News

The East St. Louis Fire Department will soon be able to bolster their efforts and staffing with a federal grant, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

An industry group representing manufacturers of over-the-counter drugs has begun running radio ads against a Missouri proposal requiring a doctor's prescription to buy certain cold medicines.

The legislation is aimed at medications containing pseudoephedrine, which is a key ingredient for methamphetamine. Supporters hope to cut down on Missouri's meth production by making it harder for people to get ahold of pseudoephedrine.

St. Louis Police: No Local Control

The top officers of the St. Louis Police Officers' Association are challenging a potential 2012 ballot measure granting St. Louis and Kansas City local control of their police department.  The lawsuit filed Thursday in Cole County contends the summary and financial estimate that would appear on the statewide ballot are unfair and misleading.

Sen. Dick Durbin says he wants answers from nuclear experts about the safety of some of Illinois' aging nuclear plants in the wake of the crisis in Japan.

The Democrat says he and fellow U.S. senator, Republican Mark Kirk, will host a forum in Chicago on Friday that will include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

View Mean Center of U.S. Population 2010 in a larger map

It's official: The new center of the U.S. population is in Missouri, about 2.7 miles northeast of the village of Plato (see above for location).

The Census Bureau said Thursday that steady migration to the Sun Belt had pushed the site roughly 30 miles southwest of the previous location near Edgar Springs, Mo.

It is the fourth Missouri town to hold the distinction. Plato, located in Texas County, had a 2010 population of 109 people.