Tim Lloyd

West End residents have a new stretch of trail to run, walk and bike down.

This morning St. Louis City officials and members of the public celebrated the grand opening of the 1.3-mile addition to the St. Vincent Greenway, a larger pathway that will ultimately run from Forest Park to the University of Missouri St. Louis campus.

The newest segment runs through Ruth Porter Mall, named after the long-time advocate for civil rights and affordable housing.

State Rep. Chris Carter won a special election on Tuesday to fill the seat left open on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen after his uncle, Alderman Greg Carter, died in a traffic accident two months ago.

Carter said it’s a bitter sweet victory and his first order of business is to tackle what he views as a cycle of joblessness and crime in his ward.  

Casandra Sheperd is about to be evicted from her home in north St. Louis County.

On a recent afternoon, the soft spoken woman with an easy smile is standing in a room with 20 years’ worth of possessions stacked to the ceiling.

“Every box is hard, you know, because everything has a memory,” Sheperd says. “You know, you pack, you stack, you cry, but you keep moving."

Sheperd lost her job at an insurance company a couple of years ago and started getting behind on her mortgage payments.

On Tuesday the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will consider granting provisional accreditation to St. Louis Public Schools, and the religious group Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) plans to push state officials to move forward with re-instating local control over the district.

Sunday, the religious group held its annual public meeting and Barbara Paulus, who leads the Economic Task Force for MCU, said earning back accreditation is a key part of ensuring kids get the education they’re entitled to.

The St. Louis County Council approved additional changes to an ordinance that requires lenders to offer mediation to homeowners on the edge of foreclosure.

The tweaks to the ordinance include removing the right for homeowners to sue lenders after they’ve gone through mediation, and they come in the shadow of an ongoing legal battle with lenders over whether the county even has the authority to enforce the ordinance.

Councilwoman Hazel Erby first introduced the mediation plan and is confident in the county’s case.