Rachel Lippmann

It was a safer year for motorists traveling on Missouri roads during the New Year's holiday this year.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced today that it has reports of just one fatality on the roads between 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve until 11:59 yesterday. Troopers investigated 157 accidents, which also resulted in 70 injuries, and arrested 90 people who were driving drunk.

• A funeral is scheduled for Thursday for a soldier from Ste. Genevieve who died in Afghanistan. 25 year-old Sgt. Michael J. Beckerman was assigned to the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The army says he died Dec. 31 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wound suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvsed explosive device. Beckerman arrived at Fort Campbell in January 2010. He joined the Army in September 2004.

Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has forgiven a loan he made to the man who wants the job he once held.

If you purchased a Show Me Cash lotto ticket at Metropolitan Newstands downtown yesterday, check your numbers - you could be $775,000 richer.

A fourth man - the suspected shooter - has been arrested in connection with the death of a St. Louis-area native who had a spot on the Ram's practice squad this season.