Attorney General Chris Koster today released the Missouri Vehicle Stops Report, which breaks down the total number of traffic stops, vehicle searches and arrest rate by race. The report also calculates what's called "the disparity index," which releates each racial group's total proportion of traffic stops to its proportion of the driving population. Once again, if you're black and driving in Missouri, you're far more likely to be pulled over than any other race -- but if you're black and driving in Missouri, you probably already knew that.
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And the SEC Wheel of Rivals lands on ... Arkansas!

The SEC today officially announced the new conference schedules and cross-division rivals, and Mizzou has traded Kansas for Arkansas. Both the football and basketball teams will play a home and away game against our neighbor to the south beginning in the 2013 season.
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Via Westword

Prosecutors allege Father Manning may have provided victims with marijuana.

A priest who served in four different Missouri parishes has just been formally charged with sexual abuse of a minor in a Colorado courtroom.

The details of Charles Robert Manning's alleged crimes are under seal, but an investigation began after one 15-year-old boy complained that Manning was behaving like a "jealous lover" toward him.

While Manning awaits his next court date, new details of his alleged crimes are beginning to trickle out, and victims' advocates want to know why Manning has been allowed to come back to St. Louis.

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Environmental Stewardship Concepts

Some dubious-looking debris at the Strecker Forest site.

Missouri's interminable dioxin problem is alive and oozing in Wildwood.

The latest controversy is over the Environmental Protection Agency official who's been working for decades on cleaning up the dioxin contamination of Times Beach and more recently assessing the Wildwood development site of Strecker Forest. According to emails dating back to the early 2000s, EPA project coordinator Bob Feild had a penchant for asking subordinates to delete emails in an attempt to dodge Freedom of Information requests.

"It strikes at the heart of what we've always been saying," says Wildwood City Councilmember Tammy Shea. "EPA credibility is trash."

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Today is the day the St. Louis Convention and Visitors' Commission was required to reject or accept the St. Louis' Rams dome renovation plan, and the CVC wasted no time in delivering its answer: REJECTED.
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Rebecca Russell and John Thomas III.

John Thomas III, 27, and Rebecca Russell, 30, are a couple who live in the Tee Kay Mobile Home Manor near O'Fallon, Missouri. They'd often babysit their neighbors kids. Often their friend, Billy Joe Bunch Jr., 25, would come over while the kids were there.

And then, according to police, the three would take turns sexually assaulting the children.
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State Sen. Jim Lembke has a reason to smile.

I was on vacation last week so I apologize for missing this bombshell. Still, it's worth mentioning now seeing how it got scant local coverage, with seemingly just one TV station last week reporting the news. More >>

"Lantern Festival: Art by Day, Magic by Night" made its debut last week at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It will be up most of the summer, until August 19. Go see it. Even under normal circumstances, MOBot is among the most magical places in the city, but the illuminated lanterns turn it into something truly spectacular.

"When most people think of a Chinese 'lantern,' they immediately think of a small, round, hanging paper lantern," Lynn Kerkemeyer, MOBot's special exhibits and events manager, said in a statement. "These are incredible, vivid, elaborate sets created from thousands of peces to form amazing, large-scale pieces of art."

And, as MOBot director Peter Wyse Jackson noted when he announced the festival a year ago, this is the first time there's ever been a lantern festival like this in the U.S.

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He ain't even dropped the mike yet.

Illinois State Representative Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) has had it up to here with the House Speaker (Democrat Michael Madigan) and his autocratic control of the legislative process. Maybe you've seen his video? It's the one where he throws paper and screams with equal parts frustration and outrage.

Naturally it's making the internet rounds, which means it's already been remixed. Here's Youtube user NZtrillion's effort, entitled "Rap Battles in Parliament: Illinois State Rep MC Mike Bost vs. the Speaker." I'm not sure a Republican from Murphysboro is down with hip hop, but he should be flattered by the effort.
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Todd Hewitt, days after the team cut him loose.

When last we left Todd Hewitt, the long-time equipment manager for the St. Louis Rams was reminiscing about his career with the team -- he's only the second man to hold the position, the first being his father -- and trying to reconcile his abrupt firing with an uncertain future.

Earlier this week Hewitt filed suit against the Rams claiming age discrimination was at the root of his pink slip.
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