St. Louis
A proposal outlined at a news conference on Tuesday would use city tax revenue that the Scottrade Center generates to finance an estimated $67.5 million in bonds to pay for improvements to the 22-year-old building. Blues chairman Tom Stillman said the upgrades are badly needed or St. Louis could lose out on future events like the national NCAA wrestling championship, basketball regionals, concerts and other big draws.
Aldermanic President Lewis Reed planned to introduce the funding bill this week. He said it would not require a vote of the people.
The bonds would be repaid by a new 1 percent sales tax collected solely at the Scottrade Center and the Peabody Opera House next door, Mayor Francis Slay said.
The announcement came one day after Gov.-elect Eric Greitens reiterated his opposition to state funding of another downtown St. Louis project, a proposed $200 million soccer stadium considered the key to attracting a Major League Soccer expansion franchise. Investors were seeking $40 million in state tax credits, along with $80 million in city funding if voters approve. It isn’t yet clear if that project can move ahead without state funding.
Berwyn, Pa.
The 14-year-old freshman did not suffer any physical injury when the players “briefly poked the victim with a broomstick in the leg,” according to a joint statement by Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan and attorneys for the three Conestoga High School seniors in announcing the agreement on Tuesday.
That description of the October 2015 episode comes in stark contrast to Hogan’s characterization of it in March, when charges including assault, conspiracy, unlawful restraint and terroristic threats were announced against the 17-year-olds at the school in Berwyn, about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Doha, Qatar
Murray attained the No. 1 ranking in his final match of the season last year, winning a career-best ninth title by upsetting then No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals championship match.
Murray, who won back-to-back Doha titles in 2008 and 2009, was greeted enthusiastically by the crowd when he took to the court.
Murray won the opening set by posting only one unforced error and seven winners. In all, Murray had nine unforced errors and 18 winners.
Allentown, Pa.
The decision by Lehigh County Judge Kelly Banach comes a month after Snuka’s lawyer told the court that his 73-year-old client has dementia, is in hospice care in Florida and has six months to live.
The retired WWE star was charged in 2015 with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Nancy Argentino, whose body was found more than three decades earlier in their Whitehall Township hotel room.
Prosecutors allege she was beaten, while Snuka has maintained she died from a fall. Authorities reopened the investigation after The Morning Call newspaper raised questions about the case in 2013.
Banach had ruled last summer that Snuka was not competent to stand trial after his attorney argued the ex-athlete suffers from dementia, partly due to the head trauma sustained over a long career in the ring. Prosecutors countered that Snuka’s brain shows normal signs of aging and suggested he might be feigning symptoms.
At a hearing last month to re-evaluate Snuka’s mental fitness, his wife told the judge that the family struggles to keep him from leaving home during bouts of psychosis in which he thinks he’s late for a wrestling match. Banach then took time to review Snuka’s medical records before ruling.
On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said prosecutors are evaluating their options. Snuka’s lawyer Robert Kirwan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Snuka, a native of Fiji who previously lived in Camden County, New Jersey, was known on the wrestling circuit for diving from the ropes.