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The project, with more than 2,500 apartments, will create an urban city center in Chesterfield, a suburb that has never before had a downtown.

Governor Mike Parson put pen to paper Wednesday inside the Missouri State Capitol, signing off on a large public safety package.

Police said that a 14-year-old boy, who was not a St. Mary's student, fired a reported stolen handgun. Police provided an update during their weekly briefing.

JERSEYVILLE - Chris Lorton never expected to own George’s Local Brew, but he has loved every part of it. As he prepares to pass the bar to new owners Andy and Betsy Prehn, he plans “to go out with a home run.” The Lorton family will finish their tenure at George’s with several fun events throughout the month of September. “There’s no relaxing in the restaurant business,” Chris said. “Doing the business with the kids and meeting all the great people that we’ve met over the years and getting to know them has been the best, the highlight.” Over the past eight years, Chris and his wife Brenda have operated the business with their four adult children. It’s always been a family-oriented project and a Nashville-style bar, complete with specialty steaks, chilled drafts and hometown charm. Chris explained that his kids were the reason why they opened George’s, and the whole family played a big part in the bar’s

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Peter Gabriel, Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Sheryl Crow are among the artists lending their voices to the fight against gun violence in America, joining the Artists for Action to Prevent Gun Violence coalition, Variety reports. The group…

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EDWARDSVILLE - First-degree murder charges were filed Wednesday against a Troy man - Michael S. Perham. Perham, 52, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, Madison County State's Attorney Thomas Haine announced today. Haine said the charges allege that Perham, without lawful justification, shot Maha Tiimob on Tuesday, Sept. 5, causing her death. Perham and Tiimob had been in a relationship. "On Tuesday morning, Troy Police responded to Perham’s residence at 2146 Tramore for a report of a shooting," Haine said. "Officers arrived and took Perham into custody at the scene. Inside the apartment, officers located Tiimob, who suffered multiple gunshots and was unresponsive. "Officers performed life-saving measures until an ambulance crew arrived, but the efforts were unsuccessful, and the victim was pronounced deceased at the scene." Bail for Perham was set at $1 million by Associate Judge Ryan Jumper. Perham remained in custody Wednesday afternoon at the Madison

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When payment processors like Paypal and GoFundMe aren’t transparent about their policies and practices for account freezes and closures, journalists can’t know what crosses the line and the public can’t hold these companies to account.

kenteegardin, via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

We’ve long warned of the dangers to free expression when powerful financial institutions cut off journalists from using their services — whether we agree with the journalists’ point of view or not. Now, another controversial publisher is facing a financial roadblock after GoFundMe summarily shut down its fundraiser with little explanation.

According to The Dissenter, GoFundMe recently halted a fundraiser for Grayzone, which describes itself as an “independent news website,” and refused to transfer over $90,000 raised to the organization. GoFundMe responded to a request for an explanation by Grayzone by saying only, “Due to some external concerns, we need to review your fundraiser to make sure it complies with our Terms of Service.” No additional information was provided.

We’re not here to defend Grayzone as a model of journalistic excellence or endorse the veracity of any story they have published. Many have criticized Grayzone for praising authoritarian regimes and ties to foreign state media, among other things. The outlet is often accused of spreading disinformation and propaganda. Even if we were to assume that is all true, we would still strongly object to GoFundMe freezing it out and then refusing to explain why.

Payment processors aren’t news editors, fact-checkers or disinformation experts. They’re not making their decisions on who to block based on careful analysis of an outlet’s content. They’re making them based on popular opinion and their own bottom lines. Are you comfortable with them making those decisions in secret, whether or not you agree with their decision this time around?

This time, GoFundMe decided to block Grayzone. What about the next disfavored critic of U.S. foreign policy? Imagine, for example, how GoFundMe might have reacted to a fringe news outlet critical of the Iraq War if it existed at the height of the war’s popularity.

Some may brush aside “slippery slope” arguments, believing that GoFundMe’s recent actions were a unique response to particularly offensive content that won’t happen again. We (and the facts) beg to differ. Payment processors and fundraising sites have repeatedly blocked news sites in the past. In addition to its notorious financial blockade on Wikileaks, Paypal canceled the account of Consortium News and froze its funds. Around the same time, Paypal and GoFundMe both banned MintPress News. In another case, PayPal froze the account of News Media Canada.

These blockades have real consequences for news outlets and freelancers, who often rely on payment processors to keep the lights on and pay for their reporting. In the digital age, they can (figuratively) stop the presses. That’s why FPF and many other civil society organizations have repeatedly called on payment processors to be transparent about their policies and practices for account freezes and closure. Without transparency, members of the public can’t assess whether they agree with these sites’ policies and practices, whether they’re applying their policies consistently, or whether governments are working behind the scenes to suppress speech.

Transparency is also necessary for government regulators and lawmakers to understand how financial services exclude certain groups and businesses. Members of Congress have repeatedly expressed concerns about the impacts of financial service companies’ arbitrary terms, prompting the end of one controversial Justice Department program that pressured finance companies to shut off lawful accounts and renewing concerns about the disparate impact of financial exclusion on Muslim communities.

GoFundMe’s nebulous terms of service, for example, allow it to prohibit fundraising for anything it unilaterally determines is “an abuse of power” or “causes reputational harm.” Those terms could just as easily be used to kick your favorite opinion columnist off GoFundMe as they were used against Greyzone. They would allow GoFundMe to block us from fundraising on its service for writing this article and harming its reputation. They’d also allow it to block you if you criticize this article and harm ours. Journalists who rely on GoFundMe may think twice before expressing unpopular viewpoints after seeing what happened to Grayzone.

Of course, as private companies, payment processors and fundraising websites have the right to choose who they do business with. But they also have an obligation to the public to be transparent about how they make those decisions and provide meaningful mechanisms for account holders to appeal those decisions.

In the case of Grayzone, for example, GoFundMe pointed to “some external concerns” that sparked its “review.” If those external concerns were raised by the United States government or another government, then the law and the constitution does come into play. GoFundMe’s allusion to “external” factors, without identifying them, raises concerns about the government circumventing the Constitution by commandeering private companies to do its bidding.

Again, this problem is not hypothetical. Then-Sen. Joe Lieberman helped spark Visa, Mastercard and PayPal cutting off Wikileaks in 2011, after it published secret government documents (he also floated the idea of prosecuting The New York Times, speaking of slippery slopes). In fact, Freedom of the Press Foundation was founded in part to counteract this financial blockade and prevent the action from becoming commonplace. Similarly, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart infamously bullied Visa and Mastercard out of working with Backpage.com, an action that a federal appellate court found violated the First Amendment.

Given this context, criticisms of Grayzone become irrelevant — it’s far from the first outlet to receive this treatment. And if people accept it this time just because they dislike Grayzone, it surely won’t be the last. Distractions and emotions aside, the bottom line is this: Do we want financial services companies, loyal only to their investors and with no particular interest in First Amendment freedoms, deciding which publishers should be able to pay the bills?

The man's bail was set at $1 million. He remains in custody at the Madison County Jail.

GRANITE CITY – The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that road repairs will require lane closures in both directions of Interstate 270 between Illinois 3 and Riverview Drive in Missouri starting, weather permitting, Friday, Sept. 8, at 9 p.m. One lane will always remain open in each direction. All lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11. Motorists should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes during this closure. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be alert for changing conditions, obey all construction signage, and refrain from using mobile devices while approaching and traveling through the work zone. For IDOT District 8 updates, follow us on Twitter at @IDOTDistrict8 or view area construction details on IDOT’s traveler information map on GettingAroundIllinois.com.

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United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona kicked off his Raise the Bar bus tour this morning at Compton Drew Middle School.

Earlier this year the White House put out a document articulating a National Cybersecurity Strategy. It articulates five “pillars,” or high-level focus areas where the government should concentrate its efforts to strengthen the nation’s resilience and defense against cyberattacks: (1) Defend Critical Infrastructure, (2) Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Actors, (3) Shape Market Forces to Drive […]

ALTON – Alton Memorial Health Services Foundation is gearing up for the 14 th annual Duck Pluckers, Deer Skinners, and Fish Hookers Ball that will be held at NILO Farms on Saturday, Sept. 16. The event raises funds for a new Alton Memorial Hospital ambulance. The Duck Pluckers committee has come up with four amazing raffles as well as an online auction at www.virtualauction.bid/DUCKPLUCKERS to help raise funds for the purchase of a new ambulance for Alton Memorial. There will be a raffle for each of the following, with tickets available now: Quarter beef and freezer donated by B&M Livestock. Blanton’s Bourbon Collection, donated by Colman’s Country Campers. Crossbow donated by Alton Memorial Health Services Foundation. Booze Boat, donated by numerous Riverbend Area bars and restaurants. All raffle tickets must be purchased online. The online auction, featuring many experiences for family fun and services to make life easier for bidders, will go live for bid

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Stephon Seidl is accused of dumping the body of a 35-year-old woman in a wooded area near De Soto.

Staffers aim to get the veterans into their own places within two years.

Tennessee Williams wrote about St. Louis with unconcealed disdain, but it’s undeniable the city played a major role in his life. For the 8th year running, the Tennessee Williams Festival is staging performances and events honoring the legacy of the legendary playwright. Williams scholar Tom Mitchell discusses the festival’s focus this year, his own discovery of seven Williams short stories, and how mental health factored into Williams’ most famous plays like “Suddenly, Last Summer.” (Editor's Note: The on-air version of this conversation incorrectly identified the dates of the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis. The festival runs September 7-17.)

Sotheby’s auction of Freddie Mercury’s personal items, Freddie Mercury: A World of his Own, began on Wednesday, September 6, and it’s brought in huge money. In fact, the first set of items brought in…

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Michael S. Perham is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Maha Tiimob.