Author: Jim Salter
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Tornado hits 1 Arkansas street particularly hard
VILONIA, Ark. — Mark Wade and his family heard the dire warnings on TV and the tornado sirens, and were prepared to ride out the storm in their closet when a neighbor across the street on Vilonia’s Aspen Creek Drive yelled out: “Come over! We’re going in the storm cellar!” So Wade, his wife and…
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Arkansans rush for cover against twister; 15 die
VILONIA, Ark. — The sky turned black as the funnel cloud closed in, and Maggie Caro rushed with her husband and two children to a community shelter at a Vilonia school, where they were among the last to get inside the fortified gym before the doors were shut. “They were screaming, ‘Run! Run! It’s coming!’”…
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5 free things in St. Louis as city marks 250 years
St. Louis is turning 250 this year, and visitors who want to join in the celebration can find plenty to do without spending a dime. The Gateway City was founded by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau on Feb. 15, 1764. A series of anniversary events are planned throughout the year. Amid the hoopla, there’s plenty…
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AP IMPACT: Cartels flood US with cheap meth
ST. LOUIS — Mexican drug cartels are quietly filling the void in the nation’s drug market created by the long effort to crack down on American-made methamphetamine, flooding U.S. cities with exceptionally cheap, extraordinarily potent meth from factory-like “superlabs.” Although Mexican meth is not new to the U.S. drug trade, it now accounts for as…
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Storms damage country music resort town, kill nine
HARRISBURG, Ill. — Twisters roared through the nation’s heartland in the early morning darkness Wednesday, flattening entire blocks of homes in small-town Illinois and Kansas and killing at least nine people. Winds also ripped through the country music mecca of Branson, Mo., damaging some of the city’s famous theaters just days before the start of…
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Ulysses Grant library proposed for St. Louis area
ST. LOUIS — Ulysses S. Grant led the Union to victory in the Civil War and served as president for two terms, yet no presidential library bears his name. That could change under a proposal to revitalize the Jefferson Barracks military post in St. Louis County. Construction of the library is far from certain and…
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Man who died re-elected mayor of Missouri town
ST. LOUIS – Voters in the small northeastern Missouri town of Winfield re-elected their mayor for a fourth term on Tuesday, about a month after his death. Ballots had already been printed and absentee voting had already begun when Harry Stonebraker died of a heart attack at age 69 on March 11. He won easily…
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House calls back in vogue for some doctors
ST. LOUIS – Pediatrician Natalie Hodge spent seven years in a hectic doctor’s office. Some days, she’d see 40 sick kids, 10 minutes at a time. Moms calling for advice about sore throats or ear aches had to wait. Hodge could only find time to return those calls as she drove home. Finally, she had…
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Francis’ variety keeps St. Louis off balance
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., July 2, 2012 – In what officials describe as “a prudent measure,” all military C-130 aircraft equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System have been placed on operational hold after one of the aircraft crashed yesterday. A MAFFS-equipped C-130 from the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing…