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EDWARDSVILLE - The City of Edwardsville has a variety of projects on the table, and Mayor Art Risavy is looking forward to their completion. Risavy and Edwardsville’s Communications Coordinator Cathy Hensley recently spoke about the projects and events happening in Edwardsville. They shared that residents have a lot to look forward to, with plans for two new parks, a new indoor sports facility, a new space for the Edwardsville Arts Center, and more. “We’ve got a lot

A grand jury has indicted a 32-year-old man in relation to a 2023 fatal shooting in the city's Mark Twain I-70 Industrial neighborhood.

Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm has released another track from his upcoming solo album, Released.The latest, “Time Heals the Pain,” is described in a press release as “a soaring, emotionally…

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ST. LOUIS- – Kim Young, Executive Producer for the Fox 2 Web Team joins Brittany K on StudioSTL. Two Chicagoans taste some famous St. Louis snacks in honor of 314 Day. Plus, Brandon “Tru Wag” Wagner is putting St. Louis on the map and bringing the city together with the Big Boi Challenge. He steps [...]

SPONSORED – Dr. Marina Fischer DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, owner of Intentional Living Primary Health Care, believes her mission from God is to serve others with good healthcare for the community. The dedicated medical professionals in her clinic take a holistic and intentional approach to help and support you. The clinic tailors plans to individual [...]

Josh Schertz has agreed to a long-term contract extension to remain the head coach of the Saint Louis University Billikens men's basketball program, according to multiple reports.

RIVERBEND - Your little bunny can hop into some Easter fun with our ultimate Easter egg hunt guide! If you have an Easter egg hunt to add, send it to news@riverbender.com. Godfrey’s Annual Easter Egg-stravaganza When: Sunday, March 22, 2026 Time: 1–4 p.m. Where: Glazebrook Park in Godfrey For more information, click here . Easter Eggstravaganza When: Saturday, March 28, 2026 Time: 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Where: Bethalto Church of God in Bethalto

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

Another journalist, Estefany Rodríguez, sits in Immigration and Customs Enforcement lockup amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on press freedom. Read on for more about how you can help free Rodríguez and support a new bill to reform the Espionage Act.

Tell Congress to protect journalists and whistleblowers

This week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced the Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act to reform the archaic Espionage Act and stop prosecutors from treating reporters and their sources like spies. We’re honored that the bill is named after our late co-founder, Ellsberg, the legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower and former Espionage Act defendant.

For decades, the Espionage Act has been used to chill national security reporting. The first Trump administration used it to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — a prosecution that shamefully continued under President Joe Biden. Now, the Trump administration is arguing that journalists violate the law when they report government secrets.

Use our new action center to tell your members of Congress to support the Ellsberg Act.

• Write to Congress here

Watch our online event introducing the Ellsberg Act

We also co-hosted an online event announcing the bill featuring Tlaib, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Executive Director Trevor Timm, FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper, Ellsberg’s son Robert Ellsberg, and Defending Rights & Dissent Policy Director Chip Gibbons.

• Watch it on YouTube

Free Estefany Rodríguez from ICE

Nashville, Tennessee, journalist Estefany Rodríguez was arrested by federal immigration agents on flimsy “gotcha” charges last week. Her lawyers say she was targeted because she reported critically about the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

It wouldn’t surprise us, given the administration’s horrendous record of targeting immigrants over constitutionally protected speech. Needless arrests of noncitizen journalists silence the very reporters best positioned to cover ICE’s impact on their communities.

Use our action center to tell lawmakers to help free Rodríguez.

• Write to Congress here

The Oscars in solitary confinement

Footage captured by Raoul Poole, Robert Earl Council, and Melvin Ray using contraband cell phones to circumvent prison censorship is the centerpiece of HBO’s “The Alabama Solution,” which is up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature this weekend.

But while the academy deliberated, the three individuals who made the film possible sat in extreme solitary confinement.

FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern, along with incarcerated journalist and FPF columnist Jeremy Busby and Corinne Shanahan of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, wrote for Inquest that “the United States may sometimes protect those who expose tyranny abroad (at least when the tyrants are geopolitical adversaries), but those who shine a light on abuses back home are on their own.”

• Read more

Judge’s rebuke of DOJ in journalist raid case exposes bigger problem

A judge who approved the search warrant for the raid of Washington Post journalist Hannah Natanson’s home has recently chastised prosecutors for failing to tell him about a federal law that limits such raids, the Privacy Protection Act of 1980.

But Judge William Porter’s rebuke sparked a debate: Isn’t it the judge’s job to know the law himself? FPF Senior Adviser Caitlin Vogus explains that the answer is more complicated than it may seem.

• Read more

Appeals court picks the wrong constitutional emergency

A federal appeals court last week vacated an order from an already dismissed lawsuit that had limited the Department of Homeland Security’s tactics against journalists and protesters in the Chicago area.

Stern wrote for the Chicago Tribune that if appellate courts are looking for rulings to vacate unasked, they should focus on those that facilitate censorship and impunity, rather than those that restrain tear gas and rubber bullets.

• Read the op-ed

Filming federal agents in the field

Most guidance for journalists on filming federal agents — which can be deadly these days — is aimed at those in newsrooms with resources. Yet many independent and freelance journalists are working on the ground right now without such institutional support.

Our digital security team spoke with two such independent journalists about how they approach filming federal officers.

• Read more here

What we're reading DHS ousts CBP privacy officers who questioned ‘illegal’ orders Wired

The department’s retaliation against Freedom of Information Act officers for making lawful releases is a blatant abuse of power.

Pentagon bars press photographers over ‘unflattering’ Hegseth photos The Washington Post

Are we supposed to believe Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when he says he restricts press access for national security? Hegseth only cares about his own image, and all of his censorship should be taken in that context.

Inside the legal defense of Georgia Fort and Don Lemon Columbia Journalism Review

The government’s claims in the Lemon and Fort cases that prosecutors are “the arbiters of journalistic practice” is deeply chilling, as Joel Simon writes.

DOJ attorney faces complaint for saying Chicago-area protests were led by ‘terrorist organizations’ Block Club Chicago

FPF filed this complaint because fabricating a violent terrorist invasion of an American city to justify suppressing First Amendment rights is “an effort to subvert the rule of law,” Stern explains.

It’s been a little while since we last wrote about California’s deeply problematic “Age Appropriate Design Code,” which tried to force internet companies into taking blatantly unconstitutional steps to pressure companies into magically preventing all “harms” to kids. The law has bounced between the district court and the Ninth Circuit multiple times — and yesterday, […]

The City of St. Louis, Missouri now leads the nation in solo living, according to new U.S. Census data compiled by The New York Times.

EDWARDSVILLE - Lt. Brian Stipcak is retiring from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office after more than 25 years of community service, the agency announced on Thursday, March 12, 2026. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office said Stipcak, who held the rank of lieutenant, spent his career focused on “the mentoring and growth of fellow officers.” “After 25-plus years of dedicated community service, we congratulate Lt. Brian Stipcak on his retirement,”

Troy officials on Thursday night offered a preview of stricter rules they are considering for data centers.

The bill would clarify that predatory conduct toward minors can be prosecuted even if no sexual contact occurs, among other changes.