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Police in St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis are investigating separate shootings that happened late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Jesus. I'm out of it for a couple of days and it turns out that Harlan Crow paid something on the order of $150,000 in private school tuition for Clarence Thomas's grand-nephew, who Thomas raised "like a son." Needless to say, none of this was reported. The best explanation Crow could come up with was ...continue reading "Yet more Clarence Thomas corruption this morning"

Roughly 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with esophageal cancer each year. It’s a form of cancer more commonly seen in men, with around 1 in every 100 men or 1 in every 400 women being diagnosed over their lifetime. While other forms of cancer have specific screenings to find the disease, esophageal cancer treatment relies greatly on the presence of symptoms. “The most common symptoms are patients who have trouble swallowing,” says Kyle Stang, MD, a radiation oncologist with OSF HealthCare. “We call it dysphagia. Whether it’s trouble getting food down when you’re swallowing or pain when you swallow, that’s the most concerning symptom. You can also have reflux or heartburn that don’t get better with medications. Other times, folks can present with weight loss, coughing, shortness of breath or even chest pain.” The esophagus is the tube that connects your mouth and stomach. It helps deliver food between the two. According to Dr. Stang,

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St. Louis Regional Freightway and local leaders on both sides of the Mississippi River have been working in tandem over the past several months to streamline the site selection process for rail-accessible development sites in the bi-state area. This collaborative effort, which also includes the six Class I railroads, economic development organizations and brokers active in the region, aimed to […]

The post St. Louis Region Stands Out for Rail-Accessible Sites appeared first on St. Louis Regional Freightway.

The Legislature is in its final days of the spring session

After thorough review, the Assessor's Office has completed its 2023 reassessment.

Grateful Dead fans will once again have the chance to head to the theaters to see their favorite band on the big screen. The 11th annual Meet-Up At The Movies screening will take…

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We’re constantly hearing about how concert tickets are way too pricey these days, but Live Nation is now offering fans a chance to see their favorite artists at a bargain…

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Winnie-the-Pooh, R2-D2, Baseball and Kermit the Frog  – these are some of the telephones you’ll see at the Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum.   Housed in a restored 1896 building, the

The post Character Telephone Exhibit appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Let your soul breathe. Experience the essence of belonging through the paintings and poetry of Angela L. Chostner.   This art exhibition provides opportunity for self reflection with interactive elements.

The post Belonging: Paintings & Poetry by Angela L. Chostner appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

The work of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly is coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden in a stunning exhibition uniting art and nature. With thousands of pieces of blown glass forms

The post Chihuly in the Garden 2023 appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Motorists would get a wider Interstate 70, people with developmental disabilities would get better paid help and parents would get more assistance with child care needs under a state budget plan crafted by negotiators Wednesday evening. The final tally on the operating budget portion of state spending for the coming year was unavailable immediately after […]

The post Missouri budget negotiations conclude with I-70 expansion, child care funding intact appeared first on Missouri Independent.

STAUNTON – With new telephone numbers in southern Illinois in high demand, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved the implementation of the new 730 area code to overlay the existing 618 area code region. The 618 area code serves all or part of 37 counties, and includes communities such as Alton, Belleville, Cairo, Carbondale, Centralia, Collinsville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Effingham, Granite City, Edwardsville, and Marion, as well as many other smaller communities. Starting on July 7, 2023 , customers in the 618 area code overlay region may be assigned a number in the new 730 area code when they request new service or an additional line. The 730 area code will co-exist everywhere in this region with the 618 area code. Customers receiving the 730 area code will be required to dial 10 digits (the area code and phone number) for all local calls, just as customers with telephone numbers from the 618 area code do today. Telephone customers should know the following

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South Grand was the place to be last month. Well, more specifically, inside the four walls of 3139 South Grand Boulevard, which now houses not only longstanding natural wine shop and bar Grand Spirits but also two new concepts: New Society and Grand Sammies & Sides. The former is a cocktail lounge from Grand Spirits co-owner Michael Fricker and Netflix's Drink Masters' Meredith Berry.

by Paul Kiel

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

One year ago, all 50 states and the District of Columbia announced a $141 million settlement with Intuit, the maker of TurboTax. The investigation, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, centered on how the company had steered customers into paying for tax preparation even though they qualified for a free government program. The attorney general said the probe was sparked by ProPublica’s reporting in 2019.

About 4.4 million low-income Americans will receive payments under the agreement. On Thursday, James announced that the process of actually mailing checks to all those people will begin next week.

“TurboTax’s predatory and deceptive marketing cheated millions of low-income Americans who were trying to fulfill their legal duties to file their taxes,” she said. “Today we are righting that wrong and putting money back into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers who should have never paid to file their taxes.”

The payments range from $29 to $85, depending on how many years each eligible consumer used TurboTax. (A number of people cited in ProPublica’s articles said they had paid over $100 for what they had thought would be free services.) The agreement covered 2016 through 2018. Those eligible for payments will be contacted by email and will not need to file a claim.

Intuit did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.

As ProPublica documented in story after story, TurboTax for years lured consumers with the promise of “free” tax filing and then deployed a range of tricks and traps to steer them to paying products.

Meanwhile, Intuit has lobbied for decades to prevent the government from developing a free tax filing system. One result of that fight, 20 years ago, was the IRS Free File program: In exchange for the IRS agreeing not to develop a free filing system, the tax prep industry agreed to offer something similar. On paper, the program allowed 70% of taxpayers to file for free. But only a tiny percentage of people ever used Free File — in part because Intuit, H&R Block and others actively sought to prevent taxpayers from finding out about it while pushing their own “free” products.

After ProPublica’s articles in 2019, the situation shifted. The IRS and the tax prep companies dropped the provision that prevented the IRS from making its own free filing system. H&R Block and TurboTax dropped out of the Free File program. And the IRS is actively studying how a public free filing program might work.

In addition to the investigation by the state attorneys general, the Federal Trade Commission also sued Intuit, claiming the company deceived consumers with its “free” marketing. Intuit defended the accuracy of its ads but said it voluntarily ceased broadcasting its “free, free, free” TV ads in a “spirit of cooperation.” That case is ongoing.