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It's been nearly a year since the uprising began in Egypt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. The revolutionaries that started it all are again finding themselves persecuted. The military council that runs Egypt is targeting them, using the court system and prison to shut them up. Unlike a year ago, the revolutionaries can no longer count on much popular support.

Two familiar names in St. Louis construction have won a Missouri Department of Transportation contract to rebuild the Daniel Boone Bridge, which carries Interstate 64 across the Missouri River at Chesterfield. Alberici Enterprises and Walsh Construction will start on the $125 million project in early 2013. The construction portion of the contract totals $111 million. MoDOT director Kevin Keith called it a great day for his department and the region, saying St. Louis and St. Charles counties are getting a lot from the contract. "We get a completely new bridge that's four lanes that are 12 feet wide with shoulders, instead of three lanes that are 10 feet wide with no shoulders," Keith said. "We also get a 10-foot wide mixed use trail that connects the Monarch Levee trail on one side with the Katy Trail on the other, roadway improvements, and a complete rehab of the existing bridge." Best of all, Keith said, the Alberici-Walsh bid still came in $6 million under budget. The project works this way: The bridge has two spans. The current westbound span was built in 1935; the eastbound span in the 1980s. Starting in February, crews will build a new eastbound span to the south of the current bridges. The new bridge will open Nov. 15, 2014. At that time, rehabilitation work will start on the current eastbound span. Westbound traffic will continue to use the 1935 span. Rehabilitation work will be completed July 2015. Crews will then add a new Chesterfield Airport Road interchange and an additional westbound lane. That work will take about two months. On Oct. 1, 2015, westbound traffic will shift to the newly rehabilitated span, which formerly carried eastbound traffic. That will take the current westbound span (which is almost 80 years old) out of service. That span will be demolished by December 31, 2015. That schedule means fewer delays and hassles for the 50,000 drivers who cross the Boone bridge each day. "St. Charles County calls them residents," St. Louis County chief operating officer Garry Earls said. "In St. Louis County, we call them customers. We really appreciate this opportunity to get those customers in, to help them to buy things in St. Louis County, to do good jobs in St. Louis County, to build a better St. Louis County and a better region." Officials could not say how many jobs the project would create. Its manager says Alberici-Walsh will meet the regional goals for women and minorities on the workforce. Follow Rachel Lippmann on Twitter: @rlippmann

Even as the job market is improving and other indicators are positive, the Federal Reserve wants to keep interest rates super low until 2014. The Fed reaffirmed that policy Tuesday. That's likely because the economy is still growing slowly — not nearly fast enough to sustain consistent, long-term job creation.

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, whose escape from house arrest sparked a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and China, flew to the U.S. with his wife and two children. He reportedly will be studying law at New York University.

A report in April from the Washington based environmental group Food and Water Watch researched the relationship between public universities and the…

There will be no challenge to the new language inserted onto a ballot initiative by a Cole County judge regarding health insurance exchanges. The version initially approved by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) had asked if state law should, “deny individuals, families and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care,” unless the people or the legislature created an exchange. In a statement, Carnahan says Attorney General Chris Koster (D) refused to file an appeal on her office’s behalf. Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) filed suit against Carnahan over that language. He applauded the Democratic Attorney General’s move. “Even an Attorney General of her own party will not go forward with an appeal of this ruling because he knows that any court that looks at her language will strike it down," Kinder saidl "Secretary of State Carnahan has shown (herself) to be the partisan hack that she is.” The new ballot language inserted by fellow Republican and Circuit Judge Daniel Green asks if state law should, quote, “prohibit the Governor or any state agency from establishing or operating state-based health insurance exchanges unless authorized by a vote of the people or by the legislature?” Carnahan calls the new language, "incomplete, uninformative and a disservice to Missouri voters." Her full statement: "The Secretary of State's office has a legal obligation to provide Missourians with fair and sufficient summaries of ballot measures. We believe our summary of SB 464 meets that legal standard. Although we strongly disagree with the decision by the Cole County Circuit Court, this office is not in a position to appeal the decision on its own. We are disappointed that Attorney General Koster has refused our request to file an appeal. The new summary language is incomplete, uninformative and a disservice to Missouri voters who must decide on the critical issue of how and when Missouri individuals, families and small businesses will have access to affordable health care." Meanwhile, Koster has also issued a brief statement: “Judge Greene’s summary more accurately reflects the legislative intent than does the Secretary’s proposed language. My job is to call balls and strikes in an impartial manner. The argument is over.” Meanwhile, Koster's Republican opponent in the Attorney General's race, Ed Martin, also weighed in, saying that he should have rejected Carnahan’s "biased language in the first place." As of 6:45 p.m. today, the original summary language approved by Carnahan and rejected by Judge Green was still on the Secretary of State's website.

When the bipartisan budget deal was announced in December, supporters heralded cuts that would balance spending increases — among them, a slight reduction to the pensions of working-age military retirees. But a bipartisan consensus emerged to undo it — calling into the question whether Congress has the political will necessary to make any cuts that reduce the long-term debt.

As one scientist puts it, Bayes' theorem, developed by a Presbyterian minister, isn't clouded by emotion, so it can be revelatory — and may be the best hope of finding Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

Collins' The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook is named for her plucky heroine, the daughter of a former gangster. It's got recipes for linguine and the author's eponymous cocktail — but no health food.

The pressure placed on schools and educators by high-stakes tests can lead to unintended consequences.