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A Canadian motorcyclist was killed Tuesday evening in a crash on Interstate 70 east of Wright City.

ST. LOUIS -- A nine-year-old girl from Eureka, Missouri, is back after an unforgettable experience and championship win at Augusta National last weekend. Fresh off the airplane, Madison Pyatt joins us to share more about her special weekend. Pyatt competed in the drive, putt, and chip challenge. She excelled in the competition, winning the drive [...]

ST. LOUIS — A man was shot and killed Tuesday evening in the city's Midtown neighborhood near the Saint Louis University campus.

However terrible telecom monopolies are in the free world, they’re arguably worse in prisons. For decades, journalists and researchers have outlined how a select number of prison telecom giants like Securus have enjoyed a cozy, government-kickback based monopoly over prison phone and teleconferencing services, resulting sky high rates (upwards of $14 per minute at some prisons) for […]

The company behind Fruity Pebbles, Honey-Comb and Honey Bunches of Oats is entering the Dallas metro area after making what could be the largest industrial deal in the region so far this year.

Laumeier Sculpture Park in south St. Louis County said it has laid off seven staff members as funding has decreased.

The vote agrees to a request to abate $86 million in taxes on construction for 25 years and levy two sales taxes in the village to help fund construction costs.

Once regarded with skepticism, tribute bands are booming in St. Louis as area bands honor their favorites, and nationally touring tribute bands pack venues.

Food writer Daniel Neman bought a rice cooker, and now he is truly happy at last.

ST. LOUIS -- The Donut Drive-In on Chippewa in the Lindenwood Park neighborhood experienced a break-in early Tuesday morning. An intruder shattered a window to gain entry and proceeded to steal the cash register. However, employees have informed us that the register was empty at the time of the theft. The staff is working to [...]

ST. LOUIS -- Summer is right around the corner, and if you're someone who enjoys the warm weather, you might be in for a treat. The Farmer's Almanac's forecast for 2024 predicts that this summer could be the hottest one we've ever seen. However, it's not all going to be clear skies; the season is [...]

ST. LOUIS -- Join the FOX 2 and KPLR 11 weather team as Busch Stadium is turned into a giant science classroom with eye-popping experiments, fun with Fredbird, and your favorite meteorologists. Before the Cardinals take on the Diamondbacks April 24th, students and teachers are invited to Weather Day at Busch Stadium. We hope to [...]

A musician from Jackson, Mississippi, staying at an Airbnb in St. Louis was shot on Friday after he allegedly "broke through a drywall" of his rental unit and into an adjoining apartment, according to police. He was naked and screaming that he was going to kill everyone there. Prosecutors charged Patrick McKinney-Rankin, 37, with felonies for burglary and property damage on Saturday.

A one-of-a-kind license plate issued by the City of St. Louis in 1911 has been rediscovered after being tossed in the trash 40 years ago — and nearly lost forever. That's the remarkable story told by Donley Auctions, an auction company based in Union, Illinois. The company now plans to auction the discovery and thinks it should have no problem fetching a five-figure sum.

Farmers markets are not just places for fruits and vegetables anymore. Now you can stock your larder and fill your house with crafts.

Lead singer Andy Schmidt wasn't sure he'd ever be back on stage with Stir after an accident left him in a coma.

Lawmakers are raising concerns about what they believe is a lack of transparency in Missouri’s nearly two-year old private school tax credit program. The administrator of the MOScholars program, State Treasurer Vivek Malek, says the criticism is misplaced, arguing lawmakers are making overly broad requests for data in a manner that is taxing the small […]

The post Missouri treasurer pushes back on legislative criticism of MoScholars data transparency appeared first on Missouri Independent.

by Audrey Dutton

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.

After decades of detaining psychiatric patients in maximum security prison cells, Idaho is finally on the verge of building a secure mental health facility that would house those with serious mental illness more humanely.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday signed into law a bill, passed with bipartisan support, to allocate $25 million to construct a facility. It would have 26 beds, with 16 dedicated to patients who display violent behaviors and whose mental illness is so severe that they are put into involuntary treatment by court order.

The action follows a ProPublica article in December that found that Idaho lawmakers and state officials were told at least 14 times since 1954 that the state needed a secure mental health unit, separate from a prison, and at least eight times since 1974 that locking away patients without a conviction could violate their civil rights and invite a lawsuit. The patients haven’t been convicted or, in many cases, even charged with a crime.

Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt reiterated the need for a new facility in February, when he presented the agency’s budget to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Tewalt had just toured the prison’s psychiatric unit with the governor and lieutenant governor, and they saw four patients that day “that were civil commits, that had never been convicted of a crime, that are being housed at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution,” he told the committee.

Idaho’s prison staff are expected to provide mental health care in a place “that was designed specifically to incapacitate,” Tewalt said.

“It’s a practice that has a significant amount of risk for us as a state,” he said. “Not having a secure environment that is not a prison is — is problematic. And other states have dealt with the consequences of that through judicial intervention. So, I think this is a problem that isn’t going to go away. It’s one that continues to worsen.”

The Idaho Department of Correction doesn’t yet know the timeline for construction of the facility, which is expected to go on state-owned land south of Boise.

C Block holds the acute behavioral health unit of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The prison block is divided into three sections, one of which has nine cells for men considered “dangerously mentally ill.” They include patients who haven’t been charged or convicted of a crime. (Sarah A. Miller for ProPublica)

Mental health advocate Marilyn Sword was among the first to warn Idaho legislators in the 1970s that it was unwise, and maybe illegal, to put a corrections agency in charge of noncriminal patient care. That was sold as a temporary arrangement while the state created a secure unit.

“Who knew ‘temporary’ would be 50 years!” Sword told ProPublica in a text message last week. “I will be watching what happens with location and construction and, of course, an appropriation to [the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare] next year to staff the unit.”

Little attempted in 2023 to get funding for a new facility, but the Legislature’s budget committee declined to vote on it.

A month after ProPublica’s article, Little brought back his proposal.

The budget committee voted almost unanimously last month to approve the new facility.

Members of Idaho’s Republican-controlled House and Senate approved the funding package last week.

Rep. Wendy Horman, a Republican from East Idaho who co-chairs the budget committee, told ProPublica that, when she saw the article in December, she immediately called the Legislature’s budget division manager and spoke with Tewalt.

Horman said the catalyst for her decision to support the project was simple: This time, she had more information.

“I do think that brought attention to the problem,” Horman said of ProPublica’s reporting.

Tewalt said the article “absolutely” played a role in legislators’ decisions about funding the facility.

The reporting seemed to create among policymakers “almost a sense of urgency to understand this issue better, to figure out how they could try to be helpful in solving,” he said. “And, you know, fortunately, it came at a time where it’s not because we’re being ordered by the courts to do something.”

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Dozens of the districts dot the city and charge special taxes to pay for infrastructure, development or services within their boundaries.

River barge magnate Mark Mestemacher has a rich history of establishing and supporting wrestling programs for young people around the region. That includes the East St. Louis Wrestling Club, which he founded in 2008 and housed in the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center. But just one year later, the JJK Center shut down due to financial problems, laying off 32 employees.