Joseph Leahy

Good morning! Here are some of today's starting headlines:

Slay authorizes $64 million in bonds for St. Louis parks

Funding for St. Louis City parks will no longer be siphoned into other capital improvement projects, following a bill signing by Mayor Francis Slay Monday night.

St. Louis veterans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge are being honored today for their sacrifices 67 years ago.

At a memorial ceremony today in south St. Louis County surviving veterans saluted the 20 thousand American soldiers who died during the six-week battle.

Donald Green of south St. Louis County was an 18 year-old Private in the 106th Infantry Division the first time he saw a Tiger 1 German tank.  

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt says the failure of two balanced-budget amendments today shows Senate Democrats aren’t serious about dealing with the deficit.

The defeat of both bills – one from Democrats, one from Republicans – ends the current push to force a yearly balanced budget from Congress.  Blunt, who voted for the Republican-backed bill, says the fact that neither party could pass their amendment speaks to the heart of the Senate’s disfunction. 

A report issued Monday by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri concludes that US House members circumvented a ban on earmark spending more than 100 times. (read full report here)

House Republicans banned earmarks last fall for two years to curb government spending. But, McCaskill's report finds that the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee used tricks to allow more than $800 million in earmarks be inserted in the 2012 Defense authorization bill.

The University of Missouri has chosen its next president and expects to announce its decision next week.  Board of Curators chairman Warren Erdman says a search committee began with a pool of more than 100 candidates from academic and non-academic backgrounds alike.

"We had four interviews and we worked our way down to a couple second interviews," Erdman said. "Then there were a few telephone follow-ups.  In the end, the committee recommended a single finalist."