ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Latest on Gov. Eric Greitens’ news conference in St. Louis (all times local):
4:25 p.m.
Protesters in St. Louis have used a news conference setting to express their anger at Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens for his decision to allow a law to take effect next month that returns the city’s minimum wage back to the state minimum.
The Republican spoke Monday at an outdoor news conference to announce a plan to reduce violent crime in the city he called the most dangerous in the United States. Among other things, the plan calls for a special operations unit of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to target interstate highways in St. Louis in an effort to find violent criminals.
But Greitens’ message was often drowned out by about two dozen protesters, many holding signs in support of the $10 minimum wage approved by aldermen in 2015. The law took effect in May.
State lawmakers this year passed a measure prohibiting local minimum wages and nullifying any already in effect. The St. Louis minimum reverts to $7.70 effective Aug. 28.
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3:25 p.m.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is announcing a plan aimed at reducing violence in St. Louis, calling the city “the most dangerous in the United States.”
The plan announced Monday calls for the Missouri State Highway Patrol to help patrol interstate highways in the city, targeting violent felons and saturating areas of high crime. The proposal also calls for the state Department of Corrections to remove what the governor says is 450 criminals from the streets.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety will work with FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency as part of the project.
St. Louis ranks high nationally in the number of homicides and other violent crimes. Greitens has a home in St. Louis and his wife was robbed at gunpoint in December.
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