September 2nd, 2021 edition

The St. LouiS AmericAn

CCS has raised more than $50 million for community

Larry Thomas has gifted more than $1 million

By Alvin A. Reid The St. Louis American

When it comes to the Charmaine Chapman Society and its impact on the community, Larry Thomas is a million-dollar man.

Thomas, an Edward Jones partner, was an inaugural member of the Society, which is comprised of African Americans who donate $1,000 or more to the annual United Way Campaign.

Thomas is the newsest member of CCS to donate $1 million, and he remains an active participant in the annual campaign.

“United Way’s mission of helping people live better lives and the Charmaine Chapman Society’s impact in our community is very special and inspiring,” he said.

“In its first year in 1994, CCS raised $70,000. Today, the Society has collectively raised more than $50 million, which is an incredible accomplishment for our region.

Dr. Donald Suggs, publisher of The St. Louis American, led the philanthropic group’s creation with the late Charmaine Chapman, the first woman and Black person to head United Way of Greater St. Louis. The first of its kind in the nation, it was titled the African American Giving initiative. It was graced with Chapman’s name after she passed in 2001.

Thomas said the Society was established “so the Black community could demonstrate leadership in giving.”

“In the space of leadership giving, CCS provided a platform for our voices to be heard and our actions to be signi-

n “In its first year in 1994, CCS raised $70,000.

Today, the Society has collectively raised more than $50 million.”

– Larry Thomas

is the new

opening for St. Louis Sound on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021 at the Missouri History

that highlights local music history.

By Dana Rieck

The St. Louis American

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones on Wednesday announced the appointment of the city’s new health director, Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis Hlatshwayo Davis is an infectious disease expert with a focus in addressing health disparities among marginalized communities and battling the HIV epidemic.

During a media conference, the doctor said her training in public health and her passion for community engagement will be valuable tools in this new position and noted that her commitment to medicine and to public health is rooted in the loss of her father, a veteran in her home country of Zimbabwe, who succumbed to complications of cancer and diabetes.

“Preventing similar outcomes, providing care to people at their most vulnerable and advocating for our community has been my primary focus,” she said.

Hlatshwayo Davis’ resume is miles long, but currently she sits on the St. Louis City Board of Health and is also co-chair of “Fast

March On Washington was step in history for local group

By Alvin A. Reid

The St. Louis American

St. Louis and the state of Missouri were well represented at the 2021 March On Washington, Aug. 28 – exactly 58 years to the day after the march and Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous speech in which he thundered “I have a dream!”

“We cannot underestimate the seriousness of these attacks on voter rights and voter suppression laws being passed by many states,” said John Bowman, president of the St. Louis County NAACP.

“We must protect the most fundamental of rights, and that is exercising the right to vote.

Bowman was part of a group of about 40 people who traveled from St. Louis to Washington on a bus to take part in the march, workshops and rally in conjunction with the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition.

n U.S. Rep Cori Bush, who met the group in Washington, told USA TODAY that voting rights are integral to progressive political success.

U.S. Rep Cori Bush, who met the group in Washington, told USA TODAY that voting rights are integral to progressive political success.

“I believe that there has been a deliberate attack against Black and brown and indigenous communities for so long, because our votes prevail, because our votes speak, and because our votes shake the ground,” she said.

“America is at a crossroad,” said Denise Lieberman, Missouri Voter Protection Coalition director.

“Democracy is in peril. We have the potential in coming weeks to protect voting rights, particularly for people of color. States are passing laws that are purposely making it harder for people of color to vote, while they should be doing the opposite.”

At least six bills in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Oklahoma shorten windows to apply for mail-in ballots, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy nonprofit that tracks voter suppression legislation Bills in Iowa and Montana call for reducing polling place availability. Georgia and Iowa bills seek to limit voting days and hours. Other bills, many of which have already been signed into law, ban ballot drop boxes and mail-in voting, impose harsher voter ID requirements and prohibit giving water to voters in line.

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis has been appointed the city’s news health director. She is the second Black woman in the city’s history to serve in that role.

Murphy Lee (right) performs at the

Museum. St. Louis Sound

exhibit

Photo by Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American

See CCS, A6

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Tyrese opens up about ‘colorism’ in Hollywood

Tyrese recently posted to his Instagram about his experience with ‘colorism.’ In an interview with Leah A. Henry of The Jasmine Brand, he explained his experience and how it affected his upbringing.

“Yeah, it wasn’t easy to be dark skinned in the hood,” Tyrese said. “But yeah, throughout my whole childhood, it was not cool to have dark skin in the hood. It was always the light skinned Black people that seemed to have gotten all the attention and all the love, and consid ered pretty, attractive or hand some. And since I’ve been in Hollywood, we dealt with the same thing.”

He talked about his new movie with Terrence Howard and elaborated on

how he was selected.

“I just did a film with Terrence Howard and we’re able to joke about it now but I was the star of the film and they had an idea to go with someone else, who I won’t mention, and then I suggested Terrence Howard. And he thanked me for like a week straight,” he said.

Tyrese further clarified that he thought about how Howard doesn’t know how many roles he was about to book, since he was a lighter complected Black man with green eyes.

He continued, “So it’s crazy to me. I’m number one, I’m the star, I’m this blue-Black, you know all the things I was laughed about in the hood. Then you look at Lupita, you know kind of the Viola Davises of the world and there is kind of this shift that has happened.”

STL native Josephine Baker to be honored in Paris

American-born, French performer will be inducted into Paris’ Panthéon mausoleum, she’s the first Black woman to receive the honor. She will be entered into the monument in November.

The Panthéon is a burial place that celebrates French icons including scientist Marie Curie and writer Victor Hugo. Baker is the sixth woman to join 80 national figures at

the site.

The honor recognizes her contributions to the performing arts and her tenacity in combating Nazi Germany during World War II.

Her body will remain buried in Monaco, and she will be honored Nov. 30 with a memorial and a plaque.

Baker’s induction was approved by French President Emmanuel Macron after her family led a campaign and petition that garnered around 38,000 signatures. Her family had been requesting an induction since 2013, but the president is the only one that can approve entrants to the burial place.

sive occupational and physical therapy” for his Parkinson’s disease as his COVID-19 symptoms lessen.

Baker, born 1906 in St. Louis, came to prominence during the 1930s after relocating to France to pursue a career in entertainment. She also was heavily involved with the civil rights movement and was a freedom fighter for France during World War II.

Jesse, Jacqueline Jackson still hospitalized, battling COVID-19

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Jesse Jackson has been moved to a rehabilitation facility at Northwestern Memorial Hospital while his wife, Jacqueline, has been transferred to the ICU as her coronavirus symptoms remain.

According to a statement from their son, Jonathan Jackson, Jesse will begin “inten-

In another statement, Jonathan said Jacqueline, who is receiving increased oxygen, is breathing on her own and not on a ventilator.

Last week, Business Insider reported Jacqueline and Jesse were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.

“We continue to receive the love that is being poured out to our family from around the world and it is greatly appreciated, as we express our love and concern for the millions of people who have been victimized by the COVID-19 virus and its variants,” Jonathan wrote in a statement. “We know this is a dangerous disease, so please remain prayerful for all of those who are suffering as a result.”

Jesse received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in January. His first dose was during a publicized event to encourage Black people to get vaccinated.

Jacqueline has not been vaccinated. The original article can be found on Business Insider’s website.

Sources: www.shadowandact.com, www.thejasminebrand.com, www.bossip.com, www.bbc.com, www.yahoo.com, www.revolt.tv, www.pagesix.com,

Kids do not matter to the

Vote comes after weeks of contentious debate

By Dana Rieck

The St. Louis American

Council on Friday afternoon voted to support a mask man date enacted through a health order after five weeks of contentious debate and at least two votes against the mandate.

to wear masks in public indoor spaces and while using public transportation. The council’s vote supporting this mandate meets a requirement of a new state law governing emergency health orders.

party lines, with the three Republican members on the council abstaining: Tim Fitch, 3rd District; Mark Harder, 7th District; and Ernie Trakas, 6th District.

Missouri Legislature

County council Democrats vote to support mask mandate

By Amber Gilleylen For The

St. Louis American

While we see a record number of 19 anti-LGBTQ bills in the Missouri Legislature this year, we are also seeing a record number of voices being shut out from testifying on issues that directly impact them. I was one of the parents who was stifled while fighting for my

hour meeting, held over Zoom and broadcast on YouTube for the public to view, Trakas, Fitch and Harder grilled health officials about COVID-19 hospitalizations in the area and the efficacy of different kinds of masks.

BJC HealthCare’s Dr. Hilary Babcock presented information and was questioned first. Later on, three health officials from the St. Louis County Health Department spoke: Dr. Faisal Khan, Dr. Emily Doucette and Spring Schmidt. All four people agreed masks are an effective tool to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 and slow down transmission rates.

Despite bill sponsors who did not provide any Missouri-based evidence for these bills, what we saw from the community was nothing short of patriotic. The people of Missouri showed up. Fifty-plus courageous individuals waited five hours to testify. They were then told they would only have 30 seconds to tell their unique, personal stories. This was a blatant attempt at muting our voices to speak out about something that will harm our children. To say that we have 30 seconds to advocate on our child’s life and the possible death sentence that they would be placing on them is outrageous. My child’s life is worth more than 30 seconds!

While vaccines are key to stopping the spread of COVID-19, mask are proven to be effective. A mask mandate finally won approval by the St. Louis County Council last week when Councilwomen Rita Days and Shalonda Webb changed their previous no votes to yes after five weeks of contentious debate.

Northside Community School expands

They gave various reasons as to why they were abstaining, including that they believe the mask mandate is not legal, that it’s already expired, that masks were not a proven way to prevent the spread of COVID-19, that the resolution is political theatre with no enforcement and that the number of new COVID-19 cases are decreasing. On Aug. 3, county officials reported a seven-day rolling average of 365 new COVID-19 cases a day and on Aug. 24 that number was at 299.

demands of their jobs, their children and their own parents, in conditions complicated in unprecedented ways.”

After pushing back, a few of us were allowed to talk for slightly longer, but most were still kept under a minute. Do I think I had my voice heard? Barely. More importantly, can I tell you that our government is committed to listening?

Emphatically, no.

Northside Community School Executive Director Chester Asher, Principal Stella Erondu and Board Chair Jim Brigham recently broke ground for new class rooms and an expanded lunch area ceremoniously with students. The public charter school is located in the Kingsway East neighborhood.

Charter offering 60 days of free Wi-Fi for students

“[The councilwomen’s] commentary through the pandemic has been informed by their experiences as caregivers and multitaskers and their votes today remove any lingering confusion about the status of the county’s health order,” the statement read. “Our message is now clear: wear your mask to fight the virus. And get vaccinated when you are eligible.”

month listening to all the feedback from county residents, particularly those in North County.

The public health order extended through Friday’s resolution states it is effective “Monday, July 26, 2021, and [will] continue [to be] in effect

Beginning Monday, March 16, Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription at any service level up to 100 Mbps. Charter will open its Wi-Fi hotspots across its footprint for public use. Spectrum does not have data caps or hidden fees. Installation fees will be waived for new student households. To enroll call 1-844-488-8395

Webb spoke before the vote, saying that she always believed the mask mandate was going to cause more chaos and confusion than anything else and she was concerned about whether the mandate would help her constituents in North County get vaccinated. She said she spent the last

Gateway Pet Guardians is looking for people to adopt animals

Gateway Pet Guardians is looking for people to adopt animals and for help raising funds as it has cancelled all in-person fundraising events through April due to public health concerns.

“I have always said I don’t see party lines or district lines, I see North County,” Webb said. “North County I hear you; I see you; I am listening to you, and I am serving you. … They want me to support this resolution and I will do what my constituents asked me to do and support this resolution.”

The council’s Tuesday meeting following Friday’s vote once again hosted an hour of public comment slamming the council for supporting a mask mandate, arguing everything from it violates their constitutional rights to wearing masks and getting vaccines is akin to selling one’s soul to the antichrist.

“If every pet in our care was adopted, that would generate nearly $20,000 in adoption fees and that revenue is what we depend on to pay our staff and keep the lights on,” Jill Henke, development director, said in a statement.

Webb and Days, both Democrats, faced public criticism over the last month for siding with their Republican colleagues in previous votes against the mask mandate.

Louis County wanted this pandemic to end enough to use all the tools at our disposal to slow the spread of the disease, the assault on our health care system and to save lives,” she said.

Following the public comment, Dunaway dropped all three of her mask-related bills after thanking the council for listening to the county’s health care professionals and supporting the mask mandate through the resolution.

Gateway Pet Guardians is planning an online silent auction to replace the cancelled in-person fundraising events. Please email donate@ gatewaypets.org if you would like to donate gift cards, gift certificates or other items. If you are interested in adopting or making a donation, visit https://www.gatewaypets.org/

“I wish everyone in St.

These bills are dangerous and discriminatory. They inspire nightmares for us parents, and yet we found ourselves pouring our hearts out over the sound of a timer reminding us to hurry along. Nearly 100 of us came from hours away to make our voices heard and educate our elected officials on the devastating impacts of these bills. What we witnessed was just how undemocratic and rigged our supermajority-controlled Missouri legislature continues to be.

Friday’s special meeting was called after the council on Tuesday night delayed a vote on a proposed ordinance to reinstate a mask mandate because they were slated to meet virtually with county health officials Thursday. The meeting gave those health workers a chance to explain and defend their position, while taking questions from council members.

This is not normal and must not be excused. This was purposely orchestrated by adults who claim to care about my child. We have a government that is set up to allow us to use our voices, but this was a clear statement to us that we do not matter. Missouri kids do not matter. How shameful.

Trakas invited and introduced a retired internist, Dr. William Benedict, during the meeting, who argued there was not enough evidence to recommend mask wearing. The contentious debate over masks began when St. Louis County Executive Sam Page enacted a public health order requiring masks in public indoor spaces and transportation July 26, alongside St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones in the city. The day after the mandate went into effect, the St. Louis County Council voted 5-2 to end the mandate after a lengthy and raucous public comment session that received national news media attention for Khans’ allegations of racist harassment.

Those who voted to rescind Page’s mandate that night were Fitch, Trakas, Harder, Days and Webb.

These bills could permit the government to break up and harm my family, and I get mere seconds? I’m angry. I don’t care what issue people come to speak on, listen. We put you in those seats to represent us. You cannot represent us if you won’t take the time to learn about us.

During that three-and-a-half

As someone who waited, who wept as others testified, who listened to the committee chair threaten to shut us down if we made any noise at all outside of our 30 seconds of testimony, who sat nervously as police officers gathered outside the committee room, I have to tell you that I am outraged. You should be too, and you should be loud about it. I know I am done being quiet while I watch this body threaten our children.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt also sued to block the county’s mask mandate the day it went into effect. Earlier this month, a county judge ruled the county could not enforce a mask mandate until the court made a final judgement.

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo courtesy of St. Louis Public Radio

Stakes are high for all of Black America in upcoming California recall vote

The latest polls show that the Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newson, could be removed from office in less than three weeks. Black Americans that don’t live in the state that has the largest population, a $3.3 trillion gross state product and the world’s fifth largest economy should nevertheless be deeply concerned and aware of the importance of the outcome of this peculiar election.

The wrong outcome of this race could be a real threat to the passage of some of the proposed Democratic national policies that would directly and positively impact daily lives, livelihood and well being of millions of Black Americans.

The removal of the incumbent Democratic governor of the blue mega state, California, by a right-wing Trump-supporting Republican would energize Republicans everywhere and embolden them as they seek to recapture control of Congress next year and the presidency in 2024. If Republicans are successful in California, it would create a far-reaching detriment to the future aspirations of Black America.

would become unable to serve. If that happens, she would certainly be promptly replaced by a conservative Republican and lead to a Republican majority that would end Democratic control of the chamber.

Remember the dire consequences for Black Americans when a Republican-controlled Senate denied an appointment to the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama, and the subsequent death of a very ill Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg allowed Trump and a Republican Senate to appoint still another Supreme Court Justice.

n This upcoming recall election on Sept. 14 in California is a stark reminder of how important it is that Black America become and remain more informed and engaged.

There is a perception in the state among many Blacks that California Democrats, including Newson, take their votes for granted and shut them out from decision making about legislation and initiatives (even though many of the initiatives benefit the poor and minorities). That dynamic is important because under California’s recall system, Newsom could be unseated unless he gets the support of at least half the votes cast, and he would be replaced by the next candidate with the most votes, no matter how few the number is.

Newsom’s defeat would create the possibility that the progressive legislative programs that Congressional Democrats are pursuing in a 50-50 Senate that already requires the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris to get progressive laws passed. Passage of these laws being debated in the Senate would be jeopardized if an aging and increasingly frail 88 year-old U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein

Control of the Senate will determine the fate of the huge $3.5 trillion Democratic budget bill that is expected to include universal preschool, paid family leave, federal support for child care and elder care, expansion of Medicare and tax increases for wealthy people and corporations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warns that, “We must not squander our Congressional Democratic Majorities and jeopardize the once-in-a-generation opportunity to create historic change to meet the needs of working families.”

This upcoming recall election on Sept. 14 in California is a stark reminder of how important it is that Black America become and remain more informed and engaged.

Next year will see several highly-contested races for control of Congress and none more important than incumbent Raphael Warnock’s Senate race for re-election (he is running for a full six-year term) and U.S. Rep. Val Demings in Florida. Recent polls showed her within two points of the current incumbent, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. These races should be viewed as the Californai recall election— as national fights critically important to all of Black America and its institutions and supporters. They warrant the full force of our collective human and financial resources. If we fail to mobilize more effectively our large numerical base, financial and political power, it will be to our collective detriment and even peril.

St. Louis needs the STL Pipeline

By Michael P. McMillan

For over a century, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has been a champion for empowerment and opportunity for African Americans in our community. We pride ourselves on working to improve lives through various programs – such as those that provide utility assistance - and by advocating for policies that will help residents of the city thrive.

While everyone benefits from affordable natural gas – to heat homes, warm water and cook meals – access to it is particularly critical for limited-income residents in and around St. Louis. At a time when millions of Americans are still struggling to make ends meet because of the pandemic, many in our community simply cannot afford another shock to their budgets. Unfortunately, a recent court decision could impact St. Louis families this winter.

In June, the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals revoked the approval for the Spire STL Pipeline, which

services 650,000 local homes and businesses who rely on it to meet their daily energy needs. This pipeline has played a pivotal role in limited-income communities by making reliable natural gas available and affordable for consumers.

Following the court’s decision, the STL Pipeline’s ability to operate will be determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the same organization that approved the pipeline as it currently operates just two years ago. It is vital that the FERC quickly takes action to allow

n Without the STL Pipeline in operation, Spire Missouri estimates that as many as 400,000 homes and businesses could be without access to natural gas this upcoming winter.

the STL Pipeline to continue to operate. Without this critical infrastructure, our most vulnerable residents could be without heat this winter. Over the past two years, the STL Pipeline has already pro-

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Moral authority is missing in today’s Black leadership

Last month, Congress adjourned for its August recess. The U.S. House of Representatives left town without extending, or even speaking to, the federal eviction moratorium. On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue the White House was equally silent. This moratorium affected seven million people.

But not all members of the House left town. A Black freshman congresswoman from Missouri felt she couldn’t go home, not with the very real possibility that seven million Americans could become homeless. What could she do?

She didn’t have rank or any institutional power that could make anyone act, and she didn’t call a press conference. She did what you do when you’ve done all that you can. She just stood. Not only did U.S. Rep. Cori Bush stand on the Capitol steps to protest the end of the eviction moratorium, but she was also joined by two of her colleagues, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley. They slept on the Capitol steps. She simply said, “I know what it’s like.”

The audacity and humanity of their action, and their commitment to stay there until somebody did something, captured the attention of the nation and compelled President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to act to extend the moratorium. The fact that the Supreme Court overturned their reprieve is not the point of this column.

The power of Black leadership has never been a function of our overwhelming numbers. It has never had the leverage that comes from holding positions of authority and it

has never had the active support of most white Americans. The power of Black leadership is grounded in something much deeper, more profound and transformative. It is moral authority.

Moral authority empowers leaders of oppressed people to speak truth to power. “Let my people go.” Whether you consider the Bible literal truth or allegory, this demand of Moses to Pharaoh is what speaking truth to power sounds like. The truth doesn’t request; it demands. Because the demand is grounded in the truth it has the moral authority to bring power to kneel. It’s how a young shepherd with a slingshot slays a giant with a sword. Whatever progress we’ve made in America, surviving enslavement to overcoming Jim Crow, was not because of numerical superiority or political contrivance. It was because we produced leadership with the moral authority, capacity and courage to speak truth to power. Our story has no shortage of heroes, but there are two that hold special reverence for me. We’re talking about Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.

Every Fourth of July, we reference Douglass’ speech (he refused to give it on July 4, delivering it the next day), “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”

Douglass gave this speech in

Letters to the editor

1852, as the country was beginning to spin out of control. It led to the Civil War. In a flurry of rhetorical brilliance and biting irony Douglass uses the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bible to castigate America for its cruelty and exploitation of the enslaved.

Just over a century later, King gave an equally important and profound speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Like Douglass, he used the founding documents to make the case against America. We raise these examples to highlight the fact that we need Black political leadership with the inclination and skills to attack American hypocrisy and injustice while making a rational argument. What we currently have are too many highly ambitious, transactional politicians who are equally as likely to be America’s ambassador to the Black community as the Black community’s advocates to America. Is morality based Black political leadership still possible? If it is, can it still be effective? We think the answers are yes. In fact, it’s the only kind of leadership that will work for us. Until we can again produce a critical mass of Black political leadership that defines itself as the tip of the spear in the war for a just and equitable America, there will be no America in which Black lives will matter.

The fact that we can still produce a Congresswoman like Bush, who was willing to sleep on the Capitol steps so some of her fellow citizens won’t have to sleep in the streets, means we still have hope.

Common sense says wear a mask

Although the decision to wear a mask has become a political football, common sense and personal protection should dictate the obvious. People who wear masks are better protected and protect others better than those who do not wear a mask. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, state without ambiguity, that wearing a mask protects the individual, and the public.

So, let’s review the tools. Get the vaccine! It has been thoroughly tested and proven to be a safe and effective weapon against the virus. Wearing a mask adds an additional layer of protection against airborne viruses.

Masks also reduce the spread of the virus among members of the public. It’s also wise to frequently wash your hands and limit inside visits with the unvaccinated.

vided numerous clear benefits to St. Louis. During Winter Storm Uri last winter, while Oklahoma and Texas faced power outages and the inability to heat their homes during unprecedented winter weather, St. Louis escaped the same hardship. And residents saved between $150 to $300 million as a result – because of the STL Pipeline.

Without the STL Pipeline in operation, Spire Missouri estimates that as many as 400,000 homes and businesses could be without access to natural gas this winter. Those still struggling because of COVID, our senior citizens, and other vulnerable populations should not have the added burden of wondering if they will be able to heat their homes.

From higher costs to a lack of access, the residents of St. Louis may see serious service disruptions if the STL Pipeline is not in operation. FERC must consider these severe impacts and work with Spire to keep this critical infrastructure operational. At the end of the day, this is an issue about ensuring access to an important resource – a resource for all members of our community.

Michael P. McMillan is president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.

With vaccinations and masks, St. Louisans can safely return to school, back to work, back to rebuilding our economy, and enjoying a healthier future for all of us. Unless we are united in our efforts, the virus will defeat us.

You may not be able to see the virus, but its damage in sickness, lost lives, and devastated families is the evidence of its strength and persistence.

When it comes to vaccination and wearing a mask to save my life and others’? No need to ask. I’m all in and will stay that way until the pandemic is declared over. What about you?

State Sen. Jill Schupp

Columnist Mike Jones

Columnist Michael P. McMillan

Fountains of youth

Webster U. grant will brighten its new WATTS project

Webster University has been awarded a nearly $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create scholarships and support systems to benefit low-income, high-achieving students who transfer from community colleges to complete a four-year STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degree.

The “Winning Approaches for Talented Transfers in STEM” (WATTS) identifies successful strategies for supporting STEM transfer students to degree completion.

“Our STEM faculty and the passion they bring to helping their students succeed epitomize Webster’s commitment to making a difference in the communities we serve,” said Webster University President Julian Z. Schuster.

“I want to congratulate professors Mary Preuss, Stephanie Schroeder and Ryan Groeneman, our Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and Webster’s entire team for their efforts to make this proposal a reality.”

The WATTS project, over the next five years, will award scholarships to 32 academically talented, low income transfer students from area community colleges who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in Webster University’s biology or chemistry programs.

One of its goals is to retain at least 90% of WATTS Scholars through degree completion through existing academic support systems, such as Webster’s Reeg Academic Resource Center, and peer mentoring tailored to meet the needs of incoming transfer students.

“Through this grant we will strengthen our collaborations with St. Louis Community College and St. Charles Community College and support students’ ability to finish their four-year degree in a science field,” said Biology Associate Professor Mary Lai Preuss, the project lead for WATTS.

“We will develop a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the recruitment, retention, graduation and post-graduation success of students transferring from community colleges, which all institutions will benefit from.”

Community health centers deserve our respect

By Angela F. Brown STL Regional Health Commission

Many of us check COVID-19 rates constantly, watching the red bar dip and soar with anticipation. Our front-line workers carry an additional burden; they also count more grieving families in their waiting rooms and witness the increased anxiety in the eyes of sick patients.

For the past year and a half, community health centers have stepped up in the face of fear and devastation to protect the health of our region. When health centers noticed a dearth of COVID-19 testing in North St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis, free testing sites were established to promote equitable access.

When vaccination sites were limited for their patients, health centers joined hospitals in pioneering efforts to ensure communities could receive immunizations. They have collaborated with multiple community nonprofits to provide health care and COVID19 vaccines to especially vulnerable groups, such as the homeless. They have accomplished this while continuing to offer critical healthcare services, such as diabetes management, women’s wellness exams and behavioral health treatment.

Dr. Clay Dunagan, St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force leader, recently expressed his gratitude.

“St. Louis’ community health centers have long been key resources in caring for the citizens of our region, working tirelessly to provide preventive services, chronic disease care, behavioral health treatment and other safety net services,” he said.

“When the COVID pandemic struck our region, they were ready and able to confront the new challenges we faced. Community health centers were at ground zero in the first, and subsequent waves of the pandemic ready to meet every challenge.

“They stood up with testing and then vaccination operations in communities of significant need, while continuing to deliver other clinical services. We are so fortunate to have these dedicated providers caring for so many of our most vulnerable citizens.”

The second week of August was National Health Center Week, and it provided an opportunity to offer extra gratitude to our community health centers’ providers and staff. I cannot think of a better way to show appreciation to our health centers than by financially supporting their ability to care for the uninsured and underserved.

About a year ago, Missourians voted to expand Medicaid. Now, Missourians who make $1,481 a month or less could qualify for Medicaid. Expansion is not only a major win for the health of Missourians, but also for our health care safety net.

Our community health centers were struggling without expansion. In 2019, one in three patients at St. Louis community health centers were uninsured, putting financial strain on the organizations. Medicaid expansion serves as a needed lifeline and will help health centers continue to provide quality care to our community. But our support cannot end there. We must continue uplifting our health centers with state and federal support to keep their doors open.

We at the St. Louis Regional Health Commission stand with partners across the region in gratitude for our community health centers. Bethany Johnson-Javois, CEO of the Saint Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN), amplifies our shared appreciation.

“It is not lost on IHN that our health centers take their mission-driven purpose seriously every single day. Despite it all, you care for our community. Now, it’s your turn to know that we care about you,” she said.

To all the community health center workers, thank you. Your dedication, selflessness and compassion are noticed and appreciated.

For more information about the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, visit www. stlrhc.org or call Angela Brown at 314-446-6452.

Angela F. Brown is CEO of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, a nonprofit organization with a mission to increase access to health care for people who are medically uninsured and underinsured.

Cayden Smith, 7, cools off in the fountains at City Park in downtown St. Louis. After a relentless heatwave, temperatures are supposed to cool over Labor Day weekend.

Photo by Jennifer Sarti / St. Louis American

Angela F. Brown

fied, and for the past 27 years, we’ve had that.”

A virtual kickoff of the 2021 campaign was held Aug. 25, which appropriately came during Black Philanthropy Month.

“Larry Thomas has a very special place at United Way of Greater St. Louis, and I am truly honored to celebrate and thank Larry for his lifetime giving to United Way exceeding $1 million,” said Michelle Tucker, president and CEO.

“But beyond his incredible generosity in treasure, Larry is a very dedicated volunteer and partner to United Way through his time and influence. He has served as an Executive Committee member, a board member, a previous chair of the Charmaine Chapman Society, and was an original member of the society 27 years ago.” Mark and Vivian Darrell, 2021 Charmaine Chapman Society co-chairs, said in a joint statement, “St. Louis has historically been renowned as one of the most generous regions in the country.

“People of color have continually created ways to come together to support one another in the face of discrimination, violence and adversity, and to support the community at large. This was commonly done through churches and neighborhood organizations.

“The Society’s more than 600 members are committed to building a brighter future for all and have raised more than $50 million to help the St. Louis community to date. This gener-

ous spirit also played an integral role in growing United Way of Greater St. Louis into the largest United Way in the country and had a huge impact in helping our neighbors across the St. Louis region.”

According to the United Way, 43% of people in the St. Louis region, including nearly 400,000 children, don’t have the income to meet their basic needs (like housing, utilities, food, transportation and medical bills); even in normal economic times.

In addition, because of historic systems of discrimination, Black people face income disparities and lack of access to critical resources, like healthcare and transportation.

“These not only limit our dayto-day lives, but also our long-term potential,” said the Darrells.

More than 36% of people served by United Way are Black, and more than 30 United Way-supported agencies are led by Black CEOs or executive directors.

“Through United Way, the Charmaine Chapman Society’s support not only represents a hand up to Black individuals in need of assistance, but also an investment into the Black trailblazers working to change the trajectory for our region,” they said.

“The society’s work is more important than ever as our community continues to weather the COVID-19 crisis. By coming together to rally around our community, we can help kids succeed in school and beyond. We can help families gain financial stability to avoid crisis and invest in their futures. We can help individuals access not just the basics to sustain, but the resources to meet their potential.”

Mark and Vivian Darrell, 2021 co-chairs of the Charmaine Chapman Society, are proud that the Society’s more than 600 members “are committed to building a brighter future for all and have raised more than $50 million to help the St. Louis community.” The Society was established in 1994 and its 2021 campaign was launched on Aug. 25.

March

Continued from A1

Speakers also pleaded for passage of the John Lewis

Voting Rights Enhancement Act.

It would establish a process for reviewing voting changes in jurisdictions nationwide, focused on measures that have historically been used to dis-

criminate against voters. It also requires reasonable public notice for voting changes. It also calls on the U.S. Attorney General to request federal observers be present anywhere in the country where there is a serious threat of racial discrimination in voting; and allowing federal courts to intervene when the effect of a voting measure (including voter ID laws) is to lead to racial discrimination in voting and to deny citizens their right to vote.

“Fifty-eight years ago today, a preacher from Georgia stood on these steps and declared, in the face of racism and economic justice, a nightmare — a nightmare that was lengthened by congressional and state filibustering,” said Rev. Dr. William Barber III. Voting rights activists have been putting pressure on Congress to end the filibuster and make it harder for state legislators to change voting laws that place barriers in front of the ballot box.

Participants included family members of both King and Lewis, the youngest organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, and the brothers of George Floyd whose murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 sparked global protests.

Bowman said he was impressed that many organizations have come together to protect voting rights.

“We have to stop working in silos,” he said. While he called the Biden Administration “light years ahead of Trump,” he said, “we can’t be soft-pedaling these issues.”

“There are people, many Democrats, that are hiding. We have to call them out.”

The NNPA and Howard University News Service contributed to this report.

Visit The St. Louis American at stlamerican.com

Photo courtesy of the United Way of Metropolitan St. Louis

Director

Continued from A1

Louis,” an initiative that aims to eradicate new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in the region by 2030.

When asked about the city’s current mask mandate and whether she believes it will extend into the fall and winter months, Hlatshwayo Davis said she will always prioritize science-backed, data-driven public health approaches.

Hlatshwayo Davis is the second Black woman to fill the role, the first being Melba Moore who served as acting health director from 2015 to 2018. Moore was appointed by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and is a certified public health administrator

Hlatshwayo Davis will begin her work as the city’s top health leader in October.

Jones confirmed that acting Department of Health Director Dr. Fredrick Echols will continue in his role as the city’s health commissioner. She noted that he applied and interviewed for the director’s position but ultimately the mayor went with Hlatshwayo Davis.

This announcement came just days after the St. Louis Board of Aldermen on Monday voted to extend for 30 days the city’s mask mandate enacted by Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of health. In addition to extending the mask mandate, the resolution requires the city to submit a report to the board by Sept. 11 regarding its vaccination efforts.

The mandate requires all individuals who are five years and older to wear a face covering while in public indoor spaces and while using public transportation. Exceptions to this are people who are seated in a restaurant or bar eating and drinking and individuals with disabilities that prevent them from putting on or removing face coverings.

The vote from the board was sought because Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a law in early June stating that

political subdivisions may only issue public health orders for 30 days in a 180-day period. In order for those orders to then be extended, a simple majority vote by the local governing body is needed. Along with the extension, the board’s resolution requires the city’s health department to submit a written report by Sept. 11 detailing information on its vaccination efforts, including (but not limited to) information on the vaccine incentive program, city employee vaccine mandate, vaccination education efforts and marketing plans and case

data on vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Currently, 163,016 city residents (54.2% of the population) have received at least one dose and 135,817 city residents (45.2% of the population) are fully vaccinated.

n “My sincere hope is that there is not much disagreement over this as we’ve seen in some neighboring jurisdictions.”

— Alderman Jack Coatar

While Yale Medicine reports there is no magic vaccination number to achieve

herd immunity, where a large portion of a community is immune to a disease, the necessary rate for COVID-19 could be as high as 85% of the total population. The organization noted that measles, for example, spreads so easily that an estimated 95% of a population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity and for polio the threshold is about

80%.

Alderman Jack Coatar, Ward 7, addressed the board prior to the unanimous vote, clearly alluding to the contentious debate that plagued St. Louis County for over a month.

“My sincere hope is that there is not much disagreement over this as we’ve seen in some neighboring jurisdictions,” he said.

There was no disagreement brought up in the meeting, and it appeared the entire board agreed to co-sponsor the resolution.

Jones issued a statement Monday afternoon stating she

was grateful to the board for passing the resolution and that her “administration will continue to work aggressively to reach the vaccine-hesitant and lift our vaccination rates.”

Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page together enacted a public health order requiring masks in public indoor spaces and transportation July 26. The county’s board voted to strike down the mandate a day later, however the city’s mandate has remained in effect since July 26.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also sued to block the city and county’s mask mandate the day it went into effect. Earlier this month, a county judge issued a suspension on the enforcement of the mandate until the court makes a final ruling after the parties failed to work together to reach a compromise upon the judge’s request.

Monday’s vote follows the vote on Friday by the St. Louis County Council to support a mask mandate after five weeks of contentious debate and at least two votes against the mandate.

Page addressed the public briefly Monday morning, saying that as a result of the county council’s vote to support a mask mandate resolution, his office is asking the judge to rescind the court’s suspension on the enforcement of the mask mandate.

The county executive said Monday that 47.7% of the county’s residents are fully vaccinated.

Jones also recently announced that civil service employees — nearly 6,000 workers — will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct.15 or get tested for the virus on a weekly basis. In addition, St. Louis Public Schools last week instituted a vaccine mandate for all faculty and staff.

Schmitt has also filed a class action lawsuit against school districts that have mandated masks for students and teachers.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, announced the appointment of the city’s new health director, Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis. She is the second Black woman in the city’s history to serve in that role.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

City hires new corrections commissioner as problems loom

Arkansas associate warden scheduled to begin work Sept. 13

By Dana Rieck

The St. Louis American

City officials on Wednesday announced that an associate warden in Arkansas will take over as St. Louis’ new corrections commissioner.

Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah is scheduled to begin work Sept. 13.

Acting Public Safety

Director Dr. Dan Isom wrote in a statement that ClemonsAbdullah has a wealth of experience that is essential for the role.

“We look forward to working with her to bring the City Justice Center up to full operation after decades of neglect, and to help ensure the safety and well-being of our corrections staff and detainees,” he wrote.

Clemons-Abdullah’s predecessor, Dale Glass, resigned June 1. At the time he announced his resignation St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones confirmed he was not asked to resign, but said she believed the “failed leadership” overseeing the corrections division had left the city with a huge mess to clean up.

Glass was appointed to the role by former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in May 2012.

Clemons-Abdullah will have a list of problems to address within the city’s jails that plagued Glass’ time as commissioner. Most notably, the City Justice Center has experienced at least six detainee uprisings since the end of December — all blamed on faulty locks in the facility. Those uprisings

include two last month that resulted in the transfer of about 140 detainees to the now-closed Workhouse.

The first two protests occurred just before and on New Year’s Day. Each time, the inmates refused to return to their cells in protest of inadequate protections against COVID-19 for those being held there.

Then, in early February, inmates took over the north side of the fourth floor of the jail, breaking the windows and throwing debris down onto the sidewalk and street. The fourth protest happened on

n “We look forward to working with her to bring the City Justice Center up to full operation after decades of neglect, and to help ensure the safety and well-being of our corrections staff and detainees.”

Dr. Dan Isom Acting Public Safety Director

Easter Sunday and mirrored February’s uprising but on the third floor.

Then, in June, three detainees sued the city in a complaint detailing numerous stories of abuse at CJC, mostly alleging correctional officers excessively pepper spraying inmates and withholding access to clean water as punishments.

The St. Louis American recently reported that in March former Corrections Commissioner Glass approved a $17,379 order for the chemical, or as much pepper spray as the department had purchased in the previous six years combined.

Jones’ administration, which took over in April, could not confidently account for the large purchase.

A release from the mayor’s office outlined ClemonsAbdullah’s lengthy corrections experience. It includes over 46 specialized certificates of leadership training within corrections; experience working for the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons; nationwide experience serving at nine institutions.

Most recently, ClemonsAbdullah served as an associate warden at Federal Correctional Complex, Forrest City in Arkansas. There she served as the labor management relations chair, prison rape elimination coordinator, affirmative employment chair and incident commander.

She also achieved an exemplary audit from the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape and led an environment management system review prior to COVID-19.

Jeffrey Carson, who has been acting as corrections commissioner since Glass resigned, will continue to serve as a supervisor for the Department of Corrections. Clemons-Abdullah was not available for an interview.

ESL Town Hall devolves into deceiving ‘poli-tricks’

Abraham Lincoln is famously quoted as having said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

However, given the state of politics, or “poli-tricks” nowadays, I’m beginning to wonder if, in fact, people have developed a tolerance for dishonesty; especially when it comes to their political leadership.

A writer for Psychology

Today determined “…politicians lie because…the cost/ benefit ratio for lying is in their favor. So, politicians lie when they believe dishonesty is the best policy…”

I reflect on that political psychology because of a recent so-called “Town Hall” meeting held in East St. Louis. A flyer advertised it as a “Community Centered Conversation with City Officials.” Citizens were asked to “Bring Your Questions.”

To say that the flyer amounted to false advertising would be a tremendous understatement.

As the meeting began, Mayor Robert Eastern III informed the sizeable crowd that questions would not be entertained until a subsequent meeting.

Eastern even joked that the crowd size reflected the meeting was about money; specifically, to solicit the input of residents in determining how $36 million in federal funding for COVID-19 relief should be spent.

curry favor with the crowd.

It was a pathetic bait and switch job and monumental waste of over an hour of my time. I also heard similar sentiment from many of those who came prepared with pointed questions which went unanswered because of the change of agenda.

This is why many politicians are detested. Voters expect elected and appointed officials to keep their word to the best of their ability.

The mayor, City Manager Carlos Mayfield and city staff members then offered a PowerPoint presentation. It detailed what federal funds could, and could not, be spent on. Essentially, it could be determined that the presenters have already determined where the money will be used.

Mayfield, sensing that he had a churchgoing crowd, had the nerve to ask if he could get an “amen” for some of his talking points when they were not greeted with applause.

Rather than taking questions from the audience, as advertised, Eastern and Mayfield engaged in random shout outs to community stalwarts and select citizens. It was an obvious ploy to divert attention from the misleading flyer and

When a flyer titles a meeting “We Care Town Hall” and the mayor states specifically that, “my priority is whatever the citizens want first,” then attendees’ thoughts or questions are ignored, it comes across as disingenuous at best and deceptive at worst.

Would I attend a subsequent town hall event after being deceived? Doubtful.

Nor do I expect citizens to attend subsequent meetings; not because they’re apathetic, but because no one likes to feel as if they’ve been the victim of a lie.

That’s sad because $36 million is a community changing amount of money in a place like East Boogie.

Email: jtingram_1960@ yahoo.com Twitter@ JamesTIngram

Columnist James T. Ingram

“Taking Care of You”

Dr. David Lenihan, Ponce Health Sciences University president, Dr. Olga Rodriguez de Arzola, dean of medicine and Dr. Jose Torres-Ruiz, chancellor, were surrounded by students in the Master of Science in Medical Science (MSMS) Program following Tuesday’s announcement that the school will open an $80 million facility with construction beginning in 2023 on the city’s northside near the new NGA complex.

New medical school on way to North St. Louis

Will address minority physician shortage

By JoAnn Weaver

The St. Louis American

long-term investment in North St. Louis from Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) aims to prepare physicians to work in underserved communities and address chronic health care disparities in St. Louis and around the country.

Representatives said a new medical school will open in North St. Louis in a press conference Tuesday.

“The main goal of this new institution is to concentrate on cultural diversity in health care and how we get more students from

lower socioeconomic backgrounds into the health care workforce and medicine because I believe if we can do that, then those students will go back into the communities of need and practice,” PHSU President Dr. David Lenihan said.

Those shortages are exacerbated among physicians of color, where the diversity of the medical community – only 5.8% of physicians identified as Hispanic and 5% of

physicians as Black or African American in 2018 – seriously fails to represent the growing diversity in the U.S.

The impacts of physician shortages have been felt around the country and the world, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortages of over 55,000 primary care physicians and 86,000 in non-primary care specialties, including surgical, pathology, radiology, psychiatry, and others, are predicted by 2033, if the training of physicians is not addressed, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Instead of purchasing the latest fad smoothie or participating in a TikTok challenge, here are a few suggestions for life-long wellness. These recommendations are as simple as learning your ABCs.

A. Turn off the electronics

Believe it or not, eating while watching television will cause you to eat more! Mindless TV makes you unaware of how many potato chips you have eaten, and commercials are filled with unhealthy foods which trigger your cravings. Let’s return to the good, old-fashioned days where everyone ate at the dinner table together and discussed their day. Tip No. 1, ditch the screen while eating!

B. Get some sleep

According to the National Sleep Foundation, most adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Yet, on average, adults routinely get less than six hours. I’m sure you have heard co-workers brag about how they can survive on four or five hours of sleep per night. However, research has shown the opposite to be true. With minimal sleep, memory recall is poor and response time is generally slower. Tip No. 2, go to bed!

n Most adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Yet, on average, adults routinely get less than six hours.

C. Try meditation before bed

I get it: Society is more fast paced and wired. It can lead to 24-hour activity. But just because we have the capability to work 24 hours, doesn’t mean that we should. Daily stress from work, family, finances and the COVID-19 pandemic can take a huge toll on your body. Daily decompression is vital. Try sitting on the floor before bed and take deep cleansing breaths. With each exhalation, rid yourself of that stress. Try it! It works! Tip No. 3, don’t check Facebook and Instagram before bed, meditate!

Kidney donor seeks more minority donation volunteers

Every donor can save eight lives

By JoAnn Weaver The St. Louis American

Monica Witherspoon, 36, is living proof that an organ donor can help save someone’s life. In her case, the recipient was her mother, 63-yearold Marilyn Witherspoon.

The 2019 procedure was done at SLU Hospital, which recently partnered with MidAmerica Transplant to promote National Minority Donor Awareness Month in August.

“For me, the decision to give my mom a kidney was a no-brainer,” she said.

Witherspoon advocates for others to become donors, and believes there is a need for more conversation on the topic.

“As African Americans, we don’t talk about our health situations. You would be amazed at how many people are willing to help and donate,” Witherspoon said.

The lack of education concerning organ donation also contributes to the problem, Witherspoon explained. She encourages others to do the research and take part in helping others.

“The biggest thing I say to people is to educate yourself on the organ donation process,” Witherspoon said.

“I guess because it was my mother that I never had a fear of what would happen to me.”

Witherspoon’s biggest concern was, that if she donated her kidney to her mother, it wouldn’t work, and her mother would pass away.

“It hurt me to my core,” Witherspoon said.

“But that’s why I have faith in God to believe that it would work. Even if the worst had happened, I still had to try.”

Photo courtesy of Ponce Health Sciences University

See ANDERSON, A11

Organ recipient Mikki LoveMcIntyre and Mid-America Transplant advocate Tiara Perry shared information on organ donations and its importance to African Americans with St. Louis University staffer Charles Thedford on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Denise HooksAnderson, MD

“Taking

Early COVID-19 shutdowns helped St. Louis area avoid thousands of deaths

Provided by Washington University

In March 2020, not long after the first cases of COVID19 were reported locally, health officials in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County issued emergency public health orders intended to reduce interactions between people and slow the transmission of the novel respiratory virus.

Such action likely saved thousands of lives in the region, according to new research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

An analysis indicates that a delay of even two weeks in issuing local public health orders could have increased the number of deaths almost sevenfold in the city and county. The research, published Sept. 1 in JAMA Network Open, demonstrates the importance of early and coordinated implementation of local public health policies in reducing deaths from the pandemic, particularly during a critical window at the onset of a new epidemic.

Kidney

Continued from A10

During an Aug. 25, event at SLU, MAT volunteers shared donor information, including how every donor can save eight lives and that an estimated 60,125 registrations were added to the National Transplant Waiting List in 2020.

Nikki Love-McIntyre, a SLU Hospital patient access representative, received a pancreas and kidney transplant in 2015 at the hospital.

“There are more people dying daily than are being saved with these organs, so we need people to register to donate,” LoveMcIntyre said.

The nation is facing a significant organ shortage for life-saving transplants. Almost 107,000 men, women and children are on the national transplant waiting

School

Continued from A10

Dr. Alison Whelan, AAMC Chief Academic Officer, said, “In our new strategic plan, the AAMC is committed to working with our medical schools and the entire health professional community to increase the number of Black and Hispanic/LatinX physicians, in particular Black men, in medicine.”

“We believe there are a number of things that contribute to this disparity,” Whelan said. “It begins with the pathways for medical school, so students can recognize before college that this is a possible pathway for them by having opportunities to learn about it, meet physicians of color and to understand that this is something they can do.”

“It’s about socioeconomic

Continued from A10

D. Fill fridge with nutrient-dense foods

To reduce the temptation of high calorie, low nutritional value foods, keep healthy alternatives on hand. Load the refrigerator with varieties of fruits and vegetables. Utilize local markets to reduce

“We heard a lot about the dire situations in cities such as New York and Boston in the early part of the pandemic, where thousands of people died and hospitals were completely overwhelmed, but whether a similar situation would have happened in St. Louis is not obvious,” said lead author Elvin H. Geng, MD, a professor of medicine at Washington University.

“Some may argue that because the same thing didn’t happen here, it could never have happened here and that, therefore, early social-distancing policies were an overreaction,” he added. But the data suggest that a large number of deaths due to the pandemic was indeed possible in St. Louis, and would have happened had the city and county not implemented stay-at-home orders as early as they did. The first known case of COVID-19 in St. Louis County was reported March 7, 2020. By March 13, the city and county had banned large gatherings. Four days later, they closed bars and restaurants, and the next day, March 18, they

list and 17 people die each day waiting for a match and transplant.

“I provide information to dispel the myths and help people make an informed decision on whether or not they would like to donate,” Love-McIntyre said.

According to Love-McIntyre, common myths include “that people cannot have an open casket funeral” or “if your driver’s license says you are an organ donor, doctors would refuse to treat you.”

“One lady came to our table and said she would not donate an organ, so I asked her ‘what if it was for her child?’ She said she would, but then I asked her what if she couldn’t do so and her child needed this life-saving organ,” Love-McIntyre said.

“That’s when she understood.”

She encourages others to register as organ donors and says, “Let your last act of selflessness be to donate.”

situations,” Lenihan said.

“Rural Missouri is just as poor as some of the communities around the St. Louis area, so how do we get doctors into both of those? It’s a thought process of having to take students from those areas because they are the ones that are likely to go back.”

He went on to say that people who look at the project want instant gratification, but they should look at the future implications that the medical school will have on the community.

“These things take a long time,” he said.

“Everyone, including politicians and the community, wants something done tomorrow, however, if you can think ahead 20 years to when a hospital, community center and medical school are there, you can see the long-lasting impact.

“It’s taken us 10 years to get this far, but it’s going to ramp

costs. Worried about fresh produce spoiling? Freeze some of it to eat later. Frozen grapes and strawberries make a great snack! Tip No. 4, limit the number of processed foods in your home!

E. Snack before shopping or dining out

Buying groceries when hungry is a big mistake. When hungry, most people tend to impulse shop. Being full,

ordered all public schools to close their doors. On March 23, the city and county issued shelter-in-place orders. With these public health measures, area hospitals experienced a total of 2,246 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 482 deaths attributed to COVID-19 by June 15, 2020.

Had the orders been delayed two weeks, the researchers’ modeling indicates that the city and county likely would have seen 3,292 deaths by June 15

— a nearly sevenfold increase over what was actually recorded in the first three months of the pandemic. In the two-week delay scenario, the model predicts an increase in cumulative total hospitalizations by June 15 from the actual number of 2,246 to an estimated 19,600 — a nearly ninefold increase.

“Because the virus spreads exponentially, the difference between a hospital at 25% capacity and over capacity is actually just a hair’s breadth —

a matter of one or two doubling intervals, which in an unmitigated epidemic with COVID19 is probably a little longer than a week,” Geng said. “In addition, it takes time for changes in behavior to translate into reductions in hospitalizations. As a rule of thumb, we estimate the St. Louis region has about 2,000 available hospital beds total. If the hospitals reach half capacity and only then are stay-at-home policies implemented, it’s going to be too late.”

Even a one-week delay in public health measures would have considerably increased hospitalizations and deaths, with an estimated 8,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths by June 15 under that modeling scenario.

The researchers estimated that before March 15, each person in the city or county with COVID-19 infected almost four other people, on average. For a pandemic to be curbed, each person must infect fewer than one other person, on average. For St. Louis and St. Louis County, the model estimated that the average number

of people each person with COVID-19 infected dropped from almost four to 0.93 after the stay-at-home policies went into effect.

Geng performed this analysis with colleagues at Washington University, BJC HealthCare, Saint Louis University, Mercy Health and elsewhere. He said that while models are necessarily imperfect, and are “not crystal balls,” they do show what could happen under a given set of behavioral and structural conditions.

“While we can never be sure about what would have happened, it’s also not true that we know nothing about the behavior of epidemics,” Geng said. “The model uses real data about the epidemic early on — what actually happened on the ground in St. Louis — to project epidemic course over time under a ‘what if’ scenario. These COVID-19 projections suggest that the city and county dodged a bullet with early social distancing measures.”

This article was provided by Washington University School of Medicine

up fast.”

Ponce Health Sciences University, a private, for-profit institution, currently has two medical programs: one in Puerto Rico and another in St. Louis, based in the Globe Building downtown.

n “It’s taken us 10 years to get this far, but it’s going to ramp up fast,” PHSU President Dr. David Lenihan said.

The campus in Puerto Rico is currently under construction. Once the Puerto Rico campus is complete within the next couple years, they will begin construction on the new campus in North St. Louis.

The site of the campus is the former Pruitt Igoe complex, across from the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) development near Jefferson Street and Cass Street.

The medical program will consist of two years of basic

however, reduces the urge to buy those salty and sugary foods often seen in checkout lanes. Tip No. 5, never dine out or shop for groceries on an empty stomach.

F. Eat more often

Skipping meals is not an answer to weight loss. In fact, eating only one meal a day may cause a delayed insulin response. This could increase your risk of diabetes. Eating

medical undergraduate courses, followed by two years of further study featuring clinicals and more graduate school level programs, like other medical schools in the country. From there, graduates will go on to residency placements.

PHSU and Mercy have partnered to provide more resources and accommodations for future medical students.

Mercy Hospital

St. Louis Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Phineas Oren said medical students will be able to start their clinical rotations at the health care provider.

“We have a lot of smaller, more rural hospitals and I think Ponce is trying to create medical students that will go back and serve the rural and underserved communities that

smaller meals more frequently will increase your metabolism and aid in weight loss. Tip No. 6, eat five meals per day.

G. Increase fiber intake

Every adult needs 25 grams of fiber daily. Fruits, vegetables, and legumes are all high in fiber and should be the bulk of a daily diet. Fiber helps regulate the GI tract and

many students come from,” Oren said.

“It’s not just limited to St. Louis County, but I think we would like to see students branch out, especially to smaller hospitals over time.”

PHSU’s partnership with Mercy will provide medical students with the necessary skills they will need to create a more diverse medical workforce.

“It’s going to take a few years to see the effects, but I think this is going to plant the seeds to create a workforce that reflects the population; it is a great way to build trust,” Oren said.

The expanded PHSU St. Louis program offerings will connect medical graduates from diverse backgrounds with programs including radiology, orthopedics, dermatology and ophthalmology.

Thirty students will start at the St. Louis campus in its first

reduces the likelihood of being diagnosed with colon cancer. Tip No. 7, eat the recommended allowances of fiber daily.

As with most situations in life, there is no such thing as a “quick fix” for better health. Maintaining a healthy life takes persistence and intent. Fads come and go, and they typically do not result in permanent, substantial changes. During

year. Olivia Mackey will be one of them.

“I was born in St. Louis, so it was important to me that they planned to build a campus on the northside of St. Louis,” Mackey said.

“I think it is important for us as future health care professionals to be able to bridge the gap between health disparities and promote diversity and inclusion because in the schools we currently have in St. Louis, there are not a lot of people who look like me who are minorities, but PHSU does a great job of promoting diversity so I’m proud to be apart of this first class.” Mackey aspires to become a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and believes this new institution will prepare her for her career. There will be an estimated 600 students in St. Louis and 600 in Puerto Rico within the next four years.

these crazy times, my advice is to use this time to invest in yourself and develop lifestyle habits that will keep you around a little longer.

Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D., FAAFP is an associate professor, SLUCare Family Medicine, and interim assistant dean of diversity equity and inclusion. yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com

Kidney donor Monica Witherspoon and Mid America Transplant advocate Tiara Perry talk with St. Louis University Hospital workers at the information table Wednesday,Aug. 25, in St. Louis University Hospital.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Provided by Washington University

New St. Louis Public Radio CEO seeks to change its culture

‘Re-examine and remake the norms’

By Sarah Fentem St. Louis Public Radio

After a monthslong search, St. Louis Public Radio will soon have a veteran public radio journalist and station leader as its new CEO.

Tina Pamintuan, who is currently the general manager at KALW public radio in San Francisco, will step into the St. Louis position, which has been vacant for nearly a year.

“When I think of a CEO role, I’m thinking about the ways in which the leader of the organization can partner with the staff and a collaborative way to remake a culture and to be the media outlet that St. Louis deserves and should be,” Pamintuan said.

Pamintuan has worked as an editor, writer and teacher and serves on NPR’s board. Part of a CEO’s role is to cultivate the culture of a workplace, she said.

said. “So I think being able to come in with that perspective, that you understand what that feels like, is powerful.”

Pamintuan wrote about her experiences with systemic racism at NPR in a recent post for Neiman Reports outlining how public radio could become more inclusive and diverse. People often assumed she was an intern, she wrote, and colleagues would suggest she should only cover stories about Asian people.

Since her time at NPR, she has worked as a climate reporter overseas, founded the audio journalism program at the graduate journalism school at CUNY and become general manager at KALW, a job she’s held for the past three years.

“[It’s vital] that we sit down and reexamine and remake the norms of the organization, and agree upon norms so that they’re explicit, so that people understand what the expectations of workplace behavior, and kind of workplace norms are,” she said.

Former general manager Tim Eby resigned last year amid accusations from newsroom staff that he ignored problems of systemic racism at the station and mismanaged finances. In the summer of 2020, staff members called out the station’s lack of people of color in leadership positions and difficulty retaining nonwhite journalists.

Pamintuan, who is Asian American, said she hopes to create more opportunities for staff members, particularly people of color.

“I’m definitely an example of someone who thought at one point, I don’t belong in this industry, and I could easily leave,” she

Tanisha Stevens, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, spent months vetting candidates with other members of the search committee. Pamintuan has a track record of connecting with donors, raising money and finding new radio listeners, Stevens said.

“I think it was a combination to have her broad experience in public radio, the successes that she’s had in her career, that dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion, and really understanding the stories and voices of those who she works with,” Stevens said. “I think she’s really innovative. I think she’s really energetic. And I think a combination of all that makes her the right person for the position.”

Stevens also lauded the public radio veteran’s experience as a working reporter and editor. She said that will help make communication between administrators and the newsroom easier.

“It does provide a difference for those of us who don’t work in the station, or who have never had experience working in journalism,” she said.

Stevens said finding the perfect candidate was more important than filling the position quickly. The committee spent months conducting the nationwide search for candidates.

Pamintuan is scheduled to start at STLPR before the end of the year.

Tina Pamintuan

PRESENT:

PRESENT:

Ask yourself these questions:

Nutrition Challenge:

> Do I feel good most of the time?

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

Think Before You Eat!

Dining Out.

What Is ASize?Serving

GRAINS

Keep ‘em Whole!

The Smart Way!

Warm Up & Cool Down

Do This. Not That!

Exercise Game

First Day of Spring!

Be on the Lookout...

Tech-Neck

for several different reasons.

See if the restaurant will let you “share” a meal. Many meals are two, three or more times an actual serving size.

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

Healthy Kids

those leftovers for lunch the next day!

are popcorn, wheatberries, brown rice and wild rice.

> Do I have energy (or does your energy go up and down during the day)?

Cocoa Puffers Cereal

INGREDIENTS:

We each need at least 3 servings per day of whole grains. But what does that mean? How can we know what foods contain whole grains?

FoodDiary

> Decide you’re going to switch from soda to water.

> Ask the server how the different menu items are prepared. Fried, sautéed, and

> Can I keep up with my friends?

Look at the ingredients list of a package of food you are about to eat. If the word “whole” is used, then there is most likely a whole grain ingredient. A few items that don’t use the word whole

Getting plenty of whole grains in your diet can improve your health and reduce your chance for some chronic illnesses such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Visit wholegrainscouncil.com for more information.

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, it might be time to look at the kinds of food you eat. Food choices are important because the foods you eat are what keep your body strong and moving.

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

lifestyle. You can do this by forming new habits. For example, if you decide to eliminate sugary drinks completely, it only takes a few weeks until this becomes what you’re used to.

In our “Super-Size” world, we can easily lose track of what an actual serving size means. When reading labels on a food or drink product, you can determine the nutrients, sodium, fiber, sugar and calories of a serving size. But be careful; just because it looks like one small bottle

Here are the steps to making a healthy permanent change. We‘ll use the sugary drink change as an example.

Let’s make a game out of exercise!

In addition to eating healthy, one of the best ways to be a Healthy Kid is to add daily exercise to your new lifestyle. Before you start—remember to:

As spring approaches, warmer weather allows us all to get more outdoor exercise. Here are some ways to become a more active person.

First, locate either a deck of cards or two dice.

> Start by substituting one drink per day to water.

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

It’s important that before you embark on any kind of exercise to remember two things: warm up and cool down. Start with some slow stretches and movement (like walking) to increase your heart rate a little. Warm up for a good five minutes before increasing your heart rate.

> Check with your family doctor. Find out the right kinds of exercise for you.

March 20, 2021, is the first day of spring. With spring comes warmer weather and longer days (later sunset). Make it a habit to spend as much time playing outside as the weather allows.

Challenge: Keep a food diary for one week. In a notebook, write down every single thing you eat and drink for seven days. At the end of the week, take a look at your diary. How many fruits and vegetables are in there? How many glasses of water? How much soda? Candy? As the Healthy Kids series continues, you’ll learn some very practical, easy changes you can make to your diet that will put you on the road to feeling happier and healthier!

Ayanna

Weekly Newspaper in Education Program

Melissa Douglass, MSW

BSN, MSN

Williams

Latoya Woods, DNP, APRN, FNP-C

> Every few days increase the amount of water and decrease your soda intake.

> After 3-4 weeks, this change will become a habit.

of soda — it may not be considered one serving size. For example, a 20-oz bottle contains 2.5 servings. So if the bottle states “110 calories per serving,” that means the entire bottle contains a total of 275 calories! Remember to watch those serving sizes and you’ll have better control over what you’re eating and drinking.

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

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

even simmered can all mean, “cooked in oil.” Instead, choose baked or grilled options.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, NH1

When you automatically reach for water instead of soda, it has now become a lifestyle change!

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

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

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

Where do you work? I am a family nurse practitioner for BJC Medical Group.

Secondly, when you are finished with any kind of strenuous (very active) exercise, take some time to cool down. You can slowly stretch your arms and

> Always stay safe. Exercise in areas that are well-lit and filled with others who are exercising.

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

Instead of watching TV — ride your bike with friends.

legs again, and continue with reduced speed movements until your heart rate begins to slow down.

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

Where do you work? I am the founder and distance counselor for Goal Driven Counseling, LLC.

Where do you work? I am a school nurse with St. Louis Public Schools.

Where do you work? I am a school nurse at Monroe Elementary School.

Instead of playing video games — play baseball, football, badminton, or some other active game.

> Warm up and cool down. To get the most benefit out of exercise, spend at least a few minutes stretching, walking and bending before and after you exercise.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from McCluer North High School. I earned an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing from Meramec College in Kirkwood and completing my bachelor’s degree at Webster University in Webster Groves.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Sumner High School. I then earned Associate Degree in Nursing from Forest Park College and a BS in Business Administration from Columbia College.

Where did you go to school? I graduated from Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago, IL: same as former first lady Mrs. Michelle Obama. I then earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, and a Master of Social Work from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. I also completed two more years of supervision and exams to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Missouri.

Can you think of other ways to be more active? Going outside and staying active not only increases your heart rate and burns calories, but it also helps you build friendships!

This warm-up and recovery period is important for your heart health. It also helps to reduce the amount of muscle pulls and strains.

Learning Standards:

Where did you go to school? I graduated from McCluer High School. I then earned a Bachelor of Nursing and a Master of Nursing Practice from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. And finally, I earned a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Maryville University.

one week I will be…” and finish the sentence. It could be “I will be walking the neighborhood with my mom at least four nights a week.” After you have completed your weekly goal, go ahead and write out a monthly goal and an exercise goal for the end of the school year. Challenge yourself to increase your exercise level over the next several months.

Nursing from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, and a Master of Science in Nursing from Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri.

Next you’ll need to make a list of different types of exercise: jumping jacks, sit-ups, lunges, etc. Write each exercise item on a small piece of paper or index

queen or jack) should all count as the number 10. Aces are “wild” and you can do as many as you want! To really challenge yourself, have one person roll the dice and the second can select the exercise. See who can complete the exercise challenge first!

What does a school nurse do? I love giving students medications, so they’re able to focus on learning. I clean and bandage wounds. I use medical equipment like a stethoscope, for example, to evaluate whether or not my asthmatics are breathing well. Moreover, I teach and promote healthy habits to my students.

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

Instead of surfing the ‘Net — go for a brisk walk around the neighborhood.

> Start slowly. Let your body adjust before you gradually increase time, distance, speed, etc.

> NEVER walk on a “frozen” pond, lake, river or any other body of water. Just because it looks frozen does not mean it is safe.

Break into small groups and define what it means to be a bully. Share your ideas with the class. Did you have the same things listed (as the other groups) that you would consider as bullying behavior? Now back in your groups, create a newspaper ad that includes at least two of the following:

How much time do you spend each day looking down at a phone, laptop or video game?

card and fold into a small square. Put these squares into a bowl. Take turns rolling the dice (or drawing a card) and selecting an exercise from the bowl. The total number on the dice or card tells you how many of the exercise you must do. Face cards (king,

Make a list of your favorite 10 activities to do outdoors. Compare your list with your classmates and create a chart to see what are the most popular.

Want to Challenge Yourself? Set an exercise goal for your first week. On a piece of lined paper write the words “In

HPE1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1

What does a school nurse do? I assess the concerns of students who are ill, injured or experiencing alterations in their normal health. Nurses screen daily staff, students and visitors for safety. Monroe School is a pilot school for Covid-19 test sites in partnership with the city.

What does an occupational health nurse do? I perform federal regulatory testing on employees that include checking their hearing using a hearing booth, checking their vision for distance and color-blindness along with checking their breathing by using a respirator machine and filter mask.

What does a Licensed Clinical Social Worker do? I use technology to help teens and young adults explore their emotions, better understand their feelings, work through relationships, and address common challenges completely online through a computer, tablet, or smart phone. Similar to a Facetime call, I support and guide my clients from the comfort of their home or private location where they are comfortable

> What to do if you see someone else bullied.

Health includes more than just nutrition and exercise. Smart choices, safety and happiness all affect our health. Every single day is filled with opportunities to make smart choices.

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

Learning Standards: HPE2, NH6

What does a family nurse practitioner do? Each day I have office visits with patients to help treat new health conditions and/or manage established health conditions. I perform physical examinations on patients, order labs, read x-rays results, and more.

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

> If you are with someone that falls through the ice, first run (or call) for help. Do not try to go out onto the ice to help your friend. You can fall through the ice too.

> What to do if YOU are the bully.

Chiropractors around the country see young patients every day suffering from back, neck and head-aches resulting from the extra strain you put on your body when you look down for long periods of time.

Look in the newspaper for an example of someone who made a smart choice.

Learning Standards: HPE2, NH2, NH5, CA3

> How bullying hurts others.

> What to do if you are bullied.

> Also — remember to look up! Icicles injure numerous people every year. If you see large icicles forming over your front steps, ask your parents to use a broom handle to knock them off to the side before they break loose from your gutters.

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

Cracker-wiches

1. Most importantly — take breaks! Have a goal of a 3 minute break every 15-20 minutes. Move around, stretch your neck and relax, without looking down!

Summarize the article and explain why you think it was the right thing to do.

doctor if you have any questions. The formula to calculate your BMI is 703 X weight (lbs) ÷ height (in inches/squared) or search “BMI Calculator” to find an easy fill-in chart online. If your number is high, what are some ways to lower your BMI?

Easy Hummus Dip

Ingredients:

Why did you choose this career? I chose this career to help improve the health of my community.

Why did you choose this career? I am a St. Louis native, and was an asthmatic child who experienced frequent hospitalizations. Besides having the influence of nurses in my family, the local nurses who helped take care of me were my “angels” and always managed to nurse me back to health, thus sparking my interest.

PB Smoothie

Ingredients:

Frozen Yogurt Blueberry Bites

Ingredients:

1 15-Oz Can Garbanzo beans

1 cup blueberries

> What other ice hazards are there?

Look through the newspaper for examples of ad layouts and design. Discuss the words “compassion,” “empathy” and “sympathy.” How do they each play into your response to bullying at your school?

2. Set your tech device in a holder to keep it at eye level, reducing the need to look down.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, NH 5

1 Garlic clove, crushed

1 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt

2 Large Strawberries 1 Tbsp Honey (optional)

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 4

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

Ingredients: 1/2 Cp Vanilla Greek yogurt, 3 Tbsp Natural peanut butter, 1 Ripe banana (sliced and frozen), Splash of vanilla (optional) 6 Ice cubes

Why did you choose this career? I love nursing because there are many opportunities in hospitals, schools, clinics and offices, insurance, legal and research. My passion is working in the schools with students, parents, staff and community partners.

Why did you choose this career? I chose this career because I enjoy being a support to teens and young adults in a very challenging phase of life that can be overwhelming. I enjoy teaching them how to best take care of themselves so they can live healthy and fulfilling lives.

What is your favorite part of the job you have?

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I enjoy when a child tells you, “I want to be a nurse.” And best of all, I love the smiles, hugs and “thank-yous”.

Why did you choose this career? I chose to become a nurse because I enjoy helping people. My mother’s sister is a nurse also and growing up I would listen to her tell stories about patients and how taking care of them made them feel better. What is your favorite part of the job you have? My favorite part of my job is interacting with the employees. I am the nurse for over 300 people and each day brings a different situation that I have to manage and help to assist employees.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I love that my job makes talking about mental health not as scary and even makes it kind of cool. I love that I get to build valuable relationships with so many people that trust me to be there for them. I love that no matter where my clients are, we can simply connect with a video call and I can not only support them through hard times, but lots of good times as well.

> When walking on icecovered roadways or sidewalks, take baby steps. Walk carefully and slowly.

A couple of quick tips that will reduce that strain on your neck are:

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

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

2 Tsp Cumin, 1 Tsp Olive oil, ½ Tsp Salt Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Enjoy with baked tortilla chips or raw vegetables.

Directions: Blend all ingredients until Smooth. Makes 2 yummy smoothies!

Directions: Spread peanut butter on four of the crackers and top with sliced strawberries. Drizzle with honey and top with the other crackers to make four cracker-wiches.

Directions: Drop each blueberry into the yogurt. Using a spoon, swirl around to coat and place each blueberry on a cookie sheet topped with parchment paper. Freeze for at least an hour.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? Many chronic health conditions (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure) are preventable, and early detection is key. Thus my favorite part of the job is partnering with patients to establish and manage a plan to help them each live a long and healthy life.

My childhood health challenges have given me sensitivity to children suffering with illness. After being given a new lease on life, I consider it an honor to be in a position to promote health to the children of my community, in whatever capacity I serve – in turn, being their “angel.”

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

Learning Standards: HPE 6, NH 3

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

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

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

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

Yonniece Rose, Registered Nurse

Banana

Deborah Edwards, School Nurse

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program reaches more than 8,000 teachers and students throughout the school year.

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

SCIENCE CORNER

What Is Static Electricity ?

Shuffling across the carpet, hand extended to open the door knob… zap! Did you know that is called static electricity? It’s called static because the charges remain in one area for a while, instead of flowing into another area. They are static. Static electricity is all around us—when our hair gets charged, sticks up and won’t cooperate or when our pant legs keep sticking together. How does static electricity work? Remember that everything is made of atoms. Atoms have a proton, neutron, and electron. The electrons spin around the outside. Static electricity is created when two surfaces touch each other

and the electrons jump from one surface to another—one object will have a positive charge, the other will have a negative charge. Similar to a magnet, items with different charges attract, while items with similar charges push away from each other. Want to see static electricity in action? Rub a balloon against your hair (this creates a charge) and see where the balloon will stick. Be sure to try the science experiment to see static electricity in action!

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details.

SCIENCE STARS

AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND ENGINEER:

John Brooks Slaughter

John Brooks Slaughter was born in Topeka, Kansas, on March 16, 1934. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked several jobs to support the family. After graduating from Topeka High School in 1951, Slaughter enrolled at Washburn University, and then transferred to Kansas State University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1956. Five years later, he earned his PhD in engineering from UCLA, and 10 years after that he earned another PhD in engineering sciences from the University of California, San Diego.

In 1960, Slaughter began his career at the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego. Fifteen years later, he became director of the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington. In 1977, he went to work for the National Science Foundation. After serving as Academic Vice President at Washington State University, he became chancellor at the University of Maryland, College Park. While there, Slaughter developed incentives to encourage and recruit African-American students and staff.

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION Magical Electric Corn Starch

Background Information: In this experiment, corn starch will magically seem to jump.

Materials Needed:

• Corn Starch • Vegetable Oil • Mixing Bowl

• Large Spoon • Balloon • Measuring Cup Process:

q Pour ¼ cup cornstarch into the mixing bowl.

w Add ¼ cup vegetable oil and stir. Mixture will begin to thicken.

e Blow up a balloon and tie it closed.

r Statically charge the balloon by rubbing it against your hair.

t Place the charged balloon near a spoonful of the cornstarch mixture.

MATH CONNECTION

Electric power is measured in watts. If you know how many watts an appliance uses, you can calculate the cost to use the appliance. Electric meters measure usage in kilowatt hours (Kwh)

You can use the rate of electricity in your city to calculate the cost.

For example, if you have a 60 watt light bulb and you leave it on for 8 hours, it will use 480 watt hours of electricity. (60 watt X 8 hours= 480 watt hours).

To find the number of kilowatt hours, divide by 1,000. (480 divided by 1,000 = .48). To calculate the cost of electricity, you’ll multiply the rate of electricity in your area by the number

DID YOU KNOW?

Observations:

q As you get closer, what happens?

w As you pull the balloon away, what happens?

e What happens when you drip the cornstarch on to the balloon?

r Repeat step t to confirm your observations.

Analyze: When you generate static electricity with the balloon, it has a negative charge. The cornstarch has a neutral charge. When the neutrally charged item is light enough (like the cornstarch), the negative charged object will attract it.

Learning Standards: I can follow sequential directions to complete an experiment. I can analyze the results.

The Cost of Electricity!

of kilowatt hours used. If the rate is 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour, then running a 60 watt light bulb for 8 hours would cost $.113 x.48=$.05

For more info on how to read your electric meter, visit: https://www. wikihow.com/Read-an-Electric-Meter

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

From 1988-1999, Slaughter was president of Occidental College in Los Angeles, before transferring to the University of Southern California to accept his position as Melbo Professor of Leadership in Education. In the summer of 2000, Slaughter was named CEO and president of The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc.

For more information about John Brooks Slaughter go to: http://www. thehistorymakers.com/biography.

Slaughter holds many honorary degrees and awards. In 1987, he received the first U.S. Black Engineer of the Year Award. Two years later, he received UCLA’s Medal of Excellence. In 1997, he received Martin Luther King, Jr.’s National Award. In 2004, he received the Arthur M. Bueche Award from the National Academy of Engineering.

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

MAP CORNER

Use the newspaper to complete these activities to sharpen your skills for the MAP test.

Activity One — Word Choice: The newspaper is a great resource for building your vocabulary. Look through the newspaper and find 10 words you can use to quiz a friend. Write the word, the headline of the story, the section, and the page number. Have your friend use context clues to guess the meaning of the word. Use a dictionary to verify the meaning of the word.

Activity Two — Energy Awareness: Use the newspaper to find five examples of how you use electricity in your daily life. Are there ways to complete these tasks without using electricity?

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can build vocabulary using context clues. I can make text to text connections.

As moratorium expires, advocates fear ‘flood’ of evictions

State has yet to distribute majority of federal rental aid money

By Sophie Hurwitz

The St. Louis American

Florissant resident Dorothy Gayden first fell behind on her rent in January of this yewar. Her husband, a rideshare driver, saw his ride requests decrease and disappear throughout the pandemic. Gayden herself is 64 and immunocompromised, so she is not working at all at this time. Over the past eight months, Gayden said she has filed for rental assistance four or five times to no avail. The rental aid application process, however, requires participation from both landlord and tenant, each party filling out forms — and Gayden’s landlord, she said, didn’t fill out his end of the forms until mid-August, when he began responding to her emails.

n Gayden was $14,000 behind on rent already. And though she hasn’t been evicted, she worries that it could happen at any moment, especially since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium was overturned by the U.S.Supreme Court.

But by then, Gayden was $14,000 behind on rent and utilities already. And though she hasn’t been evicted, she worries that it could happen at any moment, especially since the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 26.

“It’s just frightening because we will never be able to pay that kind of money,” Gayden said.

The eviction moratorium, according to County Director of Health and Human Services Yusef Scoggin, was giving many residents the time they needed to work with their landlords and social services organizations to access rental aid money and avoid eviction altogether. Scoggin said the agency is apprehensive now that the moratorium has been lifted.

“Our concern is about what the floodgates look like potentially, as the Supreme Court decision starts to make ripples throughout our communi-

See EVICTIONS,

City gets good news from Moody’s: credit rating upgraded

The St. Louis American staff

There is good news for the city of St. Louis amid improving, but still bleak economic times.

Comptroller Darlene Green announced Tuesday that Moody’s Investors Service upgraded St. Louis’ General Obligation rating from Baa1 to A3, “with a stable outlook.”

n Moody’s Investors Service upgraded St. Louis’ General Obligation rating from Baa1 to A3.

Moody’s also upgraded its ratings on St. Louis Municipal Finance Corporation’s outstanding lease appropriation debt from Baa2 to Baa1 for more essential purposes and from Baa3 to Baa2 for less essential services.

In May 2018, the city was downgraded, and the upgrades restore the city’s ratings held with Moody’s prior to that concerning news.

Moody’s reported at that time, “the downgrade reflects the city’s weakened reserve position which will remain challenged over the near term despite recent revenue enhancements and policy changes that seek to rebuild narrow reserves. The competition for city resources will remain outsized over the medium term given the city’s significant reliance on economically sensitive revenue streams and as resources are redirected to support less essential purposes.

See CITY, B2

Comptroller Darlene Green announced Moody’s has upgraded St. louis’ credit rating, in part because “fiscal impacts from the coronavirus pandemic have not been as drastic as we feared.”

Great Rivers Greenway hired T. Christopher Peoples, E.I.T., L.S.I.T. as a senior project manager. As senior project manager, Peoples will oversee all stages of Greenway projects, working with partners and community members through civic engagement, planning design and construction. He will primarily be focused on the Brickline Greenway and advancing the plans for the greenway on the Hodiamont Tracks. He will also work alongside Great Rivers Greenway leadership to identify opportunities for improving and streamlining internal processes.

for multicultural student services in June. He will guide districtwide functions related to TRIO grants (student support services and Upward Bound), international student services, William J. Harrison Education Center, Black Male Achievers Academy and other student diversity initiatives. Prior to joining STLCC, Copeland served Jefferson College as the

April Johnson named vice president

she’s charged with developing a comprehensive districtwide student engagement department focused on providing students with the best co-curricular experiences. Johnson brings 17 years of higher education experience with her, having worked with non-traditional, traditional and first-generation students in public and private four-year universities, historically Black colleges and universities and community colleges.

Advisors, LLC, which provides high-level strategic advice to companies doing business across the country. He spent more than 38 years as an attorney at Armstrong Teasdale and founded the firm’s Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy practice, becoming the first associate to lead a practice area.

Dorothy Gayden, 64, still has not received rental assistance. She has applied for aid four or five times and fears being evicted.

Christopher Peoples

Boyd Copeland Steven Cousins

Dr.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Dr. April Johnson

Atty. Cousins to receive ICON award

Evictions

Continued from B1 ty,” Scoggin said. Since March 2020, Scoggin said about 3,000 eviction cases have been filed in St. Louis County courts. That’s significantly fewer than would be filed in an ordinary year, in which approximately 1,000 cases are filed every month.

He now worries that those cases will skyrocket and that residents won’t be able to get the aid money they need to avoid eviction in time. As of Aug. 30, St. Louis County has distributed 34.5% of the federal funding allocated to them for rental assistance, money which was received by the county in April. The vast majority of the rental assistance applications the county has received have been in the predominantly-Black areas of North County.

In the city, about $2.1 million out of the $9 million in aid received had been disseminated by the end of July, or about 23% of St. Louis’ available aid. More recent data was not available. The city has for weeks provided walk-in rental assistance clinics, which by Aug. 27 had served 200 clients.

Melissa Pashia with the Equal Housing Opportunity Council said that Gayden is not alone in her inability to access aid, either because of an uncooperative landlord or a slow processing system with the county.

“A lot of my clients have returned to work, but they don’t have the means of paying up 12 months of rental arrears to get themselves current,” Pashia said.

Now, those clients wonder whether they have run out of time to get the aid needed to avoid eviction, since protections have been lifted.

Pashia said she has clients that applied for aid on April 5, the first day that ERAP funding was available.“And they’re still pending.”

She noted that Scoggin had said a few weeks ago that they were speeding up the process, but the council has yet to see results, which Pashia said is frustrating. On Wednesday, Scroggin said that more recently-filed applications are likely to see quicker results, with rental assistance applications filed in the last 30 days getting

City

Continued from B1

“The rating also considers the city’s highly leveraged tax base resulting from elevated debt and pension burdens alongside fixed costs that consume more than 20% of operating revenues.”

But economic tidings have improved, according to Moody’s 2021 report.

Moody’s rating upgrades reflect “the city’s materially improved financial profile following consecutive years of surplus operations coupled with a large, regionally important tax base.”

Moody’s also cites the city’s improved reserves, which can “help mitigate potential challenges resulting from economic downturn or disruption caused by unforeseen events such as the coronavirus pandemic.”

“Strong fiscal management is a team effort. These rating upgrades reflect the steady work we have done as a city to build reserves and strengthen

a turnaround time of about 12 days.

Both Pashia and Paula Carey-Moore of the Urban League, who is working with city clients on rental assistance efforts, said they recognize that both tenants and landlords are frustrated. Carey-Moore said some landlords, like some tenants, “aren’t tech savvy” and find their end of the rental aid application challenging.

“So we are proactive in trying to reach out to these landlords that we have on our case files, whether or not they file for an eviction,” Carey-Moore said.

Missouri has been one of the slowest states to distribute the federal coronavirus emergency rental aid funding, according to Pashia. Across the United States, only 10% of federal rental assistance money had gone out to renters by the end of July, according to CBS News. In the St. Louis region, those numbers are significantly higher, but many housing advocates worry that assistance still isn’t going out fast enough to stop evictions.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, fought for the eviction moratorium to be extended in early August. She said she intends to continue to press for a further federal moratorium, and is in ongoing communication with Congressional leadership to determine how they can help get federal rental aid out to people in need.

“We didn’t sit on those steps just to give up now,” Bush added, referencing the several days and nights she and others spent camped out on the capitol steps campaigning for the moratorium.

“In St. Louis, 8,700 people are now at risk of losing their homes. Even under the best conditions, that notice on the door can be a death sentence,” Bush said. “In this time of unprecedented natural and man-made disasters, we cannot abandon our neighbors most in need of our help.”

In both St. Louis City and St. Louis County, lawmakers have discussed implementing local eviction moratoriums to buy more time for tenants and landlords. In Tuesday’s County Council meeting, an ordinance that would have accomplished this was not voted on, as council members raised questions about its legality. Instead, it was sent to committee.

“An eviction moratorium

fiscal management,” said Green in a release.

“We are making progress, and we are fortunate that fiscal impacts from the coronavirus pandemic have not been as drastic as we feared. But the job is not complete—we must continue to work together as city leaders to find creative ways to spur development and grow revenue.”

Green also announced that St. Louis closed its fiscal year 2021 (on July 1) with an operating budget surplus of $31.9 million.

“The COVID-19 pandemic created fiscal challenges for our city and our region, including hiring issues. While some of those challenges are ongoing, St. Louis is fortunate to have outperformed expectations during the fiscal year,” she said.

The city accomplished the feat without an increase in total revenue. Green described that as “nearly flat,” with a dip of 0.3% compared to fiscal year 2020.

buys us time to get more of our federal rental assistance funds out the door,” County Executive Sam Page wrote in a Monday letter to the County Council. “While we are doing better than most parts of the country in helping those facing homelessness, the application process based on Treasury Department guidelines has made it difficult to get the funds out the door at the rapid-fire pace we would like.” The St. Louis City Board of Aldermen is considering a similar local moratorium, but they are on summer recess for the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, according to Sheriff Vernon Betts, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has taken things into her own hands by calling him personally and asking him what he could do to slow down the eviction process.

“It was the mayor, called me directly and asked, ‘Can you slow it down? We have a process to get assistance in people’s hands, we just need time to get that done,’” Betts said.

As such, Betts said, he nixed his initial plan of tripling his fulltime evictions team staff from two people to six. He said the sheriff’s office will continue to carry out about 10 evictions per day rather than the planned 30, and will focus on ‘nuisance properties’ — those where an eviction has been filed because something illegal is suspected of happening, or major property damage or fighting is occuring, rather than just because a tenant couldn’t pay rent. Evictions due to COVIDrelated nonpayment of rent in the city, Betts said, will start in late September. “Evictions are not something that the sheriff gets tickled about,” Betts said. “I’m not happy about putting people out.” He said that while the eviction process can take between 10 and 30 days, by the time a sheriff’s deputy arrives to evict someone, the chance for negotiation has passed.

“When that final eviction notice comes in, the only thing we’re going to allow you to do is take your personal belongings with you or whatever you can carry in your arms,” Betts said. “We come with the landlord, and the landlord comes with a locksmith.”

However, this amount exceeded budget projections for 2021 by $25.2 million. Departmental expenditures were lower than appropriations by $6.7 million, with most departments underspending their appropriation. City statutes mandate that half of the operating balance ($15.9 million) will be transferred to the city’s Capital Fund. The remainder will accrue to the city’s General Fund reserve. The solid economic news comes just after the city Board of Aldermen, Mayor Tishaura Jones and Green reached compromise on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) direct relief package that brings more than $135 million to St. Louis. This includes:

• $30 million to grow jobs and opportunities across the city, including a hub in North St. Louis to assist small business owners, a small business loan fund, workforce development, and expanding broadband and public Wi-Fi.

• $500 direct cash assistance payments to 10,000 St. Louis families negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

• $8 million in public health infrastructure to get more people vaccinated with mobile vaccine clinics, vaccine incentives and community canvasses to meet St. Louisans in their neighborhoods and homes.

• $49 million in direct economic relief, including housing and utility assistance, support for the unhoused, legal assistance and public benefits navigators to help residents connect with these services

• $11.5 million to address the root causes of crime and improve public safety through increased funding for violence intervention programs and youth programming and jobs to keep youth engaged and safe.

Sports

prEp Football prEviEw

By Earl Austin Jr.

East St. Louis flies by CBC

Big crowds returned to high school football stadiums around the St. Louis metro area last weekend, and fans witnessed several tremendous games.

The highly anticipated showdown between East St. Louis and CBC more than lived up to its hype oAug. 27 as the visiting Flyers outlasted host CBC 48-44.

Senior five-star standout Luther Burden III of East St. Louis delivered two show-stopping plays with an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown to open the scoring and a 55-yard catchand-run to clinch the Flyers’ victory.

CBC senior quarterback Patrick Heitert passed for 410 yards and two touchdowns, while sophomore Robert “Pops” Battle of East St. Louis threw for 323 yards and a touchdown. Battle added a rushing touchdown as well.

• Congratulations to Jeremy Maclin on getting his first victory as head coach at Kirkwood High School. Maclin’s Pioneers traveled to the Metro East and topped Belleville East 55-14. Maclin was a star at Kirkwood and the University of Missouri, before he played seven seasons in the National Football League.

• The big comeback of the weekend was provided by Soldan, which scored two touchdowns in the last two minutes of the game to stun Vianney 42-20 on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers trailed 40-26 when quarterback Lavonte Clerk scored on a 35-yard run with one minute and 59 seconds left. A successful two-point conversion made it 40-34. Soldan got the ball back and scored the winning points when Clerk hit TyShawn Johnson with a 42-yard TD pass with 16 seconds remaining. Clerk, who added the two-point conversion to give Soldan the improbable win, completed 16 of 23 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns.

• A promising season for Vashon got off to a rousing start as the Wolverines defeated Webster Groves 27-0. Zach Smith Jr. scored three touchdowns for the Wolverines, including an 86-yard pass reception and an 85-yard kickoff return.

Week 1 Individual Standouts

Here are some of the top individual standout performers from the first week of high school football.

• Wide receiver Allen Middleton of Mascoutah had 10 receptions for 208 yards

Jeremy Maclin wins Kirkwood debut

and two touchdowns in a 42-14 victory over Columbia.

• Junior William Lufiau of Chaminade rushed for 215 yards on 21 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Red Devils’ 34-20 victory over Jefferson City.

• Senior Caleb Merritt of John Burroughs had three receptions for 186 yards and three touchdowns in the Bombers’ victory over DuBourg.

• Junior Deion Brown of Kirkwood rushed for 171 yards on eight carries and scored three touchdowns in the Pioneers’ victory over Belleville West.

• Junior Steve Hall of MICDS rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown in the Rams’ 42-28 vic-

tory over SLUH.

• Junior Christian Cotton of DeSmet passed for two touchdowns and scored on a 53-yard run in the Spartans’ victory over Edwardsville.

• Junior Ahrmad Branch of Festus had five receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers’ victory over Ste. Genevieve.

• Junior Steve Bonner of Soldan had three receptions for 147 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers’ victory over Vianney.

On Tap this Weekend

East St. Louis will again be part of the weekend’s main event when the Flyers host the

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

DeSmet Spartans. A big crowd is expected as the respective powerhouse programs from the Southwestern Conference and the Metro Catholic Conference meet at 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 4.

Other Top Games

• CBC (0-1) at O’Fallon (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday

• Fort Zumwalt North (0-1) at Francis Howell (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday

• Eureka (1-0) at Marquette (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday

• St. Mary’s (1-0) at Cincinnati Elder, 6 p.m. Friday

Seals brims with pride on African American Heritage Day

I know what I want for my 61st birthday on Sept. 6. It’s a themed baseball cap created by local Black artist Brock Seals for the St. Louis Cardinals. It will be available to fans on Labor Day, Sept. 6, before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cardinals will be celebrating African American Heritage Day, and Seals told FOX2 that he is “super honored and humbled” to have his wearable art featured as part of the occasion.

“This is huge for my career. The Cardinals collaborating with a local artist. It means everything for us to honor Black players from the present and past in any way we can,” he said. Seals said his cap motif was inspired by Negro League uniforms and caps, and he researched the looks of several teams. The top of the brim and the underside carry a “Seals’ twist” design, he explained.

“I think wearable art is necessary. People like to stand out. I’m for everyone who wants to stand out,” he said.

The cap will only be available to fans who have purchased a special theme ticket. All theme ticket purchases include giveaway items. A sep-

arate voucher is included with the ticket. The voucher can be redeemed during the game’s distribution window for the Seals’ designed cap. The cap will not be available unless a fan has the voucher with them. Exchanges for other sizes will not be available at distribution. Once a ticket is purchased and voucher received, the caps will be available at the Budweiser Terrace Theme Tickets kiosk, across from Section 431, from 1:15 to 4 p.m.

Theme tickets can be purchased at https:// www.mlb.com/cardinals/tickets/specials/ theme-tickets/african-american-heritage Also, visit stlcardinals. com to find a purchase link.

A heritage celebration will also take place at the Budweiser Terrace before the game, featuring DJ Charlie Chan, a Seals’ art exhibit, and a performance by Gentlemen of Vision.

Secret agents, man

While the NFL has made several statements in support of Black Lives Matter and supported causes backed by Black players over the past 18 months, several anonymous

player agents recently told The Athletic that “nothing” has really been done to reduce racism throughout the league.

In the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, NFL

Commissioner Roger Goodell released a video acknowledging the league’s mistakes.

“We, the National Football League, believe Black lives matter. I personally protest with you and want to be part of the much-needed change in this country,” Goodell said in

the video.

The NFL also pledged $250 million over 10 years to tackle institutional racism.

“It’s all bulls---,” said an agent.

“The NFL does not care. They just want everyone to believe they care. Same with player health. The same people are hiring the same people who will hire the same people.”

Another agent used the word “propaganda” to describe the NFL’s actions.

“I think the NFL operates in

a vacuum. Deal with the problem, spend money, move on. People forget,” an agent said.

The Reid Roundup The Pirates honored the legacy of Negro League baseball in Pittsburgh by wearing Homestead Grays uniforms during their home game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 27. The Grays were a Negro National League franchise from 1929 to

Alvin A. Reid

Earl Austin Jr.

CBC’s Dylan Van (21) bolts past East St. Louis defenders Antwon Hayden and Leontre Bradford during game action Friday, Aug. 27. The Flyers won the thrilling first game of the season 48-44.

Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

Living It

A Grand showcase Have a little taste

More than 60 acts with St. Louis ties will meet “At The Intersection”

By Danielle Brown

The St. Louis American

People not familiar with St. Louis’ amazing imprint 0n music and entertainment often leave the city out of conversations about music’s cultural significance and impact.

But the Gateway to the West should certainly be spotlighted for its rich contribution to blues, ragtime, jazz, and country music.

It helped launch and solidify the careers of national musicians and entertainers including Ike and Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Josephine

Coping with COVID

Local

theater company acts on pandemic issues

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

The St. Louis American

“I want to be where the people are… Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun, wanderin’ free... wish I could be part of that world.”

This song from the Disney movie, “The Little Mermaid,” was written more than 30 years before today’s coronavirus pandemic. Yet, for Ken Haller, associate professor of pediatrics and accomplished cabaret artist, Ariel’s ditty speaks to a life of isolation and a longing for a world unlike her underwater reality. Haller’s musings, along with other contributors, have been adapted for “Celebration of Survival: Coping with the COVID Quarantine.” The show/playback will be presented by A Call to Conscience Interactive Theatre for Social

Baker, Clark Terry, Donny Hathaway, Nelly, Smino and many more. There are also a number of local artists who perform throughout the city, and always show pride in being born and raised here or being a longtime resident.

Music lovers can enjoy the first Music At The Intersection festival presented by Kranzberg

Arts Foundation and Steward Family Foundation Sept. 10-12. More than 60 national, regional and local acts with St. Louis ties will perform at six venues throughout the Grand Center Arts District over the three days.

“This festival is meant to tell the story of St. Louis’ imprint on the American songbook, the relationship we have with our sister cities and the genres that have been birthed and fostered here,” Chris Hansen, executive director of The Kranzberg Arts Foundation said.

Lalah Hathaway, five-time Grammy Awardwinner and daughter of the late soul singer Donny Hathway, will headline the festival with Gregory Porter and Roy Ayers.

Her father was raised by his grandmother in the Carr Square neighborhood and he graduated from Vashon High School. She was 10 years old when her father died at 33 after he jumped from the 15th floor of New York’s Essex House Hotel.

Now, more than 40 years since his death,

See Music, C8

Taste of Black St. Louis runs Sept. 9-12. Visit https://www.tasteofblackstl.com/ for more information about this year’s festivities.

Taste of Black St. louis celebrates local eats, culture

By Danielle Brown The St. Louis American

The Taste of Black Chicago motivated Aisha James and her entrepreneurial friends to bring a similar concept to St. Louis. She received encouragement from those very friends saying that they would support it. However, that wasn’t her original plan.

She wanted them to spearhead it, not her. It fell into her lap, and the first Taste of Black St. Louis was held in September 2018 at Tower Grove Park. The Saint Louis Natural Hair & Black Cultural Expo and Conscious also occurred that same day. Despite there being multiple events, TOBSTL attracted about 7,000 people.

“I felt very proud about what happened with those vendors,” James said. “There were about 45 vendors that took that leap of faith with me and they came back the following year.”

TOBSTL returned to Tower Grove in 2019, and there were more than 50 vendors and about 16,000 visitors.

n Having people believe in [TOBSTL] made me say every year this is something that we need to continue to have. There are a lot of Black businesses here that deserve to have the spotlight.”

- Aisha James, creator and founder of the Taste of Black St. Louis

Due to last year’s COVID-19 pandemic and local restrictions, James was unable to hold the festival.

She’s back in 2021, and Taste of Black St. Louis is Sept. 9-12 at Tower Grove Park.

“Having people believe in [TOBSTL] made me say every year this is something that we need to continue to have,” James said. “There are a lot of Black businesses here that deserve to have the spotlight.”

TOBSTL kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 9 with a connect and sip from 6 to 7 p.m. at Convene Event Space. Koran Bolden, national award-winning motivational speaker, author and CEO of Bold Moves Worldwide will attend and DJ Shay Money will provide entertainment.

“Thursday’s connect & sip is basically a thank you to my sponsors [Sysco, Better Family Life Inc., Goss’Up Pasta, Kipp: St. Louis Public Schools, Community Wellness Project, and A and C Happy Hour Wine and Spirit] and for people who want to connect and network with individuals in the culinary industry,” James said.

Guests can patronize TOBSTL Friday, Sept. 10- Sunday, Sept. 12 at the City Foundry where more than 60 different vendors include Black owned businesses from children under the age of 18 on behalf of Young Biz Kids, an organization that teaches kids financial literacy and how to operate their own company, will provide an experience.

“The kids can start generational wealth now, they don’t have to wait until they’re grown,” James said.

Friday’s events include a chef demonstration by Chef Ronda Broderick of Posh Plates and CJ Williams of Edible Art.

Change (C2C). Founded in 2012, the theater collective uses multimedia formats to dramatize historical themes that deal with the struggles of the oppressed. In this show, C2C will present testimonials, interviews and poems revolving around COVID-19.

Artistic Director Fannie Belle Lebby, describes the show as a “choreopoem,” a phrase coined in 1975 by African American playwright Ntozake Shange. It is a form of dra-

See Theater,

Tish Haynes Keys, a contestant on Season 14 of “The Voice,” will perform. Saturday includes a chef battle and performances from The Remedy Band and Champ J. Sunday concludes TOBSTL and there will be a second chef battle. The winner will receive the Grandma’s Golden Skillet award. Union House

See Taste, C8

Photo courtesy of Lalah Hathaway’s Twitter page

Lalah Hathaway, five-time Grammy Award-winner and daughter of the late soul singer Donny Hathway, will headline the Music at the Intersection festival with Gregory Porter and Roy Ayers.

Photo by Jennifer Sarti | The St. Louis American

While the subject of the upcoming production by A Call to Conscience is more serious, actor Rodney Carpenter shows one of the light-hearted moments in the show at a rehearsal on Tuesday, Aug. 24. Actors in background (left to right) Rachel Mitchell, Vicky Chen and Michael Paplanus.

Like People? Like Driving?

Part-time driver positions start at $17.50 an hour. Health insurance offered following 90 days of employment. Applicants must be positive, reliable individuals with solid work experience and a clean driving record. Applicants must also pass USDOT physical and drug test, and with ACT assistance, obtain IL CDL B license with air brakes and passenger endorsements. ACT is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

September events at the Missouri History Museum

By Ellen Kunkelmann, Missouri Historical Society

This September, the Missouri History Museum welcomes the return of our live concert series, now held on Thursday evenings from 6 to 8pm. In honor of the Museum’s new exhibit St. Louis Sound, Twilight Thursdays 2021 will celebrate St. Louis music.

On September 9, the Isley Brothers Tribute celebrates more than 60 years of music by the Isley Brothers with music director Terry Coleman, lead vocalist Dana Austin, and guitarist Brian White. On September 16, Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Tribute honors the sound of St. Louis’s own Dennis Edwards with the harmonic vocals of Master’s Touch, featuring lead vocalist Marvin Rice. The Chuck Berry Tribute on September 23 gives a shoutout to the king of rock ’n’ roll, featuring Charles Berry III and Jahi Eskridge. And on September 30, join us for the final Twilight Thursdays concert, the Tina Turner Tribute featuring Seviin Li. Plan to arrive early to save a spot on the Museum’s North Lawn (facing Lindell Boulevard). You can bring blankets, lawn chairs, and tables that are smaller than 3 by 3 feet. Well-behaved dogs on leashes are also permitted. Tents, large umbrellas, and barbecue grills are prohibited.

Pack a picnic basket or small cooler with snacks, soft drinks, water bottles, and alcoholic beverages (no glass bottles, please), or save time and support a local small business by visiting one of the many food trucks that will be available each week.

Come early to explore the St. Louis Sound and Beyond the Ballot: St. Louis and

Suffrage exhibits inside the Museum. Both exhibits are open until 8pm. Parking is available within Forest Park and on Lindell Blvd. The Museum’s west lot is available on a first-come, firstserved basis and is partially reserved for accessible parking.

Nearby public transit stops provide additional options. In the event of inclement weather, call the Twilight Thursdays Information Hotline at (800) 916-8212 after 2pm, or listen to iHeartMedia radio stations.

Twilight Thursdays isn’t the only revamped event at the Museum in September. Our Homeschool Days are now History Exploration Days and have moved from one Monday each month to one Friday and one Saturday each month throughout the school year.

“We are expanding this program to continue serving our homeschool families while opening it up so that any family or student in the area can come learn with the Missouri History Museum. These learning days allow us to explore and share with students the diverse and rich stories of our region’s history, and we wanted this opportunity to be open to learners of all ages,” says Sarah Moldafsky, K–12 programs coordinator.

Each month we will explore a new topic through engaging activities designed for families with learners from pre-K to high school. Activities are free and open to all, and the same activities will be offered on both Friday and Saturday. At this time, History Exploration Days will take place in person.

September’s History Exploration Days are based on the special exhibit What’s in a Name? , which was created by our Teens Make History Exhibitors and examines St. Louis’s

many nicknames. On September 17 and 18, join us from 10am to 2pm or drop in to explore some of St. Louis’s nicknames throughout history with a variety of crafts, storytime, workshops, and pop-up gallery activities. In partnership with Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, September’s History Exploration Days will also feature presentations on Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II, a temporary exhibit at Soldiers Memorial that examines the incarceration of Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals during World War II. Righting a Wrong is open through October 3, 2021. Registration for History Exploration Days is recommended, but not required. Visit mohistory. org/history-exploration-days for more information and registration. Be sure to save the date for upcoming History Exploration Days featuring Mythical Missouri (Oct. 22–23), Celebrating Native Pasts and Native Futures (Nov. 19–20), and History and Heritage: St. Louis Food Traditions (Dec. 17–18).

We’ll see you in September!

Plan your visit to and learn about current health and safety guidelines at the Missouri History Museum at mohistory.org/museumvisits. Per St. Louis City guidelines, at this time all visitors ages 5 and older, including those who are vaccinated, are required to wear a face mask that fully covers the nose and mouth when inside the Museum.

Twilight Thursdays at the Missouri History Museum

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church still ‘Rocks’ after 150 years

Parish has large Black congregation

receive free refresh-

ments and recreation. “We provide a safe haven for people in the neighborhood and for those who want to come worship with us,” said Father Steve Benden of the Rock Church, which has been located at the intersection of Grand Boulevard. and Cook Avenue for over 150 years. A Catholic Parish with a large African American congregation, The Rock is a Redemptorist Parish whose

Spiritually Speaking….

To forgive is divine

It is my understanding that a key tenet of our faith, as prescribed in the New Testament, is forgiveness. Time and again Jesus reminds His disciples that although the laws of His Father are crystal clear, God is always receptive to a repentant heart.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation…” 2 Corinthians 7:10. Some have called Him ‘The God of Another Chance.’ Speaking only for myself, I blew through the second-chance warning

sign ages ago. Without another, and another, yet still another chance, the opportunity to gain entrance into the kingdom would be a lost cause.

The entire point of Christ’s crucifixion was to forgive us our sins. We were freed from the impossible prospect of “earning” our way into heaven.

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all

parishioners are dedicated to serving the poor and most abandoned. Its liturgies “reflect our culture, and are complimented by two dynamic Gospel choirs,” according to The Rock website.

wisdom and understanding.”

Ephesians 1:7.

No matter how hard we try, there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn the favor of God. It comes with who He is, and not who we try to be. Just deal with it.

Forgiveness is a focal point of the Christian experience and deserves our study and internalization. Even though Jesus died for us, His purpose, besides fulfilling the promise of the Old Testament, was to bring mercy into a new realm. It seems that we too have an obligation (however difficult) to hold sacred this thing called forgiveness.

“Our historic church features fabulous Old-World architecture, beautiful stained glass, incredible stone and marble work, and one of four surviving pipe organs of its kind in the country.”

“…Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” From Jesus’ mouth to your ears. We must exhibit mercy and forgiveness in our own lives, if we are going to at least try to accept the challenge of living a Christian life.

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13. You should be cringing a bit at that ‘turn the other cheek’ stuff, recognizing that it really is hard to do. We are not built to hold grudges, but we do. We are not supposed to seek revenge, but

Throughout its history, the church has partnered with several community organizations, including the Urban League, on initiatives to serve the lowincome residents, increase public safety and enhance the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“The St. Alphonsus Rock Church has many missions and values that I agree with. We care about taking care of the poor and those who are underrepresented. We have had a food pantry for many years for those who do not have access to food,” said parishioner Kathy Conley-Jones, founder and president of The Conley Financial Group.

“The Rock embodies a whole community and is one of the few places where you can go on a Sunday and see various diverse people. We are integrated but we also have a love for the St. Louis community, which can be very segregated.”

In 1990, renovation of the church with an African American motif was com-

we do. And we’re not to “get even” when we are slighted and our ego gets tested, but we do.

Isn’t it so much easier to just operate under the edict of an eye for an eye? Yes, it is. But Jesus comes up with the ever present “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” John 8:7. We walk around with rocks in our hands, as well as our hearts. It is a hard lesson learned by true believers that the world is more easily navigated when we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Trust me, I want to be done by people who will do me correctly. Do me in the name of God. Do me in the name of how you want to be done.

“…Of all the commandments which is the most impor-

pleted, and Father Charles “Chuck” Bierwaltes was appointed pastor. He completed the renovation of the church by installing airconditioning, reorganized the Parish Council and established new by-laws.

An avid drum player, “Father Chuck” was the drummer for the “Jesus Gang,” a gospel singing group comprised of children from the Blumeyer Village housing complex. In addition to its traditional church service at 10 a.m. on Sunday, The Rock Church has an HIV, Health and Social Service Ministry, Peace and Justice Ministry and a Food Pantry.

The church also sponsors an annual Back to School Fair and Christmas giveaway.

“The Rock is one of the hallmark African American Catholic churches in the United States. We are primarily a pastoral church which actively believes in taking care of the poor,” said Father Rodney Lee.

tant? The most important one answered Jesus is this; ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

“The second is this; Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31.

Human beings complicate things. Here is another example of the simplicity of salvation; The road to heaven is still navigated by the one who will let go and drop that stone in his or her hand. The road to hell is navigated by the one who throws it. May God bless and keep you always.

Columnist James Washington

St. Alphonsus Rock Catholic Church

ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTOR APPRENTICE

Applications for the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local # 3 Joint Apprentice Training Program for St. Louis, Missouri will be accepted from Sept 1, 2021 through Sept 30, 2021.

All applications must be completed online by visiting www.neiep. org/careers.aspx and clicking the link for All other Apprenticeship Opportunities. Select the (St. Louis/Missouri) recruitment.

Applicants must be 18 years of age to apply, possess and upload an original copy of a H.S. Diploma, or H.S. Transcript, or GED, pass an entrance exam and tool assessment and sit for an interview. For more info email: fwuelling@neiep.org Note: There is a $25 fee for each testing applicant.

The Elevator Industry is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, age (40 or older), sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), military/veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, national origin, status as an individual with a disability, marital status, arrest record, genetic information, or any other legally protected status.

The Elevator Constructors are an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Drug Free Workplace.

COMMUNICATIONS

& MARKETING SPECIALIST

The City of Clayton is hiring for a Communications & Marketing Specialist. Apply now: https://claytonmo. applicantpro.com/jobs/ EOE

CLUB’S ORGANIZING FOR

ENERGY IN

The Sierra Club is hiring an experienced community organizer to build grassroots power with communities to stop dirty, unhealthy energy production and create a just and equitable clean energy economy. The organizer will help to lead our work in Missouri on building partnerships, supporting leadership development, and expanding the grassroots base.

Location: St. Louis, MO. Salary:

$59,000 Full job description for the Organizing Representative position and application details and can be found at sierraclub.org/careers

Maintenance Worker

Starting salary $30,684 + excellent benefit package

The maintenance worker performs routine, entry-level duties related to the maintenance of the state’s roadways and facilities. Responsibilities are performed under direct supervision.

Minimum/Required Qualifications:

• High School Diploma or GED

• Valid Driver’s License

• Class B Commercial Driver’s License (Permit) w/tanker endorsement - no air brake restriction

Locations: St. Louis city and county, St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson County BENEFITS

• Medical Plan, Dental & Vision • Pension/Retirement

• 13 Paid Holidays

• Paid CDL Class B training

• Life Insurance

• Paid Vacation

• Vested after 5 years

• Educational Assistance Program

• Cafeteria Plan

• Employee Assistance Program

• Voting Leave Apply: www.modot.mo.gov/careers

Increase Pay Market Adjustment for Winter/Emergency Operations!

MoDOT supports equality and advancement for all people based on their qualifications and actions alone without regard to color, race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, or disability. EOE/AA/M/F/D/V

Justine PETERSEN, a Non-Profit focused on credit building, homeownership, and microenterprise lending and training is accepting applications for a Business Assistance Manager, a Business Assistance Associate, and an Asset Building Counselor focused on Auto Lending. To apply go to justinepetersen.org/get-involved/ job-opportunities/

INVITATION TO BID

ST. LOUIS COUNTY

CHILDREN’S

SERVICE FUND

The St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund (CSF) is requesting bid proposals for legal services. The selected firm will act as general counsel for CSF. Seeing firms with a particular emphasis in municipal law. Bid documents available at https://bit.ly/3sfVct8 bid #1383. Bids are due by 11 AM, September 24, 2021

AUCTION NOTICE

The following people are in debt to Gateway Storage Mall of Dupo. The contents of their storage unit(s) will be sold at auction to compensate all or part of that debt.

Auction at the Dupo location will be held online with www.storageauctions.com on September 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM. A cash deposit will be REQUIRED for all winning bids.

119 & 477 - Brian Randle, 123 –Calvin Humphries, 133 & 146 & 204 – Shirley Write, 152 – Heather Walker, 207 – Sarah Johnson

For all rules, regulations and bidding process, please contact www.storageauctions.com

All other questions, please call 618-744-1588 or mail 300 Rueck Road, Columbia, IL 62236.

BID NOTICE

Bids for interior and exterior rehabilitation for the Wellington Family Homes project will be received by Snyder Construction Group until 3:00 PM, September 23, 2021. The participation of MBE, WBE, and Section 3 registered entities is strongly encouraged. For specific information and access to bid documents contact David Hays at 417-887-6897 or d.hays@snydercg.com.

REQUEST FOR GENERAL CONTRACTOR BIDS

Normandy Schools Collaborative will be accepting sealed General Contractor Bids for the construction of the Secured Connector Addition at the Normandy High School. The entire bid package will be available electronically on Monday, September 13, 2021 by contacting TR,i Architects, via email at matt.miller@triarchitects.com

Estimated Construction Value is $8M to $10M. The project includes Business and Work-Force Diversity Goals. Two (2) Mandatory Pre-Bid Meetings will be held on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 @ 7:30 a.m. (CDT) and Friday, September 17, 2021 @ 11:00 a.m. (CDT). Bidders shall attend one (1) of these meetings. Bids are due on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. (CDT). To download the entire Advertisement for Bids please visit: www.normandysc.org or contact Matt Miller, with TR,i Architects, at matt.miller@triarchitects.com

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE ACTION PLAN

The St. Louis Development Corporation is issuing a Request for Proposals for a qualified firm or firms to assist in the development of an Economic Justice Action Plan. The EJAP will guide SLDC in formulating programs, policies and initiatives designed to implement the City of St. Louis Equitable Economic Development Framework. The full RFP can be found at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/ government/departments/sldc/ procurement

WE PRINT EVERY THURSDAY

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, ST. LOUIS CITY, ST. CHARLES, & PORTIONS OF ILLINOIS Email, ANGELITA HOUSTON AT ahouston@stlamerican.com

REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG) seeks comment on amendments to Connected2045, the St. Louis Region’s long-range transportation plan, including the FY 2022-2025 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and related Air Quality Conformity Document. The comment period will also satisfy Madison County Transit District’s and Metro’s public hearing and program of projects requirement of the Federal Transit Administration Sections 3006(b), 5307, 5309, 5310, 5317, 5337, and 5339 programs in the St. Louis Region.

The public comment period begins Fri., 9/10/21, and ends Mon., 10/11/21. The documents, comment forms, and a summary of the documents will be available on the website at www.ewgateway.org. Throughout the comment period, EWG staff will answer questions on the documents. Comments or questions must be received by midnight Mon., 10/11/21. Send comments via the comment form on the website or email comments and questions to TIP@ewgateway.org.

EWG fully complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related statutes and regulations in all programs & activities. For more information, or to obtain a Title VI Nondiscrimination Complaint Form, see www.ewgateway.org/titlevi

LETTING NO. 8734

LOUISIANA CALM STREET FEDERAL PROJECT NO. TAP-9901 (649)

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 301, City Hall, 1200 Market St., St. Louis, MO. Until 1:45 p.m. CST, on September 28, 2021, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public website https://www.stl-bps.org (BPS Online BPS Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

A virtual pre-bid conference for all contractors bidding on this project will be held on September 7, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. The pre-bid conference will be held via Zoom at https://us02web. zoom.us/j/85498157932, or by calling 1.312.626.6799 Meeting ID: 854 9815 7932.

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

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

REQUEST FOR BIDS SIDEWALK REPLACEMENT

The City of Maplewood is seeking a contractor to replace public sidewalks at various locations throughout the City. Bids must be received in a sealed envelope, marked “Sidewalks” at Maplewood City Hall, 7601 Manchester Rd. 63143 no later than 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. For specifications, contact the City of Maplewood at 314-645-3600. The City of Maplewood reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

CITY

OF ST. LOUIS BOARD OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR STRUCTURAL EVALUATION AND CONCEPTS STUDY OF THE TERMINAL 1 ARRIVALS DRIVE AT ST. LOUIS LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 PM CT, SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from BPS website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room-Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 14-589-6214. 25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

HOUSING RESOURCE COMMISSION FY2022 GRANT

SEALED BIDS

B i d s f o r Parking Lot

Employer.

INVITATION TO BID

The Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit is currently soliciting bid proposals for replacement of double entry doors. The request for proposal is available on the Court’s website www.stlcitycircuitcourt.com Click on General Information, Then Request for Proposals. A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on September 14, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. in the lobby at the Carnahan Courthouse, located at 1114 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63101. EOE

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Northwest Industrial Ct 186 Manhole Replacement (IR) under Letting No. 13571-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Center, Project No. M2001-01 will be received b y F M D C , State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, September 16, 2021. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http:// oa.mo.gov/ facilities

Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: Sewer Construction Bridgeton Drain Layers License Required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 2731 S. Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118 or at www.stlmsdplanroom.com. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The St. Louis County Department of Human Services - Homeless Services Program is seeking proposals for the Housing Resource Commission FY2022 Grant Bid Number 1395. The total funding available is approximately $604,097.00. Proposals are due electronically by 11:00 a.m. on September 23, 2021. Request For Proposal details and specifications can be obtained at the St. Louis County Bids and RFPs webpage located at https://stlouisco.munisselfservice. com/Vendors/VBids/Default.aspx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The St. Louis County Port Authority (the “Port”) requests proposals from qualified firms to provide a complete, market analysis and feasibility study of all potential redevelopment opportunities for the former Jamestown Mall site, an approximately 140-acre property located at 175 Jamestown Mall in north St. Louis County, Missouri 63034. A five percent bid preference may be available to certified MBE firms. A copy of the complete RFP is available at https://stlpartnership.com/ rfp-rfq/. Proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM CST on Monday, September 13, 2021.

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

SEALED BIDS

Bids for: State of Missouri, State Public Health

, Jefferson City, MO, Project No. O2115-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, September 16, 2021. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

SEALED BIDS

Bids for Replace Fire Sprinkler System, Northwest M i s s o u r i P s y c h i a t r i c Rehabilitation Center, Project No. M2005-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, Thursday, S e p t e m b e r 16, 2021 For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

Rehabilitation Roberts State Office Building Jefferson City, MO, Project No. O2002- 01 will be received b y F M D C , State of MO, UNTIL 1:30PM, October 7, 2021 For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http:// oa.mo.gov/ facilities

PUBLIC NOTICE

BID NOTICE

The City of Beverly Hills is soliciting bids to repair inlets and sidewalks. Call 314-382-6544 ext 11 for the Bid Packet. Sealed Bids due Friday September 17, 2021, 10:00 a.m. at 7150 Natural Bridge Rd Ste 101, Saint Louis, MO 63121

St. LouiS american Bids & Public Notices

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric is seeking proposal for the MEP/FP SCOPE OF WORK ONLY for the project known as “THE BRIDGE” located on 4738 Delmar Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108

The project consists of two structures, the first structure is a residential wood frame building that will house 200 units, amenity spaces, fitness center, pool area, retail, etc. The 2nd structure will be a Precast Parking Garage that will have approximate 286 Parking Spaces with a Retail component at the first floor. Subcontractors shall provide a breakdown of the Sales Taxes included in their proposal as well as the engineering cost associated with their proposal and the residential and parking garage. Also, subcontractors shall abide by the current major executive order providing MBE/WBE enterprises and workforce as indicated.

Proposals will be due on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 2:00pm CST

Submit all questions no later than September 21, 2021. All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (636-561-9501).

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Invitation for Bids - Re-solicitation of RD21-02A Clinton-Peabody Unit Water Damage Repairs

The St. Louis Housing Authority seeks bids from qualified general contractors for the following:

The project consists of interior renovations, including demolition, mold abatement, drywall, painting, flooring, and carpentry, along with electrical, plumbing and mechanical work for twenty (20) water damaged units.

Bid information will be available August 15, 2021 at https://www.slha.org/for-partners/vendors/.

Pre-Bid Meeting is August 31, 2021 at 10:00 AM (CST)

Sealed proposals are due September 16, 2021 at 3:00 PM (CST)

Krista S. Peyton Contracting Officer

AN EQUAL

OPPORTUNITY

EMPLOYER

Notice To Small (SBE), Disadvantaged (DBE), Minority (MBE), Women’s (WBE), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVOB) & Veteran Owned (VOB) Businesses Advertisement River City Construction, L.L.C., 6640 American Setter Drive, Ashland, Missouri 65010, (573) 657-7380 (Phone) (573) 657-7381 (Fax) Is Seeking Qualified Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women’s, Service Disabled Veteran Owned & Veteran Owned Businesses For The University of Missouri – Patient Care Tower – Pharmacy Renovation, (CP210781) Columbia, Missouri: for subcontracting opportunities in the following areas: demolition, concrete, metals, rough carpentry, roofing, doors, glazing, painting, drywall, flooring, specialties, furnishings, fire protection, air distribution, control systems, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, communications, electronic safety. All interested and qualified SBE, DBE, WBE, SDVOB, AND VOB businesses should contact, in writing, (certified letter, return receipt requested) Jason Brown or Joe Seymour to discuss the subcontracting opportunities. All negotiations must be completed prior to the bid opening date 8/11/2021 @ 1:30 P.M. Proposals will be evaluated in order on the basis of low responsive bid received. CERTIFICATION OF DBE/WBE/MBE/SDVOB/VOB STATUS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH BID. BID DOCUMENTS MAY BE OBTAINED BY:

1) Email your company name, contact name and phone number, as well as the project you are interested in to bid@rccllc.com

2) You will then receive an email invitation for that project with a link to our SmartBidNet system.

FOR PROPOSALS

received no later than 3:00 PM CST on Thursday, September 9, 2021

to discuss the contracting opportunities. All negotiations must be completed prior to the proposal opening date 08/18/2021 @ 1:30PM. Proposals will be evaluated in order on the basis of the qualifications received. M/W/DBE/SDVOSB/VOSB CERTIFICATION STATUS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH BID. BID DOCUMENTS MAY BE OBTAINED BY:

1) Email your company name, contact name and phone number, as well as the project you are interested in to bid@rccllc.com

2) You will then receive an email invitation for that project with a link to our Smart BidNet system.

3) Use this link to access files directly: https://securecc.smartinsight.co/#/PublicBid Project/595387

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, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.” Call Angelita Houston at 314-289-5430 or email

to place your ads today!

will perform.

Queen Mocha Latte, socialite and social media influencer will host all three days, DJ Boogie Corleone will DJ during the day and DJ Cuddy Montana will DJ in the evenings. The Community Wellness Project will administer rapid HIV and STD testing.

BFL will hand out PPE gear and vaccinations will be available courtesy of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Dr. Fredrick

Echols, acting director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health. James has faithful veterans who sign up every year, including The Nacho Lady from Chicago, Simply Cooking with Donna and Tara’s Tasty Treats. Savory Delights is one of the newcomers at this year’s TOBSTL.

Goss’Up Pasta is providing food for TOBSTL’s volunteers, the VIP section and for Thursday night’s connect and sip. “I love St. Louis,” James said. “I know we have a lot of great things to offer and food is definitely one of them. Kansas

City doesn’t have the best ribs. We have the best everything and I want the Taste of Black St. Louis to showcase all of that.”

While general admission passes for all three days are free, there is a $50 fee for a one day VIP access pass. A three-day VIP access pass is $125. Register for all tickets on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite. com/e/taste-of-black-stl-registration-157112193801. Visit https://www.tasteofblackstl.com/ for more information about the Taste of Black St. Louis.

matic expression that combines poetry, dance, music and song. Basically, it’s an opportunity for audiences to hear, share and engage in conversations to help cope with stress and anxiety brought on by more than 17 months of unprecedented living during a global pandemic.

“Research has shown that art is a good tool to relieve stress and anxiety,” Lebby explained. “Not only do we need to talk about it, but we need to provide information and resources so that people can connect with the agencies that can help them cope.”

According to a July 2020 Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll, about four in 10 U.S. adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder. This is up from one in 10 a year prior. The negative impacts on mental health include difficulty sleeping or eating, and increased alcohol or substance consumption due to worry and stress over the coronavirus.

The choreopoem will touch on the topics of isolation, violence (both domestic and police brutality), food insecurity, unemployment and how the pandemic has exacerbated existing mental woes such as panic, personality, bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Lebby, who assisted in the adaptations for “Celebration of Survival…” is also the director. Hesitant to reveal too much about the content of the play, she provided synopses of some of the acts or, what she called “Playettes” (short plays).

A contributor described herself as a queer artist, an activist and a survivor of child molestation. She tells a heartbreaking

story of her father, who drank and gambled, was in a New York hospital battling the coronavirus. The woman speaks of a family divided, and how her friends “are more my family than they can ever be.”

A musician tells how the gigs he had lined up were just gone after the shutdown last year.

Another contributor wrote about his belief that COVID19 is a “man-made disease,” Lebby explains. The writer, who ended up getting the virus and was laid off from work, detailed his method of coping.

“I’m here to tell you what has gotten me through this pandemic, this crisis: It’s my faith— reading my Bible, prayinge and watching Leave it to Beaver for a little bit of laughter.”

A creative piece written by director, playwright and actor Greg Carr, takes a 100-year leap backward and forward from the Spanish Flu (19181920) to an imagined pandemic in the year 3020. It examines the past, present and future similarities and challenges of pandemics

Rhadi Smith, a 14-year-old poet, compared COVID-19 to a prison sentence.

“In some type of ironic way this is symbolic…We cooped up in the house like a cell, ‘cause of a cell…with an unknown sentence…talkin ‘bout corona virus.”

Local playwright Joan Lipkin contributed several taped interviews for the play, including her own testimonial about a call from her brother the day before the 2020 shutdown.

Lipkin’s brother informed his sisters that he had COVID19.

The good news, the brother said, was that he’ll be able to give his sisters his antibodies to protect them from the virus.

“And thus,” Lipkin wrote, “begins the worst two weeks of my life.”

The story, Lipkin explained, illustrates just one way the epidemic has impacted lives.

“In my lifetime, we have never experienced a pandemic like this that has affected so many aspects of our lives. It is essential that we document this time and see how our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others in our local communities are responding. There are many lessons to be learned here.”

Not only are there lessons to be learned, Lebby stressed, the play will include an interactive segment where the audience can share their own experiences or discuss the vignettes. Resources will also be provided for those grappling with COVID-related stress.

A culminating event is also planned, Lebby explained, for the audience to use “expressive visual arts to complete a collage as documentation of their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of the issues addressed in the vignettes and playback performances.”

The upcoming production is in line with C2C’s mission to use art as a means to deal with the struggles of the oppressed. When it comes to the anxiety brought on by COVID, Lebby suggests one powerful remedy:

“We need to talk about it.”

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

“Celebration of Survival: Coping with the COVID Quarantine” performances and workshop will take place at the Centene Centre for the Arts in Maryland Heights. For more information, contact C2C at 314-584-9206 or visit the theatre company’s website https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ celebration-of-survival-copingwith-the-covid-quarantine-tickets-167165686067.

she honors his memory through other people’s experiences with him. Throughout her life, she’s heard family stories and learned about his experiences on the road from fans.

“I meet people on the road all the time that say, ‘oh, I was at Vashon High School with your dad or I went to church where he played,’ Hathaway said.

“It’s so wonderful to be able to meet folks now that he affected so long ago and they still have those memories. It is kind of a beautiful thing.”

Hathaway said her performance will be an experience that will bring them joy, laughter and even a few tears.

“They should come see it and expect a great show that will give them the feels, laughter and maybe even some tears,” she said.

John Harrington, co-founder of the almost 30-year-old rockrap band Midwest Avengers and a University City native is one of the local acts who will grace the stage.

He thinks the festival is necessary since LouFest is no longer around.

“LouFest was kinda the thing that everybody local wanted to get on because they were bringing national acts and putting local acts in front of them, behind them and next to them on a different stage,” Harrington said.

“I feel like this is the same thing, but better because it’s run by somebody in the music industry we all know.”

Midwest Avengers will open for GZA from Wu-Tang Clan. Harrington said in earlier years his group aspired to be like the “Wu-Tang of St. Louis.”

“Midwest Avengers opening for GZA is like a bucket list dream come true,” Harrington said.

Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Keyon Harrold from Ferguson, who is nationally known, feels honored to be included in St. Louis’ phenomenal history of great musicians.

“As a young kid I dreamed about being able to go around the world, perform and share my culture of St. Louis with people,” Harrold said.

“That’s always been something that I was inspired to do.”

Friday’s lineup will be 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and features Ayers, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, The Mighty Pines, Tonina, and more.

Saturday’s lineup will be noon to 1 a.m. and showcases Porter, Harrold, The Soul

Rebels ft. GZA, Brock Seals, Katarra, Be.Be & The Neosouls, Midwest Avengers, and more.

Sunday’s lineup will be noon to 11 p.m. and features Hathaway, Booker T. Jones of Booker T and the MGs, Marquise Knox, Denise Thimes, Anita Jackson, the Clark Terry Centennial Project, LoopRat and more.

“If you love this form of music, you’ll get it. This lineup is deeply representative of St. Louis’ heritage and musical future,” Hansen said.

“For those who don’t go deep on these genres, we hope Music at the Intersection can serve as an immersive education on St. Louis’ incredible musical roots and impact on our culture.”

Advance ticket buyers can visit any of the six participating Music at the Intersection venue box offices for their COVID19 vaccination or negative test check and festival wristband.

Walk-up ticket buyers can visit the Fox Box Office for their COVID-19 vaccination or negative test check and to purchase a daily wristband. Guests attending multiple days will need to check in at one of the box offices each day.

In addition to all-weekend ($160) and single-day passes ($55-$70), Music At The Intersection is offering a livestream ticket that will allow fans to virtually watch the 10 shows taking place at Fabulous Fox Theatre, including the festival’s headliners Roy Ayers,

Weekend livestream tickets can be purchased for $25, providing an affordable and accessible option to music fans in St. Louis and across the country. All tickets can be purchased directly at www.MetroTix.com or by phone at 314-534-1111.

KAF requires proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to access its indoor venues and ticketed performances. Guests 12 years of age and older are required to show proof of their full COVID19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test if dining inside at KAF food and beverage venues, including Sophie’s Artist Lounge, Blueprint at High Low and The Dark Room.

Proof of vaccination or negative test is not required for KAF patio seating at KAF food and beverage venues and KAF Galleries.

As of Sept. 10, all patrons 12 Years or older are required to show proof of their full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test upon entry for all ticketed events at KAF indoor performance venues, including The Grandel, .ZACK Theatre, The Marcelle, Black Box and Studio at The Kranzberg, High Low Listening Room and The Dark Room. For more information on Music at the Intersection, please visit www. MusicAtTheIntersection.org.

Gregory Porter and Lalah Hathaway.

Photo courtesy of Todd Rosenberg Photography

Jazz great Gregory Porter will be one of the headline artists performing during the Music at the Intersection festival.