Aggregator

A one-vehicle crash on Interstate-70 EB has closed one lane Monday morning.

Revelers gathered along Market Street on Sunday to celebrate the Annie Malone parade.

The Belleville Area Humane Society hosts its annual 'Bags for Wags' fundraiser Monday night.

St. Louis hosts a national gathering of the geospatial industry Monday.

Breaking ground Monday at Edwardsville's Lincoln Middle School; behind the Hadley House.  

The St. Louis Commission on Reparations is looking for ways to fix race-based harms like slavery and segregation. They meet for the second time Monday night.

An overnight shooting at a St. Peters home leaves one person dead and two others hurt. Monday morning, the Major Case Squad has been activated to investigate the case.

MetroLink is hosting public meetings on improving security and expanding the light rail system.

A fiery overnight crash in East St. Louis sent two people to the hospital and has police looking for a driver Monday morning who ran away from the scene.

by Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

The federal government is planning to reform a workplace safety program that was scrutinized in a recent ProPublica investigation.

The Star Program recognizes workplaces with strong safety programs and rewards them by curtailing the number of times government regulators show up randomly. It is based on the theory that motivating companies to adhere to best practices on their own is more effective than punishing them when they fall short.

But last year, workers at one chlorine plant in New York state told ProPublica that they were “swimming” in asbestos while their plant took part in the program from 1996 to 2021, and that participating had helped the company conceal the issue from the public.

After ProPublica revealed problems at other asbestos-dependent chlorine plants, the American Public Health Association questioned whether plants that use the carcinogen should be allowed to apply.

“On its face, a company whose business model relies on using asbestos does not have an exceptional health and safety management system,” the group wrote in a letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which runs the program. “There are alternative processes available and used by [chlorine] plants in the U.S. and in other nations.”

At the time, OSHA declined to comment on the content of the letter. The agency released a statement saying it was “focused on improving our efforts and looking at ways to protect workers from occupational exposure to asbestos moving forward.”

More recently, however, OSHA has signaled that big changes may be coming to the Star Program and other initiatives included in its Voluntary Protection Programs. The agency has said it wants to “modernize” the initiative as it works to expand it, and it is asking the public to answer a series of questions to help with the effort.

The questions range from technical to broad. Some touch on the issues raised in ProPublica’s reporting, including a question that asks if the exemption from random inspections creates concerns about workplace safety and health at the facilities.

Another echoes the question posed by the public health association about workplaces that use hazardous materials.

In a statement, OSHA said that it had started the process of modernizing the program before ProPublica’s stories were published, but that several of its questions were informed by ProPublica’s reporting. OSHA will hold a meeting for stakeholders on the subject on June 15, and comments from the public are due by Sept. 30.

The Star Program dates to the Reagan administration. To participate, plants must prove they follow best practices and submit to a rigorous inspection. But after that, they are no longer subject to random inspections.

OSHA reevaluates the facilities every three to five years.

Former workers at the facility in New York, an OxyChem chlorine plant in Niagara Falls, told ProPublica they spent months preparing for visits and shut down the dirtiest, most dangerous parts of the plant when OSHA evaluators were on site.

Still, records show that during one visit in 2011, evaluators found asbestos “scattered in certain areas of the floor” and covering much of the mechanical equipment. The plant did not receive a formal citation. It was readmitted to the program anyway.

OxyChem has repeatedly told ProPublica it complies with federal regulations and noted that OSHA has never cited its chlorine plants for asbestos-related violations.

In its letter to OSHA, the public health association raised concerns that the plant’s management had used its status in the Star Program “to game the system” to hide asbestos problems. The group pointed out that other chlorine plants using asbestos were also in the program, and it asked to meet with OSHA leaders.

The February meeting took place just before OSHA posted its questions for the public.

So far, the agency has received several dozen replies from company representatives, industry groups and safety experts. Many expressed satisfaction with the program while also offering suggestions for improvements. One individual, a self-described contractor who said he worked for multiple participants, called the program “a joke.”

A joint response from OSHA’s former Deputy Assistant Secretary Jordan Barab and former Assistant Secretary David Michaels questioned whether the program was worth the resources the agency puts into it.

Addressing the issue of plants that use hazardous substances like asbestos, Barab and Michaels said it was “inevitable” that some companies would use, store or manufacture dangerous materials and that that alone should not preclude their involvement in the program.

“If, however, there are safer alternatives to certain exceptionally hazardous substances or processes that can be feasibly implemented, OSHA should expect [program] participants to set an example by implementing those safer alternatives, even if the hazardous substance — such as asbestos — is still legally permitted to be used in the workplace,” they wrote.

Asked to respond, OSHA said in a statement: “It is premature for OSHA to comment on public comments as we are still engaging in the process, but we value the input and the important point that all employers should strive for safer alternatives.”

ProPublica’s reporting on asbestos has resonated widely. Late last year, it prompted public health advocates and two U.S. lawmakers to renew calls for Congress to ban the carcinogen, a move that would put the country in line with dozens of others across the world.

The lawmakers cited ProPublica’s work when reintroducing the bill this March.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency, which is finalizing its own ban, asked the public to weigh in on new information it had received on the issue, including ProPublica’s reports. Soon after, in a dramatic turnaround, one of the few U.S. manufacturers still using asbestos, Olin Corp., said it would support outlawing the carcinogen.

The EPA has said it is “moving expeditiously” to finalize the action this year.

Mission: St. Louis’ Minor Home Repair program serves low-income seniors, and much of the program’s work addresses energy efficiency, weatherization, accessibility, and fall prevention.

African Schoolhouse #4, a small log house with white siding and red shutters, is Missouri’s oldest surviving one-room schoolhouse; it’s been relocated to the park from Wild Horse Creek Road in Chesterfield.

A Cole County judge set June 7 to hear arguments in a lawsuit demanding the state finalize its work on an abortion-rights initiative petition so proponents can begin collecting signatures. Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem scheduled a bench trial in the case during a hearing last week. The ACLU of Missouri filed its lawsuit earlier […]

The post Lawsuit over Missouri AG push to inflate cost of abortion IP heads to trial next month appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In recent years, community gardens have gained popularity as alternatives to address the growing crisis of food deserts, particularly in central cities. But community gardens offer opportunities for much more. The personal, communal and environmental benefits are many. In addition to being a fresh and healthy food source, a community garden can also help close […]

The post Community gardens are good for more than fresh food appeared first on Missouri Independent.

New documents show Energy Transfer spent big on police gear and worked with a cadre of spin doctors to fight an information war against protesters.

The iconic singer has a long history of taking seemingly "political" positions that say less about her convictions than about our own.

Salsich was a fan of the show for years, and dreamed of bringing his mix of bluegrass, rock and country to the show where singers compete for a record deal.

by Caleb Bedillion, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has sued Mississippi’s Union County, asking a judge to order that search warrants in its county-level justice court be made open for public inspection.

The lawsuit comes after an investigation last year by the Daily Journal and ProPublica found that almost two-thirds of Mississippi’s justice courts obstruct access to search warrants and to the affidavits used by police to obtain them.

That thwarts public scrutiny of searches, including no-knock raids in which police sometimes enter people’s homes at night with guns drawn. Last year, two Mississippi counties settled lawsuits involving such raids in which police shot people, one fatally.

Law enforcement usually must get permission from a judge before searching someone’s property, and normally they must knock and announce themselves before entering. But they can ask a judge for a no-knock warrant if they provide specific reasons.

They must bring search warrants back to court after a search, along with a list of what they seized.

The news organizations found that some Mississippi courts break statewide rules that require clerks to keep those warrants on file. Other courts — such as the Union County Justice Court — have the documents but claim the public can’t look at them.

“Our goal is to ensure that judicial records are kept open and that the government at all levels does its work where the public can see it,” Daily Journal Executive Editor Sam Hall said. “It seems clear to us — and to many other courts across the country — that the records we’ve requested should be public.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a centuries-old norm that court proceedings and papers should be open to the public. Judges can order that certain documents be sealed, but that must be done on a case-by-case basis.

Federal appeals courts have agreed that search warrants are judicial records that should be open to inspection, though they disagree about when exactly the document becomes subject to access.

It is “highly unusual” for a court to claim “that search warrants and related materials are simply never accessible to the public,” Katie Townsend, deputy executive director and legal director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the news organizations last year.

But many of Mississippi’s justice courts, which frequently handle search warrants, did just that.

An attorney acting on behalf of Union County told the Daily Journal that records of executed search warrants on file with the clerk of the Union County Justice Court are shielded from public view because of a state law that protects the investigative records of law enforcement agencies.

In its lawsuit, the Daily Journal argues that this claim runs afoul of Mississippi’s Public Records Act and the common-law right to access court records. Mississippi’s public records law does contain an exemption for certain investigative records, but the exemption applies only to law enforcement agencies, not courts.

The county later offered to make some search warrants available, but only if a criminal investigation had concluded and a judge gave permission. The Daily Journal’s lawsuit argues that these conditions aren’t supported by law.

A representative of Union County did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Experts say it’s not easy to get access to search warrants in many courthouses across the country. Even so, they said the problems with record-keeping and public access in Mississippi’s justice courts were extreme.

After a search warrant has been executed, it “should be a part of the files and available for public inspection,” William Waller Jr., a retired chief justice of Mississippi’s Supreme Court, told the news organizations last year. He helped draft the state’s rules of criminal procedure.

In response to the Daily Journal and ProPublica’s investigation, Mississippi’s judicial training body has advised court clerks and judges at training sessions that executed search warrants must be kept on file by the clerk and that the documents should be considered public if a judge hasn’t sealed them.

Last month, an insurance program run by many Mississippi counties held a risk management conference for law enforcement agencies, featuring sessions on search warrants and no-knock raids. Lawyers warned sheriffs that deputies should carefully document their reasons for conducting no-knock searches.

Rural Monroe County, in Mississippi’s northeast corner, settled a lawsuit for $690,000 last year over a 2015 fatal shooting by sheriff’s deputies during a 1 a.m. raid to look for drugs. Ricky Keeton came to the door with an air pistol as deputies pried open his door. His girlfriend said he thought someone was breaking in.

Also last year, Coahoma County, in the Mississippi Delta, settled a lawsuit that involved a 2020 raid in which sheriff’s deputies shot an unarmed man multiple times. He wasn’t even the target of the search and only happened to be at the house at the time of the raid. The amount of the settlement has not been disclosed.