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The 12 House Democrats received a combined $8 million in campaign support from AIPAC and its affiliates last year.

Over the past few weeks of our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we talked about the rise of the commercialized internet, and how it enabled transactions online, leading to the original dot com bubble around e-commerce. But, as we noted, nearly all of that was based on using the internet as […]

From the St. Louis Zoo to the Missouri Botanical Garden to Grant’s Farm, preparations are underway for the November and December events.

This is all ancient and well-trod history, but it sure seems like a lot of people no longer have much understanding of how Israel originated, and why it is where it is. So here's a very brief Beginner's Refresher to Israel. Before the First World War, the area we now call the Middle East was ...continue reading "A Beginner’s Guide to the creation of Israel"

The head of the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen is suing her own city and 13 police officers. 

That's at least 10 times what's currently available.

ALTON - Kristina Castelli, the Alton High girls volleyball team libero, recently earned honorable mention All-Southwestern Conference honors as a defensive specialist, her coach Phil Hamilton said. Castelli is an Auto Butler Female Athlete of the Month for the Redbirds. Coach Hamilton said Castelli fills the libero role of specializing in play on the back row. “She can go into the game in more than one position,” the coach added. “The libero allows you more flexibility almost the entire game in the back row. The libero is the backbone of your defense and your passing.” He said it is quite an honor for Castelli to be on the All-Southwestern Conference list, considering the competition for the nomination. “You have to be judicious with your All SWC entries,” Hamilton said. “She does enjoy volleyball immensely and is also a soccer player on the varsity team in the spring. She is a great athlete overall." Hamilton closed by saying: "We have

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St. Charles County is set to spend $12 million on upgrades to the technology at its 911 center.

ST. LOUIS - Yelena Gass-Bronstein spent her entire career as a registered nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Now, she’s counting on her colleagues to save her life. Roughly 15% of the U.S. adult population will develop kidney disease, and Gass-Bronstein is one of the 90,000 people in the U.S. who currently need a kidney transplant. In order to avoid the “miserable” experience of dialysis, she is searching for a living kidney donor who would be willing to donate a kidney, as soon as possible. “I helped so many people during my career, and now I need help myself,” Gass-Bronstein said. “The bottom line is that in order to survive, I will need an organ. All those prayers and support — I have lots of people who responded with emotional responses, that they’re praying for me, that they’re wishing me the best. And it’s very meaningful to me, of course. It means a lot to me. But I need to find an organ.” Gass-Bronstein isn’t

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The trial date has been set for a man charged in a deadly hit-and-run crash near Ted Drewes last year.

Israeli troops advanced further toward Gaza City on Thursday, battling with Hamas militants as the Palestinian death toll surged above 9,000. In the nearly four weeks since Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, U.S. and Arab leaders are ramping up pressure on Israel to at least briefly pause its attacks in order to aid [...]

EAST ALTON - As the afternoon closes on the demolition project of the Old Citizens Savings Bank in East Alton, a large part of the building has been removed. Here are photos thanks to the 618 Drone Service. The photos provide an above-ground look at how the building's remnants are now stacked. In the morning, the demo group will be back out at the scene and continue removal until the building is completely taken down. As promised, quick progress was made on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, the first day of demolition. All day long, the site attracted the attention of onlookers and most there reflected on the architecture and history of the building, which unfortunately couldn't be saved because of a contaminated and destroyed interior, East Alton city officials said. Riverbender.com will provide another tear-down look on Friday as the demolition continues.

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Feeling bloated today? You’re not alone. It’s not uncommon to get the sensation caused by gas, air or fluid retention in the stomach or small intestine. But what’s important to know: bloating has many causes, says Aminat Ogun, MD , an OSF HealthCare family medicine physician. So don’t let it linger and hope it will go away. If symptoms persist, see a health care provider so they can rule out something more serious and give proper treatment.“It might feel like your stomach is full, swollen or sometimes tender. It can cause some discomfort,” Dr. Ogun says.Causes for bloating include: The body makes too much gas. An overgrowth of intestinal bacteria. H. pylori is a common type. Dr. Ogun says it causes chronic inflammation in the stomach lining, and it can lead to peptic ulcers or even stomach cancer if untreated. Diet issues, like intolerance of certain carbohydrates or a gluten intolerance. Hormone changes during a woman’s menstrual cycle.

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The "Black Girls Who Rock" award celebration is scheduled for Sunday, December 10th, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event will take place at Lindenwood University on Clay Street in St. Charles and aims to recognize and honor exceptional women in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. 

An Alabama journalist is charged with “print[ing] an article containing grand jury information” while his publisher is charged with approving the article. As a term of their bail, they're both censored from reporting on criminal investigations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Court documents reveal that an Alabama newspaper publisher and reporter were ordered to refrain from “communication” about any criminal investigations as a condition of being released on bail. They were arrested last week for the “crime” of reporting on a grand jury investigation of a school board’s handling of COVID funds.

“It’s hard to believe that officials honestly think the First Amendment entitles them to arrest journalists for reporting news and then censor them as a condition of release,” said Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern. “There’s a pattern here that indicates an intentional abuse of power to retaliate against the press.”

The bail terms imposed on Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher essentially prohibit the paper from reporting on crime — an obviously core function of local journalism. As Stern explained, “The bail terms would be unconstitutional even if they only restricted the journalists from further reporting on the grand jury investigation of the school district, especially when there was no legal or constitutional basis to punish that reporting in the first place.”

But the order broadly prohibits all reporting on “ongoing criminal investigations,” regardless of whether they have anything to do with the charges against Digmon and Fletcher. According to Stern, “That overbreadth turns an already flagrantly unconstitutional gag order into a fundamentally un-American attempt at retaliatory censorship to silence the free press. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s also noteworthy that Escambia County District Attorney Stephen Billy, in what he must have believed was somehow a defense of his decision to bring charges against the journalists, complained that he believed the Atmore News’s coverage of him was unfair. Tellingly, a non-journalist who was also arrested for allegedly violating the grand jury secrecy law was not similarly gagged as a condition of bail.

Digmon and Fletcher were first arrested Friday (FPF’s statement on the arrests is available here). The complaint against Fletcher accuses him of “print[ing] an article containing grand jury information” while Digmon stands accused of “approv[ing] an article containing grand jury information and allow[ing] the article to be printed in the Atmore News.”

But Alabama’s grand jury secrecy statute only prohibits grand jurors, witnesses, and others directly involved in grand jury proceedings from disclosing information about a grand jury. It does not prohibit journalists from reporting information provided by sources, presumably because the legislators who drafted the law knew that would be unconstitutional.

As FPF Deputy Director of Advocacy Caitlin Vogus has explained, “The First Amendment protects journalists who publish information they lawfully obtain from sources,” even if the sources are alleged to have broken the law.

Nonetheless, after illegally arresting the journalists on felony charges for constitutionally protected news reporting, Escambia County authorities have now effectively silenced them as well, through their censorious and unconstitutional bail terms.

With Halloween now behind us, it seems that Christmas is making its presence known, possibly sidelining Thanksgiving. In her latest segment, Blair asks, "When do you start decorating for the holidays?"

Culinary treasures often outshine chain restaurants when it comes to an ultimate food experience. For many, small and locally-based eateries offer a charm that's hard to top elsewhere.