LEMAY > School district buys sports field — The Hancock Place School District has purchased Heine Meine Field for $1 from the Lemay Baseball Association, said Superintendent Kevin Carl. The school had previously leased Heine Meine, which is in the center of the district, for soccer, softball and baseball games.

The Lemay Baseball Association will continue to use the fields on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for its leagues, Carl said. The district will take over maintaining the fields.

The fields cover nine acres near Lemay Ferry Road and Little Broadway. The property was named for Heine Meine, a St. Louis Browns and Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher in the 1930s who owned a bar near the field, according to the association's website. The diamonds were built in 1939. (Leah Thorsen)

METRO EAST > Levee fixes won't hurt environment, Army Corps says — The Army Corps of Engineers has published a draft finding that planned levee system improvements in Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties will have no significant environmental impact.

The agency's environmental assessment of the project is available online at tinyurl.com/72fbu8b. The public may comment on the document by contacting Timothy George of the Environmental Compliance Section by telephone at 314-331-8459 or fax at 314-331-8606 or email at Timothy.K.George@usace.army.mil by noon Feb. 20.

Work is expected to start within a few months on an estimated $151 million in improvements that would restore the Wood River, Metro East Sanitary District and Prairie du Pont/Fish Lake levee systems to 100-year flood protection. The Southwestern Illinois Flood Protection District plans to finance the work with proceeds of a quarter-cent sales tax collected since 2009. (Terry Hillig)

MAPLEWOOD > TIF commission give project thumbs down — The Maplewood Tax Increment Finance Commission declined Wednesday to recommend giving $8.5 million in tax assistance to a developer who wants to revitalize Deer Creek Center. Summit Development had asked for $6.5 million in tax increment financing and $2 million through creation of a Community Improvement District.

Citing St. Louis County's opposition to using tax assistance for retail development, seven members of the 12-member TIF commission voted against the project. Only three people — all city officials favoring the project — spoke at the public hearing. Tax abatement is necessary for the project because the site is blighted and meets the "but-for" requirement for special tax financing — that is, the project could not be carried out but for tax assistance, they said.

Scott Reese, principal with Summit, said after the meeting that he was "disappointed but not surprised" by the vote. Summit will now ask the City Council to approve the $27 million plan. Without a positive recommendation from the TIF commission, a two-thirds vote from the council is required for passage. Approval of a tax package is crucial to the project, Reese said. "If there's no TIF, there's no project," he added.

Mayor Jim White said after the meeting that he believes the council will approve the plan. City Manager Martin Corcoran said he expects the project will be on the council agenda for its Feb. 14 meeting with a final vote coming at its Feb. 28 meeting. (Special to the Post-Dispatch)

MAPLEWOOD > City to consider whether to let food trucks in — Officials may soon have to decide whether they want to revise zoning ordinances that bar food trucks from operating in Maplewood.

City Manager Martin Corcoran told the City Council on Tuesday that he has received a request from someone who wants to operate a food truck.

The matter will come before the city's planning and zoning commission on Feb. 6, he said.

Councilman David Cerven noted that an ice cream truck currently operates in Maplewood. But Corcoran noted that the ice cream truck "doesn't stay in one spot." A food truck "could theoretically park in front of Bugaloo and serve food," he added, referring to a local restaurant.

If the council approves a zoning change, the food truck could be operating as early March. (Special to the Post-Dispatch)

ALTON > City to resume own parking ticket processing — The City Council has decided to end an agreement with Professional Account Management for processing of parking citations and resume the practice in house.

Professional Account Management has collected 50 percent of the revenue on tickets written every month, officials reported. In fiscal 2010, the city collected $16,193 in parking-related revenue. In 2002, the last year Alton processed its own parking ticket fines, $51,647 was collected. With the prospect of increases in parking fines, officials expect the city to collect at least as much as it did in 2002.

The new procedure will begin April 1. (Special to the Post-Dispatch)

VALLEY PARK > School district to refinance bonds — Valley Park School District will refinance $2.25 million in general obligation bonds from the original 1998 issue, saving the district about $65,000 over the next four years.

The savings are after fees paid to Stifel Nicolaus, which advised the district of the feasibility of the plan based on lowered interest rates. The plan was approved by the School Board on Wednesday night.

The 1998 issue was primarily for acquiring lands and developing buildings. The district has about $11 million in outstanding bonds in total, payable at various times through 2025. (Special to the Post-Dispatch)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. > Measures target online dating services — Online dating websites operating in Illinois would face regulations under two separate but similar proposals introduced in the Illinois House and Senate.

The legislation would require dating websites to tell customers whether criminal background checks are done before they can start using the sites. Dating websites also would have to post safety tips, like suggesting users not list home addresses. (AP)