The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is asking its customers to pay a little more for stormwater service in an effort to fix problems caused by erosion.

The new fee, which would be based on how much of a property can absorb water, would cost the average homeowner about $27 a year. It’s expected to generate about $30 million to stabilize creek and stream banks and repair the damage, and deal with flooding.

St. Louis County homeowners were treated to some good news this week: County assessor Jake Zimmerman announced that the typical home value in the area increased by 15 percent since 2017.

Although Christchurch, New Zealand is approximately 8,000 miles away from St. Louis, the terrorist attack on two mosques left many locals in total sense of disbelief, heartbreak and sadness.

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with local members of the Muslim community about the aftermath of the tragedy. Joining the discussion were Dima Shabaneh, an intake referral counselor at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, and Faizan Syed, executive director of Missouri’s Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The number of new HIV cases in Missouri is on the rise — and a disproportionately large number are in rural counties.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified Missouri as one of seven states with a “substantial rural burden” — noting that it has more than 75 cases and 10 percent or more of diagnoses in rural areas. Public health researchers say the concentration of cases likely is due to several factors, including lack of access to health care.

Among the military construction projects that could be cut, or at least delayed, in order to pay for a wall on the southern border of the United States is a $41 million communications facility expansion at Scott Air Force Base.

Plans to build a new $1.75-billion National Geospatial-Intellence Agency campus in north St. Louis, a $5 million automated record fire range for the Illinois Army National Guard in Marseilles and a new $9 million fire rescue facility in Peoria are other construction projects that could be affected in order to build a border wall.

Those projects were among the $12.9 billion worth of military construction projects that could be sacrificed in order to pay for a border wall, according to a list released by the Department of Defense.

The Environmental Protection Agency notified Missouri environmental regulators this month that the state’s plan for overseeing the disposal of toxic waste from coal-fired power plants is not strong enough to protect human health and the environment.

In a recent letter to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, EPA officials noted several provisions in the state’s plan that are weaker than the 2015 federal coal ash rule. Some allow the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to waive requirements for utility companies to clean up groundwater contamination or even monitor groundwater for toxic chemicals if they can show that it doesn’t affect drinking-water supplies or harm the environment.

St. Louis’ Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will reopen this fall with a big artistic bang: an exhibition by celebrated Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei.

The Kemper closed last April for a $12 million renovation, part of $280 million campus project. The work significantly increases the museum’s display space.

The Sept. 28 opening will feature three dozen Ai Weiwei pieces, including some created for the exhibition and others never before seen in the United States.

Updated March 21 with additional details from the announcement event — University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George will retire in September, he announced Thursday.

The university administration will name an interim chancellor and begin a national search for a permanent replacement.