// a href = ./ //

Although the resignation of Father Lawrence Biondi as president of Saint Louis University caught many off-guard, word traveled fast around campus.

KTRS' Vicki Pinmentel found most students learned of the news online.  "I was on Facebook and I read a status and then I eventually got an e-mail about it...The person I was sitting next to told me he just got an email that Father Biondi was resigning and everyone was pretty excited about that...I was actually at home last night so I just heard about it from you that he resigned so I'm kind of in shock, so that's my initial reaction."

Father Biondi has served as the University's president for 25 years. Recent months have been filled with contentious relations between him and many faculty and students.

The University is expected to begin the search for a successor in the Fall.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Department of Revenue Director Brian Long has resigned amid a controversy over the agency's handling of concealed gun permit documents.

   Gov. Jay Nixon announced Long's resignation Monday and said it was effective immediately. The governor's statement did not say why Long resigned or whether he was asked to do so.

   Long was appointed to the job by Nixon on Dec. 13.

   That came shortly after the Department of Revenue had launched a new process for issuing driver's licenses in which clerks are making electronic copies of applicants' personal documents, such as concealed carry permits.  Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential for people's privacy rights to be violated.

 

   During a Senate committee hearing last week, Long had declined to stop scanning the documents.

The head of Missouri's Department of Transportation has unexpectedly resigned.

Kevin Keith is taking a leave of absence effective immediately and will retire July 1. Dave Nichols, MoDOT's Chief Engineer Dave Nichols will serve as the interim director for at least a year while MoDOT searches for a permanent replacement.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A judge has issued an order blocking a newspaper's request for documents about the resignation of the police chief in southeast Missouri.

Perryville Police Chief Keith Tarrillion submitted his resignation last week amid allegations that he falsified a police report in a personal insurance claim two years ago.

Perryville city officials alleged that Tarrillion used another officer's name to create a police report about vandalism at his home. Tarrillion later received nearly $5,700 from his insurance company. Tarrillion denied the allegations when he resigned Wednesday.

The Southeast Missourian reports that Circuit Judge Ben Lewis has issued an order that blocks the city from responding to the newspaper's records request for documents about the case.

Tarrillion's lawyer says the records constitute a "closed record" under the Sunshine Law.

The interim dean of St. Louis University's law school is resigning. Attorney Tom Keefe says he made "politically incorrect" statements that were inappropriate for a person in his position.

Keefe has held the temporary academic post since August. He had volunteered to take the position without pay.

Keefe is also being accused of sexual harassment. He denies that charge, but says he has made some inappropriate comments and may have been misinterpreted.

Keefe says he isn't being pressured to step down.

The university hasn't released a statement on Keefe's resignation.

A Rockwood School board member has resigned after being targeted in a Missouri audit.

Steve Smith sent a letter last night announcing his resignation days after an audit was critical of district overspending on construction projects.

The audit claims Glenn Construction Co. was overpaid by more than $1.2 million over the last 10 years. That's the same company where Smith works. State Auditor Tom Schweich concluded that Smith failed to abstain from votes giving projects to Glenn Construction while he worked for the firm.

Smith says he is stepping aside so the focus can be on the children of the district.

There is talk that an American could be next in line for the papal office now that Pope Benedict the sixteenth is stepping down from his office at the end of the month. He is the first Pope to resign in 600 years. 

Monday morning, Ballwin, Missouri native and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan reflected on the possibility that he could be moving to Rome sometime soon. Dolan says, "Well it's awesome, you're right. I really .. I mean theoretically I've known that since I was made a cardinal last year that that would be one of the awesome responsibilities, but it's not something you think about. I don't have any insider information, but I would presume that his esteem for the office as the successor of Saint Peter and the chief pastor of the church universal ... that esteem is so high that in all humility he simply said, I can't do it anymore."

Cardinal Dolan. along with Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former archbishop of the St. Louis Archdiocese are two of seven Americans in the College of Cardinals who can vote for the next pope .  Dolan says he believes 85-year-old Pope Benedic's health is not the best, "He knows he's getting a little wobbly. When he was elected as successor of St. Peter in 2005, he shrugged and said to his fellow cardinals, boy, I sure don't have the strength and the durability that blessed John Paul the Second had. So he's been well aware of his frailty."

Church insiders say Italian cardinals are more likely to succeed. The pope's resignation sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.