliners ended up being the designated hot mess. I mean, I love K-Ci and Jo Jo from their Jodeci days and it stretched into their duet incarnation. But I was more saddened than underwhelmed as K-Ci scratched his head and sweated through the show. Then, when the microphone stopped working so K-Ci threw a fit and snatched the microphone from in front of JoJo’s mouth while he was singing. How you gonna strong arm the mic from your harmony? Oh, but it gets worse. He essentially decided that he would just mime his way through mime his way through the songs until the mic got right. Actually K-Ci taking the mic from JoJo helped more than it hindered, because his harmonies were full of struggle. I left that show thinking “were they even as wonderful as I remember them? Because I just can’t believe somebody this bad was ever that good.” I’m just hoping that they can regroup before they head back to town.

Shaded by the ‘Get Down.’ Here’s where I had intended to tell y’all about Cedric The Entertainer’s triumphant return to Arena as the headliner for The Comedy Get Down at Scottrade Center with Charlie Murphy, George Lopez, Eddie Griffin and D.L. Hughley. But, because I was denied credentials, I’ll just have to use my psychic comedy powers and imagine what happened. I envision y’all barely cracked a smile for Charlie Murphy’s first visit back since y’all ran him off stage like the Sandman from “It’s Showtime At The Apollo,” but were graceful enough to whisper their boos out of respect for Cedric. George Lopez socked it to Donald Trump and Eddie Griffin stole the show. D.L Hughley and Cedric served a healthy helping of comedy leftovers, but y’all kept it cute and cackled anyway.

MasQUErading with the Omegas. I was actually quite okay with being left out of the mix of the comedy show, because it meant that I could make my way to the Omega Center and kick with the Ques for their annual Mardi gras party. They once again proved my point that it’s hard to find a turn up like an Omega turn up. I don’t care if it’s a lifetime member’s 100th birthday party; somebody is going to be stomping around in some gold boots and barking. Saturday night featured black Greeks from every generation. Anthony Kiekow was in the building repping for the Alphas. How did I miss that he came back to town? He’s on KMOV-TV nowadays. But back to the Ques. I ran into Christopher and Nicole Edwards, who just might be my favorite Que-OOP couple.

Now, let me take a moment to hip y’all to somebody in the building who proved that size is nothing but a number when it comes to being snatched. In a Kinte cloth maxi skirt, striped specs and killin’ clutch with the hounds tooth accent – she was serving so viciously, I had to find out who she was. Somebody said “Oh, that’s Rae Martin…she stays cute.” I was like ‘Rae Slay’ is more like it. So much so, the music to “Formation” popped in my head and I caught myself singing “I slay…all day…” for the rest of the time I was at the party.

The comedy turn up. Again, because I was dusted, I have no idea what Cedric did on stage at Scottrade. However, he was delightfully on 10 for the after party at HG.

“What a Time To Be Alive” by Druture (Drake and Future) is clearly Ceddy’s jam, because as soon as the beat dropped on that track, he got all his life. Still in his bishop King of Comedy Get Down get up, he was dabbin’ on the folks and toasting like it was New Year’s Eve as he puffed on a plus sized Cuban cigar. Kim Smoot, Deerra Nikol and Bae Hollywood were just a few of the folks I peeped partying in VIP. So, whose lil’ scrawny uncle was that trying to muscle his way into Cedric’s booth? He almost learned the hard way that Flex is not to be played with.

Pierre at IP. I did end up getting a taste comedy in my life before the weekend was out though. I was given a queen’s welcome when I doubled back by the IP54 for Jessie Taylor’s Funny Sundays with headliner Pierre. Remember him? He promised that the light skinned dudes would be making a comeback during his Def Comedy Jam days. When you think about it I guess we could call him Prophet Pierre. I mean… between President Obama, Drake and the hero/prince charming characters in every. single.one of Tyler Perry’s movies and plays, it’s hard to not say Pierre was on to something 20 years ago. But anyway, Jessie had the IP 54 looking like it never left its prime. It was packed front, back and side to side up in there. And I was cackling all the way up to the job on Monday.

A Sunday birthday fun day. After I left Grand, I scooted over to Mood just in time to catch the tail end of a Pisces birthday collabo that had the Pisces’ partying like Capricorns. What? I’m not a Capricorn. Don’t act like they aren’t the most tear the club up of all the Zodiac signs. I stepped in just in time to see b-day girl Scar

and her main partner in fine Tiffany Foxx in all of their badness. The boys were gawking out loud at their slim thickness…and who could really blame them? I was able to mingle with some of my favorite tastemakers in the STL – including Shaki, Gabby Davis and Skylar (The Styler).

Ladon

Yolanda and her daughter Kearra came through The Marquee Friday night

Mike and Kitina stepped into the newly reopened IP54 Sunday for Jessie Taylor’s Funny Sundays

Veteran comedian and actor Eddie Griffin stopped through HG for Social Saturdays, where staff life strong man Flex made him feel right at home

Cydney and Tiera started their weekend off right Friday night @ HG

Reuben, birthday boy Robert and Pierre represented for the ice cold bothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Sunday night @ Mood

Hillary, Brittney and Arthur were among the many folks representing for team Pisces as they celebrated their birthday Sunday night @ Mood

Rams baller Stedman Bailey and Paige hung out @ HG Friday

Beautiful birthday girl Scar LaDon and her fellow vixen bestie Tiffany Foxx slayed Sunday night @ Mood

Jessie Taylor, Vito Money and comedian Pierre, who headlined Taylor’s Funny Sundays @ IP54

Jess and Philly Hendrix took time to unwind from the weekend Saturday @ Mood

party of the Comedy Get Down.

Photo by Arlis Davis

Photos by Lawrence Bryant & Arlis Davis

In obese patients, 5 percent weight loss has significant health benefits

For patients with obesity trying to lose weight, the greatest health benefits come from losing just 5 percent of their body weight, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Researchers found that the relatively small weight loss markedly lowered patients’ risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and improved metabolic function in liver, fat and muscle tissue.

Samuel Klein, MD

Photo by Robert Boston

The study is published online Feb. 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

“Our findings demonstrate that you get the biggest bang for your buck with 5 percent weight loss,” said principal investigator Samuel Klein, MD, director of Washington University’s Center for Human Nutrition. “The current guidelines for treating obesity recommend a 5 to 10 percent weight loss, but losing 5 percent of your body weight is much easier than losing 10 percent. So it may make sense for patients to aim at the easier target.”

Klein, the William H. Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science and chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, randomly assigned 40 obese individuals — none of whom had diabetes — to either maintain their body weight or go on a diet to lose 5, 10 or 15 percent of body weight.

The researchers looked at whole body, organ system and cellular responses before and after the weight loss.

While other randomized clinical trials have evaluated

the effects of varying weight loss in people with obesity, this is thought to be the first time a trial has separated weight loss outcomes in people who achieved a 5 percent weight loss from those who achieved a 10 percent or greater weight loss.

Among the 19 study volunteers who lost 5 percent of their body weight, the function of insulin-secreting beta cells improved, as did insulin sensitivity in fat tissue, liver and skeletal muscle tissue. A 5 percent weight loss also was associated with decreases in total body fat and with much less fat in the liver.

Meanwhile, nine of those study patients continued to lose weight, eventually reaching 15 percent weight loss. They experienced further improvements in beta cell function and insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue, but nei-

ther insulin sensitivity in the liver nor adipose (fat) tissue continued to improve with the greater weight loss.

“Continued weight loss is good, but not all organ systems respond the same way,” Klein said. “Muscle tissue responds much more to continued weight loss, but liver and adipose tissue have pretty much achieved their maximum benefit at 5 percent weight loss.”

Interestingly, markers of inflammation, which are elevated in people with obesity, didn’t change much when study subjects lost a moderate amount of weight. Although scientists hypothesize that increased inflammation in fat tissue contributes to metabolic problems such as insulin resistance, this study found that metabolic function could improve while markers of inflammation remain unchanged.

That element of the research will require further study. Klein also wants to expand the study to people who have diabetes.

“We don’t know whether people with diabetes will have the same response to this type of progressive weight loss, so it will be important in the future to repeat this type of study in people who have type 2 diabetes,” he said.

In the meantime, Klein said people with obesity can benefit significantly from losing even a little bit of weight.

“If you weigh 200 pounds, you will be doing yourself a favor if you can lose 10 pounds and keep it off,” he said. “You don’t have to lose 50 pounds to get important health benefits.”

Reprinted with permission from the Washington Unversity School of Medicine.

Choosing the Right Fruits and Vegetables for Skin Health

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – (February 9, 2016) – Our largest organ, our skin, is one that we often overlook or treat too harshly. Makeup, sun exposure, and more can all have an impact on how our skin looks and feels. Especially during the winter, when people may find their skin is drier and flakier than usual, it’s a good idea to nourish your skin from the inside out.

“Most people want to have nice skin and take care of it, but they are not aware that what they eat can make a big difference,” explains Katherine Goldman, celebrity esthetician/waxologist and owner of the Stript Wax Bar. “The foods we eat can make our skin have more acne, become oily, or it can also help us maintain beautiful looking skin that glows.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eating more fruits and vegetables adds nutrients to our diets, and reduces the risks of heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and helps manage body weight. Despite the many health benefits that eating them provide us, they report that 76 percent of the U.S. population doesn’t meet the requirements for fruit intake, while 87 percent don’t meet the requirements for daily vegetable intake. Those missing nutrients often lead to poor health, as well as leave us with

skin conditions that could be helped by eating better foods.

Fruits and vegetables are foods that can go a long way toward helping skin to look great, feel smooth, and have that healthy glow that so many people seek. But choosing which fruits and vegetables will help us get our skin there isn’t always an easy task. Here are some of the fruits and vegetables to reach for in order to help have healthy skin:

• Eating a variety of berries is a great way to protect the skin from the inside out. Berries, such as blueberries and straw berries, are loaded with anti oxidants, which help to protect the cells from free radicals, which can come from sun exposure.

• This beloved veggie contains sulforaphane, which is a powerful antioxidant. It is also found in other cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

• Adding citrus fruits to your diet can help the skin to become more clear, and blemish-free. The antioxidants in these fruits help to renew damaged skin and give a healthy glow. Opt for such varieties as grapefruits, oranges, lemons, and limes.

• Known to help slow the aging process, carrots contain vitamin A and antioxidants. They are great for helping protect the skin from sun damage, help provide even skin tone, and keep the skin moist. Due to their antiaging properties, melons make an idea option. Opt for watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew varieties. Not only do they provide a boost in water intake, but they will help keep skin from aging.

“Added to the fact that these foods will help you have nice skin is the fact that they all taste great, too,” added Goldman. “Nourish the skin with the foods that you eat, and then come see us if there are additional areas to address. Combine these two things and your skin should look great!”

Stript Wax Bar offers all of these new beauty trend services, and has locations

throughout California, including in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Lafayette, Oakland, Pacifica, and San Jose. They specialize in offering top-of-the-line waxing services for men and women, using the highest quality hard wax custom blended. In addition to waxing all areas of the body, they offer facials, spray tans, brow shaping, and makeup application. For more information, visit the website at: www. striptwaxbar.com.

About Stript Wax Bar

Stript Wax Bar is a salon dedicated to the art of offering waxing, facials, spray tanning, brow services, and more. They are devoted to delivering high-quality personal beauty services using the highest quality products in a comfortable and clean environment. With numerous unique services in various locations across California for both men and women, Stript Wax Bar has established themselves as an innovative and trending company. For more information, visit the website at: www.striptwaxbar.com.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fruit and vegetable intake recommendations. http://www.cdc.gov/ mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1. htm>

Celebrate those curls with Mixed Chicks

Curls are a gift that should be celebrated! Mixed Chicks makes them easy to maintain and looking gorgeous with their affordable line of hair care products! Curls will shine with incredible luster using Mixed Chicks products that are meant to bring out the best waves, ringlets and volume in all locks.

Shampoo

Creates squeaky clean hair, no matter your style or texture

Lathers up richly Removes build-up Key ingredients: borage seed, avocado oil, & panthenol for healing and rejuvenation

Leave-In Conditioner

Tames frizz & defines curls

Works on many hair textures & weaves (synthetic or human) Works with wet hair You can leave it in Use it when air drying Use it to style

Instead of shampooing daily, re-wet hair on day 2 and apply a tad more l eave-in conditioner

Deep Conditioner

Nourishes, Detangles, Restores Softens and moisturizes

Works well for curly, tightly curled or straight hair

Penetrates and reconstructs damaged areas

Transforms stubborn-locks into easy to maintain tresses Key ingredient: safflower seed oil

Creators Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge founded this all-inclusive beauty brand that cares for every tone and type of hair. You don’t have to be a Mixed Chick to enjoy these products, they work well for all hair types and textures. Wendi and Kim recognize all the damage the environment causes even on the healthiest mane. So embrace those curls and let your hair be the best version of itself with Mixed Chicks!

For more information, please visit: http://www.mixedchicks.net/ To set up a feature or for samples, you can contact me at: chelsea@chicexecs.com

Contact:

ChicExecs PR

820 Los Vallecitos Ste A-C San Marcos, CA 92069 310.569.6586

ChicExecs PR is an “out of the box” PR company which represents over 70 clients. ChicExecs has created an innovative approach to PR dedicated to helping small-medium businesses receive media coverage. Our revolutionary automated system is changing the face of PR. To learn more about ChicExecs visit www. chicexecs.com.

The Trauma of Breast Cancer

As the Acting Director and Commissioner of Health for St. Louis City, I know that one of the most difficult experiences members of our community face is fighting cancer. For women in our community, breast cancer has an especially powerful and complex impact. When earlier this year Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill announced her own fight with cancer we saw that from Washington Avenue to Washington D.C. - this disease affects us all.

One of the toughest parts of breast cancer is dealing with the trauma and stress that come with the disease. Cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence anymore, but when you’re going to appointments, having scans, and enduring radiation and chemotherapy, it can feel like it might be. That stress, coupled with the stress of just trying to get through the day when you’re physically and emotionally exhausted is enough to take a toll on anyone, especially if you’re the provider for your family.

By Melba Moore

dealing with the diagnosis can make the journey harder. It’s important to take steps to support your mental and emotional health. Try focusing on the moment or celebrating small victories each day. Keep a journal or use art to express what you’re feeling. Most importantly, reach out and get the help you need. There are resources throughout our community to help you not only navigate the disease, but also the stress and trauma that come with it. Reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors to help ease the burden and check out groups like Sistah Connection or the Breakfast Club. By sharing your story and educating yourself, you may find the journey feels a bit less lonely. You can do both by visiting www.aliveandwellstl.com. Together, we can make St. Louis a more supportive place to live.

Body Contouring enhances the Image of your body

Lipo suction may be the most common cosmetic procedure performed annually, it is more often than you think, not performed properly. At first glance, lipo suction may seem to just suck out some fat and it’s all good, but not exactly. Lipo sculpting is the art of body contouring, not just the removal of fat cells.

Modern lipo suction technologies such as laser, ultrasound and wet jet lipo are used in conjunction with standard tumescent anesthesia. These procedures allow fat to be removed safely

with minimal bruising and downtime. Slim Image aesthetics center offers a wide variety of cosmetic procedures, including natural Brazilian butt lift and breast augmentation which involves body contouring and transferring your unwanted fat to your buttocks or breast, creating a more youthful beautiful body.

The important part of the modern lipo suction is not the removal of fat, but it is the technique, experience and artistry of the surgeon performing these cosmetic procedures.

We know that a positive mindset is a huge benefit to those fighting cancer, but the stress and trauma that is added when

Melba Moore is a Commissioner of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission as well as Acting Director and Commissioner of Health for St. Louis City Department of Health.

Healthy Multi-Cultural Cooking

By Angelita F. Jackson

Selas Kidane, originally from EritreaEast Africa, is the founder of diversitycooking.com and “Eat Healthy Our Way STL.” In 1991, she moved to the U.S. and has lived in St. Louis the majority of the time. She studied at Forest Park Community College, where she earned her Associate Degree in Accounting. She works full time as an A/R analyst. However, her true passion is culinary art and culture. She also volunteers as an African Heritage and a Health Ambassador.

She developed an interest in food art at a very young age. Growing up, she watched her mom and grandmother use their creative skills to create healthy supper recipes with very limited resources. As she continued on her journey into different

cultures, finding traditional ingredients became almost impossible and getting used to unfamiliar flavors were even more challenging. Therefore, she took her curiosity nature to the next level and started recreating her family recipes by combining similar ingredients from other cultures and modifying the cooking techniques.

She became curious about the nutritional values of western diets, so she took a Principle of Nutrition course at the St. Louis Community College, where she discovered how unhealthy western diets were the contributing factors to many chronic illnesses. At the same time, she was pleased to learn that she was eating healthy because the ingredients used in our traditional diets are the most highly recommended healthy alternatives.

Cultural backgrounds, financial limitations, hectic work schedules and luck of

other resources leads to reliance on fast foods, prepackaged foods and drinks that are loaded with unhealthy ingredients. She stated that there are many natural ways to maintain healthy weight and lower your risk of chronic illnesses. Speaking from her own experiences, sticking to her own traditional diets, has sustained her ancestor’s health and wellness which will always be her secret weapon for maintaining healthy weight.

We live in a diverse society consisting of different cultural backgrounds that dictate what we eat. Unfortunately, our eating habits have caused growing concerns regarding obesity-related illnesses.

Her philosophy is “Basic nutritional knowledge is the first step towards living healthy and acknowledging the common contributing factors to unhealthy eating is equally important to finding solutions that are unique to the challenges.” She inherited healthy living habits from her family and she believes that God places certain passions in our heart for a reason. Her family moral values inspired her to put passion towards a good cause and get involved in community outreach programs. Teaching health and wellness based on my cultural heritage is a blessing and is her way of honoring her mother, her grandmother, who passed down the ancestors legacy to her.

Selas Kidane, teaches basic nutrition, African culinary history, budget friendly healthy cooking techniques based on African healthy traditional plant based diets, consisting of fruits, vegetables, beans, spices, herbs, nut, seeds and many other plant-based foods that sustained the health and wellness.

herbs, nut, seeds and many other plantbased foods that sustained the health and wellness of her parents and grandparents. She speaks from her own experiences; sticking to traditional ways of eating has always helped her maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevent weight gains. Teaching this program gave her the opportunity to learn more about different challenges as well as the opportunities that exist within different communities.

Her website called DiversityCooking. com is dedicated to helping individuals adopt healthy eating habits regardless of their background or where they live. Striving to educate the public about interrelated issues to eliminate misunderstandings and promote mutual respect in our society to unite people of different cultures.

Diversity

Cooking Classes

The next two classes are Saturday, March 19 @ 1:00 pm Carondelet Branch and on Earth Day @ Carpenter library, South Grand. Saturday, April 23 @1:00 pm

In addition to her own recommendations of eating traditional ways for healthy living, recent studies shows African traditional diets, which are similar to the Mediterranean diets, promotes health in the gut and it may lower risk of colon cancers and other chronic daisies. Visit http://www.news-medical. net/news/20150429/ International-study-findsthat-two-week-diet-swapfor-African-Americansmay-lower-colon-cancerrisk.aspx

Selas teaches free 6-week African American Healthy Cooking classes. She teaches basic nutrition, African culinary history, budget friendly healthy cooking techniques based on African healthy traditional plant based diets, consisting of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes; spices,

The next two classes are Saturday, March 19 @ 1:00 pm Carondelet Branch and on Earth Day @ Carpenter library, South Grand. Saturday, April 23 @1:00 pm

For more information or if you would like schedule a class please contact Selas Kidane at skidane@diversitycooking.com or call 314-719-9678.

AARP

Serves Up Healthy Events

If you’re ready spring into action this Spring to get fit and stay healthy, AARP in St. Louis has a treasure trove of upcoming activities and events that are fun and engaging. All planned events will help you keep the healthy behavior groove and on track to you meet your fitness goals.

• Take a minute to join Team AARP which competes in the annual St. Louis Senior Olympics. Last year, 50 Team AARP athletes competed in a variety of competitions and won more than 203 medals! The Senior Olympics are held over Memorial Day weekend May 26-31 at a dozen venues in the St. Louis area. This year, AARP in St. Louis will pay the Senior Olympics registration fee for the first 100 members who sign up and join Team AARP. AARP members, friends, family and guests can learn more at aarp.org/stlouis.

• Sign up for the 53rd Annual Moonlight Ramble midnight bicycle ride along select routes in the city of St. Louis on August 20. AARP in St. Louis will provide 50 Premier Rider admissions and 250 Standard Rider admissions and special teeshirts and other complimentary items from AARP in St. Louis. Last year more than 5,000 cyclists of all ages participated in the Moonlight Ramble, and everyone was invited to the AARP in St. Louis exhibit in the Hub of the Ride. Keep tabs on this event by visiting aarp.org/stlouis.

• Join the Ten Toe Express walking groups that begin in April and are led by an AARP in St. Louis volunteer. Walking groups begin at different stops along the MetroLink and then proceed to a designated walking route. Walks will be scheduled throughout the summer and fall, so visit aarp.org/stlouis for details.

• Guided bike tours with specific themes are planned for August and October. The tours will give participants an opportunity to learn about different areas and venues of the St. Louis region while peddling to good health.

• Hundreds of thousands of Missourians are caring for an older parent or loved one, helping them to live independently at home, where they want to be. Come to a Careversation this summer to discuss how to keep yourself in good health while caring for another. Visit aarp.org/stlouis for dates and times of these discussions.

AARP in St. Louis is always up to something that helps folks discover real possibilities. Connect with us often at aarp.org/ stlouis.

Dress for Less at TheResaleShop

Do you love the hunt of finding a bargain or do you have a limited budget? You don’t have to spend a fortune these days to look fashionable.

The Resale Shop is a charitable project of the National Council of Jewish Women–St. Louis Section. Located at 295 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, they sell high-quality new and gently used clothing, jewelry, home goods, accessories, and more for the entire family. Donations from local businesses, NCJW members, and the general public support The Resale Shop and all of the proceeds benefit women, children and families in St. Louis through NCJW’s community service programs and advocacy work.

The days of people spending a ton of money on their wardrobe that they will have for years have transitioned to consumers wanting to spend less money on trendy items that they won’t feel guilty getting rid of after a couple of years. Spending less money on your wardrobe gives shoppers the ability to continually

keep their closet fresh with the latest fashions. When shopping at The Resale Shop you will find brand name items, many of which still have their original tags.

If you love shoes then you won’t want to miss out on our extensive shoe department as well as handbags and accessories. As your fashion evolves and you shop for new additions to your wardrobe don’t forget to bring your gently used items with you to donate to The Resale Shop when you come to shop. All donations are tax deductible.

An article published by Forbes Magazine in January 2015 stated that 75% of Millennials would rather purchase from a company that gives back to society instead of just making a profit. The best part about shopping at The Resale Shop is that you’re getting fashionable merchandise at a reduced price and you’re helping the community at the same time. A “Win Win” for everyone!