There's been more turmoil this week between Saint Louis University's president and faculty.
The SLU Arts and Sciences Faculty Council voted Thursday to censure Father Lawrence Biondi. The move comes a day after the president had two faculty members removed from a meeting with the student government, even though the SGA's rules call for only open meetings.
The university defended the ejections in a statement yesterday, saying the meeting was planned as "a dialogue between the president and student government representatives only."
More agitation is likely on Tuesday when Father Biondi is scheduled to speak before the Faculty Senate.
Both the Faculty and Student Senates have already issued no-confidence votes on Biondi’s leadership.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Gov. Jay Nixon says he remains opposed to a bill that would raise the state sales tax while cutting income taxes for individuals and businesses.
Nixon released a statement Thursday saying that a sales tax increase would shift the tax burden to seniors and veterans on fixed incomes. He said it "is not the right approach to growing our economy or creating jobs."
His reaction comes after the House passed a bill Wednesday that would gradually cut the individual income tax by two-thirds of a percentage point over five years while also reducing business taxes.
To offset part of the lost revenue, the bill would gradually raise the sales tax by three-fifths of a cent.
Nixon also had opposed an earlier version of the bill passed by the Senate
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Officials with the St. Louis Community College at Meramec continue to be questioned about the way an alleged assault in a women's restroom was handled.
A student, 18 year old Jevon Mallory, was arrested Tuesday and charged with an April 18th attack on a female student. But critics are questioning the five day delay.
Campus police had taken Mallory into custody on the day Blythe Grupe reported being choked in a restroom. But no charges were filed, and no alert was sent to the campus community. Instead, police let Mallory go with a stern warning not to return to campus.
A college spokesperson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that campus police hadn't initially view the attack as serious since there were no weapons involved.
After Grupe and her parents continued to push the issue, Mallory was arrested. He's now jailed in St. Louis County on felony assault charges.
The Missouri House has approved legislation requiring employers to check potential employees' legal resident status. Missouri already requires public and private employers that receive state money to participate in a federal work authorization program. The bill would extend the requirement to all Missouri employers.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A proposal to designate an official anthem of Missouri appears to have hit a flat note in a legislative committee.
Opera singer Neal E. Boyd wants lawmakers to designate a song that he wrote called the "Missouri Anthem" as the official state anthem. But his pitch received mixed reviews Thursday by the House tourism committee.
While some lawmakers praised the song, others suggested it seemed a little too high-cultured for Missouri and might sound better with a fiddle or some country twang.
The committee decided not to vote on the legislation Thursday, making it unlikely to advance before the session ends in mid-May.
Boyd is a Sikeston native who won an America's Got Talent contest in 2008.
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Anthem bill is HB871.
Authorities say there was a dispute between the man suspected of killing five members of a Manchester, Illinois family and at least one of the victims, but they don't know what it was about.
Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond says investigators are running down reports that Rick Smith was involved in a custody dispute with a member of the family. His brother has said the victims were all related to Smith's ex-girlfriend.
Illinois State Police have released the identities of five family members killed. Authorities have identified the victims as brothers, one year old Brantley Ralston and five year old Nolan Ralston. Their slain parents are 29 year old James Roy Ralston and 23 year old Brittney Luark, who was also five months pregnant. The fifth victim is Luark's grandmother and the great grandmother of the children, 67 year old Jo Ann Sinclair.
Hospital officials in Springfield say the lone survivor of the shooting spree, the boys' six year old sister, has been upgraded from serious to fair condition.
Smith was shot and later died following a gun battle with police.
A trust fund has now been established at the Peoples Bank and Trust to help the family of the victims pay for funeral expenses.
Donations can be made to:
Peoples Bank and Trust
102 South Main
PO Box 258
White Hall, IL 62092
Online: www.bankpbt.com
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In the wake of bombings at the Boston Marathon and flooding closer to home, Missouri Governor Nixon was in St. Charles Thursday morning for the State Emergency Management Agency's annual conference.
Speaking in front of hundreds of emergency responders at the St. Charles Convention Center, Governor Nixon called on the Missouri Senate to reverse their recent budget cuts to public safety and homeland security funding. The Senate's 2014 budget slashes federal funds in half to about $21 million dollars. Nixon said the funds are crucial to those in need.
"These folks needs these assets," Nixon said. "We need to make sure we have response capacity. This is not political and this should not be controversial."
Nixon said that without vital federal emergency funds, the state's response to recent flooding and even possible homeland security threats would not be up to speed.
"I do not know why the Senate left it our of their budget, but we need to fix it," Nixon said.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Rain that moved across the Midwest in the past week has helped ease drought conditions for some farmers.
The weekly drought monitor report from the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska was released Thursday. It shows the rain that caused flooding in some areas of the Midwest helped decrease the drought area from the upper Midwest into the western corn belt and central portions of the Rockies and Great Plains.
But there's a new problem: The heavy rain has left fields muddy in Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. And that means corn planting will be behind schedule.
All of the country's drought-parched states aren't out of the woods. The report shows drought is intensifying from western Texas into northern California.
An 81-year-old Ballwin woman is recovering from a knife wound after police say she shot and killed her son.
Ballwin police say it's not the first time they received a domestic disturbance call to the home of Joanna Walker in the 700 block of Clayworth.
Just after one this morning, they found her son, 41-year-old Brian Walker, shot twice in the chest. He was taken to an area hospital where he died about an hour later.
A knife and gun were recovered at the home. Police say the elderly woman suffered a deep knife wound to her hand and is being treated at an area hospital. She told police her son came after her with a knife and she acted in self defense. No word on if any charges have been filed.
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A couple of tests and drills to warn you about for today (Thursday).
First, St. Louis City will test the emergency siren system at 11 a.m. this morning (Thursday). You will hear a 30-second tone.
The FCC has required St. Louis City to test the sirens because of a change in bandwidth.
Officials said it won't sound like a tornado siren and wants residents to know it is just a test.
In North St. Louis County some of your may have noticed an increased police presence . That will continue today as County officers perform routine training around their Wellston Police Academy.
Police note that helicopters will be taking off and landing several times during the training.
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