After 34 years in public service, St. Clair County clerk Bob Delaney submitted his resignation Tuesday evening. A former employee, who also works part-time as a police officer, accused Delaney of discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Laura Romero’s attorney says she was fired in the spring, in part after she made negative comments about a radio personality.

Delaney has denied the allegations. But he said he doesn’t “want to put his family through this.” He turned in his resignation to St. Clair County board chairman Mark Kern.

After Romero complained, her attorney Tom Kennedy says the county hired an independent investigator, a former state’s attorney to investigate Delaney’s office.

“It was the most comprehensive investigation I’ve ever seen,” said Kennedy, adding, “I’ve never seen a county government take a complaint so seriously. They did a bang-up job.” However, Kennedy says the investigation found other complaints about Delaney that his client had no idea about.

“There are absolutely more victims,” Kennedy tells KMOX News. “I know of 8 to 10 more.” Kennedy believes several paragraphs in the report that his office did not receive contain allegations of sexual abuse.

“This report is really graphic and the worst I’ve ever seen in county government. It appears this stuff has been going on for years. I can’t imagine that this information wasn’t known throughout the county or throughout the courthouse. But I don’t know for sure.”

Kennedy says Delaney’s denial and description of the allegations as bogus are “just baloney.” He says his client does not want to talk to the media but everything he is saying she has approved. There are settlement talks underway that could include back pay and damages. Kennedy hopes the settlement will lead to another job somewhere within St. Clair County Government for his client.

Meantime, the St. Clair County Board will meet Monday night to vote on a replacement for Delaney. County Board Chair Mark Kern says he’s nominated former State Representative Tom Holbrook to replace Delaney. Kern says an election for the position will then take place in November 2014. Kern did not want to comment on Delaney or the allegations against him saying he prefers to allow the legal process to unfold.

Max Schindler of Ladue Horton Watkins High School was named National High School Player of the Year and was named a member of the National High School “A” Team along with three other players across the country.

The LHWHS scholar bowl team, with Schindler’s help, went on to take first place in the National All-Star Academic Tournament in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend.

Schindler will go on to compete for the United States in the International Computational Linguistics tournament in Manchester, England in July.

The scholar bowl team and Schindler also finished first at the National Scholastics Championship in College Park, Maryland, in early June, and finished second at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments High School National Championship in May.

The team is coached by LHWHS social studies teachers Mike Hill and Jeff Miller.

““On many levels, our community should be very proud of the performance of these students,” Hill says in a release. “Achieving first in two national competitions is quite an accomplishment, and to do it as a public high school amongst schools across the nation who pick and choose their students is nothing short of amazing. On top of this, Max Schindler is literally known across the nation for his incredible intelligence and ability to excel in these competitions.”

Schindler plans to attend the University of Chicago in the fall.

Sean D. McGilvery, 34, a longtime friend of former St. Clair County Circuit Judge Mike Cook, and James D. Fogarty, a former St. Clair County probation officer, were indicted Tuesday on drug charges. Cook resigned in May after being charged with heroin and gun possession as part of the widening courthouse drug scandal.

Cook was charged in the case after the March death of his colleague, Judge Joe Christ, who died from a cocaine overdose at Cook’s hunting cabin in western Illinois. Cook, who has pleaded not guilty, isn’t charged in connection with the death and is free on bond. His lawyers said he is being treated at an out-of-state drug rehabilitation center.

The grand jury indicted McGilvery on a drug possession and distribution charge and Fogarty on a drug possession and distribution charge and a weapons charge, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. Both men have already pleaded not guilty to federal charges in connection with the case.

Neither McGilvery’s attorney nor Fogarty returned calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Separately, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier said Wednesday that one-time appellate court judge Steven P. McGlynn, a Republican, would fill Cook’s position.

McGlynn was appointed to the appellate court in 2005, but he lost a general election bid the next year. He was later appointed to the St. Clair County Circuit Court by Karmeier following another judge’s retirement.

He lost another tight judgeship race last year when he ran for a seat on the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon. That seat was won by Democrat Judy Cates.

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57-year-old Mona Diss purchased the winning Missouri Lottery Powerball ticket at Mobil On The Run, 1632 Highway Z, in Pevely. Although she is a regular player, Diss said she didn’t realize she was the winner until store employees encouraged her to check her tickets on a return visit.

The Match 5 prize is paid in a lump sum, so Diss will get a check for $710,000 after tax withholding. Mobil On The Run will receive a $1,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The winning Powerball numbers on June 8 were: 2, 11, 22, 26 and 32.

Powerball is a multi-lottery Draw Game with drawings on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Jackpots start at $40 million and grow until someone wins. For an extra dollar at the time of purchase, players can add Power Play to win larger non-jackpot prizes. With Power Play, the Match 5 prize becomes $2 million.

Diss is the 19th player to win a Match 5 prize in Missouri since the game changed in early 2012.

Monday, a District 18 trooper stopped a grey 1998 Chevrolet van on US Route 66 at Old Route 66 in Macoupin County for a speeding violation.

Police say the driver and passengers showed signs of suspicious behavior.

Upon further investigation, police found 37 capsules of heroin concealed in the vehicle.

David L. Simpson, 50, of Lake Ka-ho was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

The Centers for Disease Control said this week that 286 people died of West Nile virus in the United States last year, the highest number since the disease was first detected in 1999.

The CDC says 2012 also had the second highest number of reported “neuroinvasive” cases, 2,873. Neuroinvasive cases can often lead to meningitis and other brain-related illnesses.

Illinois had 290 cases of West Nile in 2012, including 12 deaths.

“This was the highest number of cases we’ve seen in Illinois since 2002, which we had the most cases in the entire country at 884 and that included 67 deaths,” says Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, in a release. Of those 290 cases 184 were neuroinvasive.

All the high water across the St. Louis area lends itself to a fertile breeding ground for tons of nuisance mosquitoes, the ones that bite but don’t carry the West Nile virus.

The director of Vector Control for the St. Louis County Health Department, Drew Hane, says the mosquitoes carrying the virus should show up around late July, August and September.

“This spring has been a little bit wetter so we’ve had quite a bit of breeding, but the thing to consider is that the adult mosquito typically only lives a few weeks in the natural environment,” Hane says. “The mosquitoes we’re seeing now aren’t going to be the major issues that we see in late July, August and September where we typically see higher numbers of West Nile virus.”

Hane says he expects this to be another relatively calm year for West Nile transmission in humans in the area.

The best way to protect from West Nile is to avoid mosquito bites. Use insect repellents when outdoors. Wear long sleeves and pants at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active. Repair or install screens on doors and windows. Along with many other ways of avoiding the virus.

Symptoms of West Nile include fever, headache, body aches, skin rash and swollen glands.

Nicholas “Nick” Lunceford was captured after an “intensive manhunt”, according to detectives with the Kirkwood Police Department.

Lunceford and Keenan Miller were being sought in connection with Tuesday’s murder of Brandon Richards during a drug deal gone bad.

OUR EARLIER STORY:
While Kirkwood police continue to look for the man they say gunned down an 18 year old in a home on Pleasant Court, prosecutors have charged a second man in connection with that homicide.

Keenan Miller of Oakland Missouri is charged with Second Degree Murder in the death of Brandon Richards. Officials say Miller was delivering marijuana to the home on Pleasant Court. He is jailed on 100-thousand dollars cash only bond.

It was at that same home where police believe Richards was shot and killed by Nicholas Lunceford. Lunceford is still being sought and is considered armed and dangerous.

The proposed cost shift for universities and community colleges is under consideration in a Senate committee.

A bill sponsored by State Sen. Mike Hastings (D-Orland Hills) would reduce the cost of living adjustment for retirees, increase Tier One contributions by 2 percentage points, and create a Tier Three pension category. This bill has support from the universities.

“They want to feel a sense of assurance that their pension dollars are going to help sustain a long life, a healthy longevity, that I wish for all of us,” says Elaine Maimon, president of Governors State University, in a release.

A bill which passed the House during the regular session was sponsored by State Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston). The bill gradually shifts the cost by one-half of 1 percent of payroll per year. It is supported by the community colleges.

“We requested a mechanism so that community colleges would not have to pay for benefits that the General Assembly might in their wisdom offer to employees in the future. This piece of legislation contains that mechanism,” says Tom Ryder, spokesman for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, in the release.

In a House committee, lawmakers discussed pension bill that would affect all state pension systems, except judges.

Illinois has the largest unfunded state pension shortfall in the nation.
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Removal of the Exploradome will begin Monday, June 24 at 9:30 a.m on the west drive. The entrance off Oakland Avenue will be closed.

The air-supported, vinyl structure will be deflated, followed by a short ceremony featuring a science lesson for a group of summer campers.

The Exploradome opened in 1997 as a temporary facility for special events and exhibitions.

Boeing Hall opened at the Science Center in 2011 to replace the Exploradome, which lasted 16 years and twice as long as originally planned.

Federal officials on Wednesday announced $20 million in grants nationwide, including funding to the Fathers’ Support Center of St. Louis.

The grants are part of the Training to Work-Adult Re-entry initiative. The goal is to provide work skills, education and support services to help soon-to-be released inmates find and keep jobs.

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The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a nine-point guide on how to handle student transfers from unaccredited districts. That comes a week after a state Supreme Court decision upholding a 1993 law that requires unaccredited school districts to pay for students to transfer to nearby schools.

“It’s critical that policy be in place to ensure a smooth transition for new students transferring into accredited districts from unaccredited districts,” Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro wrote in a statement that accompanied the new guidelines.

Missouri currently has three unaccredited districts Kansas City and the suburban St. Louis school systems of Normandy and Riverview Gardens.

The Kansas City district has about 16,600 students, Riverview Gardens has more than 6,000 and Normandy has about 4,600, according to education department data.

The 1993 law requires unaccredited districts to pay for students to attend other public schools in that county or a neighboring county. It applies not only to students currently enrolled in the unaccredited school district but also to thousands of other district residents who may currently be home-schooled or attending private schools.

The potential consequences have caused concern both among school districts losing the students but still on the hook to pay for them and among districts uncertain whether they can accommodate a sudden influx of students.

State law makes no exception for instances in which schools have no more room for new students. It simply says that the unaccredited district “shall pay the tuition of and provide transportation” for each pupil who chooses to instead attend an accredited district.

The Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis had sought guidance from state officials about how to implement the law, said deputy state education commissioner Ron Lankford.

“It’s nonbinding on our part they can choose to do their own thing but at least this gives a rational basis to try to explain a method to the madness,” Lankford said.

The state recommends that by Aug. 1, each school district adopt a policy for class sizes that falls within the state accreditation standards 20-25 children per classroom in kindergarten through second grade; 22-27 students in grades 3-4; 25-30 students in grades 5-6; and 28-33 students in each classroom for grades 7-12.

If a school district doesn’t have enough space to accept all the students whose parents apply by Aug. 1, then the state suggests that districts use an admission system that gives all students an equal chance of getting in. A lottery draw would be one way of doing that, Lankford said.

Parents could maximum their chances by applying to several neighboring school districts. But depending on which school they attend, parents may have to drive their children there instead of relying on school buses. That’s because the state guidelines say that the unaccredited district must provide transportation to only one other district, though they could chose to do more.

Officials at the Missouri Council of School Administrators and the Missouri School Boards’ Association both said Wednesday that the state guidelines appear to be a reasonable way of balancing the students’ right to transfer schools and the schools’ ability to educate them.

But Kansas City schools Superintendent Stephen Green said there are still many details to be worked out before classes are scheduled to start there on Aug. 12.

“A lot of districts have already locked in their staff,” Green said. “That creates some challenges where we could have surpluses and (neighboring districts) could have a need for staff. The Aug. 1 (notification deadline) seems somewhat reasonable, but still doesn’t totally remove the complexity and the challenge.”

Green said only about 50 students had sought to transfer districts before the Supreme Court ruling, and no additional transfer requests have been submitted since then. That’s a relatively small percentage of the district’s total student population.

“Our goal is to make the issue moot” by regaining accreditation by 2014-2015 school year, Green said.

Follow David A. Lieb on Twitter @DavidALieb

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Charges were filed Tuesday against 33-year-old Peter J. Sheppard. Police say the female student was shoved in a classroom at Gateway STEM High School, a magnet school that emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math.

The incident happened Thursday. Authorities say another student captured it on video.

Sheppard does not have a listed attorney.

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Secretary of State Jason Kander says Lisa Krempasky’s error was running a real estate investment scheme — even though she’s not registered to sell investments in Missouri.

“My office will not tolerate fraudulent business dealings in Missouri,” Kander said. “I encourage Missourians to call my office prior to turning over their hard-earned savings to confirm that both the person offering the investment and the investment being sold are registered.”

In addition to turning over her license to practice law for three years, Krepansky must also pay $5,000 in restitution and won’t be able to register in Missouri as a broker-dealer agent or investment adviser.

The department recently replaced nine pumper trucks, refurbished nine others, and added two new ladder trucks — for a total of five ladder trucks able to reach 125 feet high.

That’s high enough to reach the 8th floor of a high rise fire, Jenkerson said. How to fight a high rise fire has been the subject of ongoing training with other departments.

“We coordinated with Chicago and New York and looked for some of those issues,” Jenkerson said, “That’s been an ongoing discussion for a couple of years now, so I think we’re in a pretty good position for fighting a high rise fire.”

St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson. (KMOX/file photo)

What worries Jenkerson the most is firefighters getting hurt in abandoned building fires where crews have to go in to check for occupants.

“People say, ‘oh, it’s vacant why do you go in there?’ But we have quite a few homeless people at night they seek shelter in these buildings,” Jenkerson said, “We still have to go in and check these buildings. With some of the conditions of some of the older buildings that’s always a concern — somebody making a wrong turn, steps falling through, holes in the floors.”

The Chief says the department also added a 27-foot boat for water rescues, and plans to get a 47-foot fire boat capable of fighting fires on the river in September.

The fire department also manages the city’s ambulance fleet. Jenkerson says they have a dozen ambulances on the streets every day with eight back up ambulances. Most of the city’s ambulances are about for years old and will need to be replaced in a year or so, Jenkerson says.

Copyright KMOX.

Jennifer Kerr, 42, of Belton, said the enrollment procedures caused her to spend thousands of dollars and extra time earning a certificate that proved to be useless in the job market/

A finding by a Jackson County jury for Kerr is likely to be appealed and the punitive amount the jury awarded far exceeds the maximum allowed under Missouri law, The Kansas City Star reported.

In her lawsuit, Kerr said she went to the school in 2009 with plans to become a nurse. Vatterott doesn’t offer a nursing program, but a representative told her she could enroll in a medical assistant’s degree, which would help her eventually become a nurse, according to the lawsuit.

After taking out more than $27,000 in loans and being in the program for nearly 60 weeks, Kerr said she was told she was actually enrolled in a preliminary medical office assistant’s program. To get the medical assistant’s degree, she would need to take a total of 90 weeks and spend at least $10,000 more, the lawsuit alleged.

“I was shocked and devastated,” Kerr said. “I felt very deceived. I was totally deceived.”

A Jackson County jury last Friday found that the Missouri-based Vatterott Educational Centers Inc. had violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. It ordered the corporation to pay Kerr $27,676 in actual damages and $13 million in punitive damages.

However, under state law, the most Kerr could receive is the greater of either $500,000 or five times actual damages plus other expenses, including legal fees, said her attorney, Martin Meyers.

“I asked for $2 million to $4 million in punitive damages,” Meyers said. “They came back with $13 million.”

Vatterott officials issued a statement defending the school’s policies. Vatterott has 19 locations in nine states, most in Missouri, along with a large online enrollment, according to the company’s website.

“We are confident at Vatterott that our systems and admission processes are handled professionally. Our mission is to transform and better the lives of our students through quality, career education. We are proud of this mission and will continue to pursue it with professionalism and integrity,” the statement said.

Kerr said while searching for a job for six months she discovered the medical office assistant certificate she earned was not necessary to become a medical office secretary. Kerr now works full-time making baked goods for a large corporation.

“For a long time, I was just devastated and depressed,” said Kerr, a single mother of two children. “The diploma I got was worthless.”

She said it’s important that Vatterott has been held accountable in court.

“I feel like, I mean, it’s wonderful,” Kerr said. “The truth finally came out. Not just for me, but for everyone like me who was fooled.”

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Dr. Adrian Bisceglie, chairman of the internal medicine department at Saint Louis University, says they used a new technology known as “ultra-deep sequencing” to examine blood samples.

“With this you find little short fragments of RNA and DNA,” he explained. “Then we compare those short fragments, hundreds of thousands of them, to known sequences of other viruses or bacteria or even the human genome.”

Anything left over is, by definition, a previously unidentified virus.

Bisceglie says practical applications could include identifying emerging viruses such as the SARS-like illness currently spreading through Saudi Arabia.

He adds the new method developed at SLU could also be used to counteract terrorism by quickly detecting existing bio-threats.

Private equity manager Bruce Rauner is in the midst of a cross-state campaign trek.

Rauner was criticized by fellow candidate Dan Rutherford, the state treasurer, for not facing citizens and the press when he announced his candidacy.

After Rutherford did a 13-city tour of political rallies, with public and press welcome at each, Rauner announced via a video on his website.

Rauner says this method was intended to reach more supporters.

“We’re trying to maximize my exposure,” he said. “Launching a video that could be spread throughout the state digitally was hugely powerful. When we launched our two-minute video, we thought we would get 2-3,000 views that first day. We got 40,000.”

Among other discussions, he said the accusations by State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) that he “employed” fraudster Stuart Levine are inaccurate.

“He’s bringing up some guy named Levine who I’ve never had any interaction with and didn’t even know he was there,” Rauner said. “Somehow my old investment firm is involved in corruption and has something to do with him? It’s pure baloney.”

The announcement was made at the weekly Board of Police Commissioners meeting.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson and St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch have both cited fiscal reasons for the merger.

“This is just another step in the direction of trying to figure out how we can continue to operate these specialized units that are very expensive,” County Police Chief Tim Fitch said.

The merger will go into effect July 1 and the merged squads will operate out of St. Louis Police Headquarters downtown.

“Tim Fitch and I have sat down and talked about a variety of different next steps,” Chief Dotson told KMOX. “Instead of rushing into it though we’re going to take little steps and make sure that we’re not missing anything and that it works.”
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Tuesday night, discussion between County Council members and residents became heated as residents warned of a slow but deliberate merger between St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

“It appears to be another step in the process and Mr. Dooley and Mr. Slay have both publicly stated their interest in the merger,” one woman said, referring to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.

“You using that for political purposes down the road doesn’t have nothing to do with it,” councilman Mike O’Mara replied as the two spoke over each other.

“No, it’s practical purposes, it’s not partisan, but thank you,” the resident replied. The measure passed 5-2.

The Bosnian Chamber of Commerce is holding a crime prevention meeting Wednesday night in the wake of two deadly shootings of immigrants by alleged robbers.

Bosnian Chamber head Sadik Kukic has been in the United States for 20 years and says it is a scary time in the city.

“It started happening maybe a year ago, when I started seeing different things, that people are selling drugs in the neighborhood,” Kukic says.

He says immigrant residents and business owners are telling him they don’t feel safe and some are even talking about moving out of the city into St. Louis County.

“They are really upset and scared, to be honest with you,” Kukic says.

Kukic hopes the meeting and rally will encourage more involvement by neighbors to reduce crime and increase safety. He says seven years ago residents were able to cut crime in half by banding together and watching out for each other. He believes that’s the way to increase safety now, for good people to get involved.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Bosnian Chamber headquarters at 5030 Gravois.

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann says the running tab to the county from responding to tornado damage and flooding is $2.4 million.

“It’s turned into a much bigger cleanup than we thought,” he said. “We are anticipating collecting about 50,000 tons of tree and limb debris.”

Ehlmann says if the county is unable to receive federal disaster reimbursement, it won’t have enough money to cover the costs of storm preparation and cleanup.

“We do save for a rainy day or, in this case, a windy day and we have $1.8 million in an emergency fund and we’ll have to do what it takes to balance our budget,” he said.

St. Charles County had enough costs to qualify for federal disaster help but only if the state as a whole reaches a threshold of $8 million in costs. Ehlmann says he doesn’t know yet whether that will happen.

TREE/LIMB DROP OFF ENDING

As crews start to near the end of the cleanup, residents are advised that next Wednesday, June 26, is the last day to:

• Place tree and limb debris at the curb for pickup in impacted areas east of Highway 94, north of Highway 40/61, south of Friedens Rd., along Arena Parkway including Pralle Lane, and along County snow routes adjacent to the defined area.

• Drop off tree and limb debris at the following St. Charles County Highway Department facilities: 3890 Greens Bottom Road and 7101 Highway 94 (south of Highway 40/61).

• Drop off non-electrical construction debris at the following public dumpster sites: St. Charles County s Highway Department facility, 3890 Greens Bottom Road; Barnwell Middle School, 1035 Jungs Station Road; and Castlio Elementary, 1020 Dingledine.

The discussion became tense last night as councilman Mike O’Mara sought to reassure a female resident who was concerned about a potential merger.

“It appears to be another step in the process and Mr. Dooley and Mr. Slay have both publicly stated their interest in the merger,” the woman said, referring to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.

“You using that for political purposes down the road doesn’t have nothing to do with it,” O’Mara replied as the two spoke over each other.

“No, it’s practical purposes, it’s not partisan, but thank you,” the resident replied.

The measure passed 5-2 Tuesday night but similar concerns over a possible merger led Republican councilman Greg Quinn and councilwoman Colleen Wasinger  to vote against it.

Resident Tony Sosa said slowly easing into a merger is the worst manner in which it could be done.

“Any time there is government bodies that have quiet talks, there is a recipe for deception and possible corruption,” he said.

Dooley says the only way the city and county could join is by a vote of the people.

Nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, is one of the oldest and most widely used anesthesia drugs in the world. Some, however, thought it might be dangerous to use in patients at high risk for heart attack because it causes levels of an amino acid called homocysteine to rise in the blood.

Nitrous oxide inactivates vitamin B12 and by doing so increases blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine, which some thought raised heart attack risk.

So Washington University anesthesiologist Peter Nagele, who led the Washington University School of Medicine study, gave some surgery patients intravenous B vitamins along with their laughing gas to see it would make a difference

“The patients who did get B vitamins did not have any difference in outcomes compared to patients who did not get B vitamins,” Nagele says.

He says it appears that when it comes to heart attack risk, elevated homocysteine is more of a bystander than a cause and that laughing gas can be ruled out as a contributor to heart attack risk.

MSD Spokesman Lance LeComb says a valve on a pump at the Lemay Treatment Plant failed causing a discharge at another pump near Fannie Avenue and River City Boulevard.

The pump was fixed but LeComb estimates about a million gallons of a mix of waste water and flood water has gone downstream.

People are being advised not to make contact with the water in the southern most-section of the River des Peres near the Mississippi.

“This week we’re trying to stay ahead of what we hope will not be a blistering hot and deadly summer,” says Reverend Earl Nance Jr. “Our social service partners are going to work like the dickens to try to help as many seniors and the disable as much as possible.”

Ameren Missouri is donating 240 air conditioners.

Cool Down hopes to raise $200,000 in donations in order to get through the summer. Donations can be made at any Missouri or Illinois UMB bank.

St. Louisian David Clohessy, with the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, claims the Vatican has violated a 1990 treaty pledging to put the rights of children first in all of its decision-making.

“We are presenting evidence to this committee that shows that the Vatican is basically breaking those promises and breaking that treaty,” he says.

While Clohessy says the UN does not really have much power in this case, it does have a bully pulpit to alert the world what SNAP sees as the church’s condoning of cover ups and enabling of more offenses against children.

“Really for the first time ever an international secular body will be essentially calling Vatican officials to account and to report on how they are keeping or not keep their promises around children’s well-being and safety,” Clohessy says.”

The Vatican will go before the committee next January.

Around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday a male voice called 911 and whispered that a device was going to explode within an hour and a half at Kerry Inc. ( 8021 New Hampshire Ave.) according to St. Louis County Police spokesman Randy Vaughn.

The facility was evacuated and arson, fire, and bomb units were called in. As of 4:35 p.m. they were still on the scene.

Vaughn says nothing has been found so far.

The Pioneer Woman statue was discovered missing from the museum on Monday.

Independence officials say the statue likely weighed more than 1,000 pounds.

The Independence Examiner reports a $5,000 reward is being offered for the return of the statue intact. Another $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.

The statue was dedicated in March 1990. City Manager Robert Heacock said it cost the city $30,000 to $40,000.

“Pioneer Woman” carries a large bucket in her right hand and cradles an infant in her left arm. Most of the statue is in blue tint, with the bucket and the faces bronze.

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Maplewood’s City Council earlier this month officially came out against the proposal and Great Rivers Greenway last week expressed expensive concerns about what’s now being branded as a “boulevard.”

David Wrone, spokesman for the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic says the county is undeterred.

“We are looking at this as a regional benefit. Maplewood is looking at it on more of a micro level,” he told KMOX News. “If we required a hundred percent support nothing would get built, ever. We would be a grassy series of hills and plains.”

It would cut through Maplewood and Shrewsbury the most.

AUDIO: Maplewood Assistant City Manager Anthony Traxler joins KMOX’s Mark Reardon:

I

THE CONCERN

Maplewood’s letter to St. Louis County claimed that as many as 36 businesses in the Deer Creek Shopping Center and Big Bend Industrial Court would be displaced because of the South County Connector. The road would also wipe out a railroad bridge used by Union Pacific.

The lanes of traffic would ‘fly over’ the shopping center’s parking lot, which Maplewood says “would void all remaining leases which would kill the center,” which was just revitalized with a $37 million investment, including tax increment financing.

Maplewood believes the county’s cost estimate of $110 million is “woefully underestimated.”

Both Maplewood and Great Rivers Greenway are concerned with the road’s pedestrian and bike accommodations. Maplewood says the construction would “cripple” its 2009 Walkable/Bikeable Community Plan and foil efforts to win a Bike Friendly Community Award.

The letter: “We do not believe that the No Build option was properly vetted as an alternative and should be reconsidered on the basis that the same amount of funding put into bike a pedestrian improvements in the same footprint would accomplish the same goals of reducing traffic, promoting mass transit use, and improve safety.”

Great Rivers sent a note of its own to the highway department, saying the Connector could neutralize $27 million in investments the organization has made to pedestrian and bike infrastructure on the River Des Peres Greenway and the Deer Creek Greenway.

“We would really like to see a connection that incorporates pedestrians, bicycles and motor vehicle use,” Susan Trautman, executive director of Great Rivers Greenway told KMOX. “The South County Connector could be a really great example of multimodal transportation where people can walk, ride their bikes, use their cars.”

But Wrone pours cold water on her comment.

“We want to provide a much need boulevard for cars and trucks,” he said, while also stressing that “bike ridership is important to us.

“But I want to say we are in the business of providing safe and efficient necessary motor vehicle driving pavement. We’re a highway department, not a bicycle department.”

THE DEMAND

St. Louis County, according to the pair of letters, is using traffic data from 2005 and 2006 to justify building the road, while also acknowledging that it would cause bottlenecks on Hanley Rd. which don’t currently exist.

Great Rivers suggests using more recent figures from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, which demonstrates that St. Louisans are driving less. From 2007 through 2011, the data shows a 4.5 percent decrease in miles driven in St. Louis County.

Wrone responded that the roadway has been on the county’s drawing board for at least two decades, and for good reason.

“Anybody who is not vested in this who has to drive from Clayton to south city on a daily basis would tell you that it is not a convenient or not an even remotely pleasant drive,” he said.

Wrone said the South County Connector is a completely separate project than an I-170 southern extension, and would not alleviate reasons for extending the interstate.

County Executive Charlie Dooley, meantime, told KMOX News that the “highway” is necessary, for the same reasons.

“We know we can’t use the 170 anymore, because that goes right into a parking lot, so that won’t happen,” he explained. “We still need alternative routes from Clayton to south county and this is the best we have to do.”

The Connector would parallel the recently-completed, billion-dollar MetroLink light rail cross-county line.

“Just because you have one doesn’t mean you don’t need the other,” Dooley said on that. “We need both. We need better highways, we need more light rail transportation. We need to do all the things.”

During public comment periods, Maplewood notes that none of the proposed alternatives for routes garnered more than 10 percent support, which city leaders say is an indication of lack of popular support. Wrone said that interactions with citizens at hearings was overwhelmingly positive.

There is no funding secured and the plan is not yet final.

Programming Note: St. Louis City alderman Scott Ogilve will join KMOX’s Mark Reardon on Wednesday to discuss traffic impacts for residents along the River Des Peres and also how the roadway would pave over a portion of a St. Louis City park.

KMOX © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

KFVS-TV reports that heavy rain on Monday caused flash flooding in Scott City, Mo. Among buildings that took on water was an apartment building, where more than 2 feet of water flooded the basement.

A woman went to the basement and saw a cat struggling in the water. She got the cat to safety but was shocked from an electrical current as she unplugged cords from an outlet that was under water.

She was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The woman’s name was not released.

The cat was uninjured.

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The boars were spotted Monday on the trail in Rocheport.

Sean Ernst, Conservation Department agent, says he shot and killed the two boars Tuesday, then searched for others but came back empty.

Missouri does not have a substantial wild boar population, according to Conservation Department regional supervisor Tom Strother.

Strother says he is not sure where the animals came from, but says someone could have let them out of the pen.

Missouri allows wild boars to be shot on sight.
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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

This is according to the Citizens Utility Board, which studied the issue, and finds Illinois cell phone users over-pay $1.4 billion a year on their data plan, mostly for data that goes unused.

That amounts to $194 a year per smart phone user.

The data plans that the phone companies offer are either too small, resulting in charges for overages, or so big that the customer leaves much of the data unused, says Executive Director David Kolata.

“They box you in to either buying a ton – unlimited, that you’re not gonna use, at least in most cases you’re not gonna use, or the offers are so little that they put the fear that you’re gonna go over, so one of the things that we’d like to see are more options for consumers,” he said.

He is urging the carriers to price data on a per-megabyte basis, or at least to offer more tiers of data service.

© Copyright 2013 Illinois Radio Network. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

After being arrested Monday, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged 17-year-old Charles Guice with one count of Leaving the Scene of an Accident, which is a class D felony.

A $50,000 bond was set for Guice.

This all comes after St. Louis County police responded for a person struck in the 1500 block of Redman Road just after 8:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Police found the white SUV Guice was driving in the 440 block of Carter Avenue on Monday. Guice turned himself in to police the next day after hearing police were searching for him.

Traditionally, AFIB patients must take blood thinners to lower their risk of stroke. Some, however, aren’t able to take blood thinners so surgery could be the answer.

“It is a way to keep somebody’s stroke risk at a very low rate, without taking blood thinners,” says Dr. Michael Limm, SLU Care interventional cardiologist.

Without cracking the breastbone, surgeons thread a pre-tied suture loop through the body via a catheter where it eventually ties off the heart’s left atrial appendage, which is where 90 percent of blood clots emerge.

Limm says the procedure should eliminate the need for blood thinners.

It marked the fourth year that local swimmers have taken part in the effort to set a Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous swim lesson.

Aquatic supervisor Jason Quinton told KMOX News the underlying message was children should learn how to swim.

“Drowning is classified as the second leading cause of accidental death from children ages 1 to 14,” Quinton says. “So, it’s really important to get your kids in here and learn how to swim.”

The numbers from Clayton will be combined with others from around the globe, so it is not yet known if the goal was reached of nearly 25,000 participants.

Starting Saturday, July 6 people parking downtown will be required to pay use parking meters on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The parking division says the change in policy is necessary in order to apply consistent enforcement policies across the city.

Enforcement officers will issue warning notices during the first two weekends in July so people will have a chance to adjust to the change.

Downtown is currently the only area of the city without Saturday enforcement. It is also the only area of the city where massive numbers of people go for sporting events.

BERKELEY, Mo. (KMOX) – Police say one person has died and three others are critically injured after a shooting at an apartment complex in Berkeley.

The shootings occurred in the 9500 block of Madeline Manor. Police, heading to the scene, came upon three gunshot victims in a car traveling at a high rate of speed.

They found another gun shot victim lying on the pavement.

Police are also said it started with an argument inside an apartment, and that’s where the subjects shot at each other.

Three victims are listed in serious condition.

Police now say three weapons have been recovered.
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BERKELEY, Mo. (KMOX) – Police say five people were shot at an apartment complex in Berkeley.

All the victims in their 20s and 30s were critically injured, but details about their injuries are unknown. It happened around 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Madelaine Manor Apartments on Natural Bridge.

Berkeley police say two groups of people got into an argument. A witness told KMOX’s Michael Calhoun that they heard a woman say, ‘please don’t kill me’. Another witness said they heard gunshots, then moments later they heard additional shots that came from a different gun.

Authorities say three of the victims two men and a woman got into a car to go to a hospital, but were stopped by police near a building owed by Boeing.

Witnesses say a silver Eldorado pickup truck fled the scene, however Police Maj. Art Jackson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the shooters were among the victims.

Police say one person was wounded shortly after noon Tuesday. Its unclear what their condition is at this time.

KMOX’s Kevin Killeen is en route.

Check back for more updates on this breaking story.

Police say the teenager was arrested Monday, hours after investigators found the 2013 Dodge Durango that struck and killed 2-year-old Darrion Griffin. The child was struck Sunday evening in north St. Louis County. A 17-year-old female relative of Darrion was also hit as she tried to pull the child to safety.

Police say the suspect turned himself in.

Witnesses told police that the child was trying to cross the street to play with his sister when a speeding SUV hit him.

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The lawsuit was filed against Pure Air Inc. – doing business as Air Duct Cleaning – along with its president Noach Palatnik. Joe Bindbeutel, chief counsel in the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, says the unwanted calls started in March. He says it is rare that a no-call list violator be a Missouri-based company.

“Most companies we find that pile up massive numbers of violations are out of state and many times, out of country and, frankly, beyond lawful process,” Bindbeutel explained.

Air Duct Cleaning, however, is not. According to the lawsuit, consumers asked the company to stop calling . Not only did the automated calls continue, they increased. Some consumers claims to have received dozens of calls.

The Attorney General’s Office says one consumer claims a company representative told him they aren’t subject to Missouri’s no-call law.

Koster is asking the court to make them stop the calls and pay $5,000 dollars for each violation.

Koster’s office says the next big wave of unwanted robo-calls are coming to your cell phone. Missourians can place their cell phone numbers on the list as well.

Another popular tactic is “spoofing,” according to Bindbeutel.

“Which is disabling the caller ID on recipients’ telephones – mobile phones and landlines,” he said. “Which is a way that robo-callers and others can get around your defense which is ‘who’s calling me?’”