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Post-Dispatch Lays Off More Than Half Its Prep Sports Staff | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

January 31, 2023

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click to enlarge For decades, STL HS Sports has been Post-Dispatch readers’ go-to spot for prep sports coverage.
On January 20, the Post-Dispatch laid off one employee and eliminated two other open positions — but it took another week after that for managers to enact a second set of cuts. Last Friday, January 27, the daily slashed four positions from the paper’s prep sports outfit, STLhighschoolsports.com. Along with a staffer who voluntarily left in December and won’t be replaced, that means the prep sports team is now down from eight employees to three. Among those laid off were both newer hires and Paul Kopsky, a photo editor who’d been with the company for 30 years.The high school sports unit has long been something of an organizational anomaly. Kopsky says he was hired back in 1992 by Sport Stats, which was owned by what was then the Post-Dispatch’s parent company, Pulitzer. In 1996, when the daily first went online, STLhighschoolsports.com was a separate part of the website with its own brand. “We became a force in the high school sports scene,” Kopsky recalls. Even so, the writers and editors employed there continue to work out of a separate building (these days, they’re in Maryland Heights) and are not part of the United Media Guild, which represents other Post-Dispatch writers and editors.Some parts of that arrangement are now changing. Tracy Rouch, director of public relations for the Post-Dispatch, says that the remaining journalists on the prep sports beat “will now be a part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newsroom.””Two STL High School Sports reporters and one editor will continue to cover St. Louis area high school sports as part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with added help from the newsroom, including multi-media coverage,” she writes. “The St. Louis Post-Dispatch remains committed to first-rate high school sports coverage.” And that will still be available at stlhighschoolsports.com in addition to the pages of the Post-Dispatch, she says. Ben Vessa, who joined the unit as a stringer in 2018 and was hired on part-time in 2020, was one of those let go. He says he’s worried about what the dismissals will mean for the paper’s coverage. “I tried to ask during the phone call I received whether this marked the end of high school sports coverage for the paper, and I heard words like ‘reconfiguring’ and ‘restructuring,’ but when you cut four of the seven members of the department, it appears the writing is on the wall,” he writes in an email. “What I thought we did best was highlight members of every sport, no matter how under the radar. My main beats were field hockey, boys and girls wrestling and boys and girls lacrosse, and some of my favorite stories came from places like the Illinois bowling state championships or from the local high school racquetball scene. “Unfortunately, it appears those athletes and teams will be the most adversely impacted by this decision.”Kopsky came to the Sports Stat job from radio and continued to represent STLhighschoolsports.com on KMOX, serving as its high school sports reporter from 1997 to 2007. He recalls much bigger staffs, with as many as 10 full-time employees and another team of as many as 10 high school kids coming in to take stats over the phone from coaches.But after surviving a few rounds of layoffs, he knows much has changed since the glory days of the 1990s. “We were pleased to be still alive when many high school sports staffs around the country were wiped out,” he says. “We were fortunate. At times, because I wasn’t making a ton of money, I thought about moving on, but I had such a good boss, and I was comfortable. I thought I’d ride it out — maybe to retirement.” Now, at 60, Kopsky knows he needs to find his next job. He’s thinking about trying to set up a business photographing high school athletes, with payment coming not from a newspaper but from their parents or schools. “I might even find a way to stay” in the world of prep sports, he says.Both Vessa and Kopsky say they were touched by the volume of responses they got when they posted their departures on Twitter.Welp … I had a hunch the call was coming. It’s truly been an honor telling the stories and celebrating the accomplishments of young people as part of the @STLhssports team. To all the ADs, coaches and athletes who welcomed me and chatted with me, a heartfelt thank you.— Ben Vessa (@VessaBen) January 27, 2023 Says Vessa, “I received so many kind messages from coaches, athletes and readers who were grateful of the work we did in highlighting the achievements and telling the stories of high school students, and I am so thankful to all of those who reached out. It helped to validate that what we did was impactful.”Kopsky adds, “When something like this happens, you realize how people really feel about you and what you did. That’s the thing that really hit me.” After 30 years of covering high school sports for the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday in a variety of roles, my time came to an end yesterday. Thanks to all my co-workers and the coaches, ADs and athletes I worked with over the years. It’s time for a new opportunity.— Paul Kopsky (@PaulSTLhss) January 28, 2023
While Kopsky faces the future with uncertainty, he’s still grateful for the job he loved for so many years. He says, with awe in his voice, “I got paid to go watch sports.”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

7 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

7 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

7 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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