Tina Eaton

The superintendent of the Normandy School District in St. Louis announced that he will be stepping down in June.

In a letter to the school board today, Dr. Stanton Lawrence cited personal and family reasons for his resignation. This is his fifth year as superintendent. His contract was set to expire in 2015.

A Saint Louis University economist thinks he has found a key to growth for St. Louis.

Professor Jack Strauss presented his findings this afternoon from an economic study that shows a direct correlation between an increasing immigrant population and economic growth. The study was originally released in June.

He says he thinks it is likely that the city’s economic slump is partly due to a dwindling number of immigrants living in the area. Four and a half percent of St. Louis’ population is foreign. In other large cities, that number is closer to 18 percent.  

A four-mile stretch of Interstate 64 between Mascoutah and O’Fallon, Ill., was renamed the Jessica and Kelli Uhl Memorial Highway this morning.

Jessica and Kelli Uhl were killed in a car crash the day after Thanksgiving in 2007. The sisters were hit head on by former Illinois state trooper Matt Mitchell when he crossed a median and slammed into their car at over 120 miles per hour. Mitchell was reportedly responding to an accident while using his in-car computer and making a personal call on his cell phone.

Reverend Larry Rice says he is tired of waiting for the city to remove barriers that have surrounded his homeless shelter in downtown St. Louis for the past five weeks.

Sidewalks on both sides of Locust Street in front of New Life Evangelistic Center are blocked off by metal barriers. Bill Seidhoff, the director of the city’s department of human services, said the city placed the barriers there after receiving calls from residents who were concerned about hygiene and safety because of the homeless people who congregate and sleep around the center.