Maria Altman
Altman came to St. Louis Public Radio from Dallas where she hosted All Things Considered and reported north Texas news at KERA. Altman also spent several years in Illinois: first in Chicago where she interned at WBEZ; then as the Morning Edition host at WSIU in Carbondale; and finally in Springfield, where she earned her graduate degree and covered the legislature for Illinois Public Radio.
A native Iowan, Altman earned her bachelors degree in journalism at the University of Iowa. She remains a devoted Hawkeye. In her free time, Altman likes hiking, swing dancing, and searching for the perfect diner.
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Ferguson, Mo., took the international spotlight for weeks as protests over the police shooting of Michael Brown spiraled into rioting and a massive police response. Now work is underway to help the small businesses in the St. Louis suburb get back on their feet.
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The competition, called the Arch Grants, gives $50,000 to 20 young businesses. In exchange for the money, the winners will have to move their businesses to St. Louis.
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In just a few months, Missouri has gone from a record drought that reduced farmers' crop yields to flooding that has hurt in other ways. Earlier this year, the worst drought conditions seen in the Midwest in decades threatened to close the Mississippi River to barge traffic.
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Retired miners are converging on St. Louis Tuesday for a union rally to protest a proposed cut in health benefits. Patriot Coal is in bankruptcy and has asked a federal judge to allow it to shed most of the health coverage for nearly 10,000 retired miners. But most of those miners never worked a day for Patriot.
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St. Louis is hoping to hold onto the Rams, even after a dismal football season. The Rams can break their stadium lease if the city doesn't make major upgrades to the facility. St. Louis may have a hard time competing with the team's original hometown of Los Angeles, where there are two major proposals for a new stadium.
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The Texas Rangers are leading the World Series 3 games to 2 going into Game 6 Wednesday in St. Louis. The fact that the Cardinals will be playing at home is good for both the team and the town. The game will bring a welcome infusion of cash. As St. Louis Public Radio's Maria Altman reports, the unexpected sales tax revenues have already allowed the city to cancel expected furloughs for its employees.
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A driving force behind City Museum in St. Louis, the sculptor created spaces that invite adults and children to interact with his creations. He died in late September, working on a massive project he called Cementland. -
Across the country, a group of education administrators, known as regional superintendents, are seeing their budgets shrink. These administrators are involved in providing services like teacher certification and other support for school districts. In Illinois, the state's 44 regional superintendents have been working without pay since the governor zeroed out their funding in July. Maria Altman of St. Louis Public Radio reports that the issue of whether or not these officials are needed at all is coming to a head.
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St. Louis-based US Fidelis sold more than 400,000 faulty contracts before it collapsed in 2009 amid fraud allegations. But Missouri's Better Business Bureau says it's still receiving hundreds of complaints about similar companies marketing auto service contracts. -
History buffs are visiting famous Civil War battle sites such as Gettysburg and Bull Run this year, to mark the 150th anniversary of the war's beginning. Missouri would like some of that attention; only two states have more Civil War battle sites.
