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St. Louis is for...couples! The Gateway City was named one of the 25 most romantic cities in the nation.

The online restaurant reservation site OpenTable created the rankings. They used factors like the number of restaurants rated romantic by user reviews, percentage of tables reserved for two, and the percentage of people who dined out for Valentine's Day. St. Louis was in the ninth spot, while San Antonio, Texas garnered top honors.

Here is the entire list: 1. San Antonio, Texas 2. Austin, Texas 3. Providence, Rhode Island 4. La Jolla, California 5. Columbus, Ohio 6. Salt Lake City, Utah 7. Nashville, Tennessee 8. Louisville, Kentucky 9. St. Louis, Missouri 10. Houston, Texas 11. Dallas, Texas 12. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 13. Richmond, Virginia 14. Raleigh, North Carolina 15. Tampa, Florida 16. San Diego, California 17. Baltimore, Maryland 18. Honolulu, Hawaii 19. Indianapolis, Indiana 20. Brooklyn, New York 21. Pasadena, California 22. Las Vegas, Nevada 23. Phoenix, Arizona 24. Santa Monica, California 25. Portland, Oregon

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri lawmakers are making another run at reinstating local taxes on vehicle sales after Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed last year's attempt.

A Senate committee on Wednesday considered a proposal that would let local governments impose a tax. Voters then would decide whether to continue it.

The legislation seeks to reverse a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that local sales taxes cannot be charged on vehicles purchased out of state or in private transactions. Instead the high court said a local "use tax" could be charged if approved by local voters. Creating local use taxes have had mixed results before voters.

Supporters of the legislation say many cities and counties are losing tax revenue while vehicle dealers in bordering states now have an advantage over Missouri businesses.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials say that budget strains will force the Pentagon to cut its aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area from two carriers to one. Officials say Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has formally approved a plan to keep just one carrier in the region. There have been two aircraft carrier groups there for most of the last two years. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the Gulf but was brought home in December for maintenance. It will return later this month, but plans for the USS Harry S. Truman to deploy to the Gulf this week have been canceled. The officials discussed the cuts on condition of anonymity, because the announcement has not been made.