St. Louis Public Radio

Jay Hoffman served in the Illinois House for 22 years, and now he says he's running for Congress.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that Hoffman said Sunday he'll run for the Democratic nomination in the new 13th Congressional District. Hoffman narrowly lost a race for Congress in 1996.

Thank you for joining us earlier this morning for the live webcast of President Obama's address on his deficit reduction plan.

For a summary of his address and more information, see this post from NPR's The Two-Way.

Earlier, we also posted The Two-Way's "Five things to know about Obama's deficit plan"

The time is here!

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra opens its 2011-2012 season this weekend, and you can be right there with them from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17.

On select Saturday evenings, St. Louis Public Radio broadcasts the SLSO performance over the air, bringing you a live classical music experience wherever you are.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a disaster declaration for farmers in 23 Missouri counties, including several in the St. Louis area, hit by floods and heavy rain since May 1.

Friday's declaration allows farmers in those counties and 26 neighboring counties to seek federal assistance for losses caused by the severe weather. Gov. Jay Nixon had requested the declaration last month.

Gov. Jay Nixon is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help farmers whose crops wilted this summer amid high temperatures and a lack of rain in much of the state.

On Thursday, Nixon asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to designate 101 Missouri counties (full list of counties below) as primary disaster areas. That would allow eligible farmers to get emergency loans and other federal help.