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Weather Predictions Show Cooler Temps For Halloween

1 year 6 months ago
ALTON - Halloween is almost here and with it comes an abundance of trick-or-treating, parades and fun outside. This Halloween is going to be much cooler than normal around the region. Ben Herzog, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said temps on Halloween night and the night before will likely be in the lower to mid-30s. The projection by the NWS is a high of 45 and a low of around 29 on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, and a high of 46 and low of around 27 degrees on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, Halloween night. “Temperatures are going to drop well before next week,” Herzog said. “We have a cold front that will come through on Friday. We will have pretty warm temperatures during the day on Friday, but by Friday night, temps in the St. Louis area are going to fall into the mid and upper 40s.” Herzog predicted on Halloween night temps would be around the mid-30s, but he said people would be fine if they dressed in layers for the night's fun activities.

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Community Difference Makers: Group Holds Successful Cleanup Day and Donates Resources To Other Civic Efforts

1 year 6 months ago
EAST ALTON/WOOD RIVER - Woodrow Peterson and his group the Backpack Bandits have been busy recently with a massive Community Cleanup in October. Peterson also saw a request from the Madison Police Department when they didn’t have any additional NARCAN for patrol officers and he helped fulfill that urgent need with a donation of 20 cases. NARCAN is a nasal spray designed to rapidly reverse the effects of a life-threatening opioid emergency. The recent Community Cleanup Day in East Alton and Wood River were very successful, Peterson said. He also commended the East Alton-Wood River High School volunteers who showed up to help. He singled out Ed Ringering, the former East Alton Street Department director, for his help with a tractor during the cleanup. “Some of the grass was five feet tall,” he said, but with the tractor and all the volunteer help, they were able to attack and remove it. The cleanup group addressed the needs of an elderly person in the area and i

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Missouri law restricts sex offenders on Halloween. Now a Hazelwood man is suing

1 year 6 months ago
Every year, by law, sex offenders in Missouri must post a sign on Halloween that says “no candy or treats at this residence.” But can a law compel someone to erect a sign against their wishes? That question and others are taken up in this month’s edition of St. Louis on the Air’s Legal Roundtable, featuring attorneys Bevis Schock, Connie McFarland-Butler, and Sarah Swatosh. The attorneys also discuss a lawsuit filed against St. Louis-based Mission Taco Joint by the Mission brand of tortillas, a controversial $50,000 campaign donation to Attorney General Andrew Bailey, and the latest news coming from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.

Clarence Thomas never paid for his luxury motor home

1 year 6 months ago
In 1999 Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas bought a luxury motor home for $267,000. It was financed by a loan from his friend Anthony Welters, a health insurance millionaire. In interviews, Welters said the loan had been "satisfied" in 2008 but declined to say just what that meant. So the Senate Finance Committee subpoenaed him ...continue reading "Clarence Thomas never paid for his luxury motor home"
Kevin Drum

Alton Mayor Donates Portion of Fundraiser Ball's Proceeds to Overnight Warming Center

1 year 6 months ago
ALTON - The Overnight Warming Center received a portion of the proceeds from the Mayor’s Fundraiser and Charity Ball. Alton Mayor David Goins and First Lady Sheila Goins met with Overnight Warming Center organizers at Deliverance Temple Church of God in Christ in Alton . They made their donation alongside Dawn Elliott, the mother of Alton native and NFL star Zeke Elliott, who donated several pounds of food on Zeke’s behalf. “People come in agitated, freezing,” organizer Peter Hough said. “Give somebody a snack and treat them nice, it’s better. Everything gets better. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference.” The Overnight Warming Center provides food and shelter for people when the temperature reaches below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyone who needs a place to sleep for that night can come to Deliverance Temple at 1125 E. 6th Street in Alton. Hough and Tyler Dreith, the nonprofit’s operations director, said they

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Don't make press run a 'contempt' gauntlet

1 year 6 months ago

A recent decision from a D.C. appeals court requires reporter Catherine Herridge to face a contempt order before she can appeal a decision rejecting her claim of reporter’s privilege. 201215-D-BN624-0040” by Lisa Ferdinando is licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED.

Reporters must risk fines or even jail time before they can appeal orders requiring them to name a confidential source, according to a recent decision from a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.

The decision came as part of an order rejecting former Fox News and current CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge’s attempt to appeal a troubling lower court order requiring her to name a confidential source for her reporting about Yanping Chen, a Chinese American scientist. Chen is seeking Herridge’s source as part of her lawsuit against the FBI for violating the federal Privacy Act by allegedly leaking information about her.

The court said Herridge’s appeal was premature because she hadn’t yet been found in contempt of court for defying the order. (The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has the complete legal lowdown on what the appeals court ordered.)

That may sound like a procedural technicality, but it’s dangerous. Requiring reporters to face contempt before they can appeal may discourage them from insisting on their First Amendment right to protect confidential sources by taking their objection to a higher court.

‘Friendly contempt’ a roll of the dice

Journalists are already under great pressure any time they face a legal demand to reveal a confidential source or other newsgathering material. If they can’t appeal an order requiring them to name a source without facing a potentially large fine or long jail sentence, some may think twice about continuing to resist.

This is especially true for freelancers or other journalists who don’t have the backing of a big news organization and may be on the hook for their own legal fees. As a result, some reporters may comply with orders to reveal sources even in cases they would have won on appeal.

It’s true that courts will often issue a “friendly contempt” order — imposing only a nominal fine — or put a contempt order on hold to allow the journalist to appeal. But reporters shouldn’t have to roll the dice and hope that the judge they’re before will be “friendly” to the press. There are plenty of judges with no love lost for the media, and no guarantee that their contempt order will be friendly.

For example, when Judge Vincent Gaughan ordered Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis to testify in the 2008 criminal trial of singer R. Kelly on child pornography charges — despite DeRogatis’ invocation of a reporter’s privilege — DeRogatis tried to appeal before he was held in contempt. But an Illinois appellate court rejected his appeal, suggesting that DeRogatis should have sought a friendly contempt order first. (Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern was one of the attorneys who worked on the appeal of the reporter's privilege ruling in the Kelly case.)

The only problem? Gaughan was known for his obvious disdain for the press and his battles with the news media over the almost complete secrecy with which he conducted some of Chicago’s biggest cases. He also had a reputation for losing his temper and had actually jailed spectators for contempt during the Kelly trial. (Gaughan later jailed a reporter in another case.) He’d also previously threatened to jail DeRogatis.

It’s not hard to see why DeRogatis may have doubted how “friendly” a contempt order from Gaughan would have been. (DeRogatis ultimately invoked the Fifth Amendment and was not forced to answer questions in the trial.)

Unfortunately, Gaughan is not the only judge who’s expressed or acted on anti-press sentiments. When reporters are ordered to name a confidential source, they shouldn’t have to take a chance that a judge will throw the book at them in order to appeal.

Contempt requirement completely unnecessary

Requiring a reporter to face contempt before they can appeal is also completely unnecessary. Contempt is meant to encourage someone to comply with a court order. If a reporter has made clear that she intends to appeal an order to reveal a confidential source, there’s no reason to actually impose a fine or jail sentence on her to try to force compliance with the order before the appeals process plays out.

Contempt orders serve no purpose in cases where a journalist invokes reporter’s privilege, and may actively undermine the exercise of First Amendment rights.

But the rule requiring a contempt order before an appeal isn’t inevitable. Some states take the more sensible approach of allowing reporters to appeal orders requiring them to testify or produce documents without waiting to be held in contempt. There’s no reason not to do the same in federal court.

Caitlin Vogus

Error 402: E-Commerce Goes Mainstream, But Something Is Missing

1 year 6 months ago
Last week in our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we talked about the earliest secure monetary transactions on the web, soon after the National Science Foundation opened up the early internet for commercialization. There were electronic transactions over networks that pre-dated this (such as on proprietary online services like CompuServe, but […]
Mike Masnick

Davis, Clarke, Jackson, Kelly Establish Congressional Caucus to Support Predominantly Black Institutions

1 year 6 months ago
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Representative Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Representative Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), and Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL) announced the establishment of a new Congressional Caucus focused on educating policymakers and uplifting the needs of Predominantly Black Institutions. The Congressional Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) Caucus will unite policymakers who share the goal of understanding and advancing policies to support PBIs. PBIs were established in 2007 via P.L. 110-84, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, to expand access to important federal grants to assist institutions with limited institutional wealth to include colleges and universities serving large percentages of low-income African American students. Prior to 2007, these support grants assisted only a subset of institutions that educate low-income students who are underrepresented in higher education, including: Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions

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State Police To Conduct Nighttime Enforcement Patrols

1 year 6 months ago
COLLINSVILLE – Illinois State Police (ISP) Troop 8 Commander, Captain Casey Faro, announces the ISP will conduct Nighttime Enforcement (NITE) patrols in Madison and St. Clair County during November. NITE patrols allow the ISP to focus on preventing, detecting, and taking enforcement action in response to impaired driving and occupant restraint violations especially between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The number of unrestrained drivers killed in traffic crashes is significantly higher at nighttime and combined with impaired driving means even more traffic deaths during these critical hours. Officers will strictly enforce violations including: - Driving Under the Influence (DUI); - Safety Belt and Child Restraint use; - Speeding; - Distracted Driving; and, - All Illinois Vehicle Code and Criminal Violations. Alcohol and drug impairment are factors in more than 30% of all fatal motor vehicle crashes in Illinois. Over half of all fatal crashes in Illinois occur at night.

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IDNR Monitoring For Outbreaks Of Avian Influenza

1 year 6 months ago
SPRINGFIELD – With the regular waterfowl seasons about to open this fall, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reminding hunters to be aware that they could encounter highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, again this year. IDNR will monitor for outbreaks of HPAI during the fall bird migration. Members of the public are encouraged to report large concentrations of 20 or more deceased birds found one location. Reports can be made to the local IDNR district wildlife biologist . IDNR first announced HPAI was detected in wild Canada geese in Illinois in March 2022 in a joint notice with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. IDNR reminds waterfowl hunters to take precautions by thoroughly cooking game meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Hunters also should avoid handling sick or dead waterfowl found in the field, and they should not allow dogs or other pets to consume waterfowl that died from unknown causes. Rubber gloves and a mask

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