Theo R. Welling

Slay and Reed (far right) tangle at a mayoral debate over Veolia.

Ahead of a day of action at City Hall this afternoon, Mayor Francis Slay's office has just released a statement formally declaring the consulting contract with Veolia "on hold."

The contract between Veolia, the largest water service provider in the world, and the city's water division was destined for a quiet approval back in December. However, after Riverfront Times broke news of the deal, a coalition of local activist groups representing environmental, labor, and social justice interests made Veolia into a mayoral campaign issue.

"I understand there are constituencies who have other questions about the contract and its place in international politics or its potential impact on the environment," Slay's statement says. "They deserve to have their questions answered and their concerns addressed."

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MemeGenerator

Basically, everyone is terrible.

Last week, we told you about a Tumblr account called "Hello There, Racist!" which is tracking racist tweets in the wake of Obama's re-election.

The website identified six Missourians who threw around the N-word pretty freely and even hinted at assassination. It was disheartening.

But, we were also curious what kind of Twitter-shaming these boys were receiving and searched their handles. Maybe this is naive, but we were shocked by how many people thought it was appropriate to answer racial slurs with homophobic slurs.

Come ON! Does anybody know how to use Twitter appropriately?

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Instagram

Karlie Kloss get kontroversial.

Update #2: Karlie Kloss responds via her Twitter account.

Update: Victoria's Secret has responded via social media.

An outfit worn by Webster Groves-native Karlie Kloss in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Wednesday has the company under fire.

Kloss strutted down the runway in a Native American-themed ensemble, featuring a feather headdress with tails down to the floor.

She looked super hot in it and to some people, also super racist.

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STL Zoo Facebook page

Oof. Yeah, um. Yikes.

Halloween is approaching quickly and the St. Louis Zoo is decked out for their "Boo at the Zoo" event for kids. They've got pumpkins, hay bales, graveyards, and even ghosts that fly from the trees.

"It's beginning to look a little spooky around here!" the zoo's Facebook account said yesterday, accompanied by a picture of the ghosts-in-tree display.

But things immediately took a bad turn in the comments.

"Are those slaves?" someone wrote.

Uh oh.

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Aimee Levitt

SLU did not mind its "P's," now there are lots of "Q's."

Update: Mayor Slay's office has many of the answers.

Something very strange is going on with the Pevely Dairy complex's iconic sign.

On Tuesday, as a crew worked to remove the "P" in the word "Pevely" atop the old factory building at Grand and Choteau, the huge character got loose from its ropes and plummeted to the street below.

Photos obtained by KSDK show the huge letter smashed on the sidewalk next to a school bus.

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Image Via

Karl Frank Jr. was never comfortable celebrating Christopher Columbus' accidental discovery of America, and he certainly never cared for the mixed legacy Columbus left behind.

So today--the federal holiday created in 1939 by FDR to honor the Italian explorer and slave-wrangler who "sailed the ocean blue in 1492"--Frank and his friends are hoping to drum up interest in a campaign to re-purpose Columbus Day as a holiday that honors exploration, discovery and adventure.

"This would be a holiday that celebrates the past, but also looks toward our future," Frank tells Daily RFT. "We need to rekindle that exploratory spirit that we had in this country for so long."

Read up on his campaign and see petitions to the White House and Congress here.

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Dana Loesch in her Guy Fawkes mask almost looked like one of the Occupy St. Louis kids just up the street. Her words on the megaphone immediately cleared up any confusion.

If you were downtown yesterday evening, you might've caught red-clad Cardinals fans headed to Busch Stadium, an especially brilliant sunset and maybe a scant group of activists commemorating the one-year anniversary of Occupy St. Louis at Kiener Plaza.

Also hard to miss was a surreal and sizable group of St. Louis' most ardent Tea Partiers, holding signs in support of coal and Todd Akin on the corner of Market and Eighth streets, just outside the Peabody Energy Corporation building.

Gateway Grassroots, a local spinoff of the Tea Party led by Stacy Washington of the blog Move on Up and conservative pundit Dana Loesch, organized an after-work flash mob to protest Claire McCaskill's energy policies in front of the coal corporation that stands to suffer the most from tighter regulation.

Daily RFT caught up with Loesch, who was clad in all black, with studded leather gloves and a Guy Fawkes mask (that she says belonged to Andrew Breitbart), as the demonstration broke up.

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Leah Greenbaum

Sally, Bob, and Susie (from left to right) face eviction from their home of 12 years. Thanks for nothing, Freddie Mac.

Update: The Scott Family got some good news at their hearing yesterday. From Zach Chasnoff:

The Judge ruled that if the Scott's could come up with three months rent and file a bond for that amount, which she set at $1,500, then she would order the case to be reset. Resetting the case gives the Scotts anywhere from a year to 18 months to pressure Freddie to rescind the mortgage.

Sally believes that she will be able to come up with the money for the bond by the 10 working day deadline so if nothing else the judge bought us a lot of time.

Sally Scott, a soft-spoken 65-year old, isn't one to "go out and complain about things." But that's all changed this week as Freddie Mac tries to evict her, her World War II vet husband, and their "special child" Susie--who is developmentally disabled--from their home of 12 years.

Scott says she has spent months trying to get the government-sponsored mortgage giant to work with her and a loan servicer on a loan modification but Freddie Mac hasn't been responsive to any of her inquiries about the status of her home. She says it has been impossible just to get a representative on the phone.

Going to the press--with the help of homeowner advocacy group Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment--was a last ditch effort for the Scott family before a 9 a.m. eviction hearing today.

"We don't want a handout," Sally Scott said from the porch of her Creve Coeur home. "We just want a fair deal, and we want someone to actually talk to us."

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The Cape Girardeau Bunch.

High school just isn't high school without the asscracks. Kids in the Cape Girardeau public school district are grumbling this week about an excessive new dress code that will keep them looking like the cast of the Brady Bunch.

Students get to choose from the following: a collared shirt or turtleneck in any solid color, a school-oriented T-shirt, sweatshirt or hoodie or a solid-colored vest, sweater, sweatshirt or pullover with an approved shirt underneath; and pants, shorts, capris, skorts and jumpers in any solid color, or blue jeans (not too tight and not too baggy) or a solid-color dress with sleeves, a collar or a high-crew neck. Belts are mandatory for middle and high schoolers.

But don't angst-tweet yet, kids of Cape Gir'-- there are still plenty of ways to be rebellious teenage shits without instituting 'Slutty Wednesdays'.

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A BarCycle fan generated these in preparation for Thursday's hearing.

Update: The vexing results of this morning's hearing. 
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