People’s health clinic opens in Ferguson Schnucks
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Former Stenger fundraiser charged with gun crimes
School district rating upgrade Normandy granted provisional accreditation
‘Defendant’s conduct and use of epitaphs indicate his actions to be motivated by race’
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American For three years, Superintendent Charles Pearson of the Normandy Schools Collaborative has helped the school district rebuild its foundation piece by piece, after hitting rock bottom. He knew the district had done the work and met the state’s requirements to earn provisional accreditation status – after having its accreditation stripped in 2012 and paying millions of dollars every year to send its students to learn in other districts. Still, he said he was anxious at
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Andrew Green was one of three victims in a triple homicide in Pine Lawn on April 26, part of a pattern of murders in St. Louis County that is trending. Continuing what is now an annual tradition, members of Mt. Beulah Missionary Baptist
Matthew Lieberman, who has worked on fundraisers for St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and other local Democrats, has been charged with several felonies after he called an Amoco employee an N-word and then fired shots into the gas station’s kiosk at Skinker Boulevard and Interstate-64 on November 28. He also faces charges for a similar action at a Jack-in-theBox on Hampton Avenue that same night. Lieberman, 38, was charged on November 30 with three counts of unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action. According to the probable Matthew cause statement, “The Lieberman defendant’s conduct and use of epitaphs indicate his actions to be motivated by race.” His cash-only bond is set at $250,000. As of Friday afternoon, he was still in custody. Lieberman leads two fundraising firms – Majority Strategies LLC and RAL Strategic Investment Group LLC – and has worked with several of the region’s top Democrats, including Stenger and former St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who first reported the story. Lieberman recently helped n Lieberman organize a fundraiser recently helped for Stenger in organize a September. A spokesman for fundraiser for St. Louis County Stenger’s campaign said Lieberman was Executive Steve never employed Stenger in by the Stenger campaign, though September. did not dispute that he has assisted with fundraisers. Lieberman was hired by and worked for the Slay campaign between about 2008 and 2012 as a fundraiser, Slay told the American. “I never witnessed, sensed, or ever heard of any racist behavior, tendencies, or language from him at any time,” said Slay, now an attorney at Spencer Fane LLP. “If I had, he would have been fired on the spot. I do not tolerate that kind of behavior. He was let go from the campaign in about mid-2012 after displaying erratic behavior – of course, nothing even close to the conduct for which he was arrested.”
See VICTIMS, A7
See CRIME, A6
See NORMANDY, A6
Photo by Wiley Price
Mount Beulah Missionary Baptist Church Deacon James Nathan hammered a cross in the ground for Lanna Green, who lost her son Andrew Green to violence in 2017, at the church in Hanley Hills on Saturday, December 2. In the background are the church’s pastor, Rev. E.G. Shields Sr.; Rev. Earl E. Nance Jr. of Greater Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church; and Jennings Mayor Yolanda Austin. Photo by Wiley Price
An independent investigation has concluded that Chris Koster and police withheld DNA evidence in the 2012 civil rights lawsuit over the officer-involved shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith.
Planting crosses Stockley DNA for homicide evidence withheld victims Independent investigation finds violations in Anthony Lamar Smith lawsuit
193 murders to date in city and county memorialized on Saturday
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
By Jessica Karins For The St. Louis American
Former Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s administration and the Board of Commissioners for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department withheld DNA evidence in the 2012 civil rights lawsuit over the officer-involved shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, an independent investigator found. Current Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced on December 5
Holding a poster covered with dozens of photos of a smiling young man throughout different stages of his life, Lanna Green helped place a small wooden cross onto the lawn of Mt. Beulah Missionary Baptist Church in Hanley Hills. Both the photos and the cross were memorials to her son, Andrew, who died seven months ago in a shooting that is still unsolved. “Today’s his birthday,” Green said on Saturday, December 2. “He would have been 30 years old as of today.”
See DNA, A7
Vol. 89 No. 37
n “One homicide is one too many.” – Mt. Beulah Pastor E.G. Shields Sr.