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Two people are charged in the robbing and killing of owner Fa Ming Pan at his St. Louis Kitchen restaurant.

Some residents across St. Louis County and City are still without power after last weekend’s powerful storms.

Gov. Mike Parson has vetoed a Missouri bill that includes "Blair's Law," aiming to criminalize celebratory gunfire across the state.

Sk8 Liborius is determined to rebuild and has launched a fundraiser to help with costs.

Justice Clarence Thomas continues to push for the Supreme Court to overturn vital protections against retaliatory defamation lawsuits by public officials. But he appears increasingly isolated in light of conservative opposition.

McConnell Center, via Flickr

Over the last few years — and especially this year — there’s been significant concern that vital legal protections keeping the powerful from silencing critics with defamation claims would be weakened by politicians or eliminated altogether by the Supreme Court.

Those concerns remain, but efforts to undermine long-standing First Amendment safeguards suffered major setbacks last week. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the continued viability of New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 case disallowing public officials from retaliating against journalists and others with lawsuits over unintentional errors.

The court in Counterman v. Colorado explained that:

“A public figure cannot recover for the injury [a defamatory] statement causes unless the speaker acted with ‘knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.’ That rule is based on fear of ‘self-censorship’ — the worry that … the uncertainties and expense of litigation will deter speakers from making even truthful statements. The First Amendment, we have concluded, ‘requires that we protect some falsehood in order to protect speech that matters.’”

The Counterman case itself was not about defamation — rather, it involved a Colorado statute criminalizing threatening statements — but it would be odd for the court to analogize to Sullivan as a model for First Amendment analyses if it had any intention of overturning the case. No one except Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the endorsement of Sullivan.

Driving the point home, the Supreme Court also declined a request to review a direct challenge to Sullivan in another case, which sought to hold the Southern Poverty Law Center liable for including certain organizations on its list of hate groups. Again, only Thomas dissented.

Previously, several Supreme Court justices appeared open to reconsidering Sullivan, but now Thomas seems to be alone, as he should be. His efforts to overhaul First Amendment law to make it easier for public officials to retaliate against journalists appear increasingly self-serving, considering journalists’ revelations of his myriad of undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Other recent attacks on Sullivan have also failed. Earlier this year, Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis had his minions in the state legislature introduce legislation intended to undermine Sullivan (among other gifts to powerful defamation plaintiffs). That bill died after a major backlash from conservative media outlets, both in Florida and nationwide, and prominent Republicans including everyone from Mike Pence to Bill Barr.

This is not to say that the attacks on Sullivan are over. Thomas remains committed to his position. DeSantis, whether as governor or potentially president, is sure to continue to undermine the press, and the First Amendment as a whole, in any way he can.

But last week’s cases show that the Supreme Court is unlikely, at least in the near term, to rewrite defamation law to bankrupt already struggling media outlets with legal costs. And the fiasco in Florida shows DeSantis underestimated his base when he assumed an attack on the “liberal media” would be taken as red meat. He apparently didn’t think his supporters would figure out that Sullivan protects conservative media as well.

Going forward, the focus should be on providing more protection against frivolous defamation suits — for example, by adopting anti-SLAPP laws. That said, the newly reaffirmed bipartisan consensus that Sullivan should remain the law of the land provides all the more reason why Congress should pass legislation to codify it and stop future attacks before they start.

The Charles Schwab Corp. will close some of its smaller offices, including one in the St. Louis area, which will shift to full-time remote work as the brokerage firm reevaluates real estate needs.

New reports from the Marshall Project/NPR and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs reveal more shocking allegations at the federal prison in Thomson, Ill.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce says crime and a lack of daycare are affecting the state's workforce.

Just fucking fight it out already. The whole stupid “cage match” brawl thing was started when Meta execs made some (accurate) cracks about Elon’s management of Twitter, and Elon couldn’t handle it. But, now with the launch of Meta’s Threads, Elon feels the need to send a ridiculously laughable legal threat to Meta. Elon’s legal […]

METROPOLIS – Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) are investigating an in-custody death of an inmate at the Massac County Jail at the request of the Massac County Sheriff’s Department. On July 5, 2023, at approximately 9:14 a.m., correctional staff found 43-year-old Dennis F. Schapmire of Ozark, IL deceased in his jail cell. An autopsy was performed at the Williamson County Morgue and the cause of death is pending toxicology results. The investigation is on-going and no additional information is being released at this time.

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Troupe, known for his outspokenness, was in the Missouri House 24 years and on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen for 8 years until losing a reelection bid in 2013.

Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your

The post Thursday Nights at the Museum appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS – Children undergoing neurorehabilitation at St. Louis Children’s Hospital got a change of scenery and took a tour of CityPark soccer stadium. The hospital calls it a therapeutic community outing. Three patients received a tour of the stadium, followed by a visit to the Moneta Pitch Club. Then they went out to the [...]

Eight federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri are being loaned to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office to help clear a backlog of cases involving violent crimes.

UK-born, St. Louis resident Jon-Paul Wheatley turned his fascination with crafting soccer balls into more than a half million followers on TikTok. Wheatley discusses how he turned a pandemic hobby into trips to Qatar, the World Cup, and crafting soccer balls for the likes of superstar Lionel Messi and FIFA.

A former Lindenwood University and youth hockey coach is now facing federal child sex charges after having previously been charged in St. Charles and St. Louis counties.

ALTON - An Alton girl can claim she ranked as the best 200-meter sprinter in the USATF 15-16-year-old female age division with a recent performance. Rayna Raglin, a 15-year-old sprinter sensation, received national attention this past weekend when she captured first place in the 15-16-year-old division 200-meter race in the USATF Youth National Track Championships in Geneva, Ohio. The Alton High Athletic Department said Raglin "put Alton on the map this weekend with her outstanding performance on a national stage." Raglin, who just completed her freshman year, won the 200 in a scorching time of 24.9 seconds and was second in the 100 and third in the long jump. Her final times were 12.2 seconds for the 100 and she jumped 17-foot-3 in the long jump. Raglin’s father, Rodney, said he could not be more proud of his daughter. He said she has worked very hard over the summer and simply loves track and field. The future looks extraordinarily bright for the Redbird performer who will

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We’re bringing back Pizza in the Park! Come to the DUC Park located on the corner 10th and Locust on Thursday, July 6th for some delicious ‘za and Brewskis from

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