-
1 month ago | 
ourcommunitynow.com | Lacretia Wimbley
were in St. Louis city and county this past week assessing storm impact, and will return next week to continue gauging damage to public buildings, bridges and other infrastructure. The city assessor’s office estimated at least $1 billion in property damage from the storm. It typically takes a few weeks from the time a disaster occurs for the president to approve a major disaster declaration.
-
1 month ago | 
kcur.org | Lacretia Wimbley
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe announced Saturday that the state National Guard will help remove and sort through debris for two weeks starting next week after a tornado devastated the St. Louis region on May 16. Up to 41 members of the 35th Engineer Brigade will arrive in the city on Wednesday, Kehoe said. A state National Guard liaison officer has assisted the city with evaluating relief needs since May 20.
-
1 month ago | 
ourcommunitynow.com | Lacretia Wimbley
Tina Turner says she’ll miss her sister’s smile the most. 60-year-old Rena Scott-Lyles had a gap between her two front teeth — a trait she shared with her younger sister Turner until Scott-Lyles died during Friday’s deadly tornado. “Hers (is) a little bit wider than mine,” Turner said. “No matter what she was going through, she knew how to mask it through that smile.
-
1 month ago | 
kcur.org | Lacretia Wimbley
Tina Turner says she'll miss her sister's smile the most. 60-year-old Rena Scott-Lyles had a gap between her two front teeth — a trait she shared with her younger sister Turner until Scott-Lyles died during Friday's deadly tornado. "Hers (is) a little bit wider than mine," Turner said. "No matter what she was going through, she knew how to mask it through that smile.
-
1 month ago | 
kbia.org | Will Bauer |Lacretia Wimbley |Hiba Ahmad
Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency will survey and assess the damage caused by an EF3 tornado in the St. Louis region and other parts of Missouri, beginning on Wednesday. When the survey is complete, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said on Monday that his office will ask for a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump, which would unlock more federal assistance. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley called on the government to speed up its process.
-
1 month ago | 
nprillinois.org | Rachel Lippmann |Lacretia Wimbley
It's been more than 48 hours since a tornado touched down in Clayton and tore a path of destruction at least 8 miles long. Here is the latest information we have on the storm's impact. The damage doneSt. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said the city assessor's office estimates there was at least $1 billion in property damage. Of the 5,000 buildings in the tornado's path, at least 4,400 sustained some damage, said Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson.
-
1 month ago | 
missouribusinessalert.com | Lacretia Wimbley
The number of vacant buildings in the city of St. Louis is dwindling, based on an early look at a new report from the St. Louis Vacancy Initiative. The final report will be released this summer. But for now, officials on Wednesday invited the public to take a first look at the upcoming Vacancy Strategy Initiative Report, for which over a dozen city departments and hundreds of community members created a data-driven plan to help reduce vacant properties.
-
2 months ago | 
ourcommunitynow.com | Lacretia Wimbley
Senate Bill 378 earlier this month and currently awaits a vote before the full Senate. If enacted, it would require that all state prisons be inspected at least once a year, with maximum-security facilities undergoing biannual reviews. Its primary sponsor is Sen. Angela Mosley, D-Florissant. The law would be named after Larry Miller, who died in custody at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron on June 9, 2014.
-
Mar 14, 2025 | 
stlpr.org | Lacretia Wimbley
More people are moving to the St. Louis metropolitan area, but experts warn that declining births will eventually impact the region's economy. On Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau published its population estimates for 2024, showing that the 15 counties across the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area gained 6,420 new people last year, which is the region's largest increase since 2010.
-
Mar 13, 2025 | 
stlpr.org | Lacretia Wimbley
As interim commissioner of corrections, Doug Burris has been at the helm of the St. Louis City Justice Center, where 18 detainees have died since 2020, since late January,Burris is a nationally recognized expert in corrections and is credited with turning things around at the St. Louis County jail, where at the height of that facility's troubles, five people died in custody in 2019.
