March 8th, 2018 Edition

100 years of empowerment

Urban League flagship affiliate in St. Louis celebrates centennial

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, joined the organization that he now leads on his 16th birthday. This year, the St. Louis Urban League –frequently describes as the nation’s flagship affiliate – celebrates 100 years of empowering the African-American community, now with 30 different programs at 13 locations.

McMillan’s personal favorite moment in the Urban League’s history happened just this past July 26, a sweltering summer day where hundreds came out to cheer the ribbon cutting of the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center. It’s a job training center built on the site of the burned-down QuikTrip convenience store, which was destroyed during the unrest following Michael

Learning to love chess

County police ‘wanteds’ system faces court challenge

160 potential jurors to be called for Greitens case

Judge agrees to give media organizations advance notice of proceedings

By Jessica Karins For The St. Louis American

Back in court in the case of the

16 circuit judge ruled on several motions, including a decision to call 160 potential jurors in the governor’s highprofile felony case for invasion of privacy.

Attorney Mark Sable, on behalf of 10 media organizations, filed a motion to intervene in the case by asking the judge to give media organizations advance notice of hearings or other proceedings in the case.

“Any activity is of public interest in a case of this nature,” Sable said.

Attorneys for both Greitens and the Circuit Attorney’s Office agreed to the idea as long as grand jury proceedings remained under seal.

Circuit Judge Rex Burlison said he normally holds informal hearings whenever both parties are available, but he understood the compelling public interest in this case. Burlison decided to establish set availability on

Photo by Wiley Price

Glenda Lay spoke about “urban gun violence” at the Moms Demand Action

Photo by Rebecca Rivas

Photo by Wiley Price

Derielle Williams, 6, a first-grader at Peabody Elementary School stays focused during

Scholastic Chess Tournament at the Moto Museum Wednesday,

Learning’ initiative.

Michael McMillan, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, and Marc Morian, the national president, welcomed guests to the ribbon-cutting of the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center on July 26, 2017. Gov. Eric Greitens

Rick Ross released from hospital

Over the weekend, rapper Rick Ross was admitted to the hospital after being found unresponsive in his Miami area home. According to TMZ.com, Ross has been discharged.

“Sources connected to Ross tell us the rap mogul went home in the wee hours of Monday morning. We’re told he’s receiving care at his residence,” the entertainment news site said. “Our sources say he had respiratory issues, but it turned out to be heart related. He was in ICU for a time and put on ECMO, which assists respiratory and heart functions. He had actually been in two hospitals – transferred from one to another due to his condition.”

TMZ said someone from the home called 911 at 3:30 a.m. Thursday and said the person in distress was breathing heavy and unresponsive. The caller said the man in distress had a history of seizures – and they were trying to wake him, but he was “slobbing out of the mouth.”

According to law enforcement the person in distress came to and became combative.

Mary and Kendu reportedly settle their divorce

Mary J. Blige has reportedly settled the terms of her divorce. The singer/actress was supposed to start a week-long court hearing with estranged husband and former manager Kendu Isaacs on Monday (March 5) in which the pair were hoping to come to an agreement surrounding their bitter divorce battle. But according to The Blast, the hearing was cancelled after the former couple settled outside of court. The publication reports that Blige and Isaacs, who married in 2003, before Blige filed for divorce 13 years later in 2016 - came to an agreement on the terms of their divorce on February 3, 2018, although details on the terms have not yet been revealed.

Several outlets are reporting that Blige will continue to pay $30K per month as part of the settlement. Isaacs had originally requested $129K per month.

During their divorce battle, Isaacs had been in court demanding money in spousal support

from his former partner, but Blige argued in response that she was working hard to earn money. Blige slammed Isaacs, calling him a “con artist” and claimed he only pretended to love her throughout their marriage.

Alleged Trey Songz victim granted restraining order

A woman who has claimed she was “choked and punched” by Trey Songz last month in Los Angeles has been granted a temporary restraining order against him.

The alleged victim appeared in court on Tuesday (March 6) to seek a court order preventing the 33-year-old singer from approaching her or contacting her after he allegedly attacked her in Hollywood Hills, California, on February 17. The woman’s lawyer, Lisa Bloom, took to Twitter afterwards to tweet: “Update: we obtained the restraining order against Trey Songz this morning. There’s no excuse for violence against women. It must stop.”

The alleged victim has claimed the singer called her names, choked her and punched her several times in the face at a home Songz had rented

for the weekend.

“When she took out her phone to call an Uber to get out of there, he threw her phone off a cliff to prevent her from leaving,” Bloom said.

The woman sought treatment for her bruised face, arm and back at hospital.

Photographs of her injuries have been submitted to the court of evaluation.

Usher and Grace Miguel call it quits

Usher Raymond and Grace Miguel have ended their three-year marriage.

“After much thought and consideration, we have mutually decided to separate as a couple. We remain deeply connected, loving friends who will continue supporting each other through the next phases of our lives,” Raymond, 36, and Miguel, 48, said in a joint statement released on Tuesday. “The enormous amount of love and respect that we have for each other will only increase as we move forward.”

Raymond hinted at the changes in his life last week on Instagram after posting a picture from a tattoo parlor captioned, “new era // new ink.”

Sources: Twitter.com, Instagram.com, TMZ. com, The New York Post, TheBlast.com

Class-action lawsuit filed over West Lake Landfill radiation

‘An unacceptable violation of personal rights, property rights, civil rights’

By Jessica Karins

For The St. Louis American

Radioactive material came to St. Louis in the 1940s with World War II, when a uranium processing plant was constructed downtown.

Years later, in the 1970s, radioactive waste from that site was transported to the West Lake Landfill in the St. Louis County suburb of Bridgeton. That material is still impacting St. Louis today, but residents in the surrounding area may be getting a ray of hope in the form of a legal case.

Recently, the HBO documentary “Atomic Homefront” brought national attention to the long struggle of North St. Louis residents to gain accountability for the effects of radioactive waste dumped at West Lake Landfill and Coldwater Creek. Now, several law firms are joining together to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of those impacted.

“This is an unacceptable violation of personal rights, property rights, and at its core, the civil rights of all people adversely impacted by this highly contaminated radioactive source,” civil rights attorney Anthony Gray said.

Gray, of Johnson Gray LLC, and class action attorney Ryan Keane of Keane Law LLC hosted a press conference in St. Ann on February 20 to introduce the suit. Their

firms, along with several other national firms, are filing two lawsuits against companies they consider to hold responsibility for polluting residential areas.

One of the suits was filed on behalf of residents living around the West Lake Landfill; the other was filed on behalf of those living in the floodplain of Coldwater Creek. Homes and other properties around both sites have tested positive for high levels of radiation.

The Environmental Protection Agency under Scott Pruitt agreed on February 1 to remove the majority of the radioactive material from the West Lake Landfill over a period of five years, but the lawyers in this case said that is not enough.

“Too little has been done over the last several years, and over the last several decades,” Keane said.

“Atomic Homefront,” which focuses on the efforts of citizen activist group Just Moms STL, documents high incidences of rare cancers in the areas around West Lake Landfill

and Coldwater Creek and highlights families who want to move away from the area but, cannot afford to, due to the plummeting home property values.

According to Keane, tests done in preparation for the lawsuits showed high levels of radiation within several homes and businesses. He also said an expert will testify that radioactive materials were built into construction sites in Bridgeton, laid underneath the foundations of homes.

Keane said the effects of the radioactivity could become even more widespread if an underground chemical event that has been burning at the landfill since at least 2010 reaches the radioactive waste. The chemical reactions caused by this, he said, could lead to contaminated rain which could impact the entire region.

“People should be very upset about this,” Keane said. “They should be fired up about this.” Defendants in the cases include Republic Services, Cotter Corp, the City of St.

Anthony Gray of Johnson Gray LLC announced a class-action lawsuit against several companies for allegedly polluting residential areas near West Lake Landfill at a press conference in St. Ann on February 20.

Photo by Jessica Karins

Louis (as owner of the airport), and other corporations that have handled waste disposal. The attorneys will seek damages for affected residents that could include compensation, home buyouts and relocation, as well as a cleanup of the sites.

Keane said homeowners in the area will receive a flyer explaining the cases and providing a 800-number they can call to learn more.

Bridgeton Landfill, LLC, responded, “The suit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously in court. Federal and state regulatory agencies, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. EPA and the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services have all concluded, through years of study and true science, that the landfill poses no risk to people outside the landfill’s property. U.S. EPA also concluded that the radiologically impacted material has not migrated offsite.”

Illinois Lotto chair ousted over racist tweet

What makes a white Illinois lottery executive, with a comfortable six-figure income, feel entitled to make blatantly racist remarks on social media regarding the city of East St. Louis? Is it simply white privilege, arrogance or dormant racism made acceptable in the era of Donald Trump?

Well, Blair Garber of Evanston, Ill. is now the former chairman of the Illinois Lottery Control Board after being fired over a hideous January 17 tweet in which he disparaged East Boogie in very racist and explicit terms. It all started after a January 11 White House meeting in which President Donald Trump reportedly referred to Africa and Haiti as “shithole” nations. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) exposed the remarks during a Chicago news conference, only to be taunted by a January 16 tweet by country music singer Charlie Daniels.

of good families and people, struggling against the odds. I am proud to say, and I do it publicly all the time, (I was) born and raised in East St. Louis.” Garber went on to apologize and, ultimately, “resign” from his post, which is typical political damage control in such instances. However, before he tweeted, Garber should have done his homework and he would have realized that he was insulting a community which was very valuable to the Illinois state lottery program.

James Ingram

Daniels tweeted, “Mr. Durbin I’m so sorry that your virgin ears were blistered by the absolutely horrible language president Trump used in front of you…hope you didn’t wet your pants too.”

That’s when Mr. Garber decided to add his two cents to the racist tweet storm, replying “Charlie, Durbin’s home town is (get this) East St. Louis Illinois! The shithole of the universe! Just do a Google search.”

The condemnations were justifiably swift, with Senator Durbin referring to the remarks as “disgusting because it is a good city, a lot

According to research from Harvard’s Kennedy School and their Shorenstein Center’s research on lotteries, the “poor are still the leading patrons of the lottery.” East St. Louis has a poverty rate of 45.8 percent and a median yearly household income of $19, 500. So not only did Mr. Garber most likely insult some of his best customers, but he was thoughtless and racist in doing so. Was he oblivious to these facts or simply counted on the powerlessness of poor blacks in general? Or was he well-informed? The Harvard research goes on to say that “even the people who were made to feel poor (or as “shitholes”) buy lotteries.”

Whatever the case, good riddance to Mr. Garber. Perhaps the next time he tweets he will think twice about whether his insults will, ultimately, land him in the unemployment line.

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

Columnist

Editorial /CommEntary

DOJ should bolster Gardner, give Hawley a clue, in cases against Greitens

We commend Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner for acting swiftly to bolster her legal team after Circuit Judge Rex Burlinson set an early date of May 14 to start the prosecution of Missouri Governor Eric Greitens on charges of felony invasion of privacy. That date is fully half a year closer than the November date that the state had requested. This week Harvard Law Professor Ronald S. Sullivan joined the team working on the Greitens case, and Anthony Box, a former FBI agent and associate general counsel for two Department of Defense agencies, joined the Circuit Attorney Office staff as chief investigator.

Like Robert Steele, Gardner’s chief litigator, Sullivan’s courtroom experience is primarily as a public defender, rather than a prosecutor, and he is not experienced in Missouri or St. Louis courts. But, by any professional reckoning, he has to be considered of dream-team caliber. Box – who spent nine years in St. Louis while at the FBI – is even more clearly what the office needs right now as it prosecutes a sitting governor who also is under at least one other state investigation, as well as a state House of Representatives probe, and who could not possibly have escaped the notice of federal investigators.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith told The American he could neither confirm nor deny that the Department of Justice is assisting Gardner in her prosecution of Greitens or Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley in his investigation of Greitens’ financial dealings with the non-profit The Mission Continues. But we are confident that a savvy, experienced federal operator like Box will be integral to coordinating Gardner’s investigation and prosecution with the legal firepower of the Department of Justice. Critically, Box worked at the FBI in St. Louis with Jeff Jensen, now the U.S. attorney for Eastern Missouri, whose office would assist Gardner or Hawley if the feds get – or stay –involved in these cases. Jensen said that “the addition of Tony Box to the Circuit Attorney’s Office is a law enforcement coup for our city,” which says everything anyone needs to know about how critical Box’s expertise and experience become to the Greitens case. This is especially true since Gardner already has employed private investigators on the case, whose notes Greitens’ attorneys requested in

court on Tuesday. We are much less encouraged that Hawley will fully investigate Greitens’ financial dealings and bring the law to bear upon any misdeeds he may find. That is because Hawley already is 0 for 1 in holding to account the sitting governor from his own Republican Party. Hawley released – to Greitens, not the public – a pathetic report on his office’s investigation into Greitens and his staff’s use of Confide, an app that lets text messages appear only a few characters at a time, to prevent documentary screen shots, and then deletes them. If used while conducting public business, that would violate the public records laws that Hawley’s office is mandated to enforce. However, Hawley accepted Greitens’ appeal to executive privilege and took at face value his staff’s ridiculous claims that they only used the app for harmless tasks like scheduling meetings. As anyone knows, scheduling is the least controversial thing a staff does and the kind of task least likely to be handled with an app that prevents screen shots and deletes records. Hawley apparently believed and wants the public to believe one Greitens staffer who said he only used Confide to send messages to himself! Needless to say, had Greitens or staff used Confide to discuss Greitens’ financial dealings with The Mission Continues, then Hawley won’t discover those records, either, and the same simple – and uninvestigated – acts of deceit would have foiled two potentially criminal investigations into Greitens’ conduct. We believe that Gardner is assembling the team she needs to prosecute her high-profile case on a serious charge against Greitens, and that Hawley’s investigation should be considered dubious from the beginning. Whatever Hawley’s legal prowess and respect for the law, he is likely to be the Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate race against incumbent U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, and he undoubtedly does not want to be seen as an aggressive prosecutor of a sitting Republican governor – not unlike congressional Republicans’ half-hearted probes of President Trump and his family’s alleged misdeeds. We urge Jensen to use the full investigative and prosecutorial powers of his office to bolster Gardner and to provide Hawley with a clue and some spine in these matters of grave public importance concerning the state’s chief executive.

Commentary

Public education and child endangerment

By Mike Jones Of The St. Louis American

In March of 2011, Governor Jay Nixon appointed me to the State Board of Education representing the 1st Congressional District. My term expires in June of this year. The majority of black children who attend Missouri public schools live in the 1st Congressional District. Because of this I felt an extra responsibility that is a sacred trust for anyone black who accepts the responsibility of public office. I have considered this appointment to be the most important work I’ve done in four decades of public service.

I have no expectation that Governor Greitens will reappoint me or extend my tenure by not immediately replacing me, and I’m good with that. Everything and everyone has a season, and I’ve had mine.

In those four decades in politics, I’ve been in many rooms where it happened. None of them had as a prime objective any interest in advancing or even including the interest of the black community, the only exception has been the State Board of Education (SBE) and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

I’ve served with 11 board members (only two of whom have been African-American), and to a person they have been the finest group of public officials I’ve had the honor of working with. This includes the entire leadership team at DESE, especially Education Commissioners Chris Nicastro and Margie Vandeven. I salute you all and offer a heartfelt thanks for your support and friendship. When I joined the SBE,

public schools in majorityblack districts were under siege, attacked from all sides. First, by rapacious predators who saw huge financial windfalls by hijacking the public schools governed by the black community. There was another group of cultural imperialists, who felt that the black community was inherently incapable of managing the education of its children. Lastly, there were the unhinged libertarians who want to dismantle the public infrastructure that makes civil society possible.

The voices you hear advocating school choice for black children (never for white children) are not about school choice. If they were, they would advocate for metropolitan school districts where any child could go to any public school in the metropolitan area. What they are really about is dismantling public education for black children. They want black parents to choose different schools within the black community, all of which would be created and controlled by forces outside the black community.

Today there are no unaccredited black school districts, and I’m confident that the two provisionally accredited districts will meet the state requirements for full accreditation in the near future.

The progress that has been made is a result of changes in culture and instructional strategies that leadership at all

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Jeff Sessions’ culture war

By Somil Trivedi Of The ACLU

On February 26, the full panel of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld federal protections for LGBT employees in the workplace. Attorney General Jeff Sessions not only opposed that position in legal filings, he attacked the judges after they ruled against him, saying, “I guess maybe the judges woke up that morning, read the New York Times or something, and decided their previous ruling was wrong.” Jeff Sessions is a successful politician, and he responded to this ruling as a partisan politician might. Too bad that’s not his job anymore. Having spent 20 years as a U.S. senator from Alabama, his unrelenting partisanship is now undermining the Justice Department in a way that threatens the civil rights of people across the nation. The attorney general of the United States is often described as “the country’s top law enforcement officer.” The office leads the nation’s federal law enforcement apparatus, including thousands of federal prosecutors around the country, who work on violations of federal law, including domestic terrorism, civil rights violations, insider trading, to name a few. While these prosecutors wield significant discretion, it is Jeff Sessions who sets their

priorities. He can, if he pleases, squash or promote certain types of prosecution against certain communities.

Sessions’ gay panic is just one example of his efforts to diminish rights and protections for certain groups, while intensifying the nation’s mass incarceration culture.

He recently announced that he would end Obama-era protections for marijuana users in states that have legalized possession. While marijuana possession is still a federal crime – one based on retrograde, anti-scientific laws – he is using his authority to counter the will of voters in states where the public supports decriminalization of marijuana.

He is doing this based on a comically outdated view of marijuana – that “good people” don’t smoke it – and a tragic resuscitation of the failed war on drugs more broadly.

The list goes on and on. When nonpartisan career attorneys at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division refused to sign on to the effort to roll back voting rights because they weren’t

Letters to the editor

Corrections

In last week’s health section we misprinted the phone number for the Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The correct number is 314-9689000.

On last week’s front page, we misidentified the school district of the students celebrating Rosa Parks. The correct district is the Hazelwood School District. We regret the errors.

levels has instituted to enhance the capacity to meet the educational needs of students were they are. This is real progress, but we have miles to go before we rest.

American public education is in desperate need of deep structural reform. Black communities must begin having a serious internal dialogue about what does effective 21st century education for black children look like, and how is it delivered? We have neglected this issue far too long, and to continue to ignore it makes us guilty of child endangerment.

At the core of every unresolved policy argument in education is the contradiction inherent in what is meant by education. Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire eloquently and succinctly summarizes this tension: “There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom,’ the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”

How we answer this question is the key to the future of our children.

Mike Jones is a former senior staffer in St. Louis city and county government and current member of the Missouri State Board of Education and The St. Louis American editorial board. In 2016, he was awarded Best Serious Columnist for all of the state’s large weekly by the Missouri Press Association.

Higher education in peril in Missouri

We see ahead a desolate educational landscape, one in which neither communities nor the economy can thrive. We sound the warning now, out of concern and obligation to current and future generations that call Missouri home.

As a society, we have long since agreed that a high school diploma is not sufficient for viability in the current and future workforce, yet Missouri is quickly creating a dangerous set of conditions for students who pursue public postsecondary education in the community college, technical, or university sectors. For the second year in a row the governor has proposed massive cuts to higher education and the General Assembly to date has done nothing to counter those cuts. Endangering Missouri’s students endangers Missouri’s economy.

We have come together as signatories, united in our obligation to warn against the developing actions of the state of Missouri regarding postsecondary education. There is still time to change the direction being set by our elected officials, but the matter is more than urgent.

The steps are straightforward: Stop slashing budgets and forcing up prices. It is students who pay for the dramatic cuts made to higher education. In 2017, the higher education budget was cut by $159 million. In 2018, the governor proposes cutting an additional $68 million. You don’t need an advanced degree to forecast a decline in quality and a steep increase in tuition at Missouri’s

supported by the law, Sessions simply cherry-picked political appointees to work on those issues instead. Rather than deferring to local police departments that voluntarily entered consent decrees with the Civil Rights Division to correct their unconstitutional practices, Sessions ordered his attorneys to review those decrees to see if they might damage police morale. He has also questioned the authority of federal judges when those judges rebuke President Trump. And, earlier this month, Sessions shuttered an office at the Justice Department charged with increasing access to legal representation for those who can’t afford it. The work of federal prosecutors in protecting Americans from threats foreign and domestic, including from within our government, is noble and necessary. But Sessions is instead using the Department of Justice as a platform and tool in an ideological culture war. He and the rest of the Trump administration are eager to appear tough on crime, but they are just being tough on people – especially those in low-income communities, queer communities, and communities of color who can no longer depend on the attorney general to protect them. Somil Trivedi is a staff attorney at the ACLU Trone Center for Justice and Equality.

public institutions. SB912/ HB2348 is an admission that tuition increases are the only answer to the starvation diet being served to Missouri’s schools. The last round of cuts raised fees on the backs of students and slashed student support services; higher tuition and program elimination are next.

Quit ignoring desperate financial need among your constituents. There’s a simple truth here. Access Missouri is the state’s only need-based scholarship and it continues to be dramatically underfunded. The state is stretching $76.5 million across 45,000 students, resulting in an average award of just $1,600, barely above the statutory minimum. This is evidence of a continued disregard for hardworking families across the state who cannot afford the cost of college.

Driving tuition upward is a mistake. Freezing or cutting aid is a mistake. Taking these actions simultaneously is a formula for disaster. Governor Greitens, members of the Missouri Legislature, and Missouri residents: Please consider yourselves forewarned.

Karissa Anderson, Active Advocacy Coalition

Scott Baier, College Bound Elizabeth Bender, St. Louis Graduates Steering Committee member

Jane Donahue, St. Louis Public Schools Foundation

Sherry Harsch-Porter, PorterBay Insight

David Hilliard, St. Louis Graduates Steering Committee member

Ron Jackson, Black Leadership Roundtable

Greg Laposa, St. Louis Regional Chamber

Jason Purnell, Brown School of Social Work

Faith Sandler, The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis

Sharon F. Sevier, Missouri School Counselor Association

Mark Steinlage, Missouri Association of College Admission Counselors

Kyle Strothmann, Missouri Association of College Admission Counselors

Allison Williams, St. Louis Graduates

Rev. Starsky D. Wilson,

Deaconess Foundation Laura Winter, St. Louis Graduates

Columnist Mike Jones

Morehouse College Glee Club plays STL March 11

The Morehouse College Glee Club will perform in the theater at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, 3125 S. Kingshighway, 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 11, with special guests the Morehouse College Quartet and groups from St. Louis Public Schools. Proceeds from the concert will support scholarships and support that will allow young men from the greater St. Louis area to attend and excel at Morehouse College. Tickets range from $15-$50 and may be purchased at www.stlmorehousegleeclub.eventbrite. com. For more information, e-mail stlmorehouseparents08@gmail.com

March

16 deadline

for HSSU Distinguished Alumni nominations

Harris-Stowe State University and its Alumni Association are accepting nominations for the HSSU 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award through March 16. The award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former graduate of Harris-Stowe State University and its sister institutions (Harris Teachers College, Stowe Teachers College, Harris-Stowe College and HarrisStowe State College.)

Recipients will be accomplished in three distinct areas: Professional Achievement/Career and/or Military Service Distinction, Service to Society, and Service/ Support to HarrisStowe State University.

The online nomination form is available at http://www. hssu.edu/DAANFORM and may be submitted electronically or via U.S. Mail to: Harris-Stowe State University, Office of Alumni Relations, 3026 Laclede Ave., St. Louis, MO 63103. Nominations are being accepted through March 16. For more information or questions, email or call Alumni@hssu.edu or call (314) 340-5754.

April 16 deadline for BJC Scholars Fund scholarships

Applications for the BJC Scholars Fund are being accepted through April 16. Each scholarship will be a need-based award of $10,000 per academic year at a public Missouri or Illinois state college or university in the state where the student resides, or at a public university in another state offering in-state tuition reciprocity. The annually renewable scholarship will be applicable toward tuition, fees, room and board, transportation and incidental costs.

BJC created the scholarship for up to 14 students in communities served by BJC hospitals in response to regional community needs identified by the Ferguson Commission. It’s administered by the Scholarship Foundation. For more information and application criteria, visit https://sfstl.org/financial-aid/student-loansgrants.

Guns, youth and this bettin’ woman

I’m a bettin’ woman, so my bet is on the young people who are in motion based upon the latest mass shooting. This could finally be the time that some reform in gun laws gets traction. No matter how small that change is, it will be the action that cracks the door for more and bigger actions. The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have lit a prairie fire.

I thought surely there’d be some action by Congress when one of their own (U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford) was a target of gun violence in 2011. I knew we had hit rock bottom when young children at Sandy Hook Elementary School became casualties the following year and watched with disgust as the NRA doubled-down.

Here we are again, locked in a now predictable cycle: mass shooting, outrage and grief, aggressive push for reforms, pushback by the National Rifle Association, retreat until the next tragedy strikes.

We have accepted this reality because as we have refused to get to the roots of our violence problem. Instead, we choose to arm ourselves to deal with anticipated, inevitable violence that is happening all around us on so many levels. Face it: We are a violent nation.

It’s not just about the growing and more deadly massacres carried out by mainly white males with automatic weapons. I’m talking about police violence, military violence, state executions, domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, racial violence, religious violence, intrarace community violence. There’s bullying by all ages. There’s the mayhem and destruction caused by policy and legislation. Violence is most thought of in terms of physical violence, but it’s also verbal, psychological, cultural and social. We. Are. A. Violent. Nation.

Let’s not get too hung up with issues like access to mental health services; everyone who does physical harm to someone is not necessary mentally ill. This is about our collective propensity towards violence.

If we really start to get to the root of U.S. violence, we will see that capitalism relies heavily on working class people blaming the “other” while the One Percenters watch in delight all the way to the banks. Who gets the good-paying jobs, who gets the harshest prison sentence, who gets the substandard house in a hyper-segregated neighborhood, who gets access to quality education – all these indicators that affect quality of life are daily, controlled battles designed to keep us stressed while a growing oligarchy dismantles any semblance of democratic structures and processes.

So, look over your shoulders, adults with power to make changes but who care more about money than the lives of young people. History has showed us time and time again that the impatience of the youth for injustice and inhumanity often accelerate the slow wheels of change.

These are not actors; they are citizens and future voters. To the Marco Rubios and Roy Blunts of the world, they are coming after your seat. You are standing in the way of young people who are fighting for their very lives.

Jamala Rogers

URBAN

Brown’s shooting death by thenFerguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in 2014.

July 26 was also McMillan’s birthday and the first day of the National Urban League Conference, which was hosted in St. Louis – and was the largest convention in the national organization’s history.

“That literally being the 30th anniversary of me being a member of the Urban League,” McMillan said. “For that to be the first building that we ever constructed from the ground up and also to become the largest and most successful Urban League convention out of 107 that took place – that made it bigger than New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, D.C., Baltimore – was truly an honor and something that I’ll never forget.”

In 2004, when James H. Buford was president of the local affiliate, St. Louis became the first Urban League affiliate to receive a five-star rating, and the affiliate has maintained that rating ever since. It is the nation’s highest-ranked affiliate, serving the most people.

“We are truly grateful to the St. Louis community for all the tremendous support that we’ve received over the past century, in the form of all the governmental grants that we have from the city, state and federal governments, along with our corporate support,” McMillan said.

“We have literally helped millions of people within that 100-year span – because last

GREITENS

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 two days of the week for less formal proceedings in the case. These periods will take place from 9 to 10 a.m. on Monday and Thursday while the case is in progress.

year alone, we made it to our goal of serving 100,000 people throughout St. Louis city, St. Louis County, East St. Louis and St. Clair County.”

Founded in 1918 under the leadership of George W. Buckner, the St. Louis Urban League began as a civil rights organization and evolved to center around community services, such as economic empowerment and providing basic family needs.

“I think if you look at the organization 100 years ago,” McMillan said, “and within any given period in that time frame and today, the number one thing that we have done for individuals has been to be a pathway to employment, to provide jobs and economic stability.”

is still a major focus for the organization, and why the St. Louis Urban League created the Save Our Sons program and provides employment services throughout the metropolitan area.

“Much has changed in the area of race relations, but obviously much more has to be done to try to make sure the African-American community and those in need overall have the resources they need to have an equal chance at life, in the form of education, health care, job training and everything else,” McMillan said.

n “The number one thing that we have done for individuals has been to be a pathway to employment, to provide jobs and economic stability.”

– Michael McMillan, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis

Many people often say that they got their first jobs from the Urban League, he said.

“We were the bridge to employment and selfsufficiency for the AfricanAmerican middle class, more so than any other organization across the country,” McMillan said. “Today, African Americans still have two to three times the average unemployment rate of the overall society in almost every major metropolitan area across the country.”

This is why employment

Greitens’ lawyers also motioned for the state attorney’s office to turn over what they believed was additional relevant evidence in the case.

In criminal cases, the prosecution is required to turn over to the defense any information that could be exculpatory for their client.

The Urban League also has used its platform to shed light on civil-rights issues that have come out following the Ferguson unrest and protests of the Jason Stockley not-guilty verdict, he said.

However, in today’s political climate, it’s a fight to maintain existing programs, let alone further the cause of justice.

“We live in a constant state of challenge in terms of the attack on programs that provide the social safety net for individuals from a governmental standpoint,” McMillan said. “Constant bills that are aimed at cutting funding for programs and taking away opportunities for the most vulnerable.”

The organization

Since the Circuit Attorney’s Office in this case hired private detectives to investigate rather than conducting a police investigation, the defense asked for the prosecution to turn over all of the investigator’s notes.

“We haven’t even been provided the addresses of the identified witnesses, and we still don’t have transcripts

will celebrate its 100-year anniversary by hosting events throughout the year. The first was on January 12 with its annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial at Saint Louis University. The university (McMillan’s alma mater) is celebrating its 200-year anniversary this year.

The Urban League will host its Centennial Gala on March 24 at 7 p.m. at the Marriott St. Louis Hotel. Academy Award Winner Viola Davis will serve as keynote speaker for event followed by a concert by Eric Benét.

“We are especially excited to celebrate the Urban League’s Centennial with a black-tie gala,” said McMillan. “Each year the league serves 100,000 residents in the areas of community empowerment, economic opportunity, educational excellence, civil rights and advocacy throughout the St. Louis metropolitan region with 13 locations and a $21 million budget. We also would like to highlight the agency’s historical value and contributions to the community-at-large.”

“It’s an honor to chair the Urban League’s Board during this historic year. We have a tremendous CEO in Michael McMillan. He and his staff are doing great things for our community,” said Keith Williamson, board chair of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and VP and general counsel at Centene.

For more information about the Urban League’s anniversary events, visit https://www.ulstl. com. Tickets for the gala start at $250; call 314-615-3668.

from the grand jury,” one of Greitens’ lawyers said.

Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner asked for a protective order preventing the addresses of witnesses being given to third parties, but the defense wanted the ability to give that information to their own investigators.

Burlison asked the parties to agree to a court order that the addresses should not be given to anyone outside of those directly working on the case, to which they agreed.

The Circuit Attorney’s Office also agreed to turn over all relevant evidence now and any further evidence they require within 48 hours. The defense will be allowed to subpoena information from all witnesses, including private investigators, 48 hours before their depositions.

Year of the Brown Dog

The judge also required the defense to disclose any expert witnesses they currently intend to call by the end of March, and any others by April 10. Burlison said he would rule on any difficulties that arose but trusted both parties to fulfill their obligations.

“I am working on my assumptions that everybody’s gonna follow the law,” Burlison said.

The court also discussed the jury proceedings, expected to be lengthy and complicated due to the high-profile nature of the criminal prosecution of a governor.

Potential jurors in a “complex” case such as this are required to be notified six weeks ahead of time. The

Circuit Attorney’s Office proposed calling around 120 jurors to narrow down to a pool of at least 36 which are qualified, leading to a final

jury of 12 members and 2 alternates. Burlison decided to call a total of 160 potential jurors, who will be questioned on their qualifications on May 10 and 11 before the expected May 14 trial start date.

“We’ll bring them in groups of 40, because that’s about all we can get into the courtroom,” Burlison said. Burlison also raised the question of potentially sequestering the jury, keeping them isolated from the public for the 3 to 5 days the trial is expected to take.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Gardner said.

Greitens’ attorneys said they would need to consult with their client before offering an opinion. Burlison will decide whether to sequester the jury in the near future.

Photo by Wiley Price

St. Louis Language School’s Chinese Immersion Program fourth-grader Mose Ogunrinde participated in the school’s New Year celebration honoring the Year of the Brown Dog on Feb. 15.

Fifth Amendment right to remain silent under police questioning, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against being deprived of liberty without due process of law.

The fundamental legal question is whether police officers can determine that a person should be held for questioning without seeking a warrant from the judicial branch.

“Wanteds are used for serious state-level crimes and minor code violations alike, including traffic offenses,” the CCR said on its website. “In some cases, wanteds seem to be issued merely because officers want to take custody of an individual for questioning. It is unclear how long a wanted may stay in the system – potentially months or even years.”

The case, known as Furlow v. Belmar, names the St. Louis County Police Department and Police Chief Jon Belmar as defendants, along with several individual arresting officers. The defendants are Dwayne Furlow, Ralph Torres and Howard Liner, three people who were arrested and then

GUNS

Continued from A1 that has been advocating for solutions to gun violence since the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut.

St. Louis has the largest Moms chapter in the country, but the attendance was still about 10 times larger than usual. People filled not only the auditorium at Hixson Middle School in Webster Groves, but also the overflow seating in the cafeteria.

Across the country this week, other Moms Demand Action groups had the same swell in numbers at their regular meetings. The recent school massacre in Parkland, Florida – which left 17 students and teachers dead – has renewed the country’s demand for common sense gun laws, leaders said.

Yet while other states are responding to the school massacre by tightening gun restrictions, a Missouri House committee passed a bill on February 27 to eliminate 15 gun-free zones from state law. The 8-4 vote ran along party

released under the wanteds system. The attorneys with CCR and ArchCity hope to proceed with the case as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of everyone arrested because of a wanted. They are seeking actual and punitive damages. In court on February 28, both sides sought an immediate judgment in their favor. Blake Strode, the executive director of ArchCity Defenders and one of the attorneys in the case, said it was “undisputed” in the case that the plaintiffs were held and questioned without judicial oversight.

Strode said that if the court would issue an immediate order that the wanteds system was unconstitutional, the plaintiffs’ attorneys would be willing to set aside the question of whether there was probable cause to arrest their three clients.

“The entire debate regarding probable cause, I think, is actually quite beside the point,” Strode said.

Strode argued that St. Louis County is abusing a Missouri law that allows suspects to be held for 24 hours before charges are filed. He argued that it is always unconstitutional to question a suspect in custody before seeking a warrant.

St. Louis County Counselor

lines. If the Republicanbacked House Bill 1936 becomes law, it would allow concealed weapons to be carried on public college campuses, private property, sports stadiums, among other places where guns are currently prohibited.

The House committee heard six hours of testimony – largely in opposition to the bill – from teachers, students, members of law enforcement, universities, Moms Demand Action, among many others. About 200 people submitted statements and 75 traveled to Jefferson City to testify, including St. Louis city’s public safety director.

“I hope you all realize what this message is here today,” said state Rep. Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis).

“It is the political truth that if you talk about measures that are common-sense regulations on guns, we will get voted out of office. Republicans and Democrats alike have been terrified to bring up the issue.”

He said it’s not only because of the National Rifle Association’s large campaign contributions or lobbyists, which have come under scrutiny after the Florida

Michael Hughes said the CCR and ArchCity were misinterpreting the cases they cited as precedent and that the wanteds procedure was permissible as long as the officers had probable cause.

“Everyone said, without exception, that they always had probable cause,” Hughes said. “There’s no underlying unconstitutional conduct by any of the named officers.”

In most jurisdictions, the norm is to obtain an arrest warrant before the arrest in most circumstances; exceptions might include arresting a suspect who is dangerous or fleeing a crime scene, or arrests that take place over a weekend or holiday when no judges are available.

In St. Louis County, Strode argued, the wanteds have replaced that system as the default.

“Police are allowed to arrest without a warrant as an exception to the warrant rule,” Strode said. “What they’re not allowed to do is have a system of warrantless arrests.”

One of the plaintiffs in the case, Ralph Torres, was arrested in his garage at his home, in front of his eightyear-old son. Several weeks had gone by since a wanted was issued for Torres’ arrest.

In all the cases being

by

Dancing for Deaconess

a

on Thursday,

Amendment,” Strode said.

considered, the arresting officers did not know what crime the individual was suspected of committing, or why the officer who issued the wanted believed there was probable cause.

“They were purely acting on the probable cause of other officers’ determination, which is not permitted by the Fourth

n The recent school massacre in Parkland, Florida – which left 17 students and teachers dead – has renewed the country’s demand for common sense gun laws.

shooting. People around the state, along with other parts of the country, have become convinced that any talk on “common-sense guns laws,” like background checks, mean that legislators are trying to take guns out of people’s hands, Meredith said.

Now, he said, “The conversation is changing. It’s

those kids in Parkland, Florida. It’s kids across the country.”

Jessica Coleman, the St. Louis chapter head, said that after House Bill 1936 passed on February 25, a NRA representative was seen in a video touting that “their” legislation passed.

The association leaders are going to fight to maintain their

The plaintiffs’ attorneys also argued that the case should be allowed to proceed as a class action lawsuit because everyone who has been arrested because a wanted was issued for them shared the same underlying legal grievance.

Hughes said each case is simply too unique and too complex to make a determination about all suspects as a class. The judge in the case, John Ross, asked each side of the case to write a legal brief on the class action question within the next 30 days, at which point he will make a determination of how the case should proceed.

control and influence over the legislators, Coleman said.

“They are going to try to do everything they can to stamp down what we do,” Coleman said. “They are going to try and make us feel hopeless. But we don’t have that choice. These are our kids’ lives we’re talking about. So we’re not going to back down.”

Coleman urged the crowd to call their representatives and ask them to keep HB 1936 from getting out on the schedule for a vote on the House floor.

Erica Jones shared the story of her 25-year-old

daughter, who was shot and killed while talking on the sidewalk with a friend in August 2015. Jones’ 5-year-old grandson, who witnessed his mother’s death, survived.

“You would never know how it feels unless you’ve been in my shoes,” Jones said. “The only way it’s going to change is if you vote. It’s a tragedy that the shooting had to happen like that in order for people to see it’s real.”

Watch the meeting on the St. Louis American’s Facebook livestream at https://m.facebook.com/ StLouisAmerican/.

Photo

Wiley Price

Deaconess Foundation held

grand opening at its new facility the Child WellBeing Center in Midtown

March 1, with a big celebration. Guests attending the opening danced with African dancers before heading inside.

Art Museum Kicks off Women’s History Month

By Jade Powers, 2017-2018

Romare Bearden Museum Graduate Fellow

If It Wasn’t for the Women is a program presented by the Saint Louis Art Museum each year to highlight women of color working in the arts. This year three rising stars in St. Louis have been chosen to speak about their work in the arts and sciences. Through lines, circles, triangles, and other geometric shapes, Wyndi DeSouza, Yusra Ali, and Eugenia Alexander each create works of art that harmoniously negotiate the space between science, shape, and self.

If It Wasn’t for the Women: Science, Shape, and Self

Saint Louis Art Museum Farrell Auditorium

Saturday, March 10, 2018, 11am-12:30pm

Wyndi DeSouza utilizes photography, video, drawing, installation, books, and mail to create what she calls “abstract data”. Her art form presents data maps that visualize location, emotion and relationships between people. Represented at times as graphed circles, Wyndi questions how her viewers visualize trauma and everyday life.

Yusra Ali curated St. Louis’ first Muslim art exhibition in April 2017. With that show she was able to bring her passion for art and community together to celebrate unity and individualism. As a visual artist, she is interested in answering questions about her Muslim and American identity in her work by utilizing geometric shapes

commonly found in mosques.

Eugenia Alexander is a multimedia artist who draws her inspirations from traditional African symbolism and textile design. She is also inspired by Afrofuturism, a genre of literature, art, and music that features futuristic or science fiction themes incorporating black history and culture. Working mostly with textiles, Alexander’s signature style is created through the alluring repetitive line patterns that often adorn her work. Alexander, Ali, and DeSouza will discuss how their artwork relates to both works in the Saint Louis Art Museum’s permanent collection and scientific ideas. Following their presentation there will be a panel discussion moderated by Jade Powers, the 2017-2018 Romare Bearden Museum Graduate Fellow. We invite you to be a part of this event that is open and free to the public. Tickets may be reserved in person at the Museum’s Information Centers or through MetroTix at metrotix.com or 314.534.1111. All tickets reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge; the service charge is waived for tickets picked up at the Museum. Same-day tickets can be obtained on-site.

Westland Acres fights to maintain founder’s American dream

Acres resident Doris Frazier says she has been living in Westland Acres “68 years and we’re still fighting for water and gas.”

Black region in West County has proud history, complicated future

By Ashley Winters For

Louis American

The St.

Imagine hearing the hustle and bustle of cranes and bulldozers and seeing suburban homes sprout up like weeds out of the ground. Then realizing there is new development surrounding you, with many newcomers partaking in the American dream – except for your community. For St. Louis city and county, this story is a familiar one. For the residents of Westland Acres, this is the reality they live in.

Westland Acres, or “The Hill,” to some is the best kept secret tucked away in between Chesterfield and Wildwood in St. Louis County. The African-American community has a long and rich history dating all the way back to postslavery when William West, a former slave, bought 133 acres from his slave owner.

Going up a winding and narrow hill, Westland Acres – a one-way-in-and-out community – shares a nostalgic close-knit family-like connection, where the community church is the staple of the neighborhood and everyone knows everyone.

In 1879, West bought this land that now houses generation after generation of his descendants for $5 an acre from the Long family – the family that had considered him their property. The history of Westland Acres can be traced back to some of the first black families that lived in modern day West County.

Doris Frazier, whose late husband Cliff Frazier was the greatgrandson of West, has been living in the Westland Acres Community for 68 years. She moved to Westland Acres in the 1950s. Back then, more than 40 families were living in Westland Acres. Doris Frazier has seen a lot, everything from interstate 64/40 changing from a two-lane highway to a fourlane highway to the push of developing half-amillion-dollar homes in her area.

communities. Neighbors of Westland Acres have access to natural gas, whereas the Fraziers and her community use propane gas.

Because of zoning, the 122-acre land is split between Chesterfield and Wildwood, and this community has policies and practices from both municipalities, which makes it difficult and costly for those who still live in that area. The property tax increase has become cumbersome for the residents who live in Westland Acres, most of all the residents are retired and living on a fixed income. It is a struggle every year for them to pay taxes. Frazier has had to pay $10, 000 in taxes for 2017. Property developments built around Westland Acres are skyrocketing the property taxes, yet both according to the family, municipalities have not been a real help towards keeping their family’s land or keeping the West County area diverse.

The Frazier family said they are being forced out of a community they love.

“The most significant point is we’re still living on the 122 acres, but we still don’t have sewer service, or gas,” Doris Frazier said. “I’ve been here 68 years and we’re still fighting for water and gas.” Many forget the history of African Americans in St. Louis County. Areas like Brentwood and Frontenac all hold such a rich story of success, community, and ownership. And because of big developers, land has been lost – and the rich stories that go along with it.

The community of Westland Acres would like the Chesterfield and Wildwood municipalities to help them with their goals of development, to lend resources and expertise so they can experience the American dream too, and right now they feel trapped.

“This is a human rights issue,” Dora Frazier said. “Who wants to live where you can’t drink the water in your house?” Dora Frazier is the granddaughter of Doris Frazier. Long-time residents formed the Westland Acres Community Improvement Project, and many feel they have done their due diligence despite the many challenges they face. They would love to see their community reach its fullest potential and partner with the surrounding neighborhoods, but help has been hard to find.

The Westland Acres community has dwindled to less than eight families. Most are retired and are struggling to pay property taxes hiked by development nearby.

Descendants of William West fear their heritage and land will become a thing of the past. The growing population of West County has increased property values by the thousands. The concern of developers squatting to seize the land at a cheaper value has been front of mind in this area for many years.

However, with all the development going on, Frazier and her family feel Westland Acres is excluded from the plans of the Chesterfield and Wildwood area.

Over the years, Westland Acres has seen its neighbors receive development, but for them there have been countless challenges for their community to progress.

According to residents, there are no fire hydrants – and residents don’t have access to county water. Many either rely on well water or relatives bringing in water from other

The Frazier family would like to see St. Louis County name a street after William West, considering many St. Louis streets and schools are named after slave owners, like Sappington, Long and Boone. Some years back, the late Clifford Frazier proposed subdividing Westland Acres for affordable homes; however, many residents at the time derailed his plan. According to the Frazier family, they believed Chesterfield did not want a community that did not represent what their idea of neighbors should look like.

Dora Frazier compares the tactics of Chesterfield and Wildwood to apartheid and said Chesterfield and Wildwood are trying to discourage the people of Westland Acres. She believes both municipalities are waiting to see if they will relinquish the land.

“I see houses rising around us that reach the sky, but I look around where I am,” Doris Frazier said. “I see houses that are falling apart with people struggling to make ends meet.”

Westland

Melinda Webster West, wife of Westland Acres founder William West

A cabin that was part of the early Westland Acres community

Louis.

Surgeries to remove keloids going well

Roosevelt High teacher says God provides when fundraising falls short

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St. Louis American

St. Louis teacher Tony Perkins will undergo a third surgery in the coming weeks to remove more keloids.

“I don’t know how much is going to be done at what particular time,” he said. “I am very satisfied with how the surgeries are going. It seems to be going pretty well.” It was almost a year ago when The American first spoke with Perkins about his painful and disfiguring condition. Keloids are an overgrowth of scar tissue, which can be lumpy, raised and discolored, that are larger than the originally wound. They are usually

n “He looks better now and I think he is fine with his surgery.”

– Tayla Mosley, on Tony Perkins

the result of a skin-penetrating injury, such as cuts, surgical incisions, burns, piercings or even tattoos. They can take weeks or months to appear and can grow larger over time. They occur in about 10 percent of people, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. The American

Academy of Dermatology says persons of African, Asian or Hispanic descent are more prone to keloids. After a number of unsuccessful surgeries over the years, Perkins found a surgeon, an African-American physician, who he felt could remove the keloids permanently and return his face, upper body, torso and back to normal. Perkins’ first surgery with this physician – Dr. Michael Jones, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon who has offices in Atlanta and in New York – was in March 2017, followed by a second surgery in October 2017.

See KELOIDS, A11

Trump policies traumatize immigrant children

By Jenny Samuels Of The ACLU

On November 1, 2017, Ms. L. and her 7-year-old daughter, S.S., arrived at a United States port of entry near San Diego and presented themselves to border agents. Ms. L. had fled with her child from their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ms. L. left in fear for her life. Now, the pair was finally in the United States, seeking asylum in a country where they thought they would be safe. Approximately four days later, Ms. L.’s young daughter was taken from her without any explanation or justification. When the officers separated them, Ms. L. could hear her daughter in the next room screaming that she did not want to be taken away from her mother. No one explained why her daughter was being taken away, where she was being taken, or when she would see her child again.

More than three and a half months later, Ms. L. remains at a detention center in the San Diego area, while her daughter is detained in Chicago, halfway across the country, without her mother or anyone else she knows.

n The American Association of Pediatrics recently denounced the Trump administration’s practice of separating immigrant children from their parents.

The separation of Ms. L. and her daughter is in blatant violation of the due process protections of the Fifth Amendment, since the two were separated without justification or even a hearing. In the time that they have been separated, Ms. L. has only been able to speak to her child by phone a handful of times. In those calls, the frightened young girl cries. Ms. L. tries to stay strong, but the stress and uncertainty of the situation have taken a huge toll on her as well. She struggles to eat and sleep, and she suffers from depression.

The government has no legitimate interest in separating Ms. L. from her daughter since there’s been no evidence, or even accusation, of abuse or neglect. Instead,

Would replacing food stamps with food boxes reduce hunger?

‘Another way to insult and disenfranchise people,’ says agricultural economist

U of I News Bureau

Craig Gundersen, the Soybean Industry Endowed Professor of Agricultural Strategy at the University of Illinois College of ACES, is an agricultural economist who studies the causes and consequences of food insecurity and the impact of food assistance programs on public health. He spoke with the U of I News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about the Trump administration’s proposal to replace the benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with boxes of shelf-stable food that would be delivered to recipients.

How realistic is the Department of

n The current SNAP system is more efficient and effective than what the Trump administration is proposing.

Agriculture’s Harvest Box proposal?

Craig Gundersen: It’s dead on arrival, and the main reason why is that it’s a policy idea that goes backward in time. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

See STAMPS, A11

Craig Gundersen, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, says the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is successful because “it gives autonomy and dignity to low-income households to make the choices that they think are best for their families.”

Jenny Samuels

See SAMUELS, A11

Although there is still work to do, two surgeries to remove keloids by a noted New York surgeon produced encouraging results for Roosevelt High School teacher Tony Perkins of St.

Photos by Wiley Price

KELOIDS

Continued from A10

“I believe it is taken care of this time,” Perkins said. “In recent years, I could tell maybe within a few months that it was coming back and, right now, I see no signs of it.”

He launched a GoFundMe campaign last year prior to his first surgery for the keloid removal, which was not covered by his health insurance. Although the fundraiser has a way to go before meeting its $40,000 goal, Perkins and the surgeries are moving forward.

“God has been working for me,” Perkins said. “Whenever I need to go to New York to see

him or I need to go to Atlanta, for some reason, I start getting money.”

What few photos Perkins would post or was tagged in on social media have shown improvement, though the lower part of his face and chin typically were bandaged, which is part of the process.

“When they treat it with the radiation, it’s killing the cells in the keloid,” Perkins said. The bandages kept the area clean and drained as it healed.

Last spring, while on a follow-up visit, Perkins said his doctor invited him to an event for his reality TV series “We Are the Joneses” on the BET network.

Back in St. Louis, the surgeries reveal an outer appearance that matches the

SIUE to host free community health clinics

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will host a free Community Health Clinic from 3:306 p.m. Thursday, March 15 at the Fairmont City Library Center, 4444 Collinsville Rd. in Fairmont City. A similar event will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 7 at the Technology Learning Center located at 111 South Appleknocker Dr. in Cobden. Services will include diabetes, hearing, cholesterol, oral health, and height, weight and body mass screenings, as well as blood pressure measurement, diabetes A1C screening and diabetes foot inspection. Nutrition, dental care and public health education will also be offered.

inner man that those who know Perkins have always seen.

“Now when I look in the mirror, I see – basically, the old me,” Perkins said. After shying away from cameras and photos for so long, Perkins is taking more pictures.

“As far as my confidence level, it really wasn’t bad,” he said, “but it’s a little better than what it was.”

Perkins’ battle with keloids helped the popular Roosevelt High School teacher show students that they too can excel despite obstacles to overcome.

His students share his excitement. One of them, Tayla Mosley, said, “I think it was good. He looks better now and I think he is fine with his surgery.”

Ameren awarded for increasing colorectal cancer screening

St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation was recognized by the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable with its “80% by 2018 National Achievement Award,” a national honor recognizing leadership in the ongoing effort to increase colorectal cancer screening rates across the Unites States. The award title reflects the roundtable’s national goal of regularly screening 80 percent of adults age 50 or over for colorectal cancer.

In 2016, Ameren signed the “80% by 2018” pledge and began partnering with the American Cancer Society to encourage colorectal cancer screening and awareness among co-workers. The company works with its health plan to send targeted mailings to employees and spouses ages 50 and older who have not been screened. Ameren also encourages screenings at employee health fairs, in its newsletter, in digital message boards, and by inviting co-workers to sign a pledge to demonstrate their personal commitment to get screened. As a result, screening rates have increased from 58 percent to 72 percent of its 8,600 co-workers in just two years.

The roundtable was co-founded by the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Free health fair in St. Ann on March 31

The Community Action Agency of St. Louis County, Inc. (CAASTLC) is hosting a free Home, Health and Energy Resource Fair 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, March 31 at the St. Ann Community Center, 1 Community Center Drive. This fair will feature raffles, resource vendors, free health screenings, children’s activities, free food and entertainment by Big Papa G. Also, federally certified and state-licensed professional enrollment staff will also be on hand to assist

New Medicare cards coming soon –how to avoid scams

By Lisa Weintraub Schifferle

Of the FTC

Starting in April, Medicare will begin mailing new cards to everyone who gets Medicare benefits. Why? To help protect your identity, Medicare is removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards. Instead, the new cards will have a unique Medicare Number. This will happen automatically. You don’t need to do anything or pay anyone to get your new card. Medicare will mail your card, at no cost, to the address you have on file with the Social Security Administration. If you need to update your official mailing address, visit your online Social Security account or call 1-800-7721213. When you get your new card, your Medicare coverage and benefits will stay the same. If your sister who lives in another state gets her card before you, don’t fret. The cards will be mailed in waves, to various parts of the country, from April 2018 until April 2019. So, your card may arrive at a different time than hers. You can check the rollout schedule to get a better idea when you may be receiving yours. When you get your new card, be sure to destroy your old card. Don’t just toss it in the trash. Shred it. If you have a separate Medicare Advantage card, keep that because you’ll

STAMPS

Continued from A10 began in the early 1960s, and before that, it was a commodity supplement program, meaning you would go somewhere to get surplus cheese or surplus milk. It changed to become a more efficient and ultimately more effective program – people go to grocery stores to get the food that they feel is correct for their family as opposed to what was available at the moment at these distribution centers. From an administrative standpoint, the Harvest Box idea is a disaster. First of all, you would have to set up an entirely new bureaucracy to figure out what foods you’re going to put in these boxes,

SAMUELS

Continued from A10

there is overwhelming medical evidence that the separation of a young child from her parent will have a devastating, and possibly permanent, negative

how you procure those foods and how you distribute the boxes, among many other decisions. Needless to say, the government is not really in the business of shipping food to tens of millions of Americans on a weekly basis. It just doesn’t make any sense, mostly because we already have a very good system in place. The current SNAP system is more efficient and effective than what the Trump administration is proposing.

Is this idea aligned with the Trump administration’s stated intention of cutting SNAP by more than $213 billion over the next decade?

Craig Gundersen: In the past, a lot of these proposals for giving poor people

impact on the child’s wellbeing.

The American Association of Pediatrics recently denounced the Trump administration’s practice of separating immigrant children from their parents, noting that: “The psychological distress, anxiety, and

still need it for treatment.

As the new Medicare cards start being mailed, be on the lookout for Medicare scams. Here are some tips:

Don’t pay for your new

baskets of food in lieu of food stamps were the province of the political left. There are a number of people in the public health community who argue that SNAP beneficiaries shouldn’t be able to choose what to eat, and that they should be prohibited from purchasing certain items – soft drinks, sports drinks, certain cereals. When you stigmatize SNAP, fewer people sign up for it. So the idea of giving people food baskets and eliminating choice is just another way to insult and disenfranchise people and hope it has the intended effect

card. It’s yours for free. If anyone calls and says you need to pay for it, that’s a scam.

Don’t give personal information to get your card. If someone calls claiming to be

n If someone calls claiming to be from Medicare, asking for your Social Security number or bank information, that’s a scam.

from Medicare, asking for your Social Security number or bank information, that’s a scam. Hang up. Medicare will never ask you to give personal information to get your new number and card.

of fewer people signing up for benefits. If you want to kill a program without actually killing it, this is how you do it.

n Giving people food baskets and eliminating choice is just another way to insult and disenfranchise people.

What makes SNAP different from the vast majority of government programs?

Craig Gundersen: SNAP is far and away the most successful government program we have going today. It provides benefits to more than 46 million people, and it does everything it sets out to do in terms of alleviating food insecurity and reducing hunger in our country. It’s really the only near-cash assistance

depression associated with separation from a parent would follow the children well after the immediate period of separation — even after the eventual reunification with a parent or other family.” Every day that this girl is separated from her mother causes her greater psychological harm,

which can lead to permanent emotional trauma. Because Ms. L. passed the initial asylum screening, which established that she had a “credible fear” of returning to the Congo, she and her child are eligible for release. But, even if there were some legitimate reason that the two

program in the U.S. that serves as a social safety net for all Americans who are eligible.

The reason why it’s successful is that it gives autonomy and dignity to lowincome households to make the choices that they think are best for their families. But this idea of giving a family a box of food takes away their autonomy and treats them like people unable to decide what is best for their families. That’s condescending to people as opposed to giving them dignity. It really is an insulting way to treat low-income households. It stigmatizes being poor.

And people do often treat SNAP recipients differently even though the vast majority of SNAP recipients are

Guard your card. When you get your new card, safeguard it like you would any other health insurance or credit card. While removing the Social Security number cuts down on many types of identity theft, you’ll still want to protect your new card because identity thieves could use it to get medical services. For more information about changes to your Medicare card go to go.medicare.gov/newcard. And if you’re a victim of a scam, report it to the FTC

Lisa Weintraub Schifferle is an attorney for the FTC in the Division of Consumer and Business Education.

taxpayers – either in the past or in the present. Many Americans working full-time at low-wage jobs still struggle to put food on the table for their families. SNAP gives them a little extra boost to purchase the food they need. There are other groups that benefit from SNAP. There are millions of seniors who are no longer in the labor force – SNAP feeds them. Another group that often gets overlooked are people with disabilities who can work a little but maybe not full-time or don’t earn enough in wages to get by. SNAP helps them, too. I wish more people would understand just how much SNAP helps individuals and families in times of need. It truly is a safety net.

couldn’t be released, Ms. L. and her daughter could be reunited in a family detention center. Instead, in flagrant disregard of the Constitution and common sense, the government has separated a young child from her mother. A lawsuit seeking relief has been filed on behalf of Ms. L. and her child by the ACLU. It is a disgrace that a mother and child fleeing for their lives should be subjected to the trauma of separation by the very government from which they seek asylum. Jenny Samuels is a member of the Editorial Staff at the ACLU.

St. Louis teacher Tony Perkins with this physician –Dr. Michael Jones, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon.

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

Nutrition Challenge:

Calcium!

Daylight Savings Time

Diversity

Your body uses calcium to build strong bones. By the time you hit the age of 20, your bones have usually completed their growing.

So it is during your school years that you need to give your body the most calcium.

Drinking soda not only reduces the amount of calcium you consume, it also affects how your body absorbs the calcium you do get.

Daylight Savings starts 3/11/18

This weekend we’ll all turn our clocks forward an hour, resulting in more daylight in the evenings.

Use that extra hour to increase your outdoor playtime. As it stays lighter later and later, you can take advantage of this extra time to get plenty of exercise.

What is diversity? As a class, discuss what you think it means. Is it the differences in how we look or act? Is it the differences in where we live, work or go to school?

Healthy Kids Healthy Kids

calcium include:

> Milk – 8 oz. (300 mg)

> American Cheese – 2 oz. (300 mg)

> Cottage Cheese – 4 oz. (70 mg)

Look for “calcium-fortified” foods and beverages to boost your calcium intake.

The Institute of Medicine recommends that kids between the ages of 9 and 18 years should eat and drink at least 1,300 milligrams of calcium each day. Some great sources of

Here’s a fun way to do just that.

Pay attention to what time the street lights come on this Sunday. Now each night after that see how much later they come on. Make it a goal to add that much time to your outdoor active play.

With the warmer weather and increased daylight,

Break into small groups and create two lists: what everyone in the group has in common and what are the differences.

Is it bad to be different? What are some advantages to being around people that are different than you?

Learning Standards: HPE 2, NH 2, NH 4

FYI— If you choose lowerfat skim milk, it has the same calcium as whole milk!

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

there’s no excuse to not get in at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Why not try for a goal of 60 minutes at least 4 days per week? You’ll look and feel better!

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 4, HPE 5, NH 1

Dr. Alison C. Nash, Pediatrician

Where do you work? I have a private practice in St. Louis. Where did you go to school? I graduated from Northwest High School in St. Louis and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry at Howard University in Washington, D.C. I went to medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and I trained in pediatrics in the US Navy. What does a pediatrician do? I check that children are growing well, talk to the moms and dads about their children eating fruit and veggies, getting plenty of exercise and sleep, and reading every day. I give children shots to keep them from getting sick. I give children medicine if they are sick, to help them get well. Why did you choose this career? I decided to be a children’s doctor because I love to see children grow up safe and healthy and I love to help moms and dads make that happen. What is your favorite part of the job you have? My favorite part of the job is seeing the smiles on children’s faces! I also love to see how children grow and change through the years.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

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

Kids got cabin fever?

Spring classes at the Saint Louis Zoo

Whether you want to learn more about turtles, penguins, apes, or big cats, the Zoo has a class for you! Our programs are designed to help individuals of all ages and abilities learn through experience, involvement and discovery. Programs include live animals, guided tours, and exciting activities and experiences for the whole family. Programs available for homeschoolers and scouts too!

For program listings and registration information, visit www.stlzoo.org/education or call (314) 646-4544, option #6.

Cottage Che e

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

SCIENCE CORNER

In order for a computer to work, you will need to understand the basic parts of the computer: hardware, software, and input. Hardware includes the keyboard, mouse, speakers, and monitor. Inside the computer, is the central processing unit (CPU). The hardware receives commands from the software. Software includes programs installed on the computer. This may include word processing systems or games. You provide the input by typing a command or clicking an icon, which tells the computer what to do.

How Do Computers Work?

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Does practice make perfect? In this experiment, you will observe the effect that practice has on computer keyboarding skills.

When you start the computer, the CPU tells the hardware to start certain programs. This is called “booting up.” Next, you will provide input when you choose what command you want to enter. If you want to surf the Internet, your input/demand is the process of typing in the web address, called the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The browser software will interact with the modem to find the correct address and will display the information on your computer screen. Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text to gain background information.

SCIENCE STARS

FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMPUTER SCIENTIST—

Clarence “Skip” Ellis

Clarence “Skip” Ellis was born in 1943 in Chicago. His mother was a single parent with five children. At age 15, Ellis went to work to help his family pay the bills. He worked the overnight shift protecting an insurance company’s computer. In 1958, computers were rare and very expensive. In his spare time at work, Ellis studied the computer manual very carefully and learned a lot. He was able to put his knowledge to use one day when the company ran out of punch cards for a project. Ellis changed the settings on the computer and his employers were able to reuse the old cards.

Materials Needed:

Computer • Sample Text to Type

• Notebook to Record Results

Procedure:

q Choose a sample text that you will type on the computer. This may be a paragraph found in your textbook, or a story in the newspaper.

w How long did it take you to type the text?

e Calculate your typing speed as words per minute.

r Next, practice your keyboarding skills by practicing 10-15 minutes per day.

t After five days of practice, repeat step 1.

y What was your rate after practice? ________

MATH CONNECTION

When you are working with computers, you will need to be familiar with storage terminology. All of the data that you store takes up “space.” Each computer hard drive has a limited amount of space that can be filled. Use the approximate conversions below to answer the following math questions.

Students who are learning to type on the computer keyboard will often practice with the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” because it uses every letter of

u If you would practice 10-15 minutes each day, what do you predict your score would be in an additional week?

Resources: To learn more about how to calculate words per minute, visit: http://www.calculatorcat.com/typing_test/ http://www.typingtestnow.com

Analyze: How does practice affect performance? Learning Standard: I can follow step-by-step directions to complete an experiment. I can analyze the results.

q If you have a file that takes up 2,016 bytes, how many kilobytes does it fill? ______

DID YOU KNOW?

w If you have a game that is 3.7 kilobytes, how many bytes would it be? __________

e If you have a computer program that takes up 4.7 megabytes, how many kilobytes would it be? _____________

r Use the chart to create your own problem using megabytes and terabytes to solve and trade it with a classmate. Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem.

Ellis’ high school teachers encouraged him to attend summer programs to learn more about math, science, and computers. In 1960, his church pastor helped him find a scholarship to Beloit College in Wisconsin. Ellis was discouraged to find he was the only African-American student on campus. Although it was difficult work and Ellis was lonely, he stuck it out and continued his education, even staying during winter and summer break to get caught up on his studies. During this time, Ellis was inspired by two events: he was allowed to help set up a computer that was donated to the college and he went to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. Ellis finally felt like he belonged. Ellis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in math and physics in 1964. Next, he attended the University of Illinois, earning a graduate degree in computer science. In 1969, Ellis became the first African American to earn a doctorate degree in Computer Science. He has taught at Stanford University, the University of Texas, MIT, Stevens Institute of Technology, and in Taiwan. His research has been printed in numerous journals. Ellis helped develop the idea of clicking on icons to launch programs that became the basis for Apple’s and Microsoft’s operating systems.

mapping.” It turns every pixel you see on a computer screen into a picture. Without a “GUI,” you would see only coding—letters and numbers that would represent a picture, but not actually show you a picture.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography to learn about the contributions in science, technology, and math.

Computers are a valuable resource in today’s society. Many companies have begun marketing through computerbased methods, such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Look through the newspaper and find advertisements.

q How many advertisements include websites and Facebook links?

w Visit one of the websites found in the advertisement. What information is found on the website? Can you locate:

• the company’s physical address?

• the company’s telephone number?

• the hours of operation?

• information about products/services available?

• email addresses for employees who can assist you with questions?

e What information would you add that is not included? Why?

Learning Standards: I can evaluate a website and find important information.

Mr. Wonsley’s 4th Grade Class of Gibson Elementary School Gibson Elementary School 4th grade teacher Leon Wonsley shows students J’Den Gay, Skylar Bell, Ta’Shawn Green and Mikah Crockett how

McCaskill faces

Hawley for Senate seat, Clay gets grassroots challenge

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, filed his candidacy to unseat incumbent U.S Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, at 1:16 p.m. on February 27 – the first day for candidate filing.

Four minutes prior, McCaskill had already retweeted a Missouri Democrats video along with her statement, “And today he filed for another office. Listen to what he said a short 16 months ago. #MOSen”

The video streamed together audio from Hawley’s campaign for attorney general, when he promised not to be another “ladder-climbing politician.” Hawley immediately fired back listing all of the different elected offices that McCaskill has held. He failed to mention she served the complete terms to which she was elected.

District 2. While VanOstran is among five Democrats in that race, he is leagues ahead of them in his fundraising. There are no Republicans other than Wagner in the race, and VanOstran claims he is the only Democratic candidate capable of unseating Wagner in November.

Midterm elections came in like a lion, just as we’ve all been anticipating. The race between Hawley and McCaskill will no doubt be one of the ugliest, as a Republican is trying to oust a Democrat. However, several other races also will likely be contentious.

Cort VanOstran is one Democrat hoping to oust U.S. Representative Ann Wagner, a Republican who represents

“Missouri families are speaking loud and clear,” said the St. Louis lawyer and Washington University lecturer in a statement. “You can’t vote to cut 24 million people off healthcare, hide from your constituents, dump $1.4 trillion in debt on our kids, and then ask the people of our community to reelect you. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.”

Wagner did not respond to the American’s request for comment on her race by press time.

VanOstran touts that he has received more than 1,400 individual contributions since beginning his campaign, 1,000 of which were for $100 or less. The campaign raised over $115,000 in total contributions in the fourth quarter of 2017, outraising Wagner for the second consecutive quarter.

However, Wagner had $3.2 million cash on hand at the end of 2017, while VanOstran

had $240,000. The two closest after him were William Haas with about $37,000 and Mark Osmack with about $25,000.

The last day to file for office is March 27.

Clay vs. Bush

In neighboring District 1, U.S. Representative Wm. Lacy Clay faces a grassroots challenge from Ferguson activist and pastor Cori Bush in the August Democratic primary.

“I’m running on my record of results for this community as a fearless, progressive advocate fighting for jobs, education, healthcare, housing, criminal justice reform and protecting your right to vote,” Clay said.”

Indeed, Clay scored a perfect 100 percent on the NAACP Legislative Report Card for the most recent congressional session. His advocacy for the district with the Department of Justice was key in getting Ferguson police and courts investigated, resulting in a consent decree, and for years

he has taken citizen complaints about West Lake Landfill to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is finally showing signs of taking action.

Clay added, “I am proud to lead a political organization that has won more races and produced more Democratic votes than any other in Missouri history,” a reference to the legacy he inherited from his father, retired Congressman Bill Clay Bush ran against Jason Kander in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate two years ago. In that race, the former early childhood educator and registered nurse didn’t run any TV or radio advertisements and raised a little over $6,000. She didn’t even buy a yard sign until the Friday before the primary, she said, and she still earned 42,400 votes. That’s because she has ground game.

“Where I’m lacking in financial power I make up in volunteer power, both locally and nationwide,” she said.

As a community organizer, she said she is “already on

the ground taking care of the community, without any title.”

Bush believes she will be able to champion many of the issues that residents face because she’s lived through them, she said, including being homeless for some months, being a single mother making just above minimum wage, tending to patients who can’t afford medication, paying off student loan debt, surviving sexual assault and domestic violence – as well as the assault she suffered protesting injustice.

Much like State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., she was a Ferguson frontliner who decided to try and make change through elected office. And also like Franks, she has street cred.

From April to December, Bush raised $85,000 compared to Clay’s $247,800 from January to December 2017. She had almost $18,000 cash on hand by the end of 2017, compared to Clay’s $300,000.

Bush is among three Democratic challengers and one Republican. All the other candidates have little to no money listed in their campaign finance reports.

City races

As usual, the action for St. Louis city will happen in the August 7 primary because all the candidates are Democrats, so far. Recorder of Deeds Sharon Carpenter has strong challenger in State Rep. Michael Butler, and a nominal one in Jimmie Matthews

Butler said, “This election year is extremely important to our community. It previews the future of our city. I am running for Recorder of Deeds to improve city government and innovate an office that provides vital city services. In 2018, citizens should be able to access their city government without having to visit City Hall. It is my vision to accomplish that.”

The backstory on the last election deserves a quick review. Carpenter resigned after admitting to fourthgeneration nepotism in hiring a summer intern; she claimed to understand that the statute forbid up to third-generation, but not-fourth generation, consanguinity. Then-Mayor Francis G. Slay appointed then-15th Ward Alderwoman Jennifer Florida to succeed Carpenter – a Slay family friend for the entirety of the mayor’s life. But then Carpenter came back to beat Florida in a contentious election in 2014. A shift in this seat would end a long Slay legacy, as the late Francis R. Slay held the position before Carpenter.

Incumbent License Collector

Mavis Thompson has at least one primary opponent, Dana S. Kelly-Franks, who is Bruce Franks’ wife.

“I’m inspired by the momentum we’ve generated in response to our vision,” KellyFranks said in a statement.

“The influx of support has given me confidence that our big picture approach to leadership is exactly what our city needs.”

Incumbent Collector of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly has no opponent, as of March 7.

Incumbent state Senator Jake Hummel, who won his seat two years ago in a special election, will face state Rep. Karla May in the August Democratic primary.

St. Louis County

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger will face off against Mark Mantovani in the August Democratic primary. Republican Paul Berry III and Libertarian Theo Brown Sr. have also put their names in the hat. Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch, who has been in office since 1991, faces Ferguson Councilman Wesley Bell in the Democratic primary. Bell told St. Louis Public Radio in an interview, “My comprehensive experience... will be beneficial and help me effectuate the changes needed to not only make sure that people are being treated fairly, but to make sure St. Louis County residents are safer.” All of the St. Louis County Council incumbents seeking re-election have filed, including Republican Mark Harder and Democrats Hazel Erby and Pat Dolan. Republican Tim Fitch, the county’s former police chief, has filed to succeed Republican Colleen Wasinger, who is not seeking re-election. Incumbent County Assessor Jake Zimmerman so far does not have a challenger. State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal is termed out in the state Senate, and she will run for the 86th District state representative seat, which would be her fourth and final term as a state representative. She previously represented the 72nd District from 2005 to 2011. Incumbent Joe Adams in the 86th District is running for state Senate.

“The House of Representatives does a terrible job at resolving sexual harassment and assault cases. Victims are railroaded at every turn,” she said. “The House is missing a courageous voice when it comes to sexual harassment, environmental racism and educational enrichment for 21st Century students of color.”

Missouri candidates lined the hallways at the secretary of state’s office in Jefferson City for the first day of filing for office for the August and November elections on February 26. Photo by Erin Achenbach / St. Louis Public Radio

SLPS magnet school wins WWT Hackathon

Ten coding students from the Collegiate School of Medicine and BioScience Magnet School won the Hackathon at the 2018 STEM Student Forum hosted by World Wide Technology. They built an app that surveys students and matches them with high schools based on their needs, aiming to make the process more student-centered.

Collegiate School of Medicine and BioScience tops field of 19 schools, wins $10K

By Jessica Karins

For The St. Louis American

Ten students from a St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) magnet school won the top prize in a Hackathon event on February 24, taking home a $10,000 prize for their app, aimed at helping St. Louis students understand their educational options. The coding students from the Collegiate School of Medicine and BioScience Magnet School were invited to the STEM Student Forum hosted by World Wide Technology, the St. Louis-based technology company founded by David Steward. The teams from each school were tasked with creating a technological solution to an issue in their school’s community and presenting on their finished project for the prize.

n “Among 19 of the best private and public schools across St. Louis, our students won the event.”

– Alexander Schenk, Collegiate School

The Collegiate School’s team decided to tackle the issue of educational equity, noticing that many SLPS students were unaware of how many different high schools within the district they could choose to attend. They built an app that surveys students and matches them with high schools based on their needs, aiming to make the process more student-centered. The app is called “High School in Hand.”

Alexander Schenk, a mathematics and computer coding teacher at the Collegiate School, attended the event along with his students.

“I’m proud to share that they absolutely knocked it out of the park,” Schenk said. “Among 19 of the best private and public schools across St. Louis, our students won the event. I’m grateful for my students who remind me every single day just how much of an honor and privilege it is to be a teacher.”

The teams presented their work to an audience of over 200 people, including executives from World Wide Technology. Collegiate’s winning project earned them a $10,000 donation to their school’s STEM program.

See SLPS, B2

Regional Chamber bestows Arcus Awards

St. Louis American Foundation, World Wide Technology, Christian Hospital among awardees

staff

The St. Louis Regional Chamber honored Electrical Connection, World Wide Technology, MilliporeSigma, Regions Bank, Prosperity Connection, Christian Hospital, Flat World Supply Chain, St. Louis American Foundation, Arch Grants, LaunchCode, and Bi-State Development Research Institute at its 5th Annual Arcus Awards on March 1. “Arcus” is the Latin word for “arch” and symbolizes the Gateway Arch. Electrical Connection – a partnership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 and the St. Louis Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) – received the Ameren Corporate Citizenship Award “for a company making positive changes that impact St. Louisans.” For more than 75 years, its IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center has trained electricians/ communication technicians.

World Wide Technology received the BMO Harris Bank St. Louis Spirit Award “for advancing St. Louis’ history and global reputation as a hub of innovation and forwardlooking vision.” Since 2011, WWT has grown by more than 56 percent and in 2016, ranked 30th

See ARCUS, B6

Anthony Box joined the Circuit Attorney’s Office as chief investigator. He is a former FBI agent and associate general counsel for two Department of Defense agencies. Box will report to Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner and will be responsible for increasing the investigative skills of current staff and serve as a primary contact and coordinate activities with various law enforcement agencies, including the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.

Najah Fennoy was elected to the Board of Directors of the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club. As director of New Opportunities at the Missouri Athletic Club, she recruits and retains the membership base, identifies and secures new strategic opportunities, develops and implements strategies aimed at positively positioning the club in the community while developing and forming alliances with community leaders and stakeholders.

Keenan W. Reed graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas as an U.S. Air Force Airman. He completed an intensive, eightweek program that included training in military discipline and studies, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. He is a 2016 graduate of McCluer South Berkeley High School.

Dr. Kendra Holmes was selected to serve on the Board of Directors for the HealthWorks Museum (formerly the Delta Dental Health Theater). The mission of the HealthWorks Museum is to inspire children to make positive oral and overall health choices. Dr. Holmes serves as the chief operating officer for Affinia Healthcare.

Ishmael Sistrunk, web, IT and promotions coordinator for The St. Louis American, accepted the Arcus Award from the St. Louis Regional Chamber on behalf of the St. Louis American Foundation. Steve Leidholdt, president of STL Communications, presented the Arcus Award for Achievement in Educational Attainment, which his firm sponsored.

John Parker joined the St. Louis Development Corporation as the new director of Corporate Communications and Media. With over 15 years of public and media relations, he has worked in public relations and crisis communications with various cities across the country and with clients in both local and federal law enforcement with his former company Evolution Communications Group.

Pearletta MaloneEvans was named the 2017 Catch Us Giving Ambassador of the Year at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. A customer service representative and employee of Ollie Dowell Communications, she was nominated by a mother hundreds of miles away from her son, who was stranded at the airport. The program recognizes employees who give great customer service.

Keenan W. Reed

Pearletta MaloneEvans

John Parker

Najah Fennoy

Dr. Kendra Holmes

Photo by Wiley Price

DeVos coddles companies while abandoning student loan borrowers

By Charlene Crowell Columnist

For the 44 million

American consumers who struggle with a still-growing student loan debt of $1.4 trillion, the problems wrought by debt collectors and loan servicers is a nagging problem. Servicer changes and errors, unexplained fees that worsen the debt and difficulty in securing income-based repayment plans are all painfully familiar to these consumers.

These debts are particularly onerous for black Americans who utilize federal student loans more than other races or ethnicities: 87 percent. By comparison, Latinos borrow 65 percent of the time and Whites even lower at 60 percent, according to data from the Center for American Progress.

enforcement. Citing fraud and abusive practices, the AGs spoke directly to the harms that would be caused to students and borrowers. They also urged that state and federal officials work together to end the harmful practices of bad actors in the student loan industry.

So, one must wonder why Betsy DeVos, the secretary of Education, would draft a plan that would once again favor these companies instead of consumers. These are the same companies that receive $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to service and collect loan debts.

In recent days, multiple news outlets have reported an Education plan that proposes to preempt state laws that allow state attorneys general (AGs) to hold debt collectors and loan servicers accountable.

Just last October, a bipartisan group of 26 AGs wrote Secretary DeVos and advised against giving these businesses immunity from state-level oversight and

“[E]very state has wellestablished laws prohibiting companies – many of which are also regulated federally – from engaging in unfair and deceptive practices targeting state residents,” wrote the AGs on October 23. “The Industry Requests, however, seek to enlist the department in an industry gambit to evade state policing. There is no principled reason for this result, especially in the middle of a crisis demanding cooperation across government.”

In addition to the AGs, other federal offices have respectively found problems with these companies as well.

For two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016, the federal Government Accountability Office found failures by student loan servicers that include not providing information to borrowers about their payment options and difficulty reaching servicers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has worked with states and the Department of Justice to hold accountable the nation’s largest servicer of federal student loans, Navient. In early 2017, CFPB sued the

company for steering student loan borrowers into costly forbearance agreements that pad interest costs instead of enrolling borrowers in incomebased repayments.

Similarly, Massachusetts sued the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and the National Collegiate Student Loan Trust for overcharging student borrowers. That lawsuit alleged that although PHEAA was aware of the payment problems, it failed to rectify related borrower harms.

“Given the Education Department’s utterly lackluster

record of oversight,” said Persis Yu, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center and director of its Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, “it should be doing more to work with states to protect the interests of student loan borrowers… Congress envisioned a role for states to play in protecting student loan borrowers. And given the Education Department’s record of siding with servicers over borrowers, the state role is more critical now than ever.”

A CFPB report, also released in October 2017,

analyzed student loan complaints on a state-bystate basis. With more than 50,000 complaints filed with the Bureau, poor student loan servicing and servicing errors were frequently reported. The number of complaints were markedly rising in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.

“This kind of caving to special interests abandons the department’s duty to be a thrifty steward of the public purse,” said Whitney BarkleyDenney, a senior policy counsel with the Center for Responsible

Lending. “Consumers are entitled to support and response from all levels of government. Hence, states must preserve their ability to protect borrowers residing in their respective jurisdictions.”

“There is simply no precedent or provision for such a federal fiat,” concluded Barkley-Denney.

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

Christian Hospital hosts Nurse Open House on March 15

Christian Hospital is hosting an open house for people interested in learning more about nursing careers 4-7 p.m. Thursday, March 15 in the Paul F. Detrick Building Atrium on the hospital campus, 11133 Dunn Rd. 63136. Attendees will have the chance to tour clinical departments, as well as

SLPS

continued from page B1

Villa Duchesne received second place and a cash prize of $5,000. Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS) received third place and a cash prize of $2,500 and the remaining schools received $1,000 each for participating.

During the presentation, the Collegiate School students highlighted their own struggles in the high school choice process, which they said often favors students whose parents take an active role in the decision and who come from high-achieving middle schools.

The Collegiate School was founded in 2013 to educate students who plan to go on to a career in medicine or biological sciences. It graduated its first

hear from Tommi Cline, RN, patient care manager, nephrology/ telemetry; Gilbert Harding Jr., RN, interim vice president and chief nurse executive;

class of 44 students in 2017.

Frederick Steele, principal of the College School, is an enthusiastic supporter of the High School in Hand app.

“We are so proud of our students’ hard work during this Hackathon,” Steele said.

“Our team chose to look outside of our own school to solve a problem our local community was having. This is consistent with our mission as a school. Our team of students learned a lot about teamwork, professionalism and STEM during this program, and we hope to participate in next year’s event.”

The World Wide Technology Hackathon event began in 2015; this was its first year at the company’s newly constructed global headquarters. The program has grown from five participating schools to 20.

and CoKeisha Van Hook, RN, patient care manager, oncology. BJC Diverse Nurses Connection group members will also address the group. Register for the open house, or view and apply for jobs, at BJC.org/CHnurse.

Joe Koenig, president of World Wide Technology, said the company was “thrilled” with the high attendance.

“We believe this year’s high attendance is a result of the increasing discussions around the importance of STEM education in America – especially for young women and girls,” Koenig said. “We will build on this momentum and continue to push our goals of educating high school students on the importance of STEM, improving academic proficiency, providing competitive advantages for college enrollment and increasing awareness around disciplines in STEM.”

Schenk said he was grateful to World Wide Technology for the donation to the Collegiate School, which he said will make an immediate difference.

Charlene Crowell

President Trump and Betsy DeVos, his secretary of Education.

CoKeisha Van Hook, RN

n “I’m not going to be a receiver at all. I’m a quarterback.”

— Former Louisville Heisman trophy winner

Lamar Jackson

Sports

Deja vu

College sports on losing end when it

Northwest boys, Whitfield girls return to Final Four

The Northwest Academy Hornets celebrated the school’s first state championship in basketball last season with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Whitfield. The road to a possible repeat state-championship hasn’t been an easy one for the Hornets, but they are back in the Final Four for a chance to win another Class 3 state title this weekend in Springfield, Mo. Northwest (22-7) will take on Hogan Prep (24-4) in the Class 3 state semifinals at 8:10 p.m. at the John Q. Hammons Center on the campus of Missouri State University. The winner of that game will face either Charleston (24-8) or Mountain Grove (30-1) for the state championship on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. The third-place game will be held on Saturday at 12:50 p.m.

Northwest head coach Gerald Jones has an experienced group that is battle-tested in big games for the past two years. The Hornets had to survive the District 5 tournament, which had one of the most loaded fields in the state. They defeated Duchesne in double-overtime in the semifinals, then rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat No. 1 seed Trinity in the championship game.

The leader of the pack is 6’7” senior forward Jamarr Williams, who is averaging 20 points a game while rebounding at a very high level. He is a load in the paint with his scoring and rebounding. The Hornets have a talented group of guards, led by 6’3” senior Wilshon Warren, who is averaging 18.4 points a game. Senior guard Rayonte Childs is averaging 11.9 points a game while 6’2” senior guard Damien Carver is averaging 10.3 points.

Northwest will be facing a Hogan

Wilder stops Ortiz in thrilling title defense

With 43 seconds remaining in Round 7, challenger Luis Ortiz delivered a vicious right hand to the jaw of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Though Wilder had dropped Ortiz in the fifth round, the tables had turned and “The Bronze Bomber” found himself in a whole heap of trouble. The chiseled 6-foot-7 champion looked more like a baby giraffe as his legs wobbled and slid around the ring, trying to gain a sense of stability. Wilder tried to move away, hold, cover up or find any way to avoid what appeared to be the inevitable. All the while, Ortiz stalked and worked him over with masterful combinations to the body and head. With the referee watching intently, and prepared to stop the fight if Wilder continued to take punishment, Wilder’s

sheer will allowed him to survive until the bell tolled to signal the end of the round. The Bomb Squad, the trash talk and the trainers could not save him. In his biggest fight to date, if Wilder wanted to win, he’d have to show that he had a heart of Vibranium pumping in his chest.

The following round, Wilder stayed in survival mode, doing his best to stay out of harm’s way. Ortiz landed punches of substance, but nothing to make Wilder dance the way he’d done the prior round. The ninth and tenth rounds were scintillating, a rare sight in modern heavyweight matchups. Wilder regained his wind, and legs, and Ortiz tried hard to snatch them both away once again. Halfway through the tenth round, Wilder’s wicked right hand found its target once again. It was Ortiz’s turn to do

the heavyweight waltz. Wilder seized the opportunity, sending Ortiz to the canvas twice before the referee halted the fight. Wilder (40-0-0, 39 KO) successfully defended his title

over the previously undefeated Ortiz

Earl Austin Jr.

Ishmael

Sistrunk

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Showtime

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

College sports on losing end when it comes to coaching inclusion, diversity

If you are looking for real diversity in college athletics employment, it can be found at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. Don’t bother looking on university campuses, according to the 2017 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card.

Released on Feb. 28 by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, the report graded college sport with a C+ for racial hiring.

College sport was the only national sports organization that failed to receive at least a B for racial hiring practices.

“College sport, which has had difficulty increasing opportunities for women and people of color, faced further challenges in this reporting period as it experienced a decrease in racial hiring,” said Richard Lapchick, TIDES director.

member institutions.”

For the 2017 season, 86.5 percent of Division I, 87.8 percent of Division II and 91.6 percent of Division III men’s coaching positions were held by white men or women. In women’s sports, whites held 84.5 percent, 86.8 percent and 91.0 percent in Divisions I, II, and III, respectively.

African-Americans held 7.6 percent, 4.4 percent, and 5.0 percent of the men’s head coaching positions in Divisions I, II, and III, respectively.

In men’s Division I basketball, 22.3 percent of all head coaches were black, up 1.5 percentage points from the 20.8 percent reported in the 2015-2016 season. No celebration is warranted because that number is down 2.9 percentage points from the all-time high of 25.2 percent during the 2005-2006 season.

“College sport still had the lowest grade for racial hiring practices and gender hiring practices among all of the college and professional sports covered by the respective Racial and Gender Report Cards.”

The NCAA Headquarters had a B+ for race in senior leadership in 2017, which is up from a B in 2016. It received an A+ for gender hiring, up from an A- last year.

Like in many other circumstances, there is no “trickle down” impact on college campuses.

“Athletic departments need to catch up to the NCAA. It is hardly perfect (for race, less than 20 percent of the two categories for race were people of color) but it is far ahead of its

Division I women’s basketball, African-American women head coaches held 11.4 percent of the positions in 20162017 and African-American men held 4.6 percent of the positions in 2016-2017 for a combined percentage of 16.0 percent. This was a decrease from the 16.8 percent reported in 2015-2016.

Lapchick calls the statistics “a major area of concern,” because more than 53 percent of America’s scholarship college basketball players are African-American. The study holds more bad news for inclusion in coaching ranks.

Only 7.2 percent of Division I head baseball coaches were people of color. AfricanAmericans are so scarce among Division III coaching, that the

percentage of women coaching men’s teams was higher than the percentage of AfricanAmericans coaching men’s

teams (6.2 percent vs. 5.0 percent).

Whites comprised 84.2 percent, 91.4 percent and 94.5 percent of basketball, football, and baseball head coaching positions, respectively, in all divisions combined during 2016-2017.

As for collegiate sports biggest moneymaker, FBS football, the number of head football coaches of color increased from 17 in 2016 to 18 in 2017. However, 86.9 percent of head coaches were white men.

Of all student-athletes at the FBS football level, 55.9 percent were African-Americans, 39.0 percent were white, 2.2 percent were Latinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders represented 2.5 percent and 0.4 percent of male Division I football student-athletes were classified as “other.”

Lapchick adds another sobering note.

“While there was some improvement for women as athletic administrators in all three Divisions, it was negatively balanced by the fact that in the 46th year after the passage of Title IX, more than 60 percent of all women’s teams are still coached by men,” Lapchick said.

LeBron James recently called the NCAA “corrupt.” What is happening on college campuses when it comes to minority hiring in athletic departments should be called worse.

HSSU Hornets in Top Ten

After sweeping a three-game series against Park College last weekend, Harris-Stowe State University moved to 12-6 overall and 5-1 in the American Midwest Conference.

The Hornets began the season No. 4 in the Black College Nines Top 10 ranking of HBCU Small Schools behind Talladega College, WinstonSalem State University and Edward Waters College.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Miles College, Benedict College, Tuskegee University, Jarvis Christian College, Selma University and West Virginia State University.

Key players returning for the Hornets, who finished fifth in the final poll last year, include (2017 statistics) 1B Leobardo Saldivar (.370, 6 HR, 46 RBI); OF Zach Jones (.350, 4 HR, 41 RBI, 15 SB); SS P.J. Roberts (.260, 26 RBI, 25 SB); P Steven Kemp (9-4 , 5.83 era, 44 K’s, 66 IP); and P Stephen Wells (4-2, 5.46 era, 47 K’s, 61 IP.)

Congratulations to Kobe

After winning the Oscar for Animated Short at the Academy Awards for “Dear Basketball,” Kobe Bryant said in his acceptance speech, “as basketball players we’re really supposed to shut up and drib-

ble.” He, of course, was referring to FOX News host Laura Ingraham. She recently said LeBron James and Kevin Durant “should shut up and dribble” after discussing social justice and criticizing the president during an online interview.

“Dear Basketball,” is based on a poem Bryant penned in 2015 announcing his retirement. Bryant is credited as executive director and he accepted his Oscar from “Star Wars’’ star Mark Hamill. He shared the award with Disney animator Glen Keane

“I don’t know if it’s possible. I mean, as basketball players, we are really supposed to shut up and dribble. But I am glad we do a little bit more than that,” Bryant told the black-tie audience.

He later told reporters, “I feel better than winning a championship, to be honest with you. I swear I do.’” Bryant said a frequent reaction when he told people he wanted to write after his basketball career ended was, ‘That’s cute. You’ll be depressed when your career’s over.’

“To be here now and have this sense of validation, this is crazy, man. I wake up in the morning, I can’t wait to write, I can’t wait to get to the studio,” he said.

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

Alvin A. Reid

Kobe Bryant accepting his Oscar for Animated Short at the Academy Awards for “Dear Basketball.”

inSide SPorTS

With Earl Austin Jr.

Harris-Stowe Hornets head to KC tourney

Brion Dunlap is batting a perfect two-for-two since taking over the men’s basketball program at Harris-Stowe State University last year.

In 2017, Dunlap guided the Hornets to a surprise championship of the American Midwest Conference championship and the school’s first-ever berth in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament. The Hornets entered the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed and proceeded to win three road games en route to their historic championship. As good as last year’s championship run was for the Hornets, the follow-up this season was even better. HarrisStowe punched its ticket to the NAIA National Tournament for the second consecutive year on Monday night, with an impressive 95-71 victory over Williams Baptist in the AMC championship game at HarrisStowe. A loud and enthusiastic crowd showed up at the

Emerson Performance Center on Harris-Stowe’s campus to celebrate the school’s continued emergence as a small-college power in the Midwest region. There was less suspense this season as the Hornets accomplished a 20-victory season and entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed after winning 12 conference games and finishing in a tie for second in the regular season.

After Williams Baptist jumped to an early 11-4 lead in the championship game, Harris-Stowe dominated the rest of the game and cruised to the lopsided victory. The Hornets defense was relentless as they went on a 16-3 run to take control of the game. An emphatic two-handed follow slam dunk by senior forward Dwane Miner gave the Hornets a 20-14 lead and they were off and running from that point. The Hornets raced to a 50-28 lead at halftime and were never seriously threatened. The Hornets play a very exciting brand of basketball. They are very athletic and they

CLUTCH

opponent.”

The only recent (meaningful) fight to rival Wilder versus Ortiz in terms of excitement was Anthony Joshua’s eleventh round stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko last April. Joshua (20-0-0, 20 KO) will attempt to unify the remaining heavyweight titles when he puts his WBA and IBF titles on the line versus WBO heavyweight champion Joshua Parker (240-0, 18 KO). Should Joshua (the favorite) emerge victorious, the stage is set for a super fight with Wilder.

past decade. Meaningless fights provide opportunity for random injuries or shocking upsets to derail the bout.

With Wilder, Joshua, Parker, Ortiz and the impending return of Tyson Fury, there are finally enough talented and marketable heavyweights to keep the division buzzing for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the promoters will stay out of the way and keep the great heavyweight matchups coming.

Former NBA agent creates professional basketball league in Africa

love to run and shoot 3-pointers. Best of all, the Hornets love to share the ball with each other, which lends to many players eating at the basketball trough. All of the Hornets’ offensive

possess the raw talent, but lack the proper training or exposure to the game to develop and cultivate their skills.

Former NBA agent Ugo Udezue is working to change that In 2016, Udezue left his his cushy job with BDA Sports to return to Nigeria to start a new professional basketball league.

weapons were on display on Monday night as six players scored in double figures. Junior guard Deandre Clark scored a game-high 20 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Guard Christian Wembley (Webster

Ming did for the Chinese Basketball Association.

Groves) scored 19 points while making nine of 10 shots from the field. Guard Nate Rigmaiden (North Tech) scored 12 points off the bench while forwards Miner, Altez Davis and Samuel Egedi scored 10 points each.

The ST. LouiS AmericAn AreA coLLege AThLeTeS of The Week

Gabby Walker

Continued from B3 championship game. She had 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 59-41 victory over Missouri Western in the semifinals and 20 points and nine rebounds in a 79-67 upset over No. 1 seed Central Missouri State in the quarterfinals. For the season, Walker is averaging 13.5 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field.

Of course, this is boxing that we’re talking about. Often things don’t go as smoothly as they should. There is much chatter about trying to build the stature of the fights by having the champions fight meaningless bouts in order to build a higher profile for the fight.

That is completely unnecessary. With Wilder and Joshua, you have two undefeated, explosive, knockout artists in the prime of their careers. There is no need for artificial buildup. The two have engaged in two of the most exciting heavyweight fights over the

PREP

Continued from B3 Prep team that is making its third consecutive appearance in the Final Four. The Rams are led by dynamic 5’8” senior guard Damien Daniels, who is averaging 21 points a game. He has signed with Abilene Christian. The Rams also feature 6’6” senior forward Marty Jackson, who is averaging 13 points and seven rebounds a game. Charleston is a perennial state power in Class 3 while Mountain Grove is in the Final Four for the third consecutive year. Charleston is led by its dynamic duo of 6’2” senior guard Demarcus Sharp and 6’4” senior forward Mardareyon Clark. Mountain Grove is led by its senior trio of Conner McNew, Cade Coffman and Carter Otwell.

The Whitfield girls are also making a return trip to the Class 3 Final Four after their defeat of Saxony Lutheran in the state quarterfinals last weekend. The Warriors’ reward is a date with defending state champion Strafford in the state semifinals on Friday at 2:40 p.m. The two teams met for the state championship last year with Strafford taking an 80-39 victory. The winner of the Lutheran North-Strafford game will

Though the NBA is generally dominated by AfricanAmericans, the continent of Africa has produced numerous NBA stars over the years. Many of the league’s stars (past and present) are African natives such as Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), Dikembe Mutombo (Congo) or Joel Embiid (Cameroon). Others are born to African parents in different nations such as Giannis Antetokoumpo (born in Greece to Nigerian parents) and Victor Oladipo (born in the U.S. to parents from Nigeria and Sierra Leone). However, for every African star to thrive in the NBA, dozens of athletes exist who could

meet either Clark County or California for the state championship on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The third-place game will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. Whitfield fields a very talented and young team led by 6’0” junior guard Aijha Blackwell, who is averaging

According to The Undefeated: Udezue started the African Basketball League with six teams in the spring of 2017 and rebranded it into the 10-team Continental Basketball League in six African countries. The CBL has teams in countries including Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.

In addition to creating hundreds of new jobs and opportunities with the CBL, Udezue hopes to help develop and discover the continent’s next great superstars.

“The motivation is more about creating an opportunity for all those kids I see that are seven foot tall walking down the streets not doing anything,” he told CNN

“I want to cultivate all our LeBron James and our Kevin Durants here in Africa for Africa. We have the talent.”

Udezue is hoping to do for African basketball what Yao

24 points and eight rebounds a game. She is being recruited by several high-level Division I schools around the country. Blackwell has a strong supporting cast, led by 6’1” junior forward Tajah FosterWalker, who is averaging 9.2 points and 7.5 rebounds. Junior

PreP AThLeTe of The Week

Jordyn and Jessica Brooks

MICDS – Girls Basketball

The Brooks sisters led the Rams to the Class 4, District 5 championship last week.

They combined to score 37 points in the Rams’ 54-51 victory over Parkway North in the championship game. Jordyn, a 5’8” senior, scored a team high 19 points. Jessica, a 5’9” sophomore, followed with 18 points. Jessica Brooks scored a

career-high 33 points to lead the Rams to a 64-51 victory over Parkway Central in the district semifinals. She had 16 points in the quarterfinals while Jordyn added 14 points in a victory over John Burroughs. For the season, Jessica Brooks is averaging 14.1 points while Jordyn Brooks is averaging 13 points. She recently scored her 1,000th career point as well.

Before Ming’s arrival in the NBA, the CBA was not taken seriously around the world. After Ming retired and got involved with the league, it gained legitimacy and popularity. The CBA has attracted the likes of Tracy McGrady Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury, who has a statue outside the stadium in Beijing.

With the relationships and connections he built as an agent, his business acumen and the sheer number of African basketball players that have graced NBA, G-League and NCAA campuses, it seems very likely that Udezue’s league will succeed. Unlike the NBA, which has only one black owner (Michael Jordan), the CBL is filled with African owners and executives.

“In 10 years, I think [the CBL] will be the second-most impactful league on the planet as it relates to basketball, for sure,” Duffy told The Undefeated. “Basketball is going to be part of the lexicon of the culture in Africa. It’s going to be fabulous.”

Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

guard Nia Griffin is averaging 8.3 points while 5’10” senior guard Taylor Lawson-Hicks is averaging 8.1 points. Freshman guard Kelsey Blakemore is also chipping in nearly seven points a game.

Lindenwood University – Women’s Basketball

The sophomore forward from St. Charles was named the Most Valuable Player of the MIAA Tournament after leading the Lions to the championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Walker averaged 16 points in the Lions’ four victories, including 17 points in a 58-51 victory over Fort Hays State in the

Darren Wynn

McKendree University – Wrestling

The senior standout from Champaign, Illinois was selected the Great Lakes Valley Conference Wrestler of the Year.

Wynn was also selected to the AllGLVC First Team while compiling an undefeated record at 140 pounds. He won all four of his matches at last weekend’s NCAA

Super Regional in St. Cloud, Minnesota to improve his individual record to 28-0.

Wynn will be headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa this weekend to participate in the NCAA Division II Championships, where he will be one of the favorites in the 140-pound division.

With the victory, HarrisStowe will take a 23-10 record to the NAIA National Tournament, which begins in Kansas City next week.

Earl Austin Jr.

March 15 deadline to apply for sustainability collaboration

SIUE seeks community partner

American staff

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Successful Communities Collaborative (SSCC) is accepting applications through Thursday, March 15 for a community partner in the Metro East or St. Louis area

ARCUS

continued from page B1 on a Forbes list of the largest U.S. private companies, and is the nation’s largest African American-owned business in the country.

MilliporeSigma – the life science arm of Merck KGaA –received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Biosciences, sponsored by Bryan Cave LLP.

MilliporeSigma employs about 2,000 people in St. Louis, and provide research and labbased solutions like genomic sequencing technology and stem cell research, and work with international partners to tackle major global diseases.

Regions Bank and Prosperity Connection received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Financial Services, sponsored by Thompson Coburn LLP.

Regions Bank will invest over $40 million in the St. Louis market to open 11 new banking centers in 2018. They are also investing in low-income housing, no-cost financial

with sustainability projects in need of innovative, cuttingedge thinkers. The community partner – a municipality, agency or business – identifies sustainability and livability projects that would benefit from SIUE expertise. Faculty from across the university incorporate these projects into their courses, and engage graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in the projects

The criteria for a successful SSCC community partner include: the proposed projects

education, mentorship through Big Brothers Big Sisters, and community development support for our communities. Prosperity Connection assists low-and-moderate income households build their financial confidence and capability through access to financial education and affordable financial services at RedDough Money Centers.

Christian Hospital received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Health, sponsored by Centene Corporation. Christian Hospital has planned a transition to all private patient rooms, a $5 million extensive lobby renovation; a $2.7 million lab equipment upgrade; $1 million investment in a new ambulance fleet; and conversion to a new $16 million universal electronic medical record system, in addition to opening two new health centers. They also operate the Christian Hospital PCT Academy, the Christian Hospital EMS (CHEMS) Academy, and partner with area schools to provide job training and workforce development for surrounding communities.

will enhance the sustainability of the community; the proposed projects will correlate with courses being offered at SIUE; the partner will demonstrate the level of commitment required to complete the projects.

n “The community partner receives assistance with 10-25 communitydefined sustainability projects,” said Tim Engelman, SSCC program director.

“The community partner receives assistance with 10-25 community-defined

Flat World Supply Chain received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Logistics, sponsored by Spire. Flat World is a technology-based thirdparty logistics company with 80 employees and four operating companies. It helps clients identify opportunities to change and improve their business processes and operations using an innovative technology for rate/service comparison, tracking, reporting and data mining, and consolidated invoicing.

sustainability projects,” said Tim Engelman, SSCC program director and associate director of Educational Outreach. “These projects will be incorporated into 15-20 SIUE courses across up to 12 academic departments.

More than 400 students could potentially be involved.”

Projects may include engineering, urban design,

events, scholarships and community grants (more than $5 million distributed locally) and the award-winning Newspaper in Education Program, which provides and delivers actual physical newspapers with specific STEM, health and financial literary content for 4th-5th grade students at no charge to nearly 7,000 students in nearly 300 classrooms in seven area school districts each week.

n The St. Louis American Foundation received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Educational Attainment, sponsored by STL Communications, Inc.

The St. Louis American Foundation received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Educational Attainment, sponsored by STL Communications, Inc. Created by The St. Louis American newspaper, the foundation focuses on individual achievement recognition

planning, cost-benefit analysis, economic development, legal and policy analysis, community engagement, and public relations campaigns, among others.

The SSCC’s pilot year started in September 2017 and will end in May.

“We are pleased with the work we have done and are still doing with the City of Highland and the Village of Godfrey,” said Connie Frey Spurlock, SSCC faculty director and associate professor in the Department of Sociology. “The City of

Louis for at least one year.

LaunchCode received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Inclusion and Talent Attraction, sponsored by Express Scripts. LaunchCode helps job seekers enter the tech field by providing accessible education, training and paid apprenticeship job placement. Once placed in a LaunchCode position, a candidate works at another company in an apprenticeship, where they are paired with a mentor and given training on the job. Thirty-one percent of current enrolled students are African-American, 42 percent are female, and 55 percent of their apprenticeships were previously unemployed.

Arch Grants received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, sponsored by Monsanto Company. Every year, the Arch Grants Global Startup Competition awards $50,000 equity-free cash grants and pro bono support services to innovative, scalable, and job-creating startups that agree to locate their business in St.

Bi-State Development Research Institute received the Arcus Award for Achievement in Public Policy, sponsored by Edward Jones.

Bi-State Development Research Institute is the nonprofit research arm of the regional development organization Bi-State Development. The organization conducts research on policy research and planning, land use, real estate

Highland and an SIUE nursing course are working on ways to increase awareness and education about opioid abuse. In Godfrey, students from the Department of Applied Health within the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior, are working on a recycling program.”

To apply or for more information, contact Frey Spurlock at cfrey@siue.edu or Engelman at tengelm@siue. edu. For more information on SSCC. Visit http://www.siue. edu/successful-communities.

development, and publishes various papers and feasibility studies on regional, community, and economic development issues. So far, they have launched mobile health clinics and fresh produce markets at MetroLink stations.

Fontbonne University received the Arcus People’s Choice Award, sponsored by RubinBrown LLP. Fontbonne University – a coed liberal arts Catholic institution of approximately 3,000 students – created Fontbonne Promise, a new scholarship program that will cover full tuition and fees for students who are first-time students, first year students with a zero-expected family contribution.

Out of hundreds of nominations, a panel of business scholars and executives selected the 11 award winners based on their accomplishments reflecting the Chamber’s One Plan for regional prosperity. Winners in each category received a hand-crafted art piece designed by Mitch Horstmann of St. Louis Sculpture Factory.

Classically hip-hop

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“What I love most about classical music is the discipline,” said Grammy award-winning singer, rapper, songwriter and producer Wyclef Jean.

“You can just get up there and go, ‘ba da da da di di da da di da da da da da da,’” Jean said, singing the melody of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor” commonly known as “Für Elise.” “It takes training. It takes commitment. It takes math.”

Grammy winner Wyclef Jean to

perform his hits alongside SLSO

He knows first-hand about the passion –obsession really – that comes with composing and duplicating the sound as a classical musician. His love for symphony started in high school, where he played classical piano. “I was introduced through my classical teacher and she introduced me to a jazz teacher,” Jean said. He also played guitar. Through jazz he also mastered the drums and upright bass. He started listening to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. He studied Gershwin and Quincy Jones. “I fell in love with the idea of not only learning how to play instruments in my dad’s church and conducting the choir, but how I can convert this into conductor form,” Jean said. He eventually mastered 15 instruments. He applied the theory he learned and applied it to his groundbreaking career – first as a member of the rap supergroup The Fugees, then as a solo artist and producer.

Jean was thrilled to point out that he was the first hip-hop artist to perform with the famed New York Philharmonic Orchestra at

Kinks in ‘Wrinkle’

No smooth transition for DuVernay’s film adaptation of beloved novel

By Kenya Vaughn

Of The St. Louis American

It’s impossible not to root for Disney’s “A Wrinkle In Time.” With the highly anticipated film, Ava DuVernay became the first AfricanAmerican woman to direct a film with a $100M budget – and is her follow up to the Academy Award nominated “Selma.” The morale of the film’s story is inspiring and universally appealing – even more so with the rainbow cast that DuVernay leads.

And then there is the journey of producer Catherine Hand to get Madeleine L’Engle’s book of the same name to the big screen. More than 50 years after she read the book as a teen, she decided on a career in the film industry with the sole purpose of bringing a film adaptation of “A Wrinkle In Time.” After selling him on the

idea, her then boss Norman Lear acquired the film rights to the book in 1979.

The film of Hand’s dreams finally lands in theatres on Friday (March 9).

With great pain, it is made obvious almost instantly that the warm and fuzzy feelings that the anticipation of “A Wrinkle In Time” elicited – and the marvelous elements of the journey that led to the film – are far more engaging than the film itself. The film just plops in with young teen Meg Murry’s state of misery as she deals with the common woes of middle school while suffering through the extraordinarily painful family dynamic of a scientist father – who seems to have disappeared into thin air while conducting one of his controversial experiments.

Led by her little brother Charles Wallace

See IN WRINKLE, C4

Carnegie Hall. He recorded his hit “Gone Till November,” with the Philharmonic. “I consider myself like the hip-hop Amadeus,” Jean said. “It’s a beautiful thing.” He lit up talking about the energy of the evening several years back as a guest soloist with the nation’s oldest symphonic orchestra. Friday (March 9) he will relive the moment in St. Louis, bringing his “Night of Symphonic Hip Hop” with the St. Louis Symphony at Powell Hall. The show is playing in select cities across the country. “The vibe is incredible because it’s fusion,” Jean said. “I think we forget sometimes that the best records we love – whether it’s Bach, Thelonious Monk or Michael Jackson –we love the idea of fusion.”

It was fusion that made Jean famous. As a member of the rap trio The Fugees, alongside Lauryn Hill and his cousin, Pras Michel, the group blended reggae, soul, pop and even disco for their groundbreaking sophomore album “The Score” back in 1996. The album was a critical and commercial success – selling more than six

See IN SLSO, C4

A Night of Symphonic Hip Hop featuring Wyclef Jean will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday March 9 at Powell Symphony Hall.

How to place a calendar listing

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

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

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

concerts

Fri., Mar. 9, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents A Night of Symphonic Hip Hop featuring Wyclef Jean, Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand. For more information, call (314) 534-1700 or visit www. slso.org.

Fri., Mar. 9, 10 p.m., Marquee Restaurant & Lounge presents Webbie 1911 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., Mar. 11, 6 p.m. doors, Nexxt Level Productions presents Raheem DeVaughn at Ballpark Village’s FOX Sports Midwest Live! For more information, call (618) 407-2768 or (618) 593-3100.

Sun., Mar. 11, 11:30 a.m., Brunchin’ with the Chuck Flowers Duo at The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square. Tables can be reserved by calling (314)776-9550.

Fri., Mar. 16, 8 p.m., The Ambassador presents Lyfe Jennings. Featuring Flirt and NO ID. 5800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, call (314) 371-5585.

Mon., Mar. 19, 7 p.m., The Pageant presents Lecrae – All Things Work Together Tour 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63130.

Mar. 16 – 17, 8 p.m., Gateway Men’s Chorus presents We Will Rise. The program looks at the sociopolitical events and issues impacting the disenfranchised and minorities. Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.gmcstl. org/we-will-rise.html.

Wed., Mar. 21, Jazz St. Louis presents Brian Owens Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. jazzstl.org.

Fri., Mar. 23, 9:30 p.m., Dark Room presents The Tonina Quartet. The Grandel, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63103. For more information, call (314) 533-0367.

special events

Through March 18, A Call to Conscience presents Black Women Speak. A series of events celebrating Women’s History Month. The Griot Museum of Black History, 2505 St. Louis Ave., 63106. For more information and a complete list of events, visit www.facebook.com.

Thur., Mar. 8, 7:15 a.m., The “She” Suite: Celebrate International Women’s Day with Women in the C-Suite and in Leading Roles. Knight Hall, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information or to register, visit www.olin.wustl. edu/events.

Sat., Mar. 10, 2 p.m., Queen Scene Prom & Pageant Resale Fundraiser. Multiple vendors will be selling discounted designer gowns, shoes, accessories, and more. Karma Studio, 3006 N. Lindbergh Blvd., 63074. For more information, call (314) 330-8915 or visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., Mar. 10, 3 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter presents 2018 Jabberwock: Celebrating 20 Years of Brining the Girl to Womanhood. Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 10, 6 p.m., The Show Up & Show Out Talent Show. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, call

Kenya Vaughn recommends

(314) 625-6688 or visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 10, 7 p.m., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Upsilon Omega Chapter presents Mardi Gras 2018: Zulu Style. The Omega Center, 3900 Goodfellow Blvd., 63120. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Mar. 11, 1 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Alumnae Chapter presents the Ida Goodwin Woolfolk Memorial Gospel, Jazz and Blues Brunch. St. Louis Union Station Hotel, 1820 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www.dst-sla.org.

Sun., Mar. 11, 4:30 p.m., The Morehouse College Glee Club in concert at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, 3125 S. Kingshighway. For additional information, please e-mail stlmorehouseparents08@gmail. com

Mar. 15 – 17, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. The Studio

Company consists of twelve dancers hand selected from around the world Edison Theatre, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www.cocastl.org.

Thur., Mar. 15, 7:30 p.m., Snap Judgment Podcast Live in St. Louis. Hosted by Glynn Washington. Proceeds benefit St. Louis Public Radio. The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. thesheldon.org.

Mar. 17 – 18, Black Ops presents The Aerialympics Performances in lyra, silks, hammock and pole competition. Grandel, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., Mar. 18, 3 p.m., The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation presents The 2nd Dred Scott Freedom Awards Dinner, Hilton Frontenac. For more information, visit www.dredscottlives.org or call (618) 593-7196.

Thur., Mar. 22, 5 p.m., University City Chamber

Missouri History Museum hosts author Elizabeth Hinton, author of ‘From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America’. See LITERARY for details.

www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Mar. 8, 7 p.m., Missouri History Museum hosts author Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Sat., Mar. 10, 10 a.m., Awakening The Inner Writer. Join author and illustrator Gloria Day for a workshop that will introduce you to a variety of methods to get your creative juices flowing. InPower Institute, 4125 Humphrey St., 63116. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sun., Mar. 11, 4 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Pénélope Bagieu, author of Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.leftbank.com.

of Commerce presents Taste of U City. One ticket, one location, 40+ restaurants from across U City. Mandarin House Banquet Center, 8004 Olive Blvd., 63130. For more information, visit www. ucitychamber.com.

Fri., Mar. 23, Peabody Opera House presents Bubble Guppies Live: Ready to Rock.. 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www.peabodyoperahouse. com.

Sat., Mar. 24, 10 a.m., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Phi Nu Zeta Graduate Chapter presents L.I.T. (Ladies Initiating Transitions) Summit. Scholarships, speakers, workshops, and more. Maryland Heights Community Center, 2300 McKelvey Rd., 63043. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 24, 11 a.m., Rev. Dr. Roger Richardson and the members of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church Annual Easter Egg Hunt This fun-filled event will take place Saturday, 13820 Old Jamestown Road, Black Jack, MO 63033. For additional information please call 314741-4222.

Sat., Mar. 24, 1 p.m., STLSpinBox presents the 2018 STL Phenomenal Woman Luncheon & Awards. An afternoon of sisterhood, networking, shopping, and more. Artist Art, 2643 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Mar. 25, 12 p.m., Harmon United Methodist Church presents Egg Hunt 2018. Norman Myers Park, 8700 Midland Blvd., 63114. For more information, visit

Mon., Mar. 12, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library hosts author Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 Lindbergh. For more information, call (314) 993-4400 or visit www. slcl.org.

Wed., Mar. 14, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library hosts author Nnedi Okorafor, author of Akata Witch Twelve-year-old Sunny seems to fit in nowhere, until she discovers her latent magical power. 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Thur., Mar. 15, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Mackenzi Lee, author of Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.leftbank.com.

Sat., Mar. 17, 1:15 p.m., Girl Talk 2018 with author Ann Billingsley. Come together in unity to share love, fellowship, and girl talk. St. Louis County Library – St. Ann, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63074. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

comedy

Mar. 9 – Mar. 11, Helium Comedy Club presents Adele Givens. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, visit www. heliumcomedy.com.

Sat., Mar. 17, 8 p.m. Festival of Laughs starring Sommore and featuring Earthquake, George Wallace, Tommy Davidson, Tony Rock and Bruce Bruce. Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com

Sun., Mar. 18, 4 p.m., Wake Up Judah presents 5th

Element of Hip Hop Comedy

Show. Hosted by J-Red with special musical guest YaYa Jones. 2720 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Mar. 22 – 25, Helium Comedy Club presents Aries Spears. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, visit www. heliumcomedy.com.

Sun., Mar. 25, 7 p.m., Hang 10 Productions presents Too Live for TV. Featuring Tew Jennings, Nathan Orton, Jaylee Thomas, and Eric Rivers. Mystic Grille, 11836 W. Florissant Ave., 63033. For more information, visit www. hang10productions.com.

Fri., Apr. 13, Kevin Hart Irresponsible Tour, Scottrade Center. For more information, visit livenation.com.

Thurs., May 3, The Lit AF Tour starring Martin Lawrence and featuring Rickey Smiley, JB Smoove, DeRay Davis and Benji Brown. Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com

theatre

Mar. 20 – April 1, The Fox Theatre presents The Color Purple, 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Fri., Apr. 13- Apr. 29, The Black Rep closes its 41st season with the world premiere of Nikkole Salter’s Torn Asunder. Washington University’s Edison Theater. For more information, call (314) 534-3807 or visit www. theblackrep.org.

art

Sun., Mar. 11, 4 p.m., Paint

it Like You Mean it Kids Paint Session. 3351 N. Hwy 67, 63033. For more information, visit www. paintitlikeyoumeanit.com.

Fri., Mar. 23, 7 p.m., The Luminary presents Lot 49. A unique artist-centric auction featuring one-of-a-kind works by over 50 artists in a variety of mediums. 2701 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. theluminaryarts.com.

Mar. 23 – 25, 2018 Queeny Park Art Fair. View works from up to 130 juried artists from over 20 states. Greensfelder Recreation

Center, 550 Weidman Rd., 63011. For more information, visit www.artfairatqueenypark. com.

Through Apr. 21, Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries presents School Focus: Cardinal Ritter College Prep Student Exhibit. Featuring drawings, paintings, and ceramics by the students. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.thesheldon.org/ upcomingexhibits.

lectures and workshops

Fri., Mar. 9, 7 p.m., Women in the Arts Lecture Series presents The Construction and Perpetuation of Female Identity in Ancient Egypt St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www.slam. org.

Sat., Mar. 10, 11 a.m., St. Louis Art Museum presents If It Wasn’t for the Women: Science, Shape, and Self A panel discussion featuring three local St. Louis artists as they discuss how science has shaped their work and how

art has shaped them. St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110.

Tues., Mar. 13, 11:30 a.m., Community Service Public Relations Council presents Culture, Brand, and Sharing Your “Why” Learn to humanize your brand and communicate your organization’s purpose. Vue 17, 1034 S. Brentwood Blvd., 63117. For more information, visit www.csprc.org/Events.

Tues., Mar. 13, 3 p.m., UMSL Carpenter Series Lecture – Moral Courage in Difficult Times: A Discourse on Healing Divisions & Promoting Social Change with Jimmie Briggs. JC Penney Building, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Wednesdays, 7 p.m., Mar. 14 – Apr. 25, The Missouri Bar Association invites you to the Spring 2018 Mini Law School for the Public Six-week series covering various legal topics. St. Louis County Council Campus, 41 S. Central, 63105. For more information, call (866) 366-0270 or visit www. missourilawyershelp.org/minilaw-school.

Sun., Mar. 18, 4 p.m., STL Village Community Engagement Committee presents Souper Sunday: Bridging the Delmar Housing Divide. Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Pl., 63108. For more information, visit www. stlvillage.org.

Tues., Mar. 20, 5 p.m., Grace Hill Women’s Business Center Legal Clinic. Meet a lawyer from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri to discuss any legal questions or concerns, relating to business. 2125 Bissell St., 6310. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., Mar. 22, 5 p.m., Incarnate Word Foundation presents An Evening with Julian Castro – Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Brown School, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sundays, Through Dec. 30, 2 p.m., Center for Divine Love Church presents Finally Understand Race in America. A portrayal of the African-American experience. Discussion will follow. 3617 Wyoming St., 63116. For more information, visit www.

health

Thur., Mar. 8, 6 p.m., Goal Driven Counseling, LLC presents What is Your “Yes” Costing You? Discuss the impact of chronic stress, learn to self-assess, and execute a plan to improve self-care. InPower Institute, 4125 Humphrey St., 63116. For more information, call (314) 699-4216.

Sat., Mar. 10, 8 a.m., Daughters of Harriet invites you to St. Louis Trek (Walk). Aiming to pioneer a health movement for AfricanAmerican women and girls grounded in civil rights history and principles. City Garden, 808 Chestnut St., 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Tues., Mar. 13, 7 p.m., Youth Sports Injury Seminar. Three Mid County orthopedic specialists will discuss common sports related injuries of the hand, knee, and hip. The Lodge Des Peres, 1050 Des Peres Rd., 63131. For more information or to RSVP, www.eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 17, 7 p.m., Pretty

Faces of Lupus presents the First Annual Ball for a Cause. 1050 Smith Ave., 63135. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 24, 3 p.m., Healing America Tour. Join Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the “science father” of plantbased health, and Nelson Campbell, the founder of PlantPure. JC Penney Conference Center, UMSL, 1 University Dr., 63121. For more information, visit www. healingamericatogether.com.

spiritual

Through Mar. 9, 7 p.m. nightly, One Way Church March Madness Revival featuring Evangelist Theodis Cochran Jr., Pastor of Trinity All Nations Church in Memphis, One Way Church, 10117 Lewis & Clark. For more information, call (314) 783-7286.

Mar. 10 – 14, West Central Church of Christ invites you to the Annual Songfest and Gospel Meeting. Our theme is Simply ChristianReturning to the basics of what it means to be a Christian. 4662 Delmar Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Mar. 10 – 11, New Direction Christian Church Women’s Ministry Breakfast Conference. Come to be transformed and revived by spiritual and physical healing. Hilton St. Louis Airport, 10330 Natural Bridge Rd., 63134. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Mar. 11 – 12, Angela Sims Weekend. The Rev. Dr. Angela D. Sims will be our guest preacher on Sunday, present a lecture based on her book, Lynched: The Power of Memory in a Culture of Terror and moderate a town hall meeting. 6199 Waterman Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Mar. 13 – 16, The James Lee Ward, Sr. District of Eastern Missouri First Jurisdiction presents District’s Crusade. Nightly praise and worship, and speakers. Nazareth Temple COGIC, 3300 Marshall Ave., 63114. For more information, call (314) 665-4418.

Sun., Mar. 18, 11 a.m., Trinity Mt. Carmel Baptist Church’s 99th Church Anniversary. 11755 Mehl Ave., 63033. For more information, visit www. trinitymtcarmel.org.

Nexxt Level Productions presents Raheem DeVaughn at Ballpark Village. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

million copies in the U.S. alone and earned the group Grammy Awards for “Best Rap Album” and “Best R&B Performance by a duo or group with vocals.”

“Hip-hop is a culture and that’s where we all come from.

I used my Caribbean influence and my soul upbringing and combined the two together,” Jean said. “Hip-hop will be the most powerful piece of art and will never go anywhere –because it’s the only form of music where you can pull any genre into and it blends with that.”

“The Score” was the final album from the Fugees, but Jean picked up where “The Score” left off. His solo projects started with his double platinum, Grammy Award nominated solo debut, “Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival” in 1997. Jean also worked as a songwriter, producer and featured artist for the likes for Carlos Santana, Destiny’s Child, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige and Shakira.

He has watched himself

become an elder statesman of hip-hop. “Now you are in a new era,” Jean said. “It’s crazy when you have kids like Young Thug, who is 24 or 25, and they are naming songs after you. It’s incredible to see as the generations move, how they keep reinventing me.”

Last year he saw DJ Khaled score a summer hit with “Wild Thoughts,” which sampled the Santana 1999 hit “Maria

n “If you can put out a body of work that is honest and real, they are going to find it.”

- Wyclef Jean

Maria,” that was produced by Jean. “If you can put out a body of work that is honest and real, they are going to find it,” Jean said. “It’s the same way I dug in the crates of Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.”

He has no plans to rest on his legacy and has maintained a steady stream of releases in

the nearly 25 years he’s been on the scene. Last year, he dropped his tenth solo studio album. And he’s back at it in 2018 with his latest single “Sak Kap Fet,” from his latest mixt tape “Wyclef Goes Back to School.” He looks to the new generation for inspiration in the same way that he sought out the throwback sounds of R&B, soul and reggae classics early in his career.

“In order to stay fresh, you have to be relevant,” Jean said. “If my daughter is singing something at 12 years old, I want to know what she’s singing, why she’s singing it and who is it.” His latest work bridges the generations of hiphop while paying homage to the Caribbean influences from his native Haiti.

When he hits the stage in St. Louis next week, he says the audience should prepare themselves for “time travel.” “We’re going from 1996 all the way to 2018,” Jean said. “Come see the man behind the music.”

A Night of Symphonic Hip Hop featuring Wyclef Jean will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday March 9 at Powell Symphony Hall. For more information, visit www.slso.org.

EMERGENCY

Continued from C1

seem to matter.

After tickets were purchased, they learned that local rapper LA4$$ would be on the bill. It was enough for them to erupt with excitement.

The concert’s creator, LooseCannon S.L.I.M. is keeping the rest of the roster close to his chest. It’s the second year in a row he has decided not to disclose the roster when tickets became available for sale.

S.L.I.M. enjoys the element of surprise – and that he’s able to get his target audience to support the show, regardless of who he brings, though he always promises big names. Over the years the likes of Lil Wayne, Yo Gotti, Rick Ross, The Migos and Gucci Mane and many others have all been featured performers for the 5th annual concert.

“I’m proud that the city has that kind of trust in me with all of this,” S.L.I.M. said. “They already know it’s gonna be a

Continued from C1

screening. Congrats to everyone who made the showing a success. I guess now would be a good time to let people in on a few facts that give St. Louis a special bond with “Black Panther.” Did you know that one of the film’s supporting actors, Sterling K. Brown is from St. Louis? Of course you did! Did you know that local actor/models The Farrar Twins had a cameo in the film? Did you know that the film is partly based on a modern-day television adaptation of the Marvel comic by East St. Louis native Reginald Hudlin? Perhaps you did. But did you know that St. Louis had a hand in Ruth Carter’s stunning costumes by way of the movie’s head tailor Kevin Mayes? Wakanda forever! Shout out to their third week at number one and crossing the $500M domestic box office gross threshold and $900

WRINKLE

Continued from C1

and school friend Zack, Meg and her crew relies on help in the form of fairy godmothers who are not bound by time or the universe. As she works to restore her family by finding him, Meg must also look within to defeat the self-doubt and insecurities that hinder her on her path.

As exciting as the story sounds, DuVernay’s take on the galaxy shifting, time bending young adult novel inspired by quantum physics is blah and mundane. Aside from the glimpses of special effects and costuming that live up to vision L’Engle creates with the book, there’s not much to capture the audience’s attention, let alone maintain it. The thin and predictable plot feels like a perfunctory cut and paste from

cold-blooded show, but they still buy a ticket on the strength of what I’ve been doing out here all these years.”

He wouldn’t budge about the lineup, except to say that it will be loaded with hip-hop heavyweights – and that LA4$$ is

n Doing this show on this day on top of the “314 Day” hashtags and all the love for the city makes the show extra special.”

- S.L.I.M.

promising the performance of his career. “He so amped. He can’t wait,” S.L.I.M. said. “His set is gonna be crazy.”

Also for the second year in a row, S.L.I.M. will hold his concert on March 14. The day is known in the urban community as “314 Day,” and is an unofficial holiday that celebrates all things St. Louis.

“I love my city,” said

globally.

Reppin’ on the big and small screen. Since I’m talking about St. Louis and movies, I thought I would point a couple additional local connections to Hollywood. First, I’m sure by now you’ve heard about “Roxanne Roxanne,” the feature film based on pioneering female MC Roxanne Shante starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and Nia Long hitting theatres on March 23. Well, it just so happens that the film’s writer/director Michael J. Larnell is from right here in U. City! And if you are currently watching “Unsolved,” the USA Network limited series that focuses on the murders of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, you need to know that St. Louis’ own Lyah Beth LeFlore is the show’s music supervisor and a co-producer. St. Louis has talent. This goes without saying, but we have a couple of big voices making their way to national television as the two biggest vocal talent competitions return

the book’s Cliff Notes. The storyline is undeveloped, the characters are unexplored and the potential for “A Wrinkle In Time” is never realized.

The cast does their part to pull together an entertaining and engaging experience, even though the diluted script stacks

n The thin and predictable plot feels like a perfunctory cut and paste from the book’s Cliff Notes.

the odds against them achieving their goal.

Lead actress Storm Reid is adorable, yet assertive in the lead role of Meg Murry – and Deric McCabe gives cuteness overload as her baby brother Charles Wallace Murry. Reese

S.L.I.M. “Everybody who knows me from all over knows that I have love for the crib. Doing this show on this day on top of the “314 Day” hashtags and all the love for the city makes the show extra special.”

This year’s State of Emergency is bittersweet, because as the title of the 2018 show suggests it will be the last.

There’s a reason behind his decision, but it’s another secret that he plans to reveal during the concert.

“I’m gonna let everybody know when they show up,” S.L.I.M. said. In the meantime, he promises that the final State of Emergency will be an unforgettable experience. “All I’mma say is that it’s gonna be lit,” S.L.I.M. said. “I’m bout to ‘Motown 25’ this [expletive], so the city better be ready.”

LooseCannon Ent’s State of Emergency 5: The Finale will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14 at Chaifetz Arena. For more information or tickets, visit www.thechaifetzarena.com

to the small screen. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw a glimpse of Tish Haynes Keys on the commercial for the spring season premiere of the “The Voice.” I probably should not have been too surprised since the NBC hit show held auditions at Busch Stadium this past summer. Word on the street is that she will be appear in an episode next week. I’ll be rooting for her as well as our own Gabii Jones, who will compete on the ABC reboot of “American Idol.” The Central VPA grad is no stranger to the St. Louis music scene – or the televised talent competition grind. She had a strong showing on Kelly Roland’s “Chasing Destiny,” which aired last year on BET. And the whole city seems excited to see how she will fare on “Idol” when the new incarnation premieres on March 11. I would not be the least bit shocked if she is one of the lucky few who gets a golden ticket to Hollywood.

Witherspoon relies on her natural southern charm to connect viewers as Mrs. Whatsit. Oprah Winfrey is the strongest link among the adult cast with her Mrs. Which. She is convincing as the portrayal of an infinitely wise divine being, seemingly with the end goal of personifying the exaltation that has been imposed on her in real life. Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s emotional overload as Dr. Kate Murry showcases her capacity as an actress. But her portrayal feels out of sync with the more mellow scope of her co-stars. Considering the buzz, it will more likely to time travel than go into “A Wrinkle In Time” with zero expectations. But doing so is the only way to ensure a somewhat enjoyable experience.

Disney’s “A Winkle In Time” opens in theatres nationwide on Friday, March 9. The film is rated PG with a running time of 115 minutes.

Wyclef Jean

Celebrations

Poetry Champs

Three East St. Louis Senior High School students advanced to regional competition after strong performances in their school’s Poetry Out Loud competition. Keshaun McCray took first place, Mya Glanton was second and Natazzia Mosely finished third and advanced to regional competition at Southwest Illinois College. Poetry Out Loud, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and state art agencies including the Illinois Arts Council, introduces students to classic and contemporary poetry and helps students develop life skills such as poise and public speaking.

Alabama State University Hornets, alumni, families and friends in the St. Louis area. The Alabama State University Alumni Chapter of St. Louis will have a meeting on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:30pm at the St. Louis County Library - Rock Road Branch 10267 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann, MO 63074.

Beaumont Class of 1968 will celebrate its 50-year reunion

June 8-10,2018. Yes, Class ‘68 will begin Milestone celebration 6th month on 8th day. Our 2018 meetings in preparation will be held at STL County library located 7606 Natural Bridge at 1:00 p.m.. Dates are (Saturdays) February 17, March 17, April 21, May 19 and June 2. For more information call (314) 8698312 or email bhsco1968@ att.net. Pass the word and lets celebrate!

Beaumont High Class of 1973 will hold its 45th reunion Aug. 10-12, 2018! Any questions, please call Rita (314)241-5419.

Homer G. Phillips and St. Louis Municipal School of Nursing is planning an all class reunion in June 2018. Please send your name, address and telephone number to: Homer G. Phillips Nurses Alumni, Inc., P.O. Box 8033

St. Louis, Missouri 63156.

McKinley Class of 1978 will celebrate its 40-year reunion July 27-29, 2018 at the Embassy Suites-Airport. For more information please contact Barbara Lindsey, Barbara_Lindsey@icloud.com or Marvin Woods, mwoods@ projectcontrolsgroup.com , (314) 647-0707.

Northwest High Class of 1978 is planning its 40-year reunion for next year. If you have any questions please contact Sly at (314) 397-0311 or email us at northwestbluedevils@78gmail. com. Check us out on Facebook Northwest High School-Class of 1978.

Soldan Class of 1978 is planning their 40th class reunion. The dates are June 1, 2 and 3. For more information: call (314) 413-9088.

Centenarian

The Smith family and New Northside Baptist Church are celebrating Mother Elizabeth Smith’s 107th birthday on March 6. She is blessed, humble, kind, happy and full of life and history. Her special day will be celebrated with Mother Smith’s favorite things and lots of love.

Book Release

Dr. Carlton R. Caldwell will sign his latest book, “But Now That’s A Fact: Messages from the Apostle Paul” on Sunday, March 18, 1-5 pm at Galilee Baptist Church, 4300 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108. Dr. Caldwell has served as the pastor of the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church for more than 25 years.

Sumner Alumni Association hosts its 15th Annual Membership Round-Up Sunday, February 25, 2018, 1-4 pm at Sumner High School with Theme “Showcase Your Talent”. Contact B. Louis at (314) 385-9843 or email: sumneralumniassn@yahoo. com or to Showcase Your Talent on program (provide contact info and your talent). J. House, Chairperson (314) 420-3442.

University City Class of 1978 will hold its 40th reunion May 25-27, 2018. For more information please email ucityhs1978@gmail. com

Vashon Classes of 1974, 1975 and 1976 present: Three Classes Under One Roof! Saturday, April 7, 2018, 7 p.m. until 12 a.m. at the

Elizabeth Smith

Dr. Carlton R. Caldwell

Polish Heritage Center, 1413 North 20th St., St. Louis, MO 63106. For tickets or additional information, call: Jordan Perry ‘74 (314) 7244563, Elvis Hopson ‘75 (314) 660-1784 or Anthony Arnold ‘76 (314) 677-5667.

Vashon High School will celebrate its 90th anniversary October 5-7, 2018 for alumni, students and community activities to celebrate educational commitment and tradition. For additional information, go to Vashonhigh.org or contact Elvis Hopson, elvishopson@ att.net, (314) 535-0243, Pearl Lake, lakep6@aol.com, (314) 388-0743 or Cozy W. Marks, Jr., jr3810@sbcglobal.net, (314) 383-5682.

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

St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine St. St. Louis, MO 63103

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to: Kate Daniel, 2315 Pine St., St. Louis, MO 63103

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

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

FULL-TIME PRINCIPAL

De Smet Jesuit High School seeks highly qualified candidates for the full-time position of Principal beginning with the 2018–2019 school year. Successful candidates will have a minimum master’s degree in education, administration, or a related area and a minimum of ten years’ combined experience in high school teaching and/or administration, preferably in directing the planning and development of curriculum and academic programs for a Catholic high school. More information is available at https://www.desmet.org/ about/careers. Interested candidates should complete the online employment application by March 16.

CAMPUS MINISTER

Loyola Academy of St. Louis, a Jesuit-sponsored middle school for boys, seeks a dynamic person to serve as the Campus Minister for the 2018-2019 school year. Loyola Academy is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by providing a rigorous education, extra-curricular programming, and an emphasis on personal and spiritual development to sixty students. The Campus Minister teaches Religion courses and guides the students, staff, families, and community members in spiritual formation activities. The successful candidate cares for students, plans and facilitates objective-driven lessons, and demonstrates exceptional organization and communication skills. The candidate must also be a certified teacher or be working toward certification. Please submit a letter of interest and resume to Mrs. Ashley Chapman, Principal at achapman@loyolaacademy.org by 4/6/18. No phone inquiries, please. For additional information about the school, please visit our website www.loyolaacademy.org.

Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition has several employment opportunities. For more information go to: www.foster-adopt.org/employment

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

The Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club is in search for a Director of Development to head up fundraising and special events. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is required, masters is preferred. Applicants should have knowledge of fundraising and special events management and at least 5 years of experience. All interested parties can contact Tom Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer, at tsullivan@mathews-dickey.com or 314-679-5225.

FAMILY ADVOCATE

FT position responsible for recruiting and enrolling eligible families with children into the Head Start Program and providing case management and support to families. BA/BS plus 2 years of related experience required. $15-18/hr. Resumes: GASA, 1127 N.Vandeventer Ave., St. Louis, MO 63113 or hr@gasastl.org. EOE.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking a Chief Operating Officer. See https://greatriversgreenway.org/jobs-bids/ for complete job description and how to apply. EEO

Work @ Home*** Need extra income?

Join our supportive team, enjoy many products. Company 3 years old. id#2 800-318-6058.

seeking organist to play for Sunday Morning Services and 1 Night and Rehearsal Every Week 314-642-3480

SYSTEM SPECIALIST (FORENSIC EXAMINER)

System Specialist (Forensic Examiner) vacancy, Eastern District of Missouri. Generous retirement/benefits package. For additional information including how to apply, see our website at www.moep.uscourts.gov Vacancy Announcement 2018-08. Equal Opportunity Employer.

PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER

Webster University has an opening for a full-time Public Safety Officer. Please visit our website at https:// webster.peopleadmin.com/ for a complete job description. No phone calls please. We are proud to be an equal opportunity affirmative action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

CASE MANAGER

Urban Strategies is hiring a case manager in St. Louis, for details please visit www.urbanstrategiesinc.org

PROTECTION OFFICER

Saint Louis Art Museum. Protection Officer. Part-Time. Apply online at www.slam.org/careers

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR II

East-West Gateway Council of Governments has an opening for a Public Administrator II position. Starting salary is $45,348 annually. Please follow the link to view post at http://www.ewgateway.org/careers/

Job Duties: Organize and perform technical service experiments and projects in thermoplastic and thermoset areas; Technical presentations to staff members and distributors; Assist and attend seminars, conferences, etc.; Occasionally work on-site at customer’s labs; Assist Laboratory

additive products; Handle hazardous waste according to procedure; Follow emergency response procedures. Requirements: Master’s degree in Chemistry or related field; two (2) years’ experience in Thermoplastic Compounds/ Chemistry. Basic knowledge of physical and health hazards associated with formulation components (pigments, powdered materials, etc.); Knowledge/experience with laboratory equipment applicable to thermoplastic compounding processes. Travel to customer locations and present to customers; Travel to Wesel, Germany for training and travel to annual sales meetings.

To apply: Please send a resume, cover letter, and three references to Human Resources, 524 S. Cherry St. Wallingford, CT 06492

DATA SCIENTIST

Professional position, which writes software utilizing analytics and machine learning to achieve the business goals and objectives of the company. Works under immediate supervision. Demonstrates clear and working knowledge and concepts of software development, data science and learning algorithms. Responsible for the internal application programming and analysis of requirements using various technologies.

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

Monitor and process premium billing and Accounts Receivable collection on Excess, Primary and Bond business.

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

CMTs & CNAs

Brooking Park is seeking to hire full-time & part-time CMTs and CNAs. Day, evenings, nights and occasional week-ends shifts are available. Prior experience or training with any or all stages of Dementia and Alzheimer’s is beneficial. Memory Care experience and insulin certification is a plus. Please submit resume to:

Brooking Park

Attention: Bree Ballentine 307 S. Woods Mill Dr. Chesterfield, MO 63017 E-mail to: bballentine@standrews1.com EOE

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 406, BID RELEASE #2 - Center for Nursing and Health Science Building, St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, until March 27, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. local time CDT, which includes the following packages: BP-01A Envelope Consultant, BP-03B Site Concrete and Furnishings, BP-06A Carpentry and Lab Furnishings, BP-07C Fireproofing, BP-09A Drywall and Air/Vapor Barrier, BP-09B Painting, BP-09C Acoustical Ceilings, BP-09D Flooring, BP-10A General Trades, BP-32A Landscaping, Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from Cross Rhodes’ Plan room at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110 or at Tarlton Corporation’s website at www.tarltoncorp.com.

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 201, Renovation of Office Suite 102, St. Louis Community College at Corporate College, until 2:00 p.m. local time Thursday, March 15, 2018. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office at the above address, or by calling (314)539-5015.

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

GROCERY LANE DIVIDERS

The Missouri Lottery is accepting bids for the purpose of establishing a contract for grocery lane dividers. The bid document with the specifications can be obtained by going to http://www.molottery.com/learnaboutus/bid_opportunities.shtm or by contacting Melissa Blankenship at melissa.blankenship@molottery. com or 573-751-4050.

PROMOTIONAL T-SHIRTS

The Missouri Lottery is accepting bids for the purpose of establishing a contract for promotional t-shirts. The bid document with the specifications can be obtained by going to http://www.molottery.com/learnaboutus/bid_opportunities.shtm or by contacting Melissa Blankenship at melissa.blankenship@molottery. com or 573-751-4050.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on April 9th, 2018 to contract with a company for: ADVERSE DRIVERS ALERT PROGRAM SERVICES. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9309 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.6269 to request a copy of this bid.

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

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on April 12th, 2018 to contract with a company for: ROOF REPLACEMENT FOR HARLEM DRAIN P-148 & HARLEM SOUTH P-145. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9321 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.6269 to request a copy of this bid.

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

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 202, Construction of Access Corridor on Third Floor, St. Louis Community College at Corporate College, until 2:00 p.m. local time Thursday, March 22, 2018. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office at the above address, or by calling (314)539-5015.

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

MWBE PreBid Meeting Notice

The SITE Improvement Association is hosting a Prebid meeting for Qualified and Certified MWBE contractors to discuss working on MSD’s Sterling Place Separate Sewer I/I Removal Part 2

Contract Letting No.11667-015.2

This meeting is being held on behalf of the following SITE contractor members: J.M. Marschuetz Construction Co. 15 Truitt Drive Eureka, MO 63025 636/938-3600

The meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m.

March 15, 2018

SITE Improvement Association 2071 Exchange Drive, St. Charles, MO 63303

Project plans are available from MSD. For questions regarding this prebid meeting, Contact the SITE Improvement Association office at 314/966-2950.

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT PROJECT

FINANCING ON BEHALF OF THE ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The St. Louis Development Corporation (“SLDC”), a Round 14 New Markets Tax Credit allocatee hereby requests proposals from firms wishing to receive project financing from SLDC’s New Markets Tax Credit program. For a copy of the RFQ please visit our website at http:/ /stlouis-mo.gov/sldc by selecting the RFP/ RFQ link for a complete copy of the RFP, or contact:

BILL SEDDON

ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 1520 MARKET STREET, SUITE 2000 ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63103 (314)657-3705 (PHONE) (314)603-7011 (FAX)

Proposals are due no later than 4:00 P.M. Central Daylight Time on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC HOUSING

WAITING LIST OPENING –Badenhaus/fest 0, 1, & 2 bedrooms 8450 Gast Pl, 63147 (314)388-1300

Accepting pre-applications online at www.slha.org beginning March 13, 2018 at 8:00a.m. and closing 11:59p.m. March 15, 2018. Applicants with disabilities that need assistance in completing an online application or who do not have access to a computer can be accommodated at 8450 Gast Pl or SLHA Corporate Office located at 3520 Page from 8:00a.m to 5:00p.m. on March 13, 2018 – March 15, 2018.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on April 3rd, 2018 to contract with a company for: Crane Rental Services. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9320 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

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

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer Districtwill receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00am April 12, 2018 for Service of: Repaving Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. The bid document will be identified as 9325 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6250 to request a copy of this bid.

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

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: additional concrete preservation at Lemay WWTF. The District is proposing single source procurement to KCI Construction for this equipment because they are already approved and working on-site . Any inquiries should be sent to ltreat@stlmsd.com.

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

Visit our Website at www.stlamerican.com

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

NOTICE OF PROPOSED CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AND CONSENT DECREE

Whitner et al. v. City of Pagedale

Case No. 4:15-cv-01655-RWS

TO ALL PERSONS WHO, AT ANY TIME SINCE JANUARY 1, 2010, HAVE RECEIVED WARNINGS THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE TICKETS, HAVE BEEN TICKETED, OR WILL BE TICKETED BY THE CITY OF PAGEDALE:

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN THIS LITIGATION.

SUMMARY OF THE LITIGATION AND SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS

1.Plaintiffs Valarie Whitner, Vincent Blount, and Mildred Bryant (the “Named Plaintiffs”) filed a class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri entitled Whitner et al. v. City of Pagedale, Case No. 4:15-cv-01655 (the “Action”). The Named Plaintiffs alleged in Count One of the Action (“Count One”) that the city of Pagedale’s (the “City”) policies and practices regarding the enforcement and adjudication of the City’s municipal code violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In particular, Count One alleged that the City financed itself by identifying, ticketing, prosecuting, convicting, and fining individuals to raise money for the City’s treasury. The Named Plaintiffs requested declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of the class for this alleged violation.

2.The City denied and continues to deny the allegations and claims in the Action.

3.The Named Plaintiffs and the City (together, the “Parties”) participated in extensive arms-length negotiations to resolve the Action, including written, telephonic, and in-person negotiations. As a result of these negotiations, the Parties have proposed a written consent decree (the “Consent Decree”) that settles and resolves on a class-wide basis any and all claims in the Action, that occurred after January 1, 2010, and up to upon the date the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (the “District Court”) enters the Consent Decree, or a motion to enter the Consent Decree is granted, whichever occurs first, as recorded on the District Court’s docket (the “Effective Date”).

4.On or about February 2, 2018, the District Court provisionally approved all terms of the Consent Decree, finding them to be sufficiently fair, reasonable, and adequate to warrant issuance of this Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement and Consent Decree.

TERMS OF THE CONSENT DECREE

5.The Class. The Named Plaintiffs propose to settle the Action pursuant to the terms of the Consent Decree that will be binding upon all class members, which the Consent Decree defines as “all persons who, at any time since January 1, 2010, have received warnings that they may receive tickets, have been ticketed, or will be ticketed by the City of Pagedale” (the “Class”).

6.Provisions of the Consent Decree. The Consent Decree implements changes that will ensure that defendants in the Pagedale Municipal Court (the “Municipal Court”) receive constitutionally sufficient process. The Consent Decree also provides for the repeal of certain provisions of the Code and, in some cases, replacement by provisions of the St. Louis County Property Maintenance Code. The details are contained in the Consent Decree, which is available at the following website: www.cityofpagedale.com. In general, the Consent Decree requires the City to take certain actions with respect to the following, as all set forth in greater detail in the Consent Decree:

SEALED BIDS

for HVAC Upgrades, Troop CService Center, Park Hills, Missouri, Project No. R1601-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 3/22/2018. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

•With respect to the Pagedale Municipal Court, the City will: dismiss and close cases (and related fines and fees) in which a defendant has already made payments to the Municipal Court which exceed the amount of the original fine (including amounts resulting from an associated failure to appear); decline to prosecute all unresolved or open cases unless the Pagedale Municipal Prose cutor finds good cause to continue prosecution; eliminate all pending charges, fines, and fees asso ciated with any citation for failure to appear; publicly post and distribute to all defendants a list of all fines for municipal code violations for which a fine is permitted under Missouri law; ensure that citations issued provide certain specific information concerning the citation and resulting mu nicipal Court case; provide specific information at each Municipal Court session explaining the defendant’s rights and the procedures of the Court and payment methods; issue receipts for payment of fines and fees that indicates the amount paid, the specific violation to which the pay ment is to be applied, and the amount the defendant still owes for that violation; ensure that a hearing is conducted before a defendant is penalized for failing to pay a fine or fee; establish an ad ditional monthly Municipal Court session (one day, one night), limit the number of trials per session, and provide a third monthly session for trials if necessary; attempt to accommodate a defendant’s preference for attending either a day or night session of Municipal Court; ensure that no defendant will be sentenced to confinement unless that defendant is represented by counsel or has waived the right to counsel; not penalize defendants for failure to appear for minor traffic viola tions or municipal code violations; and provide online payment options for minor traffic and/or municipal ordinance violations.

•With respect to its Municipal Code, the City will: repeal certain sections of its municipal code dealing with nuisances and housing standards and replace these sections with corresponding sections of the St. Louis County Property Maintenance Code; repeal several ordinances in addition to these provisions; and not issue tickets for conditions not specifically mentioned in the Pagedale Municipal Code and dismiss all outstanding cases for violations of such conditions.

7.Monitoring Requirements. The parties have agreed that compliance with the Consent Decree will be monitored for five (5) years after the Effective Date by providing certain information, as set forth in greater detail in the Consent Decree, to Named Plaintiffs concerning the City’s budgeting, financial statements, and collections of the Pagedale Municipal Court.

8.Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, and Damages. Pursuant to the Consent Decree, each party will be responsible for its attorneys’ fees and costs. The Consent Decree does not award damages to the Named Plaintiffs or the Class.

9.Continued Jurisdiction of the District Court. The District Court may enforce the Consent Decree through its contempt powers. The District Court will maintain jurisdiction over the Action and may issue such orders as may be necessary or appropriate to enforce the Consent Decree.

CONSENT DECREE

EFFECT OF THE

10.If it is finally approved by the District Court, the Class will be bound by the terms and conditions of the Consent Decree, and shall be bound by any order issued by the District Court that enjoins all in the Class from asserting against the City and its respective affiliates, trustees, directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants, insurance carriers, attorneys, assigns, executors, administrators, and agents, past and present, any and all rights, claims, demands, liabilities, actions and causes of action for injunctive, declaratory, or equitable relief, as well as associated attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, of whatever nature whatsoever, known or unknown, fixed or contingent, suspected or unsuspected, that all or any members of the Class now have, or may ever have, against the City, that occurred between January 1, 2010, and the Effective Date and that arise out of or in any way relate to the claims and allegations asserted in the Action.

FINAL CONSENT DECREE APPROVAL HEARING

11.On May 18, 2018, at 1:30 p.m., the District Court will conduct a final approval hearing (the “Final Hearing”) to determine whether to certify the Class for purposes of settlement and grant final approval of the Consent Decree. The Final Hearing shall be conducted in Courtroom 16 South, Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse, 111 South 10th Street, St. Louis, MO 63102.

OBJECTIONS OR COMMENTS TO PROPOSED CONSENT DECREE

SEALED BIDS for Modular Storage Building, Southeast Missouri Mental H e a l t h C e n t e r, F a r m i n g t on , Missouri, Project N o . M 1 8 0 1 - 0 1 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 3/22/2018. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

12.Class members have a right to object to the terms of the Consent Decree. To be considered by the District Court, Class member objections can be made via telephone or in writing at the phone number and address for counsel for the proposed class (“Class Counsel”) listed below, but must be made to Class Counsel no later than May 2, 2018.

13.Objections must include the following information: (i) the objector’s contact information (name, address, phone number, and email), (ii) an explanation of the objector’s objection to the Consent Decree; and (iii)whether the objector intends to appear at the Final Hearing on May 18, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. All information submitted to Class Counsel will be provided to the City and the District Court.

14.It not necessary for Class members to appear at the Final Hearing. An objector who wishes to appear at the Final Hearing must give notice, either in writing or by phone, to all Parties of his or her objection and his or her intention to appear at the Final Hearing. Objectors may withdraw their objections at any time.

HOW TO GET MORE INFORMATION

15.Class members may request a complete copy of the Consent Decree by contacting Class Counsel at the address or numbers below, or view it on the internet at www.cityofpagedale.com. 16.Class

St. LouiS american Bids & Public Notices

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

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

To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Thursday, March 22, 2018. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to hbean@stlpartnership.com, or to Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of the County of St. Louis, c/o St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, ATTN: Howl Bean II, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2200, St. Louis, Missouri 63105. DBE, MBE, and WBE firms are encouraged to bid.

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

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The St. Louis County Port Authority (the “Authority”) solicits proposals from qualified contractors to provide lawn care services for multiple parcels located throughout St. Louis County, Missouri. More than one contractor may be selected to perform the services, which generally consist of performing seasonal lawn maintenance, including grass cutting and debris removal. The parcels to be serviced are set forth in the Request for Proposals. To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Thursday, March 29, 2018. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to hbean@stlpartnership.com, or to St. Louis County Port Authority, c/o St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, ATTN: Howl Bean II, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2200, St. Louis, Missouri 63105. DBE, MBE, and WBE firms are encouraged to bid.

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

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

CITY OF ST. LOUIS

Public Hearing Notice and Draft 2017 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER)

Available for Review and Comment

The City of St. Louis is soliciting comments on its draft Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). The CAPER is an overall review of the housing and community development activities undertaken in 2017 by the City of St. Louis. It is part of the Consolidated Planning process, which is a pre-requisite to receiving the following allocations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the following programs: Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership, Emergency Solutions Grant, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS.

Public Hearing Notice/Public Comment Period

The Community Development Administration will conduct a public hearing on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. at Innovative Concept Academy, 1927 Cass Avenue (63106). The purpose of this hearing is to solicit public comments pertaining to the 2017 CAPER prior to its submission to HUD.

Available for Review

The 2017 CAPER will be available in draft form for review by any interested citizen prior to submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on March 7, 2018 at the City of St. Louis Central Library located at 1301 Olive Street. The draft report, including IDIS reports and the Financial Summary, will also be available for review at the offices of the Community Development Administration located at 1520 Market Street, Suite 2000. Copies of the 2017 CAPER report may be downloaded from the City of St. Louis website at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/community-development/documents/index.cfm.

Written Comments

The views of citizens, public agencies, and other interested parties are strongly encouraged. Written comments will be accepted until March 23, 2018 and should be addressed to Ms. Alana Green, Executive Director, Community Development Administration, 1520 Market, Suite 2000, St. Louis, MO 63103, or via e-mail at GreenA@ stlouis-mo.gov.

Other Information

Persons with special needs or accommodations relating to handicapped accessibility or foreign language should contact Ms. Green via email at GreenA@stlouis-mo.gov or by phone at (314) 657-3835 or (314) 589-6000 (TDD). Interpreting services are available upon request for persons with hearing disabilities. Interested parties should contact the Office on the Disabled at (314) 622-3686/voice or (314) 622 3693/TTY at least 48 business hours in advance of the meeting. CDA is an equal opportunity agency (employer). Minority participation is encouraged.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Scottrade Center Capital Improvements – Structural Steel and Concrete Flatwork.

The improvement plan includes at this time the following project: -Structural Slab Infills at Various Areas

A walk thru will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2018 between 10am and 11am. We will meet at the 15th Street Entrance.

Bid will be due on March 16, 2018 at 1:30pm

This project must adhere to the City of St. Louis Mayor’s Executive Order #47 requiring the following enterprise participation: 25% MBE business and 5% WBE business participation.

This project must adhere to the City of St. Louis Ordinance 69427 requiring the following Workforce participation: 25% Minority, 5% Women workforce, 15% Apprentice workforce, and 20% City Resident workforce participation. For any questions or if you would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Jason Szachnieski at 636-561-9608 or jrszachnieski@paric. com All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@ paric.com) or fax (636-561-9501).

Plans, Renderings, and RFP’s will be available to view at Paric’s Main office at 77 Westport Plaza, Suite 250, St. Louis, MO 63146.

PUBLIC NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR SUBZONE DESIGNATION FOR FOREIGN-TRADE ZONE NO. 102

The St. Louis County Port Authority, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone No. 102, has applied to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to request subzone designation on behalf of Orgill, Inc. The applicant requests subzone status for the facilities of Orgill, Inc., located at 2727 North Main Street, Sikeston, Missouri, which are used to warehouse and distribute hardware and home improvement products. No authorization for production activity has been requested. The proposed subzone would be subject to the existing activation limit of FTZ 102. Public comment on the application is requested from interested parties. Submissions to comment (1 original and 3 copies) should be addressed to the Board’s Executive Secretary at the address listed below. A copy of the application with accompanying exhibits is available for public inspection at the Office of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board’s Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 21013, Washington, D.C. 20230, and in the “Reading Room” section of the Board’s web site, which is accessible via www.trade.gov/ftz. The closing period for public comment is March 26, 2018.

ON CONCOURSES A, B & C, TRANSFORMERS 2 & 4 At St. Louis Lambert International Airport

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on Tuesday April 10, 2018, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). ). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at 10:00 AM in the Training Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044. All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www. stl-bps.org (Announcements).

PUBLIC NOTICE ST. LOUIS COUNTY

Availability of 2017 Draft Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report

PUBLIC HEARING Monday, March 19, 2018 5:30 p.m.

St. Louis County Administration Building 41 S. Central, 5th Floor Conference Room

To All Interested Agencies, Groups and Persons:

St. Louis County is the “Lead Agency” for the St. Louis HOME Consortium. The St. Louis HOME Consortium is a group of contiguous units of local government that have joined together for the purpose of receiving HOME funds and administering a HOME Program as a single grantee. The members of the St. Louis HOME Consortium include St. Louis County, the

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in

was spent for activities funded under the

Program in St. Louis County and in the jurisdictions which are members of the St. Louis HOME Consortium. A draft copy of St. Louis County’s Fiscal Year 2017 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) will be available for public review and comment beginning on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at the locations specified in this notice during normal business hours, Monday thru Friday. Also, interested persons, groups and agencies are invited to attend a public hearing regarding St. Louis County’s expenditure of these federal grant funds reported in the “draft” 2017 CAPER. The draft CAPER document discusses the County’s performance in meeting its goals, which are to fund programs and activities that provide decent housing, create suitable living environments and expand economic opportunities for low and moderate-income residents of St. Louis County. If you wish to attend this Public Hearing and require accommodations due to a disability, please contact the Office of Community Development 48 hours in advance. The address and phone are at the bottom of this notice.

St. Louis County Government Centers •West-74 Clarkson-Wilson Center Chesterfield, MO 63017 (314-615-0900)

•North-21 Village Square Hazelwood, MO 63042 (314-615-7400)

•South-4546 Lemay Ferry Road St. Louis, MO 63129 (314-615-4000)

St. Louis County Department of Planning

•Office of Community Development-41 S. Central Avenue 5th floor, Clayton, MO 63105 (314-615-4457)

City of St. Charles •City Hall Community Development Office, Ste. 303, 200 N. Second Street St. Charles, MO 63301 (636-949-3222)

City of Florissant •Government Building - 1055 rue St. Francois, Florissant, MO 63031 (314-839-7680)

County of St. Charles •Administrative Building, 201 N. Second St., St. Charles, MO 63301 (636-949-7900)

Jefferson County • Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation, 5217 Highway B, Hillsboro, MO 63050 (636-797-5336)

City of O’Fallon •City Hall, 100 N. Main Street, O’Fallon, MO 63366 (636240-2000)

St. Louis County Library System •St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131

Comments regarding the “draft” of the St. Louis County Fiscal Year 2016 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report may be submitted in writing and directed to: Mr. Jim Holtzman, Director Office of Community Development 41 S. Central, 5th Floor Clayton, MO 63105 Phone: (314) 615-4414 (VOICE) (314)615-5467 (TTY) E-Mail: JHoltzman2@stlouisco.com 1-800-735-2966 (Relay Missouri TTY Callers) 1-800-735-2466 (Relay Missouri Voice Callers) Comments will be received until 2:00 p.m. on March 29, 2018 or made at the public hearing March 19, 2018 at 5:30

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for the St. Louis County Library –Meramec Valley project are being received by Brinkmann Constructors on March 7 at 2 PM

All sealed bids to be hand delivered to Brinkmann Constructors 16650 Chesterfield Grove Road, Suite 100 Attn Steve Hunter, St Louis County Library

Plans may be viewed or downloaded at https://secure.smartbidnet.com/External/ PublicPlanRoom.aspx?Id=350699

There will be a pre-bid/outreach meeting on February 21 at 1PM at Brinkmann Constructors 16650 Chesterfield Grove Road, Suite 100

Contact Brinkmann Constructors for further details on the project or obtaining plans at 636-537-9700

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Hall, 1200 Market St. Room 30, ph# 314-622-3686 or by download from the City of St. Louis website at: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/procurement.cfm

*All bidders must be in compliance with the Fair Employment Practices Commission

*This project is a Missouri Public Works Project

*St. Louis County Library & Brinkmann Constructors are Equal Opportunity Employers

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

the authorized distributor. Any inquiries should be sent to dlegrand@stlmsd.com.

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

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

LOUIS

CITY OF ST.

ST.

LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT

Solicitation For Bids (SFB) for Vending Services Proposals Wanted

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

Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

Advertised

Swag Snap of the Week

State of Emergency’s last 314 Day hoorah. March 14 is less than a week away and LooseCannon S.L.I.M. decided once again that the unofficial holiday for St. Louis love is perfect for his 5th Annual State of Emergency concert. I would say that he’s starting a tradition. But considering that this year he’s calling it State of Emergency: The Final Chapter, he’s ending it just as fast as it got started. That’s right, this will be the last State of Emergency concert. S.L.I.M. says that everybody in the building will know why he’s shutting it down after five years – so you have to go to know. As far as who he’s bringing, all I know for sure is LA4$$. The “hood’s hottest youngin’” clearly has enough star power to carry the show, based on the reaction by the STL tweens and teens that found out while getting their tickets. Chaifetz Arena was looking like Best Buy on Black Friday. It was thanks to that $5 ticket special to kickoff sales for the show, but plenty of folks bought full-price tickets too. The show is going down on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. and nobody knew who was coming. We’ll see how he retires State of Emergency, I’m sure S.L.I.M. has something up his sleeve. Get your tickets at www.thechaifetzarena.com.

For the love of STL hip-hop. I was over the moon at Atomic Cowboy after experiencing Rap Fan. The show with Track Star & Friends, featuring some of my favorite local veteran rappers, was so packed I could barely breathe Friday night. Normally I’m fussy and irritable when the crowd is too much for TV. However, the folks who took the stage have been grinding for our city in the name of hip-hop and it warmed my heart almost as much as the body heat that was in the room to see them get the support they deserve. It was lit – and I’m talking Hi-Pointe on steroids lit. I got a chance to check out some folks who emerged from hip-hop witness protection just to hit the stage with some straight up hotness. I would need a whole Partyline to name drop the crowd, but I’ll point out a few of the folks who blessed the mic on the lovely night. Blvck Spvde and his lumberjack shirt/kimono/grandfather bathrobe managed to give me some “I woke up like this” life. And I’m sorry Biko, but I’m calling you Needles because of the nostalgia I’m feeling from how the folks threw down throwback style. Needles got it in on the tables to segue between the nonstop heat folks brought to the microphone. And I can’t be the only one convinced that Finsta, who hosted the show, is a vampire. He hasn’t aged since the day we met – and there have people who have been born and got grown in between that frame of time! But back to the show. It was life! I love when we love us and show STL solidarity! Blac Youngsta brings ‘em out yet again. I jumped from the pan to the fire as far as crowd sizes go when I stopped through to catch Blac Youngsta at The Marquee. It seems like every time I say to myself “Ain’t nobody comin’ to see him, he was just here two weeks ago,” the universe says, “really girl, watch this!” I’m gonna say that he’s been here three times already this year – and we are just now cracking into March. Yet somehow, he managed to pull not only his biggest crowds to date, but one of the biggest I’ve seen since the ratchet rappers started owning Friday nights at The Marquee. He had at least as many people as The Migos and Jeezy when they came through last year – and I’m not sure he’s ever had a radio hit. I don’t see what the fuss is about him as a rapper, but the savage community is fit to be tied by the thought of him. Can somebody tell me what the big deal is about crowding up on stage behind a rapper during his performance? I get it if you are his entourage – or if you’re doing something other than standing around for that matter. But to squeeze the stage so tight that the talent doesn’t have any breathing room to do the show is silly. That stage was so swamped that Blac Youngsta could barely hunch. Now Friday was so full that it could have been the only place in the building where there was any room. On that night I wouldn’t have been surprised if folks were poppin’ bottles back by the deep freezer.

Old school R&B on deck. On Saturday, I stopped by 95.5 The Lou and Smooth Promotions presentation of their R&B Legends show featuring Glenn Jones, The Delfonics Revue and Howard Hewett. I would say it was more of veterans and faces from the milk carton than legends, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy myself. Glenn Jones was up first and while I was a bit underwhelmed by his vocals, I’ll admit that he sounded better than anyone else on the bill that night. I think I was expecting too much because it was my first time catching him in the flesh. I’m grateful that he paid homage to Dennis Edwards with his rendition of “A Song For You,” but I was disappointed he didn’t mention that the song was made famous by St. Louis’ own Donny Hathaway. He’s selling wine glasses as a side hustle, but the folks didn’t seem bothered with buying any. He said he was working on a cognac glass that could hold a cigar that would be available soon. I was thinking “sell me on these songs, sir.” The Delfonics Revue sounded pretty doggone regular, though I must give them props for their open casket bedazzled suits and precise “Temptation-esque” choreography. And I’m probably the last person in the world to realize that The Fugees sampled them for “Ready or Not.” I had no idea until their little medley during Saturday night’s show. Headliner Howard Hewett didn’t sound the best, which is not typical of him. He must have been sick or something, because he put that mic out to the crowd for every high note that came his way. To make up for his vocal challenges he was especially charming and interactive with the crowd. He performed half the doggone show from the VIP area, so only general admission had any reason to gripe. They didn’t though. Y’all aunties were actin’ like peak Shalamar era up in

The Ambassador.

James, Tameka, Neosha and Maurice made their way to The Palomino Lounge Wednesday

Halima and Kim were in the building as James Biko paid tribute to Biggie Smalls Saturday night @ Big Ups @ The Ready Room

Smooth and Keisha of Smooth Promotions with R&B artists Glenn Jones and The Delfonics Revue@ The R&B Legends show Saturday @ The Ambassador

Lady Re was the hostess with the most Saturday night @ The Ambassador

Sultan and Howie hit up The Ready Room Saturday night to show love to the late Notorious B.I.G.

Rukiya and Dellwood Mayor Reggie Jones couldn’t help but get into the good music @ the R&B Legends concert Saturday @ The Ambassador

Pam and Suzzi waited for Blac Youngsta to hit the stage Friday @ The Marquee

Nahshon and Christicia started their new week off by sliding through @UrbArts on Sunday for a refreshing evening of Lyrical Therapy

Friday the city showed up like never before to see Blac Youngsta live at The Marquee. As the Memphis rap star rolled out, he made sure to stop and snap it up with beautiful Dash Milan.

Photos by V. Lang

St. Louis’ own national recording artist Julius Williams and Vondi came through to support the Legends of R&B Saturday night @ The Ambassador

Keaira and Ganeisha hit the Tin Roof on Wednesday to Hang with Larry Blue for his NBA watch party

Health care for summer camp

By Patricia Merritt

Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University

Edwardsville’s Healthcare Diversity Summer Camp opens high school students’ eyes to the many career paths within pharmacy, nursing and dental medicine.

The camp is a collaborative effort, organized by the Schools of Pharmacy (SOP) and Nursing (SON) and the SIU School of Dental Medicine (SDM). It focuses on exposure, experience and enrichment as students gain an understanding of the ample

opportunities that exist within each field, through interactive lessons and activities.

“SIUE’s Healthcare Diversity Summer Camp is a pipeline program from our Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing and Dental Medicine,” said Lakesha Butler, PharmD, camp coordinator and associate clinical professor in the SOP. “We are servicing a diverse world. We’re seeing a change in our demographics, and we want to make sure that our student body mirrors that and is adequately prepared to service the healthcare world that they will encounter. We want to make sure that

we are producing students who have a heart for all types of people.”

“Diversity camp is significant, because it provides students with the opportunity to see individuals that look like them, who are successful in their particular area, and that is

Summer camp at Boys & Girls Clubs

The natural classroom Summer programs put

biology in kids’ hands

By Ryan Delaney Of St. Louis Public Radio

Children benefit from a balanced diet of screen time and outdoors time, studies show. In the St. Louis area, several camps and summer youth jobs focus on environmental education and exploration. St. Louis Public Radio visited a smattering of them last summer to see what kids are learning. Katie Dreas, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, led fourth- and fifth-

graders from the Ferguson-Florissant School District on a hike through the Little Creek Nature Area in Florissant.

The camp was in its second year and teaches 135 students over three weeks.

De’Jah Robinson, 10, cracked open a persimmon fruit to see what’s inside.

“It was, like, smooshy and it stinked a lot,” she said. “And on the inside it looked like a grape.”

10-year-old Cody Wills inspected tree bark at the Little Creek Nature Area. The camp is free for district students but there’s a waiting list.

Ampadu, PhD, assistant professor in the SON and director of the Student

While visiting the SIUE School of Pharmacy, students performed foot exams on their peers to determine if they had pedal pulses

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

Micheal Flemon, 17, attends Normandy High School. Last summer, he earned a paycheck with Forest Park Forever’s Nature Works program, which functions as a landscaping job and a biology lab for high schoolers.

Blueprint for summer

Where will your child spend the summer? So many options!

This listing was provided in partnership with Blueprint4 SummerSTL. Blueprint4Summer is a free web app that helps parents find summer opportunities in the St. Louis area for children ages 3-18. You can search their extensive database of over 5,000 listings by price, age, location, category, etc. at http:// blueprint4summer.com.

This is a small sample of camps offered in the area listed on Blueprint4Summer. All of the camps listed on Blueprint4Summer provide more information about multiple dates and expanded camp offerings not listed here.

If you are interested in pre-college or college access programs on University campuses nationwide, check out their sister website Blueprint4Summer College Prep at http://blueprint4summer.com/ college. Search for Summer fun today with Blueprint4Summer.

Ace Stable

Website: http://www.acestable. com/

Phone: 314-427-6995

Address: 9115 Natural Bridge

Rd St. Louis, MO 63134

Camp Description: We offer summer camps for ages 7 and up. The cost is $200 for a 4 day camp that runs from 9am to 12pm.

Age Range: 7-18

Cost Range: $200

Aim High St. Louis

Website: https://www. aimhighstl.org

Phone: 314-432-9500

Address: 755 South Price Rd

St. Louis, MO 63124

Camp Description: Aim

High St. Louis is a five-week summer learning program that provides academic, cultural, and personal enrichment for middle school students. Aim High is tuition-free and is currently admitting 5th- and 6th-grade students. Students MUST submit application and be accepted to participate. Visit www.aimhighstl.org to learn more about how to apply.

Age Range: 11-14

Cost Range: $0

Artscope Summer Camp 2018

Website: http://www. artscopestl.org/creativeprograms/summercamp/ Phone: 314-865-0060

Address: 4255 Arsenal Street (inside Tower Grove Park) St. Louis, Missouri 63116-1901

Camp Description: Artscope offers 10 sessions of week-long summer camp programming in beautiful Tower Grove Park. Each week features a different theme from music to public art to nature and lots more with a focus on upcycled materials and eco-friendly creativity.

Age Range: 5-12

Cost Range: $175

Ballwin Parks and Recreation Summer Camps Website: http://www.ballwin. mo.us/Departments/Parks-andRecreation/Summer-Camps/

Phone: 636-227-8950

Address: #1 Ballwin Commons Circle Ballwin, MO 63021

Camp Description: Ballwin Parks and Recreation’s Summer

Camps are safe, affordable and unforgettably fun! Throughout the course of the summer, campers will meet new friends, be physically active, pursue their interests and make lifelong memories.

Age Range: 2-13

Cost Range: $42-$290

Bobby McCormack’s Basketball Camp Website: http://schoolyou.com/ index.html

Phone: 314-606-5370

Address: 1071 Purcell Ave. St. Louis, MO 63130

Camp Description: The shooting camp gives campers the opportunity to focus on improving their shooting skills. Emphasis is placed on technique, footwork, shooting drills, shooting off the dribble, shooting off the pass, shooting games, free throw shooting, and

Camp Description: Imagine a place where your child can make life-long friends, visit some of St. Louis’ best attractions, enjoy sporting and cultural activities, take field trips and learn to swim—all in one summer! Age Range: 6-18

Cost Range: $225

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Charles County - O’Fallon Unit

Website: https://bgcstc.org/ summer

Phone: 636-688-8578

Address: 1 Club Way St. Peters, MO 63376

Camp Description: The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Charles County is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens. Age Range: 6-18

Cost Range: $110

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Charles CountySt. Charles Unit Website: https://bgcstc.org/ summer Phone: 636-946-6255

Address: 1211 Lindenwood

Ave. St. Charles, MO 63301

post/perimeter shooting.

Age Range: 6-14

Cost Range: $100-$225

Boy Scouts of America Website: http://stlbsa.org

Phone: 314-361-0600

Address: 4568 West Pine Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108

Camp Description: Boy Scouts of America day and twilight camps for BOYS AND GIRLS ages 7-11 with a focus on fun, adventure, outdoor activities and character development! Our theme this year, Weird Wacky Science! Age Range: 7-12

Cost Range: $30-$280

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis Website: http://www.bgcstl.org

Phone: 314-335-8000

Address: 2901 North Grand Blvd St. Louis, MO 63107

Camp Description: The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Charles County is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens. Age Range: 6-15

Cost Range: $110

Camp Concordia Website: http://www. concordiaturners.org/index. php/special-activities/campconcordia Phone: 314-352-9388

Address: 6432 Gravois Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63116

Camp Description: Camp Concordia is a weekly summer camp for children ages 5 and up. It is based on the fundamentals of Concordia Turners “sound mind in a sound body.” The camp includes gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling and swimming, crafts

as well as the introduction to many different sports.

Age Range: 5 and up

Cost Range: $154

Camp Courage Website: http://www. annieshope.org/programs Phone: 314-965-5015

Address: 1333 W. Lockwood

Ave St. Louis, MO 63122

Camp Description: Camp Courage is a 5-day, 4-night, overnight camp for children ages 6-11 who are grieving the death of someone significant. Age Range: 6-11

Cost Range: $0

Camp Cultural Leadership Website: http:// culturalleadership.org/what-iscultural-leadership-camp Phone: 314-725-3222

Address: 225 S. Meramec Ave., Suite 107 St. Louis, MO 63105

Camp Description: Our 3-week camp for rising 8th and 9th graders is a fun, educational proram that increases cultural awareness through handson activities and develops leadership skills. Age Range: 13-14 Cost Range: $900

Camp EarthWays: Young Green Builders Website: http://www. missouribotanicalgarden.org/ learn-discover.aspx Phone: 314-577-0281

Address: 4651 Shaw St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Science, design, and sustainability camp for 5th-8th graders at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Age Range: 9-14 Cost Range: $185

Camp Erin Website: http:/www. annieshope.org/programs

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis

Camp Independence

Website: http://www. stlouischildrens.org/ourservices/cerebral-palsy-center/ sports-rehabilitation/campindependence

Phone: 314-454-2642

Address: One Children’s Way

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Adaptive sports summer day camp for children with cerebral palsy ages 7-21 held at Webster Groves Recreation Complex for 6 weeks, each child can sign up for a maximum of 3 weeks.

Age Range: 7-21

Cost Range: $156

Camp Kennedy Website: http://stlouisco. com/ParksandRecreation/ ChildrensFun/DayCamps

Phone: 314-615-5572

Address: 6050 Wells Road St. Louis, MO 63128

Camp Description: Children grouped by age, enjoy crafts, games, sports, nature walks, supervised swimming. Please Note: Monday and Wednesday, camp is held at Suson Park and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, camp is held at Kennedy Complex.

Age Range: 5-12

Cost Range: $65

Camp Magic House Website: http://www. magichouse.org/camp

Address: 516 S. Kirkwood Rd.

St. Louis, MO 63122

Camp Description: Make your child’s summer magical with a one-of-a-kind summer camp experience. Campers will embark on artistic adventures, unleash their inner inventors and travel the world, all without a passport, with our 2018 summer camp themes! Explore the fantastic fun of a week powered by play.

Age Range: 4-11

Cost Range: $125-$225

Challenger Learning CenterSt. Louis Website: http://www. challengerstl.org/our-programs/ summer/ Phone: 314-521-6205

Address: 205 Brotherton Lane Ferguson, MO 63135

Camp Description: The Challenger Learning Center St. Louis offers a variety of summer experiences for students 8 years old and up. Simulated space missions, SCUBA diving, and lunar colonies are just of few of the exciting program activities.

Age Range: 8-18

Cost Range: $210-$425

Chess Summer Camp Website: http://www. saintlouischessclub.org

Phone: 314-361-2437

Address: 4657 Maryland Ave. St. Louis, MO 63108

Camp Description: Summer 2018 at the Saint Louis Chess Club offers four separate week-long camp sessions, each of them led by professional Grandmasters and certified staff members.

Age Range: 6-14

Cost Range: $400

Circus Harmony

Website: http://www. circusharmony.org

Phone: 314-436-7676

Address: 750 N. 16th St. St. Louis, MO 63103

Camp Description: Let your child run away and join the circus but still be home in time for dinner!

Age Range: 7-17

Cost Range: $450

City of Brentwood Parks and Recreation

Website: http://www. brentwoodmo.org/parks

Phone: 314-963-8689

Address: 2505 S. Brentwood Blvd Brentwood, MO 63144

Camp Description: The mission of Brentwood Parks and Recreation Department is to provide exceptional spaces and opportunities for a sustainable future that best serve the evolving needs of our community.

Age Range: 4-14

Cost Range: $69-$357

City of Crestwood Parks and Recreation

Website: http://www. cityofcrestwood.org

Phone: 314-729-4860

Address: 9245 Whitecliff Park

Lane Crestwood, MO 63126

Camp Description: The mission of the Parks and Recreation Department is to enhance the quality of life for all Residents of Crestwood and guests by offering recreation and leisure opportunities, facilities, open space and related services. We strive to offer something for everyone in the community.

Age Range: 6-17

Cost Range: $160

City of Hazelwood Parks and Recreation Website: https://apm. activecommunities.com/ hazelwoodmoparksandrec/home

Phone: 314-731-0980

Address: 1186 Teson Road Hazelwood, MO 63042

Camp Description: Hazelwood Parks and Recreation Summer Camps

Age Range: 6-14

Cost Range: $60-$475

City of Kirkwood Parks and Recreation Department

Website: http://www. kirkwoodmo.org/content/CityDepartments/2176/programguide.aspx

Phone: 314-822-5855

Address: 111 S. Geyer Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122

Camp Description: Kirkwood Parks and Recreation has a large variety of summer camp programs for all ages, with before and after care available!

Age Range: 3-16

Cost Range: $65-$360

City of Manchester Parks and Recreation Website: http://www. manchestermo.gov

Phone: 636-391-6326 ext. 400

Address: 359 Old Meramec Station Rd. Manchester, Missouri 63021

Camp Description: Manchester Parks, Recreation, & Arts offers a wide variety of camps to keep kids busy all summer!

Age Range: 3-15

Cost Range: $70-$290

City of Maryland Heights - Maryland Heights Day Camps

Website: http://www. marylandheights.com

Phone: 314-738-2599

Address: 2300 McKelvey Rd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043

Camp Description: All day children’s day camps for ages 6-13!

Age Range: 6-13

Cost Range: $96-$120

City of Olivette Parks and Recreation Summer Camp

Website: http://www. olivetteparksandrec.com/camps. html

Phone: 314-991-1249

Address: 9743 Olive

Boulevard Olivette, MO 63132

Camp Description: City of Olivetter Parks and Recreation offers summer camps for children ages 3.5-14 teaching a variety of recreational interests.

Age Range: 3.5-14

Cost Range: $179-$199

Clayton Parks and Recreation

Website: http://www. claytonmo.gov/camps

Phone: 314-290-8500

Address: 50 Gay Avenue Clayton, MO 63105

Camp Description: Clayton camps provide a variety of options for ages 5-14.

Age Range: 5-14

Cost Range: $145-$229

COCA - Summer Arts Camps

Website: http://www.cocastl. org/ Phone: 314-725-6222

Address: 524 Trinity Avenue St. Louis, MO 63130

Camp Description: COCA

Summer Arts Camps for ages 3 to 18 feature a multitude of options for exploring theatre, dance, music, visual arts, culinary arts and more.

Age Range: 3-18

Cost Range: $124-$515

Collinsville Area Recreation District Summer Camp Programs

Website: http://www. collinsvillerec.com/camps.html

Phone: 618-346-7529

Address: 10 Gateway Drive Collinsville, IL 62234

Camp Description: Nine exciting weeks of camp to choose from for ages 7-13. Before and after care available as well.

Age Range: 7-13

Cost Range: $70-$85

Consuming Kinetics Dance Company

Website: http://www.ckdc.org/ kidsdanceandartcamp

Phone: 314-564-1477

Address: 460 Whittier St. St. Louis, MO 63108

Camp Description: Bring your children to CKDC this summer for a fun, diverse, immersive arts learning experience!

Age Range: 6-13

Cost Range: $275

Contemporary Arts Museum

Website: http://camstl.org/ programs/youth-teen-programs/ Phone: 314-535-4660

Address: 3750 Washington Blvd St. Louis, MO 63108

Camp Description: Art Camps for children 9-13 focus on comic book art, 3-D design, stop-motion animation, and book making; Teen Museum Studies offers an opportunity to curate an exhibition.

Age Range: 9-18

Cost Range: $0-$125

Cor Jesu Academy

Enrichment and Sports Camps

Website: http://www.corjesu. org/camps

Phone: 314-842-1546

Address: 10230 Gravois Road St. Louis, MO 63123

Camp Description: Enrichment and Sports Camps for girls in grades 3-8 offer a variety of interests and help girls develop and hone their sports skills.

Age Range: 8-14

Cost Range: $25-$125

Craft Alliance Summer Art Camps Website: http://www.

craftalliance.org

Phone: 314-725-1177 x325

Address: 6640 Delmar Blvd St. Louis, MO 63103

Camp Description: Craft Alliance Center of Art +

Design offers the Staenberg Summer Camps for ages 4-18, May 29-August 10. Half-day camps meet at the Delmar Loop and Grand Center locations – choose a morning and afternoon camp and spend the whole day being creative! Explore hot glass, pottery wheel, jewelry making, digital darkroom, textiles, cartooning, 3D printing, tech lab, and more, with artist instructors and Teen Intern opportunities. Financial aid is available.

Age Range: 4-18

Cost Range: $85-$300

DaySpring Arts & Education Website: http://www. dayspringarts.org

Phone: 314-291-8878

Address: 2500 Metro Blvd. Maryland Heights, MO 63043

Camp Description: DaySpring offers many camps and workshops for children ages 3-18. This summer’s line up includes classes in drama,

musical theatre, music, dance, art, and STEAM!

Age Range: 3-18

Cost Range: $95-$430

Des Peres Parks and Recreation Summer Camps

Website: http://www. TheLodgeDesPeres.com

Phone: 314-835-6150

Address: 1050 Des Peres Road

Des Peres, MO 63131

Camp Description: Des Peres Parks and Recreation offers 25 different types of camps to keep your kids active and engaged all summer long! We are centrally located at I-270 and Manchester Road for an easy commute to work!

Age Range: 5-16

Cost Range: $126-$297

Dream Big Career Camp Website: https://starkloff.org/ for-candidates/#additional2

Phone: 314-588-7090

Address: 133 S. 11th Street, Suite 500 St. Louis, MO 63102

Camp Description: College and career exploration camp for high-school students with disabilities and IEPs. Age Range: 14-19

Cost Range: $375

Endangered Wolf Website: http://www. endangeredwolfcenter.org/takea-tour/summer-wolf-camp/#. Phone: 636-938-5900

Address: PO Box 760 Eureka, MO 63025

Camp Description: Adventures await your child at the Endangered Wolf Center this summer. Campers will explore the world of the wolf by visiting our amazing animals, playing fun games to learn about wolf behavior, and making crafts. Exciting hikes explore nature and some of the interesting places at the Tyson Research Center. Age Range: 4-15

Cost Range: $60-$215

Fontbonne University - Cyber Warrior Camp

Website: http://WWW. Fontbonne.edu/Cyberwarrior Phone: 314-889-4508

Address: 3500 Wydown Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63125

Camp Description: Open to high school students,

Girls Inc.

Fontbonne University’s inaugural Cyber Warrior Camp explores computer science and cyber security principles like creating strong passwords, safe online behavior, detecting SPAM and phishing, abstraction, data hiding and more.

Age Range: 15-18

Cost Range: $0

Fontbonne University campF.R.E.S.H.®

Website: http://www. fontbonne.edu/academics/ undergraduate/departments/ family-and-consumer-science/ camp-fresh/ Phone: 314-719-8083

Address: 6800 Wydown Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63105

Camp Description: Each week-long day camp features a different continent, from Antarctica to South America, with stops along the way to learn about the unique lifestyles of kids around the globe.

Age Range: 8-12

Cost Range: $185

Gene Slay’s Girls and Boys Club Website: http://www.gsgbcstl. org

Phone: 314-655-9011

Address: 2524 S 11th Street St. Louis, MO 63104

Camp Description: The camp will focus on STEAM activities in the areas of art, communication arts, math, swimming, and athletics.

Age Range: 5-11

Cost Range: $75

Gifted Resource Council Summer Academies Website: http://www. giftedresourcecouncil.org/ sumacad.htm

Phone: 314-962-5920

Address: Wydown Middle School Clayton, MO 63105

Camp Description: Gifted Resource Council’s Summer Academies offer 2-week academic day camps with exciting hand-on, minds-on activities exploring a variety of topics including math, ecology, economics, space science, ancient and American history.

Age Range: 6-14

Cost Range: $490

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outdoors improves a child’s mood, emotional capacity and critical thinking. Local educators say a balance of screen time and nature brings learning alive and improves critical thinking.

“Being outside, there’s so many more questions to ask, the mind is able to really grow and expand,” Little Creek Nature Area coordinator Eric Hadley said.

“Our greatest teacher is nature,” Forest Park Forever education coordinator Jean Turney said. She also brings teachers to the park to learn how to use it for field trips or incorporate nature into lesson plans.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri

Website: http://www. girlscoutsem.org

Phone: 314-592-2300

Address: 2300 Ball Drive St. Louis, MO 63146

Camp Description: Girl Scout Camp opportunities range from a day to a few weeks for girls ages Pre-K through 12th grade. Girls learn teamwork and selfdiscovery in an encouraging environment.

Age Range: 5-17

Cost Range: $50-$550

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois

Website: http://gsofsi.org

Phone: 618-692-0692

Address: #4 Ginger Creek

Parkway Glen Carbon, IL 62034

Camp Description: Girl

Scout Day Camp at Southern Illinois provides girls with an adventurous program by day or evening (twilight camp), returning home each night.

Many start at $50 for a week (M-F), for an affordable yet exciting and fun camp experience. Non- Girl Scouts are welcome to attend! For some amazing Girl Scout Resident Camp opportunities, the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois has partnered with Touch of Nature (on Little Grassy Lake) and Camp Ondessonk (in Ozark, IL).

Age Range: 5-18

Cost Range: $50-$450

Girls Incorporated of St. Louis

Website: http://www. girlsincstl.org

Phone: 314-385-8088

Address: 3801 Nelson Drive St. Louis, MO 63121

Camp Description: The programs and services of Girls Inc. are designed to encourage girls to try new things, build their skills and knowledge and prepare them for the future in exciting and innovative ways.

Age Range: 5-15

Cost Range: $450-$550

GlobalHack Summer Camp Website: https://globalhack. org/youth/summer/ Phone: 314-803-0422

Address: 911 Washington

n Being outside, there’s so many more questions to ask, the mind is able to really grow and expand.

- Eric Hadley Little Creek Nature Area coordinator

Vera Froderman, from St. Louis, smelled a plant while sitting beside a pond in Forest Park. Campers do a mix of science and art projects — along with searching for critters.

Avenue St. Louis, MO 63101

Camp Description: This summer, GlobalHack is teaming up with UMSL Business to offer a summer camp that introduces middle and high school students to coding, through specific courses on web development, coding, game design, and more!

Age Range: 10-18

Cost Range: $299

Highlands Youth Summer Camp Website: http:/www. highlandsgolfandtennis.com

Phone: 314-531-7773

Address: 5163 Clayton Ave.

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Youth golf and tennis camps for ages 6-16!

Age Range: 6-16

Cost Range: $105-$325

Humane Society of Missouri Website: http://www.hsmo.org/ summer-camp

Phone: 314-951-1579

Address: 1201 Macklind Ave.

St.Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Cool off this summer at the Humane Society of Missouri’s camps! We’re making a splash with games, animal interactions and more! Dog training, cat enrichment, and countless pets to adore. Dive into service

learning projects with other animal-loving kids who want to make a PAWsitive impact for animals, too! All camps include hands-on animal interactions and animal-related activities. Join us for a week-long Kids for Critters Camp, or enjoy our special one-day Farmyard Friends Animal Adventure! Age Range: 9-14

Cost Range: $300

International Schoolhouse Spanish-Immersion Camp Website: http://www. InternationalSchoolhouse.com

Phone: 314-874-0715

Address: 1414 Bellevue

Avenue St. Louis, MO 63117

Camp Description: Fun-filled Spanish Immersion summer camp for children ages 3-9! Age Range: 3-9

Cost Range: $445

Jamestown New Horizons Website: http://www.jnhgoneriding.org Phone: 314-741-5816

Address: 15350 Old Jamestown Road Florissant, MO 63034

Camp Description: The JNH riders are taught to work as partners with their mounts and are instructed in all aspects of horsemanship to help them understand the nature of the

Fellow camper Ronald Williams, 9, said learning about plants and animals in a park is better than being in the classroom “because, like, you gotta stay in the building, you can’t really explore the nature; you just get to know about it.”

Miranda Tze, center, 17, goes to Parkway South High School and wants to be a molecular biologist. The manual labor of Forest Park Forever’s Nature Works program gave her a new appreciation for parks. “You’re walking through parks and I don’t think you realize the effort that people put in not only to make it beautiful, but also healthy,” she said.

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ rpatrickdelaney.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Continued from D1

Nurse Achievement Program.

“It’s important to offer students this hands-on approach, because sometimes there’s a disconnect between what healthcare professionals really do, versus what is perceived.”

Sponsored by Walgreens, with additional support from CVS, students who have expressed interest in the health

sciences, were invited to attend camp. They explored SIUE’s campus and spent a day at each of the professional schools. They also took an ACT crash course in preparation for college admissions requirements.

“I really liked this camp, because it had the three areas of healthcare we got to experience,” said Taityanna Beard, a senior at Pattonville High School in St. Louis. “I wasn’t sure how I wanted to be in healthcare, but I knew I

wanted to interact with people and help them in some way. This camp helped me get more knowledge, and I feel like my interest in pharmacy has strengthened.”

“We want these students to know that we’re here to help them, educate them and empower them to do better,” said Cornell C. Thomas, DDS, assistant dean of admissions and student services at the SIU SDM. “We want them to be at a place where they know that they can achieve,

horse. Age Range: 6-15

Cost Range: $250

Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis, Inc. Website: https://www.jastl.org

Address: 17339 N Outer 40 Rd Chesterfield, MO 63017

Camp Description: Entrepreneurship summer camp for children ages 8-13 focusing on creative ways to start and run your own business! Age Range: 8-13

Cost Range: $250

Kids Who K.A.R.E. Camp Website: http://www. karecamp.com Phone: 314-737-6025

Address: St. Louis, MO 63124

Camp Description: One fun week with friends. Memorable experiences for life. Through introductions to non-profit organizations and global causes, K.A.R.E. Camp facilitates age-appropriate discussions, field trips, handson volunteering projects, and unique service opportunities to inspire boys and girls to be grateful, compassionate and kind. K.A.R.E. Camp opens hearts to a lifetime of compassion and giving back. Kindness. Action. Responsibility. Education. Age Range: 7-14

Cost Range: $300

Laumeier Sculpture Park Summer Art Camps Website: http://www. laumeiersculpturepark.org/ Phone: 314-615-5268

Address: 12580 Rott Road St. Louis, MO 63127

Camp Description: Laumeier Sculpture Park offers one-week Summer Art Camps in half-day morning sessions for ages 4 to 6 and full-day sessions for ages 6 to 15. Age Range: 4-15

Cost Range: $120-$210

LifeBridge Partnership Camps Website: https://www. lifebridgestl.org/program/ lifebridge-camps/ Phone: 314-989-1188

Address: 1187 Corporate Lake Drive. St. Louis, MO 63132

Camp Description: Adaptive recreation activities and day camps for youth between the ages of 6-18 (19-21) if enrolled in school.

Age Range: 6-21

Cost Range: $200-$250

Little Medical School

Website: http://www. littlemedicalschool.com/stlouis

Phone: 314-279-1948

Address: 707 N New Ballas Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Camp Description: Little Medical School® brings medicine, science, and the importance of health to children in an entertaining, exciting, and fun way.

Age Range: 4-12

Cost Range: $200

Mad Science Summer Camps

Website: http://stlouis. madscience.org

Phone: 314-991-8000

Address: 8420-R Olive Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63132

Camp Description: Unique science summer programming that delivers hands-on science experiences for children that are as entertaining as they are educational.

Age Range: 5-12

Cost Range: $134-$299

Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club

Website: http://www.mathewsdickey.com

Phone: 314-679-5242

Address: 4245 N. Kingshighway Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63115

Camp Description: Teen College & Career Leadership Camp, ages 13-18, learn professional development skills, go on college tours and enjoy recreation! Summer Day Camp for youth ages 6-12, enjoy academics, arts, sports, swimming and more!

Age Range: 6-18

Cost Range: $200

Metro Theater Company Summer Camps

Website: http://metroplays.org

Phone: 314-932-7414 x106

Address: 3311 Washington Ave. St. Louis, MO 63103

Camp Description: SUMMER AT SLU: Explore advanced

and they know that they can be successful. That’s what’s important.”

SIUE pharmacy student Deja Finley, a native of O’Fallon, helped mentor the students and answer their questions about college life during their time on campus.

“Healthcare Diversity Summer Camp gave them unique insight that a lot of other people don’t get in high school,” Finley said. “They’re open-minded and they’re not set on what they want to do

just yet, so they were willing to explore the health sciences. It was exciting to hear about their experiences at the end of each day.”

“This camp was amazing. My favorite activity had to be the nursing simulation,” added Antwone Leroy, a junior at Collinsville High School.

“It made me feel like I was helping people. When I first came to camp, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Now I want to be a surgical nurse.”

“This particular

listen

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age and skill level. Parents need to take time to visit camps to inspect facilities, ask about the staff’s training and experience and find out how the camp handles medical emergencies. If the child is staying overnight, be sure to inspect cabins, showers and other facilities that your child will be using. Camps organized around

a particular sport can be highly structured and may stress development of specific skills. Other camps are more flexible and give campers the opportunity to choose some of their activities. Your child’s interest and personality should be your guide in choosing an appropriate program. If the child is old enough, ask what activities he or she would enjoy.

Parents should ask how long a camp has been in business and check with parents of past and returning students. Check

BBB’s website, bbb.org, for the camp’s record on handling complaints. BBB offers the following tips for parents seeking the right camp for their child: Always visit the camp before submitting your deposit. Check its location and view the living, eating and recreational facilities.

Some questions to ask about summer camps

Ask about safety procedures

(particularly for water activities, archery and outof-camp trips) and assess the quality and commitment of the staff. Ask about fees and payment deadlines. Is your deposit refundable? Are there extra charges for any activities? Are meals and transportation offered? What is the camper return rate? The counselor return rate? What is the camp director’s background? How is the staff trained? Are criminal checks made for employees and

volunteers? What is the ratio of campers to staff members?

Are medical facilities adequate? Is a nurse or doctor on site? What are the procedures for transporting injured or sick children to medical facilities? Are those facilities nearby?

What are the safety rules and how are they enforced? Does the camp have appropriate insurance coverage?

Are family visits or other communications with campers allowed? How is homesickness handled?

interprofessional collaboration builds a bridge between our three health disciplines,” Butler said. “It models what we want to achieve within our student body and out in practice. We all have our desires to improve or increase the diversity within our individual schools. But, our ultimate goal is to bring in students who have a desire to go into healthcare and expose them to what SIUE offers.”

Are references from parents of repeat campers available? Ask the parents about their child’s experience and why they recommend the camp. Finally, look for camps that are certified by the American Camp Association. ACAaccredited camps have met up to 300 nationally recognized standards. For more information on an individual camp or to check a BBB Business Profile go to www.bbb.org or call 314645-3300.

St. Louis Zoo

Campers

to Katie Dreas of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explain foliage during a summer camp at Little Creek Nature Area in Florissant.

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

acting and auditioning techniques, as well as stage combat, playwriting, and more!

CREATIVE ARTS CAMP:

Drama, Visual art, creative movement and music blend to nurture the imagination.

Age Range: 4-18

Cost Range: $255-$575

Neighborhood Houses

Website: http://www. neighborhoodhouses.org

Phone: 314-290-4055

Address: 326 South 21st Street

St. Louis, MO 63103

Camp Description: Our Summer Enrichment Academy will include a wide range of activities with each week including STEAM activities.

Age Range: 5-12

Cost Range: $115

OneCity Stories

Website: http://www. onecitystories.org

Phone: 314-471-5546

Address: 1 University Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63121

Camp Description: Writing program for ages 14-17

focusing on creative writing and on print, broadcasting, and film journalism at UMSL Grand Center June 11-June 29.

Age Range: 14-17

Cost Range: $450

Paraquad

Website: http://www.paraquad. org

Phone: 314-289-4235

Address: 5240 Oakland Ave.

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Paraquad’s summer day camps offer youth with disabilities a unique opportunity to build skills and explore personal interests in a supportive and educational environment.

Age Range: 12-21

Cost Range: $50

Ranken Technical CollegeAdventure Academy

Website: http://ranken.edu

Address: 4431 Finney Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63113

Camp Description: Summer Adventure Academies engage students in FUN, real world, hands-on activities that demonstrate the skills necessary in technical occupations

Age Range: 12-19

Cost Range: $0-$95

SAGE-Students as Garden Educators Website: http://www. missouribotanicalgarden.org/ learn-discover/youth-families/ youth-teen-programs/sageservice-program.aspx

Phone: 314-577-0850

Address: 4344 Shaw Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: The Students as Garden Educators (SAGE) program provides students ages 14-18 with an opportunity to lead fun activities about plants and nature in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Children’s Garden.

Age Range: 14-18

Cost Range: $0

Saint Louis Public Library Summer Reading Program –Multiple Branches

Website: http://www.slpl.org

Camp Description: Join St. Louis Public Library for exciting summer program offerings. Choose from a variety of activities that will fill-up your summer calendar. You could, also, sign up for Summer Reading Club anytime between May 4 and July 25. Children and teens read at their

own pace and get prizes for every five (5) books read.

Age Range: 3-18

Cost Range: $0

Saint Louis Science CenterSummer Science Blast

Website: https://www.slsc. org/learn-kid-family-activities/ summer-science-blast/

Phone: 314-289-4439

Address: 5050 Oakland Ave

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: We offer the cure for the “common camp” with our Summer Science Blast program. Age Range: 4- 16

Cost Range: $150-$425

Saint Louis UniversitySummer At SLU

Website: https://www.slu.edu/ summer Phone: 314-977-2330

Address: 3840 Lindell

Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63108

Camp Description: Academic and athletic camps/academies for children ages 5-18.

Age Range: 5-18

Cost Range: $0- $800

Saint Louis Zoo Website: http://www.stlzoo. org/summerprograms

camps/ Phone: 314-531-9800

Address: 5715 Elizabeth Ave

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Theatre training and fun for ages 11-14 and 15-18. Age Range: 11-18

Cost Range: $510

Sinai Family Life Center Summer Enrichment Program Website: http:// Mountsinaichurch.net

Phone: 618-482-3440

Address: 1200 St. Louis Ave. East St. Louis, IL 62201

Camp Description: Sinai Family Life Center offers a 9 week summer camp with sports, playground activities, arts and crafts, dance, and themed weeks! Age Range: 5-12

Cost Range: $550

St. Louis Arc Website: http://www.slarc.org

Phone: 314-817-2226

Address: 1177 N Warson Rd

St. Louis, MO 63132

Phone: 314-646-4544, option #6

Address: 1 Government Drive

St. Louis, MO 63110

Camp Description: Check out Camp KangaZoo at the Saint Louis Zoo, where campers learn all about Zoo animals! Campers have the opportunity to see and touch live animals, attend a Sea Lion Show, hop aboard the Zooline Railroad, tiptoe around the Zoo at night and sleep overnight at the Zoo.

Age Range: 4-14

Cost Range: $200- $255

San Luis Spanish Camps Website: http://www. sanluisspanish.com/ Phone: 314-329-0278

Address: 3600 Hampton Ave St. Louis, MO 63139

Camp Description: Learning Spanish Should be Fun! By incorporating communication, games, and a little bit of time in the garden, campers come away with an experience they’ll never forget.

Age Range: 5-11

Cost Range: $225

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Summer Camps Website: https://www.sfstl. com/in-the-schools/summer-

Camp Description: The

St. Louis Arc is a nonprofit, United Way agency that provides support and services to more than 3,500 adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families, throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. Age Range: 13-99

Cost Range: $35-$110

St. Louis ArtWorks Summer Program Website: http://www. stlartworks.org

Phone: 314-899-9734

Address: 5959 Delmar Blvd

St. Louis, MO 63112

Camp Description: Work based training and arts education for teenagers in St.Louis! Age Range: 14-18

Cost Range: $0

St. Louis County Library Website: https://www.slcl.org/ Phone: 314-994-3300

Address: 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63131

Camp Description: Join the St. Louis County Library for tons of free youth programming all summer long! Age Range: 0-18

Cost Range: $0

Summer Sound Camp at Tbeats Studio Website: http://www. tbeatsstudio.com/summercamp/ Phone: 314-754-5619

Address: 1204 Washington Ave, Ste 409 St. Louis, MO 63101

Camp Description: TBeats Media Summer Sound Camp teaches youths ages 14–17 about recording studios and the techniques to create a unique sound.

Age Range: 14-17

Cost Range: $500

TASK – Team Activities for Special Kids

Website: http://www. tasksports.org/ Phone: 636-343-8275

Address: 980 Horan Drive

Fenton, MO 63026

Camp Description: Team Activities for Special Kids (TASK) is a nonprofit 501(c)3, year-round instructional sports program that provides athletic and social opportunities to kids with special needs. The purpose of the program is to help build self-esteem and skills in children with special needs. Each athlete receives a team t-shirt and trophy upon completion of the sport. Age Range: 5-99

Cost Range: $125-$150

The Green Center

Website: http://www. thegreencenter.org/camps.html Phone: 314-725-8314 X 105 Address: 8025 Blackberry Avenue University City, MO 63130

Camp Description: Spend the summer at one of The Green Center’s Nature Explorer Camps! Each camp will have students explore our prairie, forest, wetland, greenhouse and discovery garden outdoor classrooms. Age Range: 5-13

Cost Range: $135

This guide was produced in partnership with blueprint4summer. To find out more information about these programs and many more, visit their website at: www.Blueprint4summer.Com

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