Just Moms STL

Officials are warning residents in St. Louis county about scams targeting people sickened by radiation.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was able to include the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in a major budgetary package.

Dawn Chapman is frustrated that it’s taken decades for the agency to announce what community members — many of whom have died or suffered illness from the exposure — knew for years.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said concerns about cost killed earlier efforts to renew a program for people exposed to radioactive waste. Hawley hopes a new compromise with a lower mandatory spending price tag will finally break through.

The signs released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warn of ‘low-level radioactive materials present’ near the suburban St. Louis creek.

An amendment to the annual defense spending bill fell along party lines in the House Rules Committee. The legislation would have added Missouri ZIP codes to the RECA program.

‘I do feel hopeful,’ says Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL. ‘It’s just — I’m tired.’

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act cleared its first major legislative hurdle on Thursday. It would provide compensation to sick St. Louisans living in areas with radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project.

Nuclear contamination in the St. Louis region dates back to the 1940s. Documents show leaders of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, which processed uranium in St. Louis, knew of the contamination risks in 1949.

Despite pleas from community members who say the landfill is responsible for mysterious illnesses, federal environmental regulators said Tuesday they can’t provide a timeline for cleanup.