Special election in House District 78 to proceed Sept. 16
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Voters will head to the polls again to elect their Democratic nominee for state representative
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CAC Audited SEPTEMBER 15 – 21, 2016
COMPLIMENTARY
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Painter of people Chris Green is beautifying North City, one abandoned building at a time By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Local artist Chris Green poses in front of his portraits of Carol Daniel and Jackie JoynerKersee.
St. Louis is often described in the black community as a “city of haters” that does not properly recognize and reward its own, but local artist Chris Green is not content with that sentiment. Green, 56, who grew up in the Ville and graduated from Sumner High School, has for years painted large portraits of successful black people from the St. Louis region and positioned them publicly in black neighborhoods. “I had the idea of putting dignitaries on derelict buildings as a positive image, to show that people from tough neighborhoods can become respectable
See GREEN, A6
Vol. 88 No. 23
FBI offers $5K reward in bomb scare Suspect identified as black male with dark complexion, average height, slender build
Photo by Wiley Price
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Just after noon on Wednesday, September 7, someone identified from surveillance video as “a black male with a dark complexion, average height and slender build, and an unusual gait” left an improvised explosive at Moline Elementary School in the Riverview Gardens School District. A small explosion occurred outside the building, according to the St. Louis Regional Bomb & Arson Unit. It caused minimal damage to the building in the form of broken glass. The school, which was occupied by students and faculty at the time, was immediately evacuated. No one was injured. Officers located a second suspicious package in the same area and rendered it harmless. A comprehensive sweep of the interior of the school, as well as the surrounding grounds, revealed them
See SCARE, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
Photo by Wiley Price
Aurdeen Clarkson is an infant room teacher at the Flance Early Learning Center
Tagging Flags of Valor Shanita Auxila from Monsanto Company worked with Zaria Voss and Magan Skinker, students at Parkway South High School, to hang identification tags on the 7,021 Flags of Valor planted on Art Hill in Forest Park on Sunday, September 11. Each flag had the photograph of someone killed during the so-called War on Terror.
Diversifying Washington University
Growing better citizens
A conversation with Holden Thorp, provost and executive vice chancellor
Aurdeen Clarkson to receive 2016 PNC Bank Early Childhood Award
By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Holden Thorp is provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at Washington University (as well as a distinguished professor of chemistry). He came to St. Louis in 2013 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as chancellor. The American asked Thorp about Washington University’s ongoing efforts to diversify the institution at all levels. The St. Louis American: Tell me about
your efforts, since you came aboard, to attract and retain African Americans as faculty, students and in administration? Holden Thorp: Before I got here, there was a big push from the chancellor and the Board of Trustees, and one of the big things that happened was Adrienne Davis came on as vice provost. She has really focused on faculty diversity. Thanks to her efforts, we have doubled the number of black faculty, and now we are focused on retaining them, which will be difficult, because they are attractive to lots of other schools. But we feel good about holding onto the people
we’ve got, and that this whole thing will reinforce itself. In the administration, we have made some great appointments of people who were the best candidates in our searches, but who also are African-American: Lori White, Ronne Turner, Tony Tillman, Bill Tate. These are all terrific people we’re thrilled to have, who also happen to bring diversity to the administration. With students, we have doubled the percentage of African-American undergraduates from 6 to 12 percent over the
See THORP, A6
Aurdeen Clarkson, an infant room teacher at the Flance Early Learning Center, spent most of Tuesday morning giving extra hugs, rocking and making gentle cooing sounds for one of her normally more active one-year-old boys. “You have to treat the whole child as an individual,” Clarkson said. “You get the cues from the child. One child wasn’t feeling well, so you give him the pampering and understanding he needs to know he feels safe. This is their safe
See CLARKSON, A7