ST. LOUIS — City officials are making another push to extend the window for tornado-stricken residents to apply for federal recovery aid, saying the current Tuesday deadline would risk leaving out a large swath of struggling households.

In a letter Friday to federal officials, Mayor Cara Spencer said hundreds of new applications are still coming in each week, and that the late arrivals are often the kind of people who most need help: the poor and uninsured. The city, she said, needs 30 more days to reach out to more people in need of assistance.

“We must not allow an arbitrary deadline to stand in the way of equitable recovery,” she wrote.

The request marks the city’s second bid for more time for aid applications, which can unlock tens of thousands of dollars in aid for families hit by

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