Arbitrators rule in favor of Rams in Dome negotiations : Stltoday

Arbitrators rule in favor of Rams in Dome negotiations : Stltoday

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ST. LOUIS • The Rams have won a clear victory in the negotiations over the Edward Jones Dome.
A panel of three arbitrators sided with the team today, saying the Rams' plan for a dramatic renovation of the Dome -- estimated to cost at least $700 million -- is the only way to make the building a "first tier" football facility.

The Convention and Visitors Commission, which runs the Dome, now has 30 days to decide if it will try to enact the Rams' plan. But one of its lead attorneys, Greg Smith, said this afternoon that is "unlikely."
If the CVC indeed rejects the plan, the Rams' lease at the Dome will go on a year-to-year basis starting in March 2015.

The talks between local leaders and the Rams are now expected to shift away from the Dome -- and towards the idea of building a new stadium, on a new site

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note first class stadium needs first class team.

football is cool, but billionaire owners robbing the public is not so cool; it is criminal

10 arrested as hundreds of mine workers protest coal company in St. Louis : Stltoday

10 arrested as hundreds of mine workers protest coal company in St. Louis : Stltoday

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The mine workers say the protest is a bid to save health care and pension benefits at risk of being stripped away during the Chapter 11 proceeding. They are trying to put public pressure on Peabody Energy, but the St. Louis company said it has lived up to its obligations. Any dispute is between workers and Patriot Coal, according to Peabody Energy, and should be decided in bankruptcy court.

About 800 mine workers and supporters rallied outside the federal courthouse four blocks away from Peabody Energy headquarters, then marched to the coal company's offices at 701 Market Street.
United Mine Workers of America president Cecil E. Roberts and nine other union members took places sitting on the pavement on 7th Street. Police officers lined the street.

After prayers, and the singing of Amazing Grace by the protesters, a police lieutenant moved in and told Roberts and the others they had to disperse. When they didn't, they were handcuffed with plastic ties and moved to waiting police vans. They were held for failure to disperse, an ordinance violation.

NRA convention: Wisconsin governor asks for help in recall election

NRA convention: Wisconsin governor asks for help in recall election

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from article


ST. LOUIS • Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker touted his support for hunting and gun rights Friday and asked for help in a June recall election, saying "I have become a target."

Walker spoke during the first full day of the National Rifle Association’s annual convention, being held in downtown St. Louis. The conservative organization is a friendly assembly for Walker, who faces energetic nationwide opposition by labor and liberal groups in the Wisconsin recall election on June 5.

"The advocates of big government view me as a threat. They want to take me out," Walker said. "Our opponents are targeting me because I stand in their way of getting their hands on money and power."
Walker said the recall has national significance and warned, "if I fail in June, it sets us back at least a decade if not a generation."

Walker, a Republican who was elected governor of Wisconsin in November 2010, quickly became a national figure by championing a new state law that sharply curbs union rights for most public employees. After conducting sit-ins and demonstrations at the state capitol, labor groups and Democratic organizations circulated petitions to force a recall.

In March, the state election authority certified there were enough valid signatures and ordered the unusual special election.

Under Wisconsin law, both parties will choose nominees on May 8. Walker has no serious opposition in the GOP primary. The leading Democratic candidates are Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and the former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
Walker never mentioned his

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/nra-convention-wisconsin-governor-asks-for-help-in-recall-election/article_7c9718d2-85b1-11e1-83d3-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1s1HfBVZY

Editorial: As one bubble ends; another is just getting started

Editorial: As one bubble ends; another is just getting started

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There's a certain poetry to the notion that the remnants of the housing bubble might be used to ward off the next financial catastrophe facing the middle class: the looming student loan bubble.

But it's not a very soothing verse, nor is it a valid notion.

On Thursday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster came to St. Louis to outline the financial settlement reached by attorneys general in 49 states that will offer some financial relief for homeowners who either lost their homes to foreclosure or are paying for mortgages in which they owe more than the home is worth.

Five of the nation's biggest banks will pay $25 billion as a punishment for their role in the crisis that still grips much of America's middle class. Illinois gets about $1 billion; Missouri, $195 million.

It's good that the banks that played such an oversized role in causing the crisis will pay a price.

But it's really too little too late. Even $25 billion is a drop in the bucket when Americans have $700 billion in underwater mortgages.

Some folks who lost their homes will get a check for $2,000. They won't get their homes back.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-as-one-bubble-ends-another-is-just-getting-started/article_796f3c48-4398-5d72-acb3-73dd4cf7b484.html#ixzz1mI03fqIv

Editorial: Why does Missouri House pass pro-discrimination bills?

Editorial: Why does Missouri House pass pro-discrimination bills?

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The best political advisers make their livings by framing conversations about complicated issues in a way that benefits their side. Lately, Republicans have been much, much better at this than Democrats.

Somehow, the GOP turned much of the nation against a federal health care reform bill that contained many of their own ideas by calling it a "government takeover."

It wasn't, of course, but when Democrats named the bill the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they'd already lost. Like it or not, how an issue is 'spun" matters because it effects the electorate's views.

Which brings us to two pieces of legislation passed by the Missouri House last week. Both bills, one about voter identification, the other about workplace discrimination rules, do much the same thing: they reduce individual freedom. In a word, they discriminate.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-why-does-missouri-house-pass-pro-discrimination-bills/article_3c7e22de-41d7-5598-bcbe-5296b7bed01d.html#ixzz1mHzXMMIC

Vouchers for veterans and other bad ideas

Vouchers for veterans and other bad ideas

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snip from article;

U.S. health care is remarkably diverse. In terms of how care is paid for and delivered, many of us effectively live in Canada, some live in Switzerland, some live in Britain, and some live in the unregulated market of conservative dreams. One result of this diversity is that we have plenty of home-grown evidence about what works and what doesn't.

Naturally, then, politicians — Republicans in particular — are determined to scrap what works and promote what doesn't. And that brings me to Mitt Romney's latest really bad idea, unveiled on Veterans Day: to partially privatize the Veterans Health Administration.

What Romney and everyone else should know is that the VHA is a huge policy success story, which offers important lessons for future health care reform.

Many people still have an image of veterans' health care based on the terrible state of the system two decades ago. Under the Clinton administration, however, the VHA was overhauled, and it achieved a remarkable combination of rising quality and successful cost control. Multiple surveys have found the VHA providing better care than most Americans receive, even as the agency has held cost increases well below those facing Medicare and private insurers. Furthermore, the VHA has led the way in cost-saving innovation, especially the use of electronic medical records.

What's behind this success? Crucially, the VHA is an integrated system, which provides health care as well as paying for it. So it's free from the perverse incentives created when doctors and hospitals profit from expensive tests and procedures, whether or not those procedures actually make medical sense. And because VHA patients are in it for the long term, the agency has a stronger incentive to invest in prevention than private insurers, many of whose customers move on after a few years.

And yes, this is 'socialized medicine"

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/columns/miss-manners/vouchers-for-veterans-and-other-bad-ideas/article_8c30a823-94bd-5d25-a2b7-7827e5b0743d.html#ixzz1dnG1zgEQ