Read [Sunday's] editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch if you want your heart broken. Decades of progress on the near north side are threatened by a proposal that does not prohibit the use of eminent domain, even in rehabbed areas like Old North St. Louis.
MORE: Background on Blairmont
UPDATE 4/12: Similar Landbanking Bill Pending in MO House
UPDATE 5/3: Landbanking Bill Could Die in MO Senate

What's Being Left Out of Solutions to Fossil Fuel?

Everyone from the Republicans to Democrats to major environmental groups are singing hosannas to biofuels and hybrid cars as the salvation from peak oil and global warming. Will trusting corporations to manufacture environmentally friendly cars make a dent in the world's ecological crises? Or could the "solutions" actually be making the problem worse?

The St. Louis delegation of the nationwide nonviolent anti-war campaign Occupation Project staged two demonstrations [1, 2, 3] this week at US Rep Russ Carnahan's office in Brentwood, just days after the project was launched. The latter rally this afternoon lead to arrests of 7 members, and all were released on bail by the evening [AP story]. As per their press release, the protesters returned to the office (located at Manchester and Brentwood) to secure a public commitment from Rep. Carnahan to vote against all future funding for the Iraq war. While in the office, the protesters read aloud the Litany of the Dead, names of Iraqis killed by violence under the US occupation.

More: IOW Page | Occupation Project STL | OPSTL Affinity Meeting 2/10 | Flyer | Video: 1, 2

. Has Paul McKee's Blairmont juggernaut slowed? Not likely. However, word on the street is that they various active purchasing companies — including Sheridan Place LC, MLK 3000 LLC and Dodier Investors LLC — are making contracts with close dates as far off as May. The hold-up may be due to capital flow issues, or perhaps it's a strategic timing to avoid greater scrutiny in the wake of recent publicity. Read on for the latest on Blairmont's landbanking in North St. Louis.

Tina Richards and son Cloy are indefatigable Missouri peace activists in a time of escalating war. They accompanied hundreds of other active military families and veterans to the forefront of Saturday's 500k-person peace march in Washington DC. (DC-IMC, US IMC). Upon learning on 1/30 Cloy was called for a 3rd deployment to Iraq (the backdoor draft), Tina chose to stay in DC to take the fight directly to Congress. His deployment is now unlikely, because of Tina's action, but the Richards do not want preferential treatment. They continue to stand up for “the thousands of other soldiers and marines facing this draft, disrupting their families and futures.”

More: [IOW Page] | [Donate to Tina Richard's fund] | [The Occupation Project, starting 2/5/07] | [Occupation Project (local IOW page)]

Tina Richards and her Marine son Cloy need your help for them and for all families being destroyed by this war. Cloy served two horrific tours in Iraq (read/listen here) and now is back home in Salem MO, attending college, rebuilding his life. Tina and Cloy, with many hundreds of other active military families and veterans, were in the forefront of Saturday's huge peace march in Washington DC. Now the Marines want to redeploy Cloy. Because of his medical conditions and Tina's advocacy, it does not seem likely that they will actually redeploy him. But there are thousands of other soldiers and marines facing this back-door draft, disrupting their families and futures.

Review and reflection on the production by Clayton High, "And Carl Laughed" about radical priest, Carl Kabat who is currently in jail for pouring blood and symbolically disarming a nuclear missile silo. Carl is 74, part of the local Catholic Worker community, an Oblate priest, and has spent about 16 years in prison for varies peace actions, often performed as a clown. The play is a poignant portrayal of his life, filled with clowning, and original music.

As part of a national movement to announce public disapproval of the Iraq War, CODEPINK St. Louis and Instead of War have sent a convoy to DC to make our voices heard.
MORE INFO:
Portrait for Peace 1/27
DC Indymedia
DC-IMC Calendar of Events
CODE Pink Nat'l
From the DC-IMC Newswire: Hundreds of Thousands Put Impeachment Back On the Table | Break Way March Rushes Capitol Building | Protestors lay siege to US Capitol, smash window at military recruiter | Radical Youth Contingent and Students for a Democratic Society March Overview | Code Pink Takes Capitol Hill… for 30 minutes | The Demo in DC: Chirpy Slogans, Empty City | Photos: 1 | 2 | Audio

Reports from Other Cities: Boston | Central Valley, CA | Estacada, Bend and MidGorge, OR | Houston | Los Angeles | Medford, OR | Miami: 1, 2 | Oklahoma: 1, 2 | Olympia, WA | Oregon City | Philadelphia | Portland, OR | Sacramento, CA | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | Vancouver, WA

Related: Protests Planned for Fourth Anniversary of US-Led War in Iraq

Pictures of the 2007 March have been posted to the STLIMC Media Gallery. Thanks go out to the photographer who brought us these images.

The St. Louis Police have shot another young man. Citizens investigating the case have declared it murder. They say witnesses dispute the police account that Jeremy Robinson drew a gun and was shot in "self defense". These witnesses say that Jeremy was on the ground, hands flat, when the officer shot him in the back. This officer then turned him over and shot him again. They believe they saw him drop a gun next to the body to justify his actions.

The St. Louis Public School system is on the verge of takeover by the state of Missouri, as a result of years-long managment and funding problems. Here is a letter which School Board member Peter Downs sent to the special advisory committee that is recommending the takeover, which he feels to be hasty and ill-advised. 12/31 UPDATE: Public Schools Top Mayor's Person-of-Year Poll

Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council Suffers Federal Funding Cuts, a severe blow to their ability to fight housing discrimination. For the first time since 1996, EHOC will not be receiving funding through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).