St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page A001

What will baseball do with Barry Bonds, who is alleged in a new book to have used steroids while breaking the single-season home run record? The big question is legally, what can Selig do? Russian agency denies leaks to Saddam Pentagon report claimed Russia shared intelligence on U.S. war plans in Iraq. Inside A2 NewsWatch B1 How deep will Bud Selig dig? Everyday EV1 NO JOKE April Fool pranks may be fading CC KK YY MM PPAAGGEE AA0011PPDD33MMNN00332266 CCMMYYKK FFOORR MMEETTRROO MARCH 26, 2006 FOUNDED BY JOSEPH PULITZER IN 1878 STLTODAY.COM $1.50 FINAL METRO EDITION ONLINE ASSAULT WEAPONS Should Illinois adopt Gov. Rod proposal to ban assault weapons? Vote in our poll online at STLtoday.com/news Vol. 128, No.

85 WEATHER Liquid asset POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD SUNDAY SUNDAY NIGHT MONDAY FORECAST D16 1 2 3 4 5 6 3 4 Sports D1 Rock Hill goes for broke By Clay Barbour ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ROCK HILL The Rock Hill Municipal Building sits boarded up just off Manchester Road, a hollow reminder of the dire nancial straits the city itself in. Rock Hill sold the building last August as a part of the Market at McKnight development deal, a $95.4 million project slated for the corner of Manchester and Rock Hill roads. The city of 5,000 people is nearly broke. The $500,000 it has in the bank is barely enough to pay salary and expenses.

Officials are running government out of a mini-strip mall with a city shoehorned between MO. Payday Loan and Rock Hill Chop Suey. Rock Hill say the project, which will feature about 15 shops and restaurants, should provide enough sales tax revenue to save the city from ruin. The development, however, is being handled by the Novus Development Co. Novus recently lost its bid on a similar project in Sunset Hills, amid financing problems and accusations that the company misled not exaggerating when I say our entire future hinges on the success of that said city administrator George Liyeos.

Banking a future on such a project may seem a rather desperate way to do business, but according to experts, fairly common especially in St. Louis County. almost like the perfect storm of said Mike Duncan, research manager for the St. Louis County Planning Department. circumstances have created a war in which developers and a few communities come out on top.

And the other communities In St. Louis County, municipalities fall into one of three categories: point-of-sale cities, pool cities or a hybrid of both. The city like others in St. Louis County is betting its future on a development project. MISSOURI drought plan as setting a precedent and giving the go-ahead for plumbing that could be used for much larger diversions.

NORTH DAKOTA the water it is seeking in the event of serious drought some 12 billion gallons to 17 billion gallons annually to a thimbleful from a bucket of water. By Bill Lambrecht POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF WASHINGTON In a new skirmish in a long-running water war, Missouri is challenging the latest campaign by thirsty North Dakota to tap into the Missouri River. Missouri strongly object to a federal study that proposes tapping the Missouri among several options if serious drought strikes the Great Plains. A public comment period on the study was extended last week until April 14, and the Interior Department will make a decision later this year. Proposing to divert the Missouri would renew a battle in Congress over who owns what flows in longest river.

To Missourians, the amount of water to be taken is less important than the precedent it would set and the go-ahead for North Dakota to resume building elaborate plumbing that could be used for much larger diversions. you can put a straw in the A Big Muddy water battle North Snake Creek pumping plant was built to send Missouri River water into Lake Audubon, where it would begin its journey to eastern North Dakota. a Republican running for Congress. a Gulf War veteran and a conservative. She says that anyone can run for any By Eun Kyung Kim ST.

LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD, MO. Hours before the start of the annual St. Day parade, Midge Potts wore only a corduroy jacket against blustery winds and temperatures hovering in the mid-40s. The coat was hot pink, like her jeans, her boots and the pair of ponytails in her hair. Her only green was the carnation in her lapel.

Potts is running for Congress. Downtown, in Park Central Square, she felt a bit self-conscious as she approached people with copies of her campaign literature. She said she was never sure when strangers would react to her with hostility. But she was pleased at how receptive the crowd here was. So far, heard only a few derogatory comments.

know other people get offended when that happens, but not she said. like, whew. Thanks for not kicking my What Potts is referring to are the people who react coarsely to the fact that, until a little more than two years ago, she was known by her legal name, Mitchell. Whereas Potts was born a male, she now lives her life as a woman. Potts, the openly trans- gender candidate, is one of the Republican challengers to incumbent Roy Blunt in 7th Congressional District race.

of my reason for running is, not so much to make transgender or gay issues the centerpiece of my campaign, but to show that we are all Americans and that anybody can run for any Potts said. was built out of diversity, and people need to stop being afraid and feel like we have to limit ourselves based on And she was once a he. Midge Potts, then known as Mitchell, served in the Navy and the Persian Gulf War. She was discharged in 1993. Midge Potts (right), 37, of passes out campaign at St.

Day Parade, for her bid for a Missouri congressional seat. Although born male, Potts lives as a woman. Dawn Majors PLEASE SEE ROCK HILL A11 PLEASE SEE POTTS A10 PLEASE SEE RIVER A11 Decision time at Mizzou ON TO THE FINAL FOUR LSU, UCLA advance A NEW COACH Alabama-Birmingham coach Mike Anderson is expected to be named the next basketball coach Sunday. He would replace Quin Snyder, who resigned inFebruary. FUTURE The Board of Curators has called an emergency meeting for Sunday to discuss if Mike Alden will keep his job as Missouri athletics director.

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