With any luck, the third time will prove the charm.

The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, which will officially open its doors in Grand Center on Friday night, is much-traveled. It was founded in 1965 to honor inventors and photographers of note but didn’t have a physical home.

Possessions, in the form of photographs and equipment, came in steadily, however, and in 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, Calif. In 1983, it moved to the Kirkpatrick Center in Oklahoma City.

There, it was located in a science building; when a decision was taken to limit its exhibits solely to the scientific, the photographers had to find a new home. They looked in Rochester, N.Y., and in Miami. Then executive director John Nagel met Grand Center head Vincent Schoemehl, and found just the place in St. Louis, above the Triumph Grill.

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/abd79ca2-53ed-55c7-9dd8-ead11f56ad80.html

It's no secret that Missouri has problems with methamphetamine. However, the problems are hardly spread equally across the state.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has compiled a map showing the number of reported meth incidents in each Missouri county through June 2013. (You can also see what they mean by "incidents," exactly).

With 888, Missouri ranks among the most in the nation, yet again, in meth incidents reported as of June 2013. If the standings stay consistent through December, it could mark the second year in a row Missouri would claim the "top spot" in the United States for meth incidents. However, Indiana is currently "leading" with 956. (For more on meth's impact in the land of the Hoosiers, see Indiana Public Media's coverage of the issue).

In 2010, Tennessee briefly overtook the "title," when that state's meth incident rate increased 41 percent in a year.

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mapped-how-many-meth-incidents-has-your-missouri-county-reported-year

Maps for county by county and state by state are available at the link.

- Mary Wortley Montagu

Found this on Brainy Quote early this morning and thought it worth sharing.

JEFFERSON CITY • Gov. Jay Nixon scored two key victories as the Republican-controlled Legislature failed to override his vetoes of legislation that aimed to cut income taxes and nullify federal gun laws Wednesday.

The tax cut bill and the anti-gun control measure were among key priorities for Republicans as they returned to the Capitol this week to try to overrule the Democratic governor on more than two dozen bills that he struck down.

But despite holding historic supermajorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans couldn’t muster enough votes on the two high-profile override attempts after Nixon, a former attorney general, launched a summer-long campaign against the tax cut measure and raised several legal questions about the gun bill.

Still, lawmakers managed to hand Nixon a record number of defeats — overriding the governor on 10 bills including measures that will cap punitive damages in lawsuits against the Doe Run Co. at $2.5 million per lawsuit, make it harder for some drivers to sue after accidents, allow payday loan companies to raise their interest rates, and protect federal holidays like Christmas.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/9e4aedb4-71de-5df7-b407-e80179a71a54.html

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Republican push to cut Missouri’s income taxes failed Wednesday as the state House fell significantly short of the threshold needed to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

The vote marked a major victory for Nixon, who had traveled extensively across the state warning that the tax cut could jeopardize funding for public education, mental health care and other state services.

Republican legislative leaders had touted the tax cut as an important means of spurring the economy and competing for businesses against Kansas, Oklahoma and other states that have recently cut income taxes. But GOP leaders were unable to hold together their supermajority, as roughly a dozen members sided with the Democratic governor.

The House voted 94-67 for the veto override—significantly shy of the 109 votes required for a two-thirds majority. As a result, the override never was considered by the Senate.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Mo-House-fails-to-override-veto-of-income-tax-cut-223356731.html