News

Updated 2:47 p.m. July 5 with name finalized:

The St. Louis Zoo announced that a name has been chosen for the baby elephant, Kenzi, which won with 69,406 (53.88%) votes. Runner up June received 40,683 votes (31.58%), Zoe received 12,249 votes (9.51%) and Mya received 6,438 votes (5%). Write-ins received .03% of the vote.

Updated 10:27 a.m. June 28 with naming contest information

It's a girl: The latest addition to the St. Louis Zoo is a bouncing baby elephant.

EMS billing will be outsourced, and overtime for firefighters and jail guards has been cut under a budget approved Friday by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

The money the city hopes to save by outsourcing helped aldermen restore funds for bulk trash pick-up, crime prevention and building demolition.

But it was $500,000 that wasn't restored to the Affordable Housing Commission that drew the lone no vote from Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development will use $50 million in bond money to help Joplin-area manufacturers recover from the May 22 tornado.

Gov. Jay Nixon was in Joplin Friday to announce $75 million in awards and modifications of existing programs aimed at helping business and industry in the Joplin area. Two-thirds of that funding comes from Private Activity Tax Exempt Bond capacity that has been set aside to aid the region.

Updated at 3:41 p.m. with information about pledged lawsuit from Republicans.

The Illinois Republican congressional delegation is deriding Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to approve a new map for U.S. House districts.

The 10 GOP congressmen Illinois Republican congressional delegation in the  pledged a lawsuit in a statement Friday over what they say is a "highly partisan map that tears apart communities."

A 28-year-old man is in critical condition after an exchange of gunfire with a suburban St. Louis police officer.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that the suspect, Carlos Johnson of Ferguson, is charged with first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. Johnson did not yet have an attorney.