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Protest Planned Over Mississippi River Bridge Work
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- The mayor of East St. Louis and a group of black contractors are threatening to shut down work on a new Mississippi River bridge project.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports Saturday that Mayor Alvin Parks and members of the Metro-East Black Contractors Organization want increased minority participation in the project.

The mayor and the contractors say talks broke down with the Illinois Department of Transportation. They have not discussed what form their protest may take.

IDOT spokesman Josh Kauffman says minority workers have put in 23 percent of hours worked on the bridge project, higher than the federal goal of about 15 percent.

Kauffman says IDOT officials met with the contractors for more than four hours on Monday. It was the third meeting with the group in four weeks.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
09 03 11 by Newsroom
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