■ Former Festus resident Billy Hanning, 32, of House Springs closed out his career as a defenseman on the U.S. Paralympic sled hockey team with a gold medal at the Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea earlier this month. Read Gordon Bess’ exciting Page 1 story.
■ Finally, the news about flu is good. The number of influenza cases in Jefferson County is dwindling as the flu season enters its final weeks, the Jefferson County Health Department reports. For the week of March 11-17, the department reported 20 confirmed flu cases, eight type A and 12 type B. That was a significant drop from 60 (14 A and 46 B) in the prior week and 118 (36 A and 82 B) the week before that. The peak week for the season so far was 490 (412 A and 64 B) in the week of Dec. 17-23. Read Gordon Bess’ story.
■ Capt. Tony Moutray, currently the head of the Pevely Police Department, is suing the city and the Board of Aldermen over a suspension approved by five board members Jan. 22 during a termination hearing that did not result in him losing his job. The civil suit, filed March 16 in Jefferson County Circuit Court, alleges that at least one board member has interfered with Moutray doing his job and seeks for the three-day suspension be expunged from his record. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak can state the importance of Proposition P, a 35-cent property tax for the Sheriff’s Office that will appear on the April 3 ballot, in a single word. “Critical,” he said. If Proposition P is approved by a simple majority, it would generate about $7 million per year to add to the current approximately $18 million budget. The new funding would be used to raise salaries of current officers, improve starting salaries and hire about 40 more deputies. Read Steve Taylor’s Page 1 story and this week’s Voters Guide, which provides information on April 3 ballot measures.
■ The Missouri Senate just may be the place to be. There’s plenty of action for the District 22 seat in the state Senate. As of Monday, with just one day left to file, the incumbent, Paul Wieland of Imperial, was the sole Republican to file for his party’s nomination. He’s seeking a second four-year term after serving three terms in the state House of Representatives. However, a pair of Democrats and a member of the Libertarian Party hope to deny Wieland another term and have filed for their parties’ nominations. The Democrats are Robert Butler, an attorney from Barnhart who has ran a pair of unsuccessful campaigns for the state House of Representatives in 2014 and 2016, and Edward Thurman of High Ridge. Richie Camden of the Hillsboro area is running on the Libertarian ticket. See Steve Taylor’s story.
■ Sister Marita Anne Marrah, an advisory board member for the Jefferson County Court Appointed Special Advocates, has won a national award for her work with the group. CASA is a nationwide organization that trains volunteers from all walks of life to advocate on behalf of youngsters of all ages who have been abused or neglected and are dependents of the juvenile court. Marrah, 88, won the organization’s Board Member of the Year Award – one of several award handed out at the 2018 National CASA Association Awards of Excellence conference, held March 10-13 in Boston. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Sports editor Russell Korando writes in his column this week about Sean Breeze making the decision to move from the Crystal City School District to Jefferson R-7 to coach boys basketball and teach. Also, you’ll find loads and loads of high school track results and a story on Jefferson College’s men’s baseball scoring a fourth straight win.
■ The Leader is endorsing a 35-cent property tax to allow more and better-paid officers for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Read the reasons why in an editorial. Peggy Bess had the column this week and urges county residents to do better than the 15 percent predicted turnout for the April 3 election.
*** Get Noah on the line.