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Sen. Bill Eigel has attacked two of his potential rivals in the 2024 race for governor over the issue of farmland ownership

ALTON - Local Homeschool Sophomore, Blake Schaper attended the Illinois State Academic Challenge in April and competed against students from around the state in Both Mathematics and English through the administration of a written timed exam at Eastern Illinois University. Over 3,200 students participated in Academic Challenge from schools from all over the State of Illinois. Finishing 1st Place in both English and Mathematics at Sectionals held at Blackburn University, Blake finished out the State Competition 3rd in Mathematics and 5th place in English. The Academic Challenge event is a high school competition that was created and conducted annually by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering WYSE Outreach Program for about 40 years and tests top students in two areas of their preference. Subject Choices are English, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering Graphics, Chemistry, or Biology. Blake likes to take these above-level exams to challenge

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The restraining order obtained by Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers against Arizona Capitol Times reporter Camryn Sanchez on April 19, 2023.

An Arizona judge struck down a restraining order against a journalist whose supposed offense was to knock on a state senator’s door to ask questions while investigating her residency. The judge ruled last week that the reporter, Camryn Sanchez of the Arizona Capitol Times, had a “legitimate” purpose for her actions and the senator, Wendy Rogers, did not have a “reasonable” basis to fear the journalist. Good news, but it’s troubling that the case got to this point.

As one court explained, journalists have an “undoubted right to gather news from any source by means within the law.” The restraining order, granted on April 19 by Judge Amy Criddle, impeded Sanchez’s ability to pursue her investigation for three weeks until the order was finally withdrawn. In news years, that can be a lifetime. It forced her and the Capitol Times to spend time and money preparing to testify rather than reporting the news. And it let Rogers shift attention from whether she lives in the district she represents to a silly debate over whether journalists can knock on people’s doors.

Our U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has no prior record of a government official obtaining a restraining order against a journalist since it began documenting violations in 2017. The closest case involved a cosmetic surgeon in Los Angeles. A judge quickly dissolved his restraining order upon learning that he’d neglected to mention that the people he sought to restrain were Los Angeles Times reporters. She then ordered the surgeon to pay the Times’ legal fees.

Judge Howard Grodman, who struck down the Arizona restraining order, reportedly expressed skepticism about granting a similar attorney’s fee award. His fear is that doing so might cause those who really need a restraining order to hesitate to seek one. It’s a legitimate concern, but it’s easily mitigated by making the reasons for the award clear. An attorney’s fee award is far more likely to dissuade other politicians from similar antics than it is to scare victims of real abuse away from the courthouse. Anyone who is not an elected official seeking to muzzle journalists investigating potential malfeasance should have nothing to worry about.

Other comments at the hearing were also concerning, despite the positive outcome. Rogers’ lawyer contended that the recent passing of state legislation to keep elected officials’ addresses and other personal information out of the public record meant that it was reasonable to bar journalists from politicians’ doorsteps. We’ve written that similar legislation, even where seemingly well-intended, creates a slippery slope that will ultimately reduce transparency and accountability. But we never imagined an argument quite so preposterous.

Fortunately this particular judge didn’t buy it. But what about the next one? After all, another judge, Criddle, granted the restraining order in the first place, despite Rogers making her intention to muzzle journalists clear, remarking, “The idea here is for the person to learn their lesson and then leave the situation alone, correct?”

Most judges (though, unfortunately, not all) understand that the First Amendment does not permit “prior restraints” barring journalists from publishing news. That was well-established even before the Pentagon Papers case, where the Supreme Court refused to enjoin publication of leaked documents despite the government’s claim of a national security threat.

But many judges, like Criddle, don’t realize the Constitution protects the right to gather news, not just publish it. That means requests for restraining orders, gag orders, closures of court files and other restrictions on journalists’ access to news often don’t set off the alarm bells they should. That’s why Rogers, previously known for calling for her opponents to be hanged at white nationalist gatherings, was able to obtain the unconstitutional order based on her allegation that Sanchez’s door-knocking and question-asking was “creepy” and not “normal” journalism.

Also worrisome was an exchange at the end of the hearing where the judge (perhaps inadvertently) implied that he may have ruled differently had Rogers posted “no trespassing” signs or instructed the journalist not to come to her homes. Rogers’ lawyer reportedly responded by announcing in open court that no journalists are welcome to knock on her door.

Of course, government officials have no power to unilaterally banish reporters who are investigating them. The courtroom was full of people with law degrees. It’s troubling that none of them questioned the suggestion that a senator could have obtained an order restraining routine newsgathering if only she’d first instructed the journalist to stop investigating.

Not to sound like a sore winner, but, despite Grodman’s correct ruling, the case laid bare the anti-press attitudes of far too many of our elected officials as well as the frequent disregard of the First Amendment by far too many judges. Sanctions against Rogers — including an order that she pay the Capitol Times attorneys’ fees — would send a strong message that the courts are not to be weaponized by politicians against journalists.

The judge took the motion to dismiss under advisement another court date for next Tuesday.

From St. Louis Business Journal:  CRG, long the development division of construction firm Clayco, has changed its leadership structure to add its first CEO and establish itself as more of a standalone enterprise. CRG President Shawn Clark has been named the firm’s first CEO, while Chief Development Officer Chris McKee has been promoted to president. […]

Narayan brushed off the complaint in an interview Tuesday, noting a previous lawsuit in Colorado was dismissed last month.

From The New York Times:  When President Biden told a crowd of union workers this year that every American should have a path to a good career — “whether they go to college or not” — Tyler Wissman was listening. A father of one with a high school education, Mr. Wissman said he rarely heard […]

EDWARDSVILLE - The public celebrated a Clock Tower Rededication and witnessed a time capsule opening on Saturday in Edwardsville in the 200 block of North Main Street. The City of Edwardsville's Historic Preservation Commission hosted a rededication of the Edwardsville Clock Tower - 25 years after it was built. The Clock Tower Rededication also celebrated the 100th anniversary since the historic Edwardsville National Bank Clock, which hangs at the tower, was first erected in the City. The event was well-attended by Edwardsville residents and those around the region. A time capsule that was embedded in the tower when it was built in 1998 was opened and the contents were revealed during the event, which coincides with National Preservation Month. The clock was a fixture on the Edwardsville National Bank Building at St. Louis and North Main streets for nearly 70 years. It was purchased for the newly constructed building that rose five stories into the downtown skyline in 1923. The clock

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A communications tower at Chiriaco Summit at dawn near Joshua Tree. I often stop here for gas or snacks on my way to the desert for astrophotography sessions.

A 4.5-acre property in the Central West End currently used by a nonprofit is being offered for sale, in what could be a prime redevelopment opportunity in a St. Louis neighborhood that has seen significant investment.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY - The deceased in a homicide that occurred in the 100 block of Shepley Drive has been identified as Cassandra Cole, 34 years of age, of the 200 block of Glen Garry Road in St. Louis, Missouri 63137. The male and female victims are expected to survive their injuries. St. Louis County Police Crimes Against Persons detectives continue to investigate the crime. These are the details that have been released by police so far: "At 9:04 p.m. on May 15, 2023, St. Louis County police officers from the North County Precinct responded to a call for service for a shooting in the 100 block of Shepley Drive. Arriving officers located an adult male and an adult female suffering from apparent gunshot injuries. Both were transported to area hospitals for treatment. The female victim later succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased. An additional victim, an adult female, walked to a nearby residence and was transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening

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Its new locations include its first in Metro East, as well as the opening of a new production facility in north St. Louis that will be operational starting next week.

There have been various chapters in the new large language models (LLMs) story. First, people were amazed that systems like ChatGPT could write a sonnet about bananas in the style of Shakespeare, and in just a few seconds. Soon, though, they realized that chatbots’ replies might be grammatically correct, but they were frequently peppered with […]

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) on Monday agreed to pay shareholders $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the bank of overstating its progress in cleaning up after its 2016 fake-accounts scandal. The bank’s shareholders alleged Wells Fargo and its past leadership misled them about how swiftly they were fixing the governance issues and risk-management systems that failed to prevent the bank from opening up perhaps millions of fake accounts. Reuters reports that the settlement figure…

A Johnson County, Kansas, judge decided Jackson Mahomes can have contact with three of four people listed as witnesses in his battery case.

A former North County Police Cooperative officer is charged with letting his brother beat up a person the corporal had handcuffed during a fight in November.