November 5th, 2020 edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

Cori Bush makes history

“Today, we — all of us — are headed

St. Louis strong,” Congresswomanelect Cori Bush said on election night.

First Black woman elected to Congress in Missouri

By

It’s official: Cori Bush will become the first Black woman Missouri sends to Congress.

In a speech Tuesday night, Bush stood in front of a Black Lives Matter tapestry and thanked her family, supporters and campaign staff. She gave a special shout out to the Ferguson frontliners, a group she said is not given the attention or credit they deserve.

“We want to lift them up right now — so every single person that is listening right now that is a Ferguson frontliner, this is for you and this win is for you,” she said.

She went on to talk about her personal experience.

“I was running, I was that person running for my life across a parking lot, running from an abuser,” she said. “I remember one day hearing bullets whiz past my head, and at that moment I wondered, ‘How do I make it out of this life?’”

POTUS undecided

By Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

While Missouri voters have voiced their support for President Donald Trump in the race for the next American president, a few key states were still counting votes as of press time for this story. In Missouri, 1,711,848 voters cast their ballot for Trump, equating to 56.8%

n “Every single person that is listening right now that is a Ferguson frontliner, this is for you and this win is for you.”

– Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush

Page wins county executive race

‘There should be more that unites us than divides us’

By Dana Rieck Of

With 43% of the votes tallied, Page held the lead with 69.29% of the vote as he went live on Facebook on Tuesday night with his wife Dr. Jennifer Page by his side to thank voters, his family and his campaign staff.

“I am humbled, grateful and proud of the results so far in the county executive race,” he said. “We have accomplished a great deal in a short time, even with historic challenges and a political climate that has pitted neighbor against neighbor in unfamiliar ways.” He said with the election over, it was time to focus on common goals — mainly a safe, successful and vibrant county.

“We may disagree on how we get there, but with that common goal there should be more that unites us than divides us,” he said, noting he will be spending the next two years focusing on the strengths of the county — a diverse economy, great parks, a strong network of hospitals and clinics, and a robust library system.

Circuit attorney Gardner, Treasurer Jones, Sheriff Betts reelected by wide margins

By Chris King Of

Photo by Wiley Price

See BUSH, A7

Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

See PAGE, A7

Dr. Sam Page

Eddie may have to spice up the child support

Spice Girl Mel B’s finances report edly have taken a drastic dip, so much so that she is requesting that film and comedy legend Eddie Murphy the amount of child support payments for their daughter, 13-year-old As the MailOnline reported, the British singer, songwriter and TV person ality (Melanie Janine Brown) filed court documents after her income was drastically reduced and after reportedly trying “numerous times” to resolve the issue out of court. She is also request ing Murphy pay her attor ney expenses. The Daily Mail sited a 2009 report by Us Weekly, that said the two agreed Mel B would have sole physical custody of their daughter, and Murphy would pay $25,000 a month, health insurance and costs, and educational fees.

Tiffany and Common: Are they, or aren’t they?

Comedian Tiffany Haddish and rapper Common have clamped the rumors of them unfollowing, then refollowing each other on Instagram (if he ever followed her in the first place) by professing their love for one another. Speculation of their new celebrity couple matchupbreakup swirled after fans noticed Common wasn’t following her. But fret not, Common is following her now, and the couple went to where all good rumors can be put to rest – on IG Live, to publicly say that they, and their love for one another, is still a thing.

costume that it’s speculated on HipHopDX that he deactivated from his 34.6 million followers on Instagram because of it. Apparently, there is no time for all that social media foolishness when, after all, the Caped Crusader has Gotham City to look after. As Batman would say, “HOLY SMOKE, Robin!” And guess what? The mouseeared little brown bat that’s found in North America, Myotis lucifugus, has glossy brown fur, and the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, which hangs out between here and South America also has brown fur. Didn’t you know it – or didn’t you Google it (like I did)? Folks, it was Halloween. Couldn’t there be room for a bit of creativity in his costume, with matching fancy vehicles to boot? Apparently not.

“I just want the best for my daughter, always want the best,” Mayweather said during an interview with Hollywood Unlocked. “If that makes her happy, then we’re happy, me and her mother is happy.”

Ciara and Russell Wilson say “Why Not You’

NFL Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, singer Ciara, are launching the Why Not You Academy. The Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation is providing $175 million to help revamp a school just south of Seattle into Why Not You, which will focus on providing academics, student plans, internships and mentorships to Black and Latinx students.

In an Associated Press interview cited by The Root, Ciara said, “We’re all in on this.”

IJS, if you’re going to be Batman, you got to be correct

Travis Scott’s Halloween 2020 costume apparently tricked him into thinking he was treating his social media followers. The IG posse went in so hard on the “Astroworld” mastermind’s Batman-of-another-color

Mayweather’s daughter and Young Boy are expecting a young’un

Rapper Young Boy Never Broke Again and Yaya Mayweather are expecting a child. The musical artist is the daughter of boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. An April 2020 baby mama stabbing incident in Texas and Yaya’s aggravated assault arrest aside, her bun in the oven is Mayweather’s first grandchild. As reported by Complex, Young Boy has seven children.

According to the Seattle News Tribune as described by the Root, the tuition-free public charter high school will open in the fall of 2021 with a freshman class of 100. And as exciting as it might have been to think about, the celebrity couple will not be involved in the school’s day-to-day operations.

Sources: Complex, HipHopDX, Instagram, Just Jared, Mail Online, MadameNoire, Moms, Rap-Up, SmartNews, Talent Recap, The Root, The Shade Room

Study: Misdemeanor arrests decline while racial disparities persist

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

A 10-year study across eight

U.S. jurisdictions, including St. Louis, released October 21 provided insights into how police interact with communities when it comes to misdemeanor enforcement.

While a great deal of research has been conducted on felony and violent crimes, little is known about lower level charges and police interaction.

Erica Bond is policy director for Data Collaborative for Justice — the organization that conducted the study. She said this work is important, first and foremost because by some estimates 75% to 80% of all enforcement actions are composed of misdemeanors.

“And I think we’ve also seen a lot of the recent high-profile incidents — what starts out as a low-level arrest can escalate into something much more significant and can even result in death,” Bond said. “So, it’s not always necessarily appropriate to even characterize this kind of enforcement as low level.”

Bond said over 40 jurisdictions applied to be part of the long-term research project, out of those, eight were most equipped to provide the needed data and were chosen to participate, St. Louis being one of them. The work sought to study trends over roughly a 10-year period and looked at demographic changes over time, while also looking at the kinds of charges that were being

enforced.

Preeti Chauhan, associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, noted that it was universities that applied to be a part of the study. Data Collaborative for Justice researchers also wanted to ensure the locations were diverse in geography and that the locations’ governmental agencies and other organizations were supportive of learning more and using that information moving forward.

Once those reports were produced, seven in total (one rural jurisdiction was unable to produce a full report), researchers looked to see if there were any commonalities. Bond said she and her colleagues think there are some noteworthy findings, including significant increases and then a general decline in misdemeanor enforcement across all seven sites.

“So, the purpose of this work really was to document trends in enforcement and create more transparency, including around any racial disparities that are associated with misdemeanor enforcement,” she said. Both Bond and Chauhan noted it’s important to remember the kind of impact misdemeanor charges can have on an individual’s life — from job opportunities to things less tangible like mental wellbeing and familial relationships.

The key findings of the study across all locations included:

• Misdemeanor arrest rates decreased in recent years, and those declines often

followed a period of significant increases in misdemeanor enforcement.

• Black people, younger people and men were consistently arrested for misdemeanors at higher rates than any other group.

• Trends illustrated a move away from “more discretionary, drug-related charges and an increase in the share of charges where there is an identifiable complainant or victim.”

Lee Ann Slocum is a professor at UMSL and received her Ph.D. in Criminology and

Criminal Justice. She was one of the leading data collectors and researchers for the St. Louis portion of the study, along with Beth M. Huebner, an UMSL professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Slocum noted that the most common type of misdemeanor arrest over this study in the region was a simple assault, or an assault that does not involve a weapon or result in injury to a person.

“There’s some indication that by enforcing these lowlevel offenses you actually can hurt safety in neighborhoods because people are less likely to trust the police and are less

willing to call them and seek out their help and offer cooperation,” Slocum said. “So, there’s sometimes that tradeoff between enforcement of lower level offenses and community trust and the ability of police to effectively do their job.”

Slocum said because there is a high rate of violent crime in St. Louis, the police department is driving the research agenda and they’re primarily interested in how they’re doing with arrests for violent crimes and serious crimes. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been resistant to this particular area of study.

“The police department has been very transparent and very generous with their data They’ve met with us on a number of occasions to help us interpret the data and make sure that we’re getting things right. And so, I think the partnership has really been effective,” Slocum said.

The study’s St. Louis data showed a 76% decline in misdemeanor enforcement from 2002 to 2017, with the proportion of drug arrests fell from 16% to 8%. Similarly, the arrest rate for 18-20-year-olds fell by 85% and the arrest rate for 35-65-year-olds also fell by about 75%.

Slocum said that while the study found a greater percent

decline among misdemeanor enforcement of Black men, she doesn’t think that is simply because there were more arrests of Black people, men in particular, at the beginning of the study.

“I do think some of this, it could be about place where the police are policing, perhaps, but I don’t think it’s just the fact that there are more arrests of black people.”

Even so, Bond notes that racial disparities existed in all locations at the beginning of the study and continued through the end, despite a decline in misdemeanor enforcement. She notes because those disparities are a feature of all seven criminal legal systems, policy makers and advocates need to figure out why these disparities exist.

“I think any city that takes on and is willing to take on this research partnership … [it] is a critical first step,” Chauhan said. “Hopefully all of our jurisdictions and more will continue to monitor these trends in addition to other trends like the use of bench warrants and arrests for bench warrants — how these types of lower level enforcements impact jail populations and so I think I commend the city for sort of taking this this first step and the researchers at UMSL for being the independent researchers to do it.”

The other locations included in the study were: Durham, North Carolina; Los Angeles, California; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City, New York; Prince George’s County, Maryland; and Seattle, Washington.

More information about the Data Collaborative for Justice and its findings can be found at datacollaborativeforjustice.org.

Editorial / CommEntary

Let’s finally start thriving -- together

We appreciate that many people are left feeling anxious and depressed by the November 3 elections. How could anyone, let alone 67 million people (1.7 million of them here in Missouri), vote for four more years of Donald Trump’s hate and chaos in the White House? How could a half-million more people in Missouri vote for a slate of mediocre, bumbling white men running for reelection to statewide office as Republicans over the dynamic, diverse slate of evidently better qualified and more competent candidates that emerged from the Democratic primary? How could the same electorate that passed Clean Missouri election reforms two years ago undo those same reforms and enact in their place a much worse system with Amendment 3?

However, consider that the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County stood for none of this hate, chaos and nonsense on election day. City and county voters elected Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Allisia Canady, Rich Finneran, Yinka Faleti and Vicki Englund and defeated Amendment 3 by wide margins. Looking at these discrepancies, it’s understandable to feel like we are in the wrong state and the wrong country. But that’s not the same as being in the wrong place. In fact, when you consider the uniformly wise judgments made by the voting majorities in St. Louis city and county on election day, we are compelled to ask all of you -- all of us -- to appreciate yourselves and each other as the decent and judicious citizens that you -- that we -- are, for the most part. We also should celebrate and congratulate ourselves for reelecting some embattled but impressive local leaders -- St. Louis County

supported through vicious primary challenges. We must be inspired and encouraged by Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush, who rose from the streets of Ferguson to disrupt one of Missouri’s most formidable political dynasties. And we must embrace and thank city voters for accepting an additional tax burden to fund early childhood education and for taking a chance on a new form of municipal election that will, we believe, lead to more dynamic winners of our city’s most powerful elected offices.

The United States and the State of Missouri may leave us feeling anxious, depressed, even a little hopeless. But look closer to home, look right here at home, and you have to admit we are hopeful survivors who, in the large majority, made good decisions in this turbulent and difficult election year. Perhaps we should learn to trust and respect one another more, to fight amongst ourselves less, to work together better. Because, when you look at those election returns, and you look around this state and have to conclude that we are all we’ve got.

“There should be more that unites us than divides us,” Dr. Page said on election night. That must be said again and again here in the St. Louis region. There should be more that unites us than divides us.

As I See

Trump’s many gut punches to Black Americans

By Marc H. Morial National Urban League

As a non-partisan organization, the National Urban League does not endorse political candidates or encourage voters to choose one candidate over another. As a historic civil rights organization devoted to economic and social justice for African Americans, we have an obligation to combat racism, discrimination, racially motivated violence and disinformation targeting Black Americans. According to fact-checkers in the media, President Trump has made nearly 23,000 false or misleading claims over the course of his presidency. His claim that he has “done more for the African-American community than any president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln” is perhaps the most insidious and the most insulting.

wage gap continued to grow and the Black homeownership rate fell to historic lows.

Far from being a boon for Black Americans, the last four years have seen a dramatic rollback of civil rights protections, a surge in racially motivated hate crimes, and a deterioration of the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

Executive Dr. Sam Page, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones -- whom we collectively

“St. Louis — my city, my home, my community — we have been surviving and grinding, just scraping by for so long, and now this is our moment to finally start living,” Congresswoman-elect Bush said on election night. “Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving.” That must be said again and again here in the St. Louis region. Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving -- together.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

67 million reasons why Americans aren’t exceptional

By Mike Jones

Of The St. Louis American

Donald Trump is arguably the most corrupt and incompetent president in American history. He’s without question the most incompetent and corrupt president in modern American history. From the day he descended the escalator to his comments on election night, he has been a toxic dumpster fire on the body politic. His incompetence and depraved indifference in handling the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is prima facie case of criminal negligence and is worthy of jail time; his criminality has ranged from larceny to crimes against humanity. As president he has not just been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment and removal from office, but also treason against the United States. Though we don’t know the outcome of the election as I write this, we do know that at least 67 million people in this country believe he should be re-elected. And they came to that decision in the context of a pandemic that, because of his incompetence and callous indifference, has resulted in over 8 million Americans becoming infected, the deaths of another 230,000-plus Americans, and the destruction of the economic livelihood of tens of millions more. Just this thought alone should give any rational person pause to consider and evaluate what manner of people are these Americans.

There is a myth that white Americans believe about themselves: the myth of American exceptionalism. White Americans have clung to this infantile notion that the country’s founding is a function of Divine Providence and they are a chosen people. They believe they were somehow endowed

with innate goodness and immune from the evil banality of the rest of the human race. They believe that their sins are sins of omission and should be forgiven and understood as unfortunate missteps that are the necessary cost others pay for America’s Manifest Destiny.

But there is nothing exceptional about any people who would elect an obvious moral degenerate like Donald Trump and then watch the havoc he wreaked over the last four years – and still 67 million people voted to re-elect him.

This belief in the myth of American exceptionalism is akin to addiction. It distorts who the addict believes himself to be and permits him to be an active agent in the destruction of those around him. James Baldwin counseled us that not everything you face can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced. For the past four years Donald Trump has forced white America to face the totality of who it is.

As recovering addicts are in daily struggle for sobriety, we as humans are in daily struggle to overcome the worst in us.

White America is still in denial. The Donald Trump presidency, and the fact that at least 67 million white Americans support it, has dealt a death blow to American exceptionalism, and nothing shall so become its life like the leaving of it.

White Americans and their America are no exception to the vagaries that vex humanity.

As Immanuel Kant reminds us, “Out of timber so crooked as

that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved.”

Donald Trump and the white Americans that support him are the physical manifestation of 400 years of American history in real time. If you are a white American and the past four years have left you feeling enraged, fearful, overwhelmed, uncertain and exhausted, you have experienced some of what it’s like to have been Black in America these past 400 years.

On the eve of the election, I wrote that white America was at an inflection point. They would have choose between redefining what it means to be white in a multiracial, multicultural democracy or they could retain their white privilege in a neofascist dystopian nightmare. “Black voters are responding to this election like their lives depend upon it, because it does,” I wrote. “We’ll do what we need to do, as we’ve always done, not because we want to save American democracy but because we want to save each other.”

While you can’t be absolutely certain, it looks like Trump won’t prevail. And it will be for the same reason white mendacity is always pushed back: Black Resistance. In spite of the most overt voter suppression and intimidation we’ve seen since the 1960s, Black voters, like Spartans at Thermopylae, held the line. If Trump loses Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and with it the presidency, it will be because of Black voters in Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

I’m hoop’s junkie. It would really be cool, if just once, when the game is on the line, we could depend on white people to make a shot.

Mike Jones is a member of The St. Louis American’s editorial board.

One out of every thousand Black Americans has died from COVID-19. Six of every ten Black households are facing serious financial problems since the pandemic began. Almost a third can’t pay their rent or mortgage. Which of his achievements could he imagine exceeds the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1965, all enacted under President Lyndon Baines Johnson?

Prior to the pandemic, Trump cited the lowest Black unemployment rate on record, but even then it was consistently twice the white race. Black unemployment fell four and a half times further during President Obama’s term than it did during the three years before the pandemic struck. Meanwhile, the Black-white

Shortly after Trump took office, the Justice Department –led by an attorney general who once disparaged the Voting Rights Act as “an intrusive act” – abandoned its long-standing opposition to a racially discriminatory Texas voter I.D. law. It was the first salvo in a war on Black voting rights that has continued through the establishment of a task force to promote the myth of widespread voter fraud, opposition to the Voting Rights Advancement Act, pushing states to purge voter rolls, and the sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service to thwart mail-in voting.

The Justice Department abandoned the use of consent decrees – formal reform agreements with police departments accused of racially motivated excessive force and constitutional violations. It ended the Community Oriented Policing Services’ Collaborative Reform Initiative, a program aimed at building trust between police officers and the communities they serve. Trump himself has demonized peaceful protestors against racially motivated

Letters to the editor

More helpful uses of Senate seats

Instead of rushing through Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley should make better use of the Senate’s time.

People struggling here and around the world have been waiting for months for Congress to pass an emergency COVID-19 response bill. What is Congress not understanding about this emergency?

Our Missouri senators should resume negotiations over a COVID-19 deal. To help families stay in their homes during the pandemic and keep food on the table, the bill must provide $100 billion in rental/mortgage assistance and a 15% increase to the maximum SNAP benefit. Meanwhile, global AIDS, TB, and malaria deaths are projected to rise to levels we haven’t seen in 10-20 years.

Both Senators have advocated for global health before. Will they do it again now and make sure the U.S. contributes no less than $20 billion towards international development?

They could even cosponsor S. 3471, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The House passed this bipartisan bill on September 22, which aims to ensure that U.S. entities are not funding forced labor among ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

All of these actions would be much more effective, helpful uses of their Senate seats.

Yara Changyit-Levin Town and Country

Shouldn’t everyone?

If Amy Coney Barrett rules against the Affordable Care Act, her brilliant legal mind

police violence as terrorists, and his administration opposes efforts to reform racist police practices.

Last month alone, a whistleblower complaint alleged that Department of Homeland Security officials directed analysts to downplay threats from violent white supremacy and Russian election interference; an executive order banned federal agencies, federal contractors, and grantees from engaging in anti-discrimination workplace diversity trainings; and the Department of Housing and Urban Development gutted the disparate impact tool under the Fair Housing Act, which will make it harder to challenge systemic racism by housing providers, financial institutions, and insurance companies.

Finally, in the midst of a pandemic that is killing Black Americans at twice the rate of whites, the Trump administration is trying to kill the health care law that shrank the racial health care gap and made insurance available to millions.

Stoking racial resentment among white Americans, even courting the support of white supremacists, has been part of the Trump playbook since he slandered Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals at his campaign announcement in 2015.

Even so, it came as a gut punch early in his presidency when he declared there were “good people on both sides” of a deadly clash between white supremacists and anti-racist protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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

and her illustrious career will not be remembered. The only thing that will be remembered about her, which will erase the memory of any good that she has done, will be that she has removed health care insurance from 20,000,000 Americans who have pre-existing conditions. All Catholic priests and all people 65 years of age and older have health care insurance that covers pre-existing conditions. Shouldn’t everyone?

Linda Caravelli Florissant

Not wearing a mask

Not wearing a mask is the new suicide, especially for depressed and fatalist people who don’t care about tomorrow. It is also the new racism, because minority people are hit hardest by the spread. Not wearing a mask is a new gang sign to show-off what gang-party one belongs to. Finally, it is the latest way to dishonor parents and grandparents, since our elders are put under dire threat by this callous behavior.

Kimball

Guest Columnist Marc H. Morial

Guest Columnist Mike Jones

Sgt. Donnell Walters named new president of ESOP

Sgt. Donnell Walters has been named the new president of the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP). Founded in 1972, ESOP is an association of more than 300 police officers, park rangers and civilians that advocates for racial and gender equity in law enforcement.

Sgt. Walters replaces Detective Sgt. Heather Taylor, long-time ESOP president, who retired in September.

“Sgt. Heather Taylor paved the way, and our focus will be to carry on the momentum and work that she started. We will continue to boldly advocate for equality in our police departments and fight for a seat at the bargaining table,” said Sgt. Walters.

“At this critical time in our community and our world, we can accomplish the most if more people are engaged in our mission and our work. For that reason, we also will focus on increasing the participation of our current members, adding to our membership and strengthening the support of the community and government leaders.”

Sgt. Walters joined the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) in 2002 and has been with the department’s Community Engagement and Recruiting Unit for three years. Sgt. Walters has been an ESOP member for most of his career and held a leadership position with the current ESOP Board.

“I’m more than confident that Sgt. Walters will keep the Ethical Society of Police moving forward,” said Retired Sgt. Taylor. “I also know Sgt. Walters will praise and hold our members accountable for their actions.”

Tax workshop for creative professionals Nov. 7

Certified Public Accountant Dan Connor will offer tax tips and answer questions from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, November 7, in a free online workshop hosted by the St. Louis Writers Guild, in cooperation with the Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA).

Dan Connors, with Buenger Accounting in Granite City, IL, is an enrolled agent under the IRS and a CPA under the state of Illinois. He has been preparing taxes for more than 15 years for individuals, nonprofits, and busi-

nesses. He is also an aspiring writer. He can be reached at dan@buengeraccounting.com (accounting) or dan@ authordanconnors.com (writing). You can find the Zoom address for the tax workshop on the Guild’s Virtual Events page (www.stlwritersguild. org/virtual-events), join here https://tinyurl.com/Guildtax-Zoom (meeting ID is 702 890 3800, password is SLWG2020 or call in at (312) 626 6799.

Volunteer as a board member at a nonprofit you believe in

By Michelle Tucker For The St. Louis American

Joining the governance board of a local nonprofit can be one of the best ways to make a significant impact in our community. Although it’s been more than a decade ago, I recall my first board experience like it was only yesterday.

It happened during a time of nationwide economic crisis, and I had just accepted the local Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy role at the Fortune 500 company I was working at. I was eager to do my part and make a difference by helping to align business resources to the complex and growing needs of our most vulnerable in the community.

Nonprofit governance board member. The formal role and responsibilities of a nonprofit governance board member are complex and varied.

A board member is responsible for defining and supporting the nonprofit’s vision, goals and mission by setting sound policies. They also implement sound planning and evaluate and set new goals to benefit the nonprofit.

In addition, they may assist in hiring the best employees for key roles while providing ongoing support to the chief executive officer. They also carefully oversee the nonprofit’s budget and are responsible for helping to set new budgets.

Board members are vitally important to helping effectively steer the organization to greatness and towards a sustainable and brighter future while ensuring that the organization has sufficient resources and funds to continue to create an impact in the communities they serve.

Why leaders can make a huge difference for a nonprofit organization. If you are looking for a way to give back and make a huge difference in our region, becoming a board member of a nonprofit can help you to achieve this.

A good business leader has natural leadership skills, industry expertise, experience and networking connections that can help raise a nonprofit’s knowledge base and visibility. By sharing your expertise, the nonprofit can benefit from much-needed assistance and become even stronger in the long term. These are just a few ways leaders can help nonprofits at no cost.

Not only does a nonprofit board member add value to the organization, but the opportunity works both ways. A nonprofit can actually help leaders improve their soft skills. For example, teamwork, problem-solving, and analytical skills can be further honed by serving as a board member, regardless of your experience level or age. It can be an ideal opportunity for a young professional to help a great cause while gaining an additional community perspective. Joining a nonprofit board is a great way to expand your network and connections from around the region and across industries.

Our local nonprofits need you. If you are a business leader or a young professional, why not make a difference by volunteering as a board member at a nonprofit you believe in?

By engaging, connecting and understanding the growing needs of the nonprofits serving our local community, you can add much-needed value and expand your community impact, accountability and experience at the same time. It’s a win-win situation!

Michelle Tucker is president and CEO of United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Michelle Tucker

Sgt. Donnell Walters has been named the new president of the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP).

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

State Sen. Jill Schupp lost her bid to oust incumbent Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner in the race for Missouri’s Second Congressional District.

With 100% of precincts reporting, unofficial results from the St. Louis County Board of Elections show Wagner with 230,617 votes,

Schupp loses District 2 race

Wagner wins reelection by nearly 30K votes

or 52% of the vote. Schupp received 201,520 votes, for a total of 45.4% of the vote, and Libertarian Martin Schulte with 2.6% with 11,558 votes. Schupp spoke on the phone with Wagner Tuesday night to concede. She then released a statement.

“These are painful, divided times for our state and our nation. The partisan bickering and name calling must come to an end. It is incumbent upon

our leaders to reach across the aisle and work for the people who have elected to represent them,” Schupp stated.

“This race might be over, but what our campaign stood for will endure. Being your nominee has been the greatest honor of my life and my commitment to

Jill Schupp

protecting people with pre-existing conditions, making our communities safer from gun violence, and creating an economy that works for all of us remains steadfast.”

The St. Louis American endorsed Schupp, who made access to health care a centerpiece of her

campaign.

After the primary in August, in which Schupp tallied 103,164 votes to Wagner’s 63,686, the Democratic candidate had a decent chance at flipping the congressional seat, much like she did when she won the open 24th District state Senate in 2014 running against Jay Ashcroft. “I’m humbled and honored to once again represent you in Congress. I promise to continue fighting for our conservative, Missouri values and always putting Missourians first and politics second,” Wagner wrote Tuesday night on Facebook. n “These are painful, divided times for our state and our nation.”

–

Jill Schupp

Amendment 3 passes

Clean Missouri claims Republicans tricked voters

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

Amendment 3 has been passed by Missourians with a margin just shy of 60,000 votes. This means that governor-appointed bipartisan commissions, rather than a nonpartisan state demographer, will now draw legislative districts.

Amendment 3 won statewide by more than 50,000 votes, 51% to 49%.

Amendment 3 also states that district maps will be based on the eligible voter population of the state, meaning children and non-citizens would not count when the districts are drawn.

“What it’s really about is how politicians want to draw their own district maps. They want to choose their voters instead of having the voters choose them,” said Louise Wilkerson in October. She is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis. The Brennan Center and Schwartznegger Institute have independently conducted studies on this amendment. The former states that excluding children and noncitizens would exacerbate racial inequities and result in more than a quar-

POTUS

Continued from A1 however, when he received an almost 19%-point win in the state. Trump’s victory this time around comes as no surprise, as 52.7% of Missourians voted GOP candidate Gov. Mike Parson to his first elected term. Parson said Tuesday

ter of Missourians left uncounted — including 21% of Missouri’s white population compared to 28% of the state’s Black population, 54% of its Asian population and 54%of its Latino population.

The passage of Amendment 3 reverses the Clean Missouri Amendment passed by an almost 2-to-1 margin in 2018, which transferred the task of redrawing legislative districts to a nonpartisan demographer. The Clean Missouri organization released

Louise Wilkerson

night he believes the state of Missouri is built on Christian principals and that people don’t want the government to tell them what to do every day.

“This election was about preserving freedom, capitalism

a statement late Tuesday night.

“We are of course very disappointed that the politicians’ lies and deception appear to have been effective enough to pass Amendment 3. Thousands of volunteers from across the state and across the political spectrum have been working for years to pass and then defend fair redistricting rules in our constitution, and today we came up short,” Clean Missouri stated.

“Nevertheless, we are com-

and the rule of law,” he said.

“That’s what this election was all about.”

The rule of law and freedom are major issues Trump has campaigned on.

After Biden was projected to

mitted to ensuring as fair an outcome as possible when new maps are drawn in 2021. Amendment 3 was written to allow for truly radical gerrymandering, but it does not require it. The broad, bipartisan coalition that passed the Clean Missouri Amendment will be active and engaged in the 2021 redistricting process to ensure that voters and communities come first in new maps, not politicians.”

Sean Soendker Nicholson, who was leading the effort to defeat the amendment, told The St. Louis American in October that politicians and lobbyists tried to trick voters

win Michigan and Wisconsin late Wednesday afternoon, two battlegrounds Trump conquered in 2016, it was clear the president was intent on challenging several key results.

His Twitter feed was filled with tweets, most of which were being censored by the social media site, concocting conspiracies of “mailin ballot dumps” and claiming electoral victories from states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina before all votes were counted.

with this amendment.

“They want super-safe incumbent protection maps, regardless of what voters are saying that they want from their legislature,” he said.

“To do that they are going to need to trick voters, that is their plan, to be able to trick voters with the $5 lobbyist gift change and hope that voters don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the fine print. So we know that in the fine print that there are redistricting details [and] policies unlike anything Missouri has ever seen and unlike anything else in the United States.”

Sherrilyn Ifill.

“For democracy to work for all of us, each and every voter must be heard. This is not about party, candidates, or agendas, but rather about the promise of our democracy that ensures no voters are silenced,” they stated.

n “Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever.”

– Joe Biden

Joe Biden continued to push messages of unity, calm and patience so that every vote can be counted.

“Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever,” he tweeted. Also pushing that message was a coalition of civil rights leaders that included Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Clayola Brown, Derrick Johnson, Elise Scott, Kristen Clarke, Marc Morial, Melanie Campbell and

“Despite a global pandemic and extraordinary voter suppression throughout the election season, voters participated in this election in historic numbers in the 2020 election. Across the country, citizens braved long lines to vote early, and mailed in or dropped off ballots in record numbers. Voters exercised their right to participate in the face of risks to personal health and safety.” As for the U.S. Senate, the Associated Press reported the Republicans lost one seat to the Democrats. In the U.S. House, Democrats had lost 5 seats to the Republicans as of press time. Neither party had secured a majority in the House or the Senate as of press time.

Continued from A1

She said she’s been the uninsured single parent waiting outside a payday loan office and the COVID-19 patient “gasping for breath.”

“I’m still that person. I am proud to stand before you today knowing it was this person with these experiences who moved the voters of St. Louis to do something historic,” she said.

“St. Louis — my city, my home, my community — we have been surviving and grinding, just scraping by for so long, and now this is our moment to finally start living. Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving.”

Bush continued on to say as the first Black woman, single mother and the first nurse to represent Missouri in Congress she would work for those who have not been represented before.

“To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers,” she said: “This is our

Voters

Continued from A1

Proposition R, placed on the ballot by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, increases the property tax rate by 6 cents – up to 25 cents per $100 of home value from the current rate of 19 cents – resulting in an estimated $2.3 million annual investment in early childhood education for children ages 5 and under. The funds raised through Proposition R will be managed by the St. Louis Mental Health Board’s Community Children’s Services Fund.

Proposition R was endorsed by Action St. Louis, Generate Health, Parents as Teachers National Center WEPOWER and the Deaconess Foundation.

“Though there are 225 licensed early childhood programs serving approximately

Page

Continued from A1

He said the pandemic is not over and is far from it, but he believes a lot has been learned since February, which will guide health policies moving forward.

“Saving lives cannot be a partisan decision, and we can’t let it be,” he said.

“As we prepare for the next wave, I will continue to consult with experts and will talk to you every day about sacrifices demanded of us to adapt to ever-changing and trying circumstances. … We can’t always know what is around the corner – but I can promise you that there is a corner. And that we will get there. Together.” He also urged people to be calm and hold a firm resolution to uphold democratic institutions as all the votes are counted over the next day or several days. Page was appointed interim St. Louis County executive by his colleagues on the County Council in April 2019, shortly before Steve Stenger pleaded guilty to corruption charges in May 2019. He was approved by county voters in the August Democratic primary with 38.1% of the vote.

The county executive has worked to implement COVID19 safety procedures despite pushback. He vetoed two bills last week passed by the County Council 4-3 that would have put time limits on his authority during an emergency and on public health restrictions during this coronavirus pandemic.

The council upheld his veto after a 3-3 vote to override the executive’s actions.

“As people of faith, it was our prayer that the St. Louis County Council would have done the right thing by placing the safety of our citizens above politics and vote down bills 222 and 223,” Bishop Elijah Hankerson, president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, said, as reported in The American last week.

moment.”

For years St. Louis has lived under leadership that shut them out of their own government, she said.

“Today, we — all of us — are headed to Congress, St. Louis strong,” she said. “So, my message today to every Black, brown, immigrant, queer and trans and to every person locked out of opportunities to thrive because of oppressive systems: I’m here to serve you.”

She said it is the greatest honor of her life to serve the residents of Missouri’s First Congressional District.

“So tonight, we the people are victorious, we the people are going to Congress, because we the people have committed to a vision of America that works for all of us,” she said.

“Our America, not Trump’s America, our America will not be led by the small mindedness of a powerful few but the imagination of a mass movement that includes all of us. That is the America we are fighting for.”

Bush said it is her job to serve the people.

“This is a moment where

10,000 children 5-years-old and under in the city, hundreds of children and families are left without equitable access to quality programs,” Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president of the Deaconess Foundation, wrote in support of the proposition. “All children should have access to quality early childhood care and education from birth to be sure they are ready to learn in Kindergarten.”

Proposition D makes three changes to the voting process for St. Louis city elections. First, it creates a nonpartisan primary. Second, voters have the ability to approve (or disapprove) of every candidate on the ballot. Finally, the two candidates with the most votes in the primary advance to the general election.

things have shifted, change has happened, so we got to flow with that change,” she said.

“Now is time to move from that place of struggle to a place of living and a place of thriving.” She said this election was not about her, but about the

Proposition D was endorsed by Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush, St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones, state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, and Rev. Darryl Gray.

“This is a great day for democracy and a huge win for the people of St. Louis,” Aldridge, who is also the city’s 5th Ward Democratic committeeman, said on election night.

“Prop D will let the people’s voices be heard like they haven’t before. It gives voters a say for candidates to make it to the general election. The people’s voices will be heard instead of letting people win with only 30% of the vote.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson won the 2017 municipal Democratic primary with 32% of the vote.

voters standing up and making their voices heard.

“So, St. Louis, if you know nothing else, you remember this: ‘My Congresswomanelect, soon to be a congresswoman, loves you.’ Your congresswoman-elect loves you,” she said.

Tishaura O. Jones – who lost to Krewson by just 888 votes in that primary – was reelected as St. Louis treasurer with nearly 100,000 votes (99547, to be exact) or 77.58%. Robert Vroman got 25929 votes (20.21%) and Don De Vivo got 2655 votes (2.07%). On Wednesday, Jones announced she is running for mayor again in 2021.

Kimberly Gardner was reelected as St. Louis circuit attorney with 94942 votes (73.95%). Daniel Zdrodowski got 33100 votes (25.78%).

Vernon Betts was reelected as St. Louis sheriff with more than 100,000 votes (103018, to be exact) or 80.88%. John Castellano got 23924 votes (18.78%).

“Now, our movement is going to Congress. And we will meet the challenges of this moment as a movement side by side, arm in arm, with our fists in the air, with our fists in the air, ready to serve each other until every single one of us is free.” In unofficial final results, Bush received 245,520 votes, or 78.7%. Her Republican opponent, Anthony Rogers, received 19% of the vote. The Libertarian candidate, Alex Furman, received 2.1% of the vote.

Cori Bush waited to vote at the Teamster 6 polling place on Tuesday, November 3. Bush endorsed Proposition D, a municipal election reform measure which passed with 68% of the vote.

Photo by Dawn Suggs

Ferguson frontliners Cathy “Mama Cat” Daniels and Michael Brown celebrated with Congresswomanelect Cori Bush on election night.

Photo by Wiley Price

A UNITED COMMUNITY & CULTURE OF CARING

If

a sense of community is important to you...

If you are driven by a culture of caring... If you want to make a difference...

Then let us introduce you to the Charmaine Chapman Leadership Society

Over the last 26 years, CCS has grown into the No. 1 philanthropic program for African Americans in the nation. And this impact is incredible – CCS has raised more than $46 million for the St. Louis region since its inception.

By answering the call to help their neighbors in need, CCS members make a difference every day throughout our region. CCS has helped create an infrastructure for our community to lean on in times of disaster and crisis. With your support, United Way can continue ensuring that when people need food, shelter, care, counseling or respite, we are there to help.

To learn more about CCS, please visit helpingpeople.org/CCS.

This election taught us we’re on our own

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

No matter who is finally declared the victor of Tuesday’s presidential race, African Americans will still be in a losing position. The election results will not erase the damage done to a people that have been historically denied education, health, housing, and economic opportunities for centuries. No matter who wins, Blacks will still be among those who disproportionately die from treatable illnesses, violence, and poverty. Our collective worth will still be far below that of white people.

If the coronavirus and the presidential election has taught us anything, it’s this: We’re on our own. The future of our children, our communities, our livelihoods, and our very lives are in our hands, not those of the Republican or Democratic parties. This is not a call to opt out of the democratic process; it’s a reminder that we must finally develop, promote and enact our own agenda, our own systems within the system.

Political pundits and pollsters were stunned that their predictions of Trump’s whopping defeat and a mighty blue wave in Congress and the Senate did not materialize. Sadly, these experts are victims of American propaganda. They naively believe, as Joe Biden preached, that all Americans are fundamentally good, decent people with a deep-seated desire to be decent, just, and fair. The pollsters always underestimate the sheer power of racism and ignorance in this country.

This is why Trump wins “bigly” in America. His dog whistles to nativism, racism and fear resonate with a large majority of white voters, be they doctors, bankers, teachers, policemen, judges or other. Although Trump has been largely derided for stereotyping Mexicans as rapists and murderers, Black protestors as domestic terrorists, and Black

people as threats to the lilywhite suburbs; the election results prove his strategy really, really works with a large segment of American whites.

Yes, elections are important, and we must participate. Elections provide the opportunity for change. But what they don’t do, what they can’t do, is immediately change the systems that were not designed for our collective wellbeing. Therefore, we settle for the party or candidate that we think will do us less harm. It is imperative that we move past this methodological madness of political dependency. We must go back to move forward.

Jamaican activist, publisher and entrepreneur extraordinaire Marcus Garvey once said: “A race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existence sooner or later dies.”

Now is the time to resurrect the philosophies of self-dependence preached by the likes of Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcom X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We must revisit and revive King’s 1965, $50 billion employment proposal aimed at helping some “20,000,000 Negroes” at the time do-for-self by rebuilding their own neighborhoods.

Neither Trump’s “Platinum Plan” for Black America nor

n The pollsters always underestimate the sheer power of racism and ignorance in this

Biden’s “Lift Every Voice” plan for Black people devotes resources to Black independence. Both plans suggest a trickledown approach through established broken, ineffective, and biased government systems. If you dissect the plans closely, they are designed to help minority groups, which have historically benefitted white women and other ethnicities, not necessarily Black people.

Be it educational or economic reform, whites are loathed to put money in the hands of ordinary, everyday Black people to

create their own systems. Yet, it is within this realm where real, sustainable change has the potential to flourish. Right now, in St. Louis and across the country, there are underfunded, struggling black nonprofits in the streets working to give young blacks opportunities to deter them from lives of crime. Instead of investing in these endeavors, we lavish money on police to target, detain and incarcerate them. Corporate feel-good money is doled out to established Black organizations without any significant commitment to employ the poor kids they represent. If Blacks are serious about changing the trajectory of our collective destinies, we must develop our own do-for-self agenda. That means we must first coalesce around a plan of our making and then demand that politicians adopt and support the plan. I am not angry with rapper Ice Cube for discussing his “Contract with Black America” with Donald Trump. I agree with Cube that this work must go above and beyond partisan politics.

I am disappointed, however, that Cube didn’t collaborate with other Black rappers, entertainers and sports figures before allowing his plan to be cherry-picked and diluted to fit into Trump’s dubious narrative. Already celebrities like T.I., Queen Latifa, Jay-Z, Akon and others, like Dr. Kinf, are extolling the merits of buying land and rebuilding neighborhoods. Imagine if these entertainers had put up their own money and created their own dofor-self promotions complete with slogans, lyrics and social media-savvy images. They already have the power to energize an impoverished people. Overcoming 400 years of oppression and mental conditioning is a yeoman’s task. Yet our current, health, economic and political conditions demand we chart a new self-reliant course that was outlined by our ancestors. The truth of the matter is no matter who is declared victor in this election, until we decide to do for self, Blacks will still be losers.

Brown

Greater St. Louis

CHARMAINE CHAPMAN LEADERSHIP SOCIETY

Sylvester

Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.

Photo by Wiley Price

City of St. Louis residents voted absentee at the city election board downtown on Tuesday.

country.

Guest Columnist Sylvester Brown Jr.

‘There could be a

tsunami of evictions’

Advocates fear consequences when moratorium ends and evictions resume

By Rebecca Rivas

For the Missouri Independent

Phone calls from families on the verge of losing their homes have jumped 300 percent at Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri.

“And we’re getting more and more phone calls every day across the whole southern Missouri in our offices — not just Springfield, but it’s Poplar Bluff, over in Cape Girardeau and in Joplin,” said John Lunardini, senior vice president for operations for the agency.

n “There’s a backlog piling up right now, and those folks are in danger of eviction as soon as the protections lift.”

– Glenn Burleigh, Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council

Families are not able to pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills, he said. In every story he hears, there’s a strong sense of uncertainty and fear. Some people said they aren’t getting the work hours they had been before the pandemic. Others had to change jobs because businesses closed down.

In the meantime, they had to leave their apartment and need help getting into a new place, he said.

Like housing agency directors throughout the state, Lunardini fears what

will happen when the federal moratoriums on evictions expire December 31, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) moratorium on foreclosure and eviction

“At that point, we think that the need is just going to even jump trifold,” he said. “And the last thing you want is anyone to be evicted in the winter months. No family should be out in the cold in the winter, here in Missouri.”

While Lunardini fields calls for help, the money set aside to prevent homelessness is sitting in the state treasury.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission will decide in November how to distribute CARES Act funding for homeless prevention approved by Congress in March through the Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG).

Missouri lawmakers approved $9.6 million in CARES Act funding for

World Wide Technology Raceway recognized for Diversity

American staff

World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, received the Track Award during the 13th annual NASCAR Drive for Diversity awards ceremony on Friday, October 9. The raceway partnered on a youth outreach program with the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation (JJK), NASCAR Diversity & Inclusion and NASCAR Acceleration Nation. During the summer of 2019, WWT Raceway personnel visited JJK’s center along with NASCAR drivers and assisted with an iRacing program at JJK. More than 11,000 children and their families were treated to a day at the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race.

WWTR owner and CEO Curtis Francois said the award is a tremendous honor “represents a collective, focused and sustained effort by our team, our partners and the entire community.” Francois took over the facility in

STL eco-devo merger

Patton: Greater St. Louis, Inc. is ‘great opportunity’ for Black community

By Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

Valerie Patton’s life work has centered on the economic betterment of St. Louis since 2004. Now, she says, the next step in that work is about to be taken with the merger of five private sector led economic development organizations.

The senior vice president of inclusion & talent attraction at the St. Louis Regional Chamber said the coming-together of these organizations should be a great opportunity for black and brown communities in the space of jobs and business expansion.

“I’m really excited about where we are,” Patton said. “I think the work will be transformational. It is time for us to be inclusive; there have been a lot of things that have happened in our community, and in the nation, that have led to this point. But at the end of the day we must be working together. I mean, I’m a big fitness buff most days and what we know for sure is the core has to be strong and if your core is not strong, then that means another piece will not be strong.”

The merger was announced Thursday afternoon and includes five private sector led economic development organizations: St. Louis Regional Chamber, AllianceSTL, Civic Progress, Downtown STL and Arch to Park. The new organization will be called Greater St. Louis, Inc. Enterprise Holdings Executive Chairman Andrew Taylor will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s founding chair. In a recent interview, Taylor said that as of January 1, 2021, the organizations will operate as one entity with various departments focusing on different aspects of economic development.

n “It is time for us to be inclusive; there have been a lot of things that have happened in our community, and in the nation, that have led to this point.”

– Valerie Patton, Greater St. Louis, Inc.

“I think so far nobody, strangely enough, has said, ‘That’s a bad idea, Andy,’” Taylor said. “Everybody thought it is just great and it’s overdue, if anything,” he said. “So, I think in terms of the goodwill and the commonality of putting this organization together by these various organizations is terrific. I think what is going to be the challenge, of course, is we are going to be dealing with some of these hard problems — how are we going to get more jobs? How are we going to grow St. Louis?”

Jason Hall, the current chief executive officer of Arch to Park, will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s CEO. A few years ago, Hall began researching cities who were experiencing eco-

A homeowner was evicted from their home of 20 years on Penrose Street in North City by Sheriff’s deputies and police in this file photo from October 2012. Since March, 1,154 eviction cases have been filed in the City of St. Louis, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. When the moratorium on evictions lifts, many of these cases will result in evictions.

WWTR owner and CEO Curtis Francois (left) during a visit to the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center with three-time NHRA champion Antron Brown

Valerie Patton

Photo by Wiley Price

Andy Taylor

Jason Hall

Evictions

Continued from A9

the program in May, and they will return for a special session starting November 5 to appropriate more. According to Mary Compton, spokeswoman for State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, the commission has authority to spend up to $28 million in CARES Act funding on homeless prevention.

That is in addition to $4.1 million from regular funding in the grant program also part of this year’s state budget.

The housing commission hasn’t been able to deliver the money because it didn’t get guidance from HUD on its use until September 1, said spokesman Brian Vollenweider.

The delays are frustrating, said state Rep. Kip Kendrick of Columbia, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

“Are the feds slowing down any decision made at the state level, or is this MHDC dragging their feet on getting the money out the door?” Kendrick said. “Clearly it has been needed for a while, and the notfor-profit agencies need time to prepare for what will be an increase in evictions and homelessness around the state.”

And although money currently appropriated hasn’t been spent, Gov. Mike Parson said last week — while announcing a post-election special session — that additional CARES Act funds have been made available to the state. Parson’s proposed supplemental budget will contain funding for several items, including more Emergency Solutions Grant Program dollars.

The program is designed to provide emergency assistance to persons who are currently homeless, very low-income persons at imminent risk of homelessness, and persons fleeing domestic violence.

“We are currently working on an allocation plan for these funds,” Vollenweider said.

Catholic Charities is one of the many agencies that receives ESG funds every year

to provide housing and utility assistance, but that money has almost run out, Lunardini said. Catholic Charities has not received any of the ESG funding from the CARES Act, he said.

“When the legislature comes together for the special session and allocates those out to agencies, especially like ours, it’s going to go a long way to help those as we all struggle through this new normal of COVID,” Lunardini said.

Evictions looming

The CDC moratorium and some circuit court orders, including those issued in St. Louis City and St. Louis County, are preventing people from physically being removed from their homes due to the pandemic. However, they do not prevent landlords from filing for evictions in court or stop a judge from granting an eviction order. Those eviction orders will sit on the local sheriff’s desk until the moratorium expires.

“There’s a backlog that is essentially piling up right now,” said Glenn Burleigh, community engagement specialist for the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council. “And those folks are in danger of eviction as soon as the protections lift.”

In St. Louis County, for example, the sheriffs have 250 eviction judgements backlogged, according to a spokeswoman from the 21st Circuit Court. So, when the moratoriums are lifted, the sheriffs will be forced to serve these evictions and remove individuals from their homes.

Since March, about 2,700 eviction cases have been filed in St. Louis — 1,542 in St. Louis County and 1,154 in the City of St. Louis, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. In the Kansas City area, there have been 2,027 filings since March 15. And even since the CDC moratorium was put in place on September 4, more than 90 evictions have been filed in Boone County, 340 in Greene

County and 470 in Jackson County.

Evictions will also disproportionately harm communities of color— and particularly Black women. From 2012 until 2016, Black women renters in Missouri, on average, had evictions filed against them at more than double the rate of white renters, according to the ACLU of Missouri.

“There could really be a tsunami of evictions, when the moratorium ends,” said Jeanette Mott Oxford, director of policy and organizing for Empower Missouri.

Both the tenants and landlords will benefit from rental and mortgage assistance.

“And if the landlords go under because they can’t meet their bills, it has a ripple effect that deepens the economic downturn for our whole state,” she said.

Not automatically protected Missouri is one of only

seven states that never issued a statewide moratorium on evictions, according to the Evictions Lab. And the CDC moratorium does not automatically prevent evictions. Tenants have to present a declaration form that says they have been affected by the pandemic.

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Burleigh said.

The housing council has distributed about 2,500 flyers about the CDC moratorium requirements throughout the St. Louis area, explaining that people aren’t automatically protected.

“Educating folks around that has been somewhat difficult because in the news, it can sound like it’s a big thing, and everything stopped,” Burleigh said. “And that’s not really what happened. Really, these court cases are still rolling. And tenants have to use this affidavit to invoke it.”

That’s why housing advocates are urging Parson and legislators to pass a comprehensive eviction ban statewide during the special session.

“Certainly, there’s a lot of ways that people are kind of getting around the eviction ban, or making it really difficult for tenants to prove that they’ve been affected or to prove that they’re in need,” said Sarah Owsley, policy and organizing manager for Empower

Merger

Continued from A9

nomic growth and mapped out what they were doing that was leading to that success. He then made note of what would work here in St. Louis, which was incorporated into the merger’s plan.

“A thriving city is not automatic, but it’s also not accidental,” Hall said. “We do need to map strategy and raise capital to drive that forward. I think we saw in other cities the role of the urban core, which Val mentioned, is people recognized that for a region to grow

WWT

Continued from A9

2011.

“Our commitment to

Missouri.

People can also be evicted for not paying their utility bills, so a shut-off ban is also necessary, she said. The ESG funds are the correct path to provide necessary assistance, she added.

However, advocates argue that Parson needs to go one step further. In August, Empower Missouri, EHOC and dozens of other agencies and housing experts signed a letter urging the governor to make funding available to property owners if they cancel rent payments and arrears, do not pursue formal or informal evictions, and adhere to a set of strict conditions for the protection of Missouri tenants and their families related to receipt of public funding.

The governor has resisted those calls, telling reporters “we’re not going to do an order for the entire state to allow people not to pay your rent.”

“There’s a process in place for that, and that system needs to work,” Parson said at the time.

However, another problem is that a very small percentage of people facing evictions have legal representation, and they’re forced to try and represent themselves on a video call or by phone. Several states have allocated

and thrive, you must have a strong core. And I think that’s something that’s going to be really, really critical here.”

Patton said the organization will have goals and metrics to guide the movement of the inclusive economic growth plan, which is being put together by Bruce Katz and will be made public later this year. She said Greater St. Louis, Inc. will measure overall job increase, regional GDP, especially in neighborhoods who have been historically disinvested and disenfranchised.

“I think this is a great opportunity for Black and Brown communities, not only

diversity and inclusion is not new. For nine years, we’ve worked with local schools to make meaningful introductions to motorsports, to identify its many career paths and to ultimately provide jobs in auto

funding for tenant representation because they’ve found it decreases the number of eviction judgements.

“It’s vitally important that we keep people stable and housed during this pandemic, especially since we’ve been told right, there’s no real treatment,” Owsley said. “The solution to this is to stay home. That’s the medicine, right? Stay home and stay out of the community.”

More federal aid

“It’s much more expensive to get people rehoused after they’ve lost everything then it is just to keep them where they are,” said Yusef Scoggin, who oversees St. Louis County’s homeless services. “So that’s where we want to target the bulk of our resources.”

St. Louis County received a total of $4.8 million in ESG CARES Act funds directly from the federal government. Normally, they receive about $500,000 in ESG funds.

“That’s recognition of the magnitude of the problem,” he said. The state’s allocation of ESG funds will not go to places like St. Louis County, but will go directly to the agencies doing the work through the state housing commission. Whatever happens in Missouri’s special session will likely be a drop in the bucket of the need, advocates said.

“What was in the CARES Act, that wasn’t enough,” Burleigh said. “And as this drags on, even people who qualified for assistance are going to max out if they haven’t already maxed out, and then they’re going to fall behind.”

The U.S. Senate needs to pass additional aid, Mott Oxford said.

A September U.S. Census household survey found that 13% of Missourians owed at least one rent payment, and that it was higher, much higher among Black and Latino households.

“We need a robust package of aid,” she said. “A lot of Missourians are hurting and over 40 percent have lost income since March. So, we’re in a mess.”

Rebecca Rivas is a reporter for The Missouri Independent: missouriindependent.com. The Independent’s Rudi Keller contributed to this story.

for jobs but for business expansion — probably even looking a little bit deeper into economic development opportunities to expand into neighborhoods that have been generally disenfranchised disinvested in,” she said. “And I really think that everything is not going to get done in a day because many of these issues did not start in a day, but I think it is a sign for us to have a fresh new beginning to look at what is, what has been and then to move forward to what we can do together.” For more information on the merger and Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s plans, visit greaterstlinc. com.

racing. We’ve worked closely with Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the JJK Center to bring racing to her kids via STEM educational programs. Our karting complex and related programs are designed to provide hands-on experience and the ability to compete at the grassroots level, with scholarship programs to further reduce barriers,” Francois said.

“Last year, we were blessed to have Dave Steward and World Wide Technology become an invaluable partner, growing the good in the St. Louis region and setting an example for what is possible in communities elsewhere. I want to thank the France Family and NASCAR for their continued leadership and for recognizing World Wide Technology Raceway for its commitment to a more diverse and inclusive motorsports community. The foundation is set, strong and it’s only the beginning.”

For more information on WWTR, call (618) 215-8888 or visit www.WWTRaceway. com

The group KC Tenants leads a protest against evictions on Oct. 15, outside of the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County in Kansas City.

Photo courtesy of Christina Ostemeyer

Democrats win big in St. Louis, lose badly in Missouri

They are two white women, a Black woman, a white man, and a Black man born in Nigeria, five Democrats who represent some of Missouri’s diversity, and they all lost their statewide elections on Tuesday to a white, male Republican by a similar, wide margin.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway lost her bid to become Missouri’s next governor. Galloway, who has served as state auditor of Missouri since 2015, went live on Facebook just after 10 p.m. Tuesday to congratulate Gov. Mike Parson on his election, thank her family and encourage her supporters.

“To all the young women across Missouri who I met on the campaign trail, I want you to know that there’s nothing you can’t do. Tonight, I may have come up short, but over the past 15 months I have met so many young women who I know will be future governors of Missouri,” she said.

Galloway lost by nearly a half-million votes, 1,216,192 votes (40.6%) to Parson’s 1,713,152 (57.171%). In St. Louis County, however, she won with 59% of the vote and with 80% of the vote in the City of St. Louis.

“Over the course of this campaign we built a coalition of Missourians who are united around a few simple values: that we can no longer ignore science and the growing threat of COVID-19; that no one should be denied access to healthcare in this deadly pandemic; and that our children deserve to live in a Missouri that is fair and accountable to all of its citizens,” Galloway said. She said it’s not about partisan politics, but about putting Missouri families first.

“While this campaign is over, our work continues. We must continue to organize, advocate and fight to ensure that our leaders put the needs of working families first and act with urgency to address the profound challenge this state faces,” Galloway said.

“For the past five years I have been proud to serve as your independent watchdog in Jefferson City. … It has been an honor of my life and you can bet I will keep demanding accountability and transparency from politicians in Jefferson City for years to come. I’m not going anywhere, Missouri.”

Parson gave his acceptance

speech around the same time as Galloway. He dedicated a good portion of his speech to his wife, Missouri’s First Lady Teresa Parson, and the rest of his family.

He said he believes the state of Missouri is built on Christian principals and that people don’t want the government to tell them what to do every day.

“This election was about preserving freedom, capitalism and the rule of law,” he said.

“That’s what this election was all about. However, there is more work to be done, and that work starts tomorrow as the next term for governor.”

Jerome Bauer (Green Party) and Rick Combs (Libertarian Party) were also on the ballot for Missouri governor. The former received 9,330 votes and the latter received 26,142 votes.

Democratic candidate Alissia Canady lost her bid Tuesday night to become Missouri’s lieutenant governor. Canady lost by more than a half-million votes, 1,141,225 votes (38.7%) to 1,724,050 (58.5%) for Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, the Republican appointed incumbent.

Two other candidates, Libertarian Bill Slantz and the Green Party’s Kelley Dragoo were on the ballet. Dragoo received 1% of the vote, while Slantz received 1.8%.

“Thank you for standing with me in this fight. I am impressed with the incredible progress our grassroots movement achieved in such a short time. We gave it everything we had. Together, we fought for the issues we cared about and ran an honest and direct campaign,” Canady wrote in a statement Tuesday night.

“I am beyond grateful to everyone who gave their time, money and passion in support of my candidacy. Tomorrow, we continue our journey: for education, to end city violence and advance investment in human capital. Together, we can and will build a better Missouri. Thank you for believing in our vision and supporting our campaign. Let’s stay connected.”

Canady recently told The St. Louis American that her plans as lieutenant governor included restoring the LIHTC Act with more clear policies and guidelines and focusing on early childhood education funding statewide.

She also said instead of defunding the police, governments should be working to

mitigate the cause of violent crime — substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and hopelessness.

Canady won in St. Louis County with 57% of the vote and in the City of St. Louis with 79% of the vote.

Rich Finneran is a former federal prosecutor and partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. He lost the attorney general race against appointed Republican incumbent Eric Schmitt by more than 600,000 votes. Finneran attacked Schmitt for joining a law suit to undermine the Affordable Care Act, for opposing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s attempt to get a new trial for a man she believes a previous prosecutor wrongly convicted, and for filing a frivolous law suit against China.

Finneran won with 56% of the vote in St. Louis County and 78% of the vote in the City of St. Louis, but his message went unheard among

Missouri’s rural majority. Schmitt won with 59% of the statewide vote.

Yinka Faleti had perhaps the clearest message in this campaign yet faced the longest odds. He was running against the state’s chief election authority, Secretary of State John “Jay” Ashcroft, in an election that Ashcroft clearly was mismanaging. Ashcroft lost legal challenges to his deceptive ballot language for Amendment 3. Faced with challenges to receive and count mail-in ballots provided by the legislature because of the pandemic, he suggested that voters should not vote by mail rather than vow to count their votes.

The top vote getter in the state, Ashcroft won by more than 700,000 votes.

Faleti, a U.S. Army veteran, promised to extend access to the vote, rather than suppress it. He vowed to fight for free and fair elections. He won with 54% of the vote in St. Louis County and 77% of the vote in the City of St. Louis.

But, outstate, the “Ashcroft” name, Republican brand and continuing popularity of Trump crushed him, and Ashcroft won statewide with 61% of the vote.

county actually voted with the statewide majority on one of them.

Amendment 1 lost statewide by more than 100,000 votes, 48% to 52%, and Amendment 3 won statewide by more than 50,000 votes, 51% to 49%. Both amendments were soundly defeated in St. Louis County and city.

Amendment 1 would have enacted two-term term limits for the statewide offices that have none; only the governor and treasurer have such limits.

Amendment 3 was proposed by Missouri Republicans to overturn a citizen ballot initiative passed with overwhelming statewide approval just two years ago. Ashcroft lost court challenges for deceptive ballot language, but the ballot language still appeared to deceive the voters who voted two years ago for the changes undone by Amendment 3.

The November 2018 initiative, popularly known as Clean Missouri, was a lobbying, campaign finance and redistricting initiative that was designed to provide major reform and oversight to Missouri politics. The most important element of the initiative was redistricting reform. It changed the process for how Missouri legislative districts are to be redrawn after every census. It created a less partisan process, using more objective criteria that reduces the ability to gerrymander the legislature to partisan advantage. That was undone by Amendment 3.

Yet his name is “Ashcroft,” which he inherited from one of Missouri’s best-known and successful politicians. His Democratic opponent has a Yoruba name from Nigerian, “Faleti,” seen by the vast majority of Missouri voters for the first time on their ballot.

Vicki Lorenz Englund, the Democratic candidate for state treasurer, encountered the same fate running against Republican incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick Englund won with 56% of the vote in St. Louis County and 78% of the vote in the City of St. Louis, but Fitzpatrick beat her by more than 600,000 votes and won with 59% of the vote statewide.

20-0206_Print_Instacart_06_ROP3rdPage_4Print.pdf 1 10/9/20 2:04 PM

For the two statewide amendment, St. Louis city and

Amendment 3 also eliminates the requirement that state legislative maps be drawn based on total population, meaning that 1.5 million Missourians — almost all of them children — will be uncounted and unrepresented. In addition, Missouri citizens now cannot challenge gerrymandering in federal court, as did the citizens of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Voter turnout was 65% for the City of St. Louis and 78% for St. Louis County. Statewide voter turnout was 69.75%. – Dana Rieck provided reporting.

Photo by Wiley Price

St. Louis County voters submitted to a temperature check before voting at the county election board on Tuesday, November 3.

“Taking Care of You”

‘We are on

a fast track to a crisis’

Medical personnel care for a COVID-19 patient at SSMHealth Saint Louis University Hospital on Oct. 30. Area health experts warn increasing cases of COVID-19 hospital will soon test hospital capacity and create further public health restrictions if simple steps are not adhered to – which are, always wearing a mask, social distancing, avoiding gatherings with persons who don’t live with you, and frequent handwashing are not taken seriously.

COVID-19’s

growing reach is throughout greater STL

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Both the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force and St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page have called for everyone to get on board with simple measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and record numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area. Those measures include always wearing a mask whether the area you live has a mask mandate or not, social distancing of at least six feet from other people, avoiding gatherings

with persons who don’t live with you, going only where you need to go; and frequent and thorough handwashing. Enough of that is not happening, and the COVID-19 case numbers reflect just that – on the Missouri and Illinois side of the greater St. Louis area.

Rising numbers forced Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to reinstate tiers of COVID19 health mitigations in every region of the state. On the morning of November 3, Illinois reported 423,502 COVID-19 cases with 9,810 deaths, according to Illinois

area

Dept. of Public Health data.

The four major hospital systems that comprise the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force report all-time high numbers for seven-day moving average of hospitalizations and a very steep climb in cases over time.

“The number 61 – that is our rolling seven-day average, and that is the highest it’s ever been in the course of the pandemic,” said Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander of the Task Force. “So, we’ve entered this

See COVID, A13

The pandemic is no time to neglect routine health care precautions

By Graham A. Colditz Siteman Cancer Center

As we keep up our efforts to stay safe from COVID-19, it’s important that we not forget to look after other aspects of our health as well. This means keeping up with things like exercising, eating healthy food, connecting (virtually) with friends, and getting enough sleep.

It also means getting back on track with any medical care we’ve missed. Since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the U.S., there’s been a major drop in the number of people getting cancer screenings, vaccinations and other key care.

That’s not surprising, of course. In March and April, doctors’ offices and hospitals across the country stopped or limited non-essential care to curb spread of the virus and to prepare to treat infected patients. At the same time, many people have avoided appointments to try to reduce their risk of infection. And, now, with new spikes in COVID-19 in parts of the country, we’re seeing some variations of this play out again.

Yet, we know that missing regular medical care can impact health, especially the longer it’s delayed. Skipped cancer screenings can lead to the disease being diagnosed later, when it’s harder to treat. Missed vaccinations can make children and adults more susceptible to serious infectious diseases. And delayed follow-up for chronic conditions like unhealthy blood cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

“It’s important to make sure you still get recommended cancer screenings, even during the pandemic,” said Dr. Jean Wang, professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Taking action now

Distrust keeps Blacks from joining clinical trials

City health director tries to form bridge between researchers and suspicious community

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

As the country scrambles to develop a vaccine to combat COVID-19, AfricanAmerican mistrust of the medical system is blaringly evident. According to COVID Racial Data Tracker, a collaboration of the COVID Tracking Project and Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Black Americans are dying at 2.4 times the rate of whites. Yet, as noted by presidents of the nation’s four historically Black medical schools in a recent New York Times commentary, in “clinical trials overall, African-American participation hovers around an abysmal 5%, despite being 13% of the U.S. population.” The low African-American clinical trial involvement rate is somewhat understandable. With cases like the notorious Tuskegee syphilis trials that began in 1932, where hundreds of poor Black men in Alabama were left untreated

n In clinical trials overall, AfricanAmerican participation hovers around 5%, despite being 13% of the U.S. population.

while the medical community studied the ravages of the disease, mistrust is ingrained in the DNA of African Americans.

Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health, is personally committed to acknowledging the historical damage done by the medical community. And, as an African-American doctor, Echols said he’s equally dedicated to using his platform to assuage Blacks’

See TRIALS, A13

“We have a lot of baggage from previous hurt caused by the medical and research community,” said Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health. “We bring this baggage with us when we go to the clinician’s office.”

Photo by Chris King

Photo by Wiley Price

Graham A. Colditz

COVID

Continued from A12

phase of accelerated growth, both in cases and admissions, and I would suspect that this high point will not stand, given the increase in cases that we’re witnessing.”

On Monday, Nov. 2, the Task Force reported 456 COVID-19 hospitalizations, the highest number since May 6. “I don’t believe that this is going to stabilize in the near future and will most likely continue at its upward pace,” Garza added. “If we remain on this trajectory, that is, if we don’t interrupt transmission of the virus, slow it down, any of those things –that we’ll reach or surpass that high mark around the second week of November, which is

concerning, given the holiday season coming up.”

At his Monday morning COVID-19 press briefing, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page stressed the crucial need to accept and act upon the advice of the health care community to help curb the coronavirus spread.

“Leaders of our health care facilities have been sounding an alarm for weeks. We are on a fast track to a crisis, and the only thing that will keep it from getting worse is for everyone to do what they can to keep the virus from spreading in our community,” Page said. “That means, wear a mask, work from home when possible, wash your hands frequently, avoid gatherings and social distance everywhere you go. That means work, that means in a classroom, that means, in an

“Taking Care of You”

office, in the grocery store.”

Eight months into this pandemic and everyone is weary, especially medical and essential workers who are taking care of everyone else in the community. However, from health precautions we can’t slack, because COVID-19 is not a slacker.

“We are seeing number jump because small groups are gathering, and people are hanging out. More people are becoming complacent about the public health orders,” Page said. “I get it. It’s been a very long eight months, but we have to hang in this together.”

Page reports 327 new cases per day in St. Louis County, and said without wider compliance to masking and social distancing orders, he may have to revisit its public health orders.

“This has been an election

season like no other. It’s my hope, when the ballots are cast, we can all come together. Division weakens us as a country. With a unified front as COVID-19 rages on, it’s going to take more and more of our patience. More and more people will be sickened,” Page said. “We have the immense power to make a difference in following the guidelines that can keep us safe to allow our businesses to continue to operate safely, and to allow our kids to have a chance at having an in-classroom learning.”

Garza said rural areas are experiencing COVID-19 growth, although some numbers are going up in urban areas as well.

“Most of those counties that are experiencing increased growth week over week are in those outlying communities,

such as Warren, Franklin and Lincoln counties. There was less growth week over week in some of the other counties, but those numbers are still high,” Garza said, adding that the four ZIP codes with the highest increases in coronavirus cases are found in “Oakville, Arnold and Mehlville, and then St. Peters, New Haven and Webster Groves.”

This week, Franklin County reported the youngest COVID19 death in Missouri, he was an 8th-grader, reported to be the first child in the state to succumb to the virus.

Public health orders designed to protect everyone cannot do so without adherence. Just wear a mask, keeping your distance from others and frequent handwashing can stem the monster wave of COVID-19 that no one wants

to ride. “We just can’t continue on this track. Some of our hospitals are already at capacity and some are even over capacity, and they’re having to make room by slowing down some elective procedures and doing other things,” Garza said. “Now, we don’t want to go back to ‘shelter in place,’ but in order to make sure that that doesn’t happen, we have to get the virus under control.”

Global numbers on the COVID-19 pandemic by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on the morning of Election Day Nov. 3 reported 47,007,194 cases and 1,208,358 deaths. For the U.S. it reported 9,296,159 cases with 231,591 deaths – and counting.

Hepatitis C treatment coming to Missouri prisoners

Federal judge approves landmark settlement with Missouri Department of Corrections

American staff

United States District Court

Judge Nanette K. Laughrey has given final approval to a landmark settlement that will ensure that people incarcerated in Missouri’s prisons receive vital Hepatitis C treatment and education.

The settlement, reached in August, was between plaintiffs – represented by MacArthur Justice Center, Wilkinson Walsh LLP, and ACLU of Missouri – and defendants Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) and Corizon Health, the department’s medical provider.

Hepatitis C (HCV), which can lead to life-threatening conditions including cirrhosis and liver cancer, is widespread in Missouri prisons.

“Because of this settlement, thousands of Missourians whose lives are imperiled by untreated Hepatitis C will receive the treatment they need, which will help stop the spread of the disease to communities throughout the state,” said Tony Rothert, Legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.

“While four years of litigation have forced medical care for this serious disease

Trials

Continued from A12

fears related to upcoming clinical trials.

“For communities of color, having someone that looks like them speak to them about engagement to the issue is really important,” Echols said. “It’s important because of the amount of distrust that currently exists within their communities from historical practices and the current health inequities that we see in our systems. In my role, I feel that it’s essential to deliver that message to our community.”

Echols joined COVID19 vaccine researchers from Washington University and Saint Louis University on October 21 for a webinar titled, “COVID-19 Vaccine 101: The Truth about the Trials.” The universities have been tapped by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to join in an

Colditz

Continued from A12 to prevent cancer and other serious illnesses will help keep you much safer and healthier in the long run.”

to be made available the way doctors and scientists say it should be, we are saddened that lives were lost while people waited for this result and that Missouri prisoners today are still put at medical risk in other ways, including by insufficient

historic effort to conduct expedited clinical trials that will test a variety of investigational vaccines for the coronavirus.

Echols, who spent most of his time during the webinar addressing African-American skepticism, said that topic wasn’t his only concern.

“Ultimately the message the health department was trying to convey was ‘hey, this is the truth about what’s happening,’” Echols said. “Our goal is to make sure our community has adequate information that they need to make informed decisions.”

When speaking to the clinical trials, Echols said his mission was two-fold.

“We wanted to dispel a lot of the myths circulating in communities of color to let them know exactly what’s going on at local universities,” Echols said, “but we also wanted them to know we understand the history of the trauma that’s been caused in the past.”

A Pew Research Center

precautions to safeguard them from COVID-19.”

Although the exact number of incarcerated people with HCV is unknown because of a lack of routine testing, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of those under the supervision, care, and

survey conducted earlier this year found that “Black adults are more hesitant to trust medical scientists, embrace the use of experimental medical treatments and sign up for a potential vaccine to combat the illness.”

African-American mistrust of the medical system is firmly rooted in American history. In “The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present,” Harriet A. Washington details medical crimes before and after the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies.

Washington notes how colonial-era researchers experimented on slaves to study brain and body functions, the female reproductive system and to experiment with new surgical procedures. Washington’s book revisits the mind control experiments between 1936 and 1960 where Black inmates, mental patients, and “misbehaving Black boys” (as young

custody of MDOC and Corizon are infected with HCV.

“Another critical aspect of this agreement is that it increases class members’ access to information about their own personal health,” said Amy Breihan, co-director of the

as five) were forced to undergo “blind-cut lobotomies.” She also included the New York Psychiatric Institute experiment that ended in 1996. In that test, 34 Black and Hispanic boys (ages six to 10) were given intravenous doses of fenfluramine, a component of the diet drug Fen-Phen, to see if violent or criminal behavior could be predicted and controlled by chemicals.

Echols said that implicit or embedded memories of racist medical experiments can be combatted when medical professionals address medical atrocities of the past while providing honest, accurate information in the present. That, he said, was also part of the webinar’s mission.

“We wanted the academic associations to acknowledge the fact that clinical research has caused harm to communities of color,” Echols said. “Although we may not have been in our current roles when it was happening, the hurt is

MacArthur Justice Center of Missouri.

“Too often we heard from class members that they weren’t receiving their test results or couldn’t afford their own medical records. As a result, they were in the dark about the severity of their condition or when they might receive treatment. This settlement addresses those problems head-on: MDOC and Corizon are required to share test results related to hepatitis C and give people living in prison with hepatitis C free access to their medical records.”

During the last decade, a new class of drugs known as direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications was approved to treat HCV. However, these drugs are expensive and were routinely denied to incarcerated people in Missouri, leading to lifelong injuries and deaths. As a result of the settlement agreement, however:

• Over the next eight years, MDOC and Corizon will spend approximately $50 million to treat incarcerated people in Missouri with chronic HCV, beginning with the sickest individuals.

attached to the organizations. It’s important that we not only acknowledge that but let the community know what mechanisms, what conditions are in place now to prevent the harm from happening again.”

Speakers during the webinar outlined many of the protocols instituted to detect and eliminate any implicit bias and protect participants during the “Phase 3 efficacy trials.” The real key to success with the trials, Echols stressed, will be how the medical community responds to communities of color once they choose to participate.

“We have a lot of baggage from previous hurt caused by the medical and research community,” Echols said. “We bring this baggage with us when we go to the clinician’s office. So, once we get them in our space, we have to make sure we’ve implemented a culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approach so we can provide the assistance, care and

• MDOC and Corizon will monitor individuals at high risk for serious health conditions as a result of current or past HCV infection.

• MDOC and Corizon will provide educational materials regarding the risks of HCV, the benefits of testing, and their policies relating to treatment.

• Corizon medical staff will receive HCV-related training.

• MDOC and Corizon will provide quarterly reports to plaintiffs’ counsel regarding the progress of treatment.

“Not only will individuals incarcerated in Missouri prisons receive treatment as a result of this settlement, MDOC and Corizon agreed to revamp their testing procedures to bring them in line with current recommendations,” said Betsy Henthorne of Wilkinson Walsh LLP.

“Better testing will mean earlier and more accurate diagnoses, and along with other provisions in the agreement will lead to less suffering and better, faster, and more effective treatment.”

services that they need.” During the vice-presidential debate last month, Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, said she would not trust President Donald Trump’s endorsement of any potential coronavirus vaccine. Instead, Harris said, she would take the word of public health experts and scientists. Harris wasn’t speaking for African Americans. Echols, however, does speak to the Black experience with the nation’s medical institutions. If researchers, health experts and clinicians really want communities of color to participate in clinical trials, “trust” is the operative word. Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow. To learn more about participating in the COVID-19 vaccine trials at Saint Louis and Washington universities visit vaccine.slu.edu or email idcru@wustl.edu or call 314-454-0058 or 314-977-6333 for more information.

Importantly, any urgent concern about your health should be addressed immedi-

The specifics of doing that, though, can vary from person to person and from region to region, depending on the status of the COVID-19 outbreak and the capacity of facilities to see patients. The best approach is to contact your health-care providers and, together, discuss plans for safely getting back on track with the care you need. This may mean scheduling in-person appointments, meeting remotely through telehealth, or checking back with them sometime in the near future.

ately. “If you are having symptoms, do not delay getting care,” Wang said. “Since hospitals have adapted to the coronavirus epidemic by taking necessary precautions, it is very safe to come in to get evaluated.” If cost of care is an issue because of a lost job, lost health insurance or other

n We know that missing regular medical care can impact health, especially the longer it’s delayed.

reason, some resources may help. Healthcare. gov has information about eligibility for Medicaid or health plan enrollment. Another option, Wang adds, includes federally qualified health clinics, “which are available all across the country to care

for people regardless of their ability to pay or their insurance status.” Contact your providers, hospital or local health department, or visit findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov, for additional information on accessing care. While much of our focus remains on combating the coronavirus outbreak, let’s not lose sight of the important goal to stay healthy overall. Cancer screenings and regular medical appointments can be

an essential part of that. So, for ourselves and our families, it’s a good time to make a plan to get back on track. It’s your – and your family’s – health. Stay in control. Dr. Graham A. Colditz is associate director of prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The MacArthur Justice Center posted this graphic as part of its public education campaign in its lawsuit, in partnership with Wilkinson Walsh LLP, and ACLU of Missouri, to win treatment and education for Missouri prisoners infected with Hepatitis C.

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

Fast Food Options

Schedule It!

Time to Excercise

PRESENT:

Healthy Kids

When your family is in a hurry and going through a fast-food drive-thru, how are you supposed to eat healthy? Here are a few tips to remember:

q Select grilled instead of fried options. Often the healthiest option is a nice salad of greens and veggies, along with grilled chicken.

w Instead of fries or onion rings, see if you can have a fresh fruit cup or side salad instead.

e Be mindful of liquid calories (soda, shakes, slushes, etc.). Choose water or zero-calorie drinks whenever possible.

Too busy to exercise? Then schedule it! Just like you would put anything else important on your calendar (sports practice, school events, doctor appointments) so that you don’t forget — do the same for exercise. Try to schedule at least thirty minutes

According to the National Fire Protection Association, space heaters cause about 35% of all winter house fires and 80% of all winter heating fire deaths.

Let’s discuss some ways to be safe while using space heaters.

November

X = Exercise

r Condiments can contribute unhealthy calories, especially full-fat dressings, sauces and mayonnaise. Just think before you order — and you could eliminate hundreds of calories from sugar and fat!

Healthcare Careers

Weekly Newspaper in Education Program

t Most (if not all) fast-food restaurants can now provide nutrition information for all menu items.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 3, NH 5

(but aim for sixty!) at least four days a week. What are some creative ways to mark your calendar?

Try putting “Me Time!” or “Explore the Neighborhood” on your

it off when you leave.

> Do not use a space heater if the chord is frayed or damaged

calendar. Regular exercise is good for your heart and lungs. But don’t forget the bonus benefits. Exercise burns calories, increases your metabolism and even improves your mood. So, put it on your calendar!

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

Where do you work? I work for Washington University School of Medicine and the John Cochran VA Medical Center.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Arundel School in Harare, Zimbabwe. I then earned a Bachelor of Arts from Drury University, Springfield, MO, an MD from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

What does an infectious diseases physician do? I take care of people with infections, whether they are bacterial, fungal, or viral. I’m also a public health expert and I do research that focuses on HIV, COVID and community engagement.

> The best space heaters are the ones with a safety switch that automatically turns off if the heater falls over. If yours does not have this, be sure to turn

> Keep anything flammable away from the space heater including blankets, curtains, newspapers, etc.

> Can you think of any other space heater safety tips?

Learning Standards: HPE 5, NH 5 Space Heaters

Directions: Rinse seeds and dry overnight. Toss all ingredients together and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes stirring twice. Bake until browned and crisp.

Why did you choose this career? My father died from liver cancer and he lived overseas. Unfortunately I was not there with him, so it was important for me to know that his healthcare team was efficient and kind. A few years later, we had our first cases of HIV in Zimbabwe, having a significant impact on my country and my community.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? My patients – I love people. I love making them smile and helping them understand what’s going on with them and partnering with them to address their needs. And I love to comfort them.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 618-910-9551

Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, MPH

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

Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 618-910-9551t

4th grade teacher

Ms. Hill

teaches virtual science lessons inspired by The St. Louis American’s STEM page. She is demonstrating a science lesson about refraction and prisms to her students at Katie Harper Wright Elementary School in

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT SCIENCE STARS

African-American Fish and Wildlife Ecologist Mamie Parker

SCIENCE CORNER

Scientists in this field study the conservation and management of wildlife and fish. They evaluate the environment and habits of these animals, allowing the scientists to understand disease, habitat, and behavior. For example, studying the eating habits of a type of fish will help the scientists determine if the area has enough food supply to support their population. These biologists help control population when it is overgrown and help to replenish endangered species. They help keep water clean and safe. Studying how fish respond to diseases not only helps that species of fish, but that information is also helpful to learning how humans could possibly respond to treatments for diseases.

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

To have a career in this field, you will need a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. This field offers many types of job choices. You can work on boats to collect information for research. You can work in fields or streams. You can work in a lab, and you can be a teacher or professor for this field.

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

Ice Fishing Anyone?

In this experiment, you will create a setting for ice fishing.

Materials Needed:

• Small Paper Cups or an Ice Cube Tray

• Glass or Bowl of Water • String (yarn or kite string works great) • Small Stick (this will be your fishing pole) • Salt

Procedure:

q Fill the cups or tray with water and place in the freezer.

w When the water is frozen, remove the ice from the cup or tray.

e Put the ice in the glass or bowl that has been filled with water. The cube will bob up and down in the water before it floats to the top.

r Place one end of the string from

Solve these fish-related word problems.

q There are 26 aquariums at the pet store. Each aquarium holds an average of 20 fish. Approximately, how many fish are there in all? ______

w A class of 24 students took a fishing field trip. There was a three fish maximum catch limit. ½ of the students caught the maximum, ¼ caught two fish, and ¼ caught one fish. How many fish did they catch in all? ______

e Tyra bought a can of fish food. It said it would feed one fish for about one month. Tyra

DID YOU KNOW?

Check out these facts about fish:

the fishing pole on top of the ice cube and sprinkle salt on the ice where the string is touching. The water will melt and refreeze.

t After about 10 seconds, carefully lift the ice cube out of the water with the fishing pole. You caught a fish (ice)!

y Analyze—water freezes at 32° F. Salt lowers the water’s freezing temperature. The more salt you add, the more it affects the refreezing temperature. How did this process affect this experiment?

Extension: Try sugar, pepper, sand, flour, or other items. See what works, and what doesn’t, and try to figure out why!

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

has four fish. Approximately how long will this can of fish food last?

r Fish tanks need gravel or sand in the bottom. A rule of thumb is to include one pound per gallon of tank to create a 1 inch base, and two pounds per gallon to create a 2 inch base. Alexander has a 33 gallon tank. He wants to create a 1 ½ inch base. How much gravel should he add? ______

Learning Standards: I can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve a problem.

Anableps is a type of fish with four eyes. It can see above and below water at the same time.

Mamie Parker was born in Arkansas, the youngest of 11 children. Her mother named her Mamie after First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, as a tribute to all of the work Ike Eisenhower did for the Civil Rights movement. Parker loved the outdoors and all types of animals. Having a large family, they depended on the success of their fishing efforts in order to have enough protein to feed the family. Parker enjoyed this time with her mother, who always encouraged her to learn all that she could. Mrs. Parker said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

Parker was one of the first to attend the integrated high school in Wilmot, Arkansas. She was inspired by Marvin Gaye’s song, “Mercy Me,” which spoke of pollution and the need for change. Parker enrolled in the University of Arkansas to major in biology. While there, she was recruited to move to Wisconsin as an intern. She earned a degree in biology from the University of Arkansas and an ecology degree from the University of Wisconsin. Later, she would attend Harvard to study leadership training.

Her career took her from Wisconsin to Minnesota, to Columbia, Missouri. While in Columbia, she helped local farmers learn how to maximize the use of their land to help wildlife and fish thrive. Parker is also known for helping the Atlantic salmon population which was endangered. After many years in the business, Parker was offered a job in Washington D.C. as the first African-American woman to be the Assistant Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS). She remembers a fellow employee telling her that the only African-American women who had been in the building were the janitors who cleaned it. Parker felt pride in her position and wanted to inspire other women to pursue careers in the STEM fields.

Parker has authored the book, “The Future of Fisheries.” She has received many awards, such as The Presidential Rank Award and the Ira Gabrielson Award. Parker also has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio) and is a motivational speaker.

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

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

Activities —

Pick a Plot: Using the e-edition, have your family locate words that represent people, places, and actions. Write each word on a slip of paper and separate by category. Now each person chooses one of each type of word and creates a story.

Figures of speech: Authors use figures of speech to be creative and descriptive. Can you find examples of similes, metaphors, alliteration, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, or idioms in the newspaper? Create a poster with your examples.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can write for a specific purpose and audience. I can identify figurative language.

East St. Louis.

Living It

More than a nail polish

DEMIblue

By Danielle Brown Of The St. Louis American

To celebrate the launch of the new initiative

DEMIblue Cares, Michelle Robinson, founder and owner of DEMIblue Natural Nails, will make a surprise donation in honor of a breast cancer survivor.

“We kicked off the DEMIblue Cares initia tive to campaign around a discounted product that would allow us to take a portion of those sales and donate it to a deserving community organization who is fighting against breast cancer,” Michelle said.

“Initially, we were going to partner with an organization, but it’s been hard trying to connect because we kind of got started late in the month. So, what we’ve done is decided to make a surprise donation to a survivor.”

Her mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer inspired Michelle to launch the all-vegan nail care line for breast cancer patients, survivors, and women seeking healthier alternatives to have products that weren’t created with harmful toxins and didn’t have ingredients possibly linked to can cer.

“Being able to offer an alternative was very essential not because my mother couldn’t use conventional nail polishes but because she shouldn’t,” Michelle said.

“We’re not saying that nail polish causes cancer. We’re saying that there are chemicals that have been used in our conventional nail products that have been linked to cancer. We’re looking for a remission plan. We’re looking for alternative plans so that she’s not exposed to those chemicals. What better way than to offer one myself?”

Juliet Robinson, mother of Michelle and now a nine-year cancer survivor, enjoys wearing DEMIblue’s nail polishes not only because of its outward appearance, but because of its effects on the inside.

“My reaction to the polish is I feel safe when I wear it,” Juliet said. “I’m not nervous about getting any of those toxins in my system, and the polish is wonderful. It’s creamy, it’s shiny. It just makes you feel like I’m putting something healthy into my system, because anything that’s put on your nails goes into your system.”

Juliet was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer in 2010, which means that she was able to catch it in its early stages and get treated, which improved her prognosis. When she found the lump herself, she immediately went to the doctor and wasn’t fearful about it.

“I didn’t let my vanity take over because a lot of times we’re afraid of what people say or we’re afraid of knowing the outcome, and we cannot do that,” Juliet said. “You need to go early. When you find those symptoms, you need to go right away. Don’t prolong it. Don’t worry about what somebody’s going to say or what somebody’s going to think.”

Juliet isn’t the only fan of DEMIblue. The line has been able to reach many near and far, including vegan food influencer and actress Tabitha Brown. On Tabitha and her daughter Choyce Brown’s weekly segment “Very Good Mondays,” where small businesses are showcased, they gave the products a favorable review

‘We

are still here’

that left Michelle feeling very pleased.

“It’s been amazing. It has been validation that women are wanting healthier beauty products,”

n DEMIblue Natural Nails is a 10free vegan-friendly nail polish line.

Michelle said. “DEMIblue is needed and it feels great.”

“The Big Find.”

“I pitched via Zoom. I was able to present the nail polish, the story behind the brand, show them a few of the colors, and tell them why

DEMIblue should have the opportunity to sell products through their network,” Michelle said. “There was a panel of judges and we definitely received some good feedback, but now we’re just in the waiting phase to see if we have been selected. Even in this pandemic, the way that we’ve been striding through, it’s been a wonderful blessing.”

Stage, film and television actor Keith David, most recently seen as the star of the OWN Network hit ‘Greenleaf’ to receive the Woodie King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.

Black Rep’s annual ‘One Night Only’ gala goes virtual for 5th anniversary

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

For the past four years, the seats of 560 Music Center has been filled with patrons and supporters of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company as they offer up musical theater in exchange for support of its education and community programs through its annual fundraiser, “One Night Only Gala.” Classics from the canon of Black musical theater such as “Dreamgirls” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” have been performed with the help of celebrity guests from stage, film and television.

For their fifth anniversary milestone, the show will go on – but through a different platform because of COVID-19. I Remember Harlem: A Virtual Event will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2020. The gala will be streamed on Vimeo and on The Black Rep website.

DEMIblue may be a St. Louis-based Black woman-owned business line, but it’s proved itself to be more than just a local business. The brand’s mission has allowed Michelle to be in rooms of opportunity far beyond the Gateway City. Michelle was chosen among 69 other entrepreneurs out of 650 companies to pitch her brand to QVC in hopes of being on the show

DEMIblue also won the Beauty Brand Business of the Year from the Detroit Beauty Business Network, was featured in the 10th edition of SwagHer Magazine, and is sold in beauty supply stores in California.

“I try to make sure that I remind people that we are a St. Louis-based brand,” Michelle said.

offers a community-centered self-care focus See DEMIblue, B2

Rich Miller publishes book alleging systematic racism in the auto industry

By Lillian Emenogu

For The St. Louis American

Rich Miller, a former Lincoln Mercury Ford dealer, published his book Dealing: The Incredible Journey of an African American Car Dealer earlier this year in the middle of a pandemic to shed light on what he describes as the economic injustice Black people face as consumers and entrepreneurs in the auto industry.

According to Miller, Black people in the United States spend more than $50 billion on new cars every year. He said African Americans spend more money on cars than houses. Yet despite having such extraordinary spending power, Blacks own very few car dealerships, roughly 270 as of December 2017 out of 19,284, he said, which is less than 1.5% of the auto dealer market.

Born in Barbados and raised in the Bronx, Miller began a career on Wall Street after graduating from The City College of New York in the early 1980s with a degree in Economics. At that time, he went to work at a traditional bank but, he said, faced racial discrimination that barred

from

As a business school graduate, Miller landed an interview with Ford Motor Company and was offered a job on the spot. He packed up and moved to Indianapolis to start his career as what was called an “Owner Relations Analyst” in those days. This afforded him an inside look at the business as his responsibilities entailed analyzing the financial statements of Ford’s dealerships and making recommendations on how the company could grow. Very soon, however, he grew “tired of making the white dealers rich,” he said, and decided to embark on his own journey of owning a franchise. In January 1990, Miller was accepted into the Ford Minority Dealer Training Program, founded and developed by Reverend Jesse Jackson,

See Dealing, B2

“The experience has been absolutely wonderful. It’s caused us to be much more creative,” said Black Rep Founder and Producing Director Ron Himes. “It has caused us to find new ways to deliver the work that we do – and I think that people are going to be quite pleased with what we hope will not be just another zoom virtual event.”

To accommodate recording of numbers to give viewers as close to a live musical theater experience as possible in these unprecedented times, The Black Rep converted their shop space into a sound stage.

n The gala will be streamed on Vimeo and on The Black Rep website.

“We have footage that we have shot with our young people because the gala goes to support our education and community programs,” Himes said. “We have a number of ways to feature and highlight the young people who are a part of The Black Rep.”

The gala will weave together these performances along with clips from longtime supporters and Black Rep alum. The virtual production will feature a variety of dance, music, and poetry from the Harlem Renaissance performed by friends of The Black Rep and Black Rep alum. Austin Smith (Broadway Cast of Hamilton), Sophia Stephens (Broadway Cast of The Lion King), Melody Betts (Broadway Cast of Waitress and NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar live), Kelvin Roston Jr. (Twisted Melodies), Roz White (Mahalia, Black Nativity), J Samuel Davis (Crossin’ Over) are a few of the acts on deck.

“We’ve already taped some incredible performances and we have received some incredible performances. I think it’s going to be a nice mix,” Himes said. “There will be classical singers and people with Broadway credentials along with the local favorites.” Kevin Short, Managing Partner and CEO of Clayton Capital Partners is the Honorary Chair of the evening. Board Member Andreal Hoosman of Haywood Hoosman Realty and KTVI news anchor Kelly Hoskins are the co-chairs for the 2020 gala.

See REP, B2

Michelle Robinson, owner and founder of DEMIblue Natural Nails will make a surprise donation to a deserving breast cancer survivor through the newly launched DEMIblue Care initiative.

Rich Miller is the author of Dealing: The Incredible Journey of an African American Car Dealer.

Nate Conyers, one of the first Black car dealers in America, along with his brother, John Conyers, and Mel Farr, former football player for the Detroit Lions. The initiative’s goal was to give minorities with the financial resources and desire to become car dealers the training they need to be successful in running their own dealership, and it allowed Miller to eventually acquire his own Lincoln Mercury franchise in St. Louis, which he achieved by the age of 36. However, in addition to the cyclical nature of car sales in the predominantly Black, less-affluent area he was serving, Miller said, he also dealt with the flight of white clientele as more Black people visited the showroom. He said he also faced discriminatory prac-

tices from credit lenders who often wouldn’t issue loans to customers with poor credit (the majority of his Black patrons), and lack of support from his corporate representatives. In one conversation, he said, he even had a white corporate rep make comments about his need to “lighten the showroom.” He said this led to his franchise’s demise in the Summer of 1997.

More than 23 years later, Miller said that nothing has changed. Progress has completely stagnated if not halted. Out of the 270 Black dealerships reported in 2017, by his estimate COVID-19 will cut half of them out of business. When Miller sent letters to the top 10 automobile CEOs, he said he did not receive answers from most of them and subpar responses deflecting the gravity of the issue from the others.

In Dealing, Miller not only shares his experiences but offers Black consumers valuable information on how to purchase a car or truck and

avoid getting ripped off and contributing to this injustice.

Miller recommends boycotting selected manufacturers, picketing select dealerships, organizing labor strikes, and purchasing stock in publicly traded car companies to filibuster their shareholder meetings and/or to vote to have racist policies removed and replace members of their board.

Ultimately, Miller believes the first step to tackle what he considers racism in the auto industry is to inform African Americans and the rest of public. For any Black car consumers or allies who are looking to purchase a vehicle, Miller’s book is a highly recommended read and can be found on Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/ Rich-Miller-Dealing. Miller now owns am insurance company StoneLeaf Finance & Insurance Group. You can visit his website at www.stoneleafinsurance.com.

Black Rep honors

In addition to the production will be a celebration of individuals for their contributions to the field of theater and the community at large. Stage, film and television actor Keith David is the 2020 recipient of the Woodie King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently seen as the patriarch of the OWN Network hit “Greenleaf,” David’s career is rooted in the stage. The Juilliard School alum started his drama career when Joseph Papp selected him to perform the role of Tullus Aufidius in William Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He went on to star on Broadway in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars” and “Jelly’s Last Jam” for which he garnered a Tony Award nomination for “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.” Known by many for his booming voice, David’s

DEMIblue

Continued from B1

Americans out of the Midwest to have what I am going to claim as a big brand name, it’s amazing.”

Michelle positions DEMIblue as more than just a nail polish line. It’s a community-oriented brand that strongly advocates for self-care. Since its inception, Michelle and her team have provided breast cancer survivors with free manicures. They used to conduct mobile pampering sessions for women who completed their radiation treatment. However, that has been limited due to COVID.

film, theater and television credits have spanned four decades.

“We felt like with his body of work and with his theatre background that he is certainly worthy of the honor,” Himes said.

In addition to David’s honors, a trio of ladies making waves in the political landscape will share the Frankie Muse Freeman Spirit Award as part of the evening’s festivities.

Democratic Congress nominee Cori Bush, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner and St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones will share the distinction as this year’s recipients.

“This year – in the midst of everything that has been going on in our country – that these three women exemplify Ms. Freeman’s commitment to social justice and fighting for equality,” Himes said.

Past Frankie Muse Freeman Spirit Award honorees include Dr. Glory Van Scott and George Faison.

Along with the musical performance and the awards presentations will be opportunities for viewers to donate throughout the program.

n “We’re not just a nail polish brand, but we are communityfocused, we’re selfcare focused, and we focus on social responsibility.”

– Michelle Robinson

“We look forward to reconnecting with women and offering them an opportunity to experience a manicure using our product for free as part of the DEMIblue Cares umbrella,” Michelle said.

Like so many institutions, The Black Rep took a huge hit when live performances came to an abrupt halt as the nation –and the world – locked down.

“We suffered a hit as far as box office revenue last season and it also impacted our ability to put our tickets on sale for this season, because we have no idea when we will be able to start this season,” Himes said. “However, we are still here. We have challenges, but we are making adjustments. Every time we have met a new challenge, we have made an adjustment.”

The virtual gala is a recent adjustment that Himes and his team feels proud to present.

“I want people to know that it’s not just an event that we hope to raise money –of course we hope to raise money– but we’ve put together a really entertaining evening,” said Himes.

For more information about The Black Rep’s 5th Annual Gala, I Remember Harlem: A Virtual Event taking place on Saturday, November 14. Visit, www.theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3807.

“Just taking an opportunity to sit down and love yourself through nail polish. We all know how it feels to sit down and get pampered. I just want to really communicate that we’re not just a nail polish brand, but we are community-focused, we’re self-care focused, and we focus on social responsibility. Visit https://www.demibluenaturalnails.com/ to purchase all products. St. Louis residents can receive manicure services using DEMIblue’s products at LUXE Department Store located at 1215 Washington Ave in St. Louis. For more information, email info@demibluenaturalnails.com or call 636-944-1176.

LOOKING FOR A

LaDonna Finch

Office of LaDonna Finch, M.D. 1031 Bellevue Ave., Suite 349 Richmond Heights, MO 63117 (314) 645-7265

Medicare Annual Enrollment is from October 15th – December 7th!

Dr. LaDonna Finch accepts most insurance plans including Essence Healthcare, United Healthcare AARP Medicare Advantage, and Aetna Medicare Gold Advantage and Advantra plans.

Rich Miller shares his experiences and also offers Black consumers valuable information on how to purchase a car or truck and avoid getting ripped off and contributing to this injustice.

Who Tells Your Story: An Art Museum Virtual Program Highlights ‘Hamilton’

By Victoria McCraven,

Join the Saint Louis Art Museum for Who Tells Your Story, a virtual program on Hamilton presented by Victoria McCraven, the current Saint Louis Art Museum’s Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow. Named for the musical’s final song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” this November program seeks to highlight both familiar stories of America’s founding fathers and lesser-known narratives of free and enslaved Black people during the early American period. Experience some of the Museum’s most impressive examples of 18thand 19th-century American portraiture while learning more about the historical context of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.

Did you love the clear tenor of Leslie Odom’s voice as Aaron Burr? Learn more about the Burr family through the captivating portraits of Thadeus and Eunice Burr in the Museum’s collection. Painted by famed portraitist John Singleton Copley, the Burr family entertained Marquis de Lafayette, John Adams, and even George Washington at their mansion in Connecticut. Another highlight of the Museum’s American collection, a portrait of George Washington, is also on view in Gallery 338. This work may look familiar, as it is virtually identical to the portrait currently hanging in the White House’s Oval Office. Often the center of both written and visual narratives, George Washington is perhaps the most recognizable person in American history. However, artist Titus Kaphar critiques Washington’s visual representations throughout his work, drawing attention to the unnamed or unrepresented Black figures surrounding him.

Michelangelo in St. Louis

Convention Center hosts exhibition of reproductions of iconic frescoes

By Jeremy D. Goodwin Of St. Louis Public Radio

An exhibition featuring reproductions of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings will open at the America’s Center Convention Complex on Friday, November 6 and close January 10.

The Michelangelo exhibition provides “the chance to attract new visitors to our region through art,” Explore St. Louis President Kathleen Ratcliffe said.

“Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” boasts 34 reproductions of the Renaissance master’s iconic frescoes. Among them are some of the most revered images in Western art, including “The Creation of Adam” and “The Last Judgment.”

The show has toured internationally but has been idle for about eight months because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was created by Las Vegas-based SEE Global Entertainment and is presented locally by Explore St. Louis, the city’s tourism commission.

The reproductions are based on photographs of the artworks. Visitors will have the chance to take an up-close look at the works, take photographs and linger as long as they like — all experiences that are not possible on official tours of the Sistine Chapel.

“A lot of people do not realize how large, how big these are,” Martin Ballas, CEO of SEE Global Entertainment, said of the artworks. “When you go

to the Sistine Chapel you see them but they’re all the way up, 60, 80 feet, and they look like a stamp.”

He and representatives from Explore St. Louis spoke at a recent press conference.

Not every bit of Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel will be represented; an announcement explains that some “bordering elements” and other “framing devices” are omitted. The show will occupy more than 27,000 square feet of the convention center’s second-floor ballroom. It will be a boost for the America’s Center Convention Complex, which has lost business in recent months because of coronavirus-related restrictions.

America’s Center will employ strict safety protocols for the event, said Mathew Dewey, senior vice president of Explore St. Louis and general manager of the convention center.

“Plenty of social distancing, the masks, everything you

would expect to keep everybody safe, we will be implementing,” Dewey said of the precautions. Capacity will be limited, and visitors will purchase tickets for timed entry. Staff will take visitors’ temperature with thermal scanners, Dewey said, and clean the exhibition hall with electrostatic sprayers. “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” will also mark most visitors’ first experience with a recently installed, touchless entryway to the building.

“You can almost get through this entire experience, from the entrance to the exit,” Dewey said, “without touching anything throughout the whole day.” Admissions costs are adults, $17.50; military/seniors (65+), $13.50; children ages 6-18, $10.50; children under 6, free; family 4-pack (2 adults and 2 children ages 6 to 18), $40. For more information, visit https://preview.tinyurl.com/ Explore-Michelangelo.

Learn more about Kaphar’s portraits of Billy Lee and Ona Judge, the two most wellknown enslaved people on the Washington plantation before both finding freedoms. Like in the musical Hamilton, this program incorporates the historical references to the American Revolution and the contemporary influences of hip-hop on the musical score. Immerse yourself in the works of contemporary artist Roberto Lugo, who, like Miranda, explores American history through the lens of hip-hop. Often basing his work

on Century Vases made to commemorate the centennial of America’s founding, Lugo contrasts historical and contemporary references to expand traditional portrayals of our collective history.

Whether you are a fan of Hamilton or the story is entirely new to you, join the Saint Louis Art Museum on Friday, November 13, for a 30-minute virtual program at noon. You can pre-register for the Zoom event online on the Museum’s website under the events section at slam.org.

John Singleton Copley, American, 1738–1815; Eunice Dennie Burr, 1758–60; oil on canvas; 50 x 40 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 173:1951

“Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” boasts 34 reproductions of the Renaissance master’s iconic frescoes. Among them are some of the most revered images in Western art.

Bishop Blake will not seek reelection as COGIC Presiding Bishop

Remains Senior Pastor of the West Angeles Church

Apostle. Bishop Blake, who celebrated his 80th birthday this year, is the husband of Lady Mae Lawrence Blake, father of three adult children and the grandfather of 10. Bishop Blake will continue as Senior Pastor of the West Angeles Church. His decision to not seek reelection with the national COGIC does not affect his pastoring in Los Angeles.

n “I remain committed to the success of our church and have pledged my support and assistance in a smooth transition so that the work of the Lord will seamlessly continue.”

COGIC website and at https://tinyurl.com/ COGIC-Bishop

– Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.

Bishop Blake has been a member of COGIC for his entire life and is in his 64th year of preaching, 51st year of pastoring the West Angeles Church in Los Angeles, 35th year as COGIC Bishop, 32nd year as a member of the General Board, and 13th year as Presiding Bishop and Chief

“I have had many great responsibilities over my lifetime, but the two that have always been forefront of my mind are my family and pastoring the West Angeles Church,” Bishop Blake said. The video that included comments from his wife, Lady Mae, who has served alongside Bishop Blake.

“God has blessed West Angeles to enter into the next stage of the Family Life Center building project, a $25 million addition that will attach to the West Angeles Cathedral,” Bishop Blake said. West Angeles will soon break ground on this project.”

• He reminded COGIC members of the highlights of successes of the past 13 years of his

leadership:

• Completion of the first comprehensive financial audit of the records of our Church in more than 100 years;

• Renovation of most of the buildings on our Headquarters campus, including the Lee Administration Building, the Mason Home, the main sanctuary and lower level of Mason Temple, the LH Ford Administration building and the Leila

Mason Hall;

• Restoration of many of our downtown Memphis properties;

• Major renovations and upgrades to our Lexington facilities, including the addition of land parcels;

• Acquisition of additional properties around our Headquarters campus;

• Development of 77 apartment homes near our Mason campus, now known as Mason

Homes on 4th;

• Successfully moved the Holy Convocation to the 502,000 square foot America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, from 2010 through 2019, with space for every aspect of our ministry.

“Please understand the depth of my gratitude for every opportunity that God has afforded me in serving you. I pray that I have pleased Him in all that I have attempted for the advancement of the Church of God in Christ and ultimately,

for His Kingdom,” Bishop Blake said.

“I remain committed to the success of our church and have pledged my support and assistance in a smooth transition so that the work of the Lord will seamlessly continue.” The Church of God in Christ is one of the oldest Pentecostal denominations in the world and the fourth largest Protestant group in the United States with 10,000 churches in over 112 countries worldwide and millions of adherents. Visit www.cogic.org.

Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr. will not seek another term as Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle of the Church of God In Christ after 13 years in those leadership roles.

Sports

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Roberts gets the job done as Dodgers’ Black manager wins World Series

After the L.A. Dodgers got off to a slow start in 2018, manager David Roberts’ job security was being questioned by some fans and media members. The Dodgers were defending National League champions but lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series. We have since learned that the Astros had some serious sign-stealing going on.

If you’re a Black manager in Major League Baseball, your seat gets hotter a lot quicker than your white counterparts.’

The Dodgers repeated as NL champs and returned to the World Series in 2018. They then ran into a buzz saw that was the Boston Red Sox.

Again, Roberts was under intense scrutiny for several in-game decisions. Forget the two pennants and a .600 winning percentage during his first three season as the Dodgers manager.

While the Cardinals have won 11 World Series titles, this is just the Dodgers seventh. The Dodgers last World Series win was in 1988 against Tony La Russa’s heavily favored, PHD-fueled Oakland A’s. Roberts joins Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda as the only Dodgers managers to win the World Series.

He and Dusty Baker are the two Black managers in MLB. It would have been great to see two Black managers in the World Series – especially since there are just two. Baker’s Astros fell to the Rays in seven games, but Roberts and he made history. This was the first time a pair of Black managers reached the Championship Series round.

Roberts’ team racked up 106 wins in 2019 but lost to the blistering hot Washington Nationals in a NL Division Series. The Nationals would sweep the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series and top the Astros in the World Series. Who got most of the blame? Roberts.

Today, Roberts is a World Champion. His Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. He joins former Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston (1992 and ’93) as the only Black managers to win a World Series.

Finally, Roberts is getting the respect he deserves.

“It means a lot for me personally, of course,” Roberts said in the victorious clubhouse following the game.

“But for the Dodgers organization, the franchise has always been forward-thinking and groundbreaking as far as race and color barriers.

“So, for the Dodgers and for me to be the manager of this ball club to bring a championship back to Los Angeles, I think it’s well beyond bigger than me.” Roberts was speaking of the Brooklyn Dodgers fielding Jackie Robinson in 1947. While the Dodgers have been a diverse franchise since Robinson’s debut, he is the team’s first Black manager in its hallowed history.

Mookie Best I’ve written this before, and I’m doing it again.

Mookie Betts is the best player in Major League Baseball. It’s not Mike Trout.

Betts demonstrated throughout the 60-game season, the playoffs and World Series that he has earned that title – and the competition isn’t close.

During the abbreviated season, Betts hit .292 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI. He stole 10 bases and will probably win a 2020 Gold Glove for his play in right field. He collected seven hits and popped a pair of home runs in the World Series against the Rays. He drove in three runs and scored four. He added two home run stealing catches which were vital to the Dodgers championship run.

Following the game, Betts said via Twitter, “THE JOB IS FINISHED!!!!! This one’s for you LA - the City of Champions! Enjoy the hell out of it, but you know these boys aren’t done chasing rings!!!”

While not officially calling Betts better than Trout, Sports Illustrated columnist Robin Lundberg wrote, “Betts was at his best when it mattered most, and in watching him, it’s hard to believe there is anyone better. He makes plays in the field, on the bases, and at the plate.”

“I keep hearing baseball purists complain about an over-reliance on the numbers, well Mookie’s got those too, but he passes the eye and math tests. All while capturing the

imagination of fans in a way I haven’t seen from a player in a minute.”

Betts was the 2018 American League MVP and won the World Series with the Red Sox that season. He is favored to win the NL MVP Award to go with his 2020 championship with the Dodgers.

Trout’s L.A. Angels have been to the postseason one time and they were immediately eliminated.

After winning the World Series over the Dodgers in dominant fashion in 2018, the Boston Red Sox traded Betts and pitcher David Price to L.A. for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong in February 2020.

Betts then signed a 12-year contract extension worth $365 million in July.

“I couldn’t believe it and I was not trying to get too excited. We got a steal,’’ Roberts said.

“I’m just so grateful that the deal was done because it’s not just going to help us this year,” Roberts added. “... It’s going to impact players not even drafted by the Dodgers yet.”

Betts is the best. Case closed.

Arozarena wrap up

As the 2020 MLB season came to an end last week, so did the incredible postseason run of former St. Louis Cardinal Randy Arozarena.

InSIdE SportS

With Earl Austin Jr.

Semifinals time

Without his spectacular offensive display, the Tampa Bay Rays probably would not have advanced to the World Series.

He showed the nation, and world, that he can be one of the game’s best players.

He had two hits in four plate appearances in Game 6 of the World Series and tagged a solo home run. The home run was his tenth, a postseason record, and he hit an amazing .377 with an .831 slugging percentage.

Arozarena also sprayed 29 hits, another postseason record AND a record for rookies in the playoffs.

If that isn’t enough, the Hollywood Reporter announced this week that Wonderfilm Media is in the early stages

of production on a film about Arozarena, his daring boat trip from Cuba to Mexico and his rise to stardom.

“Randy’s story is so inspirational -- his journey grabs at your heart and this film will explore the triumphs of the human spirit when driven and focused,” Wonderfilm’s Bret Saxon said in a statement.

I just wonder who is going to play the role of foul-mouthed Cardinals manager Mike Shildt.

Good for Goold

St. Louis Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold was asked by a reader, in a column this week, about “the recent trend of the Cardinals giving up on players who are people of color. Kolten Wong is the most recent example, and the team continues to get whiter and whiter.”

I give Goold credit for taking on the inquiry because the St. Louis sports media often dodges subjects like this –especially when it comes to the Cardinals.

He responded that “It’s a concern that this perception exists and how their actions contribute to it while it’s out there.”

Goold explained the team also dumped several white players including Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk, that the Cardinals’ first three picks in the most recent draft were young, Black players and that the starting and relief pitching staffs are diverse. “But the team should be aware of this perception, and I believe it is,” Goold wrote.

The Reid Roundup Sportsbook gambling and casino games are coming to Fairmount Park in the near future. The Illinois Gaming Board has approved the Collinsville horse track for a Master Sports Wagering License. “This puts us another step closer to being the first ‘racino,’ in Southern Illinois. We will be able to offer entertainment from live horse racing, sports wagering (and) full casino gaming,” Fairmount Park said in a statement… Mike Tomlin moved his Pittsburgh Steelers to 7-0 with a road victory over the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. Can you say 2020 Coach of the Year?... Alvin A. Reid’s Twitter handle is #aareid1.

We are now at the semifinals state of the district football playoffs around the state of Missouri. Here is a schedule of the upcoming district games this weekend involving St. Louis area teams.

Class 6

District 1: Lafayette at Fox, Friday, 7 p.m. SLUH at Lindbergh, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: CBC at DeSmet, Friday, 6 p.m. Francis Howell (bye)

Earl’s Pick Game: The CBCDeSmet game features the past two Class 6 state champions and Metro Catholic Conference

rivals. Both are prime contenders as well this season. DeSmet has won the last three contests, including a 41-21 victory over the Cadets earlier this season.

Class 5 District 1: Poplar Bluff at Jackson, Friday, 7 p.m. Farmington at Seckman, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: Parkway West at Summit, Friday, 7 p.m. Ladue at Chaminade, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: Ladue has moved up to the Class 5 level after a dominant run in Class 4 the past few seasons, including a state championship two years ago. Chaminade made a run to the state quarterfinals a year ago.

District 3: Parkway Central at Fort Zumwalt North, Friday, 7 p.m. Fort Zumwalt East at Fort Zumwalt South, Friday, 7 p.m.

Class 4 District 1: DeSoto at Festus, Friday, 7 p.m. North County at Hillsboro, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: Pacific at John Burroughs, Saturday, 1 p.m. Sullivan at Union, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 3: Trinity at MICDS, Saturday, 1 p.m. St. Dominic at Parkway North, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The Trinity-MICDS game is an interesting one. Trinity is the No. 5 seed, but they are a powerful unit that is capable of making a run in the state playoffs. Top-seeded MICDS had displayed a potent offensive in its three victories this season.

Class 3

District 1: Ste. Genevieve at Kennett, Friday, 7 p.m.

St. Mary’s at Ste. Genevieve Valle, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The St. Mary’s –Valle showdown should be quite a contest. St. Mary’s comes down to Class 3 after advancing to the Class 4 state semifinals last season.

Valle is a perennial Class 1 state powerhouse that has moved up to the Class 3. On Friday night, they meet in the middle.

District 2: Cardinal Ritter at Park Hills Central, Friday, 7 p.m. Salem at St. Clair, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 3: Wright City at

Lutheran North, Friday, 7 p.m. Priory at Borgia, Friday, 7 p.m.

Class 2

District 2: Cuba at Lutheran-St. Charles, Friday, 7 p.m. Christian-O’Fallon at Duchesne, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The Christian-O’Fallon vs. Duchesne game has the makings of a very entertaining game over in St. Charles. Both teams feature big play athletes with offenses capable of putting plenty of points on the board.

Alvin A. Reid

Earl Austin Jr.

Dave Roberts joined Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston (1992 and ’93) as the only Black managers to win a World Series.

St. LouiS american Career Center St. LouiS

CLEAN-TECH COMPANY IS INTERVIEWING FOR VARIOUS LOCATIONS!

Interviews on the spot!

Every Thursday 1 PM – 4 PM! 211 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO

JOBS AVAILABLE!

WE ARE HIRING! Apply online www.cleantechcompany.com/ careers

Gateway Greening, Inc.

Position: DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATION

Summary: Leads the organization’s efforts in fund development and communications. This role is part of the Gateway Greening leadership team. This position is fulltime exempt. For full posting, visit http://www.gatewaygreening.org/ about/careers/

To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to info@gatewaygreening.org No phone calls, please.

FULL-TIME MUNICIPAL SERVICE WORKER I

The City of Clayton is hiring for a full-time Municipal Service Worker I—Public Works. Apply by 11/06/20: https://claytonmo.applicantpro. com/jobs/ EOE

St. Louis Aquarium Foundation CONSERVATION & EDUCATION CENTER (CEC) ASSOCIATE (PART TIME)

The Aquarium Foundation (nonprofit partner to the Aquarium at Union Station) is seeking an enthusiastic conservation enthusiast to join our team. Responsibilities include guest services and overseeing daily operation of the CEC. 15-25 hours per week; includes weekends, some evenings and holidays (open 365 days a year). $11/ hr. Starts early Dec. 2020. For full job description and application instructions, visit stlouisaquarium.com/ careers. Applications due by Nov. 13th. An Equal Opportunity Employer

JANITORIAL - HIRING

Full & Part-Time positions, 3 Shifts Background check. Steady work history preferred. Apply at 314 N. Jefferson at Olive. M - F, 9A to 5P. Must have two forms of I.D.

SENIOR MANAGER, HUMAN RESOURCES

The Senior Manager of Human Resources will coordinate all generalist HR functions for a non-profit organization that currently employs 60 team members. This includes developing, implementing and coordinating policies and programs encompassing all aspects of human resources, including: employment, compensation, training, staff planning and development, benefits, employee relations, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in a manner which reflects the mission, philosophy and policies of Covenant House. To apply, visit our website at www.covenanthousemo.org

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Rise Community Development seeks a new Executive Director to lead the organization into its next era of growth and success. The Executive Director is the key management leader of Rise and its affiliates. The new leader will be socially engaged to lead networking and fundraising and to articulate the mission of Rise to the public and stakeholders of all backgrounds. She or he must embrace and advance Rise’s values of racial equity and anti-racism.

Minimum qualifications include a college degree and 10 years of senior management experience. The full job posting can be found at http://www.risestl.org

To apply, send a resume and letter of introduction to jobs@risestl.org. No phone calls please. For best consideration, applications should be received by November 30, 2020.

Rise is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LEGAL COUNSEL

The St. Louis County Circuit Court is accepting applications for Legal Counsel.

Minimum Qualifications: Applicants must have graduated from an accredited law school; must have six years of experience in the practice of law; and must have a current Missouri License to practice law.

General Duties: Perform varied professional legal services and provide legal technical support to the Circuit Clerk, Judges, Commissioners and other staff within the Court system; review and process mandates from the higher courts; review prisoner mail and draft responses and pleadings to requests made by prisoners; process post-conviction remedy petitioners; review and respond to prisoner habeas corpus requests; respond to correspondence received from the Missouri Department of Corrections and other jurisdictions as it relates to prisoners; reply to criminal record requests; involvement with aiding self-represented litigants when needed; represent the Circuit Clerk in legal matters, such as responding to subpoenas, motions to quash,

judges and Circuit Clerk employees concerning court procedures; and perform other legal work, as required.

Salary: Starting salary is $53,676.00 annually + State of MO benefits.

How to apply: To apply go to our website at: https://wp.stlcountycourts.com/careers/

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

# 57820308, Laundry Vending Services

IMPACT Strategies, as the selected General Contractor, is requesting Subcontractor bids for the Cornerstone - Lafayette Square Development - Bid Package #4 – Building Trades project in St. Louis, MO.  This is a taxable project.

This project consists of complete ground-up construction of a new, 5-story multifamily apartment development, including parking garage.

This Bid Package #4 requires subcontractor proposals for Concrete Topping, Metal Balconies,Rough Carpentry, Wood Materials, Finish Carpentry, Damproofing and Waterproofing, Insulation, Weather and Air Barriers, Siding, Membrane Roofing, Flashing and Sheet Metal, Joint Protection, Doors/Frames/Hardware, Sectional Doors, Entrances and Storefronts, Drywall, Flooring, ACT, Painting, Toilet/Bath/Laundry Accessories, Fire Protection Specialties, Postal Specialties, Wire Storage Shelving, Residential Appliances, Window Treatments, Residential Casework, Stone Countertops, and Trash Chutes.

IMPACT is offering (2) Pre-Bid Meeting Opportunities for Subcontractors:

IMPACT Strategies will host (2) VIRTUAL pre-bid meetings for this project, November 10, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and November 19, 2020 at 9:00 AM. All interested contractors are encouraged to attend. Please contact Emily Yost for Zoom Meeting log-in/call-in instructions. eyost@buildwithimpact.com, (618)394-8400.

The Cornerstone Lafayette Square Multi-Family project will comply with the Diversity Goals as governed by Ordinance 70767 of the City of St. Louis. Ordinance 70767 outlines Enterprise (contract spend) requirements and also Workforce Participation goals as follows:

Successful contractors will be required to participate in the St. Louis Development Corporation(SLDC) program for documenting compliance with the Workforce and Prevailing wage Ordinances.

All proposals submitted on this project should include materials and equipment that are “bought in America” wherever feasible. Please note on your proposal if you are not able to comply with this request. Project bid documents, as well as samples of IMPACT Strategies' Subcontract documents and insurance requirements can be viewed at IMPACT Strategies, Southern Illinois Builders Association, The Asian American Chamber of Commerce, The Congress of Racial Equality - North Central Region, Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, Employment Connection, The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, MO-KAN Plan Room and Mcgraw Hill Dodge. For a direct download

eyost@buildwithimpact.com.

IMPORTANT

NOTICE TO ALL OFFERORS:

In response to the challenges the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents, and to ensure the safety of the public, postal workers, couriers, and our employees; until further notice Harris-Stowe State University has changed receipt of proposals/bids to electronic submissions. The Offeror/Bidder is solely responsible for ensuring timely submission of their electronic response. Failure to allow adequate time prior to the proposal/bid submittal due date/time in order to complete and submit a response to a RFP or IFB, particularly in the event technical support assistance is required, places the Offeror/Bidder and their response at risk of not being accepted on time. If an Offeror/Bidder does not have electronic accessibility to submit an electronic response, the Offeror/Bidder must contact the buyer of record at least five (5) days prior to the due date in order to determine if an alternate process is available to accept the proposal/bid. However, at this time under the current circumstances, electronic submission is the only certain way to submit responses.

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting proposals for Laundry Vending Services. Interested parties may obtain a copy of the RFP by emailing: morrowb@hssu.edu

PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN: 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2020.

The proposals will be opened and the names of the Offerors read. Award shall not be made at the time proposals are opened.

MANDATORY PRE-BID CONFERENCE: A mandatory pre-bid conference and walk-through will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. in room 311 in the Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., Administration building. Masks will be required for entry into the facility and at the pre-bid conference and walk-through. Social Distancing will also be required in all facilities.

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

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Spanish Lake Community Development Corporation (SLCDC) seeks proposals from qualified firms to provide comprehensive community engagement services related to the Bellefontaine Corridor Study adopted by St. Louis County Council. To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM CST on Friday, November 13, 2020. For the complete RFP and questions, please contact Angela Pinex at 314.733.9020 or angela@spanishlakecdc.org

PUBLIC NOTICE

The City of Crestwood is seeking bids for the 2021-2023 “Sanitary Sewer Lateral Investigations” project. Qualified contractors may obtain a project manual online at www.cityofcrestwood. org. Bids will be received by the Public Works Department of the City of Crestwood at the Crestwood Government Center, One Detjen Drive, Crestwood, Missouri, 63126 until 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for the Heege Road Bridge No. 440, St. Louis County Project No. AR-1715 will be received electronically thru the County’s Vendor Self Service portal at https://stlouisco. munisselfservice.com/Vendors/ default.aspx, until 11:00 a.m. on December 2, 2020 Plans and specifications will be available on November 2, 2020 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www. stlouiscountymo.gov) or by contacting Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, 2731 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 678-0087.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

PUBLIC NOTICE

Gladiator Building, 1339 Magnolia Manor Court, St. Peters, MO 63303 is seeking subcontractor bids for six (6) new construction homes at 2748 and 2750 Rutger Street, St. Louis, MO 63104 and 2706, 2708, 2710 and 2716 Hickory Street, St. Louis, MO 63104.

Scopes of work include, but are not limited to: New Construction of six (6) single family homes. Section 3, Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises are encouraged to bid.

Project plans and specifications are available by request. Please contact Gladiator Building at (314)328 -5545, GladiatorHomes314@gmail.com

All bids are due to Gladiator Building’s office by 11/16/19, 12 p.m. Gladiator Building is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

PUBLIC NOTICE

The City of Crestwood is seeking bids for the 2021-2023 “Sanitary Sewer Lateral Repairs” project. Qualified contractors may obtain a project manual online at www.cityofcrestwood.org Bids will be received by the Public Works Department of the City of Crestwood at the Crestwood Government Center, One Detjen Drive, Crestwood, Missouri, 63126 until 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District Requests for Quotes, Bids and Proposals are posted online for public download. Please navigate to www.msdprojectclear.org > Doing Business With Us > View Non-Capital Bids (commodities and services) or >Visit Planroom (capital construction bids)

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

PCT DONOR PLAQUES RFP 2021

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to bid on the PCT Donor Plagues RFP 2021. Bid documents are available as of 11/4/2020 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

VIRTUAL PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE

7th Street Improvements Project St. Louis Development Corp. Thursday, November 12, 2020 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Zoom Web URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/ j/83074132008?pwd=K1FCTUFBc0RoWXhNOExEUG1JY29MQT09 Passcode: 389119

Zoom Call-in: #312-626-6799 ID: 830 7413 2008

St. Louis Development Corporation is hosting a virtual public Open House for the 7th Street Improvements, from Walnut St to Washington Ave. As part of ongoing efforts to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the meeting will be held via Zoom webinar. Hear from team members about project details and provide feedback.

Improvements include major pedestrian and bicycling upgrades, upgraded signal timing, crosswalks, lighting and pavement. The project encourages connectivity within the downtown core and connects two regional destinations.

Public comment period closes December 3, 2020. Documents and more will be made available at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/ departments/sldc/

Anyone needing an accommodation must notify Amanda Bloomfield, 314-657-3708 or bloomfielda@stlouis-mo.gov, no later than two days prior. Anyone experiencing technical difficulty should also contact Amanda.

MWBE PreBid Meeting Notice

The SITE Improvement Association is hosting a Prebid meeting for Qualified and Certified MWBE contractors to discuss working on St. Louis County’s 2020 CRS Pavement Rehabilitation, Area E Project Project No. CR-1816

This meeting is being held on behalf of the following SITE contractor member:

J.M. Marschuetz Construction Co. 15 Truitt Drive, Eureka, MO 63025 636/938-3600

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

November 12, 2020

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

Project plans are available from St Louis County. For questions regarding this prebid meeting, contact SITE Improvement Association at 314/966-2950.

MWBE PreBid Meeting Notice

The SITE Improvement Association is hosting a Prebid meeting for Qualified and Certified MWBE contractors to discuss working on St. Louis County’s 2020 Advance Sidewalk Work Program Project No. AR/CR-1811

This meeting is being held on behalf of the following SITE contractor member:

J.M. Marschuetz Construction Co. 15 Truitt Drive, Eureka, MO 63025 636/938-3600

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

November 12, 2020

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

Project plans are available from St Louis County. For questions regarding this prebid meeting, contact SITE Improvement Association at 314/966-2950.

PUBLIC NOTICE

SEALED BIDS

Bids for BAS Replacement at Jennings State Office Building, P r o j e c t N o . O1921-01, will be received by F M D C , S t a t e of MO, UNTIL 1 : 3 0 P M , 11/24/2020 via MissouriBUYS. Bidders must be registered to bid. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

$135 / wk + Dep, All Util., includ., free W/D, Near busline, Call 314-741-1951 leave a message

HOMES

Sealed Proposals for B21-1198 Hemp Potency Analyzer will be received at Lincoln University Purchasing Dept 1002 Chestnut St, RM 101 Shipping & Receiving Bldg, JCMO 65101 until 2PM CT on 10Nov2020. Download Proposal Request at http://www.lincolnu.edu/web/ purchasing/bids

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER AS CONSTRUCTOR RFQ

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks submissions for the Construction Manager as Constructor RFQ from qualified contractors to bid. Bid documents are available as of 11/4/2020 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Critical Care Addition – East IR Expansion for the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.

This is the renovation of the existing sleep lab area to an interventional radiology imaging room with support space and per/post recovery rooms. The project consists of approximately 2,971 SF of space and includes but is not limited to demolition, carpentry, architectural woodwork, firestopping, doors/frames/hardware, ICU entrances, drywall, tile, acoustical ceilings, flooring, painting, fire sprinklers, plumbing, HVAC and electrical work.

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

Bids for this project are due on November 12th, at 12:00 p.m. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Evan Chiles at 816-878-6003 or emchiles@paric.com.

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

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

K&S Associates, Inc. is soliciting

for the following projects for Oct-NovMS&T Vivarium Lab Renovation, Valley Park Fire Protection District #2 and AP-Stem Building-Plans and Specs can be viewed at www.ksgcstl.com-submit bids to estimating@ksgcstl.com or Fax 314-647-5302

Point of Contact: Gigi Glasper – gxglasper@flystl.com

Airport Properties Division Manager

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion,

We voted – and we voted early

Voter turnout was 65% for the City of St. Louis and 78% for St. Louis County on election day, with an unprecedented number of voters claiming an exemption to vote absentee in hopes of avoiding large crowds on election day due to the COVID19 pandemic. Ironically, some of the time when people voted absentee, some polls were more crowded than the same polls were at certain times on Election Day.Statewide voter turnout was 69.75%.

Photos by Wiley Price

St. LouiS AmericAn

Cori Bush makes history

“Today, we — all of us — are headed

St. Louis strong,” Congresswomanelect Cori Bush said on election night.

First Black woman elected to Congress in Missouri

By

It’s official: Cori Bush will become the first Black woman Missouri sends to Congress.

In a speech Tuesday night, Bush stood in front of a Black Lives Matter tapestry and thanked her family, supporters and campaign staff. She gave a special shout out to the Ferguson frontliners, a group she said is not given the attention or credit they deserve.

“We want to lift them up right now — so every single person that is listening right now that is a Ferguson frontliner, this is for you and this win is for you,” she said.

She went on to talk about her personal experience.

“I was running, I was that person running for my life across a parking lot, running from an abuser,” she said. “I remember one day hearing bullets whiz past my head, and at that moment I wondered, ‘How do I make it out of this life?’”

POTUS undecided

By Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

While Missouri voters have voiced their support for President Donald Trump in the race for the next American president, a few key states were still counting votes as of press time for this story. In Missouri, 1,711,848 voters cast their ballot for Trump, equating to 56.8%

n “Every single person that is listening right now that is a Ferguson frontliner, this is for you and this win is for you.”

– Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush

Page wins county executive race

‘There should be more that unites us than divides us’

By Dana Rieck Of

With 43% of the votes tallied, Page held the lead with 69.29% of the vote as he went live on Facebook on Tuesday night with his wife Dr. Jennifer Page by his side to thank voters, his family and his campaign staff.

“I am humbled, grateful and proud of the results so far in the county executive race,” he said. “We have accomplished a great deal in a short time, even with historic challenges and a political climate that has pitted neighbor against neighbor in unfamiliar ways.” He said with the election over, it was time to focus on common goals — mainly a safe, successful and vibrant county.

“We may disagree on how we get there, but with that common goal there should be more that unites us than divides us,” he said, noting he will be spending the next two years focusing on the strengths of the county — a diverse economy, great parks, a strong network of hospitals and clinics, and a robust library system.

Circuit attorney Gardner, Treasurer Jones, Sheriff Betts reelected by wide margins

By Chris King Of

Photo by Wiley Price

See BUSH, A7

Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

See PAGE, A7

Dr. Sam Page

Eddie may have to spice up the child support

Spice Girl Mel B’s finances report edly have taken a drastic dip, so much so that she is requesting that film and comedy legend Eddie Murphy the amount of child support payments for their daughter, 13-year-old As the MailOnline reported, the British singer, songwriter and TV person ality (Melanie Janine Brown) filed court documents after her income was drastically reduced and after reportedly trying “numerous times” to resolve the issue out of court. She is also request ing Murphy pay her attor ney expenses. The Daily Mail sited a 2009 report by Us Weekly, that said the two agreed Mel B would have sole physical custody of their daughter, and Murphy would pay $25,000 a month, health insurance and costs, and educational fees.

Tiffany and Common: Are they, or aren’t they?

Comedian Tiffany Haddish and rapper Common have clamped the rumors of them unfollowing, then refollowing each other on Instagram (if he ever followed her in the first place) by professing their love for one another. Speculation of their new celebrity couple matchupbreakup swirled after fans noticed Common wasn’t following her. But fret not, Common is following her now, and the couple went to where all good rumors can be put to rest – on IG Live, to publicly say that they, and their love for one another, is still a thing.

costume that it’s speculated on HipHopDX that he deactivated from his 34.6 million followers on Instagram because of it. Apparently, there is no time for all that social media foolishness when, after all, the Caped Crusader has Gotham City to look after. As Batman would say, “HOLY SMOKE, Robin!” And guess what? The mouseeared little brown bat that’s found in North America, Myotis lucifugus, has glossy brown fur, and the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, which hangs out between here and South America also has brown fur. Didn’t you know it – or didn’t you Google it (like I did)? Folks, it was Halloween. Couldn’t there be room for a bit of creativity in his costume, with matching fancy vehicles to boot? Apparently not.

“I just want the best for my daughter, always want the best,” Mayweather said during an interview with Hollywood Unlocked. “If that makes her happy, then we’re happy, me and her mother is happy.”

Ciara and Russell Wilson say “Why Not You’

NFL Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, singer Ciara, are launching the Why Not You Academy. The Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation is providing $175 million to help revamp a school just south of Seattle into Why Not You, which will focus on providing academics, student plans, internships and mentorships to Black and Latinx students.

In an Associated Press interview cited by The Root, Ciara said, “We’re all in on this.”

IJS, if you’re going to be Batman, you got to be correct

Travis Scott’s Halloween 2020 costume apparently tricked him into thinking he was treating his social media followers. The IG posse went in so hard on the “Astroworld” mastermind’s Batman-of-another-color

Mayweather’s daughter and Young Boy are expecting a young’un

Rapper Young Boy Never Broke Again and Yaya Mayweather are expecting a child. The musical artist is the daughter of boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. An April 2020 baby mama stabbing incident in Texas and Yaya’s aggravated assault arrest aside, her bun in the oven is Mayweather’s first grandchild. As reported by Complex, Young Boy has seven children.

According to the Seattle News Tribune as described by the Root, the tuition-free public charter high school will open in the fall of 2021 with a freshman class of 100. And as exciting as it might have been to think about, the celebrity couple will not be involved in the school’s day-to-day operations.

Sources: Complex, HipHopDX, Instagram, Just Jared, Mail Online, MadameNoire, Moms, Rap-Up, SmartNews, Talent Recap, The Root, The Shade Room

Study: Misdemeanor arrests decline while racial disparities persist

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

A 10-year study across eight

U.S. jurisdictions, including St. Louis, released October 21 provided insights into how police interact with communities when it comes to misdemeanor enforcement.

While a great deal of research has been conducted on felony and violent crimes, little is known about lower level charges and police interaction.

Erica Bond is policy director for Data Collaborative for Justice — the organization that conducted the study. She said this work is important, first and foremost because by some estimates 75% to 80% of all enforcement actions are composed of misdemeanors.

“And I think we’ve also seen a lot of the recent high-profile incidents — what starts out as a low-level arrest can escalate into something much more significant and can even result in death,” Bond said. “So, it’s not always necessarily appropriate to even characterize this kind of enforcement as low level.”

Bond said over 40 jurisdictions applied to be part of the long-term research project, out of those, eight were most equipped to provide the needed data and were chosen to participate, St. Louis being one of them. The work sought to study trends over roughly a 10-year period and looked at demographic changes over time, while also looking at the kinds of charges that were being

enforced.

Preeti Chauhan, associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, noted that it was universities that applied to be a part of the study. Data Collaborative for Justice researchers also wanted to ensure the locations were diverse in geography and that the locations’ governmental agencies and other organizations were supportive of learning more and using that information moving forward.

Once those reports were produced, seven in total (one rural jurisdiction was unable to produce a full report), researchers looked to see if there were any commonalities. Bond said she and her colleagues think there are some noteworthy findings, including significant increases and then a general decline in misdemeanor enforcement across all seven sites.

“So, the purpose of this work really was to document trends in enforcement and create more transparency, including around any racial disparities that are associated with misdemeanor enforcement,” she said. Both Bond and Chauhan noted it’s important to remember the kind of impact misdemeanor charges can have on an individual’s life — from job opportunities to things less tangible like mental wellbeing and familial relationships.

The key findings of the study across all locations included:

• Misdemeanor arrest rates decreased in recent years, and those declines often

followed a period of significant increases in misdemeanor enforcement.

• Black people, younger people and men were consistently arrested for misdemeanors at higher rates than any other group.

• Trends illustrated a move away from “more discretionary, drug-related charges and an increase in the share of charges where there is an identifiable complainant or victim.”

Lee Ann Slocum is a professor at UMSL and received her Ph.D. in Criminology and

Criminal Justice. She was one of the leading data collectors and researchers for the St. Louis portion of the study, along with Beth M. Huebner, an UMSL professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Slocum noted that the most common type of misdemeanor arrest over this study in the region was a simple assault, or an assault that does not involve a weapon or result in injury to a person.

“There’s some indication that by enforcing these lowlevel offenses you actually can hurt safety in neighborhoods because people are less likely to trust the police and are less

willing to call them and seek out their help and offer cooperation,” Slocum said. “So, there’s sometimes that tradeoff between enforcement of lower level offenses and community trust and the ability of police to effectively do their job.”

Slocum said because there is a high rate of violent crime in St. Louis, the police department is driving the research agenda and they’re primarily interested in how they’re doing with arrests for violent crimes and serious crimes. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been resistant to this particular area of study.

“The police department has been very transparent and very generous with their data They’ve met with us on a number of occasions to help us interpret the data and make sure that we’re getting things right. And so, I think the partnership has really been effective,” Slocum said.

The study’s St. Louis data showed a 76% decline in misdemeanor enforcement from 2002 to 2017, with the proportion of drug arrests fell from 16% to 8%. Similarly, the arrest rate for 18-20-year-olds fell by 85% and the arrest rate for 35-65-year-olds also fell by about 75%.

Slocum said that while the study found a greater percent

decline among misdemeanor enforcement of Black men, she doesn’t think that is simply because there were more arrests of Black people, men in particular, at the beginning of the study.

“I do think some of this, it could be about place where the police are policing, perhaps, but I don’t think it’s just the fact that there are more arrests of black people.”

Even so, Bond notes that racial disparities existed in all locations at the beginning of the study and continued through the end, despite a decline in misdemeanor enforcement. She notes because those disparities are a feature of all seven criminal legal systems, policy makers and advocates need to figure out why these disparities exist.

“I think any city that takes on and is willing to take on this research partnership … [it] is a critical first step,” Chauhan said. “Hopefully all of our jurisdictions and more will continue to monitor these trends in addition to other trends like the use of bench warrants and arrests for bench warrants — how these types of lower level enforcements impact jail populations and so I think I commend the city for sort of taking this this first step and the researchers at UMSL for being the independent researchers to do it.”

The other locations included in the study were: Durham, North Carolina; Los Angeles, California; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City, New York; Prince George’s County, Maryland; and Seattle, Washington.

More information about the Data Collaborative for Justice and its findings can be found at datacollaborativeforjustice.org.

Editorial / CommEntary

Let’s finally start thriving -- together

We appreciate that many people are left feeling anxious and depressed by the November 3 elections. How could anyone, let alone 67 million people (1.7 million of them here in Missouri), vote for four more years of Donald Trump’s hate and chaos in the White House? How could a half-million more people in Missouri vote for a slate of mediocre, bumbling white men running for reelection to statewide office as Republicans over the dynamic, diverse slate of evidently better qualified and more competent candidates that emerged from the Democratic primary? How could the same electorate that passed Clean Missouri election reforms two years ago undo those same reforms and enact in their place a much worse system with Amendment 3?

However, consider that the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County stood for none of this hate, chaos and nonsense on election day. City and county voters elected Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Allisia Canady, Rich Finneran, Yinka Faleti and Vicki Englund and defeated Amendment 3 by wide margins. Looking at these discrepancies, it’s understandable to feel like we are in the wrong state and the wrong country. But that’s not the same as being in the wrong place. In fact, when you consider the uniformly wise judgments made by the voting majorities in St. Louis city and county on election day, we are compelled to ask all of you -- all of us -- to appreciate yourselves and each other as the decent and judicious citizens that you -- that we -- are, for the most part. We also should celebrate and congratulate ourselves for reelecting some embattled but impressive local leaders -- St. Louis County

supported through vicious primary challenges. We must be inspired and encouraged by Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush, who rose from the streets of Ferguson to disrupt one of Missouri’s most formidable political dynasties. And we must embrace and thank city voters for accepting an additional tax burden to fund early childhood education and for taking a chance on a new form of municipal election that will, we believe, lead to more dynamic winners of our city’s most powerful elected offices.

The United States and the State of Missouri may leave us feeling anxious, depressed, even a little hopeless. But look closer to home, look right here at home, and you have to admit we are hopeful survivors who, in the large majority, made good decisions in this turbulent and difficult election year. Perhaps we should learn to trust and respect one another more, to fight amongst ourselves less, to work together better. Because, when you look at those election returns, and you look around this state and have to conclude that we are all we’ve got.

“There should be more that unites us than divides us,” Dr. Page said on election night. That must be said again and again here in the St. Louis region. There should be more that unites us than divides us.

As I See

Trump’s many gut punches to Black Americans

By Marc H. Morial National Urban League

As a non-partisan organization, the National Urban League does not endorse political candidates or encourage voters to choose one candidate over another. As a historic civil rights organization devoted to economic and social justice for African Americans, we have an obligation to combat racism, discrimination, racially motivated violence and disinformation targeting Black Americans. According to fact-checkers in the media, President Trump has made nearly 23,000 false or misleading claims over the course of his presidency. His claim that he has “done more for the African-American community than any president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln” is perhaps the most insidious and the most insulting.

wage gap continued to grow and the Black homeownership rate fell to historic lows.

Far from being a boon for Black Americans, the last four years have seen a dramatic rollback of civil rights protections, a surge in racially motivated hate crimes, and a deterioration of the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

Executive Dr. Sam Page, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones -- whom we collectively

“St. Louis — my city, my home, my community — we have been surviving and grinding, just scraping by for so long, and now this is our moment to finally start living,” Congresswoman-elect Bush said on election night. “Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving.” That must be said again and again here in the St. Louis region. Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving -- together.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

67 million reasons why Americans aren’t exceptional

By Mike Jones

Of The St. Louis American

Donald Trump is arguably the most corrupt and incompetent president in American history. He’s without question the most incompetent and corrupt president in modern American history. From the day he descended the escalator to his comments on election night, he has been a toxic dumpster fire on the body politic. His incompetence and depraved indifference in handling the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is prima facie case of criminal negligence and is worthy of jail time; his criminality has ranged from larceny to crimes against humanity. As president he has not just been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment and removal from office, but also treason against the United States. Though we don’t know the outcome of the election as I write this, we do know that at least 67 million people in this country believe he should be re-elected. And they came to that decision in the context of a pandemic that, because of his incompetence and callous indifference, has resulted in over 8 million Americans becoming infected, the deaths of another 230,000-plus Americans, and the destruction of the economic livelihood of tens of millions more. Just this thought alone should give any rational person pause to consider and evaluate what manner of people are these Americans.

There is a myth that white Americans believe about themselves: the myth of American exceptionalism. White Americans have clung to this infantile notion that the country’s founding is a function of Divine Providence and they are a chosen people. They believe they were somehow endowed

with innate goodness and immune from the evil banality of the rest of the human race. They believe that their sins are sins of omission and should be forgiven and understood as unfortunate missteps that are the necessary cost others pay for America’s Manifest Destiny.

But there is nothing exceptional about any people who would elect an obvious moral degenerate like Donald Trump and then watch the havoc he wreaked over the last four years – and still 67 million people voted to re-elect him.

This belief in the myth of American exceptionalism is akin to addiction. It distorts who the addict believes himself to be and permits him to be an active agent in the destruction of those around him. James Baldwin counseled us that not everything you face can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced. For the past four years Donald Trump has forced white America to face the totality of who it is.

As recovering addicts are in daily struggle for sobriety, we as humans are in daily struggle to overcome the worst in us.

White America is still in denial. The Donald Trump presidency, and the fact that at least 67 million white Americans support it, has dealt a death blow to American exceptionalism, and nothing shall so become its life like the leaving of it.

White Americans and their America are no exception to the vagaries that vex humanity.

As Immanuel Kant reminds us, “Out of timber so crooked as

that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved.”

Donald Trump and the white Americans that support him are the physical manifestation of 400 years of American history in real time. If you are a white American and the past four years have left you feeling enraged, fearful, overwhelmed, uncertain and exhausted, you have experienced some of what it’s like to have been Black in America these past 400 years.

On the eve of the election, I wrote that white America was at an inflection point. They would have choose between redefining what it means to be white in a multiracial, multicultural democracy or they could retain their white privilege in a neofascist dystopian nightmare. “Black voters are responding to this election like their lives depend upon it, because it does,” I wrote. “We’ll do what we need to do, as we’ve always done, not because we want to save American democracy but because we want to save each other.”

While you can’t be absolutely certain, it looks like Trump won’t prevail. And it will be for the same reason white mendacity is always pushed back: Black Resistance. In spite of the most overt voter suppression and intimidation we’ve seen since the 1960s, Black voters, like Spartans at Thermopylae, held the line. If Trump loses Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and with it the presidency, it will be because of Black voters in Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

I’m hoop’s junkie. It would really be cool, if just once, when the game is on the line, we could depend on white people to make a shot.

Mike Jones is a member of The St. Louis American’s editorial board.

One out of every thousand Black Americans has died from COVID-19. Six of every ten Black households are facing serious financial problems since the pandemic began. Almost a third can’t pay their rent or mortgage. Which of his achievements could he imagine exceeds the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1965, all enacted under President Lyndon Baines Johnson?

Prior to the pandemic, Trump cited the lowest Black unemployment rate on record, but even then it was consistently twice the white race. Black unemployment fell four and a half times further during President Obama’s term than it did during the three years before the pandemic struck. Meanwhile, the Black-white

Shortly after Trump took office, the Justice Department –led by an attorney general who once disparaged the Voting Rights Act as “an intrusive act” – abandoned its long-standing opposition to a racially discriminatory Texas voter I.D. law. It was the first salvo in a war on Black voting rights that has continued through the establishment of a task force to promote the myth of widespread voter fraud, opposition to the Voting Rights Advancement Act, pushing states to purge voter rolls, and the sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service to thwart mail-in voting.

The Justice Department abandoned the use of consent decrees – formal reform agreements with police departments accused of racially motivated excessive force and constitutional violations. It ended the Community Oriented Policing Services’ Collaborative Reform Initiative, a program aimed at building trust between police officers and the communities they serve. Trump himself has demonized peaceful protestors against racially motivated

Letters to the editor

More helpful uses of Senate seats

Instead of rushing through Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley should make better use of the Senate’s time.

People struggling here and around the world have been waiting for months for Congress to pass an emergency COVID-19 response bill. What is Congress not understanding about this emergency?

Our Missouri senators should resume negotiations over a COVID-19 deal. To help families stay in their homes during the pandemic and keep food on the table, the bill must provide $100 billion in rental/mortgage assistance and a 15% increase to the maximum SNAP benefit. Meanwhile, global AIDS, TB, and malaria deaths are projected to rise to levels we haven’t seen in 10-20 years.

Both Senators have advocated for global health before. Will they do it again now and make sure the U.S. contributes no less than $20 billion towards international development?

They could even cosponsor S. 3471, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The House passed this bipartisan bill on September 22, which aims to ensure that U.S. entities are not funding forced labor among ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

All of these actions would be much more effective, helpful uses of their Senate seats.

Yara Changyit-Levin Town and Country

Shouldn’t everyone?

If Amy Coney Barrett rules against the Affordable Care Act, her brilliant legal mind

police violence as terrorists, and his administration opposes efforts to reform racist police practices.

Last month alone, a whistleblower complaint alleged that Department of Homeland Security officials directed analysts to downplay threats from violent white supremacy and Russian election interference; an executive order banned federal agencies, federal contractors, and grantees from engaging in anti-discrimination workplace diversity trainings; and the Department of Housing and Urban Development gutted the disparate impact tool under the Fair Housing Act, which will make it harder to challenge systemic racism by housing providers, financial institutions, and insurance companies.

Finally, in the midst of a pandemic that is killing Black Americans at twice the rate of whites, the Trump administration is trying to kill the health care law that shrank the racial health care gap and made insurance available to millions.

Stoking racial resentment among white Americans, even courting the support of white supremacists, has been part of the Trump playbook since he slandered Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals at his campaign announcement in 2015.

Even so, it came as a gut punch early in his presidency when he declared there were “good people on both sides” of a deadly clash between white supremacists and anti-racist protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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

and her illustrious career will not be remembered. The only thing that will be remembered about her, which will erase the memory of any good that she has done, will be that she has removed health care insurance from 20,000,000 Americans who have pre-existing conditions. All Catholic priests and all people 65 years of age and older have health care insurance that covers pre-existing conditions. Shouldn’t everyone?

Linda Caravelli Florissant

Not wearing a mask

Not wearing a mask is the new suicide, especially for depressed and fatalist people who don’t care about tomorrow. It is also the new racism, because minority people are hit hardest by the spread. Not wearing a mask is a new gang sign to show-off what gang-party one belongs to. Finally, it is the latest way to dishonor parents and grandparents, since our elders are put under dire threat by this callous behavior.

Kimball

Guest Columnist Marc H. Morial

Guest Columnist Mike Jones

Sgt. Donnell Walters named new president of ESOP

Sgt. Donnell Walters has been named the new president of the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP). Founded in 1972, ESOP is an association of more than 300 police officers, park rangers and civilians that advocates for racial and gender equity in law enforcement.

Sgt. Walters replaces Detective Sgt. Heather Taylor, long-time ESOP president, who retired in September.

“Sgt. Heather Taylor paved the way, and our focus will be to carry on the momentum and work that she started. We will continue to boldly advocate for equality in our police departments and fight for a seat at the bargaining table,” said Sgt. Walters.

“At this critical time in our community and our world, we can accomplish the most if more people are engaged in our mission and our work. For that reason, we also will focus on increasing the participation of our current members, adding to our membership and strengthening the support of the community and government leaders.”

Sgt. Walters joined the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) in 2002 and has been with the department’s Community Engagement and Recruiting Unit for three years. Sgt. Walters has been an ESOP member for most of his career and held a leadership position with the current ESOP Board.

“I’m more than confident that Sgt. Walters will keep the Ethical Society of Police moving forward,” said Retired Sgt. Taylor. “I also know Sgt. Walters will praise and hold our members accountable for their actions.”

Tax workshop for creative professionals Nov. 7

Certified Public Accountant Dan Connor will offer tax tips and answer questions from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, November 7, in a free online workshop hosted by the St. Louis Writers Guild, in cooperation with the Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA).

Dan Connors, with Buenger Accounting in Granite City, IL, is an enrolled agent under the IRS and a CPA under the state of Illinois. He has been preparing taxes for more than 15 years for individuals, nonprofits, and busi-

nesses. He is also an aspiring writer. He can be reached at dan@buengeraccounting.com (accounting) or dan@ authordanconnors.com (writing). You can find the Zoom address for the tax workshop on the Guild’s Virtual Events page (www.stlwritersguild. org/virtual-events), join here https://tinyurl.com/Guildtax-Zoom (meeting ID is 702 890 3800, password is SLWG2020 or call in at (312) 626 6799.

Volunteer as a board member at a nonprofit you believe in

By Michelle Tucker For The St. Louis American

Joining the governance board of a local nonprofit can be one of the best ways to make a significant impact in our community. Although it’s been more than a decade ago, I recall my first board experience like it was only yesterday.

It happened during a time of nationwide economic crisis, and I had just accepted the local Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy role at the Fortune 500 company I was working at. I was eager to do my part and make a difference by helping to align business resources to the complex and growing needs of our most vulnerable in the community.

Nonprofit governance board member. The formal role and responsibilities of a nonprofit governance board member are complex and varied.

A board member is responsible for defining and supporting the nonprofit’s vision, goals and mission by setting sound policies. They also implement sound planning and evaluate and set new goals to benefit the nonprofit.

In addition, they may assist in hiring the best employees for key roles while providing ongoing support to the chief executive officer. They also carefully oversee the nonprofit’s budget and are responsible for helping to set new budgets.

Board members are vitally important to helping effectively steer the organization to greatness and towards a sustainable and brighter future while ensuring that the organization has sufficient resources and funds to continue to create an impact in the communities they serve.

Why leaders can make a huge difference for a nonprofit organization. If you are looking for a way to give back and make a huge difference in our region, becoming a board member of a nonprofit can help you to achieve this.

A good business leader has natural leadership skills, industry expertise, experience and networking connections that can help raise a nonprofit’s knowledge base and visibility. By sharing your expertise, the nonprofit can benefit from much-needed assistance and become even stronger in the long term. These are just a few ways leaders can help nonprofits at no cost.

Not only does a nonprofit board member add value to the organization, but the opportunity works both ways. A nonprofit can actually help leaders improve their soft skills. For example, teamwork, problem-solving, and analytical skills can be further honed by serving as a board member, regardless of your experience level or age. It can be an ideal opportunity for a young professional to help a great cause while gaining an additional community perspective. Joining a nonprofit board is a great way to expand your network and connections from around the region and across industries.

Our local nonprofits need you. If you are a business leader or a young professional, why not make a difference by volunteering as a board member at a nonprofit you believe in?

By engaging, connecting and understanding the growing needs of the nonprofits serving our local community, you can add much-needed value and expand your community impact, accountability and experience at the same time. It’s a win-win situation!

Michelle Tucker is president and CEO of United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Michelle Tucker

Sgt. Donnell Walters has been named the new president of the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP).

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

State Sen. Jill Schupp lost her bid to oust incumbent Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner in the race for Missouri’s Second Congressional District.

With 100% of precincts reporting, unofficial results from the St. Louis County Board of Elections show Wagner with 230,617 votes,

Schupp loses District 2 race

Wagner wins reelection by nearly 30K votes

or 52% of the vote. Schupp received 201,520 votes, for a total of 45.4% of the vote, and Libertarian Martin Schulte with 2.6% with 11,558 votes. Schupp spoke on the phone with Wagner Tuesday night to concede. She then released a statement.

“These are painful, divided times for our state and our nation. The partisan bickering and name calling must come to an end. It is incumbent upon

our leaders to reach across the aisle and work for the people who have elected to represent them,” Schupp stated.

“This race might be over, but what our campaign stood for will endure. Being your nominee has been the greatest honor of my life and my commitment to

Jill Schupp

protecting people with pre-existing conditions, making our communities safer from gun violence, and creating an economy that works for all of us remains steadfast.”

The St. Louis American endorsed Schupp, who made access to health care a centerpiece of her

campaign.

After the primary in August, in which Schupp tallied 103,164 votes to Wagner’s 63,686, the Democratic candidate had a decent chance at flipping the congressional seat, much like she did when she won the open 24th District state Senate in 2014 running against Jay Ashcroft. “I’m humbled and honored to once again represent you in Congress. I promise to continue fighting for our conservative, Missouri values and always putting Missourians first and politics second,” Wagner wrote Tuesday night on Facebook. n “These are painful, divided times for our state and our nation.”

–

Jill Schupp

Amendment 3 passes

Clean Missouri claims Republicans tricked voters

By Dana Rieck

Of The St. Louis American

Amendment 3 has been passed by Missourians with a margin just shy of 60,000 votes. This means that governor-appointed bipartisan commissions, rather than a nonpartisan state demographer, will now draw legislative districts.

Amendment 3 won statewide by more than 50,000 votes, 51% to 49%.

Amendment 3 also states that district maps will be based on the eligible voter population of the state, meaning children and non-citizens would not count when the districts are drawn.

“What it’s really about is how politicians want to draw their own district maps. They want to choose their voters instead of having the voters choose them,” said Louise Wilkerson in October. She is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis. The Brennan Center and Schwartznegger Institute have independently conducted studies on this amendment. The former states that excluding children and noncitizens would exacerbate racial inequities and result in more than a quar-

POTUS

Continued from A1 however, when he received an almost 19%-point win in the state. Trump’s victory this time around comes as no surprise, as 52.7% of Missourians voted GOP candidate Gov. Mike Parson to his first elected term. Parson said Tuesday

ter of Missourians left uncounted — including 21% of Missouri’s white population compared to 28% of the state’s Black population, 54% of its Asian population and 54%of its Latino population.

The passage of Amendment 3 reverses the Clean Missouri Amendment passed by an almost 2-to-1 margin in 2018, which transferred the task of redrawing legislative districts to a nonpartisan demographer. The Clean Missouri organization released

Louise Wilkerson

night he believes the state of Missouri is built on Christian principals and that people don’t want the government to tell them what to do every day.

“This election was about preserving freedom, capitalism

a statement late Tuesday night.

“We are of course very disappointed that the politicians’ lies and deception appear to have been effective enough to pass Amendment 3. Thousands of volunteers from across the state and across the political spectrum have been working for years to pass and then defend fair redistricting rules in our constitution, and today we came up short,” Clean Missouri stated.

“Nevertheless, we are com-

and the rule of law,” he said.

“That’s what this election was all about.”

The rule of law and freedom are major issues Trump has campaigned on.

After Biden was projected to

mitted to ensuring as fair an outcome as possible when new maps are drawn in 2021. Amendment 3 was written to allow for truly radical gerrymandering, but it does not require it. The broad, bipartisan coalition that passed the Clean Missouri Amendment will be active and engaged in the 2021 redistricting process to ensure that voters and communities come first in new maps, not politicians.”

Sean Soendker Nicholson, who was leading the effort to defeat the amendment, told The St. Louis American in October that politicians and lobbyists tried to trick voters

win Michigan and Wisconsin late Wednesday afternoon, two battlegrounds Trump conquered in 2016, it was clear the president was intent on challenging several key results.

His Twitter feed was filled with tweets, most of which were being censored by the social media site, concocting conspiracies of “mailin ballot dumps” and claiming electoral victories from states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina before all votes were counted.

with this amendment.

“They want super-safe incumbent protection maps, regardless of what voters are saying that they want from their legislature,” he said.

“To do that they are going to need to trick voters, that is their plan, to be able to trick voters with the $5 lobbyist gift change and hope that voters don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the fine print. So we know that in the fine print that there are redistricting details [and] policies unlike anything Missouri has ever seen and unlike anything else in the United States.”

Sherrilyn Ifill.

“For democracy to work for all of us, each and every voter must be heard. This is not about party, candidates, or agendas, but rather about the promise of our democracy that ensures no voters are silenced,” they stated.

n “Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever.”

– Joe Biden

Joe Biden continued to push messages of unity, calm and patience so that every vote can be counted.

“Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever,” he tweeted. Also pushing that message was a coalition of civil rights leaders that included Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Clayola Brown, Derrick Johnson, Elise Scott, Kristen Clarke, Marc Morial, Melanie Campbell and

“Despite a global pandemic and extraordinary voter suppression throughout the election season, voters participated in this election in historic numbers in the 2020 election. Across the country, citizens braved long lines to vote early, and mailed in or dropped off ballots in record numbers. Voters exercised their right to participate in the face of risks to personal health and safety.” As for the U.S. Senate, the Associated Press reported the Republicans lost one seat to the Democrats. In the U.S. House, Democrats had lost 5 seats to the Republicans as of press time. Neither party had secured a majority in the House or the Senate as of press time.

Continued from A1

She said she’s been the uninsured single parent waiting outside a payday loan office and the COVID-19 patient “gasping for breath.”

“I’m still that person. I am proud to stand before you today knowing it was this person with these experiences who moved the voters of St. Louis to do something historic,” she said.

“St. Louis — my city, my home, my community — we have been surviving and grinding, just scraping by for so long, and now this is our moment to finally start living. Let’s finally start living, let’s finally start growing, let’s finally start thriving.”

Bush continued on to say as the first Black woman, single mother and the first nurse to represent Missouri in Congress she would work for those who have not been represented before.

“To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers,” she said: “This is our

Voters

Continued from A1

Proposition R, placed on the ballot by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, increases the property tax rate by 6 cents – up to 25 cents per $100 of home value from the current rate of 19 cents – resulting in an estimated $2.3 million annual investment in early childhood education for children ages 5 and under. The funds raised through Proposition R will be managed by the St. Louis Mental Health Board’s Community Children’s Services Fund.

Proposition R was endorsed by Action St. Louis, Generate Health, Parents as Teachers National Center WEPOWER and the Deaconess Foundation.

“Though there are 225 licensed early childhood programs serving approximately

Page

Continued from A1

He said the pandemic is not over and is far from it, but he believes a lot has been learned since February, which will guide health policies moving forward.

“Saving lives cannot be a partisan decision, and we can’t let it be,” he said.

“As we prepare for the next wave, I will continue to consult with experts and will talk to you every day about sacrifices demanded of us to adapt to ever-changing and trying circumstances. … We can’t always know what is around the corner – but I can promise you that there is a corner. And that we will get there. Together.” He also urged people to be calm and hold a firm resolution to uphold democratic institutions as all the votes are counted over the next day or several days. Page was appointed interim St. Louis County executive by his colleagues on the County Council in April 2019, shortly before Steve Stenger pleaded guilty to corruption charges in May 2019. He was approved by county voters in the August Democratic primary with 38.1% of the vote.

The county executive has worked to implement COVID19 safety procedures despite pushback. He vetoed two bills last week passed by the County Council 4-3 that would have put time limits on his authority during an emergency and on public health restrictions during this coronavirus pandemic.

The council upheld his veto after a 3-3 vote to override the executive’s actions.

“As people of faith, it was our prayer that the St. Louis County Council would have done the right thing by placing the safety of our citizens above politics and vote down bills 222 and 223,” Bishop Elijah Hankerson, president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, said, as reported in The American last week.

moment.”

For years St. Louis has lived under leadership that shut them out of their own government, she said.

“Today, we — all of us — are headed to Congress, St. Louis strong,” she said. “So, my message today to every Black, brown, immigrant, queer and trans and to every person locked out of opportunities to thrive because of oppressive systems: I’m here to serve you.”

She said it is the greatest honor of her life to serve the residents of Missouri’s First Congressional District.

“So tonight, we the people are victorious, we the people are going to Congress, because we the people have committed to a vision of America that works for all of us,” she said.

“Our America, not Trump’s America, our America will not be led by the small mindedness of a powerful few but the imagination of a mass movement that includes all of us. That is the America we are fighting for.”

Bush said it is her job to serve the people.

“This is a moment where

10,000 children 5-years-old and under in the city, hundreds of children and families are left without equitable access to quality programs,” Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president of the Deaconess Foundation, wrote in support of the proposition. “All children should have access to quality early childhood care and education from birth to be sure they are ready to learn in Kindergarten.”

Proposition D makes three changes to the voting process for St. Louis city elections. First, it creates a nonpartisan primary. Second, voters have the ability to approve (or disapprove) of every candidate on the ballot. Finally, the two candidates with the most votes in the primary advance to the general election.

things have shifted, change has happened, so we got to flow with that change,” she said.

“Now is time to move from that place of struggle to a place of living and a place of thriving.” She said this election was not about her, but about the

Proposition D was endorsed by Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush, St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones, state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, and Rev. Darryl Gray.

“This is a great day for democracy and a huge win for the people of St. Louis,” Aldridge, who is also the city’s 5th Ward Democratic committeeman, said on election night.

“Prop D will let the people’s voices be heard like they haven’t before. It gives voters a say for candidates to make it to the general election. The people’s voices will be heard instead of letting people win with only 30% of the vote.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson won the 2017 municipal Democratic primary with 32% of the vote.

voters standing up and making their voices heard.

“So, St. Louis, if you know nothing else, you remember this: ‘My Congresswomanelect, soon to be a congresswoman, loves you.’ Your congresswoman-elect loves you,” she said.

Tishaura O. Jones – who lost to Krewson by just 888 votes in that primary – was reelected as St. Louis treasurer with nearly 100,000 votes (99547, to be exact) or 77.58%. Robert Vroman got 25929 votes (20.21%) and Don De Vivo got 2655 votes (2.07%). On Wednesday, Jones announced she is running for mayor again in 2021.

Kimberly Gardner was reelected as St. Louis circuit attorney with 94942 votes (73.95%). Daniel Zdrodowski got 33100 votes (25.78%).

Vernon Betts was reelected as St. Louis sheriff with more than 100,000 votes (103018, to be exact) or 80.88%. John Castellano got 23924 votes (18.78%).

“Now, our movement is going to Congress. And we will meet the challenges of this moment as a movement side by side, arm in arm, with our fists in the air, with our fists in the air, ready to serve each other until every single one of us is free.” In unofficial final results, Bush received 245,520 votes, or 78.7%. Her Republican opponent, Anthony Rogers, received 19% of the vote. The Libertarian candidate, Alex Furman, received 2.1% of the vote.

Cori Bush waited to vote at the Teamster 6 polling place on Tuesday, November 3. Bush endorsed Proposition D, a municipal election reform measure which passed with 68% of the vote.

Photo by Dawn Suggs

Ferguson frontliners Cathy “Mama Cat” Daniels and Michael Brown celebrated with Congresswomanelect Cori Bush on election night.

Photo by Wiley Price

A UNITED COMMUNITY & CULTURE OF CARING

If

a sense of community is important to you...

If you are driven by a culture of caring... If you want to make a difference...

Then let us introduce you to the Charmaine Chapman Leadership Society

Over the last 26 years, CCS has grown into the No. 1 philanthropic program for African Americans in the nation. And this impact is incredible – CCS has raised more than $46 million for the St. Louis region since its inception.

By answering the call to help their neighbors in need, CCS members make a difference every day throughout our region. CCS has helped create an infrastructure for our community to lean on in times of disaster and crisis. With your support, United Way can continue ensuring that when people need food, shelter, care, counseling or respite, we are there to help.

To learn more about CCS, please visit helpingpeople.org/CCS.

This election taught us we’re on our own

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

No matter who is finally declared the victor of Tuesday’s presidential race, African Americans will still be in a losing position. The election results will not erase the damage done to a people that have been historically denied education, health, housing, and economic opportunities for centuries. No matter who wins, Blacks will still be among those who disproportionately die from treatable illnesses, violence, and poverty. Our collective worth will still be far below that of white people.

If the coronavirus and the presidential election has taught us anything, it’s this: We’re on our own. The future of our children, our communities, our livelihoods, and our very lives are in our hands, not those of the Republican or Democratic parties. This is not a call to opt out of the democratic process; it’s a reminder that we must finally develop, promote and enact our own agenda, our own systems within the system.

Political pundits and pollsters were stunned that their predictions of Trump’s whopping defeat and a mighty blue wave in Congress and the Senate did not materialize. Sadly, these experts are victims of American propaganda. They naively believe, as Joe Biden preached, that all Americans are fundamentally good, decent people with a deep-seated desire to be decent, just, and fair. The pollsters always underestimate the sheer power of racism and ignorance in this country.

This is why Trump wins “bigly” in America. His dog whistles to nativism, racism and fear resonate with a large majority of white voters, be they doctors, bankers, teachers, policemen, judges or other. Although Trump has been largely derided for stereotyping Mexicans as rapists and murderers, Black protestors as domestic terrorists, and Black

people as threats to the lilywhite suburbs; the election results prove his strategy really, really works with a large segment of American whites.

Yes, elections are important, and we must participate. Elections provide the opportunity for change. But what they don’t do, what they can’t do, is immediately change the systems that were not designed for our collective wellbeing. Therefore, we settle for the party or candidate that we think will do us less harm. It is imperative that we move past this methodological madness of political dependency. We must go back to move forward.

Jamaican activist, publisher and entrepreneur extraordinaire Marcus Garvey once said: “A race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existence sooner or later dies.”

Now is the time to resurrect the philosophies of self-dependence preached by the likes of Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcom X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We must revisit and revive King’s 1965, $50 billion employment proposal aimed at helping some “20,000,000 Negroes” at the time do-for-self by rebuilding their own neighborhoods.

Neither Trump’s “Platinum Plan” for Black America nor

n The pollsters always underestimate the sheer power of racism and ignorance in this

Biden’s “Lift Every Voice” plan for Black people devotes resources to Black independence. Both plans suggest a trickledown approach through established broken, ineffective, and biased government systems. If you dissect the plans closely, they are designed to help minority groups, which have historically benefitted white women and other ethnicities, not necessarily Black people.

Be it educational or economic reform, whites are loathed to put money in the hands of ordinary, everyday Black people to

create their own systems. Yet, it is within this realm where real, sustainable change has the potential to flourish. Right now, in St. Louis and across the country, there are underfunded, struggling black nonprofits in the streets working to give young blacks opportunities to deter them from lives of crime. Instead of investing in these endeavors, we lavish money on police to target, detain and incarcerate them. Corporate feel-good money is doled out to established Black organizations without any significant commitment to employ the poor kids they represent. If Blacks are serious about changing the trajectory of our collective destinies, we must develop our own do-for-self agenda. That means we must first coalesce around a plan of our making and then demand that politicians adopt and support the plan. I am not angry with rapper Ice Cube for discussing his “Contract with Black America” with Donald Trump. I agree with Cube that this work must go above and beyond partisan politics.

I am disappointed, however, that Cube didn’t collaborate with other Black rappers, entertainers and sports figures before allowing his plan to be cherry-picked and diluted to fit into Trump’s dubious narrative. Already celebrities like T.I., Queen Latifa, Jay-Z, Akon and others, like Dr. Kinf, are extolling the merits of buying land and rebuilding neighborhoods. Imagine if these entertainers had put up their own money and created their own dofor-self promotions complete with slogans, lyrics and social media-savvy images. They already have the power to energize an impoverished people. Overcoming 400 years of oppression and mental conditioning is a yeoman’s task. Yet our current, health, economic and political conditions demand we chart a new self-reliant course that was outlined by our ancestors. The truth of the matter is no matter who is declared victor in this election, until we decide to do for self, Blacks will still be losers.

Brown

Greater St. Louis

CHARMAINE CHAPMAN LEADERSHIP SOCIETY

Sylvester

Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.

Photo by Wiley Price

City of St. Louis residents voted absentee at the city election board downtown on Tuesday.

country.

Guest Columnist Sylvester Brown Jr.

‘There could be a

tsunami of evictions’

Advocates fear consequences when moratorium ends and evictions resume

By Rebecca Rivas

For the Missouri Independent

Phone calls from families on the verge of losing their homes have jumped 300 percent at Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri.

“And we’re getting more and more phone calls every day across the whole southern Missouri in our offices — not just Springfield, but it’s Poplar Bluff, over in Cape Girardeau and in Joplin,” said John Lunardini, senior vice president for operations for the agency.

n “There’s a backlog piling up right now, and those folks are in danger of eviction as soon as the protections lift.”

– Glenn Burleigh, Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council

Families are not able to pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills, he said. In every story he hears, there’s a strong sense of uncertainty and fear. Some people said they aren’t getting the work hours they had been before the pandemic. Others had to change jobs because businesses closed down.

In the meantime, they had to leave their apartment and need help getting into a new place, he said.

Like housing agency directors throughout the state, Lunardini fears what

will happen when the federal moratoriums on evictions expire December 31, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) moratorium on foreclosure and eviction

“At that point, we think that the need is just going to even jump trifold,” he said. “And the last thing you want is anyone to be evicted in the winter months. No family should be out in the cold in the winter, here in Missouri.”

While Lunardini fields calls for help, the money set aside to prevent homelessness is sitting in the state treasury.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission will decide in November how to distribute CARES Act funding for homeless prevention approved by Congress in March through the Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG).

Missouri lawmakers approved $9.6 million in CARES Act funding for

World Wide Technology Raceway recognized for Diversity

American staff

World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, received the Track Award during the 13th annual NASCAR Drive for Diversity awards ceremony on Friday, October 9. The raceway partnered on a youth outreach program with the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation (JJK), NASCAR Diversity & Inclusion and NASCAR Acceleration Nation. During the summer of 2019, WWT Raceway personnel visited JJK’s center along with NASCAR drivers and assisted with an iRacing program at JJK. More than 11,000 children and their families were treated to a day at the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race.

WWTR owner and CEO Curtis Francois said the award is a tremendous honor “represents a collective, focused and sustained effort by our team, our partners and the entire community.” Francois took over the facility in

STL eco-devo merger

Patton: Greater St. Louis, Inc. is ‘great opportunity’ for Black community

By Dana Rieck Of The St. Louis American

Valerie Patton’s life work has centered on the economic betterment of St. Louis since 2004. Now, she says, the next step in that work is about to be taken with the merger of five private sector led economic development organizations.

The senior vice president of inclusion & talent attraction at the St. Louis Regional Chamber said the coming-together of these organizations should be a great opportunity for black and brown communities in the space of jobs and business expansion.

“I’m really excited about where we are,” Patton said. “I think the work will be transformational. It is time for us to be inclusive; there have been a lot of things that have happened in our community, and in the nation, that have led to this point. But at the end of the day we must be working together. I mean, I’m a big fitness buff most days and what we know for sure is the core has to be strong and if your core is not strong, then that means another piece will not be strong.”

The merger was announced Thursday afternoon and includes five private sector led economic development organizations: St. Louis Regional Chamber, AllianceSTL, Civic Progress, Downtown STL and Arch to Park. The new organization will be called Greater St. Louis, Inc. Enterprise Holdings Executive Chairman Andrew Taylor will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s founding chair. In a recent interview, Taylor said that as of January 1, 2021, the organizations will operate as one entity with various departments focusing on different aspects of economic development.

n “It is time for us to be inclusive; there have been a lot of things that have happened in our community, and in the nation, that have led to this point.”

– Valerie Patton, Greater St. Louis, Inc.

“I think so far nobody, strangely enough, has said, ‘That’s a bad idea, Andy,’” Taylor said. “Everybody thought it is just great and it’s overdue, if anything,” he said. “So, I think in terms of the goodwill and the commonality of putting this organization together by these various organizations is terrific. I think what is going to be the challenge, of course, is we are going to be dealing with some of these hard problems — how are we going to get more jobs? How are we going to grow St. Louis?”

Jason Hall, the current chief executive officer of Arch to Park, will serve as Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s CEO. A few years ago, Hall began researching cities who were experiencing eco-

A homeowner was evicted from their home of 20 years on Penrose Street in North City by Sheriff’s deputies and police in this file photo from October 2012. Since March, 1,154 eviction cases have been filed in the City of St. Louis, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. When the moratorium on evictions lifts, many of these cases will result in evictions.

WWTR owner and CEO Curtis Francois (left) during a visit to the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center with three-time NHRA champion Antron Brown

Valerie Patton

Photo by Wiley Price

Andy Taylor

Jason Hall

Evictions

Continued from A9

the program in May, and they will return for a special session starting November 5 to appropriate more. According to Mary Compton, spokeswoman for State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, the commission has authority to spend up to $28 million in CARES Act funding on homeless prevention.

That is in addition to $4.1 million from regular funding in the grant program also part of this year’s state budget.

The housing commission hasn’t been able to deliver the money because it didn’t get guidance from HUD on its use until September 1, said spokesman Brian Vollenweider.

The delays are frustrating, said state Rep. Kip Kendrick of Columbia, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

“Are the feds slowing down any decision made at the state level, or is this MHDC dragging their feet on getting the money out the door?” Kendrick said. “Clearly it has been needed for a while, and the notfor-profit agencies need time to prepare for what will be an increase in evictions and homelessness around the state.”

And although money currently appropriated hasn’t been spent, Gov. Mike Parson said last week — while announcing a post-election special session — that additional CARES Act funds have been made available to the state. Parson’s proposed supplemental budget will contain funding for several items, including more Emergency Solutions Grant Program dollars.

The program is designed to provide emergency assistance to persons who are currently homeless, very low-income persons at imminent risk of homelessness, and persons fleeing domestic violence.

“We are currently working on an allocation plan for these funds,” Vollenweider said.

Catholic Charities is one of the many agencies that receives ESG funds every year

to provide housing and utility assistance, but that money has almost run out, Lunardini said. Catholic Charities has not received any of the ESG funding from the CARES Act, he said.

“When the legislature comes together for the special session and allocates those out to agencies, especially like ours, it’s going to go a long way to help those as we all struggle through this new normal of COVID,” Lunardini said.

Evictions looming

The CDC moratorium and some circuit court orders, including those issued in St. Louis City and St. Louis County, are preventing people from physically being removed from their homes due to the pandemic. However, they do not prevent landlords from filing for evictions in court or stop a judge from granting an eviction order. Those eviction orders will sit on the local sheriff’s desk until the moratorium expires.

“There’s a backlog that is essentially piling up right now,” said Glenn Burleigh, community engagement specialist for the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council. “And those folks are in danger of eviction as soon as the protections lift.”

In St. Louis County, for example, the sheriffs have 250 eviction judgements backlogged, according to a spokeswoman from the 21st Circuit Court. So, when the moratoriums are lifted, the sheriffs will be forced to serve these evictions and remove individuals from their homes.

Since March, about 2,700 eviction cases have been filed in St. Louis — 1,542 in St. Louis County and 1,154 in the City of St. Louis, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. In the Kansas City area, there have been 2,027 filings since March 15. And even since the CDC moratorium was put in place on September 4, more than 90 evictions have been filed in Boone County, 340 in Greene

County and 470 in Jackson County.

Evictions will also disproportionately harm communities of color— and particularly Black women. From 2012 until 2016, Black women renters in Missouri, on average, had evictions filed against them at more than double the rate of white renters, according to the ACLU of Missouri.

“There could really be a tsunami of evictions, when the moratorium ends,” said Jeanette Mott Oxford, director of policy and organizing for Empower Missouri.

Both the tenants and landlords will benefit from rental and mortgage assistance.

“And if the landlords go under because they can’t meet their bills, it has a ripple effect that deepens the economic downturn for our whole state,” she said.

Not automatically protected Missouri is one of only

seven states that never issued a statewide moratorium on evictions, according to the Evictions Lab. And the CDC moratorium does not automatically prevent evictions. Tenants have to present a declaration form that says they have been affected by the pandemic.

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Burleigh said.

The housing council has distributed about 2,500 flyers about the CDC moratorium requirements throughout the St. Louis area, explaining that people aren’t automatically protected.

“Educating folks around that has been somewhat difficult because in the news, it can sound like it’s a big thing, and everything stopped,” Burleigh said. “And that’s not really what happened. Really, these court cases are still rolling. And tenants have to use this affidavit to invoke it.”

That’s why housing advocates are urging Parson and legislators to pass a comprehensive eviction ban statewide during the special session.

“Certainly, there’s a lot of ways that people are kind of getting around the eviction ban, or making it really difficult for tenants to prove that they’ve been affected or to prove that they’re in need,” said Sarah Owsley, policy and organizing manager for Empower

Merger

Continued from A9

nomic growth and mapped out what they were doing that was leading to that success. He then made note of what would work here in St. Louis, which was incorporated into the merger’s plan.

“A thriving city is not automatic, but it’s also not accidental,” Hall said. “We do need to map strategy and raise capital to drive that forward. I think we saw in other cities the role of the urban core, which Val mentioned, is people recognized that for a region to grow

WWT

Continued from A9

2011.

“Our commitment to

Missouri.

People can also be evicted for not paying their utility bills, so a shut-off ban is also necessary, she said. The ESG funds are the correct path to provide necessary assistance, she added.

However, advocates argue that Parson needs to go one step further. In August, Empower Missouri, EHOC and dozens of other agencies and housing experts signed a letter urging the governor to make funding available to property owners if they cancel rent payments and arrears, do not pursue formal or informal evictions, and adhere to a set of strict conditions for the protection of Missouri tenants and their families related to receipt of public funding.

The governor has resisted those calls, telling reporters “we’re not going to do an order for the entire state to allow people not to pay your rent.”

“There’s a process in place for that, and that system needs to work,” Parson said at the time.

However, another problem is that a very small percentage of people facing evictions have legal representation, and they’re forced to try and represent themselves on a video call or by phone. Several states have allocated

and thrive, you must have a strong core. And I think that’s something that’s going to be really, really critical here.”

Patton said the organization will have goals and metrics to guide the movement of the inclusive economic growth plan, which is being put together by Bruce Katz and will be made public later this year. She said Greater St. Louis, Inc. will measure overall job increase, regional GDP, especially in neighborhoods who have been historically disinvested and disenfranchised.

“I think this is a great opportunity for Black and Brown communities, not only

diversity and inclusion is not new. For nine years, we’ve worked with local schools to make meaningful introductions to motorsports, to identify its many career paths and to ultimately provide jobs in auto

funding for tenant representation because they’ve found it decreases the number of eviction judgements.

“It’s vitally important that we keep people stable and housed during this pandemic, especially since we’ve been told right, there’s no real treatment,” Owsley said. “The solution to this is to stay home. That’s the medicine, right? Stay home and stay out of the community.”

More federal aid

“It’s much more expensive to get people rehoused after they’ve lost everything then it is just to keep them where they are,” said Yusef Scoggin, who oversees St. Louis County’s homeless services. “So that’s where we want to target the bulk of our resources.”

St. Louis County received a total of $4.8 million in ESG CARES Act funds directly from the federal government. Normally, they receive about $500,000 in ESG funds.

“That’s recognition of the magnitude of the problem,” he said. The state’s allocation of ESG funds will not go to places like St. Louis County, but will go directly to the agencies doing the work through the state housing commission. Whatever happens in Missouri’s special session will likely be a drop in the bucket of the need, advocates said.

“What was in the CARES Act, that wasn’t enough,” Burleigh said. “And as this drags on, even people who qualified for assistance are going to max out if they haven’t already maxed out, and then they’re going to fall behind.”

The U.S. Senate needs to pass additional aid, Mott Oxford said.

A September U.S. Census household survey found that 13% of Missourians owed at least one rent payment, and that it was higher, much higher among Black and Latino households.

“We need a robust package of aid,” she said. “A lot of Missourians are hurting and over 40 percent have lost income since March. So, we’re in a mess.”

Rebecca Rivas is a reporter for The Missouri Independent: missouriindependent.com. The Independent’s Rudi Keller contributed to this story.

for jobs but for business expansion — probably even looking a little bit deeper into economic development opportunities to expand into neighborhoods that have been generally disenfranchised disinvested in,” she said. “And I really think that everything is not going to get done in a day because many of these issues did not start in a day, but I think it is a sign for us to have a fresh new beginning to look at what is, what has been and then to move forward to what we can do together.” For more information on the merger and Greater St. Louis, Inc.’s plans, visit greaterstlinc. com.

racing. We’ve worked closely with Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the JJK Center to bring racing to her kids via STEM educational programs. Our karting complex and related programs are designed to provide hands-on experience and the ability to compete at the grassroots level, with scholarship programs to further reduce barriers,” Francois said.

“Last year, we were blessed to have Dave Steward and World Wide Technology become an invaluable partner, growing the good in the St. Louis region and setting an example for what is possible in communities elsewhere. I want to thank the France Family and NASCAR for their continued leadership and for recognizing World Wide Technology Raceway for its commitment to a more diverse and inclusive motorsports community. The foundation is set, strong and it’s only the beginning.”

For more information on WWTR, call (618) 215-8888 or visit www.WWTRaceway. com

The group KC Tenants leads a protest against evictions on Oct. 15, outside of the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County in Kansas City.

Photo courtesy of Christina Ostemeyer

Democrats win big in St. Louis, lose badly in Missouri

They are two white women, a Black woman, a white man, and a Black man born in Nigeria, five Democrats who represent some of Missouri’s diversity, and they all lost their statewide elections on Tuesday to a white, male Republican by a similar, wide margin.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway lost her bid to become Missouri’s next governor. Galloway, who has served as state auditor of Missouri since 2015, went live on Facebook just after 10 p.m. Tuesday to congratulate Gov. Mike Parson on his election, thank her family and encourage her supporters.

“To all the young women across Missouri who I met on the campaign trail, I want you to know that there’s nothing you can’t do. Tonight, I may have come up short, but over the past 15 months I have met so many young women who I know will be future governors of Missouri,” she said.

Galloway lost by nearly a half-million votes, 1,216,192 votes (40.6%) to Parson’s 1,713,152 (57.171%). In St. Louis County, however, she won with 59% of the vote and with 80% of the vote in the City of St. Louis.

“Over the course of this campaign we built a coalition of Missourians who are united around a few simple values: that we can no longer ignore science and the growing threat of COVID-19; that no one should be denied access to healthcare in this deadly pandemic; and that our children deserve to live in a Missouri that is fair and accountable to all of its citizens,” Galloway said. She said it’s not about partisan politics, but about putting Missouri families first.

“While this campaign is over, our work continues. We must continue to organize, advocate and fight to ensure that our leaders put the needs of working families first and act with urgency to address the profound challenge this state faces,” Galloway said.

“For the past five years I have been proud to serve as your independent watchdog in Jefferson City. … It has been an honor of my life and you can bet I will keep demanding accountability and transparency from politicians in Jefferson City for years to come. I’m not going anywhere, Missouri.”

Parson gave his acceptance

speech around the same time as Galloway. He dedicated a good portion of his speech to his wife, Missouri’s First Lady Teresa Parson, and the rest of his family.

He said he believes the state of Missouri is built on Christian principals and that people don’t want the government to tell them what to do every day.

“This election was about preserving freedom, capitalism and the rule of law,” he said.

“That’s what this election was all about. However, there is more work to be done, and that work starts tomorrow as the next term for governor.”

Jerome Bauer (Green Party) and Rick Combs (Libertarian Party) were also on the ballot for Missouri governor. The former received 9,330 votes and the latter received 26,142 votes.

Democratic candidate Alissia Canady lost her bid Tuesday night to become Missouri’s lieutenant governor. Canady lost by more than a half-million votes, 1,141,225 votes (38.7%) to 1,724,050 (58.5%) for Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, the Republican appointed incumbent.

Two other candidates, Libertarian Bill Slantz and the Green Party’s Kelley Dragoo were on the ballet. Dragoo received 1% of the vote, while Slantz received 1.8%.

“Thank you for standing with me in this fight. I am impressed with the incredible progress our grassroots movement achieved in such a short time. We gave it everything we had. Together, we fought for the issues we cared about and ran an honest and direct campaign,” Canady wrote in a statement Tuesday night.

“I am beyond grateful to everyone who gave their time, money and passion in support of my candidacy. Tomorrow, we continue our journey: for education, to end city violence and advance investment in human capital. Together, we can and will build a better Missouri. Thank you for believing in our vision and supporting our campaign. Let’s stay connected.”

Canady recently told The St. Louis American that her plans as lieutenant governor included restoring the LIHTC Act with more clear policies and guidelines and focusing on early childhood education funding statewide.

She also said instead of defunding the police, governments should be working to

mitigate the cause of violent crime — substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and hopelessness.

Canady won in St. Louis County with 57% of the vote and in the City of St. Louis with 79% of the vote.

Rich Finneran is a former federal prosecutor and partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. He lost the attorney general race against appointed Republican incumbent Eric Schmitt by more than 600,000 votes. Finneran attacked Schmitt for joining a law suit to undermine the Affordable Care Act, for opposing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s attempt to get a new trial for a man she believes a previous prosecutor wrongly convicted, and for filing a frivolous law suit against China.

Finneran won with 56% of the vote in St. Louis County and 78% of the vote in the City of St. Louis, but his message went unheard among

Missouri’s rural majority. Schmitt won with 59% of the statewide vote.

Yinka Faleti had perhaps the clearest message in this campaign yet faced the longest odds. He was running against the state’s chief election authority, Secretary of State John “Jay” Ashcroft, in an election that Ashcroft clearly was mismanaging. Ashcroft lost legal challenges to his deceptive ballot language for Amendment 3. Faced with challenges to receive and count mail-in ballots provided by the legislature because of the pandemic, he suggested that voters should not vote by mail rather than vow to count their votes.

The top vote getter in the state, Ashcroft won by more than 700,000 votes.

Faleti, a U.S. Army veteran, promised to extend access to the vote, rather than suppress it. He vowed to fight for free and fair elections. He won with 54% of the vote in St. Louis County and 77% of the vote in the City of St. Louis.

But, outstate, the “Ashcroft” name, Republican brand and continuing popularity of Trump crushed him, and Ashcroft won statewide with 61% of the vote.

county actually voted with the statewide majority on one of them.

Amendment 1 lost statewide by more than 100,000 votes, 48% to 52%, and Amendment 3 won statewide by more than 50,000 votes, 51% to 49%. Both amendments were soundly defeated in St. Louis County and city.

Amendment 1 would have enacted two-term term limits for the statewide offices that have none; only the governor and treasurer have such limits.

Amendment 3 was proposed by Missouri Republicans to overturn a citizen ballot initiative passed with overwhelming statewide approval just two years ago. Ashcroft lost court challenges for deceptive ballot language, but the ballot language still appeared to deceive the voters who voted two years ago for the changes undone by Amendment 3.

The November 2018 initiative, popularly known as Clean Missouri, was a lobbying, campaign finance and redistricting initiative that was designed to provide major reform and oversight to Missouri politics. The most important element of the initiative was redistricting reform. It changed the process for how Missouri legislative districts are to be redrawn after every census. It created a less partisan process, using more objective criteria that reduces the ability to gerrymander the legislature to partisan advantage. That was undone by Amendment 3.

Yet his name is “Ashcroft,” which he inherited from one of Missouri’s best-known and successful politicians. His Democratic opponent has a Yoruba name from Nigerian, “Faleti,” seen by the vast majority of Missouri voters for the first time on their ballot.

Vicki Lorenz Englund, the Democratic candidate for state treasurer, encountered the same fate running against Republican incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick Englund won with 56% of the vote in St. Louis County and 78% of the vote in the City of St. Louis, but Fitzpatrick beat her by more than 600,000 votes and won with 59% of the vote statewide.

20-0206_Print_Instacart_06_ROP3rdPage_4Print.pdf 1 10/9/20 2:04 PM

For the two statewide amendment, St. Louis city and

Amendment 3 also eliminates the requirement that state legislative maps be drawn based on total population, meaning that 1.5 million Missourians — almost all of them children — will be uncounted and unrepresented. In addition, Missouri citizens now cannot challenge gerrymandering in federal court, as did the citizens of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Voter turnout was 65% for the City of St. Louis and 78% for St. Louis County. Statewide voter turnout was 69.75%. – Dana Rieck provided reporting.

Photo by Wiley Price

St. Louis County voters submitted to a temperature check before voting at the county election board on Tuesday, November 3.

“Taking Care of You”

‘We are on

a fast track to a crisis’

Medical personnel care for a COVID-19 patient at SSMHealth Saint Louis University Hospital on Oct. 30. Area health experts warn increasing cases of COVID-19 hospital will soon test hospital capacity and create further public health restrictions if simple steps are not adhered to – which are, always wearing a mask, social distancing, avoiding gatherings with persons who don’t live with you, and frequent handwashing are not taken seriously.

COVID-19’s

growing reach is throughout greater STL

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Both the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force and St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page have called for everyone to get on board with simple measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and record numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area. Those measures include always wearing a mask whether the area you live has a mask mandate or not, social distancing of at least six feet from other people, avoiding gatherings

with persons who don’t live with you, going only where you need to go; and frequent and thorough handwashing. Enough of that is not happening, and the COVID-19 case numbers reflect just that – on the Missouri and Illinois side of the greater St. Louis area.

Rising numbers forced Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to reinstate tiers of COVID19 health mitigations in every region of the state. On the morning of November 3, Illinois reported 423,502 COVID-19 cases with 9,810 deaths, according to Illinois

area

Dept. of Public Health data.

The four major hospital systems that comprise the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force report all-time high numbers for seven-day moving average of hospitalizations and a very steep climb in cases over time.

“The number 61 – that is our rolling seven-day average, and that is the highest it’s ever been in the course of the pandemic,” said Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander of the Task Force. “So, we’ve entered this

See COVID, A13

The pandemic is no time to neglect routine health care precautions

By Graham A. Colditz Siteman Cancer Center

As we keep up our efforts to stay safe from COVID-19, it’s important that we not forget to look after other aspects of our health as well. This means keeping up with things like exercising, eating healthy food, connecting (virtually) with friends, and getting enough sleep.

It also means getting back on track with any medical care we’ve missed. Since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the U.S., there’s been a major drop in the number of people getting cancer screenings, vaccinations and other key care.

That’s not surprising, of course. In March and April, doctors’ offices and hospitals across the country stopped or limited non-essential care to curb spread of the virus and to prepare to treat infected patients. At the same time, many people have avoided appointments to try to reduce their risk of infection. And, now, with new spikes in COVID-19 in parts of the country, we’re seeing some variations of this play out again.

Yet, we know that missing regular medical care can impact health, especially the longer it’s delayed. Skipped cancer screenings can lead to the disease being diagnosed later, when it’s harder to treat. Missed vaccinations can make children and adults more susceptible to serious infectious diseases. And delayed follow-up for chronic conditions like unhealthy blood cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

“It’s important to make sure you still get recommended cancer screenings, even during the pandemic,” said Dr. Jean Wang, professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Taking action now

Distrust keeps Blacks from joining clinical trials

City health director tries to form bridge between researchers and suspicious community

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

As the country scrambles to develop a vaccine to combat COVID-19, AfricanAmerican mistrust of the medical system is blaringly evident. According to COVID Racial Data Tracker, a collaboration of the COVID Tracking Project and Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Black Americans are dying at 2.4 times the rate of whites. Yet, as noted by presidents of the nation’s four historically Black medical schools in a recent New York Times commentary, in “clinical trials overall, African-American participation hovers around an abysmal 5%, despite being 13% of the U.S. population.” The low African-American clinical trial involvement rate is somewhat understandable. With cases like the notorious Tuskegee syphilis trials that began in 1932, where hundreds of poor Black men in Alabama were left untreated

n In clinical trials overall, AfricanAmerican participation hovers around 5%, despite being 13% of the U.S. population.

while the medical community studied the ravages of the disease, mistrust is ingrained in the DNA of African Americans.

Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health, is personally committed to acknowledging the historical damage done by the medical community. And, as an African-American doctor, Echols said he’s equally dedicated to using his platform to assuage Blacks’

See TRIALS, A13

“We have a lot of baggage from previous hurt caused by the medical and research community,” said Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health. “We bring this baggage with us when we go to the clinician’s office.”

Photo by Chris King

Photo by Wiley Price

Graham A. Colditz

COVID

Continued from A12

phase of accelerated growth, both in cases and admissions, and I would suspect that this high point will not stand, given the increase in cases that we’re witnessing.”

On Monday, Nov. 2, the Task Force reported 456 COVID-19 hospitalizations, the highest number since May 6. “I don’t believe that this is going to stabilize in the near future and will most likely continue at its upward pace,” Garza added. “If we remain on this trajectory, that is, if we don’t interrupt transmission of the virus, slow it down, any of those things –that we’ll reach or surpass that high mark around the second week of November, which is

concerning, given the holiday season coming up.”

At his Monday morning COVID-19 press briefing, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page stressed the crucial need to accept and act upon the advice of the health care community to help curb the coronavirus spread.

“Leaders of our health care facilities have been sounding an alarm for weeks. We are on a fast track to a crisis, and the only thing that will keep it from getting worse is for everyone to do what they can to keep the virus from spreading in our community,” Page said. “That means, wear a mask, work from home when possible, wash your hands frequently, avoid gatherings and social distance everywhere you go. That means work, that means in a classroom, that means, in an

“Taking Care of You”

office, in the grocery store.”

Eight months into this pandemic and everyone is weary, especially medical and essential workers who are taking care of everyone else in the community. However, from health precautions we can’t slack, because COVID-19 is not a slacker.

“We are seeing number jump because small groups are gathering, and people are hanging out. More people are becoming complacent about the public health orders,” Page said. “I get it. It’s been a very long eight months, but we have to hang in this together.”

Page reports 327 new cases per day in St. Louis County, and said without wider compliance to masking and social distancing orders, he may have to revisit its public health orders.

“This has been an election

season like no other. It’s my hope, when the ballots are cast, we can all come together. Division weakens us as a country. With a unified front as COVID-19 rages on, it’s going to take more and more of our patience. More and more people will be sickened,” Page said. “We have the immense power to make a difference in following the guidelines that can keep us safe to allow our businesses to continue to operate safely, and to allow our kids to have a chance at having an in-classroom learning.”

Garza said rural areas are experiencing COVID-19 growth, although some numbers are going up in urban areas as well.

“Most of those counties that are experiencing increased growth week over week are in those outlying communities,

such as Warren, Franklin and Lincoln counties. There was less growth week over week in some of the other counties, but those numbers are still high,” Garza said, adding that the four ZIP codes with the highest increases in coronavirus cases are found in “Oakville, Arnold and Mehlville, and then St. Peters, New Haven and Webster Groves.”

This week, Franklin County reported the youngest COVID19 death in Missouri, he was an 8th-grader, reported to be the first child in the state to succumb to the virus.

Public health orders designed to protect everyone cannot do so without adherence. Just wear a mask, keeping your distance from others and frequent handwashing can stem the monster wave of COVID-19 that no one wants

to ride. “We just can’t continue on this track. Some of our hospitals are already at capacity and some are even over capacity, and they’re having to make room by slowing down some elective procedures and doing other things,” Garza said. “Now, we don’t want to go back to ‘shelter in place,’ but in order to make sure that that doesn’t happen, we have to get the virus under control.”

Global numbers on the COVID-19 pandemic by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on the morning of Election Day Nov. 3 reported 47,007,194 cases and 1,208,358 deaths. For the U.S. it reported 9,296,159 cases with 231,591 deaths – and counting.

Hepatitis C treatment coming to Missouri prisoners

Federal judge approves landmark settlement with Missouri Department of Corrections

American staff

United States District Court

Judge Nanette K. Laughrey has given final approval to a landmark settlement that will ensure that people incarcerated in Missouri’s prisons receive vital Hepatitis C treatment and education.

The settlement, reached in August, was between plaintiffs – represented by MacArthur Justice Center, Wilkinson Walsh LLP, and ACLU of Missouri – and defendants Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) and Corizon Health, the department’s medical provider.

Hepatitis C (HCV), which can lead to life-threatening conditions including cirrhosis and liver cancer, is widespread in Missouri prisons.

“Because of this settlement, thousands of Missourians whose lives are imperiled by untreated Hepatitis C will receive the treatment they need, which will help stop the spread of the disease to communities throughout the state,” said Tony Rothert, Legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.

“While four years of litigation have forced medical care for this serious disease

Trials

Continued from A12

fears related to upcoming clinical trials.

“For communities of color, having someone that looks like them speak to them about engagement to the issue is really important,” Echols said. “It’s important because of the amount of distrust that currently exists within their communities from historical practices and the current health inequities that we see in our systems. In my role, I feel that it’s essential to deliver that message to our community.”

Echols joined COVID19 vaccine researchers from Washington University and Saint Louis University on October 21 for a webinar titled, “COVID-19 Vaccine 101: The Truth about the Trials.” The universities have been tapped by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to join in an

Colditz

Continued from A12 to prevent cancer and other serious illnesses will help keep you much safer and healthier in the long run.”

to be made available the way doctors and scientists say it should be, we are saddened that lives were lost while people waited for this result and that Missouri prisoners today are still put at medical risk in other ways, including by insufficient

historic effort to conduct expedited clinical trials that will test a variety of investigational vaccines for the coronavirus.

Echols, who spent most of his time during the webinar addressing African-American skepticism, said that topic wasn’t his only concern.

“Ultimately the message the health department was trying to convey was ‘hey, this is the truth about what’s happening,’” Echols said. “Our goal is to make sure our community has adequate information that they need to make informed decisions.”

When speaking to the clinical trials, Echols said his mission was two-fold.

“We wanted to dispel a lot of the myths circulating in communities of color to let them know exactly what’s going on at local universities,” Echols said, “but we also wanted them to know we understand the history of the trauma that’s been caused in the past.”

A Pew Research Center

precautions to safeguard them from COVID-19.”

Although the exact number of incarcerated people with HCV is unknown because of a lack of routine testing, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of those under the supervision, care, and

survey conducted earlier this year found that “Black adults are more hesitant to trust medical scientists, embrace the use of experimental medical treatments and sign up for a potential vaccine to combat the illness.”

African-American mistrust of the medical system is firmly rooted in American history. In “The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present,” Harriet A. Washington details medical crimes before and after the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies.

Washington notes how colonial-era researchers experimented on slaves to study brain and body functions, the female reproductive system and to experiment with new surgical procedures. Washington’s book revisits the mind control experiments between 1936 and 1960 where Black inmates, mental patients, and “misbehaving Black boys” (as young

custody of MDOC and Corizon are infected with HCV.

“Another critical aspect of this agreement is that it increases class members’ access to information about their own personal health,” said Amy Breihan, co-director of the

as five) were forced to undergo “blind-cut lobotomies.” She also included the New York Psychiatric Institute experiment that ended in 1996. In that test, 34 Black and Hispanic boys (ages six to 10) were given intravenous doses of fenfluramine, a component of the diet drug Fen-Phen, to see if violent or criminal behavior could be predicted and controlled by chemicals.

Echols said that implicit or embedded memories of racist medical experiments can be combatted when medical professionals address medical atrocities of the past while providing honest, accurate information in the present. That, he said, was also part of the webinar’s mission.

“We wanted the academic associations to acknowledge the fact that clinical research has caused harm to communities of color,” Echols said. “Although we may not have been in our current roles when it was happening, the hurt is

MacArthur Justice Center of Missouri.

“Too often we heard from class members that they weren’t receiving their test results or couldn’t afford their own medical records. As a result, they were in the dark about the severity of their condition or when they might receive treatment. This settlement addresses those problems head-on: MDOC and Corizon are required to share test results related to hepatitis C and give people living in prison with hepatitis C free access to their medical records.”

During the last decade, a new class of drugs known as direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications was approved to treat HCV. However, these drugs are expensive and were routinely denied to incarcerated people in Missouri, leading to lifelong injuries and deaths. As a result of the settlement agreement, however:

• Over the next eight years, MDOC and Corizon will spend approximately $50 million to treat incarcerated people in Missouri with chronic HCV, beginning with the sickest individuals.

attached to the organizations. It’s important that we not only acknowledge that but let the community know what mechanisms, what conditions are in place now to prevent the harm from happening again.”

Speakers during the webinar outlined many of the protocols instituted to detect and eliminate any implicit bias and protect participants during the “Phase 3 efficacy trials.” The real key to success with the trials, Echols stressed, will be how the medical community responds to communities of color once they choose to participate.

“We have a lot of baggage from previous hurt caused by the medical and research community,” Echols said. “We bring this baggage with us when we go to the clinician’s office. So, once we get them in our space, we have to make sure we’ve implemented a culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approach so we can provide the assistance, care and

• MDOC and Corizon will monitor individuals at high risk for serious health conditions as a result of current or past HCV infection.

• MDOC and Corizon will provide educational materials regarding the risks of HCV, the benefits of testing, and their policies relating to treatment.

• Corizon medical staff will receive HCV-related training.

• MDOC and Corizon will provide quarterly reports to plaintiffs’ counsel regarding the progress of treatment.

“Not only will individuals incarcerated in Missouri prisons receive treatment as a result of this settlement, MDOC and Corizon agreed to revamp their testing procedures to bring them in line with current recommendations,” said Betsy Henthorne of Wilkinson Walsh LLP.

“Better testing will mean earlier and more accurate diagnoses, and along with other provisions in the agreement will lead to less suffering and better, faster, and more effective treatment.”

services that they need.” During the vice-presidential debate last month, Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, said she would not trust President Donald Trump’s endorsement of any potential coronavirus vaccine. Instead, Harris said, she would take the word of public health experts and scientists. Harris wasn’t speaking for African Americans. Echols, however, does speak to the Black experience with the nation’s medical institutions. If researchers, health experts and clinicians really want communities of color to participate in clinical trials, “trust” is the operative word. Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow. To learn more about participating in the COVID-19 vaccine trials at Saint Louis and Washington universities visit vaccine.slu.edu or email idcru@wustl.edu or call 314-454-0058 or 314-977-6333 for more information.

Importantly, any urgent concern about your health should be addressed immedi-

The specifics of doing that, though, can vary from person to person and from region to region, depending on the status of the COVID-19 outbreak and the capacity of facilities to see patients. The best approach is to contact your health-care providers and, together, discuss plans for safely getting back on track with the care you need. This may mean scheduling in-person appointments, meeting remotely through telehealth, or checking back with them sometime in the near future.

ately. “If you are having symptoms, do not delay getting care,” Wang said. “Since hospitals have adapted to the coronavirus epidemic by taking necessary precautions, it is very safe to come in to get evaluated.” If cost of care is an issue because of a lost job, lost health insurance or other

n We know that missing regular medical care can impact health, especially the longer it’s delayed.

reason, some resources may help. Healthcare. gov has information about eligibility for Medicaid or health plan enrollment. Another option, Wang adds, includes federally qualified health clinics, “which are available all across the country to care

for people regardless of their ability to pay or their insurance status.” Contact your providers, hospital or local health department, or visit findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov, for additional information on accessing care. While much of our focus remains on combating the coronavirus outbreak, let’s not lose sight of the important goal to stay healthy overall. Cancer screenings and regular medical appointments can be

an essential part of that. So, for ourselves and our families, it’s a good time to make a plan to get back on track. It’s your – and your family’s – health. Stay in control. Dr. Graham A. Colditz is associate director of prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The MacArthur Justice Center posted this graphic as part of its public education campaign in its lawsuit, in partnership with Wilkinson Walsh LLP, and ACLU of Missouri, to win treatment and education for Missouri prisoners infected with Hepatitis C.

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

Fast Food Options

Schedule It!

Time to Excercise

PRESENT:

Healthy Kids

When your family is in a hurry and going through a fast-food drive-thru, how are you supposed to eat healthy? Here are a few tips to remember:

q Select grilled instead of fried options. Often the healthiest option is a nice salad of greens and veggies, along with grilled chicken.

w Instead of fries or onion rings, see if you can have a fresh fruit cup or side salad instead.

e Be mindful of liquid calories (soda, shakes, slushes, etc.). Choose water or zero-calorie drinks whenever possible.

Too busy to exercise? Then schedule it! Just like you would put anything else important on your calendar (sports practice, school events, doctor appointments) so that you don’t forget — do the same for exercise. Try to schedule at least thirty minutes

According to the National Fire Protection Association, space heaters cause about 35% of all winter house fires and 80% of all winter heating fire deaths.

Let’s discuss some ways to be safe while using space heaters.

November

X = Exercise

r Condiments can contribute unhealthy calories, especially full-fat dressings, sauces and mayonnaise. Just think before you order — and you could eliminate hundreds of calories from sugar and fat!

Healthcare Careers

Weekly Newspaper in Education Program

t Most (if not all) fast-food restaurants can now provide nutrition information for all menu items.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 3, NH 5

(but aim for sixty!) at least four days a week. What are some creative ways to mark your calendar?

Try putting “Me Time!” or “Explore the Neighborhood” on your

it off when you leave.

> Do not use a space heater if the chord is frayed or damaged

calendar. Regular exercise is good for your heart and lungs. But don’t forget the bonus benefits. Exercise burns calories, increases your metabolism and even improves your mood. So, put it on your calendar!

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

Where do you work? I work for Washington University School of Medicine and the John Cochran VA Medical Center.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Arundel School in Harare, Zimbabwe. I then earned a Bachelor of Arts from Drury University, Springfield, MO, an MD from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

What does an infectious diseases physician do? I take care of people with infections, whether they are bacterial, fungal, or viral. I’m also a public health expert and I do research that focuses on HIV, COVID and community engagement.

> The best space heaters are the ones with a safety switch that automatically turns off if the heater falls over. If yours does not have this, be sure to turn

> Keep anything flammable away from the space heater including blankets, curtains, newspapers, etc.

> Can you think of any other space heater safety tips?

Learning Standards: HPE 5, NH 5 Space Heaters

Directions: Rinse seeds and dry overnight. Toss all ingredients together and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes stirring twice. Bake until browned and crisp.

Why did you choose this career? My father died from liver cancer and he lived overseas. Unfortunately I was not there with him, so it was important for me to know that his healthcare team was efficient and kind. A few years later, we had our first cases of HIV in Zimbabwe, having a significant impact on my country and my community.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? My patients – I love people. I love making them smile and helping them understand what’s going on with them and partnering with them to address their needs. And I love to comfort them.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

“Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 618-910-9551

Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, MPH

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

Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 618-910-9551t

4th grade teacher

Ms. Hill

teaches virtual science lessons inspired by The St. Louis American’s STEM page. She is demonstrating a science lesson about refraction and prisms to her students at Katie Harper Wright Elementary School in

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT SCIENCE STARS

African-American Fish and Wildlife Ecologist Mamie Parker

SCIENCE CORNER

Scientists in this field study the conservation and management of wildlife and fish. They evaluate the environment and habits of these animals, allowing the scientists to understand disease, habitat, and behavior. For example, studying the eating habits of a type of fish will help the scientists determine if the area has enough food supply to support their population. These biologists help control population when it is overgrown and help to replenish endangered species. They help keep water clean and safe. Studying how fish respond to diseases not only helps that species of fish, but that information is also helpful to learning how humans could possibly respond to treatments for diseases.

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

To have a career in this field, you will need a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. This field offers many types of job choices. You can work on boats to collect information for research. You can work in fields or streams. You can work in a lab, and you can be a teacher or professor for this field.

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

Ice Fishing Anyone?

In this experiment, you will create a setting for ice fishing.

Materials Needed:

• Small Paper Cups or an Ice Cube Tray

• Glass or Bowl of Water • String (yarn or kite string works great) • Small Stick (this will be your fishing pole) • Salt

Procedure:

q Fill the cups or tray with water and place in the freezer.

w When the water is frozen, remove the ice from the cup or tray.

e Put the ice in the glass or bowl that has been filled with water. The cube will bob up and down in the water before it floats to the top.

r Place one end of the string from

Solve these fish-related word problems.

q There are 26 aquariums at the pet store. Each aquarium holds an average of 20 fish. Approximately, how many fish are there in all? ______

w A class of 24 students took a fishing field trip. There was a three fish maximum catch limit. ½ of the students caught the maximum, ¼ caught two fish, and ¼ caught one fish. How many fish did they catch in all? ______

e Tyra bought a can of fish food. It said it would feed one fish for about one month. Tyra

DID YOU KNOW?

Check out these facts about fish:

the fishing pole on top of the ice cube and sprinkle salt on the ice where the string is touching. The water will melt and refreeze.

t After about 10 seconds, carefully lift the ice cube out of the water with the fishing pole. You caught a fish (ice)!

y Analyze—water freezes at 32° F. Salt lowers the water’s freezing temperature. The more salt you add, the more it affects the refreezing temperature. How did this process affect this experiment?

Extension: Try sugar, pepper, sand, flour, or other items. See what works, and what doesn’t, and try to figure out why!

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

has four fish. Approximately how long will this can of fish food last?

r Fish tanks need gravel or sand in the bottom. A rule of thumb is to include one pound per gallon of tank to create a 1 inch base, and two pounds per gallon to create a 2 inch base. Alexander has a 33 gallon tank. He wants to create a 1 ½ inch base. How much gravel should he add? ______

Learning Standards: I can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve a problem.

Anableps is a type of fish with four eyes. It can see above and below water at the same time.

Mamie Parker was born in Arkansas, the youngest of 11 children. Her mother named her Mamie after First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, as a tribute to all of the work Ike Eisenhower did for the Civil Rights movement. Parker loved the outdoors and all types of animals. Having a large family, they depended on the success of their fishing efforts in order to have enough protein to feed the family. Parker enjoyed this time with her mother, who always encouraged her to learn all that she could. Mrs. Parker said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

Parker was one of the first to attend the integrated high school in Wilmot, Arkansas. She was inspired by Marvin Gaye’s song, “Mercy Me,” which spoke of pollution and the need for change. Parker enrolled in the University of Arkansas to major in biology. While there, she was recruited to move to Wisconsin as an intern. She earned a degree in biology from the University of Arkansas and an ecology degree from the University of Wisconsin. Later, she would attend Harvard to study leadership training.

Her career took her from Wisconsin to Minnesota, to Columbia, Missouri. While in Columbia, she helped local farmers learn how to maximize the use of their land to help wildlife and fish thrive. Parker is also known for helping the Atlantic salmon population which was endangered. After many years in the business, Parker was offered a job in Washington D.C. as the first African-American woman to be the Assistant Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS). She remembers a fellow employee telling her that the only African-American women who had been in the building were the janitors who cleaned it. Parker felt pride in her position and wanted to inspire other women to pursue careers in the STEM fields.

Parker has authored the book, “The Future of Fisheries.” She has received many awards, such as The Presidential Rank Award and the Ira Gabrielson Award. Parker also has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio) and is a motivational speaker.

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

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

Activities —

Pick a Plot: Using the e-edition, have your family locate words that represent people, places, and actions. Write each word on a slip of paper and separate by category. Now each person chooses one of each type of word and creates a story.

Figures of speech: Authors use figures of speech to be creative and descriptive. Can you find examples of similes, metaphors, alliteration, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, or idioms in the newspaper? Create a poster with your examples.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can write for a specific purpose and audience. I can identify figurative language.

East St. Louis.

Living It

More than a nail polish

DEMIblue

By Danielle Brown Of The St. Louis American

To celebrate the launch of the new initiative

DEMIblue Cares, Michelle Robinson, founder and owner of DEMIblue Natural Nails, will make a surprise donation in honor of a breast cancer survivor.

“We kicked off the DEMIblue Cares initia tive to campaign around a discounted product that would allow us to take a portion of those sales and donate it to a deserving community organization who is fighting against breast cancer,” Michelle said.

“Initially, we were going to partner with an organization, but it’s been hard trying to connect because we kind of got started late in the month. So, what we’ve done is decided to make a surprise donation to a survivor.”

Her mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer inspired Michelle to launch the all-vegan nail care line for breast cancer patients, survivors, and women seeking healthier alternatives to have products that weren’t created with harmful toxins and didn’t have ingredients possibly linked to can cer.

“Being able to offer an alternative was very essential not because my mother couldn’t use conventional nail polishes but because she shouldn’t,” Michelle said.

“We’re not saying that nail polish causes cancer. We’re saying that there are chemicals that have been used in our conventional nail products that have been linked to cancer. We’re looking for a remission plan. We’re looking for alternative plans so that she’s not exposed to those chemicals. What better way than to offer one myself?”

Juliet Robinson, mother of Michelle and now a nine-year cancer survivor, enjoys wearing DEMIblue’s nail polishes not only because of its outward appearance, but because of its effects on the inside.

“My reaction to the polish is I feel safe when I wear it,” Juliet said. “I’m not nervous about getting any of those toxins in my system, and the polish is wonderful. It’s creamy, it’s shiny. It just makes you feel like I’m putting something healthy into my system, because anything that’s put on your nails goes into your system.”

Juliet was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer in 2010, which means that she was able to catch it in its early stages and get treated, which improved her prognosis. When she found the lump herself, she immediately went to the doctor and wasn’t fearful about it.

“I didn’t let my vanity take over because a lot of times we’re afraid of what people say or we’re afraid of knowing the outcome, and we cannot do that,” Juliet said. “You need to go early. When you find those symptoms, you need to go right away. Don’t prolong it. Don’t worry about what somebody’s going to say or what somebody’s going to think.”

Juliet isn’t the only fan of DEMIblue. The line has been able to reach many near and far, including vegan food influencer and actress Tabitha Brown. On Tabitha and her daughter Choyce Brown’s weekly segment “Very Good Mondays,” where small businesses are showcased, they gave the products a favorable review

‘We

are still here’

that left Michelle feeling very pleased.

“It’s been amazing. It has been validation that women are wanting healthier beauty products,”

n DEMIblue Natural Nails is a 10free vegan-friendly nail polish line.

Michelle said. “DEMIblue is needed and it feels great.”

“The Big Find.”

“I pitched via Zoom. I was able to present the nail polish, the story behind the brand, show them a few of the colors, and tell them why

DEMIblue should have the opportunity to sell products through their network,” Michelle said. “There was a panel of judges and we definitely received some good feedback, but now we’re just in the waiting phase to see if we have been selected. Even in this pandemic, the way that we’ve been striding through, it’s been a wonderful blessing.”

Stage, film and television actor Keith David, most recently seen as the star of the OWN Network hit ‘Greenleaf’ to receive the Woodie King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.

Black Rep’s annual ‘One Night Only’ gala goes virtual for 5th anniversary

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

For the past four years, the seats of 560 Music Center has been filled with patrons and supporters of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company as they offer up musical theater in exchange for support of its education and community programs through its annual fundraiser, “One Night Only Gala.” Classics from the canon of Black musical theater such as “Dreamgirls” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” have been performed with the help of celebrity guests from stage, film and television.

For their fifth anniversary milestone, the show will go on – but through a different platform because of COVID-19. I Remember Harlem: A Virtual Event will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2020. The gala will be streamed on Vimeo and on The Black Rep website.

DEMIblue may be a St. Louis-based Black woman-owned business line, but it’s proved itself to be more than just a local business. The brand’s mission has allowed Michelle to be in rooms of opportunity far beyond the Gateway City. Michelle was chosen among 69 other entrepreneurs out of 650 companies to pitch her brand to QVC in hopes of being on the show

DEMIblue also won the Beauty Brand Business of the Year from the Detroit Beauty Business Network, was featured in the 10th edition of SwagHer Magazine, and is sold in beauty supply stores in California.

“I try to make sure that I remind people that we are a St. Louis-based brand,” Michelle said.

offers a community-centered self-care focus See DEMIblue, B2

Rich Miller publishes book alleging systematic racism in the auto industry

By Lillian Emenogu

For The St. Louis American

Rich Miller, a former Lincoln Mercury Ford dealer, published his book Dealing: The Incredible Journey of an African American Car Dealer earlier this year in the middle of a pandemic to shed light on what he describes as the economic injustice Black people face as consumers and entrepreneurs in the auto industry.

According to Miller, Black people in the United States spend more than $50 billion on new cars every year. He said African Americans spend more money on cars than houses. Yet despite having such extraordinary spending power, Blacks own very few car dealerships, roughly 270 as of December 2017 out of 19,284, he said, which is less than 1.5% of the auto dealer market.

Born in Barbados and raised in the Bronx, Miller began a career on Wall Street after graduating from The City College of New York in the early 1980s with a degree in Economics. At that time, he went to work at a traditional bank but, he said, faced racial discrimination that barred

from

As a business school graduate, Miller landed an interview with Ford Motor Company and was offered a job on the spot. He packed up and moved to Indianapolis to start his career as what was called an “Owner Relations Analyst” in those days. This afforded him an inside look at the business as his responsibilities entailed analyzing the financial statements of Ford’s dealerships and making recommendations on how the company could grow. Very soon, however, he grew “tired of making the white dealers rich,” he said, and decided to embark on his own journey of owning a franchise. In January 1990, Miller was accepted into the Ford Minority Dealer Training Program, founded and developed by Reverend Jesse Jackson,

See Dealing, B2

“The experience has been absolutely wonderful. It’s caused us to be much more creative,” said Black Rep Founder and Producing Director Ron Himes. “It has caused us to find new ways to deliver the work that we do – and I think that people are going to be quite pleased with what we hope will not be just another zoom virtual event.”

To accommodate recording of numbers to give viewers as close to a live musical theater experience as possible in these unprecedented times, The Black Rep converted their shop space into a sound stage.

n The gala will be streamed on Vimeo and on The Black Rep website.

“We have footage that we have shot with our young people because the gala goes to support our education and community programs,” Himes said. “We have a number of ways to feature and highlight the young people who are a part of The Black Rep.”

The gala will weave together these performances along with clips from longtime supporters and Black Rep alum. The virtual production will feature a variety of dance, music, and poetry from the Harlem Renaissance performed by friends of The Black Rep and Black Rep alum. Austin Smith (Broadway Cast of Hamilton), Sophia Stephens (Broadway Cast of The Lion King), Melody Betts (Broadway Cast of Waitress and NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar live), Kelvin Roston Jr. (Twisted Melodies), Roz White (Mahalia, Black Nativity), J Samuel Davis (Crossin’ Over) are a few of the acts on deck.

“We’ve already taped some incredible performances and we have received some incredible performances. I think it’s going to be a nice mix,” Himes said. “There will be classical singers and people with Broadway credentials along with the local favorites.” Kevin Short, Managing Partner and CEO of Clayton Capital Partners is the Honorary Chair of the evening. Board Member Andreal Hoosman of Haywood Hoosman Realty and KTVI news anchor Kelly Hoskins are the co-chairs for the 2020 gala.

See REP, B2

Michelle Robinson, owner and founder of DEMIblue Natural Nails will make a surprise donation to a deserving breast cancer survivor through the newly launched DEMIblue Care initiative.

Rich Miller is the author of Dealing: The Incredible Journey of an African American Car Dealer.

Nate Conyers, one of the first Black car dealers in America, along with his brother, John Conyers, and Mel Farr, former football player for the Detroit Lions. The initiative’s goal was to give minorities with the financial resources and desire to become car dealers the training they need to be successful in running their own dealership, and it allowed Miller to eventually acquire his own Lincoln Mercury franchise in St. Louis, which he achieved by the age of 36. However, in addition to the cyclical nature of car sales in the predominantly Black, less-affluent area he was serving, Miller said, he also dealt with the flight of white clientele as more Black people visited the showroom. He said he also faced discriminatory prac-

tices from credit lenders who often wouldn’t issue loans to customers with poor credit (the majority of his Black patrons), and lack of support from his corporate representatives. In one conversation, he said, he even had a white corporate rep make comments about his need to “lighten the showroom.” He said this led to his franchise’s demise in the Summer of 1997.

More than 23 years later, Miller said that nothing has changed. Progress has completely stagnated if not halted. Out of the 270 Black dealerships reported in 2017, by his estimate COVID-19 will cut half of them out of business. When Miller sent letters to the top 10 automobile CEOs, he said he did not receive answers from most of them and subpar responses deflecting the gravity of the issue from the others.

In Dealing, Miller not only shares his experiences but offers Black consumers valuable information on how to purchase a car or truck and

avoid getting ripped off and contributing to this injustice.

Miller recommends boycotting selected manufacturers, picketing select dealerships, organizing labor strikes, and purchasing stock in publicly traded car companies to filibuster their shareholder meetings and/or to vote to have racist policies removed and replace members of their board.

Ultimately, Miller believes the first step to tackle what he considers racism in the auto industry is to inform African Americans and the rest of public. For any Black car consumers or allies who are looking to purchase a vehicle, Miller’s book is a highly recommended read and can be found on Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/ Rich-Miller-Dealing. Miller now owns am insurance company StoneLeaf Finance & Insurance Group. You can visit his website at www.stoneleafinsurance.com.

Black Rep honors

In addition to the production will be a celebration of individuals for their contributions to the field of theater and the community at large. Stage, film and television actor Keith David is the 2020 recipient of the Woodie King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently seen as the patriarch of the OWN Network hit “Greenleaf,” David’s career is rooted in the stage. The Juilliard School alum started his drama career when Joseph Papp selected him to perform the role of Tullus Aufidius in William Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He went on to star on Broadway in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars” and “Jelly’s Last Jam” for which he garnered a Tony Award nomination for “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.” Known by many for his booming voice, David’s

DEMIblue

Continued from B1

Americans out of the Midwest to have what I am going to claim as a big brand name, it’s amazing.”

Michelle positions DEMIblue as more than just a nail polish line. It’s a community-oriented brand that strongly advocates for self-care. Since its inception, Michelle and her team have provided breast cancer survivors with free manicures. They used to conduct mobile pampering sessions for women who completed their radiation treatment. However, that has been limited due to COVID.

film, theater and television credits have spanned four decades.

“We felt like with his body of work and with his theatre background that he is certainly worthy of the honor,” Himes said.

In addition to David’s honors, a trio of ladies making waves in the political landscape will share the Frankie Muse Freeman Spirit Award as part of the evening’s festivities.

Democratic Congress nominee Cori Bush, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner and St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones will share the distinction as this year’s recipients.

“This year – in the midst of everything that has been going on in our country – that these three women exemplify Ms. Freeman’s commitment to social justice and fighting for equality,” Himes said.

Past Frankie Muse Freeman Spirit Award honorees include Dr. Glory Van Scott and George Faison.

Along with the musical performance and the awards presentations will be opportunities for viewers to donate throughout the program.

n “We’re not just a nail polish brand, but we are communityfocused, we’re selfcare focused, and we focus on social responsibility.”

– Michelle Robinson

“We look forward to reconnecting with women and offering them an opportunity to experience a manicure using our product for free as part of the DEMIblue Cares umbrella,” Michelle said.

Like so many institutions, The Black Rep took a huge hit when live performances came to an abrupt halt as the nation –and the world – locked down.

“We suffered a hit as far as box office revenue last season and it also impacted our ability to put our tickets on sale for this season, because we have no idea when we will be able to start this season,” Himes said. “However, we are still here. We have challenges, but we are making adjustments. Every time we have met a new challenge, we have made an adjustment.”

The virtual gala is a recent adjustment that Himes and his team feels proud to present.

“I want people to know that it’s not just an event that we hope to raise money –of course we hope to raise money– but we’ve put together a really entertaining evening,” said Himes.

For more information about The Black Rep’s 5th Annual Gala, I Remember Harlem: A Virtual Event taking place on Saturday, November 14. Visit, www.theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3807.

“Just taking an opportunity to sit down and love yourself through nail polish. We all know how it feels to sit down and get pampered. I just want to really communicate that we’re not just a nail polish brand, but we are community-focused, we’re self-care focused, and we focus on social responsibility. Visit https://www.demibluenaturalnails.com/ to purchase all products. St. Louis residents can receive manicure services using DEMIblue’s products at LUXE Department Store located at 1215 Washington Ave in St. Louis. For more information, email info@demibluenaturalnails.com or call 636-944-1176.

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Medicare Annual Enrollment is from October 15th – December 7th!

Dr. LaDonna Finch accepts most insurance plans including Essence Healthcare, United Healthcare AARP Medicare Advantage, and Aetna Medicare Gold Advantage and Advantra plans.

Rich Miller shares his experiences and also offers Black consumers valuable information on how to purchase a car or truck and avoid getting ripped off and contributing to this injustice.

Who Tells Your Story: An Art Museum Virtual Program Highlights ‘Hamilton’

By Victoria McCraven,

Join the Saint Louis Art Museum for Who Tells Your Story, a virtual program on Hamilton presented by Victoria McCraven, the current Saint Louis Art Museum’s Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow. Named for the musical’s final song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” this November program seeks to highlight both familiar stories of America’s founding fathers and lesser-known narratives of free and enslaved Black people during the early American period. Experience some of the Museum’s most impressive examples of 18thand 19th-century American portraiture while learning more about the historical context of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.

Did you love the clear tenor of Leslie Odom’s voice as Aaron Burr? Learn more about the Burr family through the captivating portraits of Thadeus and Eunice Burr in the Museum’s collection. Painted by famed portraitist John Singleton Copley, the Burr family entertained Marquis de Lafayette, John Adams, and even George Washington at their mansion in Connecticut. Another highlight of the Museum’s American collection, a portrait of George Washington, is also on view in Gallery 338. This work may look familiar, as it is virtually identical to the portrait currently hanging in the White House’s Oval Office. Often the center of both written and visual narratives, George Washington is perhaps the most recognizable person in American history. However, artist Titus Kaphar critiques Washington’s visual representations throughout his work, drawing attention to the unnamed or unrepresented Black figures surrounding him.

Michelangelo in St. Louis

Convention Center hosts exhibition of reproductions of iconic frescoes

By Jeremy D. Goodwin Of St. Louis Public Radio

An exhibition featuring reproductions of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings will open at the America’s Center Convention Complex on Friday, November 6 and close January 10.

The Michelangelo exhibition provides “the chance to attract new visitors to our region through art,” Explore St. Louis President Kathleen Ratcliffe said.

“Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” boasts 34 reproductions of the Renaissance master’s iconic frescoes. Among them are some of the most revered images in Western art, including “The Creation of Adam” and “The Last Judgment.”

The show has toured internationally but has been idle for about eight months because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was created by Las Vegas-based SEE Global Entertainment and is presented locally by Explore St. Louis, the city’s tourism commission.

The reproductions are based on photographs of the artworks. Visitors will have the chance to take an up-close look at the works, take photographs and linger as long as they like — all experiences that are not possible on official tours of the Sistine Chapel.

“A lot of people do not realize how large, how big these are,” Martin Ballas, CEO of SEE Global Entertainment, said of the artworks. “When you go

to the Sistine Chapel you see them but they’re all the way up, 60, 80 feet, and they look like a stamp.”

He and representatives from Explore St. Louis spoke at a recent press conference.

Not every bit of Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel will be represented; an announcement explains that some “bordering elements” and other “framing devices” are omitted. The show will occupy more than 27,000 square feet of the convention center’s second-floor ballroom. It will be a boost for the America’s Center Convention Complex, which has lost business in recent months because of coronavirus-related restrictions.

America’s Center will employ strict safety protocols for the event, said Mathew Dewey, senior vice president of Explore St. Louis and general manager of the convention center.

“Plenty of social distancing, the masks, everything you

would expect to keep everybody safe, we will be implementing,” Dewey said of the precautions. Capacity will be limited, and visitors will purchase tickets for timed entry. Staff will take visitors’ temperature with thermal scanners, Dewey said, and clean the exhibition hall with electrostatic sprayers. “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” will also mark most visitors’ first experience with a recently installed, touchless entryway to the building.

“You can almost get through this entire experience, from the entrance to the exit,” Dewey said, “without touching anything throughout the whole day.” Admissions costs are adults, $17.50; military/seniors (65+), $13.50; children ages 6-18, $10.50; children under 6, free; family 4-pack (2 adults and 2 children ages 6 to 18), $40. For more information, visit https://preview.tinyurl.com/ Explore-Michelangelo.

Learn more about Kaphar’s portraits of Billy Lee and Ona Judge, the two most wellknown enslaved people on the Washington plantation before both finding freedoms. Like in the musical Hamilton, this program incorporates the historical references to the American Revolution and the contemporary influences of hip-hop on the musical score. Immerse yourself in the works of contemporary artist Roberto Lugo, who, like Miranda, explores American history through the lens of hip-hop. Often basing his work

on Century Vases made to commemorate the centennial of America’s founding, Lugo contrasts historical and contemporary references to expand traditional portrayals of our collective history.

Whether you are a fan of Hamilton or the story is entirely new to you, join the Saint Louis Art Museum on Friday, November 13, for a 30-minute virtual program at noon. You can pre-register for the Zoom event online on the Museum’s website under the events section at slam.org.

John Singleton Copley, American, 1738–1815; Eunice Dennie Burr, 1758–60; oil on canvas; 50 x 40 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 173:1951

“Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” boasts 34 reproductions of the Renaissance master’s iconic frescoes. Among them are some of the most revered images in Western art.

Bishop Blake will not seek reelection as COGIC Presiding Bishop

Remains Senior Pastor of the West Angeles Church

Apostle. Bishop Blake, who celebrated his 80th birthday this year, is the husband of Lady Mae Lawrence Blake, father of three adult children and the grandfather of 10. Bishop Blake will continue as Senior Pastor of the West Angeles Church. His decision to not seek reelection with the national COGIC does not affect his pastoring in Los Angeles.

n “I remain committed to the success of our church and have pledged my support and assistance in a smooth transition so that the work of the Lord will seamlessly continue.”

COGIC website and at https://tinyurl.com/ COGIC-Bishop

– Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.

Bishop Blake has been a member of COGIC for his entire life and is in his 64th year of preaching, 51st year of pastoring the West Angeles Church in Los Angeles, 35th year as COGIC Bishop, 32nd year as a member of the General Board, and 13th year as Presiding Bishop and Chief

“I have had many great responsibilities over my lifetime, but the two that have always been forefront of my mind are my family and pastoring the West Angeles Church,” Bishop Blake said. The video that included comments from his wife, Lady Mae, who has served alongside Bishop Blake.

“God has blessed West Angeles to enter into the next stage of the Family Life Center building project, a $25 million addition that will attach to the West Angeles Cathedral,” Bishop Blake said. West Angeles will soon break ground on this project.”

• He reminded COGIC members of the highlights of successes of the past 13 years of his

leadership:

• Completion of the first comprehensive financial audit of the records of our Church in more than 100 years;

• Renovation of most of the buildings on our Headquarters campus, including the Lee Administration Building, the Mason Home, the main sanctuary and lower level of Mason Temple, the LH Ford Administration building and the Leila

Mason Hall;

• Restoration of many of our downtown Memphis properties;

• Major renovations and upgrades to our Lexington facilities, including the addition of land parcels;

• Acquisition of additional properties around our Headquarters campus;

• Development of 77 apartment homes near our Mason campus, now known as Mason

Homes on 4th;

• Successfully moved the Holy Convocation to the 502,000 square foot America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, from 2010 through 2019, with space for every aspect of our ministry.

“Please understand the depth of my gratitude for every opportunity that God has afforded me in serving you. I pray that I have pleased Him in all that I have attempted for the advancement of the Church of God in Christ and ultimately,

for His Kingdom,” Bishop Blake said.

“I remain committed to the success of our church and have pledged my support and assistance in a smooth transition so that the work of the Lord will seamlessly continue.” The Church of God in Christ is one of the oldest Pentecostal denominations in the world and the fourth largest Protestant group in the United States with 10,000 churches in over 112 countries worldwide and millions of adherents. Visit www.cogic.org.

Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr. will not seek another term as Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle of the Church of God In Christ after 13 years in those leadership roles.

Sports

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Roberts gets the job done as Dodgers’ Black manager wins World Series

After the L.A. Dodgers got off to a slow start in 2018, manager David Roberts’ job security was being questioned by some fans and media members. The Dodgers were defending National League champions but lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series. We have since learned that the Astros had some serious sign-stealing going on.

If you’re a Black manager in Major League Baseball, your seat gets hotter a lot quicker than your white counterparts.’

The Dodgers repeated as NL champs and returned to the World Series in 2018. They then ran into a buzz saw that was the Boston Red Sox.

Again, Roberts was under intense scrutiny for several in-game decisions. Forget the two pennants and a .600 winning percentage during his first three season as the Dodgers manager.

While the Cardinals have won 11 World Series titles, this is just the Dodgers seventh. The Dodgers last World Series win was in 1988 against Tony La Russa’s heavily favored, PHD-fueled Oakland A’s. Roberts joins Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda as the only Dodgers managers to win the World Series.

He and Dusty Baker are the two Black managers in MLB. It would have been great to see two Black managers in the World Series – especially since there are just two. Baker’s Astros fell to the Rays in seven games, but Roberts and he made history. This was the first time a pair of Black managers reached the Championship Series round.

Roberts’ team racked up 106 wins in 2019 but lost to the blistering hot Washington Nationals in a NL Division Series. The Nationals would sweep the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series and top the Astros in the World Series. Who got most of the blame? Roberts.

Today, Roberts is a World Champion. His Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. He joins former Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston (1992 and ’93) as the only Black managers to win a World Series.

Finally, Roberts is getting the respect he deserves.

“It means a lot for me personally, of course,” Roberts said in the victorious clubhouse following the game.

“But for the Dodgers organization, the franchise has always been forward-thinking and groundbreaking as far as race and color barriers.

“So, for the Dodgers and for me to be the manager of this ball club to bring a championship back to Los Angeles, I think it’s well beyond bigger than me.” Roberts was speaking of the Brooklyn Dodgers fielding Jackie Robinson in 1947. While the Dodgers have been a diverse franchise since Robinson’s debut, he is the team’s first Black manager in its hallowed history.

Mookie Best I’ve written this before, and I’m doing it again.

Mookie Betts is the best player in Major League Baseball. It’s not Mike Trout.

Betts demonstrated throughout the 60-game season, the playoffs and World Series that he has earned that title – and the competition isn’t close.

During the abbreviated season, Betts hit .292 with 16 home runs and 39 RBI. He stole 10 bases and will probably win a 2020 Gold Glove for his play in right field. He collected seven hits and popped a pair of home runs in the World Series against the Rays. He drove in three runs and scored four. He added two home run stealing catches which were vital to the Dodgers championship run.

Following the game, Betts said via Twitter, “THE JOB IS FINISHED!!!!! This one’s for you LA - the City of Champions! Enjoy the hell out of it, but you know these boys aren’t done chasing rings!!!”

While not officially calling Betts better than Trout, Sports Illustrated columnist Robin Lundberg wrote, “Betts was at his best when it mattered most, and in watching him, it’s hard to believe there is anyone better. He makes plays in the field, on the bases, and at the plate.”

“I keep hearing baseball purists complain about an over-reliance on the numbers, well Mookie’s got those too, but he passes the eye and math tests. All while capturing the

imagination of fans in a way I haven’t seen from a player in a minute.”

Betts was the 2018 American League MVP and won the World Series with the Red Sox that season. He is favored to win the NL MVP Award to go with his 2020 championship with the Dodgers.

Trout’s L.A. Angels have been to the postseason one time and they were immediately eliminated.

After winning the World Series over the Dodgers in dominant fashion in 2018, the Boston Red Sox traded Betts and pitcher David Price to L.A. for Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong in February 2020.

Betts then signed a 12-year contract extension worth $365 million in July.

“I couldn’t believe it and I was not trying to get too excited. We got a steal,’’ Roberts said.

“I’m just so grateful that the deal was done because it’s not just going to help us this year,” Roberts added. “... It’s going to impact players not even drafted by the Dodgers yet.”

Betts is the best. Case closed.

Arozarena wrap up

As the 2020 MLB season came to an end last week, so did the incredible postseason run of former St. Louis Cardinal Randy Arozarena.

InSIdE SportS

With Earl Austin Jr.

Semifinals time

Without his spectacular offensive display, the Tampa Bay Rays probably would not have advanced to the World Series.

He showed the nation, and world, that he can be one of the game’s best players.

He had two hits in four plate appearances in Game 6 of the World Series and tagged a solo home run. The home run was his tenth, a postseason record, and he hit an amazing .377 with an .831 slugging percentage.

Arozarena also sprayed 29 hits, another postseason record AND a record for rookies in the playoffs.

If that isn’t enough, the Hollywood Reporter announced this week that Wonderfilm Media is in the early stages

of production on a film about Arozarena, his daring boat trip from Cuba to Mexico and his rise to stardom.

“Randy’s story is so inspirational -- his journey grabs at your heart and this film will explore the triumphs of the human spirit when driven and focused,” Wonderfilm’s Bret Saxon said in a statement.

I just wonder who is going to play the role of foul-mouthed Cardinals manager Mike Shildt.

Good for Goold

St. Louis Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold was asked by a reader, in a column this week, about “the recent trend of the Cardinals giving up on players who are people of color. Kolten Wong is the most recent example, and the team continues to get whiter and whiter.”

I give Goold credit for taking on the inquiry because the St. Louis sports media often dodges subjects like this –especially when it comes to the Cardinals.

He responded that “It’s a concern that this perception exists and how their actions contribute to it while it’s out there.”

Goold explained the team also dumped several white players including Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk, that the Cardinals’ first three picks in the most recent draft were young, Black players and that the starting and relief pitching staffs are diverse. “But the team should be aware of this perception, and I believe it is,” Goold wrote.

The Reid Roundup Sportsbook gambling and casino games are coming to Fairmount Park in the near future. The Illinois Gaming Board has approved the Collinsville horse track for a Master Sports Wagering License. “This puts us another step closer to being the first ‘racino,’ in Southern Illinois. We will be able to offer entertainment from live horse racing, sports wagering (and) full casino gaming,” Fairmount Park said in a statement… Mike Tomlin moved his Pittsburgh Steelers to 7-0 with a road victory over the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. Can you say 2020 Coach of the Year?... Alvin A. Reid’s Twitter handle is #aareid1.

We are now at the semifinals state of the district football playoffs around the state of Missouri. Here is a schedule of the upcoming district games this weekend involving St. Louis area teams.

Class 6

District 1: Lafayette at Fox, Friday, 7 p.m. SLUH at Lindbergh, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: CBC at DeSmet, Friday, 6 p.m. Francis Howell (bye)

Earl’s Pick Game: The CBCDeSmet game features the past two Class 6 state champions and Metro Catholic Conference

rivals. Both are prime contenders as well this season. DeSmet has won the last three contests, including a 41-21 victory over the Cadets earlier this season.

Class 5 District 1: Poplar Bluff at Jackson, Friday, 7 p.m. Farmington at Seckman, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: Parkway West at Summit, Friday, 7 p.m. Ladue at Chaminade, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: Ladue has moved up to the Class 5 level after a dominant run in Class 4 the past few seasons, including a state championship two years ago. Chaminade made a run to the state quarterfinals a year ago.

District 3: Parkway Central at Fort Zumwalt North, Friday, 7 p.m. Fort Zumwalt East at Fort Zumwalt South, Friday, 7 p.m.

Class 4 District 1: DeSoto at Festus, Friday, 7 p.m. North County at Hillsboro, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 2: Pacific at John Burroughs, Saturday, 1 p.m. Sullivan at Union, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 3: Trinity at MICDS, Saturday, 1 p.m. St. Dominic at Parkway North, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The Trinity-MICDS game is an interesting one. Trinity is the No. 5 seed, but they are a powerful unit that is capable of making a run in the state playoffs. Top-seeded MICDS had displayed a potent offensive in its three victories this season.

Class 3

District 1: Ste. Genevieve at Kennett, Friday, 7 p.m.

St. Mary’s at Ste. Genevieve Valle, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The St. Mary’s –Valle showdown should be quite a contest. St. Mary’s comes down to Class 3 after advancing to the Class 4 state semifinals last season.

Valle is a perennial Class 1 state powerhouse that has moved up to the Class 3. On Friday night, they meet in the middle.

District 2: Cardinal Ritter at Park Hills Central, Friday, 7 p.m. Salem at St. Clair, Friday, 7 p.m.

District 3: Wright City at

Lutheran North, Friday, 7 p.m. Priory at Borgia, Friday, 7 p.m.

Class 2

District 2: Cuba at Lutheran-St. Charles, Friday, 7 p.m. Christian-O’Fallon at Duchesne, Friday, 7 p.m.

Earl’s Pick Game: The Christian-O’Fallon vs. Duchesne game has the makings of a very entertaining game over in St. Charles. Both teams feature big play athletes with offenses capable of putting plenty of points on the board.

Alvin A. Reid

Earl Austin Jr.

Dave Roberts joined Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston (1992 and ’93) as the only Black managers to win a World Series.

St. LouiS american Career Center St. LouiS

CLEAN-TECH COMPANY IS INTERVIEWING FOR VARIOUS LOCATIONS!

Interviews on the spot!

Every Thursday 1 PM – 4 PM! 211 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO

JOBS AVAILABLE!

WE ARE HIRING! Apply online www.cleantechcompany.com/ careers

Gateway Greening, Inc.

Position: DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATION

Summary: Leads the organization’s efforts in fund development and communications. This role is part of the Gateway Greening leadership team. This position is fulltime exempt. For full posting, visit http://www.gatewaygreening.org/ about/careers/

To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to info@gatewaygreening.org No phone calls, please.

FULL-TIME MUNICIPAL SERVICE WORKER I

The City of Clayton is hiring for a full-time Municipal Service Worker I—Public Works. Apply by 11/06/20: https://claytonmo.applicantpro. com/jobs/ EOE

St. Louis Aquarium Foundation CONSERVATION & EDUCATION CENTER (CEC) ASSOCIATE (PART TIME)

The Aquarium Foundation (nonprofit partner to the Aquarium at Union Station) is seeking an enthusiastic conservation enthusiast to join our team. Responsibilities include guest services and overseeing daily operation of the CEC. 15-25 hours per week; includes weekends, some evenings and holidays (open 365 days a year). $11/ hr. Starts early Dec. 2020. For full job description and application instructions, visit stlouisaquarium.com/ careers. Applications due by Nov. 13th. An Equal Opportunity Employer

JANITORIAL - HIRING

Full & Part-Time positions, 3 Shifts Background check. Steady work history preferred. Apply at 314 N. Jefferson at Olive. M - F, 9A to 5P. Must have two forms of I.D.

SENIOR MANAGER, HUMAN RESOURCES

The Senior Manager of Human Resources will coordinate all generalist HR functions for a non-profit organization that currently employs 60 team members. This includes developing, implementing and coordinating policies and programs encompassing all aspects of human resources, including: employment, compensation, training, staff planning and development, benefits, employee relations, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in a manner which reflects the mission, philosophy and policies of Covenant House. To apply, visit our website at www.covenanthousemo.org

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Rise Community Development seeks a new Executive Director to lead the organization into its next era of growth and success. The Executive Director is the key management leader of Rise and its affiliates. The new leader will be socially engaged to lead networking and fundraising and to articulate the mission of Rise to the public and stakeholders of all backgrounds. She or he must embrace and advance Rise’s values of racial equity and anti-racism.

Minimum qualifications include a college degree and 10 years of senior management experience. The full job posting can be found at http://www.risestl.org

To apply, send a resume and letter of introduction to jobs@risestl.org. No phone calls please. For best consideration, applications should be received by November 30, 2020.

Rise is an Equal Opportunity Employer

LEGAL COUNSEL

The St. Louis County Circuit Court is accepting applications for Legal Counsel.

Minimum Qualifications: Applicants must have graduated from an accredited law school; must have six years of experience in the practice of law; and must have a current Missouri License to practice law.

General Duties: Perform varied professional legal services and provide legal technical support to the Circuit Clerk, Judges, Commissioners and other staff within the Court system; review and process mandates from the higher courts; review prisoner mail and draft responses and pleadings to requests made by prisoners; process post-conviction remedy petitioners; review and respond to prisoner habeas corpus requests; respond to correspondence received from the Missouri Department of Corrections and other jurisdictions as it relates to prisoners; reply to criminal record requests; involvement with aiding self-represented litigants when needed; represent the Circuit Clerk in legal matters, such as responding to subpoenas, motions to quash,

judges and Circuit Clerk employees concerning court procedures; and perform other legal work, as required.

Salary: Starting salary is $53,676.00 annually + State of MO benefits.

How to apply: To apply go to our website at: https://wp.stlcountycourts.com/careers/

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

# 57820308, Laundry Vending Services

IMPACT Strategies, as the selected General Contractor, is requesting Subcontractor bids for the Cornerstone - Lafayette Square Development - Bid Package #4 – Building Trades project in St. Louis, MO.  This is a taxable project.

This project consists of complete ground-up construction of a new, 5-story multifamily apartment development, including parking garage.

This Bid Package #4 requires subcontractor proposals for Concrete Topping, Metal Balconies,Rough Carpentry, Wood Materials, Finish Carpentry, Damproofing and Waterproofing, Insulation, Weather and Air Barriers, Siding, Membrane Roofing, Flashing and Sheet Metal, Joint Protection, Doors/Frames/Hardware, Sectional Doors, Entrances and Storefronts, Drywall, Flooring, ACT, Painting, Toilet/Bath/Laundry Accessories, Fire Protection Specialties, Postal Specialties, Wire Storage Shelving, Residential Appliances, Window Treatments, Residential Casework, Stone Countertops, and Trash Chutes.

IMPACT is offering (2) Pre-Bid Meeting Opportunities for Subcontractors:

IMPACT Strategies will host (2) VIRTUAL pre-bid meetings for this project, November 10, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and November 19, 2020 at 9:00 AM. All interested contractors are encouraged to attend. Please contact Emily Yost for Zoom Meeting log-in/call-in instructions. eyost@buildwithimpact.com, (618)394-8400.

The Cornerstone Lafayette Square Multi-Family project will comply with the Diversity Goals as governed by Ordinance 70767 of the City of St. Louis. Ordinance 70767 outlines Enterprise (contract spend) requirements and also Workforce Participation goals as follows:

Successful contractors will be required to participate in the St. Louis Development Corporation(SLDC) program for documenting compliance with the Workforce and Prevailing wage Ordinances.

All proposals submitted on this project should include materials and equipment that are “bought in America” wherever feasible. Please note on your proposal if you are not able to comply with this request. Project bid documents, as well as samples of IMPACT Strategies' Subcontract documents and insurance requirements can be viewed at IMPACT Strategies, Southern Illinois Builders Association, The Asian American Chamber of Commerce, The Congress of Racial Equality - North Central Region, Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, Employment Connection, The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, MO-KAN Plan Room and Mcgraw Hill Dodge. For a direct download

eyost@buildwithimpact.com.

IMPORTANT

NOTICE TO ALL OFFERORS:

In response to the challenges the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents, and to ensure the safety of the public, postal workers, couriers, and our employees; until further notice Harris-Stowe State University has changed receipt of proposals/bids to electronic submissions. The Offeror/Bidder is solely responsible for ensuring timely submission of their electronic response. Failure to allow adequate time prior to the proposal/bid submittal due date/time in order to complete and submit a response to a RFP or IFB, particularly in the event technical support assistance is required, places the Offeror/Bidder and their response at risk of not being accepted on time. If an Offeror/Bidder does not have electronic accessibility to submit an electronic response, the Offeror/Bidder must contact the buyer of record at least five (5) days prior to the due date in order to determine if an alternate process is available to accept the proposal/bid. However, at this time under the current circumstances, electronic submission is the only certain way to submit responses.

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) is requesting proposals for Laundry Vending Services. Interested parties may obtain a copy of the RFP by emailing: morrowb@hssu.edu

PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN: 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2020.

The proposals will be opened and the names of the Offerors read. Award shall not be made at the time proposals are opened.

MANDATORY PRE-BID CONFERENCE: A mandatory pre-bid conference and walk-through will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. in room 311 in the Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., Administration building. Masks will be required for entry into the facility and at the pre-bid conference and walk-through. Social Distancing will also be required in all facilities.

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

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Spanish Lake Community Development Corporation (SLCDC) seeks proposals from qualified firms to provide comprehensive community engagement services related to the Bellefontaine Corridor Study adopted by St. Louis County Council. To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM CST on Friday, November 13, 2020. For the complete RFP and questions, please contact Angela Pinex at 314.733.9020 or angela@spanishlakecdc.org

PUBLIC NOTICE

The City of Crestwood is seeking bids for the 2021-2023 “Sanitary Sewer Lateral Investigations” project. Qualified contractors may obtain a project manual online at www.cityofcrestwood. org. Bids will be received by the Public Works Department of the City of Crestwood at the Crestwood Government Center, One Detjen Drive, Crestwood, Missouri, 63126 until 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for the Heege Road Bridge No. 440, St. Louis County Project No. AR-1715 will be received electronically thru the County’s Vendor Self Service portal at https://stlouisco. munisselfservice.com/Vendors/ default.aspx, until 11:00 a.m. on December 2, 2020 Plans and specifications will be available on November 2, 2020 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www. stlouiscountymo.gov) or by contacting Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, 2731 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 678-0087.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

PUBLIC NOTICE

Gladiator Building, 1339 Magnolia Manor Court, St. Peters, MO 63303 is seeking subcontractor bids for six (6) new construction homes at 2748 and 2750 Rutger Street, St. Louis, MO 63104 and 2706, 2708, 2710 and 2716 Hickory Street, St. Louis, MO 63104.

Scopes of work include, but are not limited to: New Construction of six (6) single family homes. Section 3, Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises are encouraged to bid.

Project plans and specifications are available by request. Please contact Gladiator Building at (314)328 -5545, GladiatorHomes314@gmail.com

All bids are due to Gladiator Building’s office by 11/16/19, 12 p.m. Gladiator Building is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

PUBLIC NOTICE

The City of Crestwood is seeking bids for the 2021-2023 “Sanitary Sewer Lateral Repairs” project. Qualified contractors may obtain a project manual online at www.cityofcrestwood.org Bids will be received by the Public Works Department of the City of Crestwood at the Crestwood Government Center, One Detjen Drive, Crestwood, Missouri, 63126 until 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District Requests for Quotes, Bids and Proposals are posted online for public download. Please navigate to www.msdprojectclear.org > Doing Business With Us > View Non-Capital Bids (commodities and services) or >Visit Planroom (capital construction bids)

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

PCT DONOR PLAQUES RFP 2021

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks bids from qualified contractors to bid on the PCT Donor Plagues RFP 2021. Bid documents are available as of 11/4/2020 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

VIRTUAL PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE

7th Street Improvements Project St. Louis Development Corp. Thursday, November 12, 2020 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Zoom Web URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/ j/83074132008?pwd=K1FCTUFBc0RoWXhNOExEUG1JY29MQT09 Passcode: 389119

Zoom Call-in: #312-626-6799 ID: 830 7413 2008

St. Louis Development Corporation is hosting a virtual public Open House for the 7th Street Improvements, from Walnut St to Washington Ave. As part of ongoing efforts to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the meeting will be held via Zoom webinar. Hear from team members about project details and provide feedback.

Improvements include major pedestrian and bicycling upgrades, upgraded signal timing, crosswalks, lighting and pavement. The project encourages connectivity within the downtown core and connects two regional destinations.

Public comment period closes December 3, 2020. Documents and more will be made available at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/ departments/sldc/

Anyone needing an accommodation must notify Amanda Bloomfield, 314-657-3708 or bloomfielda@stlouis-mo.gov, no later than two days prior. Anyone experiencing technical difficulty should also contact Amanda.

MWBE PreBid Meeting Notice

The SITE Improvement Association is hosting a Prebid meeting for Qualified and Certified MWBE contractors to discuss working on St. Louis County’s 2020 CRS Pavement Rehabilitation, Area E Project Project No. CR-1816

This meeting is being held on behalf of the following SITE contractor member:

J.M. Marschuetz Construction Co. 15 Truitt Drive, Eureka, MO 63025 636/938-3600

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

November 12, 2020

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

Project plans are available from St Louis County. For questions regarding this prebid meeting, contact SITE Improvement Association at 314/966-2950.

MWBE PreBid Meeting Notice

The SITE Improvement Association is hosting a Prebid meeting for Qualified and Certified MWBE contractors to discuss working on St. Louis County’s 2020 Advance Sidewalk Work Program Project No. AR/CR-1811

This meeting is being held on behalf of the following SITE contractor member:

J.M. Marschuetz Construction Co. 15 Truitt Drive, Eureka, MO 63025 636/938-3600

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

November 12, 2020

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

Project plans are available from St Louis County. For questions regarding this prebid meeting, contact SITE Improvement Association at 314/966-2950.

PUBLIC NOTICE

SEALED BIDS

Bids for BAS Replacement at Jennings State Office Building, P r o j e c t N o . O1921-01, will be received by F M D C , S t a t e of MO, UNTIL 1 : 3 0 P M , 11/24/2020 via MissouriBUYS. Bidders must be registered to bid. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

$135 / wk + Dep, All Util., includ., free W/D, Near busline, Call 314-741-1951 leave a message

HOMES

Sealed Proposals for B21-1198 Hemp Potency Analyzer will be received at Lincoln University Purchasing Dept 1002 Chestnut St, RM 101 Shipping & Receiving Bldg, JCMO 65101 until 2PM CT on 10Nov2020. Download Proposal Request at http://www.lincolnu.edu/web/ purchasing/bids

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER AS CONSTRUCTOR RFQ

The Saint Louis Zoo seeks submissions for the Construction Manager as Constructor RFQ from qualified contractors to bid. Bid documents are available as of 11/4/2020 on the Saint Louis Zoo website: stlzoo.org/vendor

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Critical Care Addition – East IR Expansion for the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.

This is the renovation of the existing sleep lab area to an interventional radiology imaging room with support space and per/post recovery rooms. The project consists of approximately 2,971 SF of space and includes but is not limited to demolition, carpentry, architectural woodwork, firestopping, doors/frames/hardware, ICU entrances, drywall, tile, acoustical ceilings, flooring, painting, fire sprinklers, plumbing, HVAC and electrical work.

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

Bids for this project are due on November 12th, at 12:00 p.m. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Evan Chiles at 816-878-6003 or emchiles@paric.com.

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

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

K&S Associates, Inc. is soliciting

for the following projects for Oct-NovMS&T Vivarium Lab Renovation, Valley Park Fire Protection District #2 and AP-Stem Building-Plans and Specs can be viewed at www.ksgcstl.com-submit bids to estimating@ksgcstl.com or Fax 314-647-5302

Point of Contact: Gigi Glasper – gxglasper@flystl.com

Airport Properties Division Manager

Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion,

We voted – and we voted early

Voter turnout was 65% for the City of St. Louis and 78% for St. Louis County on election day, with an unprecedented number of voters claiming an exemption to vote absentee in hopes of avoiding large crowds on election day due to the COVID19 pandemic. Ironically, some of the time when people voted absentee, some polls were more crowded than the same polls were at certain times on Election Day.Statewide voter turnout was 69.75%.

Photos by Wiley Price