Slow progress in replacing flimsy stop signs around St. Louis

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Slow progress in replacing flimsy stop signs around St. Louis ST. LOUIS - It's been nearly three months since we exposed a problem with stop signs falling apart, even being cut in half in the City of St. Louis. We found out the signs were made of cardboard-like material.We found dozens of damaged signs citywide in August. It’s now November. The issue remains.Two weeks after we found half of a stop sign near Al’s Restaurant in the North Riverfront neighborhood, it has yet to be replaced.  Results: November 7 Missouri Special Election “It’s kind of weird. You’ve got half a stop. What’s the purpose? You left half of it,” laughed Zell Marshall of Belleville while driving by St. Louis. A mile or two away, the St. Louis Blues opened their season at Enterprise Center with a similar half-stop sign on the southwest corner. That one has now been replaced.If you look closely at the damaged signs, you will see they resemble cardboard.  The reflective lettering tends to peel off. The signs warp after being exposed to St. Louis weather. Close ...

Mysteries surround burned crime scenes, bodies found in St. Louis metro

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Mysteries surround burned crime scenes, bodies found in St. Louis metro ST. LOUIS - There are two major investigations unfolding in the metro Tuesday involving burned crime scenes with bodies; one in St. Louis City and another in St. Louis County.There are so many questions for two different police departments, and the FOX Files is pushing for answers. Two gruesome scenes leave city and county detectives scrambling to determine what they have on their hands. In St. Louis County, detectives are in the early hours of what's described as a suspicious death investigation. Detectives are investigating a scene in the 12600 block of Columbia Bottom Road. Results: November 7 Missouri Special Election In an exclusive video that you'll see only on FOX 2, our drone captured county detectives looking for evidence, specifically in an area that had burned.Authorities have not officially said if the body had been burned, only that there is no obvious cause of death. Police first responded to that scene in a rather rural area of north St. Louis County around 2:15 p....

Mayor Tishaura Jones holds first cabinet meeting  

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Mayor Tishaura Jones holds first cabinet meeting   ST. LOUIS - It was standing room only Tuesday night at the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club in north St. Louis City as Mayor Tishaura Jones hosted her first cabinet meeting with several city leaders.  Every seat was full as Chief of Police Robert Tracy, Alderwoman Laura Keys, and several other city leaders heard from residents. Mayor Jones opened the meeting by highlighting a few key issues in the city, including one big money topic.   Results: November 7 Missouri Special Election “Everyone wants to know, ‘When [are] they going to spend that Rams settlement money, when [are] they gonna spend it?’ Well again we have $500 million in American Rescue Plan Act, so we want to spend that money first,” Jones said.  The ARPA money expires in 2026. The mayor also addressed crime, stating homicide numbers have continued to go down since she took office. Jones also touched on the youth outreach programs that helped extend rec center hours in the summer. “Juvenile crime is down 37 percent,” ...

New Baden community rallies behind family of murder victim  

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

New Baden community rallies behind family of murder victim   CLINTON COUNTY, Ill. - Friends of Alexi Maki, 24, are devastated over her loss. The New Baden resident was known for her kindness, positive personality, and love of animals. Maki was shot and killed on Saturday. Emmet Metzger is charged with murder.  Neighbors described him as Maki’s boyfriend. After the shooting, he allegedly walked across the street to turn himself in at the New Baden Police Department.   Schnucks turns to tech to curb shoplifting On Tuesday, a bouquet of flowers sat outside the apartment on East Hanover Street near the scene of the shooting. New Baden resident Tracy Gallamore placed them there.   “It’s a terrible, terrible loss,” she said. “We all care. We all do.”The visitation and funeral for Maki will be held Saturday. According to her family, memorials can be made to the Humane Society.   Friends say Maki tended bars and was on a path to graduate from a radiology program.   Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. ...

Opinion: What happens now that Prop. HH has failed? A few tough options remain.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Opinion: What happens now that Prop. HH has failed? A few tough options remain. Proposition HH has failed. Good policy doesn’t always make for a good ballot measure. You can overcome opposition from one front, but not two, even if their arguments completely conflict with each other.On the one hand, conservatives attacked it for being a hidden tax increase by using TABOR surplus dollars for local backfill. On the other hand, local governments opposed the measure because they didn’t think there was enough funding in the measure to backfill local community needs. I’m quite sure neither group agrees on what an alternative to HH should be.Regardless, Prop HH wasn’t good enough and now our elected leaders must figure out how to construct a property tax relief package that prioritizes low and middle-income homeowners, renters, and small business owners. Importantly, just like they did in the past, they must include a way to pay for this relief, making especially sure to protect school district funding.Two policy questions loom large right now.First, is there any way t...

Highlands Ranch father and son plead guilty in U.S. Capitol riot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Highlands Ranch father and son plead guilty in U.S. Capitol riot A father and son from Highlands Ranch have pleaded guilty in federal district court to disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building during the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.David Christian Tyner and his son, Christian Peter Tyner, were arrested on June 21 and charged with four counts each for their involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot.In identical plea agreements filed on Oct. 27, David Tyner and Christian Tyner pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and grounds and one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.They face up to one year in prison and five years of probation and will each pay $500 in restitution for damage caused during the riot, according to the plea agreement. They are set to be sentenced on Feb. 16.Related ArticlesCourts | Trump’s relationship with far-right groups under scrutiny during ‘insurrection’ trial in Colorado Courts | Colorado Springs ...

Keeler: CU Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders would be nuts to test 2024 draft, NFL legend says. Here’s why

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Keeler: CU Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders would be nuts to test 2024 draft, NFL legend says. Here’s why BOULDER — Why take a pay cut to turn pro? Shedeur Sanders is worth an estimated $4.6 million in name, image and likeness value this fall. The first quarterback taken in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Titans’ Will Levis, landed a signing bonus of $3.9 million.“Aren’t we having a great time here?” CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders asked Tuesday when I asked about his QB1’s NFL prospects. “When we appreciate and we love where we are, it’s hard to look at someone else.”Painkillers ain’t cheap, Shedeur, but math is math. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye will be rich and miserable in the winter of ’25, leaving a hole at the top of the NFL Draft that only a man with a diamond watch flex can fill.But hey, if you don’t want to listen to me, fair enough. Listen to the man with the gold jacket from Canton.And I don’t mean your dad.“Past players never had those NIL deals, or any of those options, s...

Proposition HH goes down in defeat as Colorado voters reject complex property tax relief measure

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Proposition HH goes down in defeat as Colorado voters reject complex property tax relief measure Colorado’s wide-ranging Proposition HH, a property tax relief and education-funding measure pressed by the state’s Democratic leaders, has gone down in defeat as voters rejected it by more than 20 percentage points. As of 8:15 p.m., results showed nearly 61% of voters had rejected Proposition HH while 39% supported it out of 1.1 million votes tabulated so far. The Associated Press called the measure’s defeat just before 8 p.m.While 56% of Denver voters were supporting HH, suburban voters were handily rejecting it — “no” votes had a 57% share in Arapahoe County, a 60% share in Jefferson County and a 66% share in Douglas County.“It is a clear message to the governor and the legislature that people want clean property tax relief, and they should call a special session and do that before people get their bills next year,” said Michael Fields, president of the policy arm of Advance Colorado, an advocacy group for fiscal conservatism that led oppo...

Denver Referred Question 2P: Voters approve extension of preschool tax

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Denver Referred Question 2P: Voters approve extension of preschool tax Denver voters approved Referred Question 2P, which would permanently extend the existing city sales tax that provides preschool tuition for Denver kids, preliminary results released on Tuesday night show.In updated results posted by the Denver Elections Division at 8:30 p.m., 76.2% of voters favored the measure while 23.8% opposed it. The question held a more than 50,000-vote lead with roughly 96,000 ballots counted as of that update.With the measure’s passage, the city’s 0.15% sales tax — or 15 cents on every $100 purchase — that raises money for preschool tuition for Denver kids will become a permanent fixture of the city’s tax hierarchy.“We are extremely grateful to the voters of Denver,” Elsa Holguín, the president and CEO of the Denver Preschool Program, said after the first batch of results rolled in Tuesday.As the law is currently written, the city’s preschool tax would sunset in 2026. But Holguín and supporters felt strongly th...

Proposition II results: Colorado voters approve measure allowing state to keep excess tobacco taxes

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:44:30 GMT

Proposition II results: Colorado voters approve measure allowing state to keep excess tobacco taxes Colorado’s tobacco and nicotine taxes will remain unchanged and the state will reap an extra $23.65 million in preschool program funding after voters on Tuesday night approved Proposition II.As of 8:25 p.m., about 66% of voters were supporting Proposition II while 34% voted against it, out of more than 1.1 million votes counted.Prop. II is a tax-retention measure that asked voters to allow the state to keep excess tax collections under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It’s a sequel to 2020’s Proposition EE, which raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products and created a new tax on certain nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Voters approved that tax increase by a 2-to-1 margin.Prop. EE added $1.10 to the price of a pack of cigarettes on top of an existing 84-cent tax; the EE portion of the tax is set to increase to $1.40 in July and then to $1.80 in July 2027. Tax increases on other items included an initial 50% tax on e-cigarettes and v...