William Ray Price Jr.’s two-year term as Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court ends today.

He spent his last full day in charge talking to reporters about several topics, including the need to fund the state’s drug courts.  Price says that drugs are the “leading, driving force” behind crime nationwide.

Some downtown St. Louis interstate exit and entrance ramps will be closed this weekend because of Fair St. Louis.

The following ramps will be closed from 9 a.m. on Friday until 6 a.m. on Tuesday:

Starting Friday, there will be no smoking on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus.

In November 2010, the University General Assembly approved the policy which bans smoking on all campus property, both indoors and outdoors.

Bob Samples is vice chancellor of marketing and communications at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He said the new policy is part of a national movement.

The Missouri Department of Transportation will close all lanes of Interstate 170 at Delmar next Friday, July 8, to set girders and install portions of the driving surface for the new bridge.

Lane closures will start around 7 p.m. on July 8, and all lanes will be open again by the morning rush hour on Monday, July 11.

A century-old riverboat-turned-casino that folded under withering competition from the St. Louis region's growing array of gambling sites is headed to a scrapyard, piece by piece.

Crews are dismantling the S.S. Admiral along the Mississippi River at St. Louis, months after a would-be auction failed to attract what the owner considered serious bids for the vessel.

The Missouri auditor and the state's Division of Finance have an agreement about access to records.

Auditor Tom Schweich had subpoenaed records from the Finance Division, saying he needs access to the documents to determine if bank regulators are doing their jobs properly. The Division of Finance responded that it was barred by law from complying and that workers could be dismissed or prosecuted for releasing documents.

Loughner can be forcibly medicated

A federal judge has ruled that prison officials can forcibly medicate Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner with anti-psychotic drugs.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns says he did not want to second guess doctors at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo. Burns issued the decision yesterday after Loughner's attorneys filed an emergency request to prevent any forced medication of their client.

Defense attorneys said Loughner had been forcibly medicated since June 21. 

A taco stand shaped like a giant flying saucer was the subject of heated debate at the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen on Wednesday.

The board’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee approved a tax abatement bill which could move North Grand’s Del Taco one step closer to demolition.

The iconic gas station turned fast-food joint has become a cause célèbre among local preservationists.

University of Missouri officials plan to make big cuts to an investment program in order to balance the books after a surprise cut in state funding.

The UM System says the Enterprise Investment Program’s budget will drop from $5 million to less than $3 million. UM System Vice President for Finance and Administration, Nikki Krawitz, said the year-old program helps bring University research and inventions to the marketplace.