Stephen Edward McMillin

Downtown curb 'bump-out' removal sparks outrage in St. Louis. 'It was a mess,' mayor says stltoday.com/news/local/gov… via @stltoday @ahuguelet

Charles Schultz and the original Snoopy, 1950s

Piazza Navona is Rome’s ancient stadium hiding in plain sight. Its long, curved shape still follows the footprint of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD for athletic contests and large enough to hold around 30,000 spectators. The arena disappeared over time, but the outline survived—quietly shaping one of Rome’s most famous Baroque squares. What looks today like a postcard of fountains, churches, and cafés is still controlled by an ancient stadium beneath the city. 📍Piazza Navona, Rome

LINK: “Last month, a city committee advanced a $50 million capital spending plan for the government's next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The package, which must be approved by aldermen, included money for bridge work, ward-based funding, courts projects, fire department investments and City Hall roof repair, among other things. But officials made clear that needs far outpace available funding, which was down year-over-year as surplus dollars declined. Earlier this year, officials identified roughly $461 million in total capital needs, including about $226 million considered critical – or at the point of failure. Each year, new categories of infrastructure enter the critical category, making it difficult to make a dent in the overall need, officials have said.” bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2…

LINK & PHOTO: Former Alderman James Page & Citizens’ Chair Les Sterman, both longtime downtown St. Louis residents, weigh in—Opinion: Restoring Wash Ave needs a vision beyond the late-night chaos stltoday.com/opinion/column… #Citizens4STL @MikeLKehoe @SLMPD @MitchellMcCoy @CFDstlfd @saintlouismayor @saintlouispres @SLDCmo @DevelopStLouis @AlderSheenBean @JamiCMichele @LishaLiberty @shanecohn @VDanielaV @Schweitzer88 @OldenburgSTL @STL4Ward @schubbard10 @boydstuff @GreaterSTLinc @CommerceBank @enterprisecares @Cardinals @horseshoestl @Advantes @UnionStationSTL @HiltonBallpark @AquariumSTL @Stifel @SchnuckMarkets @DowntownStLouis @stlcid @carolinehecker @charliekmox @andybankertv @rlippmann @solomonreports @DavidAmelottiTV @MarkMaxwellTV @ChrisHayesTV @RyanWKrull @kevinmcdermott

Fun way to end the academic year, over 3,000 citations of my work!

Make St. Louis the City of Trees. St. Louis urban forestry alliance targets 40% tree canopy by 2040 - St. Louis Business Journal bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2… via @stlouisbiz

This handwritten ticket to Queen Anne's coronation is part of a treasure trove of lost items which were found beneath the floorboards of our medieval triforium when works were carried out in 2015. The coronation was held in the Abbey on 23 April 1702 and some of the congregation had a bird's eye view of the service from the triforium gallery. The invitation instructs the holder to bring the ticket to the north door of the Abbey on the morning of coronation day. #EYAHandwriting

"From 2017 to 2019, students lost as much ground in reading as they did during the pandemic." We know the way out: No phones during the school day bell to bell, and no school tablets or laptops in elementary school (and maybe middle school too).

I have this amazing repository of hundreds of ministers in the United States during the Revolutionary period. Really makes it clear how Protestantism was already very fragmented in the earliest days of the country. Congregationalism up north. Episcopalians in the middle.

The Australia social media age of 16 policy (for account creation, not viewing content!) is working as expected––usage declined substantially in the first stage, and is likely to decline further as Australia presses the companies to do better. (That will get ever easier as the tech for effective and privacy preserving methods improves, now that there’s a big market for it). A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and Australia took that first step. Many more steps to come, and many more countries are setting out on that path. I want to applaud @CassSunstein and Leonardo Bursztyn for highlighting something I definitely agree with: "Tipping points can be crossed, as the smoking decline shows. The lesson there is that laws are most likely to change behavior when norms move with them." We need to change societal norms and incentives if we want laws like this to succeed. They offer great advice for the countries that are setting out on the path to get a faster start. nytimes.com/2026/05/08/opi…

Reading scores, 3rd graders to 8th graders, 2015 to 2025. This is a national tragedy.

May Nathalie Baye's memory be a blessing. She made 80 films and won the César for Best Actress, but I loved her the most when she played herself alongside her actress daughter Laura Smet in "Call My Agent!". reuters.com/lifestyle/fren…

The Teatro San Carlo in Naples opened in 1737 It's the oldest active opera house in the world

It's giving summer in STL ☀️

Kaoru Yamada Japanese photographer copywriter and artist I’m tired of the negativity I’ve read about this wonderful artist . She creates work I love to see These two are beautiful. Soothing

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" (Psalm 8). @nasa

Some academics who denounced the idea of objectivity and declared themselves activists are for some reason shocked that policymakers and the public now view them not as trusted, objective scientists but as...activists.

The more I dig into the data on teens, the more I see the impacts of social media go beyond mental health. First was the realization that it's decreasing cognitive ability. And now it's impacting attitudes about women's pay and job opportunities. It's early days for finding a cause, but the manosphere and tradwife culture fueled by social media are certainly possibilities.

In 1957 the BBC famously fooled viewers with #AprilFoolsDay footage of a spaghetti harvest.