Articles by Jim Salter

Missouri Officers Arrested for Allegedly Searching Womens’ Phones for Nude Photos

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two Missouri police officers were indicted separately this week and accused of similar crimes — pulling over women and searching their phones to find nude photos. The indictments of former Missouri State Highway Patrol officer David …

Rapper Nelly Has Drug, Insurance Charges Dropped Following Summer Arrest

Rapper Nelly won’t face drug charges following his arrest this summer at a St. Louis-area casino, a prosecutor said. Nelly was arrested at 4:45 a.m. Aug. 7 as he sought to collect several jackpots he won at Hollywood Casino & …

Former Principal of Missouri Boarding School Charged with Sex Crimes Involving Student

A former principal at a Christian boarding school in Missouri that closed in March amid abuse allegations has been charged with sex crimes involving a former student. Craig Wesley Smith Jr. was charged by the prosecutor in Wayne County in …

Man Arrested for Damaging a Statue Outside a St. Louis Cathedral

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man used construction equipment to drop a heavy boom lift onto a sculpture that has stood for 25 years outside St. Louis’ Cathedral Basilica, badly damaging it, police said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the …

Low Mississippi River Water Levels Force Barge Companies to Cut Cargo

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The water level of the Mississippi River is unusually low for the third straight year, forcing barge companies to put limits on how much cargo they can carry and cutting into farm profits. It was just …

Crews Slow Progress of Sierra Wildfire, But Evacuations Orders Remain

Firefighters battling a California wildfire that has burned through more than 5 square miles of the high Sierra made significant progress slowing its growth on Wednesday, but hundreds of residents whose homes are threatened remained under evacuation orders. The battle …

Dozens of Catholic Priests and Nuns Accused of Child Abuse in Missouri Lawsuits

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Sixty people allege in new lawsuits filed in Missouri that they were abused as children by dozens of Catholic priests, nuns and others, and the man who now leads the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, is among …

For Shrinking Mississippi River Towns, Frequent Floods Worsen Fortunes

WEST ALTON, Mo. (AP) — Devastating flooding, driven in part by climate change, is taking an especially damaging toll on communities that once thrived along the banks of America’s most storied river. Flooding has pushed people out of their homes …

Mississippi River Flooding is Pushing People Out of Their Homes, Data Shows

WEST ALTON, Mo. (AP) — Commerce along the Mississippi River has evolved over the past century at the expense of many once-thriving river towns. But persistent and sometimes devastating flooding has added to the woes of some of those towns. …

Advocates Demand Investigation into Missouri Boarding School Abuse Allegations

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Advocates for victims of abuse at Missouri boarding schools on Monday urged the state’s attorney general to launch an investigation, work with local prosecutors and take other steps aimed at stemming the tide of abuse. Three …