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Officer Molly Muennich and two other officers were shot about 11 p.m. Saturday when they checked on a report of a man looking in windows of a home on Potomac Drive.

They may claim they care about the children, but the Republican push for age verification laws, book bans, and the general censorship of anything not specifically straight and (preferably) white is all about preventing adults from accessing content these lawmakers don’t personally care for. The kids are merely useful leverage for legislators pushing for the […]

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O'FALLON, IL. - The O’Fallon Police Department is investigating a suspected homicide that occurred Sunday, May 18, 2025, at the Goshen Trailhead parking lot on Kyle Road. A 17-year-old female was fatally shot, and an 18-year-old male is currently in custody in connection with the incident, O'Fallon Police said Monday morning, May 19, 2025. Authorities say the victim and the suspect were known to each other, and police are not searching for any additional suspects. The O’Fallon Police Department described the incident as not random. Detectives are continuing their investigation and plan to present the case to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, for possible charges. Out of respect for the family, the O'Fallon Police Department has not released the victim’s name. Police are asking anyone who was in the area of the Goshen Trailhead parking lot between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Sunday to come forward with information.

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Extensive tree damage at St. Louis Zoo after Storm, Still it Reopened Monday The Saint Louis Zoo reopened Monday May 19f or regular hours after several days of storm damage cleanup. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, May 19-22 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Monday, May 23-26 (Memorial Day Weekend)    May 27-Aug. 17: 8 […]

The post St. Louis Zoo Reopened Monday appeared first on flovalleynews.com.

A young girl is dead and three other people are injured following a pickup truck crash on a rural Missouri highway Monday morning.

A 22-year-old motorcyclist from De Soto, Mo., was ejected from his motorcycle and pronounced dead at the scene after a high-speed crash with a Buick on U.S. Highway 61 in Jefferson County, Mo.

A movie about the life of Ozzy Osbourne will have its theatrical premiere in the Prince of Darkness' hometown, a day before his final concert with Black Sabbath.The Nine Lives…

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Metro Transit is experiencing service disruptions due to storm damage, with Blue Line MetroLink trains not running between Brentwood I-64 and Forest Park-DeBaliviere stations and limited service on the #18 Taylor Metro bus route, with full service resuming on the #42 Sarah route.

ST. LOUIS — City of St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said every single building in the city has been checked for loss of life by the St. Louis Fire Department and the assistance of other first responders. "We are so grateful for their tireless work," Spencer added. An EF3 tornado confirmed by the National Weather Service swept through the St. Louis region, damaging more than 5,000 buildings on Friday, May 16, 2025, killing at least five people and injuring 38 others, Mayor Spencer said over the weekend. The tornado, with wind speeds estimated between 136 mph and 165 mph, prompted an extensive emergency response. Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe activated the State Emergency Management Agency and deployed fire search-and-rescue teams, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency standing by to assist. As the City of St. Louis transitions from immediate emergency response to recovery efforts, Spencer emphasized the need for community support. “The city is still building a volunteer

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Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe on Monday requested President Donald Trump issue a federal emergency declaration following last week’s tornadoes and severe storms that hit southeast Missouri and the St. Louis region.

by Robert Faturechi and Brandon Roberts

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

Two days before President Donald Trump announced dramatic plans for “reciprocal” tariffs on foreign imports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sold stock in almost three dozen companies, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.

The Feb. 11 sales occurred near the stock market’s historic peak, just before it began to slide amid concerns about Trump’s tariff plans and ultimately plummeted after the president unveiled the details of the new tariffs on April 2.

Disclosure records filed by Duffy with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics show he sold between $75,000 and $600,000 of stock two days before Trump’s Feb. 13 announcement, and up to $50,000 more that day.

Transportation secretaries normally have little to do with tariff policy, but Duffy has presented himself as one of the intellectual forefathers of Trump’s current trade agenda. As a congressman in 2019, his last government position before Trump elevated him to his Cabinet post, Duffy introduced a bill he named the “United States Reciprocal Trade Act.” The proposed legislation, which did not pass, in many ways mirrors Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan. Duffy worked on that bill with Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro. Trump’s tariffs were “the culmination of that work,” Duffy posted online, referring to his own bill in the House.

Trades by government officials informed by nonpublic information learned in the course of their official duties could violate the law. However, it’s unclear whether Duffy had any information about the timing or scale of Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans before the public did.

Trump had repeatedly promised to institute significant tariffs throughout the campaign. But during the first weeks of his term, investors were not panic selling, seeming to assume Trump wouldn’t adopt the far-reaching levies that led to the market crash following his “Liberation Day” announcement.

In response to questions from ProPublica, a Transportation Department spokesperson said an outside manager made the trades and Duffy “had no input on the timing of the sales” — a defense that ethics experts generally consider one of the strongest against questions of trading on nonpublic information.

His stock transactions “are part of a retirement account and not managed directly by the Secretary. The account managers must follow the guidance of the ethics agreement and they have done so.”

“The Secretary strongly supports the President’s tariff policy, but he isn’t part of the administration’s decisions on tariff levels,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson dismissed the notion that knowledge of Trump’s coming tariffs could constitute insider knowledge because “President Trump has been discussing tariffs since the 1980s.”

Duffy is the second Cabinet secretary to have sold stock at an opportune time.

Last week, ProPublica reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares of Trump Media, the president’s social media company, on April 2. A government ethics agreement required Bondi to sell the shares within 90 days of her confirmation, a deadline that would have given her until early May, but why she sold on that date is unclear. After the market closed that day, Trump presented his tariffs, sending the market reeling.

Following ProPublica’s story, at least two Democratic members of Congress called for investigations. Bondi has yet to answer questions about whether she knew anything about Trump’s tariff plans before the public did. The Justice Department has not responded to questions about the trades.

Disclosure forms for securities trading by government officials do not require them to state the exact amount bought or sold but instead to provide a broad range for the totals of each transaction.

Duffy's disclosure records show he sold 34 stocks worth between $90,000 and $650,000 on Feb. 11 and Feb. 13. Per the ethics agreement he signed to avoid conflicts of interest as head of the Transportation Department, he was required to sell off stock in seven of those companies during his first three months in office. Cabinet members are typically required to divest themselves of financial interests that intersect with their department’s oversight role, which in Duffy’s case involve U.S. roadways, aviation and the rest of the nation’s transportation network. The ethics agreement was dated Jan. 13, and Duffy was confirmed by the senate on Jan. 28, meaning he had until late April to sell. His spokesperson said he provided his account manager with the ethics agreement on Feb. 7.

The stocks he sold in the other 27 companies were not subject to the ethics agreement. Those shares were valued somewhere between $27,000 and $405,000, according to the records. Among them were Shopify, whose merchants are impacted by the tariffs, and John Deere, the agricultural machinery manufacturer that has projected hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs because of Trump’s tariffs.

Other companies Duffy sold, like gambling firm DraftKings and food delivery service DoorDash, are less directly vulnerable to tariff disruptions. But even those companies will be impacted if Americans have less disposable cash to spend. Few stocks were not hit hard by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements. The S&P 500, a broadbased index, fell almost 19% in the weeks that followed Duffy’s sales and 13% specifically after Trump unveiled the details of his reciprocal tariff plan. Since Trump unexpectedly walked back much of those initial tariffs, the market has rebounded.

There’s no indication that the cash from Duffy’s sales was immediately reinvested. He appears to have held on to parts of his portfolio, including a Bitcoin fund, treasuries, S&P 500 funds and stock in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, an American biopharma company. (Duffy also purchased some Microsoft shares, one of the stocks he’s prohibited from holding, days earlier on Feb. 7, only to sell them on Feb. 11 with the rest of his sales.)

Trades by government officials informed by nonpublic information learned through their jobs could violate the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK, Act. The 2012 law clarified that executive and legislative branch employees cannot use nonpublic government information to trade stock and requires them to promptly disclose their trades.

But no cases have ever been brought under the law, and some legal experts have doubts it would hold up to scrutiny from the courts, which in recent years have generally narrowed what constitutes illegal insider trading. Current and former officials have also raised concerns that Trump’s Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission would not aggressively investigate activities by Trump or his allies.

The president’s selection of Duffy to lead the Department of Transportation was somewhat unexpected. Duffy, who came to fame when he starred in the reality show “The Real World” in the late 1990s, had last held public office in 2019 during Trump’s first term when he served as a Wisconsin congressman.

As a lawmaker, Duffy introduced the bill that would have made it easier for Trump, or any president, to levy new tariffs, a role that had long been largely reserved for Congress. The bill would have allowed the president to impose additional tariffs on imported goods if he determined that another country was applying a higher duty rate on the same goods when they were coming from America.

The bill did not pass, but Trump has essentially assumed that power by justifying new tariffs as essential to national security or in response to a national emergency. His Feb. 13 announcement called on his advisers to come up with new tariff rates on goods coming from countries around the world based on a number of restrictions he said those countries were placing on American products — not just through tariffs, but also with their exchange rates and industry subsidies.

Even the public rollout of Duffy’s bill and Trump’s tariffs were similar. Duffy released a spreadsheet showing how other countries tariffed particular goods at a higher rate than the U.S. Trump also used a spreadsheet during his rollout to show that his new tariffs were the same or lower than the trade restrictions other countries had placed on American goods.

More recently, Duffy has been a booster of Trump’s trade policies.

“LIBERATION DAY!!🇺🇸🇺🇸We’re not gonna take it anymore!💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻,” he tweeted two days after Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs on April 2. “This week, @POTUS took a historic step towards stopping other countries from ripping off the American worker and restoring Fair Trade. In Congress, I helped lead the US Reciprocal Trade Act with @RealPNavarro and the @WhiteHouse to expand the President’s tariff powers in his first term. I am so proud to have been able to share the culmination of that work, Liberation Day, with my family this week. Thank you at POTUS!”

O'FALLON - O’Fallon Police are investigating a homicide that occurred on Sunday, May 18, 2025, in the 300 block of Kyle Road. Authorities reported that the suspect, who is known to the victim, is currently in custody. The department emphasized that there is no danger to the public at this time. Additional details will be released as the investigation continues.

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ST. LOUIS – A tornado with peak winds reaching 150 mph struck the City of St. Louis on Friday afternoon, May 16, 2025, causing significant damage and casualties, according to a preliminary assessment by the National Weather Service. The NWS said the EF-3 tornado touched down near Clayton, Mo., at approximately 2:41 p.m. on Friday and intensified as it moved through northern St. Louis neighborhoods. The National Weather Service reported that EF-3 tornadoes typically produce wind speeds between 136 and 165 mph, with this storm reaching up to 152 mph in some areas. NWS said after crossing the Mississippi River, the tornado continued northeast into Illinois, passing through Venice, Granite City, and Pontoon Beach before dissipating near the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus. St. Louis city officials confirmed that at least five people have died and 38 others sustained injuries as a result of the storm. Damage assessments estimate that roughly 5,000 homes in St.

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ST. LOUIS – In response to the severe storms and tornadoes affecting the bi-state region, United Way of Greater St. Louis (UWGSL) is reminding residents in need of support to contact 211 Powered by United Way of Greater St. Louis . Individuals and families seeking assistance can visit 211helps.org to complete a disaster relief form or those without internet access, 211 can be reached by simply dialing 211 . 211 is a public information tool designed to connect individuals to available services and resources. Critical information from our trusted partners who provide services, and as new information and resources become available, 211 is here to help connect people to those services 24/7. Our goal is to ensure that individuals can access the available support they need throughout our community. Individuals needing support can call 211 or go to 211helps.org . About United Way of Greater St. Louis United Way of Greater St. Louis unites people, resources, and fundin

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All aboard! The Riverboats at the Gateway Arch provide an unparalleled experience on the Mississippi River. The one-hour St. Louis Riverfront Cruise is narrated by a captain from the National […]

The post St. Louis Riverfront Cruise appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

GODFREY - A local outdoors sports store will host their first Bluff City Outdoors Fest. Bluff City Outdoors, an Alton-based shop that specializes in fishing, archery and trapping, invites community members to their festival from May 30 to June 1, 2025, at the Alton-Godfrey Sportsmen’s Club in Godfrey. Attendees can enjoy trapping seminars, a 3D archery shoot, a kids fishing derby, a memorial catfish tournament and more. “It’s our inaugural event,” said organizer Mark McMurray. “We decided to pull the trigger and get it done.” From Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1, 2025, attendees can shoot the 3D archery course for $15. On Friday, the course will be open from 1–5 p.m., followed by 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Most of the fest’s activities will take place on Saturday, May 31, 2025. The kids fishing derby runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with prizes for biggest fish, smallest fish, and other winners.

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