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News Briefs - March 3-16, 2010
City of St. Louis
City leaders push for local control of police department
City government leaders are once again pushing for a bill that transfers control of the St. Louis police department out of state and into local jurisdiction.
On Feb. 15, legislators in Jefferson City heard testimony from both sides about the legislation, HB 1601, proposed by State Representative Jamilah Nasheed.
The bill has since passed the House, and has moved to the Senate.
After several failed attempts to enact such a bill, a critical audit of the St. Louis police department released last fall has supporters optimistic for the bill’s success.
“I support this bill because the people who pay the bills and rely on the service ought to control the department,” Mayor Francis Slay said. “All other American cities have locally controlled and citizen-influenced processes to select their municipal police boards or commissions.”
Critics of the legislation, however, fear cutbacks and the interference of local politics.
“The mayor’s repeated insinuations that the members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department ‘would be more accountable’ if the department was under city control is an insult to the men and women of the department,” said St. Louis Police Officers’ Association President Tom Walsh. “The citizens of the city of St. Louis deserve the top level of service from the police department. The best way to achieve this goal is through state control.”
Slay also said that the bill would not change the current pension system.
St. Louis NAACP President Claude Brown also supports the bill saying, “Our country is in the worst economic downturn in its history. Cities are feeling the impact too, and St. Louis needs the freedom to manage all of its expenditures, including those of the St. Louis police department.”
Central Library renovations receive $4 million boost
St. Louis Public Library’s renovation plans received a boost on Feb. 11 when global manufacturing and technology company Emerson announced it would make a lead gift of $4 million to the capital campaign to fund the Locust Street Atrium.
The capital campaign serves as part of a philanthropic effort to support the $74 million total restoration and revitalization of the main library. The renovations to Central Library will include new children’s and young adult sections, a 250-seat lower-level auditorium and a café, among other amenities.
“Our new Locust Street Entrance and Atrium, leading to the new Center for the Reader, are focal points in opening up Central Library and its collection to the public,” said Waller McGuire, executive director of St. Louis Public Library. “Central Library belongs to the people of St. Louis and we want all of St. Louis to be able to experience this incredible landmark.”
Construction is expected to begin later this year with a grand reopening in 2012 to coincide with Central’s centennial celebration. Central Library will be closed during construction, but book lending and all other services will remain available through the St. Louis Public Library’s other 15 locations.
“The St. Louis Public Library is one of our city’s most treasured and valuable assets,” said David N. Farr, chief executive officer and president of Emerson. “The restoration and modernization of its Central Library is essential to the library’s continued success and service to our community.”
St. Louis University
Medical school to research smallpox vaccine
Scientists at St. Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development will lead a study that will assess the best way to administer an investigational smallpox vaccine.
Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, but fears of using the highly contagious and potentially lethal disease as a weapon of bioterrorism have prompted this study.
The Center for Vaccine Development will be one of five hospitals across the country participating in the research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The study will compare the effects of two preparations of the investigational smallpox vaccine Imvamune. The research will also compare immune responses based on how shots of Imvamune are administered. They can be given subcutaneously, where a vaccine is injected into the layer of fat between the skin and muscle. It can also be given intradermally, which is an injection between the layers of the skin.
“Typically less vaccine is needed to make an immune response when it is given intradermally,” said Dr. Sharon Frey, principal investigator and professor at SLU Medical School. “We potentially could protect more people with the same amount of vaccine.”
Imvamune differs from older smallpox vaccines in that it causes minimal post-vaccination complications, and it does not leave a scar like traditional shots did. It has been generally safe and well tolerated in the more than 2,400 volunteers that it’s been tested on thus far, and up to 240 volunteers are currently being recruited for the study.
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