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2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
@stlouisamerican
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited DEC. 28, 2017 – JAN. 3, 2018
COMPLIMENTARY
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‘We aren’t going to talk about any investigations’ O’Toole promotes white cop who allegedly beat black undercover cop By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American One of the St. Louis city police officers who allegedly beat a black undercover city cop during a September 17 protest was promoted on December 21. Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole
promoted Joseph Marcantano to the position of sergeant, O’Toole said today during a press conference on December 22 addressing a triple homicide. On September 17, two undercover city officers – one black, one white – were See COP, A6
Vol. 89 No. 40
Interim St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole briefed the media on Dec. 22 about a triple homicide murder, bringing the city up to 203 murders at that time.
Supreme Court accepts ACLU brief on Bostic case Disputing 241-year sentence for nonhomicide crimes committed when 16 By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American When Bobby Bostic was 16, he and a friend committed a pair of armed robberies in St. Louis just before Christmas in 1995. Two people were shot at but not harmed. Bostic was tried as an adult and sentenced to 241 years in prison. He is up for parole in 2091, when he would be 112 years old. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take on Bostic’s case and reject his sentence as unconstitutional. “Bobby Bostic should get a chance to show that crimes Bobby he committed as a teen do Bostic not define him,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri. “The Constitution demands nothing less.” In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Graham v. Florida that the Eighth Amendment “prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.” The decision requires that the state provide a “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” See ACLU, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
Boys and toys Kevin Perkins, 3, and his brother Courtney Perkins, 4, got toys for Christmas during Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers’ Santaland Christmas Toy Giveaway on Friday, December 22.
‘Students experience reading in a unique way’
Will face Democratic nominee Paul Fehler for 8th Ward alderman
Freddie Johnson, Christopher Gardner recognized for use of newspapers in classrooms
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
By Melinda Oliver For The St. Louis American Freddie Johnson, a third grade teacher at Woerner Elementary School, used the St. Louis American Foundation’s Newspapers In Education n “Students experience program to teach her students about main ideas reading in a unique way. in writing, starting with The paper is cool and something they were colorful and current.” already interested in: athletics. – Cathy Sewell, NIE manager “I teach all boys, and I noticed how much they enjoyed reading the Sports section of The St. Louis American. I started asking them to pick out important ideas in articles about basketball or See STUDENTS, A7
Annie Rice will run as Independent
Photo by Wiley Price
At Woerner Elementary School, Mrs. Freddie Johnson’s 5th grade students Demarcus Merrill, Jason Conejo, Austin Lopez, Hunter Tebeau and Dion Krasniqi learned how static electricity works from using an experiment from the Newspapers In Education (NIE) section of The St. Louis American.
Although she wasn’t selected as the Democratic nominee in the race for 8th Ward alderman, Annie Rice will run as an Independent candidate in the February 13 special election to replace former alderman Steve Conway. “I’m in,” she wrote on Facebook, before her official statement. “Let’s do this, 8th Ward.” Conway, who held the position for 27 years, vacated his seat recently after the mayor appointed him as city Annie Rice assessor. That triggered a special election to fill his seat on February 13. The ward’s two committeepeople – Rice and Paul Fehler – normally would choose whose name would appear on the Democratic See RICE, A6