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Some south county drivers may face delays the rest of this week because of railroad work. St. Louis County Highway officials say Ringer Road will be closed between Royal Hills Drive and Viento in Oakdale beginning Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. It will remain closed through Friday, March 29.

The closure will allow crews from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad can make extensive repairs to the crossing.

CHICAGO (AP) - Gov. Pat Quinn says any overhaul of Illinois' worst-in-the-nation pension problem should have a funding guarantee.

He spoke yesterday just days after House lawmakers approved their third pension-related bill. The latest would reduce and delay cost-of-living increases in state employees' retirement pay.

Pensions have been Quinn's top issue for more than a year. He says lawmakers' work last week was a step in the right direction but there's further to go. Quinn says any reform package should address retirement age and pensionable salary.

Illinois has nearly $100 billion in unfunded pension debt because lawmakers skipped or shorted pension payments for years.

House lawmakers recently OK'd bills that would cap the salary on which benefits are based to the limit set for Social Security and delay the retirement age incrementally.

Voters in the city of St. Louis will elect three people next month who will serve the city, but with no real authority. That's because they'll serve on the seven-member St. Louis Board of Education, which was stripped of it's authority over the public schools when the struggling district lost accreditation in 2003.

A state-appointed Special Administrative Board controls district policy instead. But the April 2nd election is renewing calls to disband the SAB when it's term expires June, 2014 and return governing authority for the now-accredited district to the elected board.

That would be up to the Missouri state board of education which is expected to consider the question this fall.