A St. Louis County plumbing contractor has filed a lawsuit against the utility company Ameren. The suit alleges the plumbing company lost its contract because it repeatedly informed Ameren of environmental, health, and safety violations.

According to the lawsuit, those violations ranged from failing to fix broken plumbing systems to illegally discharging oil to soils and sewers.

Updated with city's comments.

If you frequent the Interstate 44/55 intersection on the near south side of St. Louis, you may be familiar with the display pictured above.

The sign, or mural, depending on whom you ask, has been at the center of a case regarding the constitutionality of the city of St. Louis's sign ordinance. Today, a ruling has been issued in the case.

A replacement for the oldest interstate bridge in the St. Louis region has gotten the green light from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.

The Commission this morning approved $120 million for a new westbound Daniel Boone Bridge, which carries traffic on Highway 40 across the Missouri River. The westbound span was built in the 1930s and needs constant maintenance.

The former head of the jail in rural Washington County, Mo. will spend 10 years in federal prison and three more on supervised release for violating the civil rights of four inmates housed in his jail.

A jury convicted Vernon Wilson in March of beating two inmates and arranging for the beating of two others. One victim of those orchestrated beatings, who was in the jail on a bad check charge, had to be hospitalized.

With just a day left to take action, Gov. Jay Nixon has signed three more pieces of legislation.

They are:

Missouri regulators have approved a $172 million increase in electric rates for Ameren Missouri, but the company won't be permitted to recover costs it sought to rebuild the Taum Sauk reservoir.

The Public Service Commission approved the increase Wednesday on a 5-0 vote. It takes effect in August and is expected to raise the average residential bill about $8 a month.

St. Louis-based Ameren Missouri is the state's largest electric utility with about 1.2 million customers, mostly in eastern and central Missouri.

St. Louis County's "Indoor Clean Air Code" - also referred to as a smoking ban -has been in effect since Jan. 1. But in contains exemptions for some bars, banquet halls, and casinos.

The American Cancer Society opposed the measure because of those exemptions. And shortly after it took effect, Charlie Dooley called the 110 exemptions that had been handed out "unacceptable." But there's been no movement yet on tightening the language in the ban, approved by voters last November.

The ACS is hoping that a poll it commissioned and released today moves the needle a bit on that effort.

As budget talks continue in Washington, Sen. Claire McCaskill is accusing GOP leadership of playing politics during negotiations with the president.

 Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, is proposing to give President Obama sweeping power to, in effect, unilaterally increase the nation’s debt limit to avoid a first-ever default on U.S. obligations.

 McCaskill, a Democrat, says McConnell’s plan is purely political.

Thousands of property owners facing the prospect of buying costly flood insurance as a hedge against aging levees could get a reprieve for years under a measure that has advanced in Congress.

The House on Tuesday night overwhelmingly signed off on a bill reauthorizing the debt-ridden federal flood-insurance program for five years.

Nixon signs human trafficking bill

People convicted of human trafficking in Missouri will face longer maximum sentences under a bill signed by Gov. Jay Nixon.

The legislation addresses convictions for trafficking for slavery, forced labor or sexual exploitation and abuse through forced labor. Those crimes now carry maximum sentences of 15 years in prison.