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The Board of Alderman meeting ended abruptly with no deal passed on Friday.

Uber Ramos, a manager at El Maguey along Highway K, said he was in his vehicle in front of the restaurant when several cars surrounded him. Men told Ramos they were there to arrest him.

EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine announced today that a Roxana man has been charged with felony theft for allegedly stealing funds from ticket sales for a charity event. Jacob A. Sanders, 27, is charged with theft (Class 3 felony) for allegedly stealing $4,185 from ticket sales for the 2024 Guns ’N Hoses charity boxing event. The theft is alleged to have happened during the period of Aug. 1, 2024, through Nov. 27, 2024. Haine said he expects evidence to show that the defendant, a paid-on-call firefighter, was provided with advance tickets to sell for the event held Nov. 27, 2024, but did not turn in the proceeds from the sales. “Allegations of theft from charitable organizations are always disappointing,” Haine said. “Contributions to this organization are made in good faith by members of our community to support a noble cause – aiding the families and children of first-responders who have made ultimate sacrifices. Firefighters

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Last week Techdirt wrote about leading Chinese tech companies being hit with GDPR complaints from noyb.eu concerning the transfer of personal data from the EU to China. More recently, much of the world has been obsessed with another Chinese company, DeepSeek, which operates in the fashionable area of AI chatbots. Most of the discussions have […]

While it’s hard to believe we’re already wrapping up the first month of 2025, many have already established resolutions to... Read More

Letter To The Editor: In our own wonderful town of Alton, Illinois, a family received a swatting call from Border Patrol this week. As my mother and grandmother immigrated to Alton in the early 1950's (they were sponsored by The Unitarian Church of Alton until they could get their legal naturalization papers), I would never have thought I would see the day that legal immigrants would be targeted in our community. We need to protect our immigrants and their families that make up our community from unfair harassment & prejudice that is being caused by ICE raids. Are we going to allow harm to come to our neighbors? Where is love thy neighbors? This family did not deserve this. All immigrant families need to keep their naturalization papers and birth certificates on them at all times. Sad times we live in when legal immigrants are being targeted. Elizabeth Schepers Alton

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GODFREY – After nearly four years of service to the residents of Godfrey, Rick Lauschke is seeking another term as a Village Trustee in the upcoming April 1st Consolidated Election. Trustee Lauschke believes that his diligent work effort and ability to have forward thinking were the keys to his first term. He believes that his work is not done yet, because Godfrey needs to tackle some long-term planning issues and modernize some of its internal procedures to ensure future growth. “It is my sincere hope that the residents of Godfrey continue to show their faith and trust in my efforts. I would like to humbly ask for Godfrey’s vote and support on April 1. I am proud of our accomplishments over the last four years as we have expanded our recreational capabilities and worked on qualify of life issues,” Lauschke said. “Park and biking path expansions, road maintenance, and even dealing with water drainage events are just a few examples of the smaller details

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Regulators recently warned officials at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Blue Springs that “deficient practices” at its laboratory, including lax testing procedures and insufficient training, could endanger patients. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services informed hospital officials that they had found the lab to be in “immediate jeopardy,” the most severe level of […]

36% of patients testing positive with Influenza A across Total Access Urgent Care locations

The attorney requested the extension to report to prison “due to a very new and serious medical condition.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to implement tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday, potentially starting off a trade war that would likely lead to price increases on groceries and numerous other products. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Friday that Trump will place 25% tariffs on goods coming […]

If any whistleblowers were considering leaking documents that expose malfeasance by the Trump administration, they can’t be blamed for thinking twice after Thursday’s confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard.

It’s been nearly 12 years since Edward Snowden and journalists at The Guardian and The Washington Post exposed the National Security Agency’s illegal mass surveillance of Americans. Watching Thursday’s hearing, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been 12 minutes.

Over and over and over for nearly three hours, instead of focusing on the plenty of legitimate reasons to be skeptical of Gabbard’s nomination, senators interrogated her about Snowden (who is a member of our board of directors) and his decade-plus-old leaks. When they weren’t grilling her about Snowden, they demanded she explain her recently rescinded opposition to Section 702 of FISA, as though it’s scandalous to have once questioned domestic spying powers that a court found unconstitutional just last week.

Did they ask Gabbard how she would ensure intelligence agencies follow the Constitution and the law when it comes to surveillance? No. Did they question her about whether she believed it’s appropriate for the government to mislead the Supreme Court about its surveillance practices? Nope. Maybe they asked if she would promise not to lie to Congress when asked about the NSA collecting data on Americans? Wrong again!

Instead, senators were laser focused on demanding that Gabbard label Snowden a “traitor.” They never specified what sort of treason they believe he engaged in by working with award-winning journalists to tell Americans their government was illegally spying on them. Nor did they show any curiosity whatsoever about how Gabbard would limit the illegality that future “traitors” might expose.

A dangerous time for Democrats to attack whistleblowers

In addition to repeated questioning about Snowden by Republican senators, Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Michael Bennet homed in on Gabbard’s position on Snowden.

“Do you believe, as the chairman of this committee believes, as the vast majority of members of our intelligence agencies believe, that Edward Snowden was a traitor to America?” asked Bennet, ignoring the fact that most Americans, no matter their party, gender, income, education, age, and income, considered Snowden a whistleblower shortly after his revelations.

Bennet then spun into an outraged rant after Gabbard refused to answer with a simple “yes or no.” “This is not a moment for social media,” he declared, then launching into a performance clearly designed to go viral on social media. By Thursday night, he’d posted a clip of his repeated badgering of Gabbard about Snowden to his account on the social platform X.

Meanwhile, Warner spent his questioning time proclaiming that Snowden “isn’t a whistleblower” and deserves to “rot in jail.” He asked Gabbard if she stood by her comments calling Snowden a “brave whistleblower” and then talked over her as she tried to answer the question.

It’s long been a national embarrassment that Congress is more interested in punishing those who expose wrongdoing than it is in fixing it. They’re not mad at Snowden for harming America, they’re mad at him for interfering with their illegal spying program.

Now, Democratic senators have added treason charges, which are punishable by death in America, to the list of things that whistleblowers will have to worry about under the Trump administration.

But for Democratic senators, in particular, to be attacking whistleblowing at this moment in time is not just embarrassing. It’s downright dangerous.

Democratic senators are sitting idly by as President Donald Trump issues wildly illegal orders and dismantles internal whistleblowing mechanisms left and right. More and more information is classified, often to protect the government from embarrassment. Will Democrats be so quick to condemn people for leaking information to the press and the public about crimes and wrongdoing by the Trump administration?

Or maybe they won’t have to condemn leakers during the Trump years because fewer will come forward, thanks to Democrats’ reckless comments about Snowden and insistence that internal whistleblowing is the only acceptable path, even as Trump dismantles the systems that enable it. People will surely think twice about revealing information over the next four years when even the Democrats in Congress are sending the message that they don’t support whistleblowers.

After all, whistleblowers who give national defense information to the press already face extremely high risks of prosecution under the Espionage Act, a broken law that, despite its name, has often been used to punish conduct that has nothing to do with spying.

Under the Espionage Act, whistleblowing and treason are treated the same — there is no opportunity for a leaker to explain that they leaked documents out of conscience and not to aid America’s enemies. That means while Snowden has to listen to grandstanding senators call him a traitor in the court of public opinion, he’d never have the opportunity to explain why he’s not one to a court of law.

Some lawmakers — including Gabbard when she was in Congress — have suggested reforming the law to limit it to actual espionage. Sen. Susan Collins — supposedly one of the “moderate” Republicans willing to rein in Trump — attacked Gabbard for that position during her confirmation hearing as well.

Now, Democratic senators have added treason charges, which are punishable by death in America, to the list of things that whistleblowers will have to worry about under the Trump administration. Well done.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said he would block pardoned Capitol insurrectionists from serving in local government positions, citing a state law ordinance, according to a Thursday letter obtained by The Hill. “The State’s Personnel Code, administered by the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) and by you as its Director, requires the rejection of [...]

One of the most memorable 1980s cult classics to feature St. Louis, albeit briefly, is "National Lampoon's Vacation." While the city plays only a small role in the film, the amount of the film actually shot in St. Louis is even smaller.

Mansur Ball-Bey was shot and killed in 2015 by a St. Louis police officer. A jury didn't accept the police version of events.

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, KISS’ Gene Simmons, and Pat Benatar and husband Neil Geraldo are among the guests set to appear on a new podcast hosted by Smashing Pumpkins…

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GODFREY - Village Dispensary has daily deals, with a few special promotions planned for February. “We are growing every month,” said Allison, a representative with Village Dispensary. “We’ll be running promotions in February, but we’ve got a big restock coming next week, so get all the fresh, new strains next week.” Located at 110 Northport Drive in Godfrey, the dispensary offers daily discounts, starting with “Roll Into the Week Monday” — a deal on pre-rolls — and “Tasty Tuesday” edible deals. “Waxy Wednesday” offers sales on concentrates and vapes. “Thirsty Thursday” promises 30% off select cannabis-infused drinks, and “Flower Friday” offers flower for the low price of $25. Additional discounts are available throughout the week. There’s more in store for February, including deals on Valentine’s Day weekend. Customers can expect sales on “love-oriented

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