Talia Frenkel, American Red Cross

Sam Bradford, quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, is trying to help draw attention to the devastation and difficult relief effort in Oklahoma City after an incredibly powerful tornado hit on Monday, killing dozens, including children, destroying homes and schools and more.

Oklahoma City is, after all, his hometown.

Bradford is partnering with the city of St. Louis, the American Red Cross and Switch + Contemporary, an event company for a donation drive they're calling #STL4OKC. Video and details below.

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Krystyna Ninh for RFT

St. Louis protester earlier this month.

Update: Officials say the event was cancelled due to "weather-created flight delays."

Original post: Earlier this month, St. Louis got national attention when local fast-food workers participated in a major rally demanding better pay. Some of them spoke of particularly terrible conditions and harassing bosses in local restaurants.

And today, the acting head of the United States Department of Labor is visiting St. Louis to meet with low-wage workers to discuss federal efforts to raise the minimum wage.

The event this morning is not tied to the recent protests here, but it's possible that some of the workers in attendance could bring up the massive rallies in their comments to Acting Secretary of Labor Seth Harris.

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Springfield City Councilman Doug Burlison believes that marijuana can be a helpful medicine and that it's time to stop treating it like such a harmful, dangerous drug. Compared to other local elected officials, however, he is very much in the minority -- so much so that his colleagues continue to reject efforts to pass a minor reform that would reduce the punishments for low-level possession cases.

The council once again voted down the initiative this week.

"That's the really frustrating part -- we're talking about a very miniscule lessening of the harshness of penalties," Burlison tells Daily RFT. "I'm extremely disappointed."

This time, however, his colleagues and the mayor may have to deal with more than just criticism. Marijuana advocates are now strongly considering a lawsuit.

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Courtesy of Schnucks.

Angela and Gerald Taylor.

Angela and Gerald Taylor might just be the most devoted Schnucks customers in the company's more than seven decades in business.

Early in their relationship, Gerald took Angela on a date to a Schnucks grocery store. Since then, they've had regular Friday date nights there. They've had birthday parties at the store. And this month, the couple had their wedding ceremony inside the Des Peres Schnucks. With Schnucks catering, of course.

"It's just a special place," Angela Taylor, 50, tells Daily RFT, adding of her wedding, "It was wonderful. We wouldn't change anything about it, absolutely nothing."

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Courtesy of Gee Vigna

Nicky Vigna.

On February 4, 2010, Gee Vigna and her husband discovered a horrible sight in the room of their seventeen-year-old daughter, Nicky.

"We had no idea she was using any drugs," Gee tells Daily RFT.

Nicky had overdosed on heroin. Doctors pointed to track marks on her arm.

"That was the beginning of what I would call the fight of our life," Gee says.

It's a fight that her family lost, despite their best efforts to help their daughter. On January 3, 2013, Nicky, at age twenty, overdosed again, and this time, she did not recover. Now, Gee is trying to raise awareness about the growing problem of what she says is "the silent killer" that's destroying families and communities across the country.

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Last night, three young teenage boys were shot in the Carr Square neighborhood and taken to a local hospital where they are all in serious condition.

Two of the shooting victims are fourteen years old, and the other is fifteen years old.

One of the victims told police he knew the suspect -- but only by his nickname.

They were not able to tell the police the suspect's real name or address, and the shooter remains at large.

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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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via robertboettcherphotography.com

Robert Boettcher.

Robert Boettcher, a 53-year-old homeless man in St. Louis, was recently released from prison after spending nearly two years behind bars on murder charges. He was arrested on May 3, 2011, and after many months in jail, his case was dismissed on February 11, 2013.

And now, he has won a University City photography contest.

"I was stunned. I was not expecting this at all," Boettcher, who won a local competition over the weekend, tells Daily RFT. "I was ecstatic, so happy about it."

It was a meaningful recognition for Boettcher -- who is still homeless today.

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via Google Maps

Macy's downtown.

The Macy's in downtown St. Louis is shutting its doors.

The company announced this morning that the outlet, which opened in 1924 in the Railway Exchange building, will be closing with a final clearance starting in the beginning of June and continuing for about ten weeks. The 189,000-square-foot space has a workforce of 94 associates, the company says in its announcement of the closure.

Macy's has eight other stores in the metro area and will now have a total of about 3,000 associates locally. The company may offer some affected employees positions in nearby stores and facilities "where possible," Macy's says. Others will face layoffs.

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via

Areas with a high concentration of N-word tweets.

Compared to many other states in the country, Missouri has a high concentration of racist, homophobic tweets that include offensive, hateful language. And the tweeters are located all over the state.

So says a neat new interactive map called the Geography of Hate, which analyzes geocoded tweets that use the N-word, "fag," "homo" and other "hate words" from June of last year through April of 2013.

In some categories, Missouri appears to be one of the worst in the country. Hooray!

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