( KTRS ) More than 6,000 East St. Louis students are returning to school after a one-month teachers’ strike. District officials and union negotiators struck a tentative deal Friday after a 13-hour bargaining session that lasted until 1:30 a.m. The four-year contract was quickly endorsed by a majority of the roughly 400 striking teachers as…
FREEBURG, Ill. (AP) – A southwestern Illinois school district that paid $5.6 million to settle four lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of students by a former superintendent says its insurers are denying coverage for a fifth complaint. The Freeburg district in St. Clair County settled complaints by former elementary students who claimed abuse by Robin Hawkins,…
TROY, Mo. (AP) – A Lincoln County man formerly convicted of murder in his wife’s 2011 stabbing death will be back in court for a retrial Monday. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/1l2YlZk ) that Russell Faria will appear in a bench trial in which St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer alone will decide…
DECATUR, Ill. (AP) – Caterpillar Inc. has started laying off Decatur workers. Company spokeswoman Rachel Potts confirmed the employee notifications to The (Decatur) Herald & Review (http://bit.ly/1MAvd7T ), but says the company won’t be releasing the total number by location. In September, the Peoria-based manufacturer announced that it’s planning another round of job cuts that…
( KTRS ) For many people in Illinois, the five-month budget impasse has meant little. But for residents in the low-income counties in far southern Illinois it’s a far different story. In the area tucked between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, private industry is scarce. Residents rely on government for everything from health care to…
ST. LOUIS (AP) – A St. Louis city police officer is suing the department and three supervisors, claiming he was sexually harassed and retaliated against after he complained. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1MxCzsU ) reports that Kyle Brewer’s lawsuit names a police captain and two sergeants. The lawsuit says that Brewer was subjected to harassment…
NEW YORK (AP) – The Kansas City Royals won their first World Series crown since 1985, rallying in the ninth inning when Eric Hosmer scrambled home to tie it and then breaking away in the 12th to beat the New York Mets 7-2 in Game 5 Sunday night. The daring Royals capped their postseason full…
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A much-watched case headed to the Texas Supreme Court could have broad implications on the nation’s booming home-school ranks. At issue: Where do religious liberty and parental rights to educate one’s own children stop and obligations to ensure home-schooled students actually learn something begin? An El Paso family, the McIntyres, is…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It was a tale of two cities, Missouri edition: While homicides in St. Louis rose dramatically in 2014, killings in Kansas City declined sharply, a turnaround so startling that St. Louis leaders looked to their western counterparts for advice. But Kansas City killings have risen again. Both of Missouri’s big…
NORMANDY, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County Police say an autopsy done on an 18-year-old who exchanged fire with an officer had one gunshot wound under his chin. Sergeant Brian Schellman with the department said in a news release that the county medical examiner’s office did the autopsy on Amonderez Green on Friday. The autopsy…