Author Archive

Jeff Minnis, owner of Jeff Computers in Manchester (MO), has been  named Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2012 by the St. Louis  District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Minnis will  be honored at the annual St. Louis SBA Awards Dinner on Thursday, May  10, at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield.Minnis, who has repaired computers since he was in middle school, opened his first repair shop in Manchester in 2006. In 2008, he moved  into his first retail location where he added computer sales to repair services. In 2010, Jeff Computers moved into its current sales and  repair location at 14366 Manchester Road. MInnis is a 2002 grad of Parkway West High School. He received a  Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Webster University in  2006. During high school, he developed a learning software program, “Study X.” He refined the program during his time at Webster U., he had been selling it online since 2005. He plans to release a new  business software program (now in beta testing) to retailers later this year. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year award is based on criteria such as  revenue and profit figures, employment opportunities created, use of  creative business methods and potential for long-term success. It is  limited to entrepreneurs under age 30. Minnis resides in Ballwin with his wife, Yin.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators will meet tomorrow (Monday) to set tuition rates.  It had been proposed to hike them by 7.5 percent and double student fees at some of the colleges.

That iconic photo of Bob Gibson striking out yet another Detroit Tiger in the 1968 World Series graces the NY Times sports section today. Tim Wendel,, author of the forthcoming book “Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball, and America, Forever,” describes that Cardinal team as “a ballclub that reveled in its racial diversity, a rainbow coalition well before the Rev. Jess Jackson ever coined the phrase.” But the writer also speculates that Gibson’s early struggle that season may have been partially caused by his sadness from the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. . . Also in the Times’ Travel section is a piece outlining how actual human beings (called “travel agents”) can sometimes still find surprisingly cheaper and better flights than Expedia, Kayak and other on-line sources. . .Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, reports that “A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny.” One case involved the possible extradition of convicted child molester David Kramer, now in a Farmington, Mo. jail on suspicion of having abused children at a Chabad school in Melbourne during the 1990s. Kramer, “who was reportedly spirited out of Australia by one of Melbourne’s Chabad leaders following abuse allegations, is halfway through a seven-year prison sentence for sodomizing a 12-year-old in St. Louis.”

The Delmar Loop in University City will finally get a surveillance system to be installed in June at a cost of $160k.  It will mark the first time cameras in U. City are aimed to monitor buildings not owned by the city.The money for the system comes from sales tax collected by businesses. . .At Il Bel Lago it was all celebratory. St. Louis-based Pacific Development’s Todd Schneider and Al Mers were aflutter at cinching the construction of “the largest ferris wheel in the U.S.” (200 feet high) due to bow May 23 in Pensacola, FL.  Next stop: Myrtle Beach, with a wheel that is to be fully-enclosed, climate controlled gondolas geared for a 12-minute ride. . .Giovanni’s on The Hill’s Fina and Giovanni Gabriele, while inhaling vodka pasta, got kudos on receiving the coveted AAA four-diamond award for the 23rd consecutive year. Others in that class are Tony’s, Ritz Carlton and five-diamonds for Cielo at the Four Seasons. Another celebration: distinguished barrister Gerard Carmody, who with his staff, marked the Carmody MacDonald law firm’s 30th anniversary.

Tori Praver

The numbers are in for 2011 radio advertising to the tune of $17 billion of which $700 million was spent on digital.  More than $5 billion is expected to be spent this year on political advertising, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. . .Movie going is up 4.6 percent this year.  Good news for producers, since the rate of admissions plummeted to a 16-year low in 2011 and China will now allow more U.S. films to play there. . .Advertising cars and women in skimpy clothing is nothing new, but Lexus has hit the jackpot.  The firm and its ad shop have built a campaign consisting of a racetrack in the shape of Sports Illustrated swim model Tori Praver. . .Believe it or noddity: While former KSDK, Ch. 5 weathercaster Anthony Slaughter touted his departure for “San Francisco,” the guy ended up on Ch. 11 in San Jose (Hello?).

Demetrious Johnson, the former McKinley and Mizzou football star who went on to play for the Detroit Lions and the Miami Dolphins, grew up in our town’s Darst-Webbe Housing Project. After realizing his boyhood dreams of athletic accomplishment in professional football, Demetrious went on to a successful business career as National Sales Manager for the Athletic Sports Medicine Division of Covidien. But DJ, as friends know the one-time premier defensive back, has never forgotten the impact of encouraging young people to maximize their potential and keep going despite tough circumstances. Today (Saturday), the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation will host its first Student Athlete Combine. Representatives from more than one dozen colleges will attend to watch 150 high school student athletes run drills including the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, standing broad jump, catching balls and agility maneuvers. The event at the Dellwood Indoor Recreation Complex is part of the foundation’s continuing efforts to help student athletes get into college. “It’s in keeping with our foundation’s philosophy that any student athlete who works hard and is dedicated and committed to advancing their lives and getting the highest education, deserves an opportunity to attend college,” says DJ, whose own Mizzou degree was a bachelors’ in education with a major in counseling psychology. This weekend you can hear DJ on his talk show on HOT 104.1 FM.

For the 2012 season, Fox Sports Midwest will carry 150 games in its second full season as the exclusive local TV home of the Cardinals. Ten regular season games are slated to be carried as part of the Major League Baseball’s national television packages with FOX (locally on KTVI, Ch. 2 and ESPN). The July 22 game vs. Chicago and the Aug. 12 game at Philadelphia will be carried by FOX Sports Midwest on ESPN. FOX will also televise five Grapefruit League Spring Training Games  FOX Sports Midwest will also continue to produce the “Cardinals Live” pre-game and post-game shows with Jim Hayes, Pat Parris and Cal Eldred for every season telecast on the network.  Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky and Rick Horton will again call the games from the broadcast booth of FOX Sports Midwest.

Whitney Houston

In memoriam: The music world was diminished by the untimely death of pop star Whitney Houston.  Something more has vanished with her passing – her talent and dedication to her craft.  She had the grand style and passions that existed in delicate balance.  Whitney Houston’s death has boosted her “Greatest Hits” to #1 on the iTunes chart. Theater owners are craving for the August release of the Sony film, “Sparkle,” in which she takes center stage for a gospel turn. Simon Cowell is undoubtedly devastated since he considered her as a judge on “X Factor.”  Producers of “Glee” are poised to turn out a Whitney Houston tribute on Tuesday evening. Jennifer Hudson, at this moment, is rehearsing for a tribute to Whitney for tonight’s  Grammys telecast (locally on KMOV, Channel 4). There’ll be parties in Hollywood this weekend amidst the gloom. There’ll be forced gaiety. For they all know the gap she leaves in this world is her monument.