St. LouiS AmericAnCOMPLIMENTARY

CAC AuditedJULY 16 – 22, 2015

stlamerican.comVol. 86 No. 15

The

Serena’s road to greatness

Page B5

Black former tennis pro Blake Strode reflects on the era’s most dominant athlete.

‘Cops will stop being

revenue agents’

Page B1

SLBJ picks corn field

over North St. Louis

BUSINESS POLITICAL EYE

Four potential sites are vying for NGA’s selection, and the North St. Louis city location is the only one located in the city.

Page A10

Gov. Nixon signed into law Senate Bill 5, what he called “the most comprehensive and sweeping municipal court reform in Missouri history.”

Chaminade’s Jayson Tatum announced that he will be attending Duke University in the fall of 2016.

Jayson Tatum

commits to Duke

Page B3

SPORTS

Youth talk tech

See SITE, A7

By Rebecca RivasOf The St. Louis American

For the first time in its 158-year history, Harris-Stowe State University is now able to offer graduate degrees.

On Wednesday, July 15, Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 334, which allows St. Louis’ only Historically Black College and University to offer a range of graduate degree programs as well as more undergraduate degree offerings. The bill takes effect August 28.

“Allowing Harris-Stowe to offer graduate degrees and expand its undergraduate degree offerings will create greater opportunities for students in the St. Louis region for generations to come,” Nixon said.

Dwaun J. Warmack, president of Harris-Stowe State University, led the

effort to seek graduate degree programs. Harris-Stowe is currently the only state university among 13 in the system not allowed to offer graduate degrees because of how the state law was written. SB 334 modifies provisions relating to the boards

Harris-Stowe given ok to seek grad degreesNixon signs bill reforming statute

By Mariah StewartFerguson Fellow

The burnt-out QuikTrip convenience store that became a symbol of racial unrest after a police officer killed an unarmed black teenager nearby almost a year ago will soon reopen as a community center focused on job-training for African Americans.

The store was looted, burned and spray-painted “R.I.P. Mike Brown” before civilians pitched in and cleaned up the site. As rioting along West Florissant Road intensified, heavily armed police with armored vehicles pointed rifles at protesters and fired tear gas and “less lethal” projectiles into crowds.

The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on Thursday, July 9. Under a white tent sheltering dignitaries,

Urban League breaks ground at QuikTrip site

See BILL, A6

Dwaun J. Warmack, president of Harris-Stowe State University

By Denise HollinshedOf The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A teenager shot by city police is paralyzed below the waist, his mother said Sunday as her family copes with another episode of gun violence. Not seven years ago, her teenage daughter was accidentally shot to death.

This time, a firearm in the hand of her son, Brandon Claxton, 16, prompted an officer to shoot him three times about 7:15 p.m. Saturday in a housing complex

in the 2500 block of Hodiamont Avenue, officials said. Police encountered him while responding to a call about someone with a stolen pistol.

Antoinette Liggins, 42, told the Post-Dispatch that she was

Mom, whose daughter was killed in 2008, laments gun violence

Photo by Wiley Price

See TEEN, A7

Teen shot by St. Louis police paralyzed

still sorting through her feelings with her daughter gone, one son in critical condition and another, who had been with him, held on a probation violation.

n “The boy fell where the little girl was playing by the slide. Her shoes was right there.”

– Rita Collins

Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, wielded a shovel alongside Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, at the groundbreaking for a new community center at the site of the burnt-out QuikTrip in Ferguson.

Photo by Wiley Price

‘Ground Zero’ to be rebuilt as job-training center

Mentors Rick Proctor Jr. and Wendell Layne helped students Taylor Prince, Kail Smith, Ashuan Thompson, Chris Elrod and Courtney Connors to come up with new tech ideas during a three-day workshop organized by Hack4Hope, which teaches youth skills in technology and entrepreneurship.

Brandon Claxton

By Eugene Robinson Washington Post

For most of my life, a flag representing white supremacist violence against black people flew at the capitol of my native state. It is a very big deal that this emblem of hatred and oppression is finally coming down.

Gov. Nikki Haley was expansive after the state Legislature finished action early Thursday, July 9 on a bill consigning the Confederate battle flag to the museum displays where it belongs: “It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud

Bringing down a twisted fantasy

See ROBINSON, A6

Photo by Wiley Price