PubDef.net

The St. Louis-based political media site is totally overhauled, powered by WordPress (the stylish Premium News theme), and looks awesomely professional (compare to old version). Would like to see a masthead, or a statement of purpose, or whatever, but it’s a minor point. Great job.

The Kirkwood shootings

Offline and away from the news last night, I was completely unaware of the shooting rampage that took place just nine miles away at Kirkwood City Hall last night. Seven people shot by one agitated gunman, five of them killed - two police officers, three city officials. The mayor and a Suburban Journals reporter were [...]

Fetch a tourniquet, please

In the “hemorrhaging jobs” category: Macy’s closes its Midwest headquarters based in St. Louis - which has only been around for a couple of years - and eliminates 850 local jobs in the process.
Macy’s Midwest will be folded into the South regional HQ in Atlanta, and renamed Macy’s Central.
St. Louis will still be home - [...]

Nancy Miller, RIP

I have been busy most of the day, and so have been unable until now to remark on the murder of former Post-Dispatch Lifestyle editor Nancy Miller. An update at the paper’s website indicates that a suspect has been arrested; I imagine tomorrow’s paper will provide more details.
I told my wife about Miller’s death [...]

They told me this would be a snow day

And they were right. I’m surprised; my unnamed employer is generally very stubborn about staying open following winter events.
M’s workplace proves itself even more stubborn and will open a couple of hours later than usual.
Seven to nine inches in the Gatewayland area, just enough to get someone’s attention in Green Bay or Buffalo, more than [...]

Local losses

Things that used to be part of Gatewayville, and apparently ain’t no more:
The St. Louis County Fair and Air Show.
The popular Labor Day weekend tradition that has drawn crowds to the Chesterfield Valley has been squeezed out by development near Spirit of St. Louis Airport, according to a source close to the nonprofit board that [...]

This is why we filled up the tank this morning

The local gas stations will probably be selling regular for five dollars a gallon after today:
Oil prices, after taking an initial dip on a weekly government report on inventory levels, crossed the $100 threshold Thursday and continued a six-year, five-fold spike driven by surging demand and limited supply.
U.S. light crude for February delivery crossed $100 [...]

Is our Forbes reporters learning?

Forbes.com may be the “home page for the world’s business leaders,” but let’s hope those leaders don’t take the magazine’s advice on raising children. A slideshow accompanying the commentary “Where to Educate Your Children” lists St. Louis as the 9th best place in the country - out of 20 - to have your kids schooled:
No. [...]

The Lumiere Place-Dispatch

Visitors to the web analogue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had best put their Ray-Bans on first, lest their retinas be scorched by the garish Lumiere Place advertising that serves as wallpaper today:

Subtle!
The P-D must have decided it could make additional cash by renting out the space formerly occupied by its non-revenue-producing (and fairly unattractive) [...]

A river runs past it

Editorial cartoonist, co-creator of the comic strip Zits, and Cincinnati resident Jim Borgman spent some time recently in Gatewayville and came away with this observation:
Here’s a laugh. In St. Louis they “admire what Cincinnati has done with its riverfront,” which, as far as I can tell, is next to nothing. In St. Louis they built [...]