Jessica Lussenhop

Louis Head, Michael Brown Jr.'s stepfather, at this morning's press conference in Clayton.

Attorneys for the family of slain teenager Michael Brown Jr. addressed the media this morning on a blustery day in downtown Clayton. Inside the Buzz Westfall Justice Center behind them, Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist who performed a secondary autopsy on Brown's body, began his testimony before the grand jury. It is believed he is one of the final witnesses the group will hear from as they consider whether or not to charge Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Brown.

Attorney Benjamin Crump declined to go into the substance of Baden's testimony, and focused his remarks mainly on a message to area law enforcement.

"Regardless of the decision of the grand jury, this will be a defining moment in the history of the state of Missouri," Crump said. "To the law enforcement officers who will be patrolling the streets, we would like to thank you in advance for not having a repeat of the horrific encounters that took place in August."

More »

Mitch Ryals

OM Turtle Yoga in Florissant opened one year ago, and owners hope to add a second location in Ferguson by December.

As anticipation in Ferguson mounts, maybe the town could use a little yoga.

Angie Carron wants to be the one to bring it there.

The fifteen-year Florissant resident and owner of OM Turtle Yoga recently signed a lease for a second studio, an 1,100-square-foot space down the road from the Ferguson police station.

"Everyone is like, 'Why Ferguson? Why now?'" Carron says. "But truly, why not Ferguson right now? We all need to find our center, our peace, our balance, and I think this is a better time than any to bring our studio to Ferguson."

More »

Daniel.Wormek via flickr

St. Louis is the fourth most dangerous city in America, behind Memphis, Oakland and No. 1 Detroit, says a new study from Law Street.

If this story is giving you deja vu, that's because St. Louis was ranked the No. 4 most dangerous city in 2008 and 2011. River City took the No. 1 most dangerous title in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

More »

Danny Wicentowski

Stray Rescue founder Randy Grim, center, shares updates on St. Louis' problems with cruelty to animals next to Mayor Francis Slay.

Stray Rescue's animal shelter is already full. With winter approaching and more protests expected in St. Louis later this year, that's a big problem, says founder Randy Grim.

Ever since civil unrest took place in Ferguson after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, Stray Rescue has been taking in more runaway and abandoned animals. Grim says he's seen significantly more dogs on the streets suffering from gunshot wounds.

Now, Grim says, he's preparing for the worst and praying for peace.

More »

via

Frank Ancona (center), the head of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, says his group is ready to protect citizens from violent Ferguson protesters.

The head of Missouri's most visible KKK group claims his "Klanline" is being flooded with calls from prospective recruits angered by the continuing protests in Ferguson.

"Missouri is definitely on fire right now," says Frank Ancona, the imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In the past the group made headlines by passing out fliers for a KKK neighborhood watch program, but Ancona tells Daily RFT the Ferguson protests are attracting a new wave hopeful hood-wearers. He says he's inducted 50 new members to the group's Missouri chapter this month, and numbers are up in Ohio and Alabama as well.

"These Ferguson protesters are the best recruiters since Obama," he says. "Normally we might hear from ten people a week in Missouri, and now we're hearing from more like fifty people a week. Sometimes, depending on these news stories, we get 100, 200 calls in a day."

Update: See below for a statement from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which lists the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan as an active hate group.

More »

Danny Wicentowski

Crystal Peairs and April Breeden kiss after marrying in the St. Louis City Hall rotunda Wednesday.

Newly married same-sex couples, clergy and other supporters will ask Attorney General Chris Koster today not to appeal a judge's ruling that says Missouri's ten-year-old ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.

More than 3,000 Missourians have signed a petition that asks Koster not to appeal so the state can, as the petition says, "put this ban to rest once and for all."

More »

Hoira Varlan via Flickr

Look at all this wood.

Starting today, St. Louis is offering city residents free wood. Firewood, that is.

Every year, the forestry department collects wood from the removal of dead or damaged trees in city parks and streets and gives it to residents for firewood.

More »

Aotearoa (New Zealand); detail of Storehouse outer threshold -paepae, 19th century or earlier; wood, traces of red ochre; 12 1/2 x 95 9/16 x 3 9/16 inches; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

When the Saint Louis Art Museum presented Impressionist France as the inaugural show for its new Chipperfield addition, it was a safe, crowd-pleasing choice. The institution's sophomore effort in the new building, Atua: Sacred Gods from Polynesia, could not be more different. Filled with remote, otherworldly sculptures and carvings from a distant culture, Atua asks visitors to take it on faith that these strange, little-understood remnants possess a presence and power to rival the secular art that fills the museum's walls.

More »

Jessica Lussenhop

Governor Jay Nixon lays out plans for protests in Ferguson and St. Louis after the grand-jury announcement.

Governor Jay Nixon announced the law-enforcement strategy for future protests in Ferguson and St. Louis at a press conference this afternoon at the Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop C headquarters in St. Charles County.

Nixon said three local agencies -- the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol -- will form a unified command to maintain security during protests. The National Guard, which was called up during protests in August, will hold back, Nixon said, until "we determine it is necessary to support local law enforcement."

"As governor, the most important part of my job is keeping the people of Missouri safe," Nixon said. "That is why we have been working around the clock to prepare to keep residents and businesses of the St. Louis region safe -- regardless of the outcome of the parallel local and federal investigations."

More »

Danny Wicentowski

St. Louis County police make an arrest August 19.

It all started with the former cop who's now known as Officer "Go Fuck Yourself."

Journalist Bilgin Şaşmaz stayed close to then-St. Ann police lieutenant Ray Albers as Albers pointed his weapon at Ferguson protesters during protests on August 19 and said, "I will fucking kill you." Şaşmaz was doing his job, recording Albers' extreme actions and the rest of the protests -- which had been raging for more than a week -- for his employer, the Turkish Anadolu Agency.

More »