The U.S. has a huge and growing nuclear-waste problem, and after years of study, multiple proposals and large expenditures, there’s still no workable solution,
Author: Gloria Shur Bilchik
Gloria Shur Bilchik is a freelance writer and community volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the editor of Occasional Planet. She views the preservation of democratic values and progressive programs as vital to making the US a humane, livable place for her children and grandchildren.
Transparency has a cloudy future
Should companies bidding for government contracts be required to disclose their political donations? An executive order under consideration by President Obama says, “Yes.” But
Decorating one levee, blowing up another
The Monarch-Chesterfield levee, in suburban St. Louis, is about to get beautified by a creative, fun community project that could be a good starting
States lead on immigration, sort of
While Congress stalls over immigration reform, some states are making their own moves. That’s especially interesting because one more typically associates “states’ rights” with
“Clean” coal ad wars
Coal is clean, right? That’s what the media-savvy American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy [ACCE] tried to get us to believe in an ad
Pruitt-Igoe: Ghosts and survivors of a failed urban policy
Watching “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth” in a packed theater this afternoon was much more than a movie-going experience: It was a history lesson, a fact-finding
Joan Bray: Still progressive after all these years in Missouri
Joan Bray, of University City, was a Missouri House representative from 1993-2002, and a State Senator from 2003-2010, earning a reputation as one of
Forget credentials & credit hours: Learn anything from anybody
A new online business, called SkillShare, wants us get over the idea that a college education is the only legitimate path to a career.
City-county mergers: Can Humpty Dumpty be put together?
Some people were duped by a recent April Fool’s hoax showing a map of an improbable merger between the City of St. Louis and
“Birther” bills: alive & dead in state legislatures
Once again, Arizona is leading the way—backwards. On April 14, 2011, the Arizona legislature passed HB 2177, a “birther” bill that would require presidential