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The First Super Bowl Was No Big Deal

4 years 2 months ago
It was televised by two networks and was nothing close to a sellout, despite tickets as low as $6. It was thrown together in twenty-six days. And it had an unwieldy name. Saturday (Jan. 15) was the 55th anniversary of the first Super Bowl, a matchup of the champions of the National Football League and upstart American Football League on Jan. 15, 1967. But it was not called the “Super Bowl” at the time. Dubbed the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the event was a tiny fraction of the behemoth it became. “The NFL title game was what determined the NFL champion, and was treated accordingly by the media,” said Cliff Christl, the team historian of the Green Bay Packers. “The first two Super Bowls were almost treated like the old College All-Star Game. A big game, but more of an exhibition.” The Packers, led by the legendary Vince Lombardi, defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a meeting later known as Super Bowl I.

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Group extols virtues of school district

4 years 2 months ago
A group of St. Louis Public Schools parents, teachers, and board members were in Jefferson City on Wednesday to voice opposition to a pair of bills that could strip the district of $18 million.
Alvin A. Reid | The St. Louis American

Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again

4 years 2 months ago

We've said it over and over again, if libraries did not exist today, there is no way publishers would allow them to come into existence. We know this, in part, because of their attempts to stop libraries from lending ebooks, and to price ebooks at ridiculous markups to discourage libraries, and their outright claims that libraries are unfair competition. And we won't even touch on their lawsuit over digital libraries.

Anyway, in other book news, you may have heard recently about how a Tennessee school board banned Art Spiegelman's classic graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, from being taught in an eighth-grade English class. Some people called this a ban, while others said the book is still available, so it's not a "ban." To me, I think school boards are not the teachers, and the teachers should be able to come up with their own curriculum, as they know best what will educate their students. Also, Maus is a fantastic book, and the claim that it was banned because of "rough, objectionable language" and nudity is utter nonsense.

Either way, Maus is now back atop various best seller lists, as the controversy has driven sales. Spiegelman is giving fun interviews again where he says things like "well, who's the snowflake now?" And we see op-eds about how the best way get kids not to read books... is to assign it in English class.

But, also, we have publishers getting into the banning business themselves... by trying to capitalize on the sudden new interest in Maus.

Penguin Random House doesn't want this new interest in Maus to lead to... people taking it out of the library rather than buying a copy. They're now abusing copyright law to demand the book be removed from the Internet Archive's lending library, and they flat out admit that they're doing so for their own bottom line:

A few days ago, Penguin Random House, the publisher of Maus, Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, demanded that the Internet Archive remove the book from our lending library. Why? Because, in their words, "consumer interest in 'Maus' has soared" as the result of a Tennessee school board's decision to ban teaching the book. By its own admission, to maximize profits, a Goliath of the publishing industry is forbidding our non-profit library from lending a banned book to our patrons: a real live digital book-burning.

This is just blatant greed laid bare. As the article notes, whatever problems US copyright law has, it has enshrined the concept of libraries, and the right to lend out books as a key element of the public interest. And the publishers -- such as giants like Penguin Random House -- would do anything possible to stamp that right out.

Mike Masnick

New Dunkin' Donuts could be approved in Shrewsbury this month

4 years 2 months ago
ST. LOUIS - A new Dunkin' Donuts location in Shrewsbury could be approved this month by the Shrewsbury Board of Alderman. The Shrewsbury Plan Commission voted unanimously on January 26 to send the drive-thru Dunkin' Donuts plan to the board of alderman. The Dunkin' Donuts would be in the former Flowerama site located at Big [...]
Monica Ryan

City of St. Peters Celebrates 8,000 Jobs in Premier 370 Park

4 years 2 months ago

This article originally ran in the Saint Louis Construction News and Review on January 28, 2021 As the first development in the portion of Premier 370 Business Park north of Highway 370 progresses toward a mid-summer 2021 completion, the City of St. Peters, MO is heralding the success of the park to the tune of 8,000 new jobs created by […]

The post City of St. Peters Celebrates 8,000 Jobs in Premier 370 Park appeared first on St. Louis Regional Freightway.

Jared Haynes

Illinois American Water Submits Rate Change Request To Illinois Commerce Commission

4 years 2 months ago
BELLEVILLE — Illinois American Water today filed a request with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to adjust its water and wastewater base rates following an extensive examination of investments to provide safe and reliable water and wastewater service. The request is driven primarily by over $1.1 billion in completed or planned investment – $948 million in water system improvements and approximately $204 million in wastewater system improvements – across the state from 2018 through 2023. The filing is a necessary first step in the 11-month ICC rate review process; rates are not changing at this time. Any new rates would not become effective until early 2023, six years since Illinois American Water’s last general rate change in 2017. “We carefully plan and invest in our water and wastewater systems to provide safe and reliable service to nearly 1.3 million Illinoisians in 146 communities across the state,” said Justin Ladner, Illinois American

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19-Year-old Kylen Dalton Identified In Victim Of Homicide In Central County Precinct

4 years 2 months ago
ST. LOUIS COUNTY - The deceased has been identified in a homicide in the 7200 block of Norstead Walk in the Central County Precinct as Kylen Dalton, 19 years of age, of the 1500 block of Oak Grove Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri 63113. Two adult males, ages 23 and 20, were arrested relative to this incident. The shooting occurred as a result of an altercation due to a personal feud. The case has been presented to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and is currently under review. On February 10, 2022, at approximately 1:45 AM, St. Louis County Police officers from the Central County Precinct responded to a call for service for a shooting in the 7200 block of Norstead Walk. Responding officers located an adult male suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The victim was pronounced deceased on the scene. The investigation is very active at this time. Additional information will be disseminated as it becomes available. Please contact the St. Louis County Police

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