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Crystal Creek Health and Rehabilitation Center, now under the name Willowcreek Wellness and Rehabilitation, is 158-bed senior living facility. The nursing home has a two-star Medicare rating.

COLLINSVILLE - The Collinsville Police Department is intensifying its efforts to enforce laws against driving under the influence for Halloween weekend. The department issued a reminder urging residents to avoid impaired driving to prevent legal consequences, including vehicle impoundment and arrest. In a recent statement, the department emphasized its aggressive stance on DUI enforcement and offered several recommendations for those planning to celebrate Halloween safely. Collinsville Police suggestions include designating a sober driver, using ride-share applications, public transportation, or taxi services, and employing what they referred to as the "shoelace express." The police department encouraged the community to have a safe, fun, and sober Halloween.

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The Rolling Stones are giving fans a preview of the upcoming super-deluxe reissue of their 1976 album Black and Blue.The band just shared a video of a performance of “Fool to…

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COLLINSVILLE - In a special Halloween edition of Fugitive Friday, Collinsville Police highlighted several individuals wanted on charges related to driving under the influence. The announcement was made to raise public awareness about these fugitives and encourage community assistance in their apprehension. The Collinsville Police provided the photographs above of those on the wanted list. The individuals featured include: - Martin Tovar - Aggravated DUI / license suspended or revoked. - Reggie Simuel - Aggravated DUI 3rd+ Subsequent - Marcelino Ruiz-Perez - DUI BAC .08 or more - Stacey Thomason - Aggravated DUI 3rd+ Subsequent - Juan Gonzalez-Anton - Aggravated DUI - Aja Blount - FTA - Aggravated DUI x2, Aggravated Fleeing, Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Felon Collinsville Police urges anyone with information on the whereabouts of these individuals to contact the department at (618) 344-2131 extension 5209. Collinsville Police said this initiative aims to enhance public

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BETHALTO - Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 students, faculty and administration celebrated a major achievement at a special assembly. On Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, the Civic Memorial High School community came together to recognize their new status as an “exemplary” school. The Illinois School Report Card data, which measures student achievement and school culture, released earlier this week. As an exemplary school, Civic Memorial is in the top 10% of schools in the state. “We’re always celebrating kids. We’re always honoring our teachers and acknowledging them and lifting one another up. It’s just an incredible place to be,” said Superintendent Dr. Jill Griffin. “They’re all working together and they know they’re moving towards one common goal, so it’s incredible. It’s so exciting because it’s not an easy thing to accomplish.” According to the Illinois School Report Card data for Civic

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The post DHS Wants States to Hand Over Driver’s License Data for Citizenship Checks appeared first on ProPublica.

From the Delmar Loop to Forest Park, St. Louis is honoring Día de los Muertos with ofrendas, dancing, music, and colorful tributes to loved ones who have passed.

With baby boomers aging, look around an outdoor festival, and you’ll see plenty of what look like the walking wounded. You’ll see older adults who are walking as though they need a hip or a knee replaced. But, what about an ankle? For people living with chronic ankle pain from severe arthritis, especially after past injuries or fractures, daily life can become a painful, frustrating struggle. But for the right candidate, a total ankle replacement can offer not just pain relief, but a chance to walk, shop and move through life again with ease. Though it's been around for decades, total ankle replacement is still relatively unknown compared to hip or knee replacements. That's largely because until recently, the results weren’t great. Early generations of implants often failed, leaving surgeons hesitant and patients skeptical. Technology has advanced in the last 10 to 15 years with custom, patient-specific metal implants. Bryce Paschold, DPM, a foot and ankle surgeon

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The City of Saint Charles is lending support to local families who may be affected by the pause in SNAP assistance.

A man pleaded guilty this week in connection with a St. Louis County hit-and-run crash that "nearly paralyzed" a motorcyclist, prosecutors say.

John Timothy Jr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving a death, after a jury found him guilty of the crime.

When it comes to RFK Jr., I tend not to find much humor in the chaos he creates. The man’s work involves American health and illness, life and death, so it’s just generally not funny. And that holds true to Kennedy’s wielding of incomplete, inaccurate, and unsettled science to go before all of America and […]

Award-winning journalist Cerise Castle has some history with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In 2021, she chronicled how deputies formed violent gangs within the department. She then turned “A Tradition of Violence,” her 15-part series for Knock LA, into a podcast by the same name.

Perhaps that’s why the department was spooked when Castle submitted a Public Records Act request for names and official ID photographs of all sworn personnel, “excluding those in undercover assignments.” Or maybe the department was merely committed to following its routine practice of delaying and denying records requests.

In any case, the department produced the names of about 8,500 deputies but refused to produce any photographs except of the sheriff and his undersheriffs. They claimed that producing photographs of the deputies would violate their right to privacy and might endanger them in the future, if they ever go undercover.

But the department’s rationale seemed suspect because it also refused to comply with separate requests for headshots of three deputies who have been convicted of serious felonies, fired, and obviously won’t be sent on any future undercover operations for the department.

Castle won her Los Angeles County Superior Court Public Records Act lawsuit in July, and the court ordered the department to release the deputy ID photographs. But now the county is appealing. Its objection to allowing the public to identify law enforcement officers is especially striking when Angelenos and others across the country are outraged by unidentified, masked federal immigration officers abducting their neighbors.

The timing is also particularly odd after the California Legislature just enacted Sen. Scott Wiener’s new law, the No Secret Police Act, barring law enforcement officers operating in the state from masking their faces when working in public, beginning on Jan. 1, 2026.

We spoke to Castle’s lawyer, Susan Seager, to learn more about the case and her client’s opposition to the county’s appeal.

What is the county’s basis for its opposition to producing pictures of law enforcement officers who operate in public and serve the public at the public’s expense?

They claim that no deputy will ever work undercover again because if a deputy’s photo is posted online, and if that deputy works undercover in the future, and if a “criminal” uses facial recognition technology, then that future undercover deputy will be recognized by criminals. But the court rejected this argument because it’s all speculation. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant followed decisions by the California Supreme Court, such as Commission on Peace Officer Certification Standards and Training v. Superior Court, which held that ordinary police officers don’t have a right to privacy in their identities and mere “speculation” about safety risks to the general police force is not enough to block disclosure of public records containing individual police officers’ identities.

The top brass at the LA Sheriff’s Department don’t want their deputies to be accountable to the public they serve. The Sheriff’s Department fights all Public Records Act cases. It’s a knee-jerk reaction.

Susan Seager

Have similar arguments been rejected by the courts before?

No. As far as I know, this is the first case where a court decided that official police department officer ID photos are disclosable under the Public Records Act. The city of LA and city of Santa Ana both voluntarily gave journalist Ben Camacho official police officer ID photos in response to his Public Records Act legal actions, but they did so before a court ruled on his request. The LAPD photos are now online for public use at Watch the Watchers.

It seems notable that LA County is pursuing this appeal so soon after the city of Los Angeles wasted its time and the taxpayers’ money, and embarrassed itself in the Camacho case. Why is the county repeating the city’s mistakes?

The problem is that both the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council appear to be very hands-off on the litigation against them, including cases involving their sheriff’s department and police department, respectively. The elected officials seem to let their lawyers make all the decisions on litigation strategies, appeals, etc., without asking for any updates or to be involved in any decisions to appeal in cases against the government agencies. LA’s elected officials need to take more control over litigation involving their police officers. They need to stop wasting taxpayer money fighting Public Records Act cases like this, especially after a superior court orders the police agency to release the records.

Many people in Los Angeles and around the country have been outraged in recent months by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wearing masks, and other efforts by the Trump administration to discourage and even criminalize identifying law enforcement officers. What do you make of LA County litigating the right to keep deputies’ identities secret against that backdrop?

LA deputies probably wish they could wear masks as well. And the top brass at the LA Sheriff’s Department don’t want their deputies to be accountable to the public they serve. The Sheriff’s Department fights all Public Records Act cases. It’s a knee-jerk reaction. And the lawyers hired by the county don’t care about public accountability — they are hired to fight and win.

What’s your theory about why the county is pursuing this? Where is the pressure coming from? Do they seriously believe that this is a meritorious appeal that they have a real chance of winning? Or do they just not care because taxpayers are funding it?

This is typical for the county of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. They fight all Public Records Act cases. In this case, there is extra pressure coming from the labor unions representing the deputies. The deputies’ labor unions actually joined in the case as intervenors, so we are fighting against the county and the labor unions.

If journalists are not able to obtain photos of law enforcement officers through public records requests, what kind of reporting will the public lose out on?

In the age of everyone carrying a smartphone and filming police, and posting images of police on social media or news sites, the public and the press can use those images to identify officers and investigate their past history. There may be instances where deputies use excessive force or threaten members of the public, but the victim doesn’t know the name of the deputy. Photographs help identify officers.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Boston ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan to pause a food assistance program for 42 million people was illegal — but gave the Trump administration until Monday to respond to her finding before she decides on a motion to force the benefits be paid despite the […]