2005

The Washington Post today reported that the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee dropped $500 million in proposed food stamp cuts, thanks in part to the protests of Jim Talent (R-MO) and Rick Santorum (R-PA). According to…

October 26, 2005 -- Health and Environmental Justice (HEJ) will be picketing outside City Hall today at 3:45 to call attention to the city's poor record on the issue of lead poisoning of our city's…

Chris Wright, the superintendent of Hazelwood Public Schools, has written a sharply-worded letter to the chief executive officer of Applied Scholastics rejecting her claim that the company is working with Hazelwood Public Schools to tutor…

The campaign of State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin (D-57) is getting off to a slow start, but contrary to earlier reports she has raised some money. Her campaign has raised $5,225 since announcing her candidacy for…

PUB DEF Weekly is pleased to announce it is now hosting a blog for Peter Down's informative St. Louis Schools Watch.The URL is http://slswatch.pubdef.net and it will be updated often, so check it regularly.This continues…

According to campaign finance reports electronically filed by Amber Boykins' campaign for state senate, the four-term state representative (D-60) made a $15,000 no-interest loan to her campaign.It's not uncommon for candidates to do this to…

Future of Gifted Education, Magnet Schools in DoubtBy Peter DownsNovember 22, 2005 –– Last Friday, David Welch, director of gifted education programs for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, gave representatives from metropolitan…

National opinion has finally turned on the Bush Administration. The Iraq War is now seen by most Americans as a failure and, perhaps more importantly, as unnecessary. The question is now being publicly debated whether…

[What you're missing. This story appeared in last week's print edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Subscribe today.]October 18, 2005 -- The editorial staff of The St. Louis Argus was furious with the paper’s publisher last…

I'll be chatting it up tonight on Collateral Damage with hosts DJ Wilson and Fred Hessel at 7:00 on KDHX 88.1 FM. I'll be joining Steve Patterson from UrbanReviewSTL.com to discuss the latest happenings in…