Shawn Poe of the Grand Sultans of Excess drinks a shot beside Marsha Roth at the South Broadway Athletic Club as the 12th Night Celebration kicks off the 44th Soulard Mardi Gras on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. The traditional 12th night after Christmas marks the day the Magi arrived in Bethlehem to end the Christmas season. A series of events, beginning with a winter carnival on Jan. 14, leads to the Saturday Grand Parade on Feb. 18.
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis University officials are probing workload and mental health concerns inside the university's pep band after its director quit last month in frustration.
Former pep band director Austin Turner, who served in the role for eight years, notified band members of his resignation last week. In the email, he alleged that the university had heaped extra work on the band but wouldn't address the added stress on members.
"I have expressed concerns time and time again, but the burdens placed on the Band this fall were unacceptable," Turner wrote.
Mental health concerns among students have surfaced at SLU in recent years, as they have at colleges across the country. The university has created a new administrator position dedicated to well-being, hired more counselors, expanded counseling services, and established support groups and mental health workshops.
The university said it met with pep band members this week, but denied Turner's claims.
"Concerns were expressed to
the Department of Athletics regarding scheduling and communication with the pep band, which were addressed last semester," said athletics department spokesman Brian Kunderman. "We acknowledge those concerns and appreciate that they were raised."
The university will continue to work with pep band leadership and students "to ensure we are meeting all their mental health needs," Kunderman said.
The band's striped blue and white rugby sweaters have long been a staple in the student section of Billiken basketball games. They call themselves the "World's Greatest Pep Band," and they pump up the crowd and home team by playing hard, using props, and coordinating chants and songs. Participation at any game is voluntary, but they have a presence at dozens of games every year, some requiring travel across the country. Members receive a small stipend for playing in the band, which is made up of alumni and students.
The band previously only played at basketball games, but requests for them to appear at other events began to grow lately to volleyball and soccer games, and even birthday and retirement events, Turner wrote. Sometimes they would only get a few days' notice, and it "started to put a heavy strain on us," he wrote. Turner, who first joined the
band as a student in 2000, said in the email that he had meetings in October and November with athletics administrators where he told them about concerns over scheduling and mental health.
The athletics department acknowledged those concerns, Kunderman said, by emphasizing to band members their participation is "strictly voluntary." And the department communicated "more directly" with band leadership about additional events where they'd be asked to perform.
But the pace of performances didn't dip, Turner said in the email.
Turner's last day was Dec. 31. He did not respond to requests for comment. SLU alumnus and band member Gabe Valdez said he wasn't sure if the demands of playing in the band were causing mental health problems among members.
But he said Turner supported band member concerns caused by their schedule. "Austin has been our champion on this," said Valdez, 25, of Rock Hill.
"It's kind of hard to imagine the band performing at the same level without him."
The university hired an interim director, SLU alumna and pep band drummer Sarah Silverberg. She hosted two virtual meetings with band members this week to discuss scheduling, communication, mental health and well-being, Kunderman said, and she'll continue to meet with the band on the issue through the end of her temporary tenure in March.
She did not respond to requests for comment.
The band's next home event is a men's basketball game 3 p.m. Saturday at Chaifetz Arena.
The university offers counseling to students. The SLU Counseling Center can be reached at 314-977-8255 (TALK) or by visiting the clinic on the second floor of Wuller Hall at 3711 West Pine Mall.
Michele Munz and Carter Chapley of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Kelsey Landis • 314-340-8304 @kelseylandis on Twitter klandis@post-dispatch.com
Cordell S. Williams is shown in a family photo with his fiancée, Lacey K. Newton. They are holding their infant son, Cordell Shawn Michael Williams. All three died Tuesday, April 13, 2021, when their car was struck by a suspected drunken driver.
The scene of a triple fatal two-car crash along Highway 30 just east of Kennerly Park Drive in Jefferson County as seen on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Lacey K. Newton, Cordell S. Williams and their 4-month-old son died when their vehicle was hit from behind Tuesday night by a suspected drunken driver.
Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Cordell Shawn Michael Williams
Lacey Newton
A family photo of Cordell S. Williams and his fiancée Lacey K. Newton, with their infant son Cordell Williams.
The scene of a triple fatal two-car crash along Highway 30 just east of Kennerly Park Drive in Jefferson County as seen on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Lacey K. Newton, 25, and Cordell S. Williams, 30, and their 4-month-old son Cordell Shawn Michael Williams died at the scene. Police say the family's car was struck from behind Tuesday night by a suspected drunken driver.
Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
HILLSBORO — The storage of two blood vials is poised to be a key piece of evidence in the trial of a Fenton man accused of driving drunk and killing a couple and their infant son.
On Friday, the opening day of David Thurby’s DWI trial, a state trooper was grilled by defense lawyer Travis Noble for storing Thurby’s blood samples in an unrefrigerated storage locker for two weeks before the samples could be tested in a lab.
The Missouri Highway Patrol trooper, Austin Leroux, was just a year out of the police academy when he arrested Thurby on April 13, 2021, on suspicion of driving drunk and causing a deadly wreck on Highway 30 in Jefferson County.
The crash killed Lacey K. Newton, 25, her fiancé Cordell S. Williams, 30, and their 4-month-old son. They lived in Bonne Terre.
The grandmother of the couple’s two surviving sons has asked the Missouri Legislature to enact a bill called “Bentley’s Law,” which would require drunken drivers to pay child support if they kill the parents of a minor.
David G. Thurby
Thurby is charged with three counts of DWI causing the death of others.
Leroux testified at the jury trial that Thurby’s blood was drawn by a nurse at a St. Louis County hospital after the arrest. Leroux said he took the vials and stored them in a patrol car for 14 hours. He then took the vials to the patrol’s Troop C headquarters to keep them refrigerated. But the refrigerators had no room, he said. Leroux said he then decided to put them in a locker.
Noble noted there were multiple police agencies nearby. “Ever think to yourself of maybe calling another law enforcement agency, ‘Hey can I store in your refrigerator?’” Noble asked. Leroux said no.
The vials were moved to a lab for testing April 28, and Noble claims bacteria could have degraded the sample and created a false reading.
Noble said the test showed Thurby’s blood-alcohol level was .179 percent, more than twice the legal limit. A preliminary test revealed that Thurby had a blood-alcohol level of .192 percent, the trooper said in a probable cause statement.
Leroux said he believed it was OK to store blood at room temperature, and he wouldn’t do anything differently if he had the chance.
According to the National Library for Medicine, blood samples do not necessarily need to be kept refrigerated, but they should be stored in a cool place and transported to a laboratory “as soon as possible.”
The Missouri Highway Patrol's policy on storing blood samples says the employee "should protect the specimen from extreme heat and freezing until delivery to the laboratory," Capt. John Hotz, director of the patrol's public Information and education division, told the Post-Dispatch.
A criminalist who ran the test on Thurby’s blood is expected to testify early next week for the prosecution. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Vic Melenbrink has set aside all of next week for the trial. The prosecutor told the jury he plans to have additional officers testify as well as a bartender who served liquor to Thurby.
Assistant prosecutor Thomas Hollingsworth, seemingly exasperated by the defense lawyer’s tactics, asked the trooper if he had “ever been treated like this in your whole life?”
Leroux said Friday was his first time testifying in front of a jury. The prosecutor brought the trooper into court a day early and had him on the stand in private as a dry run.
On Friday, Noble asked Leroux to spit out chewing gum while Leroux was on the stand, but he said the gum calmed his nerves and did not spit it out.
Cecilia Williams, the grandmother of the couple’s two surviving sons, said in an interview later Friday she had faith in the prosecutor and the trooper.
“The trooper was a rookie, and he did his job correctly,” she said.
After hours on the stand, Leroux said he had written two probable cause statements, with conflicting elements about what Thurby told the trooper. In one court record, Leroux quoted Thurby saying, “I had seven shots of Crown and water.” In the second court record, he said Thurby told him he’d had four drinks.
Leroux said he wrote the second affidavit once he had reviewed dash cam footage that picked up the conversations he had with Thurby. The wrong version was based on memory, Leroux said. He made the arrest noting that Thurby’s eyes were watery and bloodshot, and he smelled of liquor, the trooper said.
The prosecutor’s first witness of the day was Byrnes Mill police Sgt. Cody Umfress, who happened upon the fiery crash site and tried to rescue the family. Umfress’s rescue effort was recorded by his body camera. Hollingsworth played the video for the jury. Umfress used a police baton to try to break the window of the car on fire.
“Crawl out to me,” Umfress yells on the video.
Spectators in the courtroom couldn’t see the video the jury saw, but the sounds were so disturbing that Cecilia Williams ran from the courtroom sobbing.
“It was too much,” she said later.
A half-dozen representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving were in the courtroom, too, in support of Cecilia Williams and her family. Jen Wamsganz with MADD said, “Our concern is always the families. That’s why we show up.”
The Missouri Highway Patrol said the couple and infant boy who died were in a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix heading east on Highway 30, west of Upper Byrnes Mill Road. Newton was driving, Williams was in the passenger seat and the baby was in an infant car seat in the back.
Another eastbound vehicle, a 2016 Chevrolet Cruze driven by the 26-year-old Thurby, was behind Newton’s Grand Prix. The patrol said Thurby “failed to keep a proper lookout ahead” and hit the back of the Grand Prix about 10 p.m. Both vehicles ran off the road and hit trees, police said.
Newton’s car caught fire, and police first thought only two adults were dead. They later found the infant’s body inside the burned vehicle.
Thurby, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered minor injuries, police said. He lives in the 400 block of Courtney Estates Drive.
Lacey K. Newton, Cordell S. Williams and their 4-month-old son were in a car that was rear-ended Tuesday night on Highway 30.
Family and police identified the victims as Lacey K. Newton, 25, her fiancé Cordell S. Williams, 30, and their 4-month-old son. They lived in Bonne Terre.
Democrat Lucas Kunce, left, on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, announced plans to challenge U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in 2024.
JEFFERSON CITY — Democrat Lucas Kunce, a Marine veteran who last year lost a bid for U.S. Senate, announced Friday he would try to unseat U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley in 2024, a contest likely to draw national attention due to Hawley’s outspoken support for overturning the 2020 election results.
A video released Friday by Kunce includes the widely circulated photo of Hawley with his fist raised in support of pro-Trump demonstrators at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and footage of Hawley fleeing the Senate chamber after rioters stormed the building.
“This coward’s always running from something,” Kunce says in the video. “When things get tough, Missourians deserve a U.S. senator who will stand up for them, not run away.”
Kyle Plotkin, a spokesman for the Hawley campaign, dismissed the Kunce announcement. “We welcome this desperate woke activist to yet another political race,” Plotkin said. “He just barely finished losing his last one. Maybe he’s running in the wrong state.”
Kunce, one of 11 Democrats who ran for Senate last year after Republican incumbent Roy Blunt announced his retirement, appeared headed for the nomination before the late entry of Anheuser-Busch brewing heir Trudy Busch Valentine. Kunce lost to Valentine by 5 percentage points in the Aug. 2 primary; Valentine, who spent more than $10 million of her own money in her Senate bid, was soundly defeated by Republican Eric Schmitt in the general election.
Kunce did show significant fundraising skills last year, outraising every candidate, even Republicans. He fashioned himself as a populist and his campaign announcement for 2024 cited his military history — he served 13 years in the Marines — and his family’s financial hardships when he grew up in Jefferson City.
“I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I did have the support of my community, which made me who I am today,” Kunce says in his video.
He then refers to Hawley’s “banker daddy” sending him to a “fancy prep school miles from his hometown” — Rockhurst High School, a private, Jesuit school in Kansas City.
Kunce said while he joined the Marines, Hawley joined an elite corporate law firm.
The Democrat’s working-class background, if he wins the party’s primary next August, would deprive Republicans of an attack used against Valentine: that she’s a “limousine liberal” and an “heiress.”
Kunce, 40, said the grassroots apparatus he built in 2022 puts him in a stronger position this time, with a message more likely to resonate with Missourians.
“I’m from Jefferson City. I’m from what some people would call outstate,” Kunce told the Post-Dispatch on Friday, in response to a question about how he would persuade voters in bellwether counties Democrats have had trouble winning. “And I can tell you right now: growing up there, and people who live in places like that, like, we don’t like cowards and frauds and fakers. We just don’t like it. We don’t like people who have stripped our communities for parts.
“I’m gonna show that that’s what Josh Hawley is, over and over again. He hasn’t had to withstand that scrutiny before,” Kunce said. “By the time I’m done with him, like the whole world, everybody in Missouri is gonna know this guy’s a faker and a coward, that he doesn’t do anything for the state, and — and that I will.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee was quick to pan Kunce’s bid.
“Unhinged liberal Lucas Kunce will grift millions from coastal elites, then lose. Just like when he ran last election,” said Mike Berg, spokesman for the NRSC, in a statement.
Hawley, 43, is in his first term as senator. He was elected Missouri attorney general in 2016 before successfully running for Senate in 2018.
The week before the attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago, Hawley became the first Republican senator to announce he would object to the certification of the 2020 presidential election. After the release of the photo showing him with his fist raised, a one-time mentor, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, called supporting Hawley “the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Updated at 4 p.m.
Lucas Kunce launched his second US Senate bid on Friday Jan. 6, 2023 with an ad featuring Josh Hawley.
WASHINGTON — Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to win the House speakership on a 14th ballot late Friday, falling one vote short as tensions boiled over in a chaotic scene on the House floor.
As the clock neared midnight, the lawmakers plunged into a 15th round of voting.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., talks to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after Gaetz voted "present" in the House chamber during the 14th round of voting Friday at the Capitol.
In the raucous 14th, even after two key Republican holdouts voted present to lower the tally McCarthy would need, it was not enough. He strode to the back of the chamber to confront Matt Gaetz, sitting with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers were pointed, words exchanged and violence apparently just averted.
At one point, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama started to charge toward Gatez before Richard Hudson physically pulled him back.
"Stay civil!" someone shouted.
Still, McCarthy was on the cusp of becoming House speaker as the chamber convened for a fourth historic day after he made extraordinary gains in a grueling standoff that has tested American democracy and the GOP majority's ability to govern.
Before the vote, McCarthy had flipped 15 conservative holdouts to become supporters, including the chairman of the chamber's Freedom Caucus, leaving him just a few shy of seizing the gavel for the new Congress.
The House gaveled in late in the night, giving time for last-minute negotiations and for absent Republican colleagues time to return to Washington if their votes were needed. But the chamber drew tense and still as the roll call fell short.
There then was a vote to adjourn — but Republicans led by McCarthy started changing their votes to stay in session, and a 15th round of voting began as the clock neared midnight.
McCarthy had declared to reporters earlier in the day that he believed "we'll have the votes to finish this once and for all."
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., points Friday after another holdout voted for him in the 12th ballot for speaker in the House chamber in Washington.
The day's stunning turn of events came after McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors' demands -- including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office.
Even if McCarthy is able to secure the votes he needs, he will emerge as a weakened speaker, having given away some powers and constantly under the threat of being booted by his detractors.
But he could also be emboldened as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in U.S. history. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker's vote dragged through so many rounds of voting.
The showdown that has stymied the new Congress came against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which shook the country when a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying the Republican's 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
At a Capitol event on Friday, some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, observed a moment of silence and praised officers who helped protect Congress on that day. And at the White House, Biden handed out medals to officers and others who fought the attackers.
"America is a land of laws, not chaos," he said.
Republican members walk out of the chamber Friday as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks as the House tries for the fourth day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington.
At the afternoon speaker's vote, a number of Republicans tiring of the spectacle temporarily walked out when one of McCarthy's most ardent challengers railed against the GOP leader.
Contours of a deal with conservative holdouts who have been blocking McCarthy's rise emerged after three dismal days and 11 failed votes in an intraparty standoff unseen in modern times.
And an upbeat McCarthy told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol, "We're going to make progress. We're going to shock you."
One significant former holdout, Republican Scott Perry, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus who had been a leader of Trump's efforts to challenge the 2020 election, tweeted after his switched vote for McCarthy: "We're at a turning point."
Another Republican holdout, Byron Donalds of Florida, who was repeatedly nominated as an alternative candidate for speaker, switched on Friday, too, voting for McCarthy.
Trump may have played a role in swaying the holdouts. Donalds said he had spoken to the former president who had been urging Republicans to wrap up their public dispute the day before.
On the 12th ballot, McCarthy won the most votes for the first time 213. A 13th was swiftly launched, this time, just between McCarthy and the Democratic leader, and he picked up one more detractor, to 214.
With 432 members now voting — including the dramatic return of Democrat David Trone who had been out for surgery — McCarthy still fell short of the majority. Six Republicans cast their ballots for a Republican colleague. McCarthy allies were counting on the return of two absent colleagues to push him even closer to the majority in nighttime voting.
As Rep. Mike Garcia nominated McCarthy for Friday, he also thanked the U.S. Capitol Police who were given a standing ovation for protecting lawmakers and the legislative seat of democracy on Jan. 6.
But in nominating the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat Jim Clyburn recalled the horror of that day and told his colleagues: "The eyes of the country are on us today," he said.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, talks with Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., during the 12th round of voting Friday in the House chamber as the House tries for the fourth day to elect a speaker in Washington.
Without a speaker, the chamber is unable swear in members and begin its 2023-24 session, a sign of the difficulty ahead for the new Republican majority as it tries to govern.
Electing a speaker is normally an easy, joyous task for a party that has just won majority control. But not this time: About 200 Republicans have been stymied by 20 far-right colleagues who said he's not conservative enough.
The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House, much the way that some past Republican speakers, including John Boehner, had trouble leading a rebellious right flank. The result: government shutdowns, standoffs and Boehner's early retirement when conservatives threatened to oust him.
The agreement McCarthy presented to the holdouts from the Freedom Caucus and others centers around rules changes they have been seeking for months. Those changes would shrink the power of the speaker's office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in drafting and passing legislation.
Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on a historic 15th ballot early Saturday, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks. Here are…
Republican Rep. Dan Bishop, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, explains to CNN's Erin Burnett why he changed his mind and decided to vote f…
WASHINGTON — America's employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December, evidence that the economy remains healthy even as the Federal Reserve is rapidly raising interest rates to try to slow economic growth and the pace of hiring.
With companies continuing to add jobs across the economy, the unemployment rate fell from 3.6% to 3.5%, matching a 53-year low, the Labor Department said Friday.
All told, the December jobs report suggested the labor market may be cooling in a way that could aid the Fed's fight against high inflation. Last month's gain was the smallest in two years, and it extended a hiring slowdown that began last year. Average hourly pay growth eased to its slowest pace in 16 months. That slowdown could reduce pressure on employers to raise prices to off set their higher labor costs.
Average wage growth was up 4.6% in December from 12 months earlier, compared with a recent peak of 5.6% in March. And in the past three months, job gains have averaged 247,000 — a decent pace but well below 2022's monthly average of 375,000.
"If these trends continue, we can feel more and more confident that the strength of this labor market is sustainable," said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at the job website Indeed's Hiring Lab. "The outlook
for next year is uncertain, but many signs point toward a soft landing," rather than a feared recession.
At the same time, December's hiring figures don't necessarily make the Fed's path forward any clearer. The pace of job gains is still strong enough to keep lowering the unemployment rate, which, in turn, could keep pay growth high.
Lisa Cook, a member of the Fed's Board of Governors, said in a speech Friday that "inflation is far too high" and "of great concern," though she also noted that wage growth "has indeed started to decelerate."
Other recent data also point to a cooling economy: A measure of business activity in services, including finance, restaurants and transportation, contracted in December for the first time since 2020. A similar measure for manufacturing also shrank last month.
Additionally, a near doubling of mortgage rates sent home sales tumbling for 10 straight months.
Last month's job gains capped a second straight year of robust hiring during which the nation regained all 22 million jobs it lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the rapid hiring and the hefty pay raises that accompanied it likely contributed to a spike in prices that catapulted inflation to its highest level in 40 years.
The picture for 2023 is much cloudier. Many economists foresee a recession in the second half of the year, a consequence of the Fed's succession of sharp rate hikes. The central bank's officials projected that those increases will cause the unemployment rate to reach 4.6% by year's end.
Though the Fed's higher rates have begun to cool inflation from its summertime peak, they've also made mortgages, auto loans and other consumer and business borrowing more expensive.
For now at least, the pace of hiring is showing surprising resilience in the face of higher interest rates across the economy. One recent beneficiary is Ethan Edwards of Oklahoma City, who accepted a job offer last month after having looked around for nearly a year.
Edwards, 41, had taken his time because he was picky: He already had a job in local broadcasting, where he worked in marketing. But he wanted to find a position in a new industry in which he could work from home while avoiding a pay cut.
The strong job market eventually delivered. A recruiting firm, Aquent, connected Edwards to a digital marketing company, where he now leads strategic planning.
"So far," he said, "every step of the way has been awesome."
Among industries, the largest job gains last month were in health care, which added 74,000. Leisure and hospitality, a category that includes restaurants, hotels, and entertainment, gained nearly as much: 67,000.
Retailers added 9,000, transportation and warehousing companies nearly 5,000. Construction companies added 28,000 — a surprisingly large gain considering that higher borrowing rates are dragging down residential and commercial real estate.
Many of those jobs were part-time positions. That trend suggests that as inflation began to accelerate, some people took on second jobs to help keep up with rising costs.
Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, noted the December jobs report showed that roughly 80% of people who found jobs last month took parttime work, which typically pays less than full-time jobs. That is likely one reason why wage growth has been slowing.
President Joe Biden suggested Friday that the continuing job gains were, in part, a reflection of his policies, in which the government supplied vast aid during the pandemic to boost hiring and then added spending on infrastructure, computer chips, manufacturing and other areas to support business investment.
"It's a good time to be a worker in America," Biden said in a statement. "We still have work to do to bring down inflation."
Jared Bernstein, a top economic adviser to Biden, said the administration is still hoping for growth in inflation-adjusted wages.
"What's important to us is that families have the buying power through their paychecks to get ahead," Bernstein said.
