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Man Who Threatened Judge and Jury in Daniel Riley Case to Stay in Jail

1 month ago
An Illinois man who earlier this month made threats against the judge and jury in the high-profile case involving Janae Edmondson will be staying in jail at least a little longer, as a judge denied his attempt to be released while he waits for trial. Daniel Riley was found guilty of assault after his car pinned Edmondson, a visiting volleyball player, and led to both her legs being amputated. Erick Buntyn of Madison, Illinois, was in attendance at Riley's assault trial in St. Louis and, shortly after the jury rendered a guilty verdict, Buntyn allegedly went out into the hall and said, "Fuck the judge and the jury.
Ryan Krull

Hazelwood Schools’ Attorney Has a Blistering Takedown of AG’s DEI Probe

1 month ago
Who does Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey really represent? That's one of the questions raised by an attorney for the Hazelwood School District in a scathing fact-check correcting the AG’s recent bid for attention. Bailey announced last week that he is opening up an investigation into the St. Louis County school district's diversity, equity and inclusion practices following a viral video that captured the brutal beating of 16-year-old Kaylee Gain by another student. 
Kallie Cox

All the GOP Wingnuts Who Now Want to Be Missouri Secretary of State

1 month ago
Stop us if you’ve heard this one: An anti-abortion activist and a transphobe walk into an election — and immediately fit right in with the slate of other Republican candidates vying to be Missouri’s next Secretary of State.  OK fine, we’ll admit it’s not the funniest of jokes, but it is an accurate summation of the state of things now that the Republican field is set for this state office. Tuesday’s 5 p.m. candidate filing deadline saw even more conservative wingnuts jumping into an already crowded race, as embattled House Speaker Dean Plocher, anti-abortion crusader Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a St. Charles judge whose active YouTube page has tens of followers, and a (kind of?)
Kallie Cox

Prosecutors OK With Probation for Brandon Bosley in False Reporting Case

1 month ago
The strange incident where then-St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley accused a woman of trying to rob him — which prosecutors say was a lie — will likely not result in jail time. A prosecutor with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office said in court today that they are open to Bosley receiving a six-month suspended sentence in the case. However, that would only be in exchange for his guilty plea for making a false report.
Ryan Krull

The Best Things to Do in St. Louis This Weekend: March 28 to 31

1 month ago
Thursday 03/28 Off the Top Ropes The tragic story of the Von Erich family was memorably chronicled in last year's Zac Efron film The Iron Claw, an A24 production that was a near-universal hit among critics upon its release, even being named one of the top 10 films of the year by the National Board of Review. The true story behind the arthouse film is just as gripping as the one on the silver screen, and this week Gateway City Slam is here to tell — and show — you all about it.
Riverfront Times Staff

Suit Against Former St. Louis Cop Who Killed Katlyn Alix Is Dismissed

1 month ago
The last legal piece of the Russian-roulette style killing of one St. Louis police officer at the hands of another was settled yesterday in St. Louis Circuit Court — a quiet close to an incident that fueled scandalous headlines in early 2019. Yesterday’s hearing in front of Judge Bryan Hettenbach ended the civil lawsuit filed by the mother of police officer Katlyn Alix against former officer Nathaniel Hendren, two other officers and the city.
Ryan Krull

The Story Behind the Greatest Chuck Berry Bootleg You May Never Hear

1 month ago
Thirty-eight years ago, the man who more than anyone else invented rock & roll left it all on a stage in Austin, Texas. It was April 27, 1986, and Chuck Berry, then 59, was on the final night of a tour that had him headlining a bill of legacy acts that included Chubby Checker, Martha and the Vandellas, the Shirelles and others. In this era, when Berry was on the road, his typical backing band consisted of "whatever underpaid local rockers the promoter rounded up," as one biographer put it.
Ryan Krull

Mayor’s Plan to Put Tiny Homes at Workhouse Site Draws Pushback

1 month ago
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones is considering building tiny homes for St. Louis’ unhoused population at the former site of the city’s Medium Security Institution, better known as the Workhouse. Her spokesman suggests she has little choice — that the Board of Aldermen have effectively blocked homeless shelters from going just about everywhere else in the city. Activists who Jones once consulted on a future use for the Workhouse say she’s not wrong about that.
Kallie Cox

Daniel Riley Wants a New Lawyer After Guilty Verdict in Downtown Crash

1 month ago
Daniel Riley, who was found guilty of multiple assault charges earlier this month, is seeking a new lawyer. Riley, 22, was the driver responsible for the February 2023 collision in downtown St. Louis that trapped visiting athlete Janae Edmondson between two vehicles. Edmondson had to have both legs amputated. 
Ryan Krull

All the 2024 St. Louis Theater Circle Award Honorees

1 month ago
The 11th annual St. Louis Theater Circle Awards ceremony was held at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the campus of Webster University on Monday. The awards recognize locally produced, professional theater with 125 nominations in 33 categories, representing 24 St. Louis companies and 55 productions out of more than 100 eligible shows. The categories and winners are listed below, in order of presentation.
Tina Farmer

Ben Poremba Opens New Location of AO&Co. at Contemporary Art Museum

1 month ago
Ben Poremba’s Bengelina Hospitality Group opened a second location of AO&Co. at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM) at 3750 Washington Boulevard in Grand Center in early March. The new AO&Co. serves coffees from Quarrelsome Coffee, loose leaf teas from Firepot Tea, and a menu of salads and sandwiches featuring items from Poremba’s other restaurants, including Olio and Deli Divine. Poremba says the idea to bring AO&Co. to CAM came about partly thanks to his business partners’ long-term involvement with the museum.
Iain Shaw

New Jewish Theatre's All My Sons Shows the Play's Searing Power

1 month ago
Playwright Arthur Miller is considered one of the 20th century’s great American dramatists, and the pointed and heartbreaking All My Sons is arguably his most profound work. Set just after the end of World War II, the drama examines culpability and the true cost of war while raising questions about our collective responsibility to each other. The New Jewish Theatre’s riveting production captures all the tension and searing pain of the story with a naturalistic approach that finds understated grace in an untenable truth.
Tina Farmer

New Apartments Pitched for Kingshighway and I-64 Seek Big Tax Break

1 month ago
Earlier this year, a nonprofit research center determined that in just the past six years, the tax breaks given to developers have cost St. Louis city and county public schools more than $260 million. While the tax increment financing, or TIF, districts granted by the city have become less common in recent years, many developers have shifted to tax abatements instead. NorthPoint Development, a Kansas City-based commercial real estate developer, recently applied to the St. Louis Development Corporation for tax abatement on a property halfway between Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Grove district.
Lauren Harpold

Missouri AG's Latest Sweaty Headline Grab Earns Cheers From Elon Musk

1 month ago
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit today against a left-leaning media watchdog group that he says is guilty of defaming Twitter (now X) and Elon Musk. The lawsuit, however, is not a defamation suit — but rather a “petition for order to enforce civil investigative demand.”  Back in November, Bailey's office began investigating the nonprofit Media Matters for America, which Bailey believes manipulated Twitter's algorithm to create a report showing advertisements for normal companies on the platform appeared next to not-normal content, or what Bailey calls "contrived controversial posts."
Ryan Krull

St. Louis ARPA Website Shows $272M in Allocations — and $226M More to Go

1 month ago
The City of St. Louis launched a new website today to track the use of federal COVID-19 relief funds. The city was awarded more than $498 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, with plans to use it on 223 projects, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. So far, the city has approved the use of $272,519,142.08, which is approximately 54.7 percent of these funds.
Kallie Cox

World's Top-Ranked Eaters to Eat Fudge Out of Uranus This Weekend

1 month ago
In a first for the sport, the organizing body that oversees all professional eating competitions is inviting some of the best in the business to gather in Uranus this weekend for an event that will see them wolfing down fudge in the pursuit of a world record. Dubbed the 2024 Inaugural Eating Uranus Fudge Galactic Championship and set to take place Saturday at the Uranus Fudge Factory in St. Robert, Missouri, the competition is the first of its kind, and is now one of 70 events on Major League Eating's roster, which also includes the annual televised hot dog eating contest held on July 4 each year on Coney Island. Its competitors will face off for a grand prize of $2,500 and the title of the first-ever Eating Uranus Fudge Galactic Champion.
Daniel Hill

Man Busted with Fentanyl in St. Louis City Jail

1 month ago
St. Louis city prosecutors filed a drug trafficking charge this morning against a 50-year-old busted last week with fentanyl at the City Justice Center. Prosecutors with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office filed a drug trafficking charge against Jason Gipperich, who was booked into the city jail Wednesday on a probation violation. The following day, as he was being moved from the first floor of the facility to the second, Gipperich began acting erratically, according to a police probable cause statement.
Ryan Krull

BLK MKT Eats Closes Vandeventer Location

1 month ago
Beloved sushi burrito spot BLK MKT Eats (9 South Vandeventer) has closed its doors. That’s tragic, we know.  But before you get too upset, know that they closed the Central West End eatery in the Gehardt Lofts building to open in a new, bigger location at 7356 Manchester Road in Maplewood.
Paula Tredway