New dental school earns full accreditation
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2016 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited SEPTEMBER 14 – 20, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 26 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Farewell to the lioness: Lizz Brown Lizz Brown visited with Sylvester Brown Jr. at the farewell event for his magazine “Take Five” in 2002.
She was our huntress, our protector, our savior By Sylvester Brown Jr. For The St. Louis American Unlike today, St. Louis’ radio airwaves in the 1990s was pregnant with “black talk” and race-specific dialogue. This was largely due to one, small radio station, WGNU, whose owner, the late Chuck Norman, gifted the region with an eclectic line-up of talk show
hosts and callers. There was the late, fiery orator Onion Horton, the more measured Hank Thompson, and other hosts like Leonardo Drisdel, who was sentenced to life in prison for murder in 2012. Callers, like the “Couch Potato” and the “Great Kabuddha” were as infamous, colorful and provocative as the hosts. It was amongst this backdrop that the lioness came to dominate the St. Louis plains. “Living my life as a liberal and lovin’ it” was the mantra of Lizz Brown, attorney, political analyst, activist and host of WGNU’s early morning program “The Wake Up Call.” With razor-sharp wit, reinforced by a lethal, legal mind, the lioness strategically stalked and destroyed her prey. Be they politicians, elitists, racists, pacifists or conformists, at one time or another, they all found their figurative jugulars exposed to Brown’s intellectual
See BROWN, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
HuffPost listens to St. Louis American partners in launch of national listening tour By Chris King Of The St. Louis American The HuffPost kicked off its national listening tour in partnership with local media partners, Listen to America, in St. Louis on Tuesday, September 12, in n “We thought: Why partnership with The St. Louis American. don’t we just go out After a morning and listen? Let’s go launch event out and give the mic downtown at Kiener Plaza with the to other people.’” Gateway Arch as backdrop, HuffPost – Lydia Polgreen, parked its listening editor-in-chief at bus – of the kind HuffPost rented for major musical tours, though outfitted to record video interviews – next to the Chuck Berry statue in the University Loop. After an afternoon of mingling with locals and recording interviews, the HuffPost team decamped to The Royale, a public house in the Tower Grove neighborhood, for a panel discussion, Photo by Wiley Price
See HUFFPOST, A7
Justice for Anthony Lamar Smith Annie Smith, the mother of Anthony Lamar Smith, led a candlelight vigil on Monday, September 4 calling for justice for her son, Anthony Lamar Smith. Former St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley was tried for his murder, and a verdict is pending from Judge Timothy Wilson. Stockley opted for a bench trial without a jury.
Why we must disrupt Brittany Ferrell and Millennial Activists United organized a rush hour shutdown of I-70 in both directions on the first anniversary of Mike Brown’s death, August 11, 2015.
Stop making nice with the status quo By Brittany Ferrell For The St. Louis American This year, on August 9, I sat alone in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. I was waiting to attend the premiere of Whose Streets?, a documentary about the Ferguson uprising n Clergy, if you that features some of my activism during the 2014 aren’t preaching protests, alongside the resistance in this work of others who took to city, then you are the streets when Ferguson not preaching. Police Officer Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown. In silence, I clicked back and forth between my Facebook memories from that year – images that reminded me of the outrage and sorrow of my community – and newspaper
See DISRUPT, A6
Educators earn honors for excellence Salute is Saturday, September 23 By Jessica Karins and Benito Kelty For The St. Louis American Eight area educators will receive general awards for excellence at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education at America’s Center on Saturday, September 23. Alan Byrd has worked his way up in the world of higher education, from an admissions tour guide at his alma mater to his current position, the dean of Enrollment Services at the University of Missouri St. Louis. In that role, he works to ensure that lower-income students can attend colleges. Byrd has led the college to its highest-ever enrollment numbers, 17,000 students
30th
Photo by Lucas Alvarado Farrar
See SALUTE, A6