Aggregator

White Castle opened its doors in St. Louis 100 years ago.

Looks like Sammy Hagar may be returning to Las Vegas.The rocker teased fans with the possibility of more residency dates in a birthday post to guitarist and Best of All Worlds…

Source

A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge has ordered the arrest and detention of a Missouri woman and her husband who are at the center of high-profile legal battles and controversies over exotic animal ownership, specifically chimpanzees.

Tonia Haddix, who ran a Jefferson County primate facility and was featured in an HBO documentary called "Chimp Crazy," was held in contempt of court.

ALTON — The public boat launch ramps at Alton Marina have been closed effective July 15, 2025, due to low water levels on Pool 26 of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, marina officials announced on Tuesday. The current river level at Alton Marina is 413 feet above sea level, resulting in approximately four feet of water within the harbor. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ latest forecast, water levels are expected to reach Maximum Drawdown within the next seven days, prompting the closure of the launch ramps to all vessels during this period. Rob Honke, operator and general manager of Alton Marina, said the marina is closely monitoring river conditions and will provide updates as they become available. “Please refer to the USACE forecast data for the most up-to-date information, keeping in mind that conditions may change with rainfall in the upper river basin,” Honke said. Boaters and visitors are encouraged to check Alton Marina’s Facebook

Continue Reading

ST. LOUIS, MO. - It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, a Democrat or somewhere in between, you’re sure to enjoy Soulard Art Gallery’s upcoming “Politically Incorrect” show, which opens on Friday, August 8, 2025. St. Louis Mayor Kara Spencer will judge the exhibit at St. Louis’ number one gallery, located at 2028 S. 12th St. “Whether you’re on the left side of the fence, the right side of the fence, or just straddling the middle, we are interested in your artwork and your point of view,” says curator and resident artist, Claudia Ruth Burris. “Make a statement, express a viewpoint, illustrate your side of the story… Whatever your political beliefs, this show is for you.” This show is something different for the Soulard Art Gallery, which exhibits work from artists all over the bi-state region in rotating shows which change every six weeks. “Instead of the typical art subjects featured in our gallery,

Continue Reading

EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville Municipal Band continues its summer season with a free concert on Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cleaon Etzkorn Bandstand in City Park. This week’s performance, titled “A Musical Potpourri,” offers a lively mix of pieces that reflect the range and interests of the band’s musicians. The program features a blend of concert classics and stage favorites, including Holst’s Second Suite in F, the lively Amparito Roca, and Mancini Magic. Broadway medleys from Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, and Man of La Mancha round out the evening with familiar and beloved melodies. Concessions for the evening will be provided by Glen Ed Pantry, a local nonprofit serving families in Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, and nearby communities. Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets and enjoy a relaxed evening of music in the park. Follow the Edwardsville Municipal Band on Facebook and

Continue Reading

by Dr. John Gaal Editor’s Note: Each week, Dr. John Gaal, director of worker wellness for the Missouri Works Initiative, a non-profit workforce formed by the Missouri AFL-CIO, collects and comments on news and trends in workforce wellness and life balance. Construction Forum carries the Worker Wellness & Well-Being Blog as a regular feature. The […]

The post Worker Wellness Blog: Testing The Depth of The Apprenticeship Pool appeared first on Construction Forum.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – As St. Louis continues to recover from the May 16th severe storms and tornadoes, two local organizations, Evolution Festival and the United Way of Greater St. Louis (UWGSL), have partnered to provide further relief for those in urgent need. This year, proceeds from all ticket, concession, merchandise and parking sales at Evolution Festival will directly benefit the UWGSL disaster recovery efforts. The funds will be used to help local families and neighbors rebuild in the wake of the devastating storm. Evolution Festival has pledged a minimum, guaranteed donation of $100,000 to UWGSL for this crucial initiative. “Evolution Festival is about more than just music, it’s about community. Coming together to support our neighbors in need is what truly defines us,” said Steve Schankman, Evolution Festival Founder and Executive Producer. “This partnership shows the power of community in action; every ticket, beverage and t-shirt sold

Continue Reading

by ProPublica

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used engineers in China to help maintain highly sensitive Defense Department computer systems. ProPublica’s investigation reveals how a model that relies on “digital escorts” to oversee foreign tech support could leave some of the nation’s most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary.

Here are the key takeaways from that report:

Only U.S. citizens with security clearances are permitted to access the Defense Department’s most sensitive data.

Since 2011, cloud computing companies that wanted to sell their services to the U.S. government had to establish how they would ensure that personnel working with federal data would have the requisite “access authorizations” and background screenings. Additionally, the Defense Department requires that people handling sensitive data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

This presented an issue for Microsoft, which relies on a vast global workforce with significant operations in India, China and the European Union.

Microsoft established its low-profile “digital escort” program to get around this prohibition.

Microsoft’s foreign workforce is not permitted to access sensitive cloud systems directly, so the tech giant hired U.S.-based “digital escorts,” who had security clearances that authorized them to access sensitive information, to take direction from the overseas experts. The engineers might briefly describe the job to be completed — for instance, updating a firewall, installing an update to fix a bug or reviewing logs to troubleshoot a problem. Then the escort copies and pastes the engineer’s commands into the federal cloud.

The problem, ProPublica found, is that digital escorts don’t necessarily have the advanced technical expertise needed to spot problems.

“We’re trusting that what they’re doing isn’t malicious, but we really can’t tell,” said one current escort.

The escorts handle data that, if leaked, would have “catastrophic” effects.

Microsoft uses the escort system to handle the government’s most sensitive information that falls below “classified.” According to the government, this includes “data that involves the protection of life and financial ruin.” The “loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability” of this information “could be expected to have a severe or catastrophic adverse effect” on operations, assets and individuals, the government has said.

Defense Department data in this category includes materials that directly support military operations.

The program could expose Pentagon data to cyberattacks.

Because the U.S.-based escorts are taking direction from foreign engineers, including those based in China, the nation’s greatest cyber adversary, it is possible that an escort could unwittingly insert malicious code into the Defense Department’s computer systems.

A former Microsoft engineer who worked on the system acknowledged this possibility. “If someone ran a script called ‘fix_servers.sh’ but it actually did something malicious, then [escorts] would have no idea,” the engineer, Matthew Erickson, told ProPublica.

Pradeep Nair, a former Microsoft vice president who said he helped develop the concept from the start, said a variety of safeguards including audit logs, the digital trail of system activity, could alert Microsoft or the government to potential problems. “Because these controls are stringent, residual risk is minimal,” Nair said.

Digital escorts present a natural opportunity for spies, experts say.

“If I were an operative, I would look at that as an avenue for extremely valuable access. We need to be very concerned about that,” said Harry Coker, who was a senior executive at the CIA and the National Security Agency. Coker, who also was national cyber director during the Biden administration, added that he and his former intelligence colleagues “would love to have had access like that.”

Chinese laws allow government officials there to collect data “as long as they’re doing something that they’ve deemed legitimate,” said Jeremy Daum, senior research fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. Microsoft’s China-based tech support for the U.S. government presents an opening for Chinese espionage, “whether it be putting someone who’s already an intelligence professional into one of those jobs, or going to the people who are in the jobs and pumping them for information,” Daum said. “It would be difficult for any Chinese citizen or company to meaningfully resist a direct request from security forces or law enforcement.”

Microsoft says the program is government-approved.

In a statement, Microsoft said that its personnel and contractors operate in a manner “consistent with US Government requirements and processes.”

The company’s global workers “have no direct access to customer data or customer systems,” the statement said. Escorts “with the appropriate clearances and training provide direct support. These personnel are provided specific training on protecting sensitive data, preventing harm, and use of the specific commands/controls within the environment.”

Insight Global — a contractor that provides digital escorts to Microsoft — said it “evaluates the technical capabilities of each resource throughout the interview process to ensure they possess the technical skills required” for the job and provides training.

Microsoft says it disclosed details of the escort program to the government. Former Pentagon officials said they’d never heard of it.

Microsoft told ProPublica that it described the escort model in documents submitted to the government as part of cloud vendor authorization processes. Former defense and intelligence officials said in interviews that they had never heard of digital escorts. Even the Defense Department’s IT agency didn’t know about it until reached for comment by ProPublica.

“I probably should have known about this,” said John Sherman, who was chief information officer for the Defense Department during the Biden administration. He said the system is a major security risk for the department and called for a “thorough review by [the Defense Information Systems Agency], Cyber Command and other stakeholders that are involved in this.”

DISA said, “Experts under escort supervision have no direct, hands-on access to government systems; but rather offer guidance and recommendations to authorized administrators who perform tasks.”

There were warnings early on about the risks.

Multiple people raised concerns about the escort strategy over the years, including while it was still in development. A former Microsoft employee, who was involved in the company’s cybersecurity strategy, told an executive they opposed the concept, viewing it as too risky from a security perspective.

Around 2016, Microsoft engaged contacts from Lockheed Martin to hire escorts. The project manager says they told their counterpart at Microsoft they were concerned the escorts would not have the “right eyes” for the job given the relatively low pay.

Microsoft did not respond to questions about these points.

Other cloud providers wouldn’t say if they also use escorts.

It’s unclear whether other major cloud service providers to the federal government also use digital escorts in tech support. Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud declined to comment on the record for this article. Oracle did not respond to requests for comment.

ALTON - Senior Services Plus, Inc. will host a community blood drive with the American Red Cross on Monday, July 21st, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2603 North Rodgers Avenue in Alton. Blood donations are needed year-round, especially during emergency blood shortages. Right now, hospital demands continue to outpace donations and organizations like the American Red Cross are reaching out for the community’s assistance and are especially calling on those with Type O to donate. As an incentive, the American Red Cross is gifting donors a Fandango Movie Ticket by email (up to $15 ticket price and fees). For more information or to make an appointment to donate, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter code ‘SPP’. Walk-ins are also welcome, although appointments are encouraged to help manage donor flow.

Continue Reading

The Federal Trade Commission released a new scam warning for storm victims. 

MARYVILLE – State Senator Erica Harriss (56th-Glen Carbon) has teamed up with the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office to host an ICASH event this Thursday at the East Alton Municipal Building. Constituents are encouraged to stop by to check if they are owed unclaimed property and receive assistance filing a claim. ICASH Event Details Who: Senator Erica Harriss; Illinois State Treasurer’s Office When: Thursday, July 17, 2025, from 9AM-12PM Where: East Alton Municipal Building, 119 West Main Street, East Alton, IL 62024 ICASH events help residents across Illinois locate and reclaim unclaimed property. Since 2015, more than $2 billion in assets have been returned to Illinoisans. Unclaimed property can include everything from forgotten bank accounts and uncashed checks to insurance payments, stocks, and even the contents of safe deposit boxes.

Continue Reading

ALTON – Simmons Hanly Conroy , a national leader in the legal representation of mesothelioma patients and their families, is pleased to announce that the SHC Foundation Golf Tournament had its most successful year ever, raising $40,000 on June 6 to benefit Annie’s Hope and Overnight Warming Locations (OWLs). Each organization received $20,000 from the tournament held at the Spencer T. Olin Golf Course in Alton. Over the last 18 years, the annual event has raised more than $357,000, benefiting area organizations and charities. “We are thrilled that the SHC Foundation Golf Tournament had its biggest fundraising success ever,” said SHC Foundation Director Tamara Jesse. “We want to offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported or participated in the event that enhances the amazing work that Annie’s Hope and Overnight Warming Locations do in our community. We also are grateful to the Spencer T. Olin Golf Course for hosting the tournament

Continue Reading

A house fire that killed two women in the Dutchtown neighborhood may have been a homicide, police say.

In a year marked by relentless storms across the St. Louis region, it's also been a time of reflection on some of the most powerful and destructive weather events in St. Louis history.

The Savannah Bananas are set to perform in front of a sold-out crowd at Busch Stadium this weekend, featuring St. Louis native Noah Niznik as pitcher and their signature dance moves and baseball shenanigans.

The first deadline is next Tuesday, July 22.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) has released the 2025 prevailing wage rates for construction trades for all counties in the State. The updated rates, which took effect Tuesday, July 15, are the result of IDOL’s annual statewide survey conducted under the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act . The Act requires that workers on publicly funded construction and infrastructure projects be paid wages consistent with local standards. This ensures taxpayer dollars stay in the Illinois economy—supporting local workers, promoting quality jobs, and fostering fair competition among contractors. Each June, IDOL determines the prevailing wage rates by reviewing compensation—defined as hourly base pay plus annualized fringe benefits—commonly paid to workers performing similar jobs on public works in each locality. “Illinois continues to invest in its workforce and communities through strong prevailing wage protections,” said Illinois Department

Continue Reading