News

By AP/KWMU

Nevada, MO – The Missouri National Guard is shutting down a boot camp that has served more than 800 high school dropouts in the past four years. Officials say the state's budget crunch is to blame, even though 60% of the program's budget is federal money.

The 22-week Show-Me Challenge program has been at Camp Clark in the western Missouri town of Nevada since 1998. Dropouts study for their GED while learning skills in a military-style atmosphere.

By T. Weber, KWMU

St. Louis, MO – When the clock struck 12 on New Year's Day, it also meant every bag at every U-S airport had to be inspected. Screeners at St. Louis Lambert Airport, though, beat that deadline by a couple days. They started inspecting all bags on Monday.

Bill Switzer, who runs Lambert's security, says passengers who showed up at the airport this week found a slightly new routine to getting on a plane.

By AP/KWMU

Mt. Vernon, IL – An appeals court in Illinois has upheld an order of a new trial for a man who has spent 23 years in prison for two St. Clair County murders.

The court ruled that police tricked Gregory Bowman into confessing to the 1978 killings of 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany and 14-year-old Elizabeth West, both of Belleville.

Justices wrote that the police scheme was the type of overreaching that could result in a false confession, which upholds a 2001 ruling by a St. Clair County judge.

By AP/KWMU

St. Louis, MO – The New Year's Eve "First Night" party
returns to St. Louis tomorrow night, but many communities are cutting back or canceling festivities due to tight budgets and sparse giving.

First Night parties, family-oriented festivities that emphasize the arts, will be held in 139 cities this year, 21 fewer than last year.

But First Night returns to St. Louis, where dancers can tango, disco or swing until a midnight fireworks show. Kelly Webber, the event's executive director, says fund-raising was a, quote, "challenge."

By Tom Weber, KWMU

St. Louis, MO – The sound of cars this week will be music to the ears of business owners on a small stretch of Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis.

The three blocks from Tucker to 15th Street have been closed for most of the year while crews rebuilt the road and sidewalks. The stretch will re-open to cars starting tomorrow.

City leaders have promised a rejuvenated economy from the project, but businesses in the interim have seen fewer customers.