The Gateway

Most of the houses in downtown Belleville are more than 80 years old, according to the US Census. And many of them were built decades earlier -- in the 1800s.

These older homes are attracting a new crop of residents to the neighborhood, for personal and practical reasons.

State funding per student at Missouri's colleges and universities has dropped by almost half since 2000. That is leaving people throughout the state trying to figure out how to pay for their higher education.

The former president of the National Bar Association and the civil rights attorney for Michael Brown Jr. is on tour promoting his new book "Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People." Benjamin Crump talks about race and the criminal justice system, and violence in St. Louis.

Three St. Louis-area House seats will be filled in special elections on November 5th. Only one is competitive. It's Jean Evans' former seat in West County where Republican Lee Ann Pittman is facing Democrat Trish Gunby.

Nonprofit immigrant health clinic Casas De Salud President Jorge Riopedre will leave the job on Friday, November 1st. Even though he's moving on, Riopedre says he has set plans in motion to make the clinic more includes for all non-English speakers in the St. Louis Region.

For 20 years, Gerry Marian has played the organ before movie showings at the Chase Park Plaza Cinema. He is one of a few people who still hold a job that dates back to the days of silent films. Marian will enter the spotlight this weekend to debut his newly written score for the 1925 silent film "The Phantom of the Opera."

Every week, thousands of people across the U.S. head to dance studios and clubs to move to Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican beats. Some of the most dedicated will arrive in St. Louis this week for the 10th Annual St. Louis International Salsa Congress, which starts today.

The mayor of Woodson Terrace is sending a letter to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson asking for a say in whether the city privatizes the Lambert International Airport. Also, the mayor of Bridgeton and others involved in the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis are spearheading an impact study to discover how they could be affected if a private operator leases the airport.

East St. Louis has a rich history but much of it is at risk of being lost. East St. Louis native Reginald Petty has helped launch a society to preserve the city's history. He has written a book about major people who have come from East St. Louis and is concerned younger residents are disconnected from the community's history and culture.

Florissant native Kevin Cox Jr. is a post-doctoral associate at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and one of 15 Hanna H. Gray Fellows named by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The more than one-million-dollar fellowship specifically seeks out scientists from underrepresented groups early in their careers. Cox is African American.