RFT 📰

Thursday 02/16 Catch a Classic

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve at least partially witnessed the piping hot garbage fire that has been Missouri lately. Since the start of session, the Missouri legislature has…

Thousands of supporters of Lamar Johnson, the 49-year-old wrongfully incarcerated for nearly 30 years, are trying to make his re-entry into free society a little easier by contributing to a GoFundMe. On Tuesday, St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason overturned Johnson's sentence and he walked out of the courtroom a free man. By Missouri law, however, Johnson is not entitled to any restitution from the state despite the state attorney general's office keeping Johnson wrongfully imprisoned; and despite the fact that while working in prison, Johnson earned only a few-cents-per-hour wage.

Editor's Note: Brandon Bosley is responding to an opinion piece that the RFT ran on February 3 about the safer streets bill. Bosley sponsored the bill, which passed on February 10. The article, called "Brandon Bosley Is the Wrong Alderman to Make St. Louis Streets Safer," said that despite being the bill's sponsor, Bosley did not seem to want to use APRA funds for street improvement projects, instead suggesting at a committee meeting in January that the funds go toward a splash pad and funding cultural nonprofits The writer went on to say that KSDK had recently reported Bosley hit someone with his car and accused the person of attempted carjacking, which he denies and no charges have been filed.

A 35-year-old Missouri man who gained infamy for his role in the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, died by suicide in southwest Missouri last month. On January 30, Teddy Von Nukem died by a self-inflicted shotgun wound at his home in Hartshorn. That same day he was supposed to stand trial in Arizona on federal drug trafficking charges.

Full recreational adult-use cannabis is finally legal in the Show-Me State. I'm sure there are lots of excited people who didn't get a medical marijuana card who can now visit all the dispensaries that have popped up in the metro area over the last two years.

Proton w/ Littered with Arrows, Hippyfuckers, Q 8 p.m. Thursday, February 16.

Vicki Lin says that her husband, Brian Hsia, has been dreaming of opening his own restaurant since 1995, a quest that has finally been realized with their aptly named Overland eatery, Kitchen 95 (2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-801-8895). Upon first bite of his steamed wontons, I, too, experienced a dream realized — a fantasy world filled with silken wonton wrappers wrapped around a melange of tender pork and snappy shrimp placed atop a pool of spicy chili oil laden with so much fresh-shaved garlic, I could still taste it a full day later.

According to "Nashville Cats," the Del McCoury (by way of the Lovin' Spoonful) classic, "There's thirteen-hundred-and-fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville/And they can pick more notes than the number of ants on a Tennessee ant hill." True enough, but there are few finer in Music City these days than 25-year-old bluegrass guitarist and local boy Graham Curry. Curry, best known for his stint as the flatpicking whiz for newgrass road warriors Old Salt Union, now splits his time between St. Louis and Nashville, where he has climbed into the top ranks of session players and guest pickers on Music Row.

U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush (D- St. Louis) and Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley don’t agree on much, but they are expected to introduce similar legislation to make sure Hazelwood Schools are safe from radioactive contamination. On Tuesday, Josh Hawley introduced the Justice for Jana Elementary Act, a bill to force the cleanup of the shuttered Jana Elementary School and order the United States Army Corps of Engineers to test all Hazelwood School District properties.

In June 2022, the brass for CITY SC held an intervention. Something wasn’t working. 

If you ask Oscar Fariña his favorite menu item at his new downtown St. Louis restaurant, he won’t hesitate for even a beat: meat. That answer couldn’t be more perfect because Oscar, along with his brother Oswaldo, have launched an eatery that is steeped in the allure of sizzling, delicious meat.

A select few Hyundai owners can now have some reprieve from the rash of auto thefts plaguing Hyundais and Kias in St. Louis. The car manufacturer very dubiously stopped installing engine immobilizers in their vehicles as a way to cut production costs, a move that had the unintended consequence of making their cars incredibly easy to steal. TikToks of young people stealing Hyundais and Kias went viral, creating a new trend.

For just about a decade, Celia Shacklett paid for a residential parking permit. “I balked at first because I didn’t want to pay for street parking,” Shacklett says.

Talk radio is not known for its brevity, and the teaser for Eric Nepute's radio show is no exception. "Even before all the COVID craziness, Dr. Eric Nepute has been a fighter for truth, health and freedom," it begins.

Yet another car traveling eastbound on Highway 40/I-64 in St. Louis was struck by a chunk of concrete near the Hampton Avenue exit. Around 9:30 p.m. Monday night, 25-year-old Kayla Thompson was driving on the interstate with her parents when, just after passing under Hampton, a large chunk of concrete struck the front of her 2019 Jeep Cherokee.

A Ballwin man received a 10-year prison sentence in federal court yesterday after he tried to hide the body of a friend who overdosed on drugs he sold him. In July 2020, Quinton O’Bryan Adaway gave his friend, identified in court documents as M.C., several capsules of fentanyl. M.C. had bought drugs from O’Bryan Adaway in the past, and he had warned M.C. that the final capsules he received were more potent than the others, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys' Office.

On first glance, this St. Louis street sign may seem impertinent — even a bit aggressive. It's the use of the command form, perhaps. "Hump me" is a lot more direct than "would you hump me, please?"

If you’re old enough to remember MySpace, you’re old enough to have a mid-life crisis. And why not kick it off in style at an event honoring your embarrassing younger years? Celebrate your scene hair, your swooped bangs and your studded white belt years at the Emo Bingo event at 9 Mile Garden (9375 Gravois Road, 9MileGarden.com) on March 4.

After 28 years in prison, Lamar Johnson is a free man. Johnson, 49, has been in prison for almost three decades after being found guilty of murdering Marcus Boyd in 1994. His story has repeatedly made national headlines and is often cited by advocates for reform in Missouri's handling of post-conviction claims of innocence.