Free Republic

The St. Louis County smoking ban is again on hold. With just three hours to go, officials with the county's Justice and Health Committee canceled today's 4 p.m. meeting, where they were expected to move the controversial bill up to the full County Council. Committee Chairman, Councilman Skip Mange, R-Town and Country, said the move was made after concerns were raised by some business people and several council members. Mange said the owners of Harrah's Casino were not happy with the current draft of the ordinance, nor were many bar and restaurant owners.

A van carrying 20 people overturned Sunday morning on Interstate 70 near Columbia, Mo., killing five and seriously injuring 11, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. snip... The Highway Patrol was having trouble identifying the dead Sunday night because few carried identification. Six on board who carried identification were from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala or Long Beach, Calif. The patrol was asking for the public's help in identifying the occupants. Anyone with information is asked to call 573-751-1000. snip... The van, a 2001 Chevrolet, had California plates, but the plates were not registered. Federal immigration officials are assisting the Highway Patrol's...

Reba June Thompson and her son, Howard, at 7016 South Grand Avenue, are the last holdouts against a $40 million shopping-center project under way near Carondelet Park in St. Louis. One by one, their 19 neighbors took the money and moved on. Demolition crews moved in. The city has taken the Thompsons to court, trying to claim their well-maintained brick bungalow by eminent domain. Desco Group, the Schnuck family's development company, has bought most of the 30 acres near Interstate 55 and Loughborough Avenue for its Loughborough Commons shopping center. In March, the city pledged $11 million in tax subsidies...

Retired U.S. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt is no longer a candidate -- he's a conglomerate. Gephardt outlined in an interview today a broad package of business and public-policy initiatives and relationships that now are taking up his time. Key among them is the creation of a new strategic consulting firm, Gephardt & Associates, that will offer assistance to clients on a variety of issues -- like health care -- where Gephardt made his legislative mark and is deemed somewhat of an expert. One of his first clients is Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. , a firm with long-held ties to Gephardt.

For anyone younger than 18, it is time to hang up the phone. During the Memorial Day holiday, Illinois became the latest state to pass legislation concerning the use of cellular telephones while driving. The new law, which is still waiting on the signature of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has been getting mixed reviews from the teenage drivers it will target and the law enforcement officials who must enforce it. Under the new legislation, drivers who are 16 or 17 years old are banned from using the devices while operating a motor vehicle. If they are pulled over for some kind...

Opponents of a $165.2 million retail and commercial center that would replace 254 homes in the Sunset Manor subdivision of Sunset Hills asked a judge this morning to order the city to let its voters decide whether the project should go forward. Members of the Stop the Sunset Hills Land Grab, a grassroots organization opposed to the project, have collected more than 600 signatures to force a vote but city officials have rejected the initiative petitions, said Will Aschinger, a spokesman for the group, in a press conference outside the St. Louis County courthouse in Clatyon. The project by Novus...

A St. Louis auto mechanic whose repair shop was targeted for acquisition to make way for a “Media Box” will get to keep his land after all. The board of directors for Grand Center, the development agency which presides over the arts district of the same name, voted this morning to drop its eminent domain suit against Gentle “Jim” Day, owner of Royal Auto Repair. Since Day’s plight became public earlier this year, the son of Arkansas sharecroppers has received an outpouring of support from opponents of eminent domain at a time when the issue has reached the national spotlight....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Attorney General Jay Nixon sued the Department of Natural Resources on Thursday to try to stop the dismantling of an old Missouri River railroad bridge that historic preservationists hope could someday become part of the Katy Trail State Park. The lawsuit contends the department had no authority to relinquish the state's rights to Boonville bridge to Union Pacific Railroad Co. without getting specific approval from the Legislature. It also contends the Missouri Constitution bars the state from giving its bridge interests to a private company without compensation. And Nixon claims that losing the rights to...

On Monday, the Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Transportation announced the start of their largest-ever enforcement campaign, which will target unrestrained motorists in more than 3,000 "enforcement zones" set up statewide.

Rahn wanted Missouri to follow Illinois' lead by adopting a primary seat belt law. Rahn insists such a law could save lives. Rahn thought the bill had a chance because it also would have done away with the state's motorcycle helmet law. That's right. Had the bill passed, you could be stopped for not wearing a seat belt but not for riding a motorcycle without a helmet. The bill failed.

Are your ribs a little sore this morning, Missouri? They should be. You've just been kicked. Bob Herman put the boot to you. He's a lawyer. He has used the old class-action lawsuit trick to snare a cool $10 million from the University of Missouri. I first wrote about his scam - I mean, his lawsuit - three years ago. Oddly enough, he had called me to alert me to the lawsuit. He said he had found a law that had been passed by the Missouri Legislature many decades ago that stated: "All youths, resident of the state of Missouri...

When St. Louis County Councilman Kurt Odenwald introduced his proposal to outlaw indoor smoking, he had visions of a completely smoke-free county. He wanted to ban smoking in all public buildings, from bars and restaurants to colleges and casinos. But two months later, the political realities of getting such a comprehensive bill past a nervous County Council and a skeptical county executive are setting in.

THE Illinois House last week passed reasonable rules for the payday loan industry. If the Senate follows suit, as it certainly should, some down-on-their-luck Illinoisans should be saved from penury. Payday loan shops provide a needed service - at an outrageous price. They provide small, short-term loans to people who can't get them elsewhere. Most are people shunned by credit card companies because of low income or bad credit history. If your car is broken down, and you need it for work, the payday loan store will provide money to pay the bill. But charges are steep, averaging $20 to...

Hello Members of the Council Committee. Let me first state that you may detect some anger in the words that I use, the voice inflections that I use, and from the general tone of my remarks. Yes I am angry. I am very angry and I am furious that I have had to spend many hours of my time in order to prepare this presentation to come in here and demand, not beg, that my rights and rights of my fellow citizens are not to be denied, disparage, or diminished by the enactment of a “smoke free” ordinance prohibiting the...

Scouting councils in Missouri, Illinois and across the nation are scrambling to find new sponsors for thousands of Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs whose charters are held by taxpayer-funded institutions, including public schools. The Boy Scouts of America notified local councils last month that they would have to find private sponsors for troops that currently have formal relationships with public schools and other governmental entities. The directive followed an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which said that the direct public sponsorship of Boy Scout troops posed a constitutional conflict because Scouts must pledge "to...

Current Bill Summary SCS/SBs 221, 250 & 256 - This act makes modifies several provisions relating to the operation of motor vehicles. SEAT BELTS/BOOSTER SEATS - This act permits a law enforcement officer to enforce the seat belt law if the violation is clearly visible to the officer without stopping the vehicle. The act provides noncompliance with the seat belt law shall not constitute probable cause for a search of the driver, passenger, or vehicle (Section 307.178).

I am listening to the Rush Limbaugh show at this very moment. I am having quite a bit of difficulty reconciling Rush Limbaugh's remarks about judges imposing their morality and/or personal preferences on the rest of the citizenry as result of their constitutional decisions. Yes, there are decisions that have been made based on a personal preference of a judge. Most recently the Supreme Court decision to prohibit convicted death row felons under 18 years of age from being executed. Original meaning of Amendment VIII, "...nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted," could never be interpreted to prohibit convicted felon under...

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would eliminate the state sales tax on new motor vehicles built and sold in Missouri, though the exemption appears to be on shaky legal ground. snip However, Walter Hellerstein, professor of law at the University of Georgia, said such a bill would quickly be found unconstitutional if it became law. Though he hadn't seen the legislation, Hellerstein said granting a sales tax exemption to an in-state product versus products made out of the state would be a clear violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Only Congress has the power to...

In the 1990's, officials worried that motorists couldn't see approaching trains well enough and mandated installation of "ditch lights" on most locomotives. Now, the concern is that drivers can't see the middle of trains. The Federal Railroad Administration has ordered railroads to attach white or yellow reflective materials to the sides of locomotives and freight cars. The reflective-material regulation is intended to make railroad equipment more visible at highway crossings. Almost one-quarter of grade-crossing accidents occurs because motorist ram the sides of moving trains, according to the FRA. Roughly 20% of the country's freight-car fleet is already equipped with reflective...

St. Louis County Councilman Kurt Odenwald, R-Shrewsbury, plans to bring a "smoke-free" bill before the county council "in the very near future." Just last week, the Kirkwood City Council decided not to take up the issue, noting instead that it should be taken up at the county or state level. The council was presented with a petition signed by 360 residents. The petition called for a smoke-free ordinance that would eliminate smoking in all bars, restaurants and other buildings. Odenwald said Kirkwood's decision wasn't his impetus for considering related legislation.