Archive for January, 2010

Saint Louis University coach Rick Majerus recently “confided” to the Associated Press that he would be just as happy that his basketball team played in the Missouri Valley Conference, rather than in the more far-flung (but prestigious) Atlantic 10. Majerus, whose interest in the graduation rates his student-athletes goes beyond the Xs and 0s on the chalkboard, had probably not vetted the pronouncement with the Rev. Larry Biondi, who is still celebrating the Bills’ Wednesday night blowout of Jesuit rival Fordham.

Several local police districts are on the lookout for a car thief with an extra helping of brazen. The jacker cruises private parking lots in a marked tow truck (with out-of-state plates) looking for a likely target. If he is confronted by building security (or curious pedestrians), he claims he is merely searching for “a repossession.” Cars hooked by this truck most likely end up in overnight chop shops that turn the cars into much more lucrative car parts. According to police reports, Capt. Samuel “Sam” Dotson has been tapped to be the new Secretary of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, traditionally one of the department’s most powerful administrative positions.

Kudos to Geoff Whittington, who has settled in a challenging job at BlockShopper.com, where he conducts computer and reference book research throughout the U.S. He focuses on where notables once lived and writes about them. His byline was recently found in the San Francisco Chronicle real estate section in which he wrote about a house, where the photographer of the Iwo Jima flag raising once lived. . .

Having developed a specialty in communications strategy using social media tools, Allison Collinger has been up and running her AHC Consulting business that has been booming. The former Rams exec is now facing audiences in packed rooms to hear her seminars on the topic and speaking/training engagements in the area. . .

Hometowner Steve Church is tub-thumping his kids television series project, “Safe at Home,” “starring and co-produced by Joe Torre and co-created by myself and John Goodman.” Church, now on the left coast, says Penny Marshall is directing and it is co-developed by Ed Goren, prez of Fox Sports. He added that he and Goodman are partnered with Tony Ponturo‘s Leverage Agency. . .

Another L.A. talent and hometowner, Lara Csengody, has struck success as a comedienne and writer and is fielding countless offers these days for her stand-up routines. . .

According to an email from St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the City of St. Louis’s Public Safety Dept. is now sending emergency text messages to subscribers of the data service Nixle.com.

The universally-used Wikipedia, the user-created on-line encyclopedia, notes one more pronunciation of our hometown than most residents would accept.  Does anyone actually agree that we are officially Saint Looey? When Saint Looey was a storybook city about 102 years ago, the chain of Central Hardware stores was founded by the Cohen family.  Shuttered far too long, the pioneer family’s descendant Jim Cohen has decided to rally investors to build a Central Hardware on Olive Boulevard on the site of what once was Essen Hardware. Good luck!

Bob Clark, whose Clayco, Inc., is a major player in the St. Louis development scene, is opening a new office in Minneapolis.  It will be helmed by Tim Murnane, a former veep of Opus Northwest, which is headquartered in the Twin Cities and has established a St. Louis office.  Clark is returning the favor. . 

They’ve come a long way.  Enos Stanley Kroenke, Andy Cohen and Danny Meyer and their footprints have been deep in the New York media.  In Stan Kroenke’s case, he’s been profiled in The New York Times, beginning with having swept the floors at his dad’s business in Mora, Mo., and is on the verge of taking control of the English soccer club Arsenal, “one of the game’s most treasured franchises.” “His personality, influenced by his Lutheran-German upbringing, is most often described for what it is not,” reads the profile.  Yet, the soft spoken Kroenke was not available for the article.  Both Kroenke and his wife, the former Ann Walton, are listed among the top 117 richest Americans by Forbes with a combined $5.8 billion. . .

In the current issue of New York magazine, hometowner Andy Cohen has reportedly acquired his own weekly talk show, “Watch What Happens Live” on the Bravo network.  He landed at Bravo after working at CBS News. . .

In the same edition, Danny Meyer’s Maialino gets raves from restaurant critic Adam Platt.  Located in “Danny Land,”  Maialino is located in Gramercy Park.

Sean Conroy, affable general assignment reporter at KTVI (Channel 2) is set to bow a second location of his bar, the International Tap House, in the city’s Dogtown nabe.  No word if the original Chesterfield location will alter its singular slogan, 500 Beers, 40 on Tap, 20 countries, 1 Location. . .

Over at Frankie Gabriele‘s Osso Bucco, we learned that Reno Armeni was back in town from eyeballing the shuttered Savor Restaurant and is poised to open an alternative eatery, Queen. Armeni once was the manager of the long-gone Faust’s at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.

On Feb. 2, Judge Barbara Wallace in St. Louis county will hear arguments in former Kirkwood resident Bryan Bacon‘s child sex abuse case against long time former St. Louis Catholic school teacher Brother William Mueller.  Five years ago, Mueller was first sued as an alleged sexual predator.  Since then, dozens have accused him of bizarre child sex crimes in three states and 23 lawsuits against him have settled for $4 million in 2007.  Bacon settled for six figures with Mueller’s former employer, the Marianists.  But, Bacon continues to pursue legal action against Mueller as an individual.  Mueller taught at Vianney, Chaminade and St. Mary’s high schools here. A week later, Cardoza law professor, author and FindLaw columnist Marci Hamilton, a former clerk to Sandra Day O’Connor, will argue before the Eastern District of the Court of Appeals on behalf of two women who say they were molested as kids by the Rev. William Poepperling.  Hamilton maintains that Missouri is one of only three states where the “archaic legal rulings” enable church officials to essentially escape liability in most cases for negligent hiring, retention and supervision of staff, even when they hire or keep known of suspected predators on their payroll.

Noranda Aluminum is AmerenUE’s biggest industrial customer, running a mammoth aluminum smelter in New Madrid, Mo.  Noranda is also paying the lowest rate per kilowatt hour for power of any AmerenUE customer – several cents per kwh less than the poorest residential ratepayer in our town.  The company is part of the combine of large industrial customers now fighting AmerenUE’s rate increase proposal at the Missouri Public Service Commission with lots of hand-wringing about how they are on the ropes financially.  Interesting?  Leon Black, CEO of Noranda Aluminum’s holding company, Apollo Global Management LLC reportedly plunked down $47.6 million for Raphael’s drawing, “Head of a Muse,” at Christie’s in London, setting an auction record for a work on paper. Noranda also recently bought about $250 million in mines. So, Noranda continues its fight against a rate increase in Stoddard County and will likely push legislation that limits what it will pay – on the back of residential and small business customers.