When Cassandra Brown Ray became the first African-American woman named chief financial officer at the Saint Louis Zoo earlier this year, she described it as “one of those cup-running-over” moments. “First woman. First African-American. I stand on a whole lot of shoulders,” said Ray, who also serves as a vice president. “Many, many prayers support […]
Posted inHealth news
Childhood asthma rates highest in North St. Louis, Wash U study finds
A Washington University study has shown that more than a dozen North St. Louis neighborhoods have high rates of childhood asthma. The study, soon to be published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, identified five ZIP codes in St. Louis that are hot spots for childhood asthma, meaning that they contain clusters for the city’s […]
Posted inMike jones
Resistance and acceptance: the black responses to Better Together
The African-American response to Better Together’s proposal to merge St. Louis city and county falls into two general categories. The opposition argues that the exclusion of the African-American community in formalizing the proposal and the complete absence of any structural African-American presence in the execution of the solution makes Better Together unsupportable. African-American supporters don’t […]
Posted inLiving It
St. Louisan Oliver Lee Jackson’s exhibition opens next week at National Gallery
Oliver Lee Jackson describes his artmaking with the meticulous detail of a skilled engineer. “This process is to make a machine that activates you – it must do that work,” Jackson said in a video interview by New York’s Burning in Water Gallery, which housed Jackson’s “Untitled Original” exhibition last year. “For it to hold […]
Posted inInside sports
St. Louis American Boys “Fab Five” All-Star Basketball Team
The members of the 2019 St. Louis American “Fab Five” All-Star Basketball Team are very talented individual players who led their respective teams to very successful seasons. All five players on the First Team participated in state championship games this season. Point guard Yuri Collins of St. Mary’s is the maestro of the group with […]
Posted inLocal news
Dr. Cynthia Rogers of Washington University honored at April 26 Salute
Eleven years ago, Kasia McMullen-Koontz, then 29, was working a regular day as a catering sales manager at the Saint Louis Art Museum. She was 26 weeks pregnant. At one point in the day, she started to feel a sharp pain and was admitted at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. After five days of being on bed rest, […]
Posted inLocal news
Fran Griffin, who beat Lezley McSpadden for City Council, wants Ferguson to change
Both of these things are true: Lezley McSpadden lost an election to represent the part of Ferguson where her son Michael Brown was killed, sparking an uprising that had national impact. And the winner to represent Ward 3 on the Ferguson City Council was a young, black mother and activist – Fran Griffin – who […]
Posted inLiving It
‘Little’ charms despite clutter
Because of the story behind the story, it will be impossible not to root for “Little” and give it the benefit of the doubt long after the grace period of buckling down and officially declaring the film a bust. With the film, 14-year-old “black-ish” star Marsai Martin made Hollywood as the youngest executive producer in […]
Posted inIn the clutch
Magic runs out
Magic Johnson shocked the basketball world Tuesday night by announcing his resignation as the Los Angeles Lakers’ president of basketball operations. The news came as a total surprise to fans, reporters and Lakers’ owner Jeanie Buss. Following the announcement, Johnson explained to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that he didn’t privately inform Buss because he was afraid […]
Posted inLocal religion
Criminal Justice Ministry takes on Let’s Start programs
United by common missions, Criminal Justice Ministry (CJM) and Let’s Start have merged the two organizations, with CJM assuming operations of major Let’s Start programs. Founded in 1989 by Sister Jackie Toben, SSND, Let’s Start has provided recovery, reentry and other services to formerly incarcerated women and their families, while also working to educate the […]