St. Louis Beacon

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Sep 02nd
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moneysrbicharasxchu.jpg Campaigns play political football with bailout, stimulus -- but did they help the economy? By Mary Delach Leonard, Beacon staff | Posted 11:35 am Wed., 09.01.10

Two years after economists and policy-makers prescribed massive emergency injections of taxpayer dollars to stabilize the nation's banks and a critically ill U.S. economy, a bitter aftertaste has stuck with pessimistic voters. The discontent and anger over the bailout and economic stimulus have spilled into the political campaigns for U.S. Senate where accusations are tossed back and forth. Neither campaign seems to consider: Did the bailout and stimulus work? What were the alternatives? (illustration from sxc.hu)
 
Beacon Backroom
Brenda Talent to oversee Show-Me Institute Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter
Posted 9:03 am Thu., 09.02.10
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Brenda Talent, a prominent tax lawyer and the wife of former Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., is taking on a new job next week as the new executive director of the St. Louis-based Show-Me Institute. The conservative research and educational institute advocates free-market approaches, particularly in fiscal matters.  Board chairman Crosby Kemper III said that Talent will "help lead the institute in its efforts to promote public policies that are driven by free-market principles and a desire to advance liberty."

Education
School's in, but not all city teachers are in the classroom Dale Singer, Beacon staff
Posted 5:20 pm Tue., 08.31.10
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St. Louis Public Schools have paid out as much as a teacher's salary for a full year to teachers who have yet to have their own class this fall. Because of unusual movement of teachers, as schools were forced to reconstitute their staffs as part of a turnaround effort, as many as 26 teachers were not assigned to classes. Some of those teachers were assigned to clerical duties or to substitute teaching positions while others wait at home. 

 
Region
St. Louisans welcome the end of combat in Iraq, worry about continued war in Afghanistan Linda Lockhart, PIN analyst
Posted 11:30 am Tue., 08.31.10
iraq100redmap.jpg Last week, the last combat troops left Iraq, and tonight President Barack Obama will address the nation about the end of combat operations in that Middle Eastern country. Through its Public Insight Network, the Beacon asked people in our region about their views of this milestone -- as well as the U.S. continued involvement in Afghanistan.
Theater/Dance
Mark Twain's muse comes to life Nancy Fowler Larson, Special to the Beacon
Posted 11:01 am Wed., 09.01.10
powers100roncolor.jpg Ron Powers (right) returns to St. Louis with a new play -- "Sam and Laura" -- that tells the story of Samuel Clemens' inspirational, platonic romance with then 14-year-old Laura Wright. Laura was not only the inspiration for Becky Thatcher, she evidently helped the 22-year-old Clemens through a rough emotional period. A staged reading will be given Friday and Saturday at the Gaslight Theatre.
 
Obits
Martin J. 'Mickey' Garagiola: Voice of 'Wrestling at the Chase,' waiter extraordinaire Gloria Ross, Special to the Beacon
Posted 10:07 am Wed., 09.01.10
garagiola100mickey.jpg Mickey Garagiola, who shared one of the most famous Italian surnames in America, came by his fame through an unusual dual career: waiter and professional wrestling announcer. Mr. Garagiola died of cancer Sunday at Mary Queen and Mother Skilled Nursing Care in Shrewsbury. He was 88. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m., Thursday at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.


Region
Concert seeks to bridge cultural differences between immigrants and blacks Robert Joiner, Beacon staff
Posted 10:40 am Mon., 08.30.10
nadal100cecilla.jpg African Americans and immigrants living in and around the Alpha Garden and Alpha Village apartments near Hodiamont Avenue and Skinker Boulevard have had a wary, suspicious relationship. On Sunday, the neighborhood's first Amherst Park Concert for Unity, sponsored by Gitana Productions (headed by Cecilia Nadal, right), sought to bring these groups closer together through music. Over the course of the afternoon, about 300 attended.
 
Science
Finding the morphine within Jo Seltzer, special to the Beacon
Posted 1:55 pm Mon., 08.30.10
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Why do some people have a high tolerance for pain, while others experience the slightest touch as painful? Nobody quite knows, but new findings by Meinhart Zenk and Toni Kutchan (pictured left to right) at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center offer some tantalizing possibilities; they've discovered that mice, and presumably we humans, have the metabolic equipment to manufacture morphine -- a finding that could eventually open doors to new ways of treating pain.

Visual Arts
Review: UMSL offers minimal exposure Ivy Cooper, Beacon art critic
Posted 3:05 pm Mon., 08.30.10
exposure100joechesla.jpg Minimal is good, as the annual Exposure exhibition is meant to showcase the best of St. Louis emerging local talent. Martin Brief, Joe Chesla and Asma Kazmi do not disappoint. (Detail from an untitled piece from the “Accordance” series by Chesla)
 

Editors' Picks

 

Floods and Kaskaskia

Drew Canning talks with island residents Courtney "Manny" Brown and Dorothy "Dot" Brown, who recall what life used to be like on Kaskaskia Island. To read more about the island and see a larger version of the slideshow, click here .(Photos by Rachel Heidenry | Beacon intern)

Voices

Beacon Roundtable

Beacon Blog

  • Posted 1:40 pm Wed., 09.01.10

    Editor Margaret Wolf Freivogel discusses why combat troups in Iraq and a Muslim cultural center in Manhattan are news that matters for a regional news source.

    Read more...

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