Whether the topic is military justice or military camouflage, Super Hornets or small-diameter bombs, base closures or weapons proliferation, provisions backed by area lawmakers have progressed in the House and Senate defense bills.
Former Sen. Jim Talent, who might have been nominated as Defense Secretary in a Mitt Romney administration, finds himself on the outside now as Chuck Hagel faces Senate confirmation. But Talent is keeping his security irons in the fire, named to two congressional panels related to defense and U.S.-China relations.
Lawmakers from Illinois and Missouri want to review the Air Force's failure to list Belleville’s Scott AFB among its finalists to host the next-generation refueling tanker aircraft. They said that Scott's central location and current refueling mission should have made it a prime candidate.
The Senate gave final congressional approval Friday to a $633 billion defense bill that includes wartime contracting reforms sponsored by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. It also includes a watered-down version of a "conscience clause" by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin.
Making her pitch wherever she can, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill is campaigning to preserve her wartime contracting provisions in the defense bill from possible efforts by military contractors to convince lawmakers to delete them.
The Senate's major defense bill, likely to be approved early this week, includes contracting-reform provisions sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill and an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin that calls for a crackdown on a brutal rebel group in the Congo.
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin has tended to focus on military hardware -- including St. Louis-produced Super Hornet and Growler aircraft and Navy shipbuilding -- during his more than a decade on the House Armed Services Committee.
During her six years in the Senate, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has taken aim at waste, fraud and contract abuse at the Pentagon, helping to straighten out problems at Arlington National Cemetery and create a commission to weed out contracting waste.
Last week, footsoldiers at Fort Leonard Wood were among the nation's first to train with a new "fully immersive" virtual system that allows a squad in a carpeted room to see their avatars in a virtual battle scenario
WASHINGTON – If Congress can’t come up with a deficit deal, $1 trillion in automatic cuts is scheduled for January. If it happens, Missouri’s defense industry would be hurt as sequestration’s biggest hits would strike Pentagon spending.
military contracting · deficit · sequestration · military base closings · military women
Claire McCaskill · Todd Akin · Dick Durbin · Roy Blunt · Bill Enyart · Mark Kirk · Jim Talent · Chuck Hagel · Roy Blunt
Senate Armed Services Committee · Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan · Missouri Air National Guard
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Meeting in St. Louis next week, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will have its first opportunity as an assembled group to consider what to do after the Vatican issued a mandate for change this spring. It calls on the conference to reorganize and more strictly observe church teachings.
When a family of four goes to the St. Louis Zoo, they can be forgiven for not knowing it will cost them $60, $72 if they park. If they can't pay, the alternative is to tell the kids they can't do what kids do at the zoo.
Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley gave reporters less than a half-hour’s notice today when he announced that conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s sculptured bust will be formally installed in the Capitol at 1 p.m.
The St. Louis County Council gave its final blessing to merge some duties of city and county economic development agencies, a move that ratifies the plan announced earlier this year. The partnership will focus on business retention, expansion and entrepreneurship.
Some in Missouri and Illinois were singled out for excellence; others were branded with a consumer alert, that would-be teachers should be wary. The national group that did the survey said it will be repeated annually, said the evaluating group's president Kate Walsh.
Fifty years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy confronted Cold War tensions in Wall-divided Berlin and bolstered the confidence of its beleaguered residents by telling them, "Ich bin ein Berliner." On Wednesday, President Barack Obama will face eastward from the Brandenburg Gate for the latest address of an American president in the city that has been a flashpoint of East-West relations.
The Beacon's Mary Delach Leonard and Rob Koenig extensively covered flooding in 2011 in Missouri. Now this coverage is compiled in an iBook. Read the stories.
Duff's, a mainstay of the Central West End since Karen Duffy opened it in 1972, is closing its doors this month. Over the years, Duff's developed a reputation for reasonably priced, imaginative menus and a good selection of wines. But what made Duff's invaluable were the poetry readings on Monday evenings.
When all memories of disagreements about kissing or not kissing have faded into the special obscure place where flimsy opera plots go to rest, there will remain the beautiful singing of Smetana’s seamlessly controlled and genuinely magnificent music.
As The Muny turns 95, a new fan system makes the seats cooler than ever. Boosting the cool factor, overall, is the job of executive producer Mike Isaacson and president and CEO Denny Reagan, who talked with the Beacon about The Muny's future.
Donna Korando is the Beacon's arts and features editor. You can contact her at dkorando@stlbeacon.org.
As St. Louis gears up to be a part of events for National Small Business Week in which local entrepreneurs Jack Dorsey and David Steward will play prominent roles, the area's SBA director feels that the Gateway City's climate for entrepreneurs and small businesses is improving.
Mark Lynas, a noted British author and environmentalist, spoke Thursday at the Donald Danforth Plant Science center about his conversion from an anti-genetically modified crop activist to a proponent of GM plants.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said the initiative is about keeping start-up businesses “here when they become successful and grow jobs here as well, rather than just being some sort of training ground for Silicon Valley companies.”
Innovation and entrepreneurial activity are on the rise in St. Louis, especially in bioscience, technology and alternative energy. The Beacon's InnovationSTL section focuses on the people who are part of this wave, what they're doing and how this is shaping our future. To many St. Louisans, this wave is not yet visible. InnovationSTL aims to change that. We welcome you to share your knowledge, learn more about this vibrant trend and discuss its impact.
Tossing a high school graduation cap into the air typically signals the launch of a bigger life. But a new study shows that's often not the case for young people with autism.
Recent research out of Mizzou suggests that excessive use of Facebook can have negative effects on romantic relationships, including cheating, breaking up and divorce. The negative impact tends to be on newer relations, under three years duration. Doctoral student Russell Clayton advocates more moderate Facebook use to prevent its threats.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a company that had patents on genes linked to higher risks for breast and ovarian cancers. The ruling is disliked by a biotechnology industry group, but is praised by university researchers.
Sally Altman is the Beacon's Health and Science editor. You can contact her at saltman@stlbeacon.org.