JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and other city leaders want Missouri lawmakers to support plans to keep a federal spy agency from moving its regional headquarters to southern Illinois.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (bit.ly/1SWvVhT ) reports that Slay was among those testifying Tuesday before a Missouri Senate panel considering a resolution on behalf of the city’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency bid. St. Louis is competing with adjacent St. Clair County in Illinois, which has offered nearly 400 acres of donated land near Scott Air Force Base to the defense and intelligence agency, a combat support branch of the Department of Defense.

The federal agency is also considering a move from its current home south of downtown to a north St. Louis site.
The Missouri Senate did not vote on the resolution.