Thirty shows. Five venues. Five days. Em Piro, founder of the St. Lou Fringe Festival, has upped the ante for the second annual extravaganza in midtown St. Louis, which will occur from Thursday, June 20 through Monday, June 24.

Ladue News is proud to announce the 2013 Charity Award winners: Animal Protective Association of Missouri, The Angel Band Project, Pony Bird Incorporated, Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program and The Haven of Grace. 

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are largely considered a ‘female problem,’ but men also develop UTIs and the unpleasant symptoms that accompany them.

On Saturday morning, June 15, Susie Knopf will join tens of thousands of friends, family, survivors and community members in downtown St. Louis for the 15th annual Susan G. Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure. A long-term breast cancer survivor, Knopf will be walking in a sea of pink to raise funds and bring attention to the quest to cure breast cancer, the No. 2 killer of women after heart disease. “We are all one for those few hours and each shares a passion to end this dreaded disease,” she says. “Although we have come a long way, breast cancer is still a killer and 40,000 people in the U.S. will die of the disease this year.”

The devastating scene of an unwanted cat or dog being left in a box, on a curb or in the rain is not simply an emotive scene from the movies—it is the world many animals live in. With the earnest goal to help animals, the Animal Protective Association of Missouri (APA) is there to take in lost, stray or unwanted pets and work to find them loving forever homes.

The Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program’s (IRWP) clients come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and dozens of other countries. While each of the women served has a different story and faces her own challenges, they all share a desire to learn. “One of our first questions when we meet them is, Why do you want to learn English?” says executive director Pat Joshu. “I’ve had several look at me and say that nobody has ever asked them that before: What do they want?”

Retasha Smith arrived at The Haven of Grace’s doorstep alone, pregnant and confused. But the organization quickly came to her rescue. A dependable support system and resources to become independent led her to a productive family life. 

If you were among the record 7.24 million viewers who tuned in to last weekend’s Tony Awards, you know that Kinky Boots was one of the evening’s biggest winners, giving Webster University alum JERRY MITCHELL his second Tony (the first was for his choreography work in La Cage Aux Folles in 2005). Bravo!

An unusually warm summer night in Seattle in 2009 would forever change the lives of countless St. Louisans. A man trespassed through an open window of the residence St. Louis native Teresa Butz shared with her fiancée, Jennifer Hopper. The intruder sexually assaulted and stabbed the women, eventually killing Butz. 

EdLetter / 6-14

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There are headaches—and then there are headaches. Migraines are in a category all their own. About 12 percent of Americans suffer from these pounding headaches, according to the National Institutes of Health. A type of vascular headache, migraines are notable for their severity and unique characteristics that some people experience, such as visual disturbances, stomach upset and a notably one-sided quality.

A veteran of the industry, Matthew Monzon has been styling hair for more than 20 years—most of it spent as a freelance artist doing runway, catalog and editorial looks for the likes of Elizabeth Banks, Alicia Keys, Julianna Moore, Kate Winslet and a bevy of other celebrities and brands too numerous to name. We asked the New York stylist how to best tame our tresses for the summer season—and look great while doing it.

BRIAN HALL, chief marketing officer for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, has been named chairman of Christmas in St. Louis Foundation, which produces Macy’s Festival of Lights and the Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade.