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As the race for St. Louis Mayor heats up, the jabs are getting more pointed. The Domcratic candidates, incumbent Mayor Francis Slay, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and former Alderman Jimmie Matthews, squared off in a second forum Monday. All three talked about crime, education and redevelopment. And then the mud slinging began.

Mayor Francis Slay chided Democratic rival Lewis Reed for not releasing his tax returns. The Aldermanic President drew a contrast between his returns and Slay's. Reed said it would be a different matter for him to release his joint tax returns since his wife was a working lawyer and the Mayors was a "stay-at-home mother."

Reed then accused Slay of creating a personal "slush fund" with more than 150-thousand dollars left over in the Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis fund -- the campaign committee aimed at keeping the city’s earnings tax intact. Slay denied that.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that committee treasurer Brad Ketcher said the campaign fund was converted into a nonprofit organization after the election.

St. Louis' Democratic primary election is March 5th. The winner will face Green Party candidate James McNeely in the general election.

Developer Paul McKee will be in Jefferson City Tuesday, trying to save his stalled NorthSide Regeneration project. The McEagle Properties chairman will ask the House Economic Development Committee to extend the tax credit program he's been using to amass land for the project.

The $95 million Distressed Areas Land Assemblage credit was passed in 2007 and will expire this August.

McKee's company has received more than $40 million so far and amassed 2,200 parcels of land in north St. Louis for the project. But McKee told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he's needs to buy another 500 parcels for contiguous sites.

The NorthSide project calls for new and refurbished homes, retail and manufacturing space, along with schools and medical facilities on a two square mile area just north of downtown.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea is confirming that North Korea has tested a nuclear device in defiance of U.N. orders to stop building atomic weapons.

South Korea's presidential security adviser Chun Yung-woo says Tuesday's nuclear test has been confirmed and that it cannot be tolerated. He provided no details on how Seoul confirmed the test.

A nuclear test could take North Korea closer to its goal of building a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a long-range missile.