State Senator Rita Days, a Democrat from north St. Louis County, and State Rep. Timothy Jones, a Republican from Eureka (“The home of Six Flags,” he reminded us.), have been elected to chair and vice-chair, respectively, the St. Louis Regional Delegation (formerly, the St. Louis Regional Caucus) in the state legislature.The mission of the bicameral, bi-partisan group is to promote and collectively push legislation to advance the St. Louis region.

Keep up with St. Louis politics at www.pubdef.net

A group of local elected officials gathered in front of City Hall today to call attention to a bill in the Missouri legislature which seeks to give the City of St. Louis control over its police department—control which was taken away over 100 years ago during the time of the Civil War.

Those in attendance included: State Senator Maida Coleman, State Reps Talibdin El-Amin, Rodney Hubbard, and Jeanette Mott Oxford, Aldermen Terry Kennedy, Jeffrey Boyd, and Frank Williamson.

The bill is SB 785.

Earlier Story:

Local Control of Police Debated in Senate Hearing

The second Regular Session of Missouri’s 94th General Assembly will convene at noon today. State representatives and senators have made their way across the state back to the Capitol in Jefferson City for this election year session of the state legislature.

Will Missouri soon follow the State of New Jersey, which officially apologized for slavery Monday?

State Rep. T.D. El-Amin has sponsored a resolution calling for the State of Missouri to apologize for its role in enslaving blacks.

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MOPNS.com has published the contents of an email it says was written by Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton, a Republican, about the news that his former chief of staff, Chris Benjamin, will be running for the state senate — as a Democrat.

From the email:

This is shocking news because I feel Chris is a pro-life & pro-gun Republican, not a Democrat. Even if Chris was frustrated at times with the party I find it so difficult to believe he would choose to join the ranks of extreme liberals whose policies we have fought, and beaten with Chris’s help. However, as time has passed the rumors have stepped up and unfortunately; our understanding is that Chris is going to run as a Democrat.

I can’t explain my disappointment, shock, and confusion over this news and have even talked to Chris personally to try and convince him not to run, but haven’t been successful. I am sure we all have friends who are Democrats and maybe Chris will be one of those friends.