The state auditor’s office says it was requested by Rockwood stakeholders.  The Stakeholders for Real Solutions says It had been revealed that School Board member Steve Smith serves as an employee of Glenn Construction Company, while he perviously served as school board president.

The citizens group says he oversaw the awarding of millions of dollars in construction management projects to Glenn Construction, often with little to no competitive bidding.  Smith resigned his position as board president earlier this year, but still maintains his seat on the board.  His position wont expire until April 2015.   The audit will take place in the second half of 2012.  The cost is estimated at $180,000 and will come out of the auditor’s office.

In a news release sent to KMOX, the Rockwood Stakeholders for Real Solutions says their mission is to educate, empower and inform all residents of the district about issues facing the district.

KMOX © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

“They (the city) are very vague on what they will do if you don’t pay.  They don’t come out and say ‘this is what will happen’ because they’ve already testified they don’t have any procedures if they’re not paid”  said Waters.

In fact, he says, cases are dropped after several threatening letters from the red light camera company in Texas.

On Tuesday City Counselor Patti Hageman issued a statement saying the ruling has no impact on the red light camera program and that the city has been waiting for a judgement so it could appeal.

“We believe Missouri law is clear that Missouri cities including St. Louis have the right to enact red light safety ordinances such as this one, and we look forward to bringing this case to te appellate courts.  We note also that a similar ordinance was upheld recently by the Missouri Supreme Court in Creve Coeur verses Nottebok.”  wrote City Counselor Patti Hageman.

© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The 39-year-old Isringhausen agreed to the deal Wednesday.

He went 3-3 with a 4.05 ERA while pitching in 53 games for the New York Mets last season, his 15th in the majors.

Isringhausen is third among active players with 300 career saves despite missing most of the 2009 season and all of 2010 following Tommy John surgery.

Isringhausen also is a longtime teammate of new Angels slugger Albert Pujols after playing for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2002-08.

Isringhausen will have a shot to earn a supporting role alongside fellow 39-year-old newcomer LaTroy Hawkins in the Angels’ bullpen, which frequently struggled last season.

The Angels would be Isringhausen’s fifth major league team if he makes the roster.

Copyright Associated Press

Missouri regained the top national spot for lab seizures in 2011 with 2,096, the AP confirmed through the survey that also found Tennessee was second with 1,687, followed by Indiana with 1,437, Kentucky with 1,188 and Oklahoma with 902.

The total for Missouri lines up with preliminary numbers AP obtained this week from the Drug Enforcement Administration, whose data appeared to show meth lab seizures remained about even during the past two years. But the totals for each of the other states surveyed by AP reveal the numbers are higher than the federal data.

Combined, the numbers indicate nationwide meth lab seizures rose at least 8.3 percent in 2011 compared with 2010.

Experts blame the continued increase on the drug’s addictiveness and the growing popularity of the meth-making shortcut known as “shake-and-bake,” in which the drug is concocted quickly in a soda bottle. The method results in smaller labs, but more of them.

Clandestine meth labs are most common in the Midwest and South. U.S. users who don’t make the drug themselves get it from Mexico, but experts say the drug made in homemade labs is more addictive than the often-diluted product that crosses the border.

“When they’re manufacturing it locally they’re making the purest form and the strongest form they can make,” said Sgt. Niki Crawford of the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Team.

Missouri had been the nation’s No. 1 meth-producing state every year from 2003 to 2009 until falling behind Tennessee for one year. In 2011, a single Missouri county had more busts than Texas, Florida and California combined. Jefferson County, which is near St. Louis, tallied 253 seizures; the three states had 219.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Tim Hull attributed the state’s consistently high seizure rate to law enforcement agencies’ focus on addressing the meth problem.

Police in many Missouri counties stake out pharmacies and watch for “pill shoppers” who go from store to store to purchase decongestants containing pseudoephedrine, a vital meth ingredient, now that tighter state restrictions have limited how much of the product they can buy in one place at one time. Many Missouri agencies also have officers focused solely on meth.

“Is Missouri that much worse or does Missouri just take a more aggressive approach? I think Missouri law enforcement just aggressively deals with the issue,” Hull said.

Indeed, Missouri and Kentucky are among a handful of high-meth states that developed their own programs to train local police to better handle meth cleanup and take the hazardous waste to container sites placed around the state.

The programs helped those states continue with busts after millions of dollars in federal funding set aside for cleanup suddenly was cut in February 2011. Many local police agencies in states without their own programs all but stopped seeking out meth labs because the local governments couldn’t afford cleanup costs.

An AP analysis in August found the number of labs seized plummeted by at least a third in several key meth-producing states within six months. The federal money then was restored late last year.

“When we lost the funding Feb. 22 lab seizures fell approximately 75 percent,” said Tommy Farmer, director of the Tennessee Meth Task Force. “They stayed down for the next four months.”

Tennessee adopted a state container program similar to Missouri’s and Kentucky’s, which took effect July 1. “Then lab seizures rose 73 percent,” Farmer said.

Farmer projected that if not for the loss of cleanup funds, Tennessee would have had more than 2,300 seizures last year. The state already had 200 seizures this year through Feb. 7.

At least three-quarters of meth made in the U.S. is now believed to come in small “shake-and-bake” batches due to the pseudoephedrine sales crackdowns. In some states, the figure is even higher.

“I would comfortably say 99 percent,” said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

The AP’s tally of the top meth states is unofficial because while the DEA’s El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) compiles meth lab seizure data, some states are slow to report complete figures and final data for 2011 won’t be made public until mid-year, said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne.

However, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has access to the preliminary EPIC lab seizure data and provided it to AP this week.

That EPIC data showed Illinois sixth in lab seizures with 584. The remainder of the top 10 were: Iowa (382), Michigan (352), North Carolina (340) and South Carolina (265).

© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

What he didn’t make clear was how to fix the problems.

In his annual budget speech, Quinn spelled out which prisons and mental institutions he thinks the state must close. He mentioned specific tax credits that would help families and veterans. He listed 34 communities that could benefit from state-funded school construction.

But Quinn chose not to offer specific proposals for cutting $2.7 billion out of the state Medicaid program or for overhauling pension benefits and costs. Instead, he pledged to work with lawmakers and repeatedly promised that “everything is on the table.” Special working groups are negotiating possible solutions, he said.

“The truth is that over the past 35 years, too many governors and members of the General Assembly have clung to budget fantasies rather than confronting hard realities, especially with respect to pension and Medicaid investments,” Quinn told a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate. “Today our rendezvous with reality has arrived.”

His decision not to present his own plans won support from many observers, including some who aren’t automatically Quinn supporters. They said it reduces the risk of confrontation by positioning the governor as someone who wants to work with legislators instead of tell them what to do.

It also may put pressure on legislators to take the lead on some unpleasant decisions instead of sitting back and letting Quinn walk through the political minefield alone.

“I wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t go into more detail,” said Douglas Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “The real question is whether he has a partner in the General Assembly or whether they’ll ignore him again as they did last year.”

And state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, a Republican, said he was impressed by Quinn’s tenacity in demanding action this spring on long-festering problems.

“I’m calming down some of the political rhetoric. I’m willing to work with this guy,” Rutherford said.

Others were more critical.

“We need to know what direction he’s headed. That’s the role of the governor is  to provide some leadership  and that’s what’s been lacking,” said the top Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont. “He’s relying entirely on these pension and Medicaid working groups.”

“Be the governor and introduce some legislation, and we’ll work off it,” added her House counterpart, Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego.

Lawmakers were virtually silent throughout Quinn’s speech, which lasted less than 30 minutes. They did not interrupt with applause even when he delivered a bit of good news, such as proposing a small increase in education funding or adding staff at homes for aging military veterans.

Most of the speech was devoted to bad news, like the retirement systems for state employees, university staff and teachers outside Chicago. The systems are about $83 billion short of the money they’ll eventually need to pay out, thanks in large part to the state’s past failures to contribute its full share of costs.

Now, to make up for that, state contributions are growing dramatically, eating up scarce state dollars. Pensions take up 15 percent of the state’s general funds now, up from 6 percent just five years ago, Quinn said.

Quinn said the steadily climbing payments could be reduced through some mix of raising retirement ages, making schools contribute more money, demanding bigger payments from workers and more.

“We must repair this broken system and we must do it now,” he said.

Similarly, he said Medicaid, which provides care for 2.7 million people in Illinois, “is on the brink of collapse.” The state routinely fails to set aside enough money for services, delaying payments for services and digging a deeper hole, he said.

Quinn called for cutting Medicaid spending by $2.7 billion next year, saying it could be done by cutting payments to doctors and hospitals, halting some services and restricting eligibility for the program. He set a deadline of April 17 for the Medicaid working group to submit a plan.

“Don’t plan on going home for the summer until we are done,” he cautioned legislators.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said the governor’s message was clear and concise.

“He topped it off by saying, don’t expect to go home until we get our job done, which is a legitimate request for the governor to the legislature,” Madigan said.

The facilities Quinn wants to close include the supermax prison in Tamms, a maximum security prison for women in Dwight and six halfway houses for inmates nearing release, aides said. Quinn will also call for closing two juvenile prisons, four mental institutions and various smaller facilities.

Illinois prisons are already overcrowded. In November, 48,620 people were squeezed into space designed for 33,700. The Corrections Department has begun counting areas like gymnasiums when calculating the space available for housing inmates.

Closing facilities would further complicate the situation. The two prisons and six “adult transition centers” on Quinn’s list house 2,648 inmates.

All this comes after years of belt-tightening and a 67 percent increase in state income taxes. Despite those moves, the state’s expenses continue to overwhelm revenues.

One of the few areas where Quinn wants to increase spending is education. His budget proposes a $90 million increase, or about 1 percent, to help early childhood programs and college scholarships.

© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Minutes later, the board voted overwhelmingly to allow demolition.

The decision overturns an earlier ruling from the Preservation Board. Commissioners, however, approved the demolitions on the condition that a building permit for the new structure be issued before anything is torn down.

This is a developing story. Check back with KMOX.com later for more information.

KMOX © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Pujols told reporters at the Angels Spring Training facility in Tempe, AZ. on Wednesday that he was not aware of the Angels’ plans.  He explains that he does not like being referred to as ‘The Man’, whether in Spanish or English, because that name will forever belong to Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial.  Even as part of the Redbirds for 11 seasons, the nickname did not have any appeal for the three-time NL MVP.

The Angels told the Los Angeles Times that they do not normally seek approval from players about how they will be portrayed in franchise advertisement.  Tim Mead, Angels VP of Communications, said that the nickname ’El Hombre’ has a different meaning to fans in Southern California than in St. Louis.

The 70 billboards, which have other marketing messages from the Angels, are expected to come down in late March just before the start of the regular season.

Copyright KMOX Radio

If he’s not the biggest curiosity at Spring Training, then starting pitcher Adam Wainwright is at least high on that list. Kevin Wheeler had a moment to see how ‘Waino’ is doing now that Spring Training has officially has begun.