Bill Raack

North St. Louis County residents can weigh in this week on a project to connect the region with a new walking and biking trail.

Officials are in the process of developing the 7.5-mile-long Maline Greenway, which will run from the University of Missouri-St. Louis east to the Mississippi River. The Great Rivers Greenway's Lonnie Boring is the project manager.

The Cahokia School Board will meet tonight to decide whether to lay off up to 70 teachers because of a budget deficit.

School officials have said that lower tax revenues and delayed state payments have left Cahokia's budget about $1 million in the red. Brent Murphy, president of the Cahokia Federation of Teachers, says he hopes that reducing instructors and other staff is not the only solution.

Despite the ongoing danger of nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri says plans for new facilities should continue in this country.

Workers in Japan are trying to cool overheating reactors damaged by last week's earthquake and tsunami. Blunt says earthquakes would likely not cause similar problems at any nuclear facility in the U.S., including Missouri's lone reactor in Callaway County.

Missouri lawmakers are expected to debate controversial right-to-work legislation this week.

One bill would prohibit closed-union shops, in which all employees must pay fees for union representation. The Senate sponsor is Republican Luann Ridgeway of Smithville.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri is blaming the current federal budget deadlock on the last Congress.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a budget proposal approved by the Republican-controlled House, as well as an alternative favored by Democrats. Blunt, a Republican from Springfield, says the new Congress did not create this environment; the previous one, controlled by Democrats, did.