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Ready, Set, Weekend: St. Louis events Sept. 25 - 27

1 day 4 hours ago
ST. LOUIS - We are officially in the autumnal equinox, and with the weekend is bringing those crisp fall temperatures to the area, there's plenty to do around St. Louis. St. Charles Oktoberfest Friday: 4 p.m. - 11 p.m.Saturday: 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.Sunday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Frontier Park, St. Charles, Missouri For [...]
Angela Hutti

Maplewood Richmond Heights seeking new superintendent

1 day 4 hours ago
FROM MAPLEWOOD RICHMOND HEIGHTS SCHOOL DISTRICT: The Board of Education, in partnership with the Missouri School Boards’ Association, is seeking a leader to guide MRH into its next chapter. Your perspective is an important part of that process. Today, we’re sharing the superintendent job posting as well as a community survey designed to gather input […]
Doug Miner

Tom Lane State Farm Insurance Female Athlete Of The Month: Addie Jeffery Brings Composure And Firepower To Eagles Volleyball

1 day 5 hours ago
BETHALTO — Addie Jeffery helped lead Civic Memorial’s girls volleyball team to a two-set victory over rival Jersey on Thursday night, Sept. 24, 2026, with a strong performance at the net in Bethalto. The 5-foot-11 outside hitter has recorded 176 kills and 43 service points this season for the Eagles. Civic Memorial head coach Jack Grimm said Jeffery plays both middle and outside hitter, bringing composure and leadership to the team. She is a Tom Lane State Farm Insurance Female Athlete

Man found guilty in 2025 murder at north St. Louis apartment complex

1 day 5 hours ago
ST. LOUIS - A 45-year-old man was found guilty Thursday in connection to a murder last year at an apartment complex in north St. Louis. According to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, the jury came back with a guilty verdict against Johnny Haynes for voluntary manslaughter, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a [...]
Megan Mueller

OpenAI Accuses Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Of Paying For, Hiding, And Then Laundering Sketchy Key Evidence In AI Copyright Case

1 day 5 hours ago
A ton of attention was paid recently to some offhand statements from OpenAI and Microsoft employees that surfaced in filings in the NY Times’ ongoing case against OpenAI, which has been consolidated into a much larger class action lawsuit. As I argued earlier, that struck me as something of a nothingburger of a story, because […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: Interactive Self-Rotating Cat Toy Ball

1 day 5 hours ago
This Smart & Interactive Self-Rotating Cat Toy Ball is a USB-rechargeable toy featuring 360-degree rolling movements, obstacle avoidance, and changing LED lights to help keep cats entertained. It’s built out of scratch-resistant and bite-resistant materials, the ball is tough enough to withstand rough play from high-energy kittens and adult cats alike. It’s on sale for […]
Daily Deal

Edwardsville Art Fair Showcases Local and International Talent

1 day 5 hours ago
EDWARDSVILLE — About 100 artists will bring their work to Edwardsville City Park Sept. 25-27, 2026, for the 2026 Edwardsville Art Fair, a free outdoor celebration that supports the Edwardsville Arts Center’s annual programming. Produced by the nonprofit arts center, the three-day juried fair will feature local, regional, national, and international artists, along with local performing arts, live art demonstrations, a children’s art gallery and food and drink vendors. The

Alton Elementary Schools to Host Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser to Raise Money and School Spirit

1 day 6 hours ago
ALTON - Alton Community Unit School District #11 families can support local elementary schools through a special fundraiser. On Sept. 30, 2026, North Elementary School and Lewis and Clark Elementary School students will participate in their annual Walk-A-Thon. Students will raise money by walking around the playground. The goal, explained Principals Lisa Harris and Latasha Leflore-Porter, is to connect the school community and engage families. “It’s become a tradition now,”

White House thinks it’s above the law

1 day 6 hours ago

Dear Friend of Press Freedom:

A federal judge smacked down the White House’s media ban, but the administration seems to think complying with court orders is optional. Plus: Alongside our allies, we’re continuing the fight for real editorial independence – not some unconstitutional sham board – after a baffling capitulation from state attorneys general to David Ellison’s Paramount.

Judge rules media ban clearly unconstitutional

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that President Donald Trump could not bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, rejecting the administration’s argument that “national security” concerns justified the ban. But despite Kelly’s temporary restraining order, all three outlets reported hours later that they were still being blocked from entering the premises. Compliance since has been spotty at best.

“Government officials who continue to deny journalists’ access to the White House in defiance of Kelly’s order should be held in contempt,” Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “And it’s long past time for judges to start aggressively sanctioning DOJ lawyers when they make frivolous national security arguments to turn Trump’s petty grievances against the press into government policy.”

Paramount settlement’s ‘editorial board’ is worthless

A coalition of state attorneys general proposed a settlement of their case opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which would clear the way for both CNN and CBS News to be subsumed into the David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance. The agreement requires the creation of an “independent” editorial board to oversee both outlets and ensure independent, objective, fact-based reporting — an unconstitutional nightmare.

“The editorial board creates the same First Amendment problems it’s supposed to solve — the government meddling in the news,” FPF’s Stern explained in a statement. After the judge raised questions about the factual and legal underpinnings of the proposed settlement terms, FPF and its allies — represented by Brendan Benedict of Benedict Law Group and Jessica J. González of Free Press — filed a legal brief asking her to reject it.

Crickets from Ellison on the media ban

No one’s heard a peep from Ellison, who wrote a New York Times op-ed telling everyone they could trust him to run CNN independently, on the White House media ban. Surely he’ll stand up for the journalists he wants to employ, even if his buddy Trump doesn’t like them. After all, he found plenty of time to issue statements about the capitulation by the attorneys general. We and a coalition of over 100 leading journalists, rights organizations, academics, and advocates wrote him a letter just to make sure.

Hate Zuck? Pay attention to Larry

Meta’s newly introduced safeguards to protect kids from getting addicted to its products were praised by some parents and politicians, but they come with serious potential dangers of increased surveillance of the tech giant’s users. Whatever you think of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, though, their abuses are nowhere near as concerning as what Larry Ellison, head of global spying machine and major military contractor Oracle and father and financier of Paramount CEO David, can do with his family’s stronghold over news, television, movies, and TikTok.

FPF’s Stern wrote for The Intercept about how Larry Ellison and his son are seeking unprecedented control over what the next generation watches and reads, and what they could accomplish in the artificial intelligence era.

Stop warrantless device searches at the border

Federal agents at the border are currently allowed, per Department of Homeland Security, to search travelers’ devices without a warrant. And for so-called basic searches, they can do so without any suspicion that the traveler has committed a crime. We filed an amicus brief in a case currently up for Supreme Court review, arguing that government access to journalists’ phones is a danger to both the press and its sources, and that this expansion of border-search authority could “chill newsgathering and undermine the confidentiality on which a free press depends.”

Overclassification is a bipartisan problem

The government overclassifies documents at an alarmingly high rate, and administrations of both parties have exacerbated and exploited the problem. FPF’s Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper, writing for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, detailed four ways to start fixing this pernicious issue, which deprives the public and their representatives of vital information about how the government is (or is not) functioning.

What we’re reading Ex-federal prosecutors say Trump media company’s scheme to sell early access to Truth Social posts is likely criminal CBS News

In a court filing in our ongoing suit against Trump and his aides for providing early access to his social media posts to those willing to pay $100,000 per month, 53 former federal prosecutors and agents said that the scheme “poses an obvious risk of corruption.”

Facing outraged residents, Flock got help from group that uses AI to rally public support The Intercept

Americans don’t want surveillance oligarchs like the Ellisons trading editorial independence for political favors any more than they want Flock cameras spying on them. But the same astroturfing firm is ginning up fake support for both.

ICE likely violated First Amendment by issuing warning to critic, judge rules The Washington Post

It must be frustrating to work your way up to the federal bench only to spend your days answering grade-school-level questions like: Can feds show up at someone’s home and hotel room to threaten them with prosecution for criticizing the government via email?

Inside Commerce efforts to break data siloes and improve integrity Government Executive

Data silos exist for a reason and are the heart of the Privacy Act. Breaking them enables too much prying into your life by too many government actors. That’s just one of the reasons why FPF is suing the government to see exactly which silos it’s intent on destroying.

NAZA IFC Center

Threats to denaturalize journalists and filmmakers, like those who produced “NAZA,” are illegal and belie any claim that financing Israel’s wars advances democracy. Support the filmmakers by buying tickets to a screening at the IFC Center in New York City next week.

ICE says it can’t find its own records of teargassing and arresting Broadview protesters Block Club Chicago

One (or all) of the following is happening: 1) Immigration and Customs Enforcement is intentionally conducting insultingly bad Freedom of Information Act searches to screw requesters out of records about the agency’s use of force; or 2) it is failing to create records, or improperly destroying the ones it generates. All scenarios are unlawful.

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Freedom of the Press Foundation

Annual Brew in the Lou Festival Returns to Francis Park October 10, 2026

1 day 6 hours ago
ST. LOUIS – St. Louis’ premier fall tasting event is back. The 14th Annual Brew in the Lou Festival returns to the Lily Pond at Francis Park on Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 1–5 p.m. For the first time in history, Brew in the Lou has a title sponsor: Southern Bank. Brew in the Lou guests will enjoy unlimited tastings of the region’s best beer, wine, spirits, and food , plus live music, shopping, and family fun — all while supporting scholarships and educational