Ethics committee recommends state, federal investigations of Stenger
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited JUNE 14 – 20, 2018
COMPLIMENTARY
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COCA to expand ‘house of the people’ Revamped center will serve 20K more people By Ashley Jones For The St. Louis American
COCA Ballet & Contemporary Intensive participants take class in the new Peacock Studio.
“From pennies to $5 million, we want this to be a real house of the people,” said Kelly Pollock, executive director of Center of Creative Arts (COCA). “We want everyone in the community to feel like when they walk in COCA’s new building it belongs to them.” On June 8, COCA announced a $5 million gift to its Create Our Future Campaign from Kim Kuehner, a St. Louis philanthropist and retired business owner. This gift brings the total raised to $41 million (of a goal of $45 million) to fund COCA’s plans to grow its University City campus
See COCA, A6
Vol. 90 No. 12
Reduction of racial disparity in juvenile justice STL County reports compliance with federal court order By Jessica Karins For The St. Louis American
Photo courtesy of COCA
A report released by the St. Louis County Family Court shows that the court is making progress in addressing racial disparities for young people in the justice system, complying with a court order by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015. A 20-month Department of Justice investigation of the court found that St. Louis Family Court’s juvenile justice proceedings were routinely discriminating against black children. Its findings included failures to inform juvenile defendants of their rights Tymesha C. Buckner- and to ensure they had legal representation. Dobynes The court is now required to release a report on its progress every six months. This year’s first report, released on May 18, shows a significant reduction in differences between the treatment of black and white youth. “Everyone at the family court is fully committed to treating all juveniles in a fair and equitable
See JUSTICE, A7
Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Racing for a cure Friends held up a large photo of breast cancer survivor Josyln Jones as she gave a testimonial on stage before the start of the Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis on Saturday, June 9.
Preaching against ‘Don’t Snitch’ mentality ‘For every homicide, someone both saw and heard something’
Aldermen to seek accountability on police surveillance time, the better we increase their safety,” Lt. Brent Feig, who leads the center, said during a media tour of the center on May 23. The center has access to 600 cameras throughout St. Louis, a third of which the city
The St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition held its second meeting under the leadership of Bishop Elijah H. Hankerson III to discuss how to stop crime on June 7 at the New Northside Conference Center on Goodfellow Boulevard. “We want to share with you something that we need every faith based leader to be a part of,” said Hankerson, president of the coalition, jurisdictional bishop in the Church Of God In Christ and pastor of Life Center International COGIC. “What role do the clergy play in order to bring down crime, specifically homicides, and drug activity?” Karen Hylton, community outreach coordinator
See POLICE, A7
See HOMICIDE, A6
Board bill will require plan for storage and use of data, annual updates By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American St. Louis Police Detective Nicole White sat behind four computer screens, watching at least 20 video surveillance streams in the city’s Real Time Crime Center. At the same
time, she listened to several radio channels for officers calling in about crimes they were pursuing. Her job was to correlate any video in the area of these pursuits and provide officers with information that could help them do their jobs. “If we can give them some reactionary
By Ashley Jones For The St. Louis American