St. Louis Public Radio

Good morning! Here are some of today's starting headlines:

Missouri State Fairgrounds temporarily close after nighttime storms

Update: A tweet from the Missouri State Fair: "State Fair to Open Gates at 3 p.m. Today - Luke Bryan and Josh Thompson will take the Grandstand Stage at 7:30 p.m. as scheduled"

Original Story:

The Missouri State Fairgrounds are closed after a strong storm knocked out power.

A federal judge has rejected a challenge by Missouri prison inmates to the state's execution procedure.

The inmates' lawsuit argued that Missouri does not get valid medical prescriptions for the drugs used to put prisoners to death.

The lawsuit cited the state's use of non-medical personnel to administer the chemicals intravenously.

In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey said the inmates' lawsuit failed to show actual harm to anyone.

Missouri's execution process has been the subject of legal wrangling for several years.

A central Missouri man who served 14 years of a life sentence for his mother's death before his conviction was overturned says he wants to get back to normal.

Fifty-five-year-old Dale Helmig spent Monday looking for a job and visiting a sick relative while still absorbing the news that he won't face a new murder trial. He was convicted in 1996 of killing Norma Helmig in 1993.

As we told you about Wednesday, the St. Louis Riverfront Times published an interview with Tammy Chapman, who worked as a stripper in the St. Louis area in the 90’s and claimed that then-State Senator, and now Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, was “one of her best customers.”

In an update to a story we've been following and told you more about earlier this morning:

A nine-year legal fight by a man sexually abused by a priest in the 1970s is over, now that a southern Illinois diocese and its insurer have handed over $6.3 million to resolve a jury award in the man's favor.