Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Rush Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians this week. An honor well deserved? Or a mistake on the part of Missouri lawmakers?
Rush Limbaugh, the controversial conservative commentator, was enshrined into the Hall of Famous Missourians this week, sparking controversy across the state and country on whether Limbaugh should be worth of such an honor. Limbaugh's name now sits amongst such famous Missourians as Mark Twain, Dred Scott, Jack Buck and Stan Musial. According to the St. Louis Beacon, Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley gave reporters less than a half-hour’s notice of the ceremony. From the Beacon: Tilley’s decision to honor Limbaugh, a Cape Girardeau native, has sparked opposition from Democrats and progressives because of Limbaugh’s often strong words when he talks about people with whom he disagrees. Limbaugh’s bust will be placed in the Capitol’s Hall …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Local farmers’ market vendors say that the fruits and veggies they grow are superior to grocery store produce for many reasons.
Do you buy the freshest produce possible? According to many area farmers, the fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store may not be as fresh as you think. With farmers' markets open now (or about to open) around the St. Louis area, including Wentzville, Lake Saint Louis, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Clayton, Ellisville, Wildwood, Arnold and elsewhere, we wanted to talk a little about what "fresh" means to you. Tim Hess, owner of Silent Oaks farm and a vendor at several area farmers’ markets, told Patch that most of the produce sold in local grocery stores comes from Calfornia or Florida, areas where many farms are staffed by migrant workers. “It’s a long trail and at the end of the trail you’ll find that migrant Mexican workers do …
Monday, May 14, 2012
The school district is irked that it did not appear in the magazine's rankings of the nation's best schools.
US News and World Report released their "best high schools" in the nation ranking last week. We did not make the list due to the methodology used. Clearly, we take issue with the methodology and have expressed this to US News. However, as you will see from the attached information, we will not "fall victim" to the flaw in the methodology going forward, making any kind of correction unlikely. The Ladue School District has always considered ACT results to be a fair criteria for judging our success, as the vast majority of our students take the test, and it specifically measures college preparedness in a way that is considered acceptable to a broad number of institutions - specifically colleges and universities. As you will note in the …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
County Library headquarters was just remodeled, and now the library board wants higher taxes to tear it down, and build another one.
The St. Louis County Library Board recently voted to ask for a six-cent tax hike on the current 16-cent per $100 property valuation, for the purpose of tearing down and rebuilding the County library’s headquarters. I went to the library headquarters after that. The building is on Lindbergh Boulevard in Ladue. What did I find? They had just remodeled the place—the same building they now want to tear down. And I don’t mean they remodeled the place several years ago, I mean in the last nine months. An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Paul Hampel said the headquarters was built in 1960 and has been well maintained, but did have a leak in the roof. Well, fix the roof, don’t tear down the building. When my house had a leak in the roof, …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sendak has died at age 83. Tell us your memories of reading his books—especially "Where the Wild Things Are."
My two children are well above the age when they'd sit still for their mother and father reading a book to them. It won't be that many years before they have their own children. They'll be doing the reading. And I have no doubt that Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" will be among the books they crack open and recite. On Tuesday, we learned that the author of perhaps one of the most famous children's books of all time had died at the age of 83. The New York Times' report said the author had died from complications after a recent stroke. Writers have lauded Sendak's worth, but in particular his ability to craft children's stories out of what might have been considered "untraditional" — monsters "roaring their terrible roars" and "…
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The communications company will require customers to use a digital box to watch Turner Classic Movies.
Let me say this—I have been into cable TV since its inception. In 1981 when my new bride was househunting for us in Kansas City while I worked the midnight shift as a police officer, my only instructions to her were this: the house had to get cable TV so I could watch baseball games with announcers Harry Carey (Cubs) and Skip Carey (Braves.) So I like cable TV. And while I have written about my trials and tribulations in the last year with Charter Cable, I wasn’t so unhappy—until now. On Saturday, April 21, Charter is changing the channel lineup. In doing so, a very few select channels will cross over into requiring a digital box. Some may consider that an upgrade. I don't, and others may not either. Hear me out. One of the chosen …
Friday, April 20, 2012
St. Louis County Animal Care and Control helped this bird after it survived an what appeared to be an attack by other birds.
I actually walked out my front door to interrupt whatever was taking place in the animal kingdom Friday. A number of birds, including what appeared to be a hawk or eagle (completely uneducated guess on my part, all I know is it was a giant black bird with a white head) scattered when I walked outside. This tiny bird remained and it ran off. It seemed to try and hide behind a flower pot, then a plant as birds continued to divebomb its general area. Once in while they'd even land and try to get closer to the bird again. I know it sounds crazy, but I could not let nature take its course. So, being the lunatic that I am, I contacted St. Louis County Animal Care and Control and they sent someone out to evaluate and help the bird. Operations …
Monday, April 16, 2012
The case has ties to Town and Country, plus what's going on with MoDOT's flag?
Missouri's laundry business I was gone from St. Louis for 26 years. When I returned in 2006 I found the State of Missouri provided workman comp casualty insurance for smaller businesses. Apparently, in 1993 the state legislature created the Missouri Employer’s Mutual Insurance Company, to help small businesses pay lower rates than being charged by insurance companies—state government competing against private business! The governor appoints the board of directors. That would make it a public agency…right? Wrong… according to Missouri Employer’s Mutual when reporters tried to look at finance records. In 1993, the nation was coming out of a weak recession which caused insurance rates to go up for riskier small businesses, so the state …
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The St. Louis Cardinals look to begin their title-defense today when they kickoff the regular season against the Miami Marlins.
Today's Major League Baseball's official Opening Day, considered by thousands of St. Louisans as an unofficial holiday. And while the St. Louis Cardinals' home opener is really where it's at, that's not stopping us from getting into the baseball mood! There's no shortage of story lines for the 2012 Cardinals as they look to defend last season's World Series Championship when the season kicks off today against the Miami Marlins. Related: Update your Facebook Timeline cover photo with an image that captures your loyalty for the Redbirds. The team is missing perhaps three of its biggest names of the past decade in manager Tony La Russa, pitching coach Dave Duncan—both of whom retired—and, of course, Albert Pujols, who signed with the Los …
Monday, April 2, 2012
Prop "S" supporters want tax dollars for courthouses, opponents—not so much.
Proposition S is the one and only issue on the ballot countywide on April 3. It requires a super-majority to pass, 57 percent. It's about spending $90 million to replace what was called the Juvenile Courts building when it was built 40 years ago. The politically-correct renamed it the Family Courts Building. Perspective The building is on the former grounds of the County Hospital on Brentwood Boulevard. The County Hospital is long gone, replaced by an impressive office park, but the old Juvenile Courts building remains. If the Prop "S" bond issue passed, the plan is to build a new Family Court facility in downtown Clayton near the current courts building and new jail. Back when it was first built, the progressive thinking county leaders …
Candace Jarrett
1:44 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
This is a star worthy comment. It made me laugh! Thanks for adding a smile to my Friday. more ›