May 17th, 2018 Edition

LouiS AmericAn

Head Start with beetles

Black lives matter –even after death

Volunteers demand removal of billboards, end to ‘desecration’ of Washington Park Cemetery

By Sophie Hurwitz

Back in the 1970s, Wanda Brandon said, Washington Park Cemetery was the most beautiful place African-American people were buried in St. Louis. Today, the cemetery is unrecognizable.

Much of the area is grown over with

honeysuckle. The small sections near the entry to the cemetery – that have been cleared show gravestones turned over and broken. The decay is especially shocking because it is a relatively modern cemetery, with the earliest gravestones dating back only to the 1920s. A small group of volunteers, including Brandon, have been coming to the cemetery in Berkeley since 2011 to clean it up.

“This is all being maintained by me and other people,” Brandon said. “This cemetery has been under no ownership, for real, for 30-some years.” Even in the cleared sections, many graves are so decayed that the names are illegible. In the uncleared sections, about half of its total

Men of Honor mentors male students in Ferguson-Florissant

Superintendent Joseph Davis: ‘We provide them good, clear focus’

By Jessica Karins For The St. Louis American

At the Men of Honor banquet honoring students and mentors in the Ferguson-Florissant

U. City has no minority inclusion policy for public-subsidized projects

By Rebecca Rivas For The St. Louis American

About 10 miles south of the Ferguson unrest’s Ground Zero, developers have proposed a $203.3 million project that will redevelop the northern third – or 800 acres – of University City, making a Costco or similar “big box” retailer the anchor. However, some residents question whether University City officials are going to follow the Ferguson Commission’s recommendations to ensure that the project will create a more equitable, inclusive region.

n A costbenefit analysis projects that U. City would generate $2.3 million in revenues in 2029 if the project is built, compared to $215,000 if it isn’t built.

“We must take the time now to ensure that benefits for the community are not only promised, but written into this deal as contractual obligations on the part of the developer,” stated Margaux Sanchez in an open letter. The developer is requesting $70.5 million in public subsidy – in the form of tax increment financing (TIF) and a

Science Center sends St. Louis transplant on journey to information technology field

By LaShana (Shän) Lewis For The St. Louis American

Candace Jarrett was transplanted to St. Louis from Arkansas with the dream of becoming a writer. She wanted to edit those high-end AfricanAmerican magazines that she saw on the stands. But then, she was faced with a challenge. At one of her regular meetups with Girls Inc., a program designed to empower young girls and women, she learned about a program at the Saint Louis Science Center called Youth Exploring Science (YES) that introduces young people to the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM).

“I was going to be an editor for Vibe magazine and had my life all figured out,” Jarrett said. Then she met Diane Miller, the creator of YES, who asked her to edit their newsletter. This exposed the youth to different aspects of STEAM. Among her fond experiences, she remembered being on the Zero G plane – a plane designed to simulate the weightlessness of space – and testing an experiment on yeast productivity. After she graduated from the program in 1999, Jarrett studied journalism at Mizzou.

Photo by Wiley Price

For the St. Louis American

Aaliyah Jones and Emmanuel Rice, both age 5, played with paper beetles they made in class at the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’s Martin Luther King Head Start Center in the Wells/Goodfellow neighborhood on Tuesday, May 16.

Candace Jarrett

Ferguson Police Chief Delrish Moss; Men of Honor sponsors Elgin Carnes, Mario Charles and Albert Harrold; McCluer-South Berkeley Principal Eric Harris visited at the recent Men of Honor banquet honoring male students and mentors in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

Photo by Jessica Karins

Taraji P. Henson is engaged

In an interview with Extra, film and television star Taraji P. Henson dished on the details of how her fiancé, Kelvin Hayden, popped the question this past weekend.

“I already knew he was going to Dubai to get my ring,” Henson said. “ I knew, I just didn’t know when he was going to pop the question. To be quite honest, I allowed it to be a surprise – because I could have found out if I wanted to!”

Even knowing that it was coming at some point, the proposal itself caught Henson completely by surprise.

“He takes me where we had our first date, I didn’t put that together,” Henson said. “I didn’t put it together until we went into the party room after we ate, and I saw a violinist, because he was trying to say it was his friend’s

birthday – which it was, on Friday. ‘Oh, Ronald’s gonna have a little get-together in the back room.’ And I was like, ‘Aw, that’s perfect. We’ll already be there. ‘I go back there, and I go, ‘Ronald’s not into violins, what’s going on here?’ And as I’m putting the dots together, I turn around, he’s on his knee and then the river of tears just started, and my lashes ended up on the floor.”

T.I. arrested outside of his gated community

misdemeanor charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The rapper was released from the Henry County Jail at 8 a.m.

Willow Smith admits to self-harm after pressure of ‘Whip My Hair’ success

In an upcoming episode of her mother Jada Pinkett Smith’s new show “Red Table Talk, “ Willow Smith self-harmed at the height of her fame as a child.

was arrested in Henry County early Wednesday. The music star, whose legal name is Clifford Harris Jr., was arrested after returning to his gated community around 4 a.m., according to Atlanta’s Channel 2 Action News.

T.I. did not have his key and argued with a guard who would not grant him access, Henry County police told the news station. At some point, the rapper called a friend who eventually joined him.

T.I. was arrested on

The 17-year-old rose to fame at just 10 years old when she released the hit single “Whip My Hair” in 2010, but she has now admitted the pressure she was under after stepping into the spotlight caused to her to start cutting her wrists.

“It was after that whole ‘Whip My Hair’ thing and I had just stopped doing singing lessons and I was kind of just in this grey area of, ‘Who am I? Do I have a purpose? Is there anything I can do besides this,’” Willow said. “After the tour and the promotion and all of that, they wanted me to finish my album. And I was like, ‘I’m not gonna do that.’ And after all of that kinda settled down and it was like a kind of lull, I was just listening to a lot of dark music. It was just so crazy. And I was plunged into this black hole, and I was cutting myself.”

“Growing up and trying to figure out your life ...while people feel like they have some sort of entitlement to know what’s going on, is absolutely, excruciatingly terrible,” Willow said. ‘You can’t change your face. You can’t change your parents. You can’t change any of those things.”

Cosby to be sentenced in September

The sentencing hearing for Bill Cosby has been set for September 24 and 25, according to a court order from Judge Steven O’Neill. Cosby was found guilty last month of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004.

The 80-year-old comedian faces up to 10 years in prison on each count, although the actual sentence is likely to be much shorter. O’Neill ordered Cosby be outfitted with a GPS monitoring bracelet and said he needed permission to leave the home. Even then, Cosby can go out only to visit his lawyers or the doctor. Before sentencing, Cosby must undergo an assessment to determine if he is a sexually violent predator. He will also be required to register.

Sources: Celebretainment.com, AJC.com, NBC.com, CNN.com, Extra TV

Taraji P. Henson & Kelvin Hayden T.I.

Nordstrom Rack apologizes after racially profiling students

NAACP says management now has opportunity to make good

By Adolphus M. Pruitt

For The St. Louis American

Mekhi Lee, 19, a freshman at Alabama A&M University, DeSmet High School senior Dirone Taylor, and East St. Louis High School senior Eric Rogers met on Tuesday, May 8 with Blake Nordstrom, co-president of Nordstrom; Geevy S. K. Thomas, president of Nordstrom Rack; and Farrell Redwine, Nordstrom’s VP of Human Resources at the St. Louis Airport Hilton Hotel.

They met to discuss an incident on May 3 at Nordstrom Rack in Brentwood. Though the three black young men were guilty of nothing but shopping while being black, Nordstrom Rack employees called the Brentwood Police on them and falsely accused them of shoplifting.

Both Blake Nordstrom and

City jobs should go to city residents

By Christi Griffin For The St. Louis American

On any weekday morning, streams of cars from Illinois can be seen flowing into the City of St. Louis. Many, if not all, are headed to jobs in the city. In a country that has proven its propensity towards white citizens since its inception, it should be of no surprise that the occupants of those cars are seldom people of color. City officials have proffered the

men spoke about how the chain of events have impacted them to-date; questioned Nordstrom leaders about their employees’ actions and training; and entered into a discussion about how Nordstrom could best address these matters in the future, along with suggestions for broader community charitable support.

The meeting concluded with all parties agreeing to a continued dialogue with an emphasis on a common desire to implement changes to prevent incidents of this nature from happening in the future.

Nordstrom Rack leaders have a decision to make. They can choose to assist in stamping out this pervasive stereotyping that labels young black men as “criminal predators” and embrace the decisions and sacrifices of these students, or they can choose to do what has become the standard – apologize and initiate diversity training for its employees.

make, however, is not just about the bottom line. It is a decision that has a direct impact on students themselves. We recognize that most corporations make contributions because they want to make a difference in communities. This is an opportunity to do just that. Students at places such as the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club are among the most disadvantaged students in St. Louis. Unfortunately, some will not graduate on time, if at all, and among those who do, their future prospects are slim. Many may not even get into state colleges and universities.

Nordstrom also has the opportunity to assist educators – teachers, principals, and superintendents –throughout the area, Nordstrom have an opportunity to change these statistics for these students.

Geevy Thomas offered apologies on behalf of Nordstrom and praised the young men for how they handled the entire situation. The young men were accompanied by their parents, grandparents, the NAACP and their

disingenuous argument that outof-state employees pay city taxes. So, too, would city residents were they hired. Non-residents do not, however, make any other significant contribution to our tax base. They pay neither real estate nor property taxes. They don’t pay taxes on their utilities or in-state services. Based on the density of the 5 p.m. traffic returning to our neighboring state, they are paying little in sales tax at our gas stations, retail shops, or malls. The closing of dozens of downtown restaurants and the dearth of business at those that remain suggest that neither do they regularly patronize our restaurants.

While tens of thousands of North St. Louis residents find it difficult to secure meaningful jobs, an aldermanic bill has been introduced to further diminish the chance. For decades, even the most skilled black workers

attorney.

Nordstrom leaders gave an update on their internal investigation into the incident; discussed in detail the chain of events that occurred; and shared the next steps for Nordstrom. The young

have been turned away while the positions are surreptitiously filled. For decades our city leaders have allowed our housing stock to fall further into decay, with the maintenance of an older housing stock out of reach of the under- or unemployed resident. That decline in value necessarily means a decline in taxes. Still, there is an effort to further decrease employment opportunities for city residents perpetuating the practice of hiring others who want to work here but don’t care enough to live here.

The growing rate of unemployment, vacant houses, and sense of abandonment of areas populated

When I asked the young men what they wanted they spoke about wanting to see change so that their siblings wouldn’t face this stereotype; they spoke of having job opportunities for young black youth; they went on and on about helping others, helping their peers. The decision Nordstrom has to

by blacks in the City of St. Louis contribute to the increase in violent and non-violent crimes. The lack of employment opportunities will always result in an increase in the social maladies that accompany stress and poverty. And yet, despite a recent verdict where the judicial process was orchestrated to result in a bench trial acquitting a police officer who killed an arguably unarmed black man after announcing his intent to do so, there is now a call to bring into the ranks of our police department those who neither know their city neighbors nor care enough to live next door.

It is a call to bring into the rank and file people who can restrict the movement of city residents doing no more than driving or walking while black, but want greater freedom for themselves. It is a call to attract those who can permanently confine blacks to prison cells in grossly disproportionate

As representatives of the St. Louis chapter of the NAACP, we find ourselves in complete agreement with Mekhi, Eric and Dirone on this issue. Nordstrom should reward the hard work and sacrifice of these students. Following their lead on what’s needed to assist their peers is a decision that makes sense to the head and to the heart.

and inequitable numbers, but want the freedom to expand the choice of where they live.

With thousands of jobs and tax dollars already hemorrhaging to our next-door neighbors, it is an insult to residents of the City of St. Louis to suggest that an insufficient number are qualified. Rather than perpetuate a practice that has systemically denied employment to qualified black residents, the thorn that makes our town so unappealing to those who want to work here but not live here should remain in our side until we create a city that every employee wants to call home.

Christi Griffin, is the founder of The Ethics Project, a non-profit organization addressing the impact of crime, injustice and incarcerations. She is the author of “Incarcerations in Black and White: The Subjugation of Black America.”

Adolphus M. Pruitt is president of the St. Louis NAACP.

Columnist Christi Griffin

Adolphus M. Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP, has been advising three black teens – Mekhi Lee, Dirone Taylor, and Eric Rogers – who were falsely accused of shoplifting at the Nordstrom Rack in Brentwood.

Editorial /CommEntary

Missouri Republicans still expect Greitens to testify – and he should

When St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner dismissed one of two felony charges against Gov. Eric Greitens early in the jury selection process, both Gardner and Greitens interpreted this decision in personal terms, as about them, but the Republican House majority – which is planning a special session to consider impeachment proceedings – insisted the point is fact and law, not Gardner and Greitens. We agree.

Gardner issued a release suggesting she still planned to see Greitens prosecuted for felony invasion of privacy, but these proceedings were tainted by Judge Rex Burlison’s agreement that the defense could call Gardner as a witness. Burlison’s decision did put Gardner in an unusual position, but if her conduct in the case to date had been honorable, it’s difficult to see why testifying would pose a problem. She was considered a relevant witness because of compelling evidence that the state had mishandled critical video testimony by the alleged victim and then the state’s independent investigator had perjured himself about it with Gardner’s knowledge. If the video evidence was handled properly and the investigator testified truthfully about it, Gardner takes the stand ashamed of the judge but willing to testify. If the evidence had been mishandled and Gardner sanctioned false testimony about the matter, that’s relevant to the case and she dismissed the charges to avoid public humiliation – or to avoid perjuring herself. By dismissing the charges rather than take the stand, in a sense, the prosecutor pled the 5th For Greitens, it was all about Greitens’ heroism and personal growth and the need for the people to line up behind the great leader who is learning from his mistakes and his own public humiliation. No sale here. Greitens may or may not be a criminal, but he certainly is not a hero the people should line up behind. He is a dangerous fraud whose exit from public life will be a cause to celebrate.

Unfortunately for Greitens, Republican leadership in the Missouri House of Representatives also is not sold on his heroism or innocence. Gardner may have bungled her case – or Burlison may have victimized her, if you prefer that narrative – but there is still compelling evidence that Greitens is a criminal who should be removed from office.

“The legislature is a separate and a co-equal branch of government with a

separate responsibility entrusted to it by our Constitution. We owe it to Missourians to have a fair and thorough investigation of the facts,” stated House Speaker Todd Richardson, House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo. “To date the committee’s work has not only provided two reports on the facts to the General Assembly but, more importantly, it has also exposed additional concerns relating to the governor’s conduct. This is why we remain committed to that process and await any recommendations it has for the House. Without the pending trial this week, it allows the governor to take advantage of our open offer to share his side of the facts.”

Gardner declined to take the stand. Will Greitens? Will Greitens testify before the Missouri Legislature? The eyes of the state and nation are upon you, governor. What do you have to say? Why don’t you put your hand on the Bible and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Commentary

Commencement commitment:

Alan Byrd Jr. and Allison Williams

For The St. Louis American This month on campuses across our region and our country, students will toss caps in the air and celebrate earning a college degree after years of hard work. To those students, we offer sincere congratulations – we are proud of you and your accomplishments.

For too many students, however, the dream of a postsecondary degree is a dream deferred.

In the St. Louis region, 41.3 percent of adults have an associate’s degree or higher, but only 26.7 percent of African Americans do. St. Louis has made steady progress increasing degree attainment overall, moving from 25th among the top 35 metropolitan areas in the country in 2007 to 21st in 2015. Yet when it comes to degree attainment for African Americans, we’ve actually dropped from 28th in 2007 to 31st in 2010, and that’s where the region remains as of 2015.

With a 14-point gap in degree completion by race, we have a systemic crisis in St. Louis. We often hear about business and industry needing workers with postsecondary credentials to meet workforce needs, but, more importantly, families need the additional income and career opportunities a degree brings. Not some families, all families.

That’s why St. Louis Graduates commissioned research to identify what is working to support students who are low-income and students of color to graduation from colleges in Missouri and Illinois. The Degrees with Less Debt report found five common

themes at colleges that enroll and graduate these students at higher rates than others. These strategies include university leadership committed to equity and a systemic approach to student support, focusing on initiatives that support not just college enrollment but college completion, including summer bridge programs to smooth transition to college, just-intime academic support, and, most critically, flexible and sufficient financial aid.

The work is now underway with higher education institutions and community partners to scale effective strategies so students are celebrating graduation, not admission. There are roles for all of us.

Business leaders can commit to increased equity in postsecondary attainment as a regional priority by signing and committing to implement the St. Louis Regional Education Commitment championed by St. Louis Regional Chamber and its Higher Education Council and Business Leaders for Education and signed by dozens of organizations. They can offer young adults summer jobs, internships, job shadowing days and other opportunities to understand careers in your field and the education required to

pursue them. They can provide tuition reimbursement and other programs to support employees.

K-12 school district leaders can ensure academic readiness through college prep courses, dual credit, and postsecondary planning. They can guide student planning to find the best financial, academic and cultural fit.

Policymakers can prioritize need-based aid in state-funded financial aid programs.

Philanthropists can support need-based scholarship and interest-free loan programs.

Higher education leaders can implement or strengthen policies and programs with demonstrated success, including early alert systems, academic tutoring and mentoring. They can provide guidance, class schedules and support to make on-time graduation possible. They can eliminate remedial education in favor of co-requisite models and similar proven methods. They can provide programs to support students with challenging life circumstances, including food insecurity, homelessness and mental health.

Making the commitment to equity in degree completion is just the first step and systems change takes time and hard work, much like earning a degree. It’s an investment that pays dividends for our students and our community.

Read Degrees with Less Debt at http://www. stlouisgraduates.org/ degreeswithlessdebt.

Alan Byrd Jr., vice provost for Enrollment Management at the University of MissouriSt. Louis, and Allison Williams, senior vice president of Programs at Wyman, are co-chairs of St. Louis Graduates.

Dismantling

The Divide

Stadium money should be invested in Affordable Housing Trust Fund

By Deidra C. ThomasMurray For The St. Louis American

Every day, more than 5,000 students in St. Louis Public Schools wake up in an unstable housing situation. That is more than one in five SLPS students who come to school with a heavy burden that can impair their ability to learn.

Some children are sleeping on relatives’ couches, in emergency shelters or on the streets. Others are just days away from eviction and homelessness.

The effects of housing insecurity on the children of SLPS are immense. Many students arrive too tired to learn after spending nights unable to sleep well in shelter beds. Others are forced to move in with relatives where overcrowding makes concentrating on homework assignments impossible for some kids.

Eviction-related trauma follows the students long after they are kicked out of their homes. The stress on struggling parents who want nothing more than a good life for their children takes its toll on both the adults and the children. In my position as the homeless coordinator and foster care liaison for the public school’s Students in Transition program, I see this issue’s impact on our students’ performance on a daily basis.

Homelessness is one of the many significant challenges facing the teachers and support staff at our city’s public schools every single day. The city’s growing affordable housing crisis isn’t just driving up eviction rates and denying families any realistic way to build savings; it is hurting the academic performance of our children.

If we believe that education

is vital and we want our children to succeed, then they need support, consistency and the ability to get the proper rest necessary to be able to learn when they arrive at school. That is why I am supporting an increase in funding for the City of St. Louis’ Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF).

Evictions and a lack of quality affordable housing were both identified as critical detriments to the health and well-being of both AfricanAmerican and low-income families in the recent released community report, Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide Creating better evictionprevention services and increasing funding to the city’s existing AHTF were among 11 recommendations in the report.

As the city works on its upcoming budget, I have been excited to meet and work with advocates from over 30 different organizations that are collaborating to push for increased funding to the city’s AHTF. The AHTF is our city’s biggest local source of funding for a range of programs that help SLPS families.

A large percentage of the funding goes to services for our city’s unhoused families, providing a crucial—but underfunded— safety net for our city’s residents. Other projects supported by the AHTF include providing financing for quality new rental construction for low- and moderate-income families. Still other funds from the AHTF provide home repair funding

Letters to the editor

What diplomacy can accomplish

There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place. The reality is clear.

The JCPOA is working - that is a view shared by our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. The JCPOA is in America’s interest - it has significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish - its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at a time when we

are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes - with Iran - the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.

Barack Obama Washington, D.C.

This slaughter must end

From 2001 to 2010 Missouri had the sixth highest number of gun fatalities among children, 2.9 deaths per 100,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports adds that in 2010 alone, 62 perished. Recent cases include, among many, 16-year-old James Scales from Beaumont High School who was shot to death in September while waiting at a school bus stop. Scales had seen another teen, Dwayne Clanton, gunned down the previous December.

and utility assistance. In a city with affordable housing stock that is older and often contaminated with lead, these new affordable housing units provide healthy and energy-efficient alternatives to the overpriced and substandard housing so many low- and moderate-income families are forced to accept. Indeed, the report Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide detailed personal accounts about local children getting sick and missing school due to deteriorating and ill-maintained affordable housing. I urge all of the members of the Board of Aldermen to consider how investments in the AHTF don’t just pay dividends in new housing units and community development. These investments enable families to save for their children’s futures, provide housing security and peace of mind to students (and their parents), and allow our schools’ students and staff a better opportunity to spend class time focusing on educational attainment. That means better test scores, and higher test scores will help us retain families in a city facing continued population loss. I echo the calls of the Community Builders Network, the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis, Peter & Paul Community Services and over two dozen other organizations: Half of the money that was originally slated for the failed soccer stadium plan should be invested in the AHTF Deidra C. Thomas-Murray is Homeless Services coordinator for St. Louis Public Schools. This is the third in a series of commentaries devoted to the new report Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide (forthesakeofall.org/

Last month Jermon Perry, age seven, was accidentally killed at his home in South St. Louis by his five-year-old brother who had had found his father’s registered pistol in a drawer. Missourians want common sense gun laws while preserving 2nd Amendment rights. Reasonable legislation should include strengthening background checks, better gun safety education, reasonable legislation limiting guns in public places, and cessation of fraudulent purchases and firearms trafficking. This slaughter must end. We can no longer look the other way. Contact your local representative (house.mo.gov) and senator (senator.mo.gov) about this vital issue.

Frances Purcell Fanning, member Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, STL St. Louis

Columnist

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Eric Greitens addressed the

on

after

Friends of Jennings School District awards $102K in scholarships

The Friends of Jennings School District Foundation awarded more than $102,000 in student scholarships at its fifth annual Gala on April 6, setting a record for the most financial support provided to Jennings students.

“Winning this scholarship means that hard work has really paid off, especially for my family, who has supported me from the beginning, and my school’s administration, who helped me through high school,” said Rashaun Allen, a $25,000 scholarship winner headed to University of Tampa to major in biology and pre-medicine.

David Friend was one of the scholars to receive $20,000 from the foundation for becoming Cisco-certified (showing proficiency in computer technology) by age 17 and receiving his high school diploma and associates degree at the same time.

Another winner, Asha Amerson, will be the first

in her family to attend college, and this scholarship of up to $17,000 will help to make that possible. She will study biology at Xavier University in Louisiana.

Scholarship winners also included Tionna Blakey, Angel Cole, Shaquina Johnson, Kelsie Stith, Christian Waters, Kelly Warren, Zhenelle Winston, and Lakayline Davis, who received a $30,000-work study scholarship as a part of the Jennings Grow Our Own Educator Program.

Outstanding “Teachers and Support Staff of the Year” were also honored. Superintendent Art McCoy and the Jennings School Board honored the first African-American board member of Jennings School District, Walter Ware, who passed away in February. Nearly 300 people attended the event held at the Norwood Country Club. Honorees included Enterprise Holdings, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Express Scripts, CareSTL, and Metropolitan Baptist Church.

Summer meals at SIUE East St. Louis Center

Meals will be provided free of charge to all children 18 years of age and under enrolled at SIUE East St. Louis Center Summer Program. Acceptance and participation requirements for the program and all activities are the same for all regardless to race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, and there will be

no discrimination in the course of the meal service.

Meals will be provided at SIUE East St. Louis Center, 601 James R. Thompson Blvd. in East St. Louis, beginning June 11 to July 20. For more information, contact DaWanda Gresham at (618) 4826909.

Missouri must ‘Raise the Age’ for juveniles to be prosecuted as adults

By jusTIzz For The St. Louis American

The Missouri Senate voted to Raise the Age (with SB 793) earlier this year, and on May 7 the state House passed this juvenile justice reform. The bill, introduced by state Senator Wayne Wallingford (R-Cape Girardeau), is currently headed back to the Senate for more tightening and tweaking.

Missouri is still 1 of 5 that hasn’t passed Raise the Age legislation. Under current law, children between the ages of 12 and 17 who are alleged to have committed certain offenses can be prosecuted in a court of general jurisdiction, rather than in juvenile court. When SB 793 is made into law (and implemented January 1, 2021), the age range will be between 12 and 18 years.

Research at Missouri State University, the Missouri legislation makes “dollars and sense.”

“Once I get (the) Senate’s version, we will become (the) 46th state to pass Raise the Age,” tweeted state Rep. Nicholas Schroer (R-O’Fallon), the sponsor for HB 1255, a similar bill. State after state has proven that this type of juvenile justice reform certainly can help keep our juveniles from becoming repeat offenders and out of the criminal justice system. Research has shown us that kids aren’t able to assess risks and consequences like adults would.

Mitchell researched the economic consequences of having a 17-year-old sentenced in adult courts versus in juvenile courts. He established a cost estimate determining that 17-yearold offenders will earn significantly less (reduced future lifetime earnings) than those who do not go to prison, a component that in turn impacts communities long-term. Because offenders earn less over a lifetime, they pay significantly less in taxes. Society misses out on a half-million cost benefit because the juvenile never had the opportunity to pay those taxes. Mitchell further calculated the combined cost of housing individual offenders in an adult facility and unpaid tax contributions; the cost to society tallies to almost $512,000 per criminal.

n Session ends May 18. Contact your elected officials to support Raise the Age immediately.

Raising the age would help to recreate a social environ that rehabilitates our youngsters instead of subjecting them to adult prisons. The funding mechanism seemed to have been the biggest hurdle, as elected officials haggled over the bill’s fiscal note for at least a year. According to David M. Mitchell, a professor of economics and the director of the Bureau of Economic

According to Missouri’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, in 2015 the vast majority of 17-year olds were arrested for property offenses like possession of marijuana (1,020 arrests) and larceny (1,355 arrests). Their criminal records for low-level offenses could affect their ability to go to college, get a job or find housing. Nationally, youth held in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than youth in juvenile detention facilities. Moreover, according to a recent study by Human Impact Partners, youth prosecuted as adults are 34 percent more likely to reoffend after leaving the adult system.

Session ends May 18. Contact your elected officials to support Raise the Age immediately. jusTizz is the literary pseudonym of Israel Collier, a St. Louis humanitarian.

David Friend was one of the scholars to receive $20,000 from the Friends of Jennings School District Foundation.

Continued from A1

acreage, weeds and bushes grow so thick you can’t even walk to the gravestones to figure out who might be buried there.

For Brandon, the neglect of the cemetery is personal. Her mother is buried here, and she can’t find her grave. So she clears the cemetery by pulling up undergrowth and mowing grass in hopes to find her mother’s grave someday, all without pay.

“My mother’s buried out there, and I can’t find her grave,” Brandon said. “My grandmother’s buried out there, too, and I can’t find her grave. It’s a jungle where she’s buried at.”

One section of the cemetery is on activists’ minds more than the rest – section 10, right next to Interstate 70, across from St. Louis-Lambert International Airport, which is littered with billboards. In this context, they seem jarring. Wide metal poles like tree trunks stab into the earth two or three feet from weathered

MENTORS

Continued from A1

headstones.

“See that pillar?” Brandon said, walking through the cemetery. “See how there’s headstones on both sides of that? See, all up in here, people are buried. When I saw this, this really upset me. They have the audacity to desecrate and disrespect the dead.”

A spokesperson for DDI Media, the company that owns the billboards, said in an email that not only are the billboards there with the consent of the cemetery owners, but they keep the cemetery running.

“When those billboards were placed on the property in the mid-1980s, it was with the full support and agreement of the cemetery owners and operators,” said Vince Miller, the president of DDI Media. “Their existence has contributed to the cemetery’s ongoing operation for many years – with the full support and agreement of the cemetery owners and operators.”

Kevin Bailey with Amazing Grace Enterprises, the current cemetery owner, did not respond to a request for comment.

Brandon, a long-time Ferguson activist, sees this

Tim Clark, assistant band director at McCluer-South Berkeley High School, is one of the group’s sponsors. Clark said this year’s theme for the group is “put it into action.” It’s based on Newton’s first law of motion, a principle of physics which states that an object at rest does not move unless acted upon.

disrespect as another example of St. Louis’ consistent failure to value black life, even after death.

Though she had visited the cemetery to honor her mother before, Brandon didn’t start to come to Washington Park as a volunteer until her anger and sorrow over police violence drove her to take her activism from the streets to the cemetery. To her, it is

That’s part of the group’s mission to help students take control of their lives and futures while still in high school, with help from adult male role models who provide positive examples. This is the second year of the program and its second banquet.

While Men of Honor is not officially affiliated with the school district – it’s run by teachers and staff members in their spare time – it does have the support of many administrators.

Superintendent Joseph Davis, who attended the event, said the group has been an important presence in the lives of the students involved. Davis said it is essential to offer positive models for young men.

“There’s nothing more important in this time in our

another location where the sacredness of black lives – in this case, after death – is being disrespected for profit.

“I started coming out here the week that Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed,” she said. “I was so upset. I cried, cried, cried.”

She began her work at Washington Park then and has come to the cemetery regularly ever since – and attempting

country and our history than to make sure, for all young men, that we provide them good, clear focus for what their future’s going to look like,” Davis said.

Over the past year, Men of Honor has hosted events for students including canoeing and hiking trips, a fall retreat and a community bonfire.

The Men of Honor banquet recognizes the achievements of the year, but it’s also an opportunity for students to learn more about post-high school career opportunities. Employers from the St. Louis area attended the event to give students an opportunity to network.

Clark also said the group hopes to start visiting members at their homes so they can involve their families in

For Wanda Brandon, the neglect of Washington Park Cemetery in Berkeley is personal. Her mother is buried there, and she can’t find her grave. Brandon and the Washington Park Cemetery AntiDesecration League are trying to get companies to stop advertising on billboards posted in the cemetery, some right beside graves.

to contact both DDI Media and the companies that are advertising in the cemetery, asking them to remove their advertisements.

“I was told that they would definitely not move their signs out of the cemetery,” she said.

This is not the first time part of the cemetery has been bought by a company.

Interstate 70 was routed through the area in the late

the mentoring process, and encouraged parents to get involved by attending Men of Honor events.

Elgin Carnes, who teaches a pre-engineering program at McCluer-South Berkeley, said an important part of the Men of Honor program is teaching students to be prepared for life away from high school.

“We want to make sure that they’re not only college-ready but career-ready,” Carnes said. “We want them to be ready either way.”

At the banquet, Men of Honor presented a plaque to district career tech coordinator Jay Boleach, who is retiring this year, thanking him for his work with the program.

Boleach said his message to the Men of Honor students is that there are plenty of careers

1950s. Then, in 1996 the land on the north side of the interstate was claimed for an airport expansion by eminent domain, and everyone buried there was disinterred. Their bodies were moved to several other cemeteries in the area. The billboards have carried advertisements by groups like SSM Health, Bunny Bread, the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Goldblatt-Singer Law Firm, Clarkson Jewelers, and Steinberg Skating Rink, among others. Brandon, and the rest of her group, the Washington Park Cemetery AntiDesecration League, intend to send a letter to each of these companies, informing them that billboards displayed in a burial ground are disrespectful.

“We all know, if this were any other race of people, these actions would have never occurred,” Brandon writes in the letter she plans to send to each company that has advertised in the cemetery. “Do not ignore the cries of a segment of the human population that has been dismissed, disenfranchised, suffered redlining, and other inequalities.”

available to individuals with the right skills.

“There are plenty of opportunities out there, young men,” Boleach said.

“The skilled tradespeople are screaming for people. You can get make a good living, honest work, raise a family.” Carnes said it is important for today’s young people to take advantage of the opportunities available to them, and Men of Honor tries to help them see what is available and work towards it while they are still students.

“Don’t wait until 11:59 and decide, ‘Oh, now I’m gonna make a change,’” Carnes said. “You’re competing in a global marketplace. You’re not just competing with the guy next to you, you’re competing with the entire world.”

Photo by Sophie Hurwitz

U.CITY

Continued from A1

Community Improvement

District – for the project at Olive Boulevard and Interstate 170. At the University City TIF Commission meeting on Tuesday, May 15, Sanchez and other U. City residents called for a Community Benefits Agreement that would legally bind the developer, Novus Development Company, to provisions that reflect the Ferguson Commission’s recommendations.

A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is a contract between community representatives and a real estate developer requiring the developer to provide specific benefits or protections to the affected community, Sanchez explained in the letter. It can address topics such as fair employment, affordable housing, youth resources, racial equity, and historic preservation.

In response to the call for a CBA, City Manager Gregory Rose said, “I believe a number of elements that were identified as part of the CBA are things that we are looking to include in the redevelopment agreement. The real purpose for this development is to make major improvements in the 3rd Ward.” The 3rd Ward has the highest minority population

JARRETT

Continued from A1

While there, she reported for KOMU-TV, the local NBCaffiliate in Columbia. She also continued on with the YES program, this time as a staff supervisor.

Jarrett went right into the workforce after college. She moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to pursue a job lead

of University City’s three wards and it also is the most impoverished. Rose said that he supports the community if they want to “pursue that endeavor” of drawing up an agreement with the developer. When asked for his response to the CBA, Jonathan Browne, president of Novus, told The St. Louis American that he read Sanchez’ letter, where she also questioned the transparency of the process.

“I do not agree with it,” Browne said. “This has been a very public procedure. She was requesting everything that has been done before.”

Browne said that neither he nor the company has ever been part of a CBA. He did not comment on his willingness to participate in a CBA. When asked about his community outreach so far, he said that aside from public meetings, “We have primarily been in contact with 107 property owners in RPA 1 (Redevelopment Project Area).”

RPA 1 takes up about 80 percent of the project area, and that will be the site of the Costco or large retail store. The entire area is bounded generally by I-170 on the west, the city limits to the north and east, and Olive Boulevard on the south.

Browne said 68 of the property owners who will be relocated are single-family homeowners. He has contracts with all of them, but he doesn’t have contracts for all of the

from Hester Clark, owner of the Hester Group, and ended up finding a job instead with WBTW 13 and then CBS 47 Action News.

After a couple of years, Clark hired her on as an account executive, providing media services to a whole host of industries. Jarrett was beckoned back home to the St. Louis region after two years and started working with AOL Media’s Patch.com as an editor and search engine optimization

business owners yet.

“The concentration has been on the residential,” Browne said. “We were trying to determine whether the residential owners would be in or not.”

The city has said the developer could not use eminent domain for residential owners. Rose could not say whether the number of homeowners will increase or decrease after the project is completed.

At the meeting, TIF Commissioner Susan Armstrong asked about goals for employing minority workers and business owners on the construction side of the project.

University City currently does not have established inclusion goals. Rose said they are working to establish a policy for minority inclusion, and those goals will be included in the project’s redevelopment agreement. Rose could not give a ballpark

specialist. But she hadn’t forgotten her tech roots.

She used her combination of communication and journalism skills with a technology background to launch St. Louis County government’s website, stlouisco.com. She managed social media and content for the site, coordinated events, wrote speeches, and worked with the county’s IT department.

Another chance meeting led her to the Office of the

number on what those goals would be.

Mark Grimm is an attorney for Gilmore Bell and is representing University City on the project. He also represents St. Louis Development Corporation, where St. Louis has established goals for minority inclusion. In St. Louis, developers are required to present a plan for how they will employ minority workers and businesses at the TIF Commission meeting.

St. Louis’ TIF Commission also takes into account a developers’ track record of achieving minority inclusion goals. However, that is not required by U. City’s commission.

When asked the reason, Grimm said, “This is the first TIF project in University City in a long time.” St. Louis has a larger volume of TIF projects, he said.

Grimm explained that real property taxes generated currently in redevelopment

Chief Information Officer at Washington University, where she worked as a communication specialist in charge of communications between the office and executive management. Jarrett was recently promoted as the department’s senior technology customer relationship manager. Her duties have included overseeing its Information Technology Infrastructure Library procedures, which focus on aligning IT services

University City resident

Patricia Washington prodded the city’s TIF Commission for a Community Benefits Agreement on a publicsubsidized $189.5 million development proposed for the city’s 3rd Ward at a meeting on Tuesday, May 15 held at the University City Community Center.

project area one are about $550,000. If the project is completed, those taxes are expected to rise by about $2 million by 2040. However, the real benefit will be the increase in Economic Activity Taxes (EATS), Grimm said.

A cost-benefit analysis projects that the city would receive $2.7 million in revenues in 2040 if the project is built, compared to about $239,000 if it isn’t built.

That is assuming that no other development were to take place. With some of that revenue, the city would give out grants to homeowners in effort to convert renters to homeowners, the proposal states.

“If you have a renter who wants to buy a house and they know if they buy a house they can get a $20,000 grant to fix up the house, to me that would be a large incentive to buy a home and fix it up,” Grimm said.

with business needs. Jarrett also serves on the board of Family Resources and Community Connections, Inc.

The nonprofit has a mission to empower and positively impact children, families, and under-served, communities by addressing their social needs and issues through education, prevention, and awareness.

When asked to advise young African Americans pursuing

Patricia Washington, a

U. City resident, represented the coalition that wants to see a CBA during the public comment portion of the TIF Commission meeting.

“We want to make sure that those people who are often left out of the discussions – those who are low-income, those who are minority, those who don’t speak English – that their voices are heard as part of the project.”

The city anticipates that, if approved, the RPA 1 project will begin construction in 2019 and open for business in 2020. Redevelopment programs for RPA 2 and RPA 3 will be initiated as funding permits, according to the city.

“There is a growing interest in our community to see a Community Benefits Agreement negotiated,” Washington said. “The timeframe for this project is very aggressive, and so we know that the window of opportunity to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement is very short.”

A public hearing will take place on May 23 at 7 p.m. at the Mandarin House Banquet Hall, 8008 Olive Boulevard. The meeting will focus on the city’s relocation plan for property owners. For more information on the project, visit http://www.ucitymo. org/798/Olive-and-170-TIF.

careers, she said, “Harness the power of public speaking and networking. I learned that very early, and I really think that helped me tremendously. I’ve had a lot of really great mentors along the way that helped me harness and hone the skills I use today in life. I believe that comes from getting so comfortable with networking early in life.”

Photo by Wiley Price

Revisiting the landmark case of Percy Green

Prior to 1973, it was almost impossible for a person of color to prove racial discrimination in the workplace. The burden was on the poor soul to damn near prove that racism was in the heart of his or her employer (proving intent). The landmark case of Green v McDonnell Douglas Corp., which turns 40 years old on May 14, fundamentally shifted that burden. The anniversary is an appropriate time to examine this critical U.S. Supreme Court case to measure its potency for today’s more sophisticated forms of harmful practices by employers.

Percy Green is a St. Louis civil right icon known for his fervent struggle to win decent-paying jobs for black folks. He had led several ACTION protests in the months leading up to his looming termination, including the infamous climbing of the unfinished Gateway Arch. It was discovered that there were no black contractors or black workers on the federally funded project.

I think McDonnell Douglas figured out that the Percy Green who was causing the government and other corporations grief around their employment practices was the very same Percy Green who worked for them. In a coldblooded move by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), he was “fired” in 1964 on his 29th birthday.

At the time Green worked for the company, African Americans were a mere five percent of its 30,000-person workforce. Green was the only black research and development technician out of a unit of over 100 whites. It didn’t take long

for McDonnell Douglas to become the unapologetic target of ACTION protests.

Several months later, Green saw his original job as a radio and electric mechanic being advertised in the newspaper. He intentionally applied for it after Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights went into effect on July 2, 1965 to give greater weight to his claims of racial discrimination.

Green’s case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to become a landmark case.

Civil rights attorney Lou Gilden argued the case which eventually was decided on May 14, 1973. It is often referred to as one of the most-cited cases in the High Court’s history.

The case was a game changer. The ruling basically said that if you were in one of the protected classes and gave evidence of your specific discrimination, the burden of proof was shifted to the employer. In short, the script was flipped to favor victimized employees. Workers no longer had to establish the burden of proof to expose real-life discrimination, such as unjustified firings, denied salary increases comparative to their counterpart, being skipped over for promotions that were given to less-qualified workers (sometimes even having to train them), etc.

There were many beneficiaries of Green’s

important victory. While Green didn’t get a penny out of the deal, many who filed law suits based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin got their day in court along with the monetary awards from civil settlements.

Last summer, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens signed SB 43 to make the state more attractive to new corporations by making it more difficult to file discrimination suits against employers. The new law immediately threatened the loss of a half billion dollars because it put the state out of compliance with the Fair Housing Assistance Program. Greitens was criticized for not disclosing this little fact during the legislative process. The governor is now dealing with his own mire of personal and political problems. The forces of evil and greed are so busy throwing curve balls at us, it can be hard to sort through the impact of every despicable deed and its negative impact on us. Then the remedies to the injustices have to be planned out. It’s a lot of hard work involved in building a society free of oppression and exploitation.

At a time when all forms of discrimination are enjoying new popularity under the Trump administration, legal eagles and other concerned groups need to convene a summit on the Green case. We need a legal diagnosis to determine which protections should be fortified and which need resuscitation.

Our legal system needs an overhaul on many levels. Thinking about whether there is still value in Green v. McDonnell Douglas today and beyond is a good place to start.

Columnist Jamala Rogers

It’s ‘guns everywhere’ in Missouri

Sgt. Heather Taylor, a homicide detective in St. Louis and leader of the city’s police association for black officers, considers herself well-informed on crime-related issues. But she hadn’t heard about House Bill 1936 – the “guns everywhere” bill – which would allow concealed guns into places that are currently designated gunfree zones, including churches, college campuses, bars and government buildings.

“What?!” said Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police. “You are talking about introducing guns in places where they shouldn’t be. You will see an increase in gun violence in public places.”

Despite the renewed focus on gun laws around the country, many people have not heard about this bill. Even people who are tracking it don’t understand the extent of the legislation.

simply post a sign, exactly what all other private property owners have to do under current statute.”

Is it dead?

Speaker of the House Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) has not yet put the bill on the legislative calendar. With the legislative session ending on Friday, May 18, some believe that the bill is dead. The full House would have to perfect the bill, have a third reading and then take a final vote to pass it. Then it would have to pass in the Senate, which is where similar legislation stalled last year.

The EYE asked the bill’s sponsor state Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) to explain what changes HB 1936 would bring. He said if the bill passes “lawabiding citizens” would be able to conceal carry with or without a permit into the following 10 locations: churches, amusement parks, stadiums, hospitals, casinos, bars, child care facilities, polling locations, local government buildings and state government buildings. The law also lists private schools. These locations were previously considered gun-free zones for civilian concealed carry. Individuals would have to have a concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit in order to carry into college campuses and the Capitol, Taylor said. And colleges and other institutions don’t have a choice in the matter. The bill states that state, political subdivisions and public institutions of higher learning cannot impose any policies or contractual requirements that would prohibit employees or students from carrying concealed firearms.

“Again I want to reiterate, the locations that are private property locations would have the ability to choose whether or not to allow guns on their property,” Taylor told The St. Louis American. “If they do not want weapons in their establishment, they would

“It wouldn’t have enough time to even make it through the House at this point,” said state Rep. Michael Butler (D-St. Louis). “It is important to note that the Speaker of the House has held on to the bill and not put it on the calendar since March 29.”

Four days after the nation’s capital had its largest political rally in history with March For Our Lives on March 24, Missouri Republicans passed the bill through the Rules Committee with a 8-3 vote. Only one Republican voted against the measure, state Rep. Noel J. Shull (R-Kansas City).

“This is their solution to the Parkland shooting, and it’s not going to work,” Butler said.

“They believe when people have guns, they won’t get shot.”

Supporters testified that gun-free zones just create opportunities for shooters, according to the bill summary.

“Establishing gun-free zones has not ended mass shootings,” the bill summary states of supporters’ testimonies.

“Law enforcement can’t be everywhere; they can’t stop all crimes in progress. People need to be able to defend themselves.”

Butler said that religious organizations were some of the most outspoken in opposition to the bill and reached out to their representatives.

“Guns being allowed in churches is not a good idea,” Butler said, “and HB 1936 would have done that. Imagine a religious institution getting sued for asking someone to remove their weapon before

worship service.”

The grassroots group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America will not be celebrating until 6 p.m. on May 18.

“As you know, there are many ways a bill can become a law,” said Karen Randolph Rogers, the state legislative lead for Moms Demand Action. “It can be attached to an amendment. We are cautious and still encouraging supporters to keep watching and calling their state representatives. We don’t want to see it pass in any form. It is a poison pill.”

This bill would make Missouri’s gun laws even more lax. Already people don’t need a permit to carry a concealed weapon, after the state Legislature passed the “constitutional carry” bill in 2016 which eliminated the requirements for some permits and gun-safety training. People can legally buy a gun without going through a background check from certain places. Last year, legislators passed a “stand your ground” law allows for

people to use the “I feared for my life” defense when shooting someone else.

Taylor said these laws have already made the number of homicides go up. And what these laws really do is justify the killing of black and brown people, she said.

“The people moving forward with this legislation are people who don’t have black and brown kids, relatives or family or haven’t been affected by gun violence at all,” Taylor said.

“March For Our Lives doesn’t mean anything to them.”

Arming teachers passes

The Moms Demand Action members have good reason to be cautious before accepting that this bill is dead. On May 8, Republicans added an amendment to arm school employees onto a giant education bill, Senate Bill 743. The amendment passed 96-38, and the bill passed shortly after. In a tweet, state Rep. Stacey Newman

(D-Clayton) stated, “Rep. (Rick) Brattin’s amendment to add armed school staff did not have a public hearing.

Parents, teachers, school administrators, school board members, superintendents had no opportunity to weigh in.

Public says NO to more guns in schools.”

Ward reduction

On May 11, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen perfected 21st Ward Alderman John Collins-Muhammad’s bill that would prevent the city from chopping the number of its wards in half – from 28 to 14.

In 2012, voters approved the plan to reduce the number of aldermen and wards, and it will take effect in 2022.

After introducing Board Bill 25 on April 27, CollinsMuhammad said the purpose of the original bill was to “whitewash” the electorate.

“The reduction of black aldermen will essentially take away black influence in the

people pushing legislation to make gun laws even more lax and permissive – like state Rep. Jered Taylor

pictured left – “are people who don’t have black and brown kids, relatives or family or haven’t been affected by gun violence at all.”

city’s political spectrum –which one can assume is the ultimate plan,” he wrote in a letter to American Some aldermen said they might have supported the measure, but they couldn’t support the amendment that was proposed on the floor on Friday, which amended the date to put the bill on the ballot for a municipal election on April 2, 2019. Municipal elections are notorious for low voter turnouts, unlike when the bill passed in a high-turnout November 2012 general election. The amendment and the bill both passed with a 15-13 vote. The bill must pass a final vote and then go to the mayor, who has said will wait to see the final form of legislation before deciding whether to sign or veto. A bill to remove the residency requirement for city employees was also perfected on May 11. Currently, the Charter of the City of St. Louis requires persons employed on a full-time basis by the city to reside in the city.

Sgt. Heather Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police, said

(R-Nixa),

Slavery and Shuffle Beats: Prince Wells on Music Inequality

By Kristie Lein For The St. Louis American

From the Dred Scott case to Shelley v. Kraemer to the fate of the country’s first black musicians’ union, slavery’s legacy has left a deep imprint on St. Louis. Even today it’s a difficult, emotional topic to discuss—and that’s precisely why Prince Wells III plans to discuss it during his June 19 lecture on music inequality at the Missouri History Museum.

“African American music has a history that’s wrapped in a mystery and unpleasantness,” he says. “But it’s only unpleasant at this point, in 2018, because we want to keep it under the rug. We need to understand where it comes from, why it is what it is.”

Wells attended Lovejoy School in Brooklyn, Illinois, and knew he wanted to play the trumpet from a young age. He learned from jazz legend and trumpet virtuoso George Hudson, a man who had a profound influence on him.

“He was a better teacher than he was a musician—and he was an outstanding musician,” Wells says.

Wells went on to earn a degree in AfroAmerican music from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and today he’s a professor of music appreciation at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he has taught for the last 25 years.

Wells says black music often lacks important context, something he hopes African American Music Appreciation Month can change. When it comes to classical music, he says, “We talk about the Baroque period, and we’ll talk about Bach, and how Bach was a Lutheran, and the crucifixion of Christ. We talk about the culture. We talk about what was going on at that time. But we don’t talk about the culture and what was going on with any black music.”

The fundamentals of black music are rooted in a painful history, and if that history is glossed over because it’s uncomfortable, a chance for real learning is missed. “All of these elements that are unique to jazz and blues and gospel and ragtime have origins in slavery, and they’ve all grown organically out of that,” Wells says. “The fault with the education system is that it doesn’t want to talk about slavery. It’s omitted.”

Take the popular blues drum rhythm known as a shuffle beat. “A shuffle was literally that: It was part of a dance and the religious practices of slaves because they weren’t allowed to play an African instrument, speak an African language, dress in African dress, practice African religion,” Wells says. “So what you’ve got is them improvising and using whatever means they had available to re-create rhythms that would be acceptable and wouldn’t have dire consequences for them. That’s where you get a shuffle beat and ring shouts—shuffling your feet, creating a rhythm. And those things are still around today in blues, and nobody talks about it because you’ve got to talk about slavery and where it came from. It’s just: ‘It’s a shuffle beat. Play it this way, and just move on.’”

During his lecture Wells will also delve into the history of Local 44, the first black musicians’ union in the country. Its very presence in St. Louis attracted star talent, but the protection of its members dissolved when Local 44’s charter was revoked in the 1930s. Eventually the group

Prince Wells III will speak at the Missouri History Museum on 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19 as part of African American Music Appreciation Month. The event is free and open to the public.

was forced to merge with the white musicians’ union in the 1970s.

“All the resources that the black union had were absorbed into the white union, and the employment opportunities for the black musicians disappeared,” Wells says. “If you don’t support the black musician, black music suffers.” Wells went on to found the Black Music Society in 1984, a group that bolstered opportunities for black musicians for more than two decades.

Wells says the potential for African American Music Appreciation Month is enormous, but it has to begin with a hard look at U.S. history.

“If you said, ‘Prince Wells, I’m going to make you the black music czar of the whole country,’ I would hope that African American Music Appreciation Month would address the cultural aspects in a significant way, in an educational way, so you could really appreciate the music,” he says.

“Just like we appreciate what goes on at Powell Hall. We know the history of all those composers, of Chopin and Tchaikovsky. We know their history. We know who they were and where they came from, but we don’t really talk about black music.”

Wells’ upcoming discussion is a terrific opportunity to get that conversation started.

Prince Wells III will speak at the Missouri History Museum on Tuesday, June 19, at 6 p.m., as part of African American Music Appreciation Month. The event is free and open to the public.

Kristie Lein is associate editor at the Missouri Historical Society.

Be a Tourist in Your Own Town

The lineup for summer’s stage starts now in St. Louis

As

& Soups,

Blues Museum The Pageant or the venue of your choice. Beat the heat by making a visit to indoor museums like City Museum or discover the new exhibits at the Saint Louis Art Museum and Saint Louis Science Center. You can also make plans for a family outing to Six Flags or Grant’s Farm Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Experience all the festivals offered this time of year including the St. Louis African Arts Festival on Memorial Day Weekend (May 26-28) featuring the African Marketplace, children’s activities, performing arts stage, food court, vendors, arts and crafts, cultural demonstrations, teen safari hunt, health and wellness village and more at Forest Park’s World’s Fair Pavilion.

Beginning May 25, audiences of all ages can enjoy music on the outdoor stage every Friday night (5-8 p.m.) during the Jungle Boogie concert series at the Saint Louis Zoo all summer long. Memorial Day also means the beginning of extended weekend hours at the Zoo. As the season heats up, stay cool at a waterpark; Raging Rivers Waterpark in Grafton, IL opens for the season on May 26! And you can once again build sandcastles at The Magic House’ s Sandcastle Beach exhibit from now until June

23. Forest Park is hosting monumental moments in theatre this year. The Muny will celebrate its centennial year with what is sure to be another magical season. Meet us at The Muny this summer for the amazing productions of: Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (June 11-17), The Wiz (June 19-25), Singin’ in the Rain (June 27-July 3), Jersey Boys (July 9-16), Annie (July 18-25), Gypsy (July 27-Aug. 2) and Meet Me in St. Louis (Aug. 4-12).

Also not to be missed is the ever-popular, Shakespeare Festival (June 1-24) when they bring back the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet to the mainstage in Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park. It’s the first time Romeo & Juliet is being performed on stage at the festival since their very first year. Grab your crew and your snacks for a performance of one of the most iconic plays in the famous Bard’s canon under the stars in Forest Park.

Save the date for the highlight of the summer as our annual Independence Day celebration, Fair Saint Louis (July 4, 6 &7), returns to downtown St. Louis, after four years with the completion of the newly renovated Gateway Arch Grounds. It’s an all-day affair with the return of the Boeing Air Show and Family Festival Zone as well. Don’t miss this free event featuring live performances by Jason Derulo, Martina McBride, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and more with a finale of fireworks every night of the fair. Visit www.explorestlouis.com for more ways to have fun in the sun this summer.

Louis Convention and Visitors Commission

By Kiara Bryant For The St. Louis American

The Muny will open its centennial year with Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (June 11-17).

My brother’s donor

Brandon Sims saved his brother Chris’ life with one of his kidneys

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St. Louis American

By Michael Snavely and Dr. Arjun Gokhale For The St. Louis American

Center, performed Brandon’s donor surgery. Louis. Yiing Lin, MD, PhD, an abdominal transplant surgeon at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center, performed Chris’ recipient surgery. In 2016, Chris Sims developed an idiopathic scarring inside his kidneys when he was away at college in Texas.

“I started to feel bad after I went on a geology field trip. I went to the hospital, thinking it was pneumonia or something like

that, and they said my creatinine levels were really high and my blood pressure was really high,” Chris said. He is svelte and, before this incident, was in good health. Chris said his blood pressure had always been normal.

“So they checked my kidney function and they said they were failed, at that point,” he said.

Dust from NGA project demolition blamed for sickening kids, teachers

By Ryan Delaney Of St. Louis Public Radio

Pile of debris remains, work only on hiatus and scheduled to continue this summer

Isaiah Carson was happy and healthy on an early April afternoon as he worked on spelling with his dad at the family’s kitchen table. That wasn’t the case a few months earlier when he started having trouble breathing. He was wheezing and had a shallow cough. Isaiah, who’s 5, would lie in bed with his parents at night, unable to sleep. His father, Michael Carson, felt helpless. “He scared me to death,” Carson said.

Isaiah’s doctor diagnosed him with an upper respiratory infection and prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication. He missed a week of kindergarten at Gateway Elementary School. His parents blame the illness on all the dust from work on the site of the former Pruitt-Igoe housing development right next to the school.

No, they are not twins. They are actually two and a half years apart, but each one shares an exact match of the other’s kidney. Brandon Sims donated his kidney to his younger brother, Chris Sims, in February. Jason Wellen, MD, surgical director of the kidney transplant program at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Transplant See

Michael and Elizabeth Carson watch their son, Isaiah, work on spelling colors in their home. The kindergartener at Gateway Elementary School missed a week of school with a respiratory infection.

n Our vision is that one day WashU will dedicate $10 million gifts to research on health disparities or enacting evidencebased social justice interventions.

Recently, Washington University School of Medicine accepted a $10 million gift dedicated to precision medicine, ostensibly furthering the university’s mission to alleviate human suffering through innovative clinical research. Precision medicine aspires to tailor treatments to a patient’s unique genetic makeup using cutting-edge technology. While this future direction of medicine sounds seductive, in reality it drives the university further away from its mission to serve St. Louis. In St. Louis, life expectancy varies by as much as 18 years by zip code. In some neighborhoods the infant mortality rate rises as high as 15 per 1,000, a ratio comparable to countries like Syria and Colombia. These gaps fall along racial lines and are driven by differential access to education, housing, employment, and healthcare. Before precision medicine can alleviate suffering in the St. Louis community, the city’s social backdrop needs to be equalized. Thankfully, specific calls to action towards achieving equity have been outlined in detail in prominent reports such as “For the Sake of All” and “Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide.” Moreover, Washington University does not have to abandon academic rigor to pursue social justice, as prestigious journals such as Poverty & Public Policy and The Journal of Development Studies routinely publish on such topics. Our vision is that one day WashU will dedicate $10 million gifts to research on health disparities or enacting evidence-based social justice interventions. Many would defend Washington University’s current investment and research strategy by touting its history of laboratory successes. However, laboratory science may exacerbate existing disparities. A potent example can be found in the story of BiDil, the first medicine to be labeled for use specifically in African Americans. This labeling was based on a single study that used patients’ self-identified races, and did not include white communities, resulting in an inappropriate use of race in prescribing practices.

Indeed, precision medicine itself has already created racial disparities. In the U.S., as of 2016, less than 4 percent of all genomewide association studies, a key instrument of precision medicine, analyzed people of African, Hispanic or Latin American ancestry, groups that comprise 31 percent of the U.S. population. It is easy to imagine how these historically marginalized groups will naturally benefit less from advances in precision medicine.

In addition to its potential for exacerbating disparities, it appears precision medicine is far from the panacea many have predicted. A 2010 study from the Journal of the American

See MEDICINE, A13

AMERICAN • MAY 17 – 23, 2018

Kidney donor Brandon Sims and his brother, kidney recipient Chris Sims, are looking forward to returning to school after their life-saving surgeries.

Michael Snavely

Photo by Wiley Price

Dr. Arjun Gokhale

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

NGA

Continued from A12

Last fall, trees and brush growing on the site after four decades of vacancy were torn out. They were soon replaced with debris piles brought by a demolition company working under contract with St. Louis Development Corporation from the site of the planned National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency West headquarters right across Cass Avenue.

The demolition company, Kolb Grading, struck a deal with Paul McKee Jr., the prominent St. Louis developer who owns the former PruittIgoe site, to store material there. Piles of concrete slab, brick and rock soon grew to 30 feet tall, towering over the chain link fence separating Pruitt-Igoe from the Gateway school complex’s north entrance.

The Gateway complex on North Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis’ Carr Square neighborhood is comprised of three schools — elementary, middle and an orthopedic special needs school — educating more than 1,000 students in all.

Parents and school staff expressed bewilderment about why Kolb Grading piled the debris so close to the school, rather than on another side of the vacant lot, or someplace else entirely. The vice president at the company, Jeff Kolb, has not returned numerous voicemails requesting an interview. McKee spoke with St. Louis Public Radio by phone but refused to be quoted or recorded.

One morning after dropping Isaiah off at school, Carson sat in his truck and watched the construction crews for about three hours “and my whole front windshield was dust.” Carson began referring to the elementary side of the complex as “the dust bowl.”

St. Louis Public Radio spoke with more than a dozen parents, volunteers and staff members at the Gateway school complex. Through interviews and open records requests, we found dozens of students and staff suffered breathing problems during the height of excavation work.

The school nurse at Gateway Elementary fielded 359 complaints from students

BROTHERS

Continued from A12

It turned out that his glomeruli, tiny structures inside the kidneys that filter impurities from the blood to create urine, turned into scar tissue, making his kidneys nonfunctional. Chris was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS. Scarred glomeruli cannot be repaired. His physicians don’t know what caused this to happen to his kidneys. The resulting kidney failure meant life-saving hemodialysis, then home dialysis. After some months, Chris was on the transplant list, just long enough to find out that his near perfect living

MEDICINE

Continued from A12

Medical Association of over 19,000 women looked at 101 genetic variants statistically linked to heart disease to see which predicted cardiovascular disease in practice. They found zero such associations. Furthermore, the benefits from the latest precision medicine treatment for prostate cancer, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, only extended survival by two years

of asthma and breathing problems from the start of the school year until early April, according to information provided by the district. Use of medication to treat asthma attacks also increased this school year. Attendance dropped, according to staff, one of whom described it as “deplorable.”

Denise Washington has a daughter and two nephews at Gateway, one of whom has asthma. She said her nephew’s asthma started getting worse shortly after Thanksgiving.

“They’re out there playing, they’re inhaling it,” Washington said about the dust. “It gets on their clothes and they take it home with them.”

Another mother said she’s sent her daughter to school with emergency asthma inhalers for five years and never needed them. Her daughter has since used the medication twice while at school, in December and again in January.

‘Murky’ air sickens teachers too St. Louis Public Schools did not make staff at the school available for recorded interviews. Six staff members from Gateway spoke to St. Louis Public Radio on the

donor match was one of his two siblings, Brandon. “Perfect through everything except for blood type,” Brandon said. Although they had different blood types, Brandon was still able to donate a kidney to Chris.

“That’s only for live donors,” their mother, Kim Sims, said. “Only with live donors, the blood type can be different.”

Genetics testing showed FSGS was not hereditary for either brother.

Chris had to take immunosuppression medication and undergo other procedures to prepare his body for the kidney transplant.

African Americans make up the largest group of people in need of kidney transplants, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

at a cost of $132,000 per year per patient. While this is important progress, it is an expensive way to achieve a small fraction of the benefit that could be seen from eliminating the 18-year life expectancy gap between the low- and high-income neighborhoods in St. Louis. To be sure, precision medicine has had some success. Engineering genes has shown promise in increasing rates of remission in leukemia and restoring normal blood clotting in

condition of anonymity out of fear they could be punished or lose their jobs.

The staff members said they often left work in late fall and early winter to find their cars covered in dust. One said on some days, the air outside the school looked “murky.”

“I had to hold my breath walking to the car sometimes,” another said.

Five of those employees said they experienced breathing problems this school year and consider the dust from next door a major factor. The staff members described swollen airways, shortness of breath while teaching, sinus infections, coughs and constant headaches.

Several workers said children were kept inside during lunch or recess on days when the air seemed particularly bad.

Sally Topping, president of American Federation of Teachers Local 420, the teachers’ union representing SLPS educators, said Gateway staff’s complaints are concerning. Topping visited Gateway in early spring and said she was “dismayed” when she saw the rubble piles.

“When you have something like this happen where staff is sick, children are sick, and more importantly, people are stressed out because they’re

(HHS). It reports that higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure among African Americans increase the risk of organ failure.

While African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they are 34 percent of those waiting for a kidney, and 25 percent of persons waiting for a heart.

not sure why they’re sick, it affects the entire school atmosphere and it is not good for the children, not good for education,” Topping said.

SLPS declined an interview request to speak with an administrator. Instead, a spokeswoman provided a written statement, saying the district “is aware some concerns have been raised about construction projects near the Gateway Complex. In response, our Operations Team conducted testing and found no significant impact to air quality at the schools.”

St. Louis Public Radio was provided with results from a test for mold in two classrooms done on September 21. The test did not find any mold. However, an air quality expert in Saint Louis University’s school of public health said a mold test was “not the right kind of test.” Professor Roger Lewis added that a mold test is “not sufficient” to address complaints of high levels of dust in the air by families and staff.

Custodial staff did change air filters in the building starting in December, according to maintenance logs. The district also convened two meetings with parents and staff.

One meeting was with officials from Ameren, which needs to relocate a power

n While African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they are 34 percent of those waiting for a kidney, and 25 percent of persons waiting for a heart.

Overall, Caucasians make up the majority of candidates in need of an organ donation (42.7 percent), followed by blacks (30 percent), Hispanics/Latinos (18.7 percent), Asians (7 percent), and Native Americans

hemophilia. However, even Dr. Herbert “Skip” Virgin, the head of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, has emphasized that the role of genetics in disease accounts for “less than 20 percent, meaning that 80 percent of the risk is due to something else. And researchers now think that ‘something else’ is environment: where we live; what our current exposures are; what our exposures were early in life.”

A sole focus on precision medicine misses the bigger

Contractors for Ameren take soil samples from the parking lot of the Gateway school complex on March 28 before doing work to remove a substation in the former Pruitt-Igoe site. The test found no contamination.

in the air, regardless of its contents, can still cause the health problems described by parents and Gateway staff, according to John Kraemer, an air quality expert and professor at Southeast Missouri State University.

“Breathing in particles can irritate the airway all by themselves,” he said.

Kraemer conducts home, school and office visits to look for triggers of asthma and breathing problems as chief executive of the Institute for Environmental Health Assessment & Patient Centered Outcomes. He has not been inside Gateway.

“If you have stacks of material that have been around for a long time, all the wind has to do is blow and you have a thing called fugitive dust,” Kraemer said. “Fugitive dust emissions can come from any piles of debris or soils or any kind of material that can be blown by the wind and it could blow it to the school.”

substation inside the former Pruitt-Igoe site. At the March meeting, the utility company offered to test soil underneath the school’s parking lot before digging into the ground. It found no hazardous materials, according to a copy of results provided through an open records request.

The second meeting, in April, included Kolb Grading, in which company officials assured parents it was done piling debris at Pruitt-Igoe and would hold off on more work, according to several people who attended.

The piles, however, still loom high over the school parking lot. They contain what in construction parlance is known as “clean fill,” meaning it didn’t test high for lead, asbestos or other hazardous chemicals, according to city and state officials.

The material that came from the NGA site “is not contaminated,” said Otis Williams, executive director of St. Louis Development Corporation, which is overseeing clearing of the land where the federal facility will be built. “It was appropriately tested.”

Williams said the work produced “an amount dust that would normally be around a construction site.”

But high levels of dust

and Alaskan natives (1.1 percent), according to 2015 HHS data. Nearly 115,000 people in the U.S. are currently on an active waiting list for an organ transplant, according to national data by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.

Right after his transplant surgery, Chris said, “I felt like me before my kidneys failed.”

Both of the Sims brothers are recovering well from their kidney donor and kidney transplant surgeries. Brandon is back at work, and both brothers plan to return to school next

picture. Thus, a more enlightened use of Washington University’s $10 million gift would be to proportionally earmark 20 percent of the funds for genetics research and 80 percent for patients’ environments, such as investments in preKindergarten education or greenlining housing to counteract historical redlining. We believe that focusing the medical school’s vision on a “precision” paradigm violates our oath as healers who vow to “Do No Harm,” as it diverts money away from

year.

“Kidney donors tend to be healthier than the average person, able to tolerate surgery well and return to a healthy lifestyle,” the National Kidney Foundation states on its website, www.kidney.org.

“Potential donors are screened for high blood pressure and diabetes, two of the main causes of kidney disease.” It also states that living donors have few long-term health problems with a long-term survival rate similar to that of non-donors, with no increased risk of kidney failure.

“In order to be a kidney donor, you already have to be healthy,” Brandon said, adding that medical staff are constantly testing potential donors throughout the pre-transplant process to make sure they fit the bill to be a donor. “It’s

socially just, cost-effective solutions. We instead call for Washington University to look beyond genes and cells towards the research and interventions that could uplift marginalized groups across the city. This new vision would realign Washington University School of Medicine with its mission statement, which proclaims that it “will lead in advancing human health” by applying “advances in research and medicine to the betterment of the human condition.”

Such noble goals call for noble leadership. They ask us

Health problems at the school have eased since the work halted. Yet parents’ concerns linger as the work is only on hiatus.

Eventually, the concrete piles will be ground down for use in temporary roads and fill in the NGA construction. At the April meeting, the Kolb official said his workers would wait until after the school year ends later this month to resume work. He also said the company will take additional steps to reduce dust blowing toward the school, including monitoring wind direction and wetting down the material, according to people at the meeting.

Carson and other parents said they’re skeptical those steps will be enough to prevent more illnesses. Summer school begins at Gateway in early June, making parents doubtful the grinding work can be completed during times no children are in the building.

Carson said he loves the education his son is getting at Gateway but questions whether he’ll keep his son at the school because of health concerns.

“Why would you bring all those rocks and dirt and dust right next to the school?” Carson asked.

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ rpatrickdelaney. Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

better to be able to [donate] than not be able to – because that means you have other things you have to worry about,” Brandon said. Donating a kidney requires major surgery, and all surgeries have risks. However, Chris said you should not be afraid to donate.

Chris said, “Everyone always wants a second chance, no matter what, but when you actually get one, and you actually feel like you have a second chance now –it’s a good feeling to give that second chance, and it’s a good feeling to get that second chance.”

Find out more about organ donation at www.kidney.org or at https://www.organdonor. gov.

to look beyond the siren song of precision medicine and to start asking the hard questions about what bettering the human condition really means.

Michael Snavely is a student at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) who will graduate in May prior to starting a residency in Family Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Arjun Gokhale is a resident physician in Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and a graduate of WUSM.

Photo by Ryan Delaney / St. Louis Public Radio

Healthy Kids Healthy Kids

Once you’re out of school, many of you may have a lot of extra time on your hands to be snacking. Resist the urge to eat sweet, salty, fried and high-calorie non-nutritious snacks this summer.

Create a Smart Summer Eating plan with your parents. Ask their help in finding nutritious snacks and meals for the

summer. Delicious juicy, ripe fruits are all around and are healthy for you too! Make it your goal to come back to school in the fall healthier and happier!

Review: What are some nutrition tips you learned by following The St. Louis American’s Healthy Kids page this school year? Send your answers to nie@stlamerican.com.

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

Benetta Ward, Wellness Coordinator

Staying active, getting your heart rate up and opening your lungs will help you start off next school year happier and healthier!

Staying Active (Naturally) DuringSummer!the

Smart Choices

As the weather gets warmer, there are many ways that we can enjoy ourselves outdoors and stay healthy over the summer. Some naturally active things you can do include:

> Help with yard work: planting, weeding, etc.

> Walking to the store when possible.

> Wash your parent’s car.

> Play, play, play outside as much as you can!

What are some exercise tips you learned by following The St. Louis American’s Healthy Kids page this school year? Send your answers to nie@ stlamerican.com.

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

Over the last 35 weeks we have discussed many smart choices that you can make to help you stay safe and healthy. Break into small groups and list as many Smart Choices that your group remembers. Now individually, choose one that you think is very important. Describe in your own words what that smart choice is, and how you can remember to make the right choice in the future. Name a new “smart choice“ that you will make this summer.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH5, NH 7

Where do you work? I am the Healthy Schools Wellness Coordinator for the Normandy Schools Collaborative. Where did you go to school? I graduated from Gateway Institute of Technology High School and earned a B.S. in Wellness from Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri, and a Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Directions:

What does a wellness coordinator do? I work with wellness committees at each school (which includes students, staff, parents and teachers) to come up with fun events and programs for students and staff to be physically active and eat healthy foods. I also put together policy to make sure all the fun and creative program and events we come up with will keep on going for years and years.

Why did you choose this career? I chose a career in school wellness because I enjoy teaching the importance of being healthy and how to have fun doing it so students can grow up to be healthy adults. This career allows me to have the best of both worlds – teaching fun ways to stay healthy and having fun.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I enjoy working with the wellness committees to come up with really cool and fun ways to encourage students and staff to be physically active and eat healthy.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

SCIENCE CORNER

INVENTORS & INVENTIONS

Who Wants To Be A Physicist?

Magnets have fascinated people for centuries. The Greeks and Romans used magnets to find iron, the ancient Chinese made magnetic compasses. Even the youngest of children can experiment with this tool and observe how magnets pull towards each other and snap together or seem to push apart.

A magnet creates an invisible area of magnetism all around it called a magnetic field.

r If you cut a bar magnet in half, you get two brand new, smaller magnets, each with its own north and south pole.

Here are five basic facts about magnetism:

q A magnet has two ends called poles. One is called a north pole (or north seeking pole); the other is called a south pole (or south seeking pole).

t If you run a magnet a few times over an unmagnetized piece of a magnetic material (such as an iron nail), you can change it into a magnet as well. This is magnetization.

w Like poles repel, unlike poles attract. This means that the north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of a second magnet, while the north pole of one magnet repels the other magnet’s north pole.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

Learning Standard: I can read nonfiction text to gain background information for an experiment.

Check Out the Following Website to Learn More: Go to http://www.first4magnets.com/fun-magnetfacts-for-kids-i77.asp

In this experiment, you will see how temperature affects magnetism. When two objects have different magnetic polarity, they attract each other. When the objects have the same magnetic polarity, they repel each other. Heat and cold will affect the magnetic force.

Materials Needed:

Magnets • Blow Dryer • Freezer • Paper Clips

Process:

Heat a magnet using a blow dryer and cool it by placing the magnet in the freezer for 20 minutes.

MATH CONNECTION

Questions:

Have you noticed that our famous scientists and inventors have all attended college? The cost of attending college is called tuition. This is the money the college charges for the classes. It’s no secret that college is expensive. But did you know there are scholarships? A scholarship is money rewarded to students who attend college. Students can earn scholarships for a variety of reasons— including athletic or artistic ability, good grades and citizenship in school, good test scores, etc.

q If a college charges $16,000 tuition, and a student earns a scholarship for $5,000 and another scholarship for $8,500, how much tuition will the student need to

DID YOU KNOW?

Questions:

How many paper clips does a magnet attract when heated?

FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN TO EARN A PH.D. IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS AT MIT

Shirley Ann Jackson

Shirley Ann Jackson was a physicist. She was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT). Jackson was born on Aug. 5, 1946, in Washington, D.C. Her parents encouraged her to do well in school and her father often helped her with projects for science class. In high school, Jackson took advanced math and science classes and graduated as valedictorian, meaning she had the highest grades of all her classmates.

After high school, Jackson went to MIT where there were fewer than 20 African-American students. She was the only African American studying physics. While at MIT, Jackson spent time volunteering at Boston City Hospital and tutoring students at Roxbury YMCA. In 1968, she earned her bachelor’s degree.

How many paper clips does it attract when cooled?

How many paper clips does it attract at room temperature?

r Based on these observations, how does temperature affect magnetism?

Learning Standards: I can follow step-by-step directions to complete an experiment. I can make observations from the results.

pay? ________________ What percent of tuition was covered by scholarships in this scenario? __________%.

w If a college charges $7,000 tuition and you earn a scholarship to cover 50% of your tuition, how much will you pay? $_______________.

e If the cost of attending college is $20,000 and you finish your degree in eight semesters, how much tuition do you pay per semester? $_______________.

Learning Standards: : I can add, subtract, multiply and divide to solve a problem. I can calculate percentages.

Jackson had offers to attend many prestigious schools, such as Brown, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. However, she chose to stay at MIT to earn her doctorate because she wanted to encourage more African Americans to attend the school.

Jackson studied the particles found within atoms, the tiny units of which all matter is made.

After graduating with her doctorate degree, Jackson went to work at AT&T Bell Laboratories and taught physics at Rutgers University. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Committee. While serving in this position, she was able to find and fix many of the nuclear power industry’s violations. (A violation is breaking a rule.)

Jackson has received many scholarships and awards. In 1985, Gov. Thomas Kean gave her the award for the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. In the 1990s, Gov. James Florio awarded her the Thomas Alva Edison Science Award. Jackson promotes science careers for African-American women through the National Science Foundation.

Want to Know More? Read “Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson,” by Diane O’Connell.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography to understand the achievements of African Americans in science.

q Select a story from the newspaper to read.

w Read the story.

Neutrinos’behavior mightexplainwhy universehasso muchstuffinit.

Shirley Jackson, like many famous scientists, spent a great deal of time completing research. When you complete research, you use a lot of language arts skills: reading, summarizing, paraphrasing, and writing. You can practice research skills with your newspaper. Here’s your task:

e Identify the main idea and at least three supporting details to summarize the story.

Paraphrase the story in your own words

Share the summarized version of the story with your classmates.

r Paraphrase the story. This means to put the story in your own words.

t Share your summarized version with your classmates. Congratulations! You have just completed research.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text, locate main idea and supporting details, and paraphrase the information.

Mrs. Houston’s 4th Grade Class Annette Officer Elementary School

At Annette Officer Elementary School in the East St. Louis School District, 4th grade teacher Mrs. Houston looks for STEM experiments with students Keylan Roberts, Enoch Cooper, Rosie Washington and D’Myia Ellison using the STEM page in the newspaper. Photo by Wiley Price Teachers, if you are using the St. Louis American’s NIE program and would like to nominate your class for a Classroom Spotlight, please email: csewell@stlamerican.com

✔ Dr. Martin Cooper made the first public cell phone on April 3, 1973. That was 45 years ago. Most calls today are made using a cell phone.

Jackson at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China in 2010.

Women’s Business Development Center opens St. Louis office

Organization wants to help WBEs build ‘trusting relationships’ with major businesses

By Niara Savage For The St. Louis American

regional office in St. Louis with its “Connect and Celebrate” diversity forum and reception on May 7. The conference, hosted by Ameren, sought to provide networking opportunities for women, minority, and veteran business owners by connecting local minority entrepreneurs and professionals with corporations seeking

to diversify their supply chains. During the Procurement Connections segment of the conference, attendees were able to converse with representatives from various businesses to form strategic alliances, build relationships, and identify potential joint business ventures. Companies present at the event included Illinois American Water, Missouri American Water, Wells Fargo, MoDot, Magellan Health, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Grace Hill Women’s Business Center, Monsanto, and Express Scripts. Sylvania McDaniel, Supplier Diversity

executive for Ameren’s Power Generation group, outlined several groups that Ameren seeks to integrate into its supply chain, including women, veterans, minorities, service disabled veterans, and members of the LGBT community. Ameren utilizes strategies such as networking and eventhosting to create partnerships with these diverse suppliers.

Emilia DiMenco, president and chief executive officer of WBDC, stated that the goal of procurement is to provide Women-

McCluer North students advance to finals in entrepreneurship challenge

Three students from McCluer North High School, in the Ferguson Florissant School District, competed in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Regional Challenge and will move on to compete in NFTE’s National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York on October 18.

Cassandra Childrey, sophomore at McCluer North, placed first for her business idea Flashing Hounds, a dog leash that glows for night pet-walkers. O’Ryan Bolden and Cherish Thompson received second place for their business idea Safe Shades, a pharmaceutical product that alters the color of medications for easy identification.

Childrey won $1,500, Bolden

and Thompson won $1000, and all students earned an all-expense paid trip to the finals in New York.

Students had to pitch their projects to six judges in “Shark Tank-style” presentations. The judges asked very specific questions about each presentation, and the students had to answer each question in detail explaining how their business idea would solve a real-world problem.

“The girls did an excellent job of presenting and answering questions,” said Jacob Lapinski, business teacher at McCluer North. “Even though they were nervous, they were very poised and professional and showed a lot of passion. These girls did a lot of work on their own through research and development for their ideas.”

Herbert Caldwell joined Logan University as its first diversity compliance officer to assist in developing a safe campus climate that embraces and celebrates differences. Caldwell also serves as chair of Logan’s safety and diversity committees. In both roles, he helps promote a campus culture and climate that embraces and accepts differences and gives people a space to be themselves.

Tiffany McConnell earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Maryville University. She is principal at Lucas Crossing Elementary Complex with the Normandy Schools Collaborative. She is a proud graduate of Normandy High School and started her teaching career in the district at the now-closed Garfield Elementary.

Reynaldo Anderson co-curated an exhibition entitled “Xenogenesis” May 15-16 at the Diversity and Inclusion Symposium hosted by the In-focus Film Society in Cannes, France during the highly attended International Film Festival and Film Market. He is chair of Humanities at Harris-Stowe State University.

Judy Preddy Draper is a 2018 Women of Achievement honoree in the category of Multicultural Awareness. She is an associate circuit judge in St. Louis County and founder of the Missouri Asian American Bar Association and Missouri Supreme Court Commission on Racial & Ethnic Fairness. The award honors and recognizes the volunteer service and volunteer leadership of women.

Terrell Henderson was selected to attend summer college programs at Brown, Carnegie Mellon and Yale universities. He is a junior at Pattonville High School. Due to time constraints, he will attend only two this summer on full scholarships: the Summer Academy for Math and Science at Carnegie Mellon University and the Applied Science and Engineering session at the Yale Young Global Scholars Program at Yale University.

O’Ryan Bolden, Cherish Thompson, and Cassandra Childrey from McCluer North High School are advancing to the national finals for the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York in October.

Tiana Clark won the Agnes Lynch Starett Prize for Poetry. She is an incoming assistant professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in its new Master of Fine Arts Program. She won the award for her book, I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood. The University of Pittsburgh Press annually awards the prize for a first full-length book of poetry.

Herbert Caldwell

Reynaldo Anderson

Tiana Clark

Terrell Henderson

Tiffany McConnell

Judy Preddy Draper

Rhonda Adams from Illinois American Water spoke with LaWanda Scott-Woods and Sue Bhatia of Rose International at the launch of the Women’s Business Development Center regional office in St. Louis hosted by Ameren on May 7.

Photo by Wiley Price

American staff

By Treasurer

Tishaura O. Jones

For The St. Louis American

Last week, Moody’s downgraded the City of St. Louis’ credit rating for the third time in two years. The primary reasons given were the city’s weakened reserve position and the competition for city resources that will remain outsized over the medium term given the city’s significant reliance on economically sensitive revenue streams as resources are redirected to support less essential expenses. In short, that means our tax revenue is less than our expenses, we’re operating in the red, and financing the Scottrade Center renovations was not an “essential expense.” Compare this to someone’s

Credit ratings, priorities, investments and the city

personal finances: The lower a person’s credit score, the more they will pay for necessities and to borrow money. It’s essentially the same for St. Louis: The lower our credit rating, the more we will pay to borrow money. When we borrow money, we’ll receive less than we used to in proceeds after borrowing expenses, which leaves us less purchasing power to buy essential equipment to deliver city services.

This latest credit downgrade is one grade above what many in the municipal finance industry call “junk.”

Since being elected treasurer in 2012, the office has experienced a credit upgrade. During our recent survey, our credit rating was reaffirmed. The primary

reason we have been able to receive credit upgrades and affirmations is due to our strong reserve position.

I implemented a new policy when evaluating new projects and taking on more debt. I asked our financial team to work with developers and consultants to determine if the projects were selfsustainable. The amount of revenue generated from building a new garage must be either equal to or more than the expenses – or we will not consider it.

adversely affect the city’s credit rating. The comptroller is responsible for defending the credit of the city.

Tishaura O. Jones

I supported Comptroller Darlene Green’s position that funding over $100 million in Scottrade renovations out of the general revenue fund would

Monsanto ranked 27 in Top 50 Companies for Diversity

Monsanto Company has once again been named to DiversityInc’s 2018 List of Top 50 Companies for Diversity, ranking No. 27, up from its 2017 rank of No. 39. The St. Louis-based modern agriculture company earned the recognition for fostering a diverse, inclusive, respectful and collaborative culture. Also cited was its exceptional corporate leadership, talent development initiatives and its support of communities around the world. Monsanto was also named to DiversityInc’s specialty list of Top Companies for Employee Resource Groups, placing 8th out of 13.

n “Inclusion and diversity are vital to effectively serve customers in all regions of the world.”

–

Melissa Harper, vice president, Global Talent and Chief Diversity Officer for Monsanto

“Inclusion and diversity are vital to effectively serve customers in all regions of the world,” said Melissa Harper, vice president, Global Talent and Chief Diversity Officer for Monsanto. “Diverse perspectives and experiences

help us see farmers’ challenges in new and different ways, supporting our efforts to create innovative agricultural solutions and offer a great place to work for our employees.”

The DiversityInc Top 50 ranking is based on a 200-question extensive annual survey that yields an empirically driven ranking based on recruitment, talent development, senior leadership commitment and supplier diversity. Eligible companies must also have more than 1,000 employees. For the entire Top 50 list, visit http:// www.diversityinc.com/ top50.

Alderwoman Cara Spencer was also right in her lawsuit that challenged the original lease, which stated the Blues were responsible for upgrades. St. Louis leadership needs to take a hard look in the mirror and stop giving away money for luxuries like arena upgrades.

Saying no to public funding for sports stadiums is not enough. We must continue to invest in our most valuable resource: our children. My office started the College Kids program

n This latest credit downgrade for the city is one grade above what many in the municipal finance industry call “junk.”

three years ago to provide every kindergartner in a St. Louis public school with a $50 seed account. Students are also eligible for additional scholarship funds for good school attendance, taking financial literacy classes, and matching family deposits every year until they graduate from school. College Kids currently has over 10,000 students in the program. Providing a college savings account for every St. Louis kindergartner in a public school costs the city less than

$175,000 per year, yet the return on investment will be transformational. Research shows that children with as little as $500 saved for college are three times more likely than their peers to attend college and four times more likely to graduate from college. Giving our children the hope and resources to reach their dreams is an “essential expense” we must continue to make.

for the

Blacks badly underrepresented in tech industries

Urban League’s State of Black America reports on digital disparities

Marc H. Morial National Urban League

“It is our hope that this document will pierce the dark veil of neglect that has thus far smothered efforts to right the wrongs of the past and present. It is presented as an alternative to failed public policies. I hope that it will be read closely in the White House and in the Congress and that it may influence decision-makers to open their eyes to the plight of black Americans,” Vernon E. Jordan wrote in “State of Black America, 1976.”

“I hope it will be read by all of the candidates in both parties, whose campaigns thus far largely exhibit a refusal to grapple with real issues and with the concerns of black citizens. And I hope it will be read closely by the press and the electronic media, whose neglect of black interests and black concerns in 1975 was as pervasive as Washington’s. And I know it will be read by black Americans, in order that they may document their grievances and understand the terrible dilemma they face.”

A nationwide assessment of the digital economy has found that black Americans are overrepresented as tech consumers, but drastically underrepresented as tech employees, according to the 2018 State of Black America.

This year’s report, “Save Our Cities: Powering the Digital Revolution,” set out to answer the question: “Are the new job, business and educational opportunities created by increased digitization of our world being equally shared?”

African Americans make up less than 5 percent of the workforce at social media and technology companies, vs. more than 50 percent for whites. Less than 6 percent of total black employment in 2017 was in the tech industry, vs. 8.5

percent for whites.

Historically, while great industrial breakthroughs have profited our nation, African Americans have often been exploited, rather than elevated by these advancements.

Fortunately, the digital revolution is still in its youth— and ripe with potential for black Americans. While it has positioned itself such that the barriers of entry are few and low, the findings of the National Urban League’s 2018 Digital Inclusion Index are unambiguous: We must separate the signal from the noise.

The Digital Inclusion Index is a brand-new iteration of the report’s traditional Equality Index – a mathematical representation of the relative social and economic status of Black Americans relative to whites. The 2018 Equality Index remains 72.5 percent, unchanged from 2017, while the Digital Inclusion Index is slightly higher at 74.1 percent.

An index of 100 percent would represent full equality.

Inspired by the Three-Fifths Compromise of the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention, the Equality Index is calculated using an array of statistics in five categories: economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement. The Digital Inclusion Index is calculated based upon digital skills and occupations, digital access and digital policy.

The report includes the commentary and analysis of more than 50 thought leaders in business, government, science and the arts. Technology is a study in

contrasts for Black America. Black families continue to remain less likely than white families to have dedicated internet access at home, yet African Americans are the second-largest multicultural group, after Asian Americans, for mobile device ownership, with 91 percent owning smartphones. Black millennials are influential, leading users of mobile technology and platforms, and voracious consumers and creators of digital content, but lag behind in tech employment. The report found some areas of above-average digital equality. Although African Americans were less likely, in general, than whites to receive degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) , one kind of STEM degree actually is more common among African Americans –computer and data science. In 2015-2016, 2.8 percent of African Americans, vs. 2.6 percent of whites earned such degrees.

While African Americans with doctoral degrees in science and engineering don’t have the same outcomes as their white counterparts, they are closer to parity than the average worker – almost 93 percent.

The report also includes a Hispanic-White Equality Index which calculates the same categories as the BlackWhite Index. This year’s index is 79.3 percent, a slight gain over the 2017 index of 78.5 percent. Both the Black-White Index and the Hispanic-White Index reflect slight gains in household income, graduation rates and college enrollment.

The report is available at www.StateOfBlackAmerica. org.

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

Advancing the Development of Minority Entrepreneurship applications now open

The Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) us accepting applications for the 2018 Advancing the Development of Minority Entrepreneurship (ADME) program through May 31. The ADME program offers start-up companies support from subject matter experts, business professionals, and non-profit organizations. Participants gain access to an

array of services, including assistance with a business plan, one-on-one session with an attorney, a loan prequalification assessment and the opportunity to pitch their business to banks, investors and microlenders during a demo day. The Women’s Business Development Center along with the Illinois Small Business Development Centers network will administer

ADME’s curriculum through the Department and will help facilitate investment opportunities through the Advantage Illinois program. Several community partners also will help facilitate the program, including Accion, CIBC BANK, Chicago Urban League and Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce. Apply online at www. illinois.gov/dceo.

Tishaura O. Jones is treasurer

City of St. Louis.

Marc H. Morial

n “We just play hard. We compete. We play Celtics basketball.

That’s it.”

— Al Horford

Sports

traCk & FIeld notebook

Pattonville impressive

Both boys and girls shine in District 3 field events

Area schools in Missouri at the Class 3, 4 and 5 levels will be participating in sectional meet competition on Saturday. The Class 3 Sectional 1 meet will be held at Rockwood Summit and the Sectional 2 meet will be held at Lutheran North. The Class 4 Sectional 1 meet will be held at Summit and the Sectional 2 meet will be held at MICDS. The Class 5 Sectional 1 meet will be held at Kirkwood and the Sectional 2 meet will be held at MICDS.

Earl Austin Jr.

Pattonville flexes muscle in field events

Pattonville’s boys and girls enjoyed an impressive day in the field events at the Class 5, District 3 meet at their school. Michael Jackson won the long jump and triple jump with efforts of 22 feet 8 ½ inches in the long jump and 46-11 in the triple jump. Dakari Streeter won the shot put, discus and javelin while teammates Terrell Sanderson was second in the shot put and Derrick Boyce was second in the javelin. On the girls’ side, Kendell Battle and Kathleen Basta finished first and second in the javelin while Diamond Richardson was first in the shot put and second in the discus.

Here are some of the top individual standouts from last week’s district championships:

• Courtney Williams (Nerinx Hall): Won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes at the Class 5, District 2 meet at CBC.

In the ClutCh

Cavs in real danger after Boston massacres

Before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, everyone outside the Boston city limits expected Beantown to serve as a pit stop for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. King James was clearly on his way to an eighth-consecutive NBA Finals appearance. Nobody expected the Celtics to roll over at home. Without Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving though, the Celtics just didn’t seem to have enough star power to unseat the defending Eastern Conference champions. After two games at TD Garden, the narrative has changed and the Cavaliers are in real trouble. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue woke up Wednesday morning to find his team in a dangerous two-game hole. The Cavs have been battered, bruised and outworked by an energetic and resilient Celtics squad. Two games. 38 points. That’s how much the Cavs have been outscored. We’re not talking about a pair of one or two possession games. The Celts bullied the Cavs in the first two games. Lue admitted as much in his

postgame comments after Game 2. According to Brian Robb of the Boston Sports Journal, Lue noted that the Celtics were “gooning the game up.”

“We’ve got to be tougher, mentally and physically,” Lue told reporters. “We’ve got to come out swinging.” They’re aggressive, and we’ve got to match that,” he later added. In Game 2, James was aggressive from the outset. He dropped 21 points in the first quarter en route to an impressive 42 point, 12 assist and 10 rebound performance. Kevin Love also played well with 22 points and 15 rebounds. The rest of the team took the night off.

It’s hard to find more glaring proof than the play of the starting backcourts. In Game 2, Boston’s starting guards (Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown) scored a combined 41 points. Cleveland’s starters (George Hill and J.R. Smith) tallied just three points for the entire game.

I’m sure Isaiah Thomas was somewhere chuckling with a margarita in one hand and an ice pack in the other. Even

utes, while Jordan Clarkson received a DNP. With all the young and athletic talent the Celtics possess, the

with a busted hip, I.T. can drop more than three points. The youth that the Cavs acquired during its midseason swap meet seems all for naught. Larry Nance Jr. and Rodney Hood each played only 11 min- See CLUTCH, B5

See TRACK, B5

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Photo by Wiley Price

MICDS Girls 4x100-meter relay members Zionn Pearson hands off to Cara Johnson

championships at MICDS. MICDS went on to win finishing in 47.79.

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Missouri should become Midwest sports gambling Mecca

The U.S. Supreme Court covered a spread by a 6-3 vote on Monday by striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that banned sports betting nationwide.

The state of Missouri –especially the St. Louis region – should become the Midwest Mecca of sports gambling and nothing is stopping this from happening except antiquated notions of morality.

Tens of thousands of Missourians gamble on sporting events. I’m one. The wager might be through a bookie, a friend or on an offshore online gambling site. People make bets, money changes hands and the world goes about its business.

new-found windfall. If the first sports gambling palace is built in the city or in north St. Louis County, a lot of folks who utter the term “I’ll never go down there,” will be lined up at the door on the first week of football season.

That’s not conjecture, that’s a promise.

Monday’s ruling repealed a federal law that required states to prohibit gambling. President Bill Clinton signed this ridiculous statute, which only served to protect the state of Nevada and Las Vegas.

On the same afternoon that Gov. Eric Greitens walked away from a felony invasion of privacy charge, his state was gifted a way to race away from some of its financial woes.

Let’s get busy St. Louis. In coming weeks, Illinois will be going full blast into finding a way to link sports gambling with its tourist and casino industry. But we have an advantage.

Our other neighboring states of Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Tennessee and Oklahoma are even more conservative than the Show Me State. While those states will certainly drag their heels on establishing brick-and-mortar gambling facilities, Missouri should already be planning to build one or allow its casinos to take sports wagers.

Minority entrepreneurs should be planning today how to reap big bucks from this

“Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

“The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make.”

Well, it is now Kansas City, St. Louis and Missouri’s choice to make. Our windows should be open for business as soon as possible. Kansas City has a NFL franchise, and you best believe people from across the Midwest will be drawn there on Sunday’s to not only take in a game, but to bet on other games throughout the country.

St. Louis can finally soothe its wounds from the Rams departure to L.A. by inviting gamblers to St. Louis to take in a weekend of NFL and college football action.

Whether the St. Louis Cardinals like it or not, the team has been a favorite of gamblers in Las Vegas for decades. Teams that win draw action. Teams that reach the postseason draw even more betters’ interest.

My guess is that the Cardinals are already eyeing a way to introduce sports book gambling on to the Ballpark Village property. If the team isn’t, it’s making an error on an easy ground ball. Yes, I gamble. Not much and not often, but I’ll make an occasional wager. My last bet was on Michigan to cover a 5-point spread against the Cinderella darlings from

Loyola-Chicago in the Final Four. The Wolverines covered with ease and I won some dough. The state could have kept a few bucks of that wager had it been the administrator of the bet (the bookie) or through a tax on my winnings. If the state’s casinos offer sports book gambling, the taxes that the state garners from these facilities would probably double in a few years. The tax increase would immediately spiral upward. It’s almost free money.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put his state in a position to be the first to benefit from Monday’s ruling. His state passed legalized sports book gambling in 2012, only to have the law challenged by the NCAA. The state lost its first case and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit again ruled against the state. The Supreme Court agreed to consider the state’s constitutional challenge to PASPA. By a 6-3 vote, with the most conservative justices on the majority, the 10th Amendment was cited.

In March, ESPN’s Outside the Lines said New Jersey could be taking NFL bets when the season opens in September.

We’re behind New Jersey, but there is hope.

State Sen. Denny Hoskins and Rep. Dean Plocher filed a bill in February called the Comprehensive Missouri Sport Betting and Sports Protection Act.

The legislation would authorize sports betting in Missouri’s casinos and on the internet, “while implementing consumer protections and sports integrity requirements. This bill would mirror federal law if the

existing gambling law of 1993 that currently prohibits these actions is repealed.

Plocher’s bill would call for a 12 percent tax on sports wagering revenue and grants sports leagues a “sports betting right and integrity fee” of 1 percent of all sports wagers (not on revenue), which amounts to 20-25 percent of revenue. In other words, the Cardinals, Chiefs, St. Louis Blues and Kansas City’s MLS franchise would get a cut of any wager made on the respective teams.

Well, there is that special session to deal with Gov. Greitens. The sports gambling bills should be passed during the same session.

“It’s been estimated that illegal sports betting takes place to the tune of nearly $3 billion dollars a year in Missouri,” Hoskins said.

“The time has come to stop pretending a problem doesn’t exist, and bring this activity into the sunlight, create some oversight, while bringing in new revenue to the state as well as jobs and economic activity at our casinos. “

That’s the most sensible thing to come out of Jefferson City in 2018.

Missouri’s sports bills have not been passed and the legislative session ends on Friday. Of course, there is a planned special session to deal with our frisky governor. Hmmmm. Maybe some more state business could get done.

Missouri has to get its gambling act together, and quick! There is money to be made.

Two other winners

“Supporters of so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ – cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials to enforce immigration laws – have cited the 10th Amendment in recent challenges to the federal government’s efforts to implement conditions on grants for state and local law enforcement.

“Challenges to the federal government’s recent efforts to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized the drug for either recreational or medical use may also be based on the 10th Amendment.”

Missouri has to get its gambling act together, and quick! Golden opportunity

I should have made a bet on Monday’s Golden State at Houston NBA West Conference Finals game.

A few weeks back, Charlie Tuna and his radio pack were discussing the playoffs with me on his KFNS show and I boldly predicted that the Warriors would play the Rockets in the West Finals. The Rockets would have home court advantage, but I said, “Watch out for Game One. The Warriors will show the Rockets what being a champion is all about.”

Monday’s ruling could have a major impact outside the sports and gambling worlds, according to Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog.com She wrote Monday that the PAPSA challenge was based on protection of state’s 10th Amendment rights.

That series opened up on Monday night and Golden State turned a halftime 46-46 tie into a 119-106 victory.

I’m glad I didn’t bet on Game One of the East Conference Final. I thought Cleveland would remind Boston and rookie flash Jayson Tatum who was the boss. I got that wrong, big time. Celtics 108, Cavaliers 83. Tatum had his streak of 20-points or more in playoff games snapped at seven – a NBA record – but it didn’t matter. Game Three was scheduled for Wednesday night and if the Celtics prevail – I’ll still favor Cleveland to win the series. Sorry Jayson.

Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is @aareid1.

Alvin A. Reid

The U.S. Supreme Court covered a spread by a 6-3 vote on Monday by striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that banned sports betting nationwide.

State track championships this weekend

East St. Louis is prime contender in Class 2A girls

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of the St. Louis American

Several athletes will be loading up the bus to participate in state track and field competition in Illinois and Missouri this weekend.

The IHSA Girls’ State Championships will be held at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston on Friday and Saturday. The Missouri State Championships for Class 1 and 2 schools will also be held at Jefferson City High School.

The East St. Louis Flyerettes will be heading to Charleston as prime contenders in this weekend’s Class 2A girls’ meet. The Flyerettes dominated the competition in winning its sectional championship in

Herrin. East Side won nine sectional championships and qualified athletes in eight individual events and all four relays.

The Flyerettes dominated the relays in winning the 4x100 in 48.6 seconds, the 4x200 in 1 minute 42.84 seconds, the 4x400 in 3:55.59 and 4x800 in 10:07.80. Their individual sectional champions were Ahmia Dorsey in the long jump and triple jump, Evangelynn Harris in the discus, Veronica Sherrod in the 300-meter low hurdles and Shonjahnea Griggs in the 400meter dash.

• Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC seeks another state title

The Commanders are taking a strong crew to Jefferson City in their quest to win another Class 2 state championship. They will be taking athletes in eight individual events and four relays, including seven sectional champions from last weekend’s Hillsboro sectional. Senior Antonio Norman was a sectional champion in the high jump, 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Kelsey Cole won the long jump, triple jump and 200-meter dash while James Allen won the 800-meter

run.

Other area boys headed to the Class 2 state meet include Zach Barton of Maplewood (100), Malik Stewart of Maplewood (800, 1600), Chris Skaggs of Maplewood (discus), Khylan Nevils-Reed of College of Medical and Bio Science (long jump), Amir Nasruddin of McKinley Classical (shot put).

The top girls headed to state include Jayda Buchannan of Maplewood (first in 400 and 800), McKinlee Morris of Crossroads (shot put and discus), Keiosha Rogers of Valley Park (100), Jilane Pederson of Valley Park (high jump) and Yazmin Ayers of Medicine and Bio Science (400).

CLUTCH

Continued from C5

en series go on to win the series 95% of the time.”

It’s possible that the basketball world is overreacting to the Cavs’ dismal performances. After all, the Celtics squad simply protected its home court by winning the first two games of the series. Brad Stevens’ club is 9-0 at home in this postseason. Conversely, the team is just 1-4 on the road. That should give the Cavs more than a sliver of hope that the team can bounce back despite its disappointing performances. In his 15th season in the league, James has been around long enough to know better than to panic. However, if you saw his postgame interview, it appears he’s far from confident in his team’s chances.

“I’m going to go home

from C5 • Justin

(Hazelwood

Won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races at the Class 5, District 3 meet at Pattonville.

• Jameson Williams (Cardinal Ritter): Finished first in the 100-, 200-, 400- and 300-meter intermediate hurdles at the Class 3, District 2 meet at Principia.

• Winston Kemeric (Trinity): First in the 100, 200 and ran legs on the first-place 4x100 and 4x200 at the Class 3, District 3 meet at Lutheran North.

• Zionn Pearson (MICDS): First in the long jump, triple jump and 4x100 and second in the 100 at the Class 4, District 3 meet at MICDS.

• Madison Fuller (John Burroughs): First in the 100, 200 and 4x100 at the Class 3, District 2 meet at Principia.

(Tuesday night) and see my three kids, see my family, recalibrate, see my mom. I think I’ll be fine,” James was quoted as saying by USA Today. “I’m not going to lose sleep over it. You go out and when you lay everything on the line, at the end of the day, you can live with that. I’ll recalibrate as far as how I can help this team continue to be successful (and) I can do some things to make us be even more complete.”

Due to his track record, it would be foolish to not give James the benefit of the doubt. James doesn’t need to recalibrate. His coach and teammates do.

Adjustments are the key to the postseason. Lue must adjust his strategy and Cleveland’s role players must adjust their intensity.

The Cavs absolutely need to win both games at home. If they do, the veteran-laden team will regain the advantage. If they drop even one game

• Cooper Wise (Kirkwood): Finished first in the high jump, triple jump and a leg on the first-place 4x400 at the Class 5, District 2 meet at CBC.

• Austin Maiden (CBC): Finished first in the 100, 200 and 400 at the Class 5, District 2 meet at CBC.

• Diamond Riley

at home, expect the Boston Celtics era to begin a little earlier than expected.

Suns land the #1 pick

The NBA held its draft lottery Tuesday night and top pick will go to the Phoenix Suns. Many people expect the Suns to select Arizona center Deandre Ayton with the top pick. It makes sense. Talented bigs have always been worth their weight in gold in the NBA. Ayton’s local ties, 7-foot-1 size and sweet shooting stroke make his selection a no-brainer to many.

I’m not completely sold on Ayton. He’s a highly-talented prospect, but with the league’s shift to positionless basketball, I’m not sure he’ll become the dominant force that everyone expects him to become.

The top-five draft positions will be rounded out by the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies

(Ritenour): Finished first in the long jump and triple jump at the Class 5, District 3 meet at Pattonville.

While Michael Porter Jr. is expected to land in the top five to seven picks in the NBA draft, Jontay Porter’s first-round draft prospects are still up in the air. He could stay in the draft if he’s projected as a first-round pick or return to Mizzou for his sophomore season.

and Dallas Mavericks (in that order). There’s a good chance that Mizzou’s Michael Porter Jr. will land in the top-five, even after his back surgery. As a Mavericks fan, I’d love to see MPJ land in Dallas. Though it’s possible they will seek to finally fill the gap in the middle with a player like Texas’ Mo Bamba It remains to be seen whether Jontay Porter will remain in the draft or return to Mizzou. Many local sports reporters expect him to ride off into the NBA sunset. So far though, mock drafts do not have the younger Porter being drafted in the first round. If the feedback is similar from NBA execs, Mizzou could catch a break for once and see the talented player return for his sophomore season. Fingers crossed.

Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ishcreates.

• Michelle Owens (McCluer North): Finished first in the 100-meter high hurdles, 300meter low hurdles and a leg on the first place 4x100 at the Class 4, District 3 meet at Pattonville.

SIU-Edwardsville

Earl Austin Jr.

CENTER

continued from page B1

owned Business Enterprises (WBE) with increased access to opportunities, while simultaneously giving corporations a platform to connect and do business with diverse suppliers. The Supplier Diversity Forum, themed “Leaders Learning From Leaders: How the Current Economy is Impacting Procurement Trends,” featured Daphanie Pointer as the moderator, and representatives from five diverse companies, including two WBE’s and three WBDCcertified diverse suppliers. Cynthia Johnson, director of the Established Business Program at WBDC, cited several objectives of the forum, which included informing minority business owners on how they can stay competitive in the current corporate climate, leverage their certifications, and grow their businesses. Similarly, DiMenco expressed that the goal of WBDC is to

n According to Daphanie Pointer of Monsanto, there were 11.6 million womenowned businesses in the U.S. as of January 2017, generating $1.7 trillion in revenue and employing some 9 million people.

“provide relevant information about how to build trusting relationships during this economic time.”

Pointer, the Supplier Diversity lead for Monsanto’s North American Supply Chain Procurement team, began by highlighting the massive impact that women entrepreneurs have on the economy. According to Pointer, there were 11.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States as of January 2017, generating an astounding $1.7 trillion in revenue. In addition, these businesses employ upwards of 9 million

people.

Pointer also suggested that it is a promising time for budding entrepreneurs, stating that business owners are reporting better profits and saying it is a good time to expand. As a segue to the panel session, Pointer also noted that “finding diverse suppliers is a top challenge for corporations.”

Josh Redd, the North American Procurement lead for Monsanto, stated that “inclusion and diversity are core values” of the St. Louisbased company. According to Redd, Monsanto was named Best of the Best by the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and the company’s increasing diversity is reflected in recent rankings by DiversityInc as well.

The event was sponsored by Deluxe Corporation Foundation and US Bank.

WBDC continues to play an important role in diversifying supply chains, and has lined up many events for the coming months. More information about these events can be found at https://www.wbdc.org/tag/ st-louis.

Financial Focus

By Andre K. Nelson

How can you meet your short-term goals?

Why

come the inevitable short-term price drops.

In short, when investing for longterm goals, you’re seeking significant growth and, in doing so, you’ll have to accept some degree of investment risk. But when you’re after short-term goals, the formula is somewhat different: You don’t need maximum growth potential as much as you need to be reasonably confident that a certain amount of money will be there for you at a certain time. You may want to work with a financial professional to

growth-oriented investments for decades – you can over-

Emilia DiMenco, president and chief executive officer of the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), and Cynthia Johnson, director of the Established Business Program at WBDC, spoke with Monica Buren of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis at the launch of the WBDC’s regional office in St. Louis hosted by Ameren on May 7.

Photo by Wiley Price

Inspired soul

New singer Montel Moore relies on faith as a premise for his music

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

As he dives headfirst into the music scene, Montel Moore is challenging himself as an artist.

“I think anybody can talk about sex, money and love – but to take the perspective of motivating and uplifting people is not easy,” Moore said. “This music is just me wanting to give back to the people I love – which is every human being on this planet – wanting to be a light in what some people may think is darkness in this world. That’s what I want to achieve.”

He released his debut single, “This Time” on Friday, May 11. The 26-year-old is thinking beyond the box of the subject matter of the typical R&B singer. But, he is not the traditional gospel singer either. “It’s really on the inspirational side,” Moore said. “ I’m not really dropping scripture or pushing Jesus in front of everyone directly – because I do want it to attract the unbeliever as well as the believer. It’s on the inspiration side, but strongly influenced by my Christian faith.”

“This time I’m holding on … this time I will be strong … this time … this time,” Moore belts with his rich tenor voice on the chorus of the track. His voice skews more along the gospel side, but it is laced with soul. He sings with intention on “This Time,” a song he wrote from personal experience.

n “I wanted to take my own personal experiences and put it into an art form that is easily relatable by everyone.”

- Montel Moore

“It was just a really tough time in my life,” Moore said. “I was making mistakes – and they were recurring mistakes. I got tired of reliving the consequences of my choices and actions.” He decided to express his struggles through song. His hope is that the song becomes an “aha” moment that compels listeners to move beyond patterns of poor decision-making and into a space of transformative change.

“I realized I’m not the only one in the world who has done this before,” Moore said. “I wanted to take my own personal experiences and put it into an art form that is easily relatable by everyone.”

The maturity and power in his voice coupled with the music’s message, one might assume that he started singing in church before he could remember – and this latest chapter is a continuation of a predetermined destiny of music ministry that has carried him from children’s choir to present day.

Moore grew up in church, but said he was never given the opportunity to flourish musically until he started attending Hope Church in his late teens. “That was the pivotal moment – when I

See MONTEL, C4

Amy Sherald opens at CAM with impressive local artists

Addoley Dzegede sparkles in several media, Sarah Paulsen investigates whiteness

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Amy Sherald

The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis continued its tradition of bringing major names in African-American contemporary art to St. Louis by opening an Amy Sherald show on Friday, May 11, and while it’s well worth seeing, it opened alongside a show by a local black artist (Addoley Dzegede) that is even more powerful, as well as a show by a local white artist (Sarah Paulsen) that engages even more intimately and provocatively with issues of race and racism. Sherald has an assured place in art history after receiving the National Portrait Gallery’s commission to paint the official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama. However famous and justly so, that portrait is not the best introduction to Sherald’s work, in that she devotes more of the canvas to Mrs. Obama’s dress than to the subject herself, and that dress obscures one of the most powerful and distinctive figures in American history.

Sherald’s portraits on display at CAM are of unnamed and unknown people, so one encounters them without preconceptions, and they make for memorable encounters. Lisa Melandri, the museum’s executive director who organized Sherald’s show, said the subjects of these paintings are “almost always looking back at you,” and those painted gazes

See CAM, C4

The Dunham transformation

Exhibit honoring dance icon’s

impact continues through May 21 at ESLC

By Patricia Merritt For The

St. Louis American

“The Dunham exhibit celebrates the contributions that Dunham made during her East St. Louis years - from 1967 to her passing in 2006,” said Cory Willmott, PhD, professor in the Department of Anthropology. Willmott curated “Katherine Dunham: A Life of Dance, Activism and Anthropology” along with integrative studies graduate student Konjit Avent. The exhibit honoring Dunham’s legacy in the region will be displayed at the SIUE East St. Louis Center (ESLC) through Monday, May 21.

“Our first thought in doing the show was to rekindle awareness of Dunham’s extraordinary life and career at the Edwardsville campus, where few people today even know that Dunham Hall was named for her,” Willmott said of the exhibit that opened on April 27.

“When (ESLC Executive Director) Jesse Dixon asked if we would bring the show to the Center, we were thrilled with the opportunity to bring Miss Dunham back home to the community where she chose to complete her life’s work.”

What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American) by Amy Sherald

Students view the ‘Katherine Dunham: A Life of Dance, Activism and Anthropology’ at the SIUE East St. Louis Center. The exhibit will be on display through May 21.

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concerts

Thur., May 17, 7 p.m., The Ready Room presents Big Boi: Daddy Fat Saxxx Tour – The Third Leg. 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. ticketf.ly.

Fri., May 18, 5 p.m., Sheldon Concert Hall presents Ezinma Ramsay Strings Attached Concert. With special guest Rhoda G. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., May 20, 7 p.m., Jazz St. Louis welcomes Terence E. Blanchard feat. The E-Collective. The Grandel, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., May 20, 8 p.m., The Pageant presents Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Tues., May 22, 6 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents Twilight Tuesdays: Queens Blvd. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Thur., May 24, 7 p.m., Old Rock House presents Cedric Burnside. 1200 S. 7th St., 63104. For more information, visit ww.oldrockhouse.com.

Sat., May 26, 8 p.m., Oren Major – Black Privilege

Tour. Foam, 3359 S. Jefferson Ave., 63118. For more information, call (314) 772-2100 or visit www. foamstlouis.com.

Sun., May 27, 2:30 p.m., The Grandel hosts the Willie Akins Jazz Festival. Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund at Webster University. 3610 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Fri., June 8, 5:30 p.m., Hot 104.1 Super Jam. Feat Post Malone, 21 Savage, Remy Ma, SOB X RBE, DJ Luke Nasty, & Derez De’Shon. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 14141 Riverport Dr., 63043. For more information, visit www. topeventpromoter.com.

Sun., June 10, 6 p.m., PreFather’s Day Concert feat. Bloodstone with Lamont Hadley. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63103. For more information, call (314) 4967751.

local gigs

Sat., May 19, 10 p.m., Dark Room presents Mario y Jingo and Friends: Late Night Grooves. The Grandel, 3610 Grandel Sq., 63103. For more information, visit www. thedarkroomstl.com.

Sun., May 20, 3:30 p.m., Notes from Home J. Samuel Davis, with special guests Wycliffe Gordon Harvey Lockhart, celebrates music legend Robert Edwards.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

see ART.

Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. Wed., June 6, 7 p.m., Whitaker Music Festival feat. The Lamar Harris Experience. Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., 63110. For more information, visit www. missouribotanicalgarden.org.

special events

Sat., May 19, 6 p.m., SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital invites you to Scoops of Fun. Families can enjoy unlimited treats from local ice cream vendors while exploring The Magic House. 516 S Kirkwood Rd., 63102. For more information, visit www. glennon.org/scoops-of-fun.

Sat., May 19, 6 p.m., The Fontbonne Prom. A nonprofit gala in support of our new scholarship program for debtfree college education for lowincome students. The RitzCarlton, 100 Carondelet Plaza, 63105. For more information, visit www.fontbonne.edu/ alumni.

Sat., May 19, 8 a.m., Purina presents the 25th Annual

Bark in the Park. 5K or 1-mile walk, silent auction, vendors, kid’s activities, and more. Cricket Field, Forest Park, 63112. For more information, visit www. member.hsmo.org.

Sat., May 19, 7 p.m., “Hair

Art—Where Hair Meets Art Meets Music” featuring Glynn Jackson, an art exhibit “I Am Ferguson, Still I Rise”; various salon presentations; product giveaways and so much more. House of Soul, 1204 Washington, St. Louis, MO 63103 Sun., May 20, 7 p.m., “Hair Legacy, The 25th Anniversary Golden Scissors Awards” at the beautiful Majorette Event Center, 7150 Manchester, St. Louis, MO 63143. Sun., May 20, 1 p.m. (preparade festivities begin at 11 a.m.) 108th Annual Annie Malone May Day Parade, Route begins at 20th and Market. For parade registration and information, visit www. anniemalone.com/events or call 314-531-0120

Mon., May 21, 10:30 a.m., Marygrove’s 25th Anniversary Golf Tournament. 18-hole and 9-hole options. Forest Hills Country Club, 36 Forest Club Dr., 63005. For more information, visit www.

marygrovechildren.org.

Tues., May 22, 6 p.m., Community Action Agency of St. Louis County presents Taste of Missouri: Its Wines and Communities. 2709 Woodson Rd., 63114. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

May 23 – 26, Black Dance –USA National Conference. Learn from master instructors in the styles of: West Afrikan, Afrikan Carribean, hip-hop, percussion, samba, and more. Better Family Life Center, 5415 Page Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. betterfamilylife.wufoo.com.

Thur., May 24, 10 a.m., Project Homeless Connect. A one-stop-shop for homeless individuals and families to access free services and assistance. JCPenney Building Conference Center, UMSL, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, call (314) 615-0379.

May 25 – 27, U. City Class of 1978 40th Reunion. We will have dinner, dancing, a picnic, and more. For more information, visit www.ucity78.com or email ucityhs1978@gmail.com.

Sat., May 26, 6 p.m. (3 p.m. VIP reception), “The Distinguished Gents – Welcoming The Ladies of Excellence” featuring Leslie Johnson, Jeff Radford, Jermaine Smith, Chuck Flowers, John Leggette and Ladies of Excellence: Cheryl Brown, Stacy McClenahan, Mary Meriweather, Anita Jackson and Blanche Haley the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, MO 63108). For more information, call 314-629-7901 or visit www.davidpeastonfoundation. org

May 25 – 27, U. City Class of 1978 40th Reunion. Dinner, dancing, a picnic, and more. For more information, visit www.ucity78.com or email ucityhs1978@gmail.com.

Sun., May 27, 12 p.m., St. Louis Curvy and Worthy Fashion Expo. Styles by Redd, 3020 S. Jefferson, 63118. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sun., May 27, 5:30 p.m., Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Inc., East Saint Louis Alumni Chapter presents the Sundress and Linen Memorial Day Party.

Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., May 31, 9 a.m., HireLive presents the St. Louis Sales and Management Job Fair. Doubletree Westport Hotel, 1973 Craigshire Rd., 63146. For more information, visit www.hirelive.com.

Fri., June 1, 6 p.m., Saint Louis Science Center presents First Friday: Jurassic World 5050 Oakland Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.slsc.org.

Sat., May 19, 2 p.m., The Broken Conditions Book Launch Soiree: Speak Your Truth Jo Lena Johnson discusses her book on speaking your truth to change your circumstances. Mark Anthony’s Collections, Chesterfield Mall, 63107. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Fri., May 25, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Jon Meachum, author The Soul of America: The Battle of Our Better Angels. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108.

Wed., May 30, 6 p.m., St. Louis Public Library hosts author Martin L. Mathews, author of I Trust You With My Life. Proceeds benefit the Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club. 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Wed., May 30, 7 p.m., Kirkwood Public Library hosts author Robert Hansman, author of PruittIgoe (Images of America). 140 E. Jefferson Ave., 63122. For more information, visit www. kirkwoodpubliclibrary.org/ event.

Thur., May 31, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Allison Coffelt, author of Maps are Lines We Draw: A Road Trip through Haiti. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. Mon., June 4, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Jared Brock, author of The Road to Dawn: Josiah Henson and the Story that Sparked the Civil War. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108.

Tues., June 12, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library hosts author Zinzi Clemons, author

St. Louis African Arts Festival returns to the World’s Fair Pavilion at Forest Park. For more information,

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

of What We Lose. The story of a young African-American woman coming of age and a meditation on race and country. Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www. slcl.org.

Wednesdays through June 27, Weekly Writers Workshop. Students in the 6th - 9th grade will work on improving their grammar and essay writing. Eyeseeme, 7827 Olive Blvd., 63130. For more information, visit www. eyeseeme.com.

comedy

May 18 – 19, Funny Bone St. Louis presents Roy Wood Jr 614 Westport Plaza, 63146. For more information, visit www.stlouisfunnybone.com.

May 25 – 27. Helium Comedy Club presents Faizon Love. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, call (314) 727-1260 or visit www. heliumcomedyclub.com.

theatre

Fri., May 18, 9:15 p.m., The Muny Centennial Gala: An Evening with the Stars Co-hosted by Heather Headley and Matthew Morrison. 1 Theatre Dr., 63112. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., May 20, 1 p.m., The Muny 100th Birthday Bash Guests will enjoy a celebration of musical theatre, community and The Muny. 1 Theatre Dr., 63112. For more information, visit www.themuny.org.

May 29 – June 3, The Fabulous Fox presents The Book of Mormon. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

June 1 – June 24, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents “Romeo and Juliet,” Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park. For more information, visit www.sfstl. org.

art

Thur., May 17, 6 p.m., Katrina Z’Chori Tripmix 18 Trunk Show. Hand-dyed art to wear fashion showcase. Soulard Art Gallery, 2028 S. 12th St., 63104. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

May 25 – 27, St. Louis African Arts Festival. World’s Fair Pavilion, Forest Park, 63112. For more information, visit www. stlafricanartsfest.com.

Through June 24, From Caricature to Celebration: A Brief History of AfricanAmerican Dolls. Field House Museum, 634 S. Broadway, 63102. For more information, visit www.fieldhousemuseum. org.

Through August 19, Contemporary Art Museum hosts the opening reception for 2018 Great Rivers Biennial Featuring artists Addoley Dzegede, Sarah Paulsen, and Jacob Stanley, Amy Sherald, and Claudia Comte. On view through August 19. 3750 Washington Blvd., 63108.

lectures and workshops

Thurs., May 17, 2 p.m., The Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club will host Cornel West at the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus, 601 J.R. Thompson Dr., For more information about the free May 17 events, call 618 650-3991; email eredmon@siue.edu; or write the club at P.O. Box 6165, East St. Louis, IL 62201.

Wed., May 23, 12:30 p.m., Recap of the 2018 Missouri Legislative Session. Law Library Association of St. Louis, 10 N. Tucker Blvd., 63101. For more information, visit www.llastl.org/CLE-0518.

Sat., May 26, 12 p.m., National Blues Museum presents a Blues Improvisation Workshop 615 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www.nationalbluesmuseum. org.

Tues., May 29, 1 p.m., Urban League St. Louis presents Learn about Banking Basics 3701 Grandel Sq., 63108. For more information, visit www. ulstl.com.

Sat., June 2, 9:30 a.m., Ready By 21 Saint Louis presents School to Prison Pipeline Symposium. St. Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Wed., June 13, 7 p.m., Community Conversations: Net Neutrality. Kirkwood Public Library, 140 E. Jefferson Ave., 63122. For more information, visit www.

kirkwoodpubliclibrary.org.

Sundays, Through Dec. 30, 2 p.m., Center for Divine Love Church presents Finally Understand Race in America. 3617 Wyoming St., 63116. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

health

Sat., May 19, Community Women Against Hardship’s 14th Annual Walk For Life & Health Fair, Honorary Co-Chairs are Dr. Christy Richardson, Dr. Jacqueline turner, Dr. Tracy Reed, Myrtis Spencer and Dr. Will Ross. Grand Entrance – Son of Rest Shelter. Tower Grove Park. For more information call 314289-7523 or website: www. cwah.org

Sat., May 19, 8:30 a.m., Lupus Foundation of America, Heartland Chapter presents the Walk to End Lupus Now. Chesterfield Central Park & Amphitheater, 16365 Lydia Hill Dr., 63017. For more information, visit www.chapters.lupus.org.

Sat., May 19, 10 a.m., Urban League Guild Annual Health Fair. Free healthcare screenings, mammograms, dental care and more. YMCA O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex, 4343 West Florissant Ave., 63115. For more information, email turner.kimberly6@gmail.com.

Sat., May 19, 10 a.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.,

St. Louis Metropolitan Chapter presents the 2018 Spring Fling Wellness Expo & Marketplace. 701 n. Spring Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., May 19, 10 a.m., Jump n Jam Fitness Expo. Fitness classes, live demonstrations, meal prep tips, and more. Fitness with Anika, 612 North and South Rd., 63117. For more information, visit www. squareup.com.

Thur., May 24, 10 a.m., American Red Cross presents Experience the Mission 10195 Corporate Square Dr., 63142. For more information, call (314) 516-2800.

Thur., May 24, 10 a.m., Project Homeless Connect. A one stop shop for homeless individuals and families to access free services and assistance. JCPenney Building Conference Center, UMSL, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, call (314)

615-0379.

Thur., May 24, 11 a.m., Wellhome CNA Hiring Interview Sessions. Jefferson County Library, 1701 Missouri State Rd., 63010. For more information, visit www. wellhomeagency.com.

Fri., May 25, 8 a.m., Southside Senior Citizen’s Center presents the Bringing it Together HealthFest: Engage at Every Age. 3017 Park Ave., 63104. For more information, call (314) 6645024.

Sat., May 26, 11 a.m., The Links, Inc., St. Louis Chapter presents a Mental Health Symposium. Learn about anxiety and depression – both under diagnosed in the Black community. Washington University, 520 S. Euclid Ave, 63110. For more information, visit www.stllinks.org.

May 30, 7:30 a.m., 2108 Christian Hospital Senior Fair: Healthy Aging,

Living Longer and Growing Stronger!, Christian Hospital Detrick Building Atrium. Space is limited and registration is requested by calling 314747-WELL (9355) or online at ChristianHopsital.org/ SeniorFair.

Fri., June 1, 9 a.m., American Lung Association Lung Force Expo. Clayton Plaza Hotel, 7750 Carondelet Ave., 63105. For more information, visit www.action.lung.org.

Wednesdays through June 6, Health & Wellness Series: Boot Camp. Led by Heath Norton, Owner of TITLE Boxing Club-Rock Hill. Kiener Plaza, 500 Chestnut St., 63101. For more information, visit www.archpark.org.

Sat., May 19, 9 a.m., Breaking the Silence through Prayer and Praise Breakfast Bellefontaine United Methodist Church, 10600 Bellefontaine Rd., 63138. For more information, visit www. breaksilencewithsummers.com.

Through May 20, 109th Annual Holy Convocation. Nightly speakers and worship services. Eastern Missouri First Jurisdiction, 4307 Kennerly Ave., 63113. For more information, call (314) 4828547.

Sun., May 20, 8 a.m., Southern Mission Baptist Church Pentecost Sunday with special guest Pastor Corey Scott of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, 8171 Wesley Ave.

Sat., May 26, 10:30 a.m., 3rd Annual Prayer on the Bridge. Natural Bridge between Goodfellow and Parnell, 63115. For more information or to register, call (314) 514-5803.

Sun., May 27, 6 p.m., Faith for Justice Worship Night. South City Church, 2109 S. Spring Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

108th Annual Annie Malone May Day Parade will take place as the organization celebrates their 130-year anniversary. See SPECIAL EVENTS for details.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

are riveting. Indeed, they are almost always looking into you.

Sherald’s experiments with costume are more effective in these portraits than with the dress that overwhelms Mrs. Obama. Most effective is the American flag shirt, cowboy hat and (especially) belt buckle adorned with a galloping horse in which she dresses the subject of What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American) – a title that shows Sherald also has poetic gifts. She told The American that she painted this subject in plain clothes and then deliberately added the costume elements later, using Google to find reference images of American flag shirts and cowboy belt buckles.

Sherald’s manipulation of quintessentially “All American” imagery in a portrait of a black man finds local parallels in new work by St. Louis-based artist Addoley Dzegede, which neighbors Sherald’s portraits in the museum. One body of Dzegede’s work in her show Ballast consists of cotton cloth printed with Batik and screened dye, creating beautiful patterns that encode often disturbing messages. One piece has a pattern of arch shapes, sometimes looped and sometimes upside down, creating a kind of fence through repetition of St. Louis’ defining architectural symbol. The title –Loving/Killing (Divided City) does away with the subtlety of the image, as do the images of Ku Klux Klansmen embedded in the background of another local meditation from this series, Veiled Prophet/Profit Dzegede’s show includes very different, yet compatible, work in three other genres. She has a cloth piece that looks like colorful little pillows strung on a rope that is a gigantic replica of a string of trade beads. She made a collection of bells (that she described as “testicleshaped”) in the spirit of bells used to chase off ghosts. And (somewhat less successfully) she produced a video piece that melds city images from Amsterdam with street scenes and a funeral after-party from Accra, Ghana, where she has family.

Dzegede was one of three local artists selected for the 2018 Great Rivers Biennial, and her work appears alongside shows by Sarah Paulsen and Jacob Stanley. Paulsen’s exhibition, The Invention of Whiteness, is a

JAMALA

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joined Hope Church, they stood behind me so much. They challenged me,” Moore said. “I was completely uncomfortable – I wasn’t used to being in front of people singing. I wasn’t used to singing with a microphone. I wasn’t used to leading worship. But they put me in those situations so that I could then grow. Me being on that platform as one of the praise and worship leaders it helped me grow – not only as a worship leader, but as a vocalist.”

It was his time at Lindenwood University that led him on the path to pursue music as a career. He started working with vocal coach and professor Steven Slusher as a freshman. At first, the experience was a reality check for Moore.

startling sequence of stopmotion animation films, one of them embedded in the floor, about American history, race, class, and systemic racism and classism. “Although steeped in investigative sources and historical research,” read the exhibition notes, “together the works ultimately operate less as a documentary than as an emotional portrait of a nation in denial of its deepest conflicts and most obvious myths.” This work appears to spring from the post-Ferguson white ally’s determination to do “white folk work,” to repair some of the damage done by white Americans and to drain some toxicity out of whiteness.

Stanley’s show, TIME, is a set of innovative and interactive sculptures with a conceptual basis. Most vividly, Recurrent Entropy is a looped cycle of conveyor belts in perpetual motion, moving porcelain cups and plates along and then eventually dumping them onto the museum floor, where they shatter. Given that these are white objects shattering in the room right next to The Invention of Whiteness Stanley’s placement in the Biennial also makes this piece raise questions about the fragility of whiteness. The 2018 Great Rivers Biennial was organized by Wassan Al-Khudhairi, the museum’s chief curator. It was juried by Martin Kersels, multidisciplinary artist and associate professor and director of Graduate

Studies in Sculpture at Yale University; Lauren Haynes, scholar in modern and contemporary American Art and curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art; and Christine Y. Kim, associate curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Biennial shows that St. Louis’ talent in the field of contemporary art is profound, varied and innovative – anything but a flyover art scene. With one important young black artist and challenging work on race and racism by a white artist, it shows CAM’s continuing investment in black artists and engagement with issues of race, despite the Kelley Walker fiasco (which continues to keep some black patrons away from the museum two years later). And by bringing Amy Sherald and her paintings to St. Louis, it shows that CAM remains in the vanguard in recognizing black contemporary artists –indeed, as it was before the Kelley Walker fiasco, thanks in no small part to then-curator Jeffrey Uslip, which made his mishandling of the Walker flap so puzzling and unfortunate.

The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is located at 3750 Washington Blvd. It is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Admission is free. Visit camstl. org.

“I was confident, perhaps a little bit cocky. He tore me down, but he built me back up in a way that allowed me to see, ‘I can really do this,’” Moore said. “Because of his inspired words I have confidence, but because of what he taught me I also have the humility and vulnerability to put myself out there as an artist.”

With his best friend Thomas Paden as producer, Moore started making music in their basements.

“We got the music to the point where we felt it was ready to go a more industry standard studio setting,” Moore said. “We brought it into the studio, tweaked it some more and there

DUNHAM

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up scholarship and teaching,” Willmott said. “The Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis (which became the SIUE East St. Louis Center for Performing Arts Program) was the fruition of Dunham’s scholarship and the crowning of her life’s work.”

Through the extensive programming ESLC provides (including piano, guitar, drums and bass guitar, West African drumming and various styles of dance), the center has been an integral part of the East St. Louis for decades. The center is also a bridge between the East St. Louis and the SIUE community. Dunham’s legacy both at the university and within the East St. Louis region operate in tandem because of ESLC.

came ‘This Time.’”

“This Time” is the first in a series of singles Moore will be releasing in the coming weeks.

“I want to create enough buzz or hype so that I can do a GoFundMe for a full-length project and put on a large release concert,” Moore said. “Right now, it’s really just marketing and promoting and getting my name out there.”

He is hoping that his work will pay off with a national recording contract and that he will eventually be able to lend

“Many people in East St. Louis were students of Miss Dunham and have personal connections and memories of her. It was a unique concept that has not been matched since,” said Willmott. “Out of it sprang many individual success stories of local community members, and a path forward for those to come.”

Heather Himes is one those student success stories. She was a child when she began learning the famed Dunham technique, where she trained under master Dunham instructor Ruby Streate and certified Dunham Technique instructor Theo Jamison – who is an SIUE alum and former East St. Louis Performing Arts program director.

Himes now herself a certified Dunham Technique instructor. At the exhibit’s opening ceremony last month, Himes – who will receive

his music to film scores.

“That’s the sound we were going for with ‘This Time,’” Moore said. “Of course, I want the music to do well. But I’m in the mindset of ‘whatever God plans’ is that’s what I want to happen for the music.” Listeners can stream “This Time” at Spotify, Amazon Music and 150 other digital sites. For more information on Montel Moore, email propheticsound98@gmail.com or visit facebook.com/ MontelMusic.

her MFA in Dance from Washington University on Friday – performed a contemporary piece that both honored and pulled from the Dunham Technique while it simultaneously illustrated the black experience in America.

“There is a new generation of dancers choreographing original works that incorporate Dunham Technique,” said Himes. “But these youth have also moved beyond it, to engage today’s movements, themes and social issues.”

“Katherine Dunham: A Life of Dance, Activism and Anthropology” will be on display through Monday, May 21 at SIUE East St. Louis Center (ESLC), 601 James R. Thompson Blvd., Brady Ave, East St Louis, IL 62201. For more information, call (618) 482-6912 or visit https://www. siue.edu/eslc/.

Listeners can stream Montel Moore’s new single “This Time” at Spotify, Amazon Music and 150 other digital sites.

Photo by Chris King

Addoley Dzegede discussed her show Ballast, part of the 2018 Great Rivers Biennial, at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis on Friday, May 11.

Celebrations

Anniversaries

Buford and Sonja McClendon are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on May 23 and 50 years in God’s marriage ministry. Buford McClendon retired after 44 years of service at the General Motors Stamping Plant in Wentzville, Mo. Sonja McClendon retired after 40 years of service with the U.S. Dept. of HUD, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. They are the proud parents of two children and three grandchildren.

Reunions

All reunion announcements can be viewed online!

Beaumont High School Class of 1968 will celebrate its 50 year Class Reunion June 22-24, 2018 at the Sheraton Westport Chalet, 191 Westport Plaza. For more information, please contact Vanetta Cobbs, 314-869-5665 or email vanetta.cobbs@sbcglobal.net.

Beaumont High Class of 1973 will celebrate its 45th reunion, Aug. 10-12, 2018! To register contact: Dr. Liz Franklin at, mychoice2succeed@yahoo. com or (636)293-9553. Also, check out the BHS Facebook page.

Beaumont Class of 1978 40th Reunion Extravaganza Save the Date: October 5-7, 2018. Call or text Marietta Shegog Shelby at 314-799-5296 for

Samuel and Carla Hudson celebrated their six-year wedding anniversary on May 11. Looking forward to forever!

further details.

Homer G. Phillips and St. Louis Municipal School of Nursing all class reunion will be held June 22-24, 2018. All major activities will be held at the St. Louis Airport Hilton, 10330 Natural Bridge Rd, St. Louis, MO 63134. Awarding of nursing scholarships will be Saturday, June 23, at the banquet. For information please e-mail asims4@charter. net or call (314)261-2800 or (314)868-0288.

McKinley High School Class of 1978 40th Class Reunion will take place July 27-29, 2018 at the Embassy SuitesAirport Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. Classmates from all McKinley H.S. classes are invited. Registration is required. To register, contact Barbara Lindsey, Barbara_ Lindsey@icloud.com or Marvin Woods, mwoods@ projectcontrolsgroup.com or (314) 647-0707.

Northwest High School Class of 1978 is planning its 40 year reunion for next year. PLEASE reach out to our classmates, tell them get ready for this. If you have any

questions please contact Sly at (314) 397-0311 or email us at northwestbluedevils@78gmail. com. Check us out on Facebook Northwest High School-Class of 1978.

Northwest Class of 1979 is planning on cruising for our 40th class reunion and would love for you to join us! Date to sail is set for July 20, 2019 and you can feel free to contact: Duane Daniels at 314-568-2057 or Howard Day at 414-698-4261 for further information. Please don’t miss the boat!

O’Fallon Tech Class of 1983 will have its 35-year reunion. June 8: Ballroom Gala at Infinite Occasion Banquet. June 9: Picnic/BBQ Bash at McDonnell Park. Weekend Cost: $85 Alumni/$45 Non-Alumni. June 16–20: All-inclusive trip to Riviera Maya, Cancun, Mexico Cost: Double Occupancy starting at $944/$1888. For more information, contact April at 314-307-9114 or Sharon at 314-623-3435 or checkout OFT Class of ’83 Facebook page.

Sumner High School Class

Birthdays

Happy 60th Birthday to Francine Liggins on May 17th. You are loved! From: your family

Happy Birthday to a very special lady, wife, mother, grandma and friend, Keianna Parker, on May 20. May God bless you with many more! Enjoy your day, beautiful!

of 1973 will have its 45th year class reunion the weekend of June 22-24, 2018. More info to follow outlining the details. If you did not receive a newsletter in January, please contact Marsha Joseph-Williams (314-6068701) or Dorris SimmonsMcGhaw(314-541-2462). You can also inbox Sid S. Shurn or Dorris on Facebook.

Sumner Alumni Association will have its 10th Scholarship Awards Luncheon & Fashion Show on June 9, 2018, Noon4 pm honoring Mr. Marvin Neals, Ph.D. Dr. Lynn Beckwith, Jr. our Master of Ceremony and KMJtheDJ. The cost is $50 to attend and includes a cash bar, free parking, attendance prizes and more. For more info, contact B. Louis at 314.385.9843 or email: sumneralumniassn@ yahoo.com.

Soldan Class of 1978 will sponsor a “40 and Still Triple Threatening” basketball tournament. Contact Janice A. Tompkins 314-322-6406 if interested in participating.

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

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:

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.

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

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

Swag Snap of the Week

District Rhythms goes hip-hop. You know summer is on its way when the District Rhythms Concerts get to crackin.’ Such was the case Friday night at Ballpark Village. This year they put some old-school hip hop on the bill and I’m not the least bit mad – and neither was anyone else. Seeing Big Daddy Kane rip the stage as part of the Missouri Lottery District Rhythms Concert Series presented by 95.5 FM made me wish that he had enjoyed mainstream crossover megastar status at the height of his career. I get that he’s a legend, I truly do. And he always gets props as a lyricist, but I have always wanted him to get the superstar treatment that RUN DMC, LL Cool J and all the others enjoyed. He proved that he deserved it Friday night as he kicked off the District Rhythms for 2018. He might be knocking on 50, but he can rip the stage in a way that deserves the props these mumbles get from the masses. He jumped down into the crowd and everything. He was my favorite of the night. MC Lyte lost me when she emerged on stage in full witness protection/FBI informant hair and sunglasses. Her set wasn’t bad, it was just the same thing I saw when she came with DMX. She added a funky drummer, but didn’t seem as tuned-in as my beloved “Smooth Operator” provided with his opening antics. Folks stayed home on Stevie J. Remember back when Joseline and “Steebie” were the Cardi B and Offset of 2012 or so? I can’t tell you how many times Stevie J. came through STL and had the club lit at hello. Well, those days are clearly over based on his visit to the Marquee for a “Bad Moms (their title, not mine)” party Friday night. I hate to do it, but y’all know by now that nobody’s safe in Partyline when it comes to stating facts. And the truth is a marching band or a toddler dance squad could have held a midnight May Day Parade 2018 rehearsal with all the space that was up in the Marquee.

Obar on 10. I was completely over the Marquee, so I headed down the street to the OBar since I was so close to Midtown with all kinds of time on my hands. Everything I was expecting as far as the crowd and the energy at The Marquee for Stevie J, was happening at The Obar for nobody in particular. After squeezing in, I couldn’t help but think, ‘did people think Stevie J was coming there instead of the Marquee?’ It was all the way live up in there.

Up all night with Anita Jackson. Because I got out so early and Stevie J.’s party was such a bust I had a chance to catch the last taste of Late Night with Anita Jackson at The Dark Room. Listen, don’t ever let anybody tell you that you have to go New York, Chicago, LA or Atlanta for the best and brightest artistry we have to offer – because we can hold our own right her in the Lou. Anita proved me right last night, not only with her own soulful slayage, but by passing the microphone all across that room to anyone who could hit a note. Sorry y’all, but this post is about Anita. Her rendition of “Crazy” would have had Cee-Lo gift her exclusive performance rights to the song. And when she got into that funky, soulful take on Prince’s “Kiss,” The Purple One must have been looking down with pride. And y’all know he probably secretly hated for other people to do his songs because hardly anyone can do them justice. Anita proved herself the exception to the rule!

Marquee brought the Sauce. The good news is that it didn’t take 24 hours for The Marquee to bounce back with that Sauce party presented by Onnie Bella The Tycoon and BFree Saturday night. I knew that it was going to be about that life as far as its “litness” when the line was down the street by 10:45. But even with my expectations of an epic turnup, my cup was runneth over with life. The folks came through dressed to the nines and had it packed to the gills up in there.

An apology in order for The Coronation crew. When I said it wasn’t safe when it comes to stating facts, that includes me as well. And with that in mind I want to sincerely apologize for giving Ono the credit for The Coronation presented by Close To Famous, Aristocrats and Innovators last week in my “Cinco De Ono” item. In all fairness to myself, there was an influx of Africans in traditional attire mixed with prom dresses. It was an honest mistake. The good news is they were extremely graceful in pointing out the error. Zee Lauren, you are quite classy. And I apologize to Triky for not getting his joke. That being said, It doesn’t make last week’s party at Dos Salas any less epic, even if I didn’t properly allocate the credit where it was due.

Mother’s Day redemption starring Donnell Jones., Donnell Jones probably still wants to cuss me out after my nasty read of him for his mess of a show that ruined Mother’s Day 2016 for hundreds of St. Louis R&B lovers at the Ritz-Carlton. He earned it. The good news is that Donnell went into training harder than Rocky Balboa did after he got whooped up on by Apollo Creed! I’ve decided Donnell Jones has been underground preparing to redeem himself in St. Louis two years to the day that he ruined Mother’s Day for hundreds of R&B lovers. And I would be a hater if I didn’t say it paid off Sunday at Ballpark Village. I don’t want to be like Craig from “Friday” and bring up old stuff, so I’ll keep it with the success of his current performance. Listen, he went so hard to redeem himself that he even got that body snatched. Folks were really feeling it – so much so that couples broke into slow dancing. That’s saying a lot in 2018. After seeing Marissa Perry and her boo two-stepping to “Knocks Me Off My Feet, it made me sad that I don’t presently have somebody to twirl around in my sundress with this summer. Oh, and I also enjoyed the blue-eyed soul of Dekota – wait, are his eyes blue? Anyway, if he gets a little help with his pitch he could be repping STL as music’s next big thing in this age of

and so on and so forth.

Adele, Justin Timberlake, Allen Stone

Bridgette met MC Lyte, who kicked off the MO Lottery District Rhythms Concert Series presented by 95.5 FM Friday night @ Ballpark Village

Ono, Kory and Chris G welcomed the fun flirty and fashionable into the House of Mimosas Sunday@ ShiSha

Shanice and Keiara stepped into Do Salas Saturday night

Desirra, Jenny and Row came through Ballpark Village to check out rap icons Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte

Tiara, Nae and Bri showed up ad showed out to support NeNeGoon as she performed @ The Marquee Friday

Will and Africa enjoyed a few laughs before Donnell Jones hit the stage Sunday @ Ballpark Village

James and T were in the building as the party wound down Friday night @ The Marquee

Kendra and Jessica gave a preview of the SAUCE to expect this summer @ The Marquee Saturday

Kevian and Ciera relaxed in the booth Sunday night @ Ballpark Village

Stevie J. was his usual charming self as he made his way around the Marquee and posed with Kiesha and Tee Friday night

R&B veteran Donnell Jones posed with fans Lavina, Kim, Debra and Cathey following his Mother’s Day concert Sunday night at Ballpark Village.

Photos by V. Lang

St. LouiS american Career Center

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

American Publishing Company, now in our 90th year, is in search of an optimistic, energetic, hard-working and creative Account Executive. Must be growth oriented, have a strong work ethic and exceptional people skills. Your hard work, energy and strong desire to meet and exceed sales opportunities and challenges will ensure your success in this position.

Must work well independently, be entrepreneurial, persistent and have a proven work record. This is a great opportunity for those who love sales and want to be an integral part of the ongoing growth of a major St. Louis media outlet.

Your task will be to consistently sell a variety of products to meet clients’ needs: print advertising, online advertising, social media advertising, special sections, events, sponsorships, etc.

Full time opportunity, with health benefits. Salary plus commission. High earnings potential.

For information, contact: Kevin Jones, Chief Operating Officer The St. Louis American kjones@stlamerican.com

(Absolutely no phone calls will be accepted)

Thompson Coburn LLP has the following positions available in our St. Louis office: Closed File Clerk

1+ yr office/customer service experience & high school diploma or equivalent.

Intellectual Property Docket Clerk

Associate’s degree & 2+ yrs IP prosecution preferred. Provides docketing services & data entry into various databases.

Litigation Legal Secretary

2+ yrs legal & 1+ yr lit experience. High school diploma or equivalent required, Associate’s degree preferred.

Administrative Support Assistant Associate’s degree & 1 yr experience preferred, type 30+ wpm.

Controller

Min. 8 yrs experience in professional services firm, Bachelor’s degree & CPA licensure required. For more details and to complete our online application, visit www.thompsoncoburncareers.com Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Administrative Assistant needed for Home Health Agency. Proficient in Microsoft. Fax resume to 314-395-7932

“JANITORIAL”

OUTPATIENT THERAPIST

The St. Louis Center for Family Development is seeking licensed therapists to provide Evidence-Based Treatments in our Outpatient Program. Experience working with multi-problem, suicidal adolescents and adults is preferred. Full-Time and Part-Time positions are available. Candidates are required to have a current Missouri License in a mental health profession (LCSW, LPC, or LMFT). For additional information please visit www.STLCFD.com or to apply send a cover letter and resume to brianne.serdar@stlcfd.com

DIRECTOR OPERATIONS

Webster University has an opening for a Director Operations for the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts. 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.

DRUG ANALYSIS TECHNICIAN

Drug Analysis Technicians, 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 2018-11. Equal Opportunity Employer.

Vintech Solutions Inc has openings for the positions: “Salesforce Developer” with Master’s degree in Computer Science/Information Systems, Engineering (any),Technology or related and 6 months of exp. to design, develop, test, document and deploy on the Force.com platform. Involve in development, administration,configuration and Support of sales force CRM and Salesforce applications based on Apex Language and leveraging Force. com Platform. Analyze and modify Salesforce out of box workflows, field updates and approval process to suit the business needs. Provide support to ongoing salesforce.com maintenance, administration services including custom objects, workflow and triggers. “Software Developer” with Master’sdegree in Computer Science, Engineering Any, Technology, Management, Information Systems or related to design, develop, implement, maintain and test business functions and web applications using a variety of languages, tools, methodologies and technologies. Develop, create and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions. Design software or customize software for client use with the aim of optimizing operational efficiency. “System Engineer” with Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering any, Technology or related to design of system solutions, providing technical input for all aspects of projects including design, system integration, providing support in order to facilitate the delivery projects within time and maintain customer satisfaction. Document design specifications, installation instructions, and other system related information. Provide technical guidance or support for the development or troubleshooting of systems. Work location is Olivette,MO with required travel to client locations throughout

HOME REPAIR PROJECT COORDINATOR

Mission: St. Louis is looking for a Home Repair Project Coordinator. This individual will coordinate projects for the Minor Home Repair Program. Duties will include in-home repair evaluation and inspections, a heavy emphasis in project management, where you will be managing contractors and projects for seniors receiving service.

If interested, submit cover letter & resume to todd.martin@missionstl.org by May 31, 2018.

Interviews will begin immediately. Mission: St. Louis is an EOE

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR REGISTRATION

Webster University has an opening for an Assistant Director-Registration for the Community Music School. 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.

CITY OF KIRKWOOD DISPATCHER

Receive emergency/non-emergency calls. Dispatch police, fire, or EMS. Irregular hours and shifts. REJIS Certification, exp w/ Global CAD, ProQA (EMD) desirable. $19.96/hr. Closes May 22, 2017. Apply:www. kirkwoodmo.org or call 314/984-6975 for a paper application. EOE

CLAIMS ANALYST

Responsible for handling assigned claims from initial assignment to closure as well as provide assistance in various administrative functions associated with the Excess WC LOB. To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

St. Joseph’s Academy is a college preparatory high school sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet located in St. Louis, Missouri. Our mission at the Academy is to provide quality Catholic education for young women in an environment that challenges them to grow in faith, knowledge and respect for self and others. Our community expects these young women to make a profound impact in the world.

The Administrative Assistant to the Counseling office has daily contact with students, parents, faculty and staff, requiring strong communication and interpersonal skills. The candidate must have a genuine interest in working to assist and help people. The ideal candidate must also maintain high levels of confidentiality, exercise appropriate professional judgment, and have excellent computer skills. The Administrative Assistant will be proactive, energetic, and optimistic, as well as enjoy working in a fast-paced environment. Bachelor’s degree and 4-5 years of experience preferred. Strong organizational and communication skills required.

The best candidate will:

• Uphold the mission of St. Joseph’s Academy.

• Demonstrate competence and experience with using the Microsoft Suite and Google Tools.

• Exhibit superior written and oral communication skills.

• Maintain strict confidentiality.

• Demonstrate patience and empathy, staying calm during stressful situations.

• Support counselors in each aspect of their programming (organizing and executing meeting plans, keeping calendars and scheduling student and parent appointments, etc.)

• Assist with organizing and filing records.

For consideration please submit a cover letter and resume to Jen Sudekum, Principal jsteinhart@sja1840.org

SUPERVISOR OF CLINICAL SERVICES

The St. Louis Center for Family Development is seeking a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) for our Community-Based Crisis Stabilization program. The Supervisor will play a vital role in the recruiting, on-boarding, training, and professional development of Mental Health Professionals. Candidates must meet the Missouri Professional Registration requirements to provide LCSW licensure supervision. For additional information please visit www.STLCFD. com or to apply send a cover letter and resume to nicole.wood@stlcfd.com .

human resources, of which at least five years should be at the management level; or any equiv- alent combination of training and experience. SALARY: $68,908.44 - $110,253.84. Starting salary will be commensurate with experience. TO APPLY: Candidates wishing to apply should visit the following address and complete an online application and submit a resume and cover letter by 5 P.M., Thursday, May 24, 2018: com/stlouis/default.cfmhttp://agency.governmentjobs. EOE. Please contact the Human Resources Department at 615-2901 (voice) or RelayMO711 or 1-800-735-2966 if you need special accommodations in the application process or would like this posting in an alternative format.

PART-TIME FINE ARTS TEACHER

Loyola Academy of St. Louis, a Jesuitsponsored middle-school for boys, seeks a dynamic person to serve as the part-time Fine Arts Teacher 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 Fine Arts Teacher teaches three sections of art, including both art study and art production (drawing, painting, sculpting, and using other media to create products). The role includes time for planning, preparing, grading, and displaying student work. The successful candidate cares for students, plans and facilitates objective-driven lessons, and possesses exceptional organization and communication skills. The ideal candidate will have experience teaching art in a formal setting. Please submit a letter of interest and resume to Mrs. Ashley Chapman, Principal at achapman@loyolaacademy.org by 5/25/2018. No phone inquiries, please. For additional information about the school, please visit our website www.loyolaacademy.org.

SPANISH SPEAKING PARENT EDUCATOR Parents as Teachers National Center has an opening for a Spanish Speaking Parent Educator to deliver home visiting services to qualifying families. The Parent Educator will complete all required forms to document family information and conduct personal visits with each and complete all the model requirements. For a full job description, requirements & to apply go to our website: http://parentsasteachers.org/jobs

NORTHWOODS PUBLIC WORKS LABORER

City of Northwoods has a position in public works to perform skilled and semi-skilled tasks related to maintenance of park grounds, municipal facilities, special event implementation, code enforcement for vacant/delinquent properties, etc. Individual must have laborer experience, a current driver’s license, abilityto read/interpret equipment operations manuals. Applications

Big Brothers Big Sisters Job Openings

Do you have a passion for working hard to make a difference in your community?

BBBSEMO has several FULL-TIME and PART-TIME CASE MANAGEMENT positions open that work with adult volunteers, caregivers and youth. Bachelor’s Degree required.

BBBSEMO is an innovative and empowering work environment. Benefits include immediate and 100% coverage on health and dental insurance for full-time employees, flexible work schedule, and opportunities for advancement.

To Apply: Please visit www.bbbsemo.org to view full job descriptions. Then send cover letter, resume, and at least three professional references to HR@bbbsemo.org

PUBLIC NOTICE

LETTING #8665

TERMINAL 1 GARAGE, BROWN LEVEL DRIVE LANE REINFORCEMENT

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public

LOCAL UNION #562 ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Plumbers & Pipefitter’s Local Union #562 will be accepting applications for our 2018 Pipefitters Apprenticeship Program. You may fill out your application and read our standards between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Monday through Friday starting June 1, 2018 through June 14, 2018. This process will take about one hour. Applications will be available at our Training Center, 1084 Kenran Industrial Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63137. You must be 18 years of age or older, have a high school diploma or a G.E.D to complete an application. A drug-screening test will be required for employment. Random drug and alcohol testing are required thereafter. Please No Phone Calls

LETTING #8666

Concrete Replacement Due to City of St. Louis Water Division Maintenance and Construction - 2018

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 June 12, 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

CHILLER 2 REPLACEMENT, WEST CLIMATE CONTROL

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, June 12, 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, May 22, 2018, at 10:00 AM in the Ozark Conference Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044.

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

The 2018 Assessment Book of taxable property within the City of St. Louis is open for inspection in the Assessor’s Office, Room 114 City Hall. The 2018 values can also be viewed at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/data/ address-search/.

The Board of Equalization will meet from July 16 through August 24, 2018. The deadline to appeal to the Board of Equalization is July 9, 2018.

Any person may appeal their assessment by writing to the Board of Equalization, 1200 Market Street, Room 120, St. Louis, MO 63103 or by email to zasr@stlouis-mo.gov.

Stephen J. Conway City of St. Louis Assessor

BIDS

Five Oaks Associates, LLC is accepting bids for the following project for the University of Missouri, Columbia: Missouri Orthopedic Institute - Spine Center, Project No. CP172761. It bids on Thursday, May, 31, 2018. We would like to have your bids by 9:00 a.m. on May 31st. You may fax your bid to: 573-682-9514; or email at: admin@5oaksassociates.com

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Seville #3785 Storm Sewer Repair (IR) under Letting No. 12925-015.1 at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drainlayer’s license required Or TUNNELING / TRENCHLESS Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for Buckley Road CRS Overlay and Sappington Barracks Road CRS Rehabilitation Project, St. Louis County Project No. CR-1583 and CR-1584, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on May 30, 2018

Plans and specifications will be available on May 7, 2018 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for Clayton Road – ARS Infrastructure, St. Louis County Project No. AR-1674, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on May 30, 2018.

Plans and specifications will be available on May 7, 2018 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Millstone Weber, LLC is soliciting proposals for Reconstruction of Runway 12L-30R Outer Panels from Taxiway Lima to Taxiway Juliet; Replace Runway 12L-30R Circuits; Rehabilitate Taxiway Kilo within Runway 12L-30R Safety Area, Letting No 8664 at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Please phone 636-688-8794, fax 636-949-3129 or email bob.stubbs@ millstoneweber.com or ryan.taylor@ millstoneweber.com, quotes to Bob Stubbs by 5:00 pm Monday, May 21st. Subcontract work includes, removals, concrete, bituminous pavement, PCC backfill, hauling, landscaping, striping, and electrical. Plans and Specifications are available for review on City of St Louis website http://www.stl-bps.org/ planroom.aspx or at Millstone Weber office. Mandatory Pre-Bid meeting May 1st 2018, in Room 4066, Ozark Conference Room, Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd, Bridgeton MO 63044

LETTING #8670

AVIATION FIELDS UPGRADES & STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS

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 June 19th, 2018, then

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.

A pre-bid conference for all contractors bidding on this project will be held May 29th, 2018,10:00 A.M. onsite at the Concession Stand in Aviation Fields, Forest Park.

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

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

LETTING #8669

FOREST PARK DUAL PATH EXTENTION

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 June 19, 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.

A PRE-BID CONFERENCE for all contractors bidding on this project will be held May 29, 2018, 11:00 a.m., onsite at Forest Park.

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

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

is the

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Any inquiries

gjamison@stlmsd.com.

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Public Notice of Single Source Procurement Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Technology Research and Training. The District is proposing single source procurement to Gartner Inc for this service because the District has been utilizing their services since 2008 since Gartner’s focus is on client consulting and research. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS

Date of Publication: 4/19/2018

City of St. Louis: Community Development Administration (CDA) Planning & Urban Design Agency (PDA) Saint Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) 1520 Market Street St. Louis, Missouri 63103 314-657-3700 / 314-589-6000 (TTY)

On or after 4/27/18, the City of St. Louis (“the City”) will submit a request to the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the release of the following funds, under Title I of the Housing & Community Development Act of 1974, PL93-383, as amended, 42 U.S.C.-5301 et seq., to undertake the following program comprising part of the City’s 2018 Action Plan, within the City: Dutchtown Satellite Program, under CDBG funds [Award # B-18-MC-29-0006] totaling $ 450,000.00, towards the partial renovation of a building for youth programs operated by Gene Slay’s Girls and Boys Club of St. Louis. This building is located at 3212-14 Pulaski Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63111 This light interior renovation includes selected replacement of plumbing, HVAC, electrical, doors and hardware repair and replacements, replacement drywall and moldings, and interior painting.

Some activities proposed are categorically excluded under HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58 from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. An Environmental Review Record (ERR) that documents the environmental determinations for this project is on file at the City’s PDA, at the address listed above, and may be examined or copied weekdays 8 A.M to 4 P.M, by contacting Mark G. Jefferies, PDA, Environmental Review Officer, at (314) 314-657-3874.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to Mark G. Jefferies, Environmental Review Officer, PDA, at the address listed above. Comments and questions pertaining to these programs can be directed to Alana C. Green, Executive Director, CDA, at the address listed above. All comments received by 4/26/18 will be considered by the City prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds.

RELEASE OF FUNDS

The Certifying Officer of the City of St. Louis, Lyda Krewson, in her capacity as Mayor, consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows the City to use these program funds.

OBJECTION TO RELEASE OF FUNDS

HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and the City’s certification for a period of 15 days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the City; b) the City has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD/ State; or d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58.76) and shall be addressed to Ms. Dee Ann Ducote, Community Planning & Development Director, HUD, 1222 Spruce Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103 (314) 418-5257. Potential objectors should contact HUD to verify the actual last day of the objection period.

Lyda Krewson, Mayor Certifying Officer

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY

COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 508, Finish Renovations in Social Science Building, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, until 2:00 p.m. local time Thursday, May 31, 2018. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63110. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office at the above address, or by email (kkempf@stlcc.edu).

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer Voluntary Walk-Through: Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. in the Social Science Building

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite. The District is proposing single source procurement to Mythics for this service because Mythics is an Oracle Platinum Partner. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com.

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

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR TRAINING SERVICES

East-West Gateway Council of Governments is seeking a qualified consultant to provide an Urban Staging Area Manager Training Course. Funding for this project will be provided by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. Proposals due 4:00 p.m. June 18, 2018. Late proposals will be returned. Details can be obtained at www.ewgateway.org or by calling 314-421-4220 ext. 208.

Advertised

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

SPECIALSCHOOL DISTRICT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY ACCEPTING SEALED BIDS

Notice to contractors, Special School District is accepting bids for Cosmetology Lab Renovation at North Technical High School. For details, please visit the website at www.ssdmo.org/rfps.html

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Midwest Cargo Hub Commission (“MCHC”) is soliciting proposals from qualified firms to provide marketing services to promote live animal export operations at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM CST on Thursday, June 7, 2018. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to hbean@stlpartnership.com, or to Midwest Cargo Hub Commission, 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. MCHC reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Any questions should be directed to Howl Bean II at (314) 6157663 or hbean@stlpartnership.com.

Midwest Cargo Hub Commission Equal Opportunity Employer

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

or to World Trade Center-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. WTC reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Any questions should be directed to Howl Bean II at (314) 615-7663 or hbean@stlpartnership.com. St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

Faith and For the Sake of All hosting Advocacy Forum May 22

By Nancy Cambria For The St. Louis American

What can you do to help solve the St. Louis region’s inequity regarding the health and well-being of African Americans? How can you get the message out about systemic injustices that have blocked many of our region’s African-American residents from essential opportunities that significantly influence their health? How can you be a partner to create positive change for the sake of all?

For one group, the answers to all of these questions are a matter of faith.

Faith and For the Sake of All is an organizationindependent of For the Sake of All - that was formed in 2015 to address our region’s health and opportunity inequities by mobilizing a rich diversity of faith groups into action. The interfaith organization is grounded in the universal belief that all faiths are bound in service to alleviate injustice that harms fellow human beings.

In St. Louis, health is a matter of critical injustice for African Americans who, on average, deal with significantly greater rates of pre-term labor and adult chronic disease and a shorter life expectancy than whites, said Laurie Anzilotti, director of the initiative.

“Our members come to our meetings with a palpable sense that faith is why they are here. The inequity and injustice that they are living in – whether they are black or white – their faith calls them to do something about it,” Anzilotti said.

Kelly Valentine, a kindergarten teacher at Patrick Henry Downtown Academy, works with students. The group Faith and For the Sake of All is encouraging faith communities to promote early childhood development and quality early childhood systems for under-served children.

programs or services that align with the recommendations in the original For the Sake of All report.

Jeff Schulenberg, a new Liaison, said “being a part of Faith and For the Sake of All and making these presentations really has driven home to me the universality of our faiths and our responsibility to care for others.”

A member of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Valley Park, Schulenberg said he did his best to do all the things one is supposed to do as a member of the community for over two decades: soccer coach, Boy Scout leader, active in church ministries, etc.

6 to 8 p.m. at University United Methodist Church, 6901 Washington Avenue, University City, MO 63130. Anyone interested in taking the training or who has questions about the May 22 Advocacy Forum should contact Project Coordinator Laurie Creach at laurie.creach@gmail.com.

Anzilotti said Mobilizing the Faithful workshops will soon expand in scope to include data and information in the new community report Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide, released last month. Anzilotti said Faith and For the Sake of All is deeply committed to inclusion and is seeking Liaisons from all faith communities and ethnic and racial groups. Current Liaisons come from both Jewish and Christian faith communities –five religious denominations altogether. One-third of the current Liaisons are AfricanAmerican.

Schulenberg, now retired from a corporate career, said Faith and For the Sake of All has set him on a new path both in life and faith.

On Tuesday, May 22, Faith and For the Sake of All will host the first of several Advocacy Forums to be held every other month. Free and open to the public, each forum will highlight one of a growing number of partner advocacy groups addressing health inequity in St. Louis. The upcoming forum will feature Alison Gee, vice president of community engagement for Parents As Teachers. Gee will discuss the proven health and socio-emotional benefits of home visiting programs for young children and their parents. The event will be held at the headquarters of Ready Readers, 10403 Baur Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63132. The Advocacy Forum is also intended to encourage participants to join Faith and For the Sake of All’s increasingly influential Liaison Program.

the injustices of health inequity in our region. The conversations are energizing and unifying, Anzilotti said. But the group also aims to combine those dynamic discussions with research about health inequity in St. Louis. They then bring both faith discussions and critical information about inequity to larger faith communities to inspire them to action.

Liaisons regularly discuss faith and its essential and universal obligation to address

“The program is pretty unique in its merging of information and action and in naming and talking about racism in an interfaith, interracial context,” Anzilotti said. “It’s different because it’s the intersection of faith and academia, which doesn’t happen much in our culture.”

Liaison volunteers participate in four training workshops. The groups learn the information and data contained in the May 2014 report, For the Sake of All: A report on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis and why it matters for everyone Armed with research and data from the report about the stark realities of health inequity, the volunteers then partner in groups of two or three to present this information in a workshop entitled “Mobilizing the Faithful” to various faith communities throughout the St. Louis region.

Ideally, Liaisons guide the faith communities into volunteer roles and projects to support evidenced-based

“I tried hard to be a good parent, a good parishioner, a good citizen. But after the kids moved out and I had a chance to look around, I realized there was more going on around me,” he said. “Ferguson was an eye opener that made me start to question some long-held beliefs. It was very humbling to realize the extent to which I’ve enjoyed white privilege and benefited from policies and circumstances that have limited others. I felt I had to do more from a faith perspective.”

This year, Faith and For the Sake of All is particularly encouraging faith communities to work with groups and nonprofits offering services and programs that promote early childhood development and quality early childhood systems for under-served children.

Fifteen people have already taken the Liaison training. Ten are now full Liaisons and have spoken to more than 250 people from 10 different faith communities.

Anzilotti said the group is recruiting more volunteers and will conduct its next Liaison training session in June. The group will meet on Wednesday evenings from

“I have come to realize that if I really want to live my faith, I have to admit that Jesus Christ didn’t just spend his time at the Temple with church leaders,” he said. “He spent most of his time with the vulnerable and the marginalized. And if I want to walk with him, I need to prepare myself to walk with the same people. I need to explore the needs of others and have a heart for them.”

Faith and For the Sake of All is made possible through funding from Trinity Wall Street and is housed out of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Webster Groves.

Nancy Cambria is Communications manager at For the Sake of All.

Photo by Wiley Price