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The woman who reported the carjacking may now face false reporting charges.

After weeks of drama that put St. Louis in the national spotlight, Gabe Gore will be sworn on Tuesday as the city's new top prosecutor.

The remains of a Chester, Illinois, native killed in combat during World War II will be interred in his hometown next month.

UMB Bank is acquiring a consulting firm that specializes in providing strategies to maximize the financial performance of community banks in the Midwest.

Despite industry best efforts to prevent it, the “right to repair” movement shows no sign of slowing down. This week, Minnesota was the latest state to pass a new right to repair law. State lawmakers added right to repair provisions to an omnibus bill (SF 2774) after obtaining bipartisan support across both chambers. The language requires electronics […]

Local thrift stores share days shoppers will find best discounts

GRAFTON - Jersey County Circuit Clerk Daniel Schetter presented Grafton Police Chief Eric Spanton and Mayor Morrow with a check in the amount of $5,000 at the City Council meeting on May 16. Mr. Schetter’s goal was to help the smaller cities in Jersey County to bolster government services, and Grafton is one of the beneficiaries. The gift was made possible through his office from traffic ticket revenue in the county. “We need to work together to help each other and to make our communities safer for everyone,” Mr. Schetter said. Chief Spanton said, “This money will be used to purchase new handheld radios with improved reception, which will enhance officer safety and allow quicker response time.” The county provided funds last year to transition Grafton police cruisers from analog to digital radios. “We are very grateful for the continued support from the county,” said Mayor Morrow. Grafton City council meetings are held on the third Tuesday

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For the past three decades, Ameren Missouri and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri have been educating the community for on proper landscaping around and under power lines.

Fifty-five percent of highway contractors report that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, putting motorists and workers at risk, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and HCSS. Association officials called on state and local leaders […]

Wally Fong / AP

In one of his last public talks, to a room full of more than 200 journalists, Daniel Ellsberg was asked what the media could do to better support whistleblowers. In a passionate speech, Ellsberg implored the crowd, and the press in general, to investigate the U.S. government’s classification system. As he explained, our democratic society is making a serious mistake “in not investigating the secrecy system, covering how it acts, how it works, and how it keeps secrets and what secrets it keeps.”

As many people know, Ellsberg — the legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower and Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) co-founder — was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer a few months ago and doesn’t have much more time left with us.

In our view, there is no better way to honor our friend and hero than to attempt to fulfill this wish.

Freedom of the Press Foundation will soon launch the “Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy.” This full-time staff position will be dedicated to what Ellsberg has spent a large portion of his life highlighting the need for: massive reform of the secrecy infrastructure in the United States. In the coming months, we’ll seek funds to fully endow this chair position so that it can live in perpetuity, and be free from changes in any fiscal or political climate.

Ellsberg has spent the last five decades drawing attention to the fact that overclassification is a fundamental problem for our democratic society. When so much information is classified, it becomes impossible for citizens, journalists, and oversight bodies to access vital facts about government activities. This lack of transparency undermines public trust in government institutions and hinders the ability of the public to hold officials accountable for their actions.

The United States government has nearly 3 million people with security clearances and classifies billions of pages of documents per year — including virtually everything in the foreign policy and national security realms. It constantly violates its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and delays releases for years, uses the pernicious “state secrets privilege” to stop accountability in courts, layers on various restrictions to prevent Congress from learning what they need to know, and abuses the Espionage Act to threaten reporters and prosecute whistleblowers who go to the press with information of vital public interest.

Further, declassification and FOIA offices are severely underfunded. Add to this the fact that officials face no consequences for over-classifying information, but severe consequences for not classifying or for “leaking” improperly classified information. You’re left with a government with little reason to be transparent. And the tone set by the federal government inspires state and local governments to be equally secretive and misuse open records laws. Struggling media outlets often lack the resources to fight these abuses.

The Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy will be responsible for researching all aspects of government secrecy—from the problem of overclassification to the limitations of FOIA and the abuses of the Espionage Act.

This full-time position will be dedicated to turning the enigma of secrecy abuses into public conversation starters. They will work hand-in-hand with journalists to spotlight overlooked stories about classification system malpractices. They will also apply pressure where it needs to be by lobbying Congress for landmark changes to classification laws and the Espionage Act. This position aims to not just follow in Ellsberg's footsteps, but make strides forward, championing one of the causes he has dedicated his life to. This is more than a Chair, it's a crusade for transparency, continuing Ellsberg's half-century battle.

For now, our co-founder and our friend is still with us. And we dearly hope reading this announcement will make him smile, knowing we will do everything in our power to carry his torch in the years to come.

We are learning more about the three women killed in a north St. Louis County car accident Monday night. 

The Supreme Court today severely curtailed the EPA's ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act. This was a genuinely complicated case, but the big problem is that the court majority was able to do its work only by twisting the clear instructions of Congress. The CWA defines wetlands as anything "adjacent" to lakes, ...continue reading "Supreme Court blows off Congress in wetlands case"

An Alton, Illinois, man appeared in federal court Thursday and admitted to robbing a bank in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2019.

ALTON – Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that lane closures will be encountered on the U.S. Route 67 Clark Bridge over the Mississippi River. IDOT said traffic will be reduced to one lane in the direction indicated during the following dates and times, weather permitting: May 30 - June 1 - Southbound Right Lane Closed - 9 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. June 2 - Northbound Right Lane Closed - 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. June 3 - 4 - Northbound Right Lane Closed - 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. IDOT said these lane closures are necessary to allow for the completion of cable inspections scheduled for this structure. "Motorists can expect delays and should allow extra time for trips through this area," IDOT said. "To avoid the work area, when feasible, the use of alternate routes should be considered. Drivers are urged to pay close attention to changed conditions and signs in the work zones, obey the posted speed limits, refrain from using mobile devices, and be alert for workers and

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Successful diabetes management requires ongoing education, support, and resources from a medical team.

USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. J. Emilio Esteban, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Administrator Paul Kiecker, and City of Normandy Mayor Mark Beckmann today celebrated the groundbreaking for the new home of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Midwestern Laboratory in Normandy, Missouri. The state-of-the-art facility will […]

MoGas owns and operates an approximately 263-mile interstate natural gas pipeline system, primarily in Missouri but also serving Illinois.

Lanter Delivery Systems has promoted three executives to new senior leadership team positions to better support the nationwide overnight delivery service provider’s continued growth and future expansion plans. Annual revenues at Lanter have increased 420 percent over the past eight years, from $140 million in 2014 to more than $600 million in 2022.   Chris […]