Illinois faces another year without a budget and with the governor and speaker of the house unwilling or unable to find common ground. A special session will be held July 9 and 10, but few expect results.

The city of St. Louis has spent $3 million over the past 15 years cleaning up graffiti that is unwanted by the property owners. How do these marks differ from the art that can still be found on the flood wall?

Photo by Rachel Heidenry | The Beacon 

New TV sets top many wish lists as the shift to digital is approaching. But what to with the old ones? Don't deep-six them (as the photo by Tom Nagel illustrates); instead, get rid of obsolete electronics without damaging the environment, environmentalists say. Local recyclers  are working to expand the options.

Fireworks will be going off from barges near the Arch, but the area offers many other places to see the pyrotechnics.

2007 fireworks | Tom Nagel, The Beacon 

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke will become the top administrator of the Catholic Church's high court and move in August from St. Louis to Rome full time. Bishop Robert J. Hermann will be administrator until the pope names another man to lead St. Louis Catholics. 

For the river towns of Missouri and Illinois, every day brings a changing picture.

Crest dates and levels go up or down, depending on what is happening somewhere else. Yesterday's thunderstorms or levee breaks upriver bring a different today, downriver.

Tourism to the Lake of the Ozarks is down so far this summer. The culprits seem to be high gas prices, rainy weather and flooding. Still, lake tourism officials think that there's plenty of time for the season to rebound. 

Photo courtesy Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau