Every Day Numbers for the 14th District
CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES
Division of Child Support Enforcement
(314) 877-2700
Jewish Family and Children's Services
(314) 993-1000
NAACP - St. Louis County Branch
(314) 389-1552
St. Louis County Human Services
(314) 615-4453
Youth Emergency Services
(314) 862-1334
CONSUMER PROTECTION
Consumer Credit Counseling Services
(314) 647-9004
Consumer
Credit Reports
1-877-322-8228
Missouri Consumer Protection Hotline
1-800-392-8222
Missouri Dept. of Insurance Consumer Information
1-800-726-7390
CRISIS HOTLINES
Youth Emergency Service Hotline
(314) 727-6294
St. Louis Housing Resource Center
(Homeless Hotline)
(314) 802-5444
Life Crisis Services, Inc. (for Adults)
(24-Hour)
(314) 647-4357
Elderly Abuse Hotline
1-800-392-0210
Child Abuse & Neglect Hotline
(24-Hours)
1-800-392-3738
Alcohol Drug Interventions & Drug Treatment Referrals
1-888-762-3750
HEALTH-RELATED SERVICES
Alzheimer's Association
1-800-980-9080
Birth & Death Records
(314) 615-1720
HIGHER EDUCATION
Missouri School for the Blind
(314) 776-4320
Paraquad, Inc.
(314) 289-4200
HOUSING
Beyond Housing
(314) 533-0600
Housing Authority -
St. Louis County
(314) 428-3200
Home Improvement Grants (North County)
(314) 615-8232
PREGNANCY COUNSELING
Abortion Alternatives
(314) 962-5300
Planned Parenthood & Reproductive Health Services of St. Louis
(314) 531-7526
SENIOR CITIZEN SERVICES
Missouri Rx Program
1-800-375-1406
Long-Term Care Information - Ombudsman
(314) 918-8222
Older Adult Community Action Program
(314) 993-2671
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (Elderly Law Unit)
(314) 534-4200
TOUR THE CAPITAL CITY
State Capitol Tours
(573) 751-2854
TRANSPORTATION
Call-A-Ride
(314) 652-3617
VETERANS BENEFITS
American Red Cross Blood Services
(314) 658-2000
Missouri Veterans Commission
(573) 751-3779
St. Louis County Office of Veterans' Services
(314) 615-4413
VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS
Big Brothers
Big Sisters
(314) 361-5900
Foster Grandparents
(314) 961-8000
ext. 370
Newsletter
January 24, 2013
Friends & Neighbors,
If you would like to learn more about the issues addressed in this newsletter or would like to discuss any matter involving state government, please contact my Capitol office.
Thank you,
Maria Chappelle-Nadal
14th District
| Senate Bill 124: Common-Sense Gun Violence Legislation |
I have filed dozens of bills during my service as an elected official, however, few are as close to my heart as a measure I am sponsoring this session in the Missouri Senate. This week, I held a press conference to discuss Senate Bill 124, a measure that would create reasonable gun safety regulations in the wake of one of the worst years of gun violence in recent memory.
The bill, if passed, would create a crime for failing to prevent illegal firearm possession, and also
Click here or on the picture above to watch or listen to Sen. Chappelle-Nadal's press conference discussing Senate Bill 124. |
would create the offense of negligent storage of a firearm and it would require a parent or guardian enrolling a child in school to notify the school district or the governing body of a private or charter school that the parent or guardian owns a firearm.
I am pleased that our nation is finally having a long-overdue discussion about our national gun culture, and I applaud President Obama and Vice President Biden for their serious proposals to address gun violence, but as a Missouri senator, my priority must be about making our communities safe for Missouri families. While the nation still grieves for the loss of so many innocent lives lost to gun violence in Newtown, Aurora, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Atlanta and other communities, random acts of gun violence in the St. Louis area have become a disturbing fact of life.
Since August of last year, there have been more than a dozen incidents involving teenagers and guns in my Senate district alone. In most cases, the guns have been stolen from an unsecured place in the home and then used in robberies, car-jackings and even murder. In one instance two kids were playing with a loaded gun they found in the home and one of them was accidentally killed. In two other cases the students took the guns to school.
As a member of the University City School Board, my biggest fear is a student bringing a gun to school. We also have too many gang members running around with weapons and settling scores with bullets. It has to stop. That's why I included the negligent storage of a firearm provision in my legislation. If kids cannot get their hands on a gun, that gun will not end up on the street or in our schools. If you own a gun, please use a gun lock and store it in a locked gun safe, and never store ammunition in the same place as the guns.
Senate Bill 124 is much more limited than the comprehensive proposals being considered at the national level. This bill is an attempt to reduce gun violence in urban communities and schools.
Under Senate Bill 124, a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 18 commits an offense by recklessly storing or leaving a firearm in a manner that is likely to result in the child accessing the firearm – if the child obtains access to the firearm and unlawfully carries it to school, kills or injures another person with it or commits a crime with the gun. The offense would be a Class A misdemeanor unless the child kills or injures another person, in which case it would be a Class D felony.
Responsible gun owners have nothing to fear from my legislation, and nobody, at least nobody in Missouri, is talking about taking away anyone's guns. I simply want to make sure that children do not have easy access to guns, especially children in urban settings. I'm not talking about farm kids who learn to hunt with a rifle or a shotgun; I'm talking about gang members turning our cities into war zones or disturbed teenagers who think the only way to settle differences is to take a gun to school. There are reasonable things we can do as a society to reduce the incidences of gun violence without infringing on anybody's right to keep and bear arms.
Click here or on the picture above to watch Sen. Chappelle-Nadal's interview with CNN regarding Senate Bill 124 and gun violence.
| Welcome: Look to the Future (Video) |
Usually we take the opportunity to inform our constituents on state issues via our weekly newsletter. However, this session we wanted to give a more personal touch and give you a visual presentation of what happens during session and the interim.
Feel free to contact my office. We would love to have your feedback, suggestions and comments. As your senator, I think it is important to keep an open dialogue.
Click here or on the image below to watch the latest video from Sen. Chappelle-Nadal.
|
(Runtime 11:12)
My office has been informed that Mr. William Baldwin, a resident from the 3rd ward in University City, has resigned his seat on the University City Public Library board of Trustees due to health reasons. Anyone interested, who resides in the 3rd ward, can contact the University City Clerk at (314) 505-8605, or my office, to submit an application. We've always had active participation from 3rd ward residents in the past, and I hope that this will continue.
Sen. Chappelle-Nadal visits with students from New City School in St. Louis. Most of the students live in University City. They visited the Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013.
 |
Sen. Chappelle-Nadal Talks Gun Bill During Press Conference (University City-Patch)
Gun Owners Must Contact Schools in Proposed Legislation (KTVI-TV 2)
State Senator Wants Parents to Tell Schools if They Own Guns (KRCG-TV 13)
Proposed Legislation Would Require Gun Owning Parents to Notify Schools (Kansas City Public Radio)
Missouri lawmaker Maria Chappelle-Nadal: Make parents tell school if they own guns (WTSP-TV 10)
Have a Gun? Proposed Bill Would Require You to Tell Your Child's School (Creve Coeur-Patch)
Missouri bill would require parents to report gun ownership to schools (The Kansas City Star)
Bill Will Force Parents to Notify Schools if They Own a Gun (U.S. Constitutional Free Press)
Lawmaker wants school to know if parents own a gun (KFVS-TV 12)
"I first of all want to thank you for your desire to address gun violence at schools. I am the husband of a 1st grade teacher, and I pray for her and her students' safety everyday. I am in support of SB 124, as far as making people accountable for firearm negligence. However, I feel strongly that it is an infringement of people's privacy requiring them to notify schools if a firearm is owned in a student's home. Yes, the horrific Newtown, Conn. shooting occurred with guns from the shooter's home. However, the recent shooting in St. Louis at a business school occurred with a stolen handgun. Criminals by definition do not obey laws. A gun is amoral. It does not intend to hurt anyone or make it happy. A gun's intention is dictated by the one holding it. Law abiding citizens are not the ones you should be addressing, but rather criminals. Please consider amending the bill. I appreciate your intentions." – Greg Grunst
Saturday, Jan. 19 - Monday, Jan. 21, 2013
It was another busy weekend in Senate District 14. On Saturday, I was embedded with St. Louis County police officers for five hours as they patrolled our streets. I wanted to do some research regarding any problems the officers and the residents they protect have related to gun violence, drugs and domestic disturbances. Overall, I learned a lot about law enforcement's relationship with our citizens. I hope to continue to work with citizens and our police to make our communities and neighborhoods the safest they can be.
Sunday was a day for relaxation and my open schedule gave me some much-needed time to focus on my work as a legislator and helping my family. On Monday, I celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in style. I began the day on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis' campus for a Martin Luther King, Jr. event held at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. I also enjoyed watching the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies at our nation's capitol.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the 15th President of Bennett College. She is an African-American economist, author, liberal social and political commentator, and businesswoman. She is well-known for her left-wing political opinions.
As a writer and syndicated columnist, her work has appeared regularly in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence Magazine, and The Progressive. Her weekly columns appear in numerous newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Charlotte Observer, the New Orleans Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Sun Reporter.
Malveaux has appeared regularly on CNN, BET, as well as on Howard University's television show, Evening Exchange. She has appeared on PBS's To The Contrary, KQED's Forum,
ABC’s Politically Incorrect, Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor and stations such as C-SPAN, MSNBC and CNBC. She has also hosted talk radio programs in Washington, San Francisco, and New York, as well as a nationally broadcast, daily talk show that aired on the Pacifica Radio network from 1995 to 1996. She appeared on Black in America: Reclaiming the Dream hosted by Soledad O'Brian as a panelist on CNN in 2008.
She serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Women Building for the Future - Future PAC, and The Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, D.C. She is also the President and CEO of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company. Described by Dr. Cornel West as "the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country," Malveaux contributes to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts. In 1990, Malveaux, along with 15 other African American women and men, formed the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom.