■ It looks like a Hampton Inn hotel will be built on Shapiro Drive south of Hwy. A on Larry Goodwin’s planned-unit development in Festus now that the City Council has agreed to offer the developer tax abatements to help finance the multimillion-dollar project. The Festus City Council voted 7-0 Feb. 27 to issue $10 million in Chapter 100 industrial revenue bonds, which would provide the tax abatements and reduce the developer’s overall cost to build the hotel. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Shayla Johnson, 8, of Arnold entered the gymfirst. Then, the young girl, who dresses like a broken China doll and goes by the stage name, Abigail, led her father around the wrestling ring for a Feb. 9 sold-out wrestling show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis. Shayla is the reason her father, Brian Johnson, 43, of Arnold, better known as Khayman, Master of the Dark Arts, began wrestling again after taking nearly a decade off. See Tony Krausz’s Page 1 feature story.
■ Pevely Police Chief Charles “Tony” Moutray, who’s been on administrative leave since early January, is resigning from the job effective March 31, Mayor Stephanie Haas announced after Monday’s Board of Aldermen meeting. Haas said Moutray’s attorney, Allison Sweeney, worked out a separation agreement for her client with city attorney Sean Westhoff earlier that day, and then Westhoff informed board members about the agreement during a closed meeting held before the regular meeting. The board did not vote to accept Moutray’s resignation, but Haas said she expects an official vote on the matter at a future meeting. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ The Missouri Legislature is contemplating legislation that would cost owners of higher-fuel-economy vehicles more – in some cases much more – to annually renew their license plates. SB 201 is sponsored by State Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, whose 3rd District takes in the southern half of Jefferson County. Romine said the legislation is aimed at ensuring that motorists more equally share the cost of maintaining the state’s road system. “This would create parity among drivers,” Romine said. He noted that the state’s gasoline tax bites hardest on drivers who get fewer miles per gallon because they buy more gasoline. Those whose vehicles are more fuel-efficient pay less in tax dollars and drivers whose vehicles use no gasoline – all-electric vehicles, for example – pay no gasoline tax. “We should all be paying our fair share,” Romine said. See Peggy Bess’ story.
■ The expansion of the High Ridge Civic Center property looks like a go – or does it? Jefferson County Council members voted 6-0 with an abstention in January to buy a 1.05-acre piece of land at 2800 Horrell Lane, which would be added to the Civic Center “L”-shaped lot to make it a rectangle of about 4 acres total. Then, the council voted 4-1 with two abstentions on Feb. 25 to transfer $43,000 from one area of the budget to another so it could pay the owner of the lot, LCASS Contracting Co. of High Ridge, for the parcel. The purchase of the property has generated controversy, though. Linda Schroeder of House Springs, a longtime member of the county’s Parks Board, which governs the activities of the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Department, resigned in protest of the purchase. After the Feb. 25 meeting, Schroeder said she plans to file suit in an effort to prevent the county from closing on the purchase. See Steve Taylor’s story.
■ The “welcome” sign is still out for international exchange students at Windsor High School, but with a new official asterisk attached. Windsor C-1 Board of Education members voted 6-0 Feb. 27 to enact an official limit on the number of foreign exchange students the high school will accept in an academic year. The new policy, effective with the 2019-2020 school year, establishes a scale of one exchange student for every 150 students enrolled at the school. Windsor’s enrollment for 2018-2019 is just under 900 students; at that level the limit next year would be five students from other countries. Windsor currently has nine exchange students and at one point earlier in this school year, that figure “was in the double digits,” said principal Jason Naucke, who explained the need for the new policy to the school board. See Gordon Bess’ story.
■ Peggy Bess laments the challenges faced by middle children – like no baby photos in the family album. See the column and an array of letters in the Editorial section.
■ Sports editor Russell Korando writes about Northwest coach Greg Fortner and his family’s long participation in Lion athletics. Plus, catch up on district basketball competition.
*** We lose an hour of sleep this weekend, but we gain an hour of daylight. Worth it.