Valerie lost her job of 24 years in November 2018, right before the season’s coldest temperatures hit. “When things happen, you wonder how you’re going to survive,” she said. “I have a daughter, and I knew my bills needed to be paid.”

The cofounders of ArchCity Defenders – three white male graduates of Saint Louis University School of Law – deliberately recruited black leadership for their civil rights firm a few years ago, and this decision set the tone for its 10th anniversary gala held Friday, November 8 at the Stifel …

William Tisaby, the former FBI agent hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner to help in the criminal investigation of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, never had a chance to review his deposition.

When Khadijah Wilson was 17, she pled with her high-school principal to intervene in an ongoing conflict with another girl. That never happened. Instead, Wilson defended herself against her bully at school one day, and she was sent to adult jail.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Bartney Coats, who proudly wore a Darren Wilson name badge during Ferguson protests, has been posting racist, biased tweets for years.

A special prosecutor decided not to file criminal charges against the defense team for former governor Eric Greitens for allegedly threatening to ruin Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s career if she didn’t drop her case against Greitens in 2018.

Medicare’s Open Enrollment period gives everyone with Medicare the opportunity to review their options and decide whether they want to keep their current plan or make changes for coverage beginning January 1, 2020. You can keep your current plan if you’re happy with it, but you must make a s…

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri has a plan. 

Kenya Webster seems like the kind of person to have by your side in a street brawl – one who, when finding herself face down on the sidewalk, will reassess, shake it off, and come up swinging, fully aware that more punches might follow. Author Brene’ Brown, in her book by the same name, call…

At the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in London a couple years back, Willard Smith heard some younger tourists nearby speaking Korean and he began to hum the South Korean national anthem, turning to them and greeting them in Korean.

Rasheen Aldridge faced no competition in the contest to fill out of the rest of former state Rep. Bruce Franks’ term in the St. Louis-based 78th House District in a special election on Tuesday, November 5. Franks resigned to tend to his anxiety and depression.

On August 14, 2017, St. Louis Police Officer Adam Feaman used a large flashlight to hit Jamal White, an unarmed black man in his mid-twenties, in the face and crack his jaw. 

The St. Louis County NAACP announced Friday that John Bowman Sr. is its newest president.

Metro Transit has partnered with Lyft on a new pilot program to help passengers connect with the Metro Transit system. Transit customers who live in one of eight preselected areas in the St. Louis region will be able to use a Lyft code for rides to or from a nearby Metro Transit Center or hi…

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) voted with the majority to approve the rules for a public impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Member of the U.S. House of Representative approved the rules by a vote of 232-196 on Thursday, October 31.

The congregations of Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) will host a public meeting 3 p.m. Sunday, November 3 at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass Ave. in St. Louis. The purpose is to address the issues confronting black youth in the St. Louis region. One specific issue includes demanding th…

Newly announced Democratic candidate for Missouri Attorney General Rich Finneran came out swinging against the incumbent two days after he announced his campaign. He attacked Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt for his participation in a lawsuit that would eliminate insurance protections …

The St. Louis County Police Department must now undergo an independent review from an outside consultant, after the Board of Police Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday, October 29 to initiate the review.

Neither Gov. Mike Parson nor Dr. Randall Williams, director of Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), are responding to demands that Williams resign or be investigated after he testified that he kept a spreadsheet to track the menstrual periods of women who visited the S…

The Concordance Academy of Leadership, a non-profit that supports individuals as they re-enter society and the workforce after prison, raised $1 million through its 5th annual gala, “Big Top Bizarre,” held at The Ritz-Carlton St. Louis on Saturday, October 19.

Domestic violence is more than broken ribs and black eyes, said Christine B., a formerly homeless YWCA client and a mother of three.

Retired Congressman William (Bill) Clay (D-Missouri) served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years with retired U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), who died Sunday, October 27 at age 90. Conyers was first elected to Congress in 1964, four years before Clay, and he would serve ano…

Realizing that one in five area low-income women cannot afford adequate menstrual products, the Parents as Teachers National Center teamed with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank to raise money to buy them tampons and pads.

Former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving members of Congress, has died. He was 90.

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Save A Lot, the discount grocery retailer based in St. Ann, has opened a new store on the corner of Union and Page boulevards. 

In his last case as an assistant United States attorney, Reginald Harris successfully prosecuted another black man, then-St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Kenneth A. Grooms II. Grooms unlawfully seized a man who had insulted his girlfriend and took him on a rough ride in the back of his …

It was all about healing, family and community as the new Siteman Cancer Center at Northwest HealthCare in Florissant held a public open house on Tuesday, October 23 before it begins seeing patients on Monday, November 4.

A Dellwood woman has filed a federal lawsuit against a North County Police Cooperative officer, after he confiscated her phone when she tried to videotape the officer arresting a man in a wheelchair at a gas station.

The Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) Board of Regents has initiated the university’s presidential search committee. HSSU is conducting a national search for a president to succeed Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack, who accepted the presidency at Claflin University in July. AGB Search has been retaine…

McCarthy HITT will host an outreach event for small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses interested in working on the Next NGA West construction project 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 29 at COVO St. Louis, 401 Pine St.

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Reginald Petty knows the stereotypes of East St. Louis well. A native of the city, he has heard the way many people talk about it.

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Kevin Cox Jr., 28, asked a lot of questions as a child. He wanted to know how and why things came to be. 

At a memorial service for St. Louis civil rights leader and educator Norman R. Seay, who died September 17 at age 87, a new university scholarship and a civil rights award in his name were announced.

Sabrina Westfall’s journey from IBEW Local 1 electrician to entrepreneur has earned her the 2019 Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) Award from St. Louis County. The award honors “outstanding business acumen, industry leadership and community service.”  

The Supreme Court of Missouri Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness Civil and Municipal Justice subcommittees held a Listening Session in Ferguson on Saturday, September 28, hosted at the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center with assistance from the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis…

Church On The Rock in Saint Peters recently donated 175 new book bags to students at Northview Elementary School in the Jennings School District. The giveaway was facilitated by Special Friends Extended, a mentoring program that works in the Jennings and Riverview Gardens school districts.

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Justine Petersen, a leading microlender in the region, hopes a $200,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase will help minority-owned small businesses north of Delmar.

If St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s primary motive in appointing retired Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ronald Johnson as her law enforcement liaison was to repair a fractured relationship with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, she had the right idea.

More than 400 boys registered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri are currently waiting to be matched with a Big Brother, and the agency aims to bring that number down by at least 90 before the end of the year. It launched a “90 Men in 90 Days” campaign on October 1 that runs t…

“He was my colleague, friend and mentor. I have lost a brother and America has lost a true hero,” U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) said about the passing of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland). He died Thursday, October 17 at Gilchrist Hospice Care, an affiliate of Baltimore's Johns H…

The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday, October 15 grilled most of County Executive Sam Page’s nominees to the Board of Freeholders, a 19-person body that could rearrange the governance of St. Louis and St. Louis County.

Four hundred years ago, the first Africans landed in Old Point Comfort, Virginia. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Black Studies Program and the Office of the Provost presented its 1619 Commemoration recognition with an opening ceremony at noon Monday, September 30 in the Morris Uni…