Aggregator

(SLMPD) is searching for two men who allegedly robbed a woman.

The Missouri House has endorsed a new package of financial incentives to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals playing in the state. The legislation would authorize state bonds valued at up to half the costs of the stadium projects, plus tax credits. But the legislation doesn't list a total overall cost or location for the stadiums, leaving those detailed to be negotiated later.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) and Congresswoman Young Kim (CA-40) sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins expressing their support for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to continue health research focused on women veterans. This week marks VA Research Week and celebrates the 100th anniversary of VA research. The Congresswomen write, “Women are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population. Today, over 2 million women veterans live in the United States, and they are expected to make up 18% of all veterans by 2040. However, women veterans face unique barriers in accessing care, especially in the areas of behavioral health, reproductive care, and tailored services for survivors of military sexual trauma (MST). “VA’s significant investments in research over the last several years have been crucial in improving our understanding of the unique barriers women veterans face. Initiatives such as the

Continue Reading

Dairy Haven ice cream shop in Caseyville, IL is standing firm in its cash-handling policy, refusing cash payments from customers who pull money out of their sweaty armpits due to concerns about sanitation.

SPRINGFIEL D – Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that $400 million is available for local transportation projects, with the goal of enhancing mobility and quality of life in communities throughout the state. The deadline to apply is June 1. “Over the past six years, we’ve made bold, historic investments to strengthen transportation across Illinois, improving mobility and quality of life in every region,” said Gov. Pritzker. “This $400 million investment builds on that progress by supporting local projects that connect communities and helping Illinoisans get where they need to go safely and efficiently. I highly encourage local entities to apply for this funding and bring critical projects that improve the lives of Illinoisans in every corner of the state.” Successful projects will be chosen based on cost-effectiveness, feasibility and safety across multiple categories, including highways, bike and pedestrian

Continue Reading

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) today reintroduced legislation to protect child workers from the dangers of exposure to tobacco plants, including nicotine poisoning. The Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit children under the age of 18 from working in tobacco fields and coming into direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves by deeming this type of work as oppressive child labor. “Kids as young as 12 can be recruited to work on tobacco farms where they are exposed to toxic tobacco plants containing nicotine and may experience common symptoms of nicotine poisoning like nausea, vomiting, headaches, and dizziness. Putting a stop to this disgraceful labor practice is simple and common sense,” Durbin said. “With the Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act , Congress can finally act to protect these kids

Continue Reading

CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, announced today they will file two separate lawsuits against the Trump administration for attempting to illegally coerce their states into sweeping immigration enforcement by threatening to withhold billions in federal funding for emergency services and infrastructure. Raoul and the coalition will file a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Raoul, Bonta, Platkin, Neronha and Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, along with the coalition, will file a second lawsuit against the Department of Transportation (DOT) and DOT Secretary Sean Duffy. Each agency has imposed sweeping new conditions that would require the states and state agencies to cooperate with federal

Continue Reading

The Who’s Roger Daltrey and The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson have collaborated with The Miraculous Love Kids, a nonprofit that provided music lessons to girls and young women in Afghanistan, to release a…

Source

EDWARDSVILLE – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Universidad Central del Ecuador (UCE) have formalized a strategic academic partnership aimed at expanding international collaboration and advancing global graduate education. The signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishes the foundation for a dual Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, enabling students to complete coursework at both institutions and earn degrees from each. The signing ceremony was marked by the participation of UCE’s Chancellor, Patricio Espinosa del Pozo, MD, and Denise Cobb, PhD, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, highlighting the mutual commitment at the highest levels of leadership. “This agreement represents a shared vision for academic excellence and global collaboration. Together with Universidad Central del Ecuador, we are opening pathways for students to gain international business competencies and cultural insight that will distinguish them

Continue Reading

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon that will sideline him for the remainder of the playoffs, the team announced Tuesday.

SPRINGFIELD - State Fire Marshal James A. Rivera and members from the Illinois Fire Service gathered today to honor and remember a fallen Aurora firefighter and recognize those who went above and beyond their duties at the 32nd Annual Fallen Firefighter Memorial and Medal of Honor Ceremony. “Today, we gather with gratitude in our hearts as we honor the brave firefighters of Illinois—those who are serving every day and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, said Governor JB Pritzker. “To the families who have lost loved ones, your sacrifice is not forgotten. We hold their memories close and vow to carry their legacies forward with dignity and respect as we support, invest in, and stand beside the fire service.” “Today, we gather to honor and remember our brothers and sisters who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and to celebrate the remarkable legacy they have left behind for others to follow,” said Illinois State Fire Marshal

Continue Reading

ALTON – Two men from Alton remain in custody following separate cases of domestic battery. Brandon L. Laughlin, 27, of Alton, was charged on May 8, 2025 with aggravated battery (a Class 3 felony), unlawful restraint (a Class 4 felony), domestic battery, and battery (both Class A misdemeanors). On May 7, 2025, Laughlin allegedly struck two individuals about the body with his fist, one of them being a household or family member who he was also accused of unlawfully detaining. In a separate case filed on May 8, 2025, Keith B. Perry, 26, also of Alton, was charged with a Class 4 felony count of criminal damage to property and a Class A misdemeanor count of domestic battery. Perry is accused of causing bodily harm to a household or family member on April 3, 2025 after striking them with a closed fist in the back of the head, continuously hitting the victim and pinning them down on a couch. He was additionally charged with causing over $500 worth of damage to the victim’s

Continue Reading

Avenir, a new luxury apartment community in University City, celebrated its official grand opening on May 8. The $90 million luxury apartment complex is design to combine tranquility and urban living in an elevated environment. Located at 8680 Delmar Blvd., Avenir is nestled between Ladue and Olivette, just minutes away from downtown Clayton. The community’s […]

Support us on Patreon » We’ve written a lot about how understanding the playbook Elon Musk used at Twitter is key to understanding his current playbook with DOGE. The people who literally wrote the book on said playbook are New York Times journalists Ryan Mac and Kate Conger (the latter of whom joined the podcast last […]

Saying some liberal lawmakers have “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Missouri’s junior U.S. senator said the GOP should welcome Democrats pushing party further to the left.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reporting that the first mosquito pool of the year to test positive for West Nile virus (WNV) this year was collected on May 9 in Rockford by the Winnebago County Health Department. The specimen tested positive for WNV on May 12. “The news of the first batch of mosquitos carrying West Nile virus is a reminder for Illinois residents to begin protecting themselves from diseases caused by mosquito and tick bites,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “The best defense against West Nile virus is to practice the ‘Three R’s’: reduce, repel, and report’. IDPH urges everyone, and especially those who are older or have weakened immune systems, to ‘Fight the Bite’ and protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes and the viruses they carry.” Last year in Illinois, IDPH reported that 72 counties around the state reported positive tests for WNV in mosquitos,

Continue Reading

We’re not your lawyers and this article isn’t legal advice. Talk to your attorney before taking any legal action.

Some say President Donald Trump runs the country like a business. That’s debatable, though he certainly treats the press like one of his corporate rivals – including by targeting news outlets with legal actions that are normally seen in business litigation. The claims are baseless. But they may open up opportunities for the press to go on offense.

Case in point, Trump recently took to his platform Truth Social to accuse The New York Times of “tortious interference,” a legal theory usually employed when one company undermines another’s contractual or business relationships. His reasoning? The Times cited experts who doubted the strength of his lawsuit against CBS for editing an interview with presidential rival Kamala Harris.

At risk of reading too much into Trump’s ramblings, he may have been accusing the Times of interfering with his expected settlement with CBS, which is reportedly afraid he’ll block its parent Paramount’s merger plans with media company Skydance if it doesn’t pay up. He also alluded to election interference, but that makes even less sense — the Times article ran five months after the election (and, of course, news reporting is not election interference).

That lawsuit against CBS doubles down on business litigation theories by including “unfair competition” claims, premised on Trump’s assertion that Truth Social competes with CBS. Trump loyalist and “special government employee” Elon Musk has similarly said his social media site, X, is a competitor of traditional media outlets. Both Trump and Musk have also sued news outlets and publishers under consumer fraud and deceptive business practices laws.

To state the obvious, news outlets cannot be held liable for citing legal experts or editing interviews. The Supreme Court has made clear that First Amendment protections can’t be circumvented by repackaging lawsuits aimed at punishing journalism under creative legal theories.

But the Constitution does not extend the same protections to malicious smear campaigns to harm business competitors. Routine hyperbole and exaggeration are not actionable (for example, “My car dealership is the best in town”), but verifiable lies to undermine competitors sure are (for example, “The car dealership across the street falsifies accident records to sell lemons”). So are other deceptive antics to undermine corporate rivals (“Hey carmaker, that’s a nice retailer agreement you’ve got with my dealership — wouldn’t want something to happen to it if you sell cars to that other place too”).

And that is exactly what Trump is up to — not just in his capacity as president, but in his capacity as majority shareholder of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., owner of Truth Social. When he lies about Reuters and Politico receiving improper payments from the government, including misrepresenting contracts his administration signed with a Reuters business unrelated to its newsroom, he’s damaging Truth Social’s competition. Same goes for Musk and X.

Trump is not only retaliating against news outlets that don’t do his bidding, he’s abusing his office to boost his business interests

When Trump sics Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on news broadcasters to baselessly threaten their licenses, or when he denies access to The Associated Press and other wire services that he sees as competition, he’s not only retaliating against news outlets that don’t do his bidding, he’s abusing his office to boost his business interests.

The potential legal theories against Trump, Musk, and their companies aren’t perfect. Trump’s mixed motives — anticompetitiveness as an entrepreneur, on the one hand, and censorship as an authoritarian on the other — complicate things, particularly given the legal immunity he enjoys and abuses.

But Truth Social and X aren’t immune, and neither is Trump, to the extent he was acting as a businessperson rather than a sitting president. It would sure be interesting to take discovery to find out what his real agenda is. Remember, Trump has long dreamed of starting his own media empire.

And whatever flaws the legal claims against Trump and his holdings may have, they’re a whole lot stronger than the nonsense lawsuits Trump pursues to shake down the press.

One problem is that many potential claims, like one for tortious interference, would need to be brought by a media outlet Trump targets. The same corporations caving to Trump probably won’t sue him. That’s unfortunate — principles aside, Trump has already shown that bending the knee doesn’t work. After ABC capitulated, he came after it again. It’s time to try a different approach.

But even if media companies don’t grow some courage, there could be avenues for others to sue. Unfair competition, and consumer fraud and deceptive business practices claims, depending on state law, may be available to impacted consumers, not just competing businesses. For example, a news publisher or reader who relied on the AP’s dispatches to their local newspaper until Trump banned his competitor may have remedies. So might someone (or a class of people) who wasted money on premium subscriptions to X based on Musk’s lies about his competition.

State attorneys general and other local authorities may be able to act as well. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Media Matters for allegedly deceiving Texas consumers about hate speech on X. Paxton’s legal claims were unserious. Media Matters didn’t publish anything false. It’s also not a competitor of X and has never claimed to be.

But that doesn’t mean similar legal theories can’t succeed under different circumstances — like an actual self-proclaimed competitor of news outlets trying to sink their businesses with lies. Back in 2016, Trump settled a lawsuit alleging deceptive business practices (among other things) by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over Trump University’s shenanigans.

Yes, bringing these kinds of claims in cases involving the press could backfire by validating legal claims that could come back to bite journalists. That’s a legitimate concern, although the flip side is that they could force Trump and Musk to argue for limited readings of laws they’ve previously weaponized. But good lawyers should be able to navigate those minefields.

This is not a new problem — courts have long punished deceptive commercial speech while managing to distinguish it from journalism, political debate, and other constitutionally protected speech. As a completely random example, no one would suggest the First Amendment protects someone, say, hawking watches made in China and falsely marketing them as from Switzerland because it’s “free speech.”

Regardless, we’re living in unprecedented times and need to take more risks than we might prefer under normal circumstances. That doesn’t mean be reckless, but we can’t let hypothetical concerns about adverse precedents around the margins of constitutional law stop us from fighting back against someone who wants to destroy the First Amendment, full stop. If we pull punches in hopes of fighting another day, there might not be one.