Nikki Budzinski

After newly acquired U.S. Steel scrapped its decision to wind down processing at the Metro East mill later this fall, steelworkers rallied this weekend in hopes of keeping the plant open beyond 2027.

Confirming the company will cut processing later this fall in Granite City, U.S. Steel said it will move those responsibilities to bigger mills.

The Illinois Democrat was a guest on St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking podcast.

“I think that we should celebrate this injunction, but we should continue to be vigilant,” said Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Chief Medical Officer Margaret Baum.

Residents of 21 ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County are now eligible to seek compensation for radiation exposure through a federal program. However, residents of Venice, Madison and Granite City did not make it in the expansion.

With little being said of Granite City Works’ future, some are starting to ask: Have President Donald Trump and the companies kept their promises to those in the Metro East, or have they forgotten or abandoned them?

Budzinski doesn’t find Nippon’s announcement that it will retain production at Granite City Works for two years to be reassuring.

The second-term Democrat, who represents much of the Metro East, said on Tuesday she was on the list of the man charged with killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and shooting another.

In March, the Trump administration announced it would no longer release remaining pandemic-era funding to states, which has left the district on the hook for over $19 million in repairs to heating and cooling systems in schools.

After President Donald Trump said last week that the Japanese company Nippon would invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel, it’s unclear what could happen to the Metro East steel mill.