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Students in Shearwater's first graduating class.

Shearwater High School, a public charter school geared toward dropouts and at-risk youth in St. Louis, is closing its doors after three years in operation, shedding light on the obstacles facing the most vulnerable students and the educators trying to help them graduate.

"Young people are continuing to hemorrhage out of our public-school system at an alarming rate," Stephanie Krauss, president and CEO of Shearwater Education Foundation, tells Daily RFT. "We have to figure this out."

Krauss, whose efforts RFT chronicled in a 2009 cover story on the dropout crisis in St. Louis, says that the model was just not working, and it is time to reevaluate.

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Is a government ban on smoking an infringement on property rights?

That's a central question that has emerged in the city of St. Charles, which had its final of three public hearings on the so-called "Smoke-Free Air Act" last night. As we reported earlier this month, the city is in the early stage of considering some sort of smoking-ban ordinance -- and in the process is exploring what kinds of businesses might be exempt.

The debates around smoking bans have heated up in recent months at the state level in Missouri and locally in the St. Louis metro area. What could the city of St. Charles' policy look like?

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Scott Schnuck.

In the wake of a massive security breach that left millions of credit cards vulnerable, Schnucks is now facing multiple lawsuits in Missouri and Illinois from customers and lawyers who say the company should have alerted shoppers sooner -- and should never have let this happened in the first place. The local supermarket chain has repeatedly apologized, saying it was a victim of a cyber attack, that it told the public as soon as it possibly could and that the stores are now safe for credit card use.

But if a judge agrees with those bringing forward the class-action suit -- who say that Schnucks was negligent and violated consumer laws -- how much would it potentially owe customers?

The company touched upon that question in its latest court filing, which notes that, if the suit prevailed, Schnucks could owe nearly $80 million to customers. And that's only referring to Illinois shoppers.

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Abortion pill.

The Missouri legislative session ended last week and one of the many successes the state GOP is celebrating is the passage of a bill to add restrictions to the "abortion pill." It's one of several Republican initiatives that Planned Parenthood is now slamming in the aftermath of the session. It's no surprise that these organizations are at odds with the Republicans at the Capitol, but now they are turning their attention to Governor Jay Nixon, who has the authority to veto the anti-abortion bill.

A key question, too, is whether the GOP representatives could override Nixon even if he opposes their efforts.

"It was a shame and a disappointment this year," Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, tells Daily RFT.

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Baron Calmese, the piggy bank thief.

"Man, I bought a piece of ass and some heroin" was the incredibly charming response Baron Calmese allegedly gave police when they asked him last year why he stole money straight from his nephew's piggy bank.

Given that statement on record it's not a huge surprise that, many months later, Calmese, a 31-year-old Clayton man, formally pleaded guilty to the unbelievable offense of stealing hundreds of dollars from a four-year-old child.

Straight from the little boy's piggy bank!

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Larry Conners.

On Tuesday we reported on KMOV-TV (Channel 4) anchor Larry Conners' controversial comments on his Facebook page pondering whether the IRS was targeting him in response to a critical interview he did with President Obama. Later that night -- after getting national attention for his comments -- he issued a short on-air statement admitting that he had issues with the IRS for several years prior to the Obama interview and saying his views were his own.

Now he is temporarily off the air. KMOV officials and Conners' attorney say it's not a suspension.

"He's dying to talk to everybody," Conners' attorney Merle Silverstein tells Daily RFT, "but until he gets released from this order of the station, he is barred from making any comment."

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David Backes to the rescue.

As we reported yesterday, Phineas the Dog, who lives in Salem, could be put to sleep -- after a long, bizarre battle in the south-central Missouri city. In response to a biting incident a year ago, Salem officials ruled that the three-and-a-half-year-old labrador retriever must be euthanized, sparking outrage from the family and now supporters from around the globe.

The parents of a little girl who was bitten have even urged the city not to put dog to sleep. And now, the dog has a high-profile fan that is bringing even more attention to this small-town saga: David Backes, captain of the St. Louis Blues.

Backes and his wife, Kelly, have offered to fly down to Salem, rescue Phineas and bring him to a no-kill animal shelter in St. Charles.

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VinitaPark.org

Mayor James McGee.

Over the course of several months in 2011, eight police officers for the city of Vinita Park were fired, resigned or took jobs with other departments. This was an unprecedented amount of turnover in the small north-county town. More than half the department, including the chief, was suddenly gone.

According to a lawsuit filed by five of those officers, Vinita Park city officials terminated or forced the officers out because they are white. African American officers kept their jobs, and the majority of the replacement hires were black also.

The allegation might sound far-fetched, but attorneys for the officers believe they have a smoking gun -- a secretly recorded conversation of Vinita Park mayor James McGee, the subject of this week's cover story. On the tape, McGee speaks in blunt terms about racial tension in the city and his role in the termination of the white police officers.

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Missouri puppy mill.

Missouri has the worst puppy mills in the nation -- and lawmakers in the state are working hard to make sure it stays that way! So says the Humane Society, which announced this week that Missouri ranks No. 1 for terrible puppy farms in the United States and is now going after a piece of legislation that passed yesterday which critics say is designed to block all anti-cruelty efforts.

"It's a pro-puppy mill bill," Amanda Good, Missouri state director for the U.S. Humane Society, tells Daily RFT. "We're going to start an education campaign and make sure the public knows exactly what this resolution is."

She is referring to House Joint Resolution 11, a so-called "right-to-farm" bill, which, she says, is just a puppy mill industry effort to avoid all regulation.

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Governor Jay Nixon.

The debate around the privacy of gun owners has dominated the legislature this session, with Republican lawmakers' persistent outcry regarding record-keeping in the state. The worry is that the Missouri license bureau, under the direction of Democratic Governor Jay Nixon, could be collecting and storing documents for some sort of gun registry -- and collaborating with the feds in the process.

A bit lost in the discussion, however, are concerns from critics of this Republican agenda who argue that efforts to ensure the privacy of gun owners could have serious public safety consequences. That is, that these reforms could make Missouri more vulnerable to fraud, terrorism and other security risks.

"What they're attempting to do here is protect, at all costs, concealed-carry," Democratic Representative Stacey Newman tells Daily RFT. And some national security experts say these privacy initiatives of the Missouri GOP could create obstacles for law enforcement.

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