News

The St. Louis Police Department is sending 60 police officers down to Joplin to help as the city recovers.

The officers leave Wednesday and will be there for a week.

They’ll be working 12-hour shifts dealing with traffic control, check points, and manning squad patrols through the impacted area.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Tim Reagan says the officers all volunteered for the work.

Black motorists were more likely than others to be stopped by Missouri police last year.

An annual report released Wednesday by the attorney general found that black drivers were 69 percent more likely than white motorists to be pulled over in 2010.

Arch Coal has cleared a key regulatory hurdle facing its proposed $3.4 billion takeover of rival International Coal Group.

Scott Depot-based ICG and St. Louis-based Arch announced Wednesday that the the antitrust waiting period under U.S. law has expired. That satisfies one condition for the deal to close.

Arch agreed to buy ICG on May 2 and has since started a $14.60-a-share tender offer. The offer expires June 14.

Joplin Clean-up Continues

Cleanup efforts in Joplin will move ahead today when Gov. Jay Nixon says crews will begin hauling away debris left by a massive tornado that leveled a third of the city and killed 139 people.

Government officials say the rubble will be taken to three landfills - two in Kansas and one in Lamar, Mo. Environmental officials have said the debris must be handled carefully because it could contain asbestos used in the construction of older buildings and other hazardous waste.