// a href = ./ //

Funding for many metro-east schools is nearing "crisis" status. The situation is getting so bad, that state education officials are pleading with state legislators to increase school funding by more than $800 million.

But the budget proposed by Governor Pat Quinn would cut education spending by more than $300 million.

Many Illinois school districts are already operating on deficits after the state failed to fully fund its obligations for the past two years. Virtually every metro-east district is laying off teachers in anticipation of less state funding next year. Some are cutting sports programs and closing schools.

St. Clair County schools superintendent Susan Sarfaty told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that "Districts are no longer cutting fat from their budgets — they’re cutting bone." Sarfaty says "there's no more fat to cut."

The Missouri Tigers roller coaster ride of a season is over. It came to a crashing halt Thursday night in Lexington, Kentucky in the opening of the NCAA Tournament. Mizzou fell to Colorado State 84-to-72 . The 9th seeded Tigers season has ended with a record of 23-and-11. It was the third straight year that Missouri has lost it’s opening game of the NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, The Saint Louis University Billikens easily handled their first round matchup against New Mexico State Thursday afternoon, winning 64-to-44. They move on to play Oregon on March 23rd.

Missouri's Department of Natural Resources is asking the state attorney general's office to consider legal action against the owners of a Bridgeton landfill. A smoldering fire at the site has been spewing noxious fumes that local residents complain is literally making their eyes water.

NR Director Sara Parker Pauley sent a letter Thursday asking the attorney general’s agricultural and environment division to "institute appropriate legal action" against the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill on St. Charles Rock Road. The move comes of the heels of a lawsuit filed by residents against Republic Services, which owns the 52-acre site just north of Lambert Airport.

The Phoenix-based company says they've been cooperating with state and local officials to deal with the problems.