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St. Louis Radioactive Waste Victims Left Out of Federal Budget Bill

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2024

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Legislation that would compensate victims of radioactive waste and U.S. nuclear bomb tests faces an uncertain future after it was left out of a federal appropriations bill Thursday, outraging members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation.

But advocates for St. Louis-area residents exposed to World War II-era radioactive waste remain “extremely hopeful” as compensation remains closer than ever to passage.

“We feel like we’re going to get RECA, guys,” Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, said in a live video on Facebook. “…I’m not going to just take it for granted and stop pushing. We’re going to push even harder. It’s just unfortunate how hard we have to fight and up to the bitter end.”

Members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation, however, were irate that the legislation won’t be considered as part of the budget process and demanded the House take action quickly.

“This is an insult to our communities who continue to be harmed by the radioactive waste dumped and left for decades by the federal government,” U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat representing St. Louis and north St. Louis County, said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican representing St. Louis suburbs and parts of adjacent counties, said in a statement that she was “extremely disappointed” in House and Senate leaders for not including the legislation in the budget bill released Thursday.

The legislation — an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act — has twice passed the U.S. Senate but has yet to be taken up by the House of Representatives.

Expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act would extend coverage to current and former Missouri residents who were exposed to radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to develop the world’s first atomic bomb.

The St. Louis metro has struggled for decades with a radioactive waste problem. Material from uranium-refining efforts were trucked from downtown to surrounding counties after World War II where it polluted Coldwater Creek and a quarry and groundwater in Weldon Spring. Remaining waste was dumped at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, where it still remains.

Generations of St. Louis-area families lived in homes surrounded by radioactive waste without warning from the federal government. An investigation this summer by the Missouri Independent, MuckRock and the Associated Press found the government and companies that handled the waste knew of the dangerous contamination decades before they informed the public.

“The federal government wronged our communities — and they now have an obligation to make it right,” Bush said.

RECA was first passed in the 1990s and covered some western states where residents — or “downwinders” — were exposed to radiation from atomic bomb tests during World War II. But several states, including New Mexico, where the first bombs were tested, were left out. The existing program is also set to expire this summer.

Right now, downwinders are covered in parts of Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The expansion would reauthorize the program in those areas and expand coverage to the rest of those states. It would offer coverage for the first time to downwinders in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Guam and individuals exposed to radioactive waste in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska and Kentucky.

Advocates for RECA’s expansion had hoped it would be included in budget legislation Congress must pass by Friday night to avoid a partial government shutdown. But the language wasn’t in the bill unveiled Thursday morning.

Wagner in a speech on the House floor called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, to bring the bill up for a vote.

“These innocent victims of the U.S. nuclear weapons program are relying on Congress for restitution,” Wagner said. “I am outraged.”

Bush also spoke on the House floor, saying it was “past time that this body gets its priorities straight.”

“To this day, many of my constituents are sick and dying because of their exposure (to nuclear waste),” Bush said. “World War II is still killing people in my district.”In a statement released to St. Louis Public Radio, Johnson praised Wagner, calling her a “relentless fighter for over a decade on nuclear waste issues” and said he looked forward to working with her “as we chart a path together for the House to move forward with evaluating and acting on a reauthorization measure.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who has championed expanding RECA and twice guided it through the Senate, called that a “total failure” in a social media post.

“Politicians have talked like this for decades,” Hawley said of Johnson’s statement. “While doing nothing. The time to talk is over. The time to ACT is now.”

This story was first published by the Missouri Independent. Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected]. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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