Flags to fly at half-staff to honor St. Louis firefighter

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has ordered that U.S. and Missouri flags at fire stations statewide will fly at half-staff Monday to honor a St. Louis firefighter who died of COVID-19.

Rodney Heard died June 15. He had been with the St. Louis Fire Department for more than 22 years. He was 56. Parson’s order announced Friday also calls for flags to fly at half-staff on Monday at the Fire Fighters Memorial and government buildings in the city of St. Louis.

Mark McCloskey announces bid for U.S. Senate in Missouri

ST. LOUIS – Mark McCloskey, a St. Louis personal injury lawyer who gained national attention after he and his wife waved guns at racial injustice protesters who marched near their home last summer, said Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2022.

McCloskey made the announcement on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News. Earlier Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission’s website showed “Mark McCloskey for Missouri” was registered, and a website, mccloskeyforsenate.com, was seeking campaign donations.

“God came knocking on my door last summer disguised as an angry mob,” McCloskey told Carlson. “And it really did wake me up.”

Incumbent Missouri Republican Roy Blunt announced in March he would not seek a third term. McCloskey will seek the Republican nomination against two contenders with strong name recognition: Former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office amid a sex scandal in 2018; and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

Several members of Congress are weighing runs in heavily-Republican Missouri. Five lesser-known Democrats also have announced Senate bids.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey became celebrities in conservative circles – and were vilified among Democrats – after the incident on June 28 outside their lavish home in St. Louis’ Central West End.

Demonstrators were marching to the home of then-Mayor Lyda Krewson amid nationwide protests after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protesters ventured onto a private street that includes the McCloskey mansion. The couple, both of them attorneys in their early 60s, said they felt threatened after protesters broke down an iron gate and ignored a “No Trespassing” sign. Protest leaders denied damaging the gate and said the march was peaceful.

Mark McCloskey came out of his home with an AR-15-style rifle and Patricia McCloskey emerged with a semiautomatic handgun. Cellphone video captured the confrontation.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, charged the couple with unlawful use of a weapon. A grand jury in October indicted them on the same charge and added an evidence tampering charge. The indictment states that a semiautomatic pistol was altered in a way that “obstructed the prosecution of Patricia McCloskey” on the weapons charge.

The couple contended the charges were politically motivated. They spoke via video at last year’s Republican National Convention. Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has said he will pardon the McCloskeys if they are convicted.

Their case is due to go to trial in November, but Gardner’s office won’t be prosecuting it. A judge sent the case to a special prosecutor because Gardner made reference to the case in fundraising emails during her successful bid for reelection in 2020.

Tishaura Jones elected St. Louis’ first Black female mayor

ST. LOUIS (AP) – St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones, who has been outspoken in her criticism of the criminal justice system’s “arrest and incarcerate” model, won election Tuesday and will take over as the first Black female mayor in a city beset by yet another wave of violent crime.

Jones defeated Alderwoman Cara Spencer in the general election with 51.7% to Spencer’s 47.8%, based on unofficial results posted on the city’s website. She will be sworn in April 20.

“St. Louis: This is an opportunity for us to rise,” Jones said in her victory speech. “I told you when I was running that we aren’t done avoiding tough conversations. We are done ignoring the racism that has held our city and our region back.”

Spencer, in her concession, noted the historic achievement of her opponent.

“This is something we should all celebrate,” Spencer said. “Our city broke a glass ceiling tonight, a ceiling that shouldn’t have been there.”

Jones, 49, is a former state representative who has been treasurer since 2013. She will replace incumbent Mayor Lyda Krewson, who announced in November that she would not seek a second term. Krewson, 67, is the city’s first woman mayor.

In her new job, Jones faces many challenges. The population that peaked at 856,796 in 1950 is now just above 300,000, and people are still leaving for the suburbs. Businesses, including downtown restaurants and shops, are still struggling to recover from COVID-19 shutdowns.

But Jones and Spencer agreed that no crisis is as important as curbing violence, especially killings. Police statistics show that 262 people were killed in St. Louis last year – five fewer than the record of 267 set in 1993. But because the city’s population has declined sharply since 1993, the per capita homicide rate was much higher in 2020.

Already, 2021 is shaping up to be even worse. The city has recorded 46 killings through Tuesday, about 10 ahead of last year’s dangerously high pace.

Jones has pledged to bring in more social workers, mental health counselors and substance abuse counselors, rather than adding more uniformed officers.

Krewson, whose husband was fatally shot in a 1995 carjacking, ran in 2017 on a pledge to battle crime, but the city saw a staggering increase in killings during the coronavirus pandemic.

About 48% of St. Louis residents are white, 45% are Black. While both Jones and Spencer are Democrats, Jones in a recent debate questioned if another white mayor could adequately lead the city, noting that a “white person doesn’t have to worry about their children getting hit by a stray bullet when he’s outside.”

“While I appreciate the role of white allies in this movement of progress, I don’t believe that they have the lived experiences to lead a majority-minority city,” Jones said in the debate.

Her victory speech focused largely on overcoming racism and bigotry.

“I will not stay silent when I spot racism,” Jones said. “I will not stay silent when I spot homophobia or transphobia. I will not stay silent when I spot xenophobia. I will not stay silent when I spot religious intolerance. I will not stay silent when I spot any injustice.”

Until this year, St. Louis hosted Democratic and Republican primary elections in March, with the winners competing in April.

But St. Louis is so heavily Democratic that the general election became an afterthought. City voters in November approved a new nonpartisan format in which all candidates compete against each other in March, with the top two vote-getters advancing. Jones received the most votes in the primary, and Spencer edged out two other candidates for the other spot.

Inmates stage uprising at St. Louis jail dogged by unrest

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Inmates broke windows, set a fire and threw debris to the ground late Sunday at a St. Louis jail that has been plagued by uprisings in recent months.

The riot broke out Sunday night around 9 p.m. at the City Justice Center, news outlets reported. Inmates were seen tossing objects out of broken windows and setting a fire. Firefighters used a hose to douse the flames.

Law enforcement responded to bring the jail under control. Inmates had moved away from the broken windows by about 10:30 p.m., according to news outlets. Then around 11 p.m., inmates broke windows on the other side of the jail and began throwing objects again. Thirty minutes later, the inmates had disappeared again and officers could be seen inside.

It was unclear whether anyone was injured.

Some inmates were heard yelling demands for court dates. Proceedings have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

An uprising at the jail on Feb. 6 involved over 100 inmates and sent one corrections officer to the hospital. Officials said detainees were upset about conditions inside the jail and had concerns about COVID-19.

There have been at least four uprisings at the jail since December.

A task force was appointed to look into issues at the jail. Its chairman, the Rev. Darryl Gray, issued a report last month urging the city to create an independent oversight board to help oversee the lockup.

St. Louis-area mom, 2 children killed; baby taken, but safe

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A man fatally shot a woman and two of her young children in a suburban St. Louis home before leaving with their baby, who was later found safe, police said.

The suspect was being sought Friday after the killings late Thursday night in north St. Louis County. Officers called to the home discovered a 34-year-old woman, her 13-year-old son and her 6-year-old daughter all fatally shot inside the home where they lived, police said. Their names were not immediately released.

Police also learned that a 1-year-old girl was missing from the home and believe she was taken by her father, 35-year-old Bobby McCulley III. An Amber Alert was issued hours later for the baby, who was found safe with other family members just before 5 a.m. Friday.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol tweeted that the 1-year-old was taken to an area hospital to be checked by doctors as a precaution.

Police on Friday were searching for McCulley after the baby was found safe.

A funeral home van with a body inside was stolen in Missouri

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Police in St. Louis County, Missouri, are searching for a funeral home van that was stolen Thursday with the body of an adult female inside.

The white cargo van was stolen after the driver stopped at a convenience store shortly after 10 a.m., according to police. The van was left unattended and running.

Neither the van, belonging to the William C. Harris Funeral Home, nor the body have been recovered, police said.

Police are looking for a man and women seen in surveillance video inside the convenience store who they say might have additional information.

The funeral home told CNN it did not have a comment on the stolen van and body at this time.