Browsing all posts in "Editorial".

Keeping Up with Francis

A recap of Mayor Francis Slay’s week…
On Friday, Francis jabbed the American for “bad reporting”.
Then Francis said he’ll support Police Chief Joe Mokwa even if his officers won’t.
And yesterday, Francis said Fire Chief Sherman George better get busy with those promotions, or else.
Oh, and let’s not forget last week when he blindsided National Park Service [...]

Clay: MO Back in the Death Business

The following is an editorial from Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay…
“State Violence Should Be Subject to Oversight By New Commission”
The business of death is a serious one that merits extensive and exhaustive oversight. Although I argue that the death penalty should not be employed in Missouri, Attorney General Jay Nixon deems the practice necessary and appropriate. [...]

2 Boards, 2 Meetings, 1 District [Updated]

On Tuesday, both boards of the St. Louis Public Schools will meet. The elected board meets in the morning for a closed meeting on legal matters. The appointed board meets in the evening for public comments. Presumably, the superintendent will be at both.

Oh, so this is what stability looks like. 

Perhaps it’s true that we anarchists [...]

I’m Proud of My City

PUB DEF EDITORIAL
For some time I have wondered privately to my closest friends if I am not wasting my time with Pub Def. By spending so much of my life writing about, learning about, and working in St. Louis City politics, am I just planting my seed in infertile ground?
As just about anyone who’s grown [...]

I’m Proud of My Ward

The 21st Ward delivered more votes for Lewis Reed than any other ward in north St. Louis that did not have a contested aldermanic race. With nothing else on the ballot, the 21st Ward delivered 773 votes for Reed.
The ward’s current committeeman, Arthur “Chink” Washington, and its alderman, Bennice Jones King, broke with nearly every [...]

Letter to the Editor

The following letter comes from activist Eric Vickers…
January 5, 2007
Completely left out of the glowing remarks about the City and County made this morning by Mayor Slay and County Executive Dooley during their address at the St. Louis Business Journal’s “State of St. Louis 2007″ annual breakfast is a problem that is severely stifling the [...]

A Letter from Donna Jones

To the Editor: As a member of the St. Louis Board of Education since last April and as a mother of three children in the schools, I want to assure your readers that there has been a turnaround in the schools since September under experienced education and finance administrators with proven records. A drastic remedy [...]

Percy Calls Committee a "Fraud"

An abridged version of a public letter from renowned activist Percy Green on the Special Advisory Committee on St. Louis Public Schools appeared in today’s Post-Dispatch as a letter to the editor. It reads:
Commissioner of Education Kent King’s Special Advisory Committee is a fraud. Mr. King appointed to the committee people who supported St. Louis [...]

In New Book, Newly Re-Elected Judge Attacks the "Tyranny of Tolerance"

PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE
A new book by Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. is sure to make some waves in the new year.
In “The Tyranny of Tolerance”, which goes on sale December 26, Judge Dierker examines why a Christian is fired when he voices opposition to his employer’s favoring homosexuals? Why are white and Asian students [...]

It Didn’t Have to Go Down Like This, Board Becoming What it Hated

Last week, in an off the record conversation with a member of the St. Louis school board’s minority, he and I agreed that the tensions between the board’s majority and Superintendent Creg Williams could only be solved in one of three ways:
(A) Williams and the board could try harder to work together, coming to a [...]