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Kim Gardner Is Enrolled in a Graduate Nursing Program Even as Staffers Abandon Ship | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2023

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner heads to court in April 2023.

Embattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is currently enrolled in an advanced nursing program at St. Louis University, the school’s registrar’s office has confirmed.

Before becoming a state representative in 2013, Gardner was a registered nurse, and she appears to be furthering her nursing education in that field even as her office has shed an alarming number of staffers. At this point, only two prosecutors remain in the Circuit Attorney’s Violent Crimes unit, according to a document shared with the RFT. Yesterday, the attorney tasked with presenting cases to the grand jury put in her notice.

Gardner has said that efforts to remove her from office are a “witch hunt,” and, in a fiery speech last weekend, stated, “I don’t care if I have nobody in my office.”

But it might be harder to run a solo office if she’s also pursuing a graduate degree.

The RFT reached out to Gardner’s spokesperson seeking clarity about the specific graduate program Gardner is enrolled in, her course load and time commitment involved. The spokesperson declined to address those questions.

However, the spokesperson provided the following statement: “Circuit Attorney Gardner believes the issues in our criminal justice system often relate to our broken healthcare system. After serving as a line attorney at the Circuit Attorney’s Office and seeing firsthand the underlying issues that drive crime, she became a Registered Nurse. She continues to stay current with classes at Saint Louis University to add to her training and advance her mission at the CAO. The Circuit Attorney has done this at great personal cost to her time with her family and loved ones. Any suggestion that she is not fully committed to her duties as Circuit Attorney is blatantly false.”

Yesterday, Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a subpoena to SLU’s nursing school as part of his ongoing effort to remove Gardner from office.

Those subpoenas indicate that Bailey is seeking from the school “[a]ll documents reflecting Kimberly Gardner’s student directory information, course of study, class schedule, and hours worked in clinicals, internships, and practicums (hereinafter collectively referred to as “classes/clinicals”) from January 1, 2021, to the present, in any nursing or medical program at St. Louis University.”

The request also included “the times, dates, and locations of all classes/clinicals taken by Kimberly Gardner for each semester since January 1, 2021” as well as emails from her student email account.

The RFT asked a former CAO staff member if they knew Gardner was enrolled in graduate courses in addition to being circuit attorney. This former staffer, who asked to not be named, said, “Sounds about right. That’d explain why she was a mix between generally inaccessible and rarely there.”

Yesterday, on the same day Bailey issued those subpoenas, the RFT received an anonymous tip that Gardner is enrolled at SLU and “working on a Nurse Practitioner’s Degree (spending up to 30 hours a week on campus).”

The tipster added, “Is she working towards a degree while ignoring her duties to the taxpayers of St. Louis City?”

Gardner earned a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Harris-Stowe in 1999 and a master of nursing from SLU in 2012. After receiving an MS in nursing, some healthcare professionals earn a doctor of nursing practice, which is a terminal degree.

Multiple calls to SLU’s registrar’s office confirmed Gardner is a current student in an advanced nursing program, though due to FERPA laws the school was unable to verify anything beyond that, including the exact program in which she is enrolled.

The tipster’s note about Gardner spending 30 hours on campus is unlikely if Gardner is enrolled in the Doctor of Nurse Practitioner program, as the university’s website says that program can be completed mostly through online course work, though it does require “1,050 or 1,125 clinical hours, depending on the specialty” as well as four in-person visits to campus.

Under Missouri law, circuit attorneys (as well as their assistants) must “devote their entire time and energy to the discharge of their official duties.”

We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 months 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

12 months 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

12 months 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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