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Calhoun County Gets Ready for Early Voting

2 years 6 months ago
HARDIN - The Calhoun County Clerk’s Office is preparing for early voting to begin this Thursday, Feb. 23 for the April 4 consolidated election. County Clerk Amy Friedel said early voting will be available at the Calhoun County Courthouse, located at 301 S. County Road in Hardin. Early voting hours will be from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday, April 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friedel said that based on previous voting records, she’s not expecting a particularly high turnout of early voters this election, except for a few places and races in Calhoun County. “The Village of Kampsville should have a pretty good turnout, they have a Village President and some trustees that are up for election,” she said. “Also the school boards, both Brussels and Calhoun, have multiple openings and multiple candidates, so that should have a hopefully good voter turnout for those two school districts.” Friedel said her office is

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School District Pays Legal Fees After Banning Mothers From Reading Sexually Graphic Passages at Meetings

2 years 6 months ago

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.

A group of conservative Georgia mothers on a quest to ban library books has won a key victory against a school district that sought to limit their ability to recite graphic passages from those books at school board meetings.

Forsyth County Schools agreed this month to pay $107,500 in legal fees to the group, called the Mama Bears. Like many conservatives nationwide, the Mama Bears have taken to trying to get books removed from school libraries by reading sexually explicit passages aloud at school board meetings.

The agreement to pay legal fees stems from a late January consent judgment and injunction against the school district. The Mama Bears’ July 2022 lawsuit against the district detailed how Forsyth’s school board banned one mother from attending its meetings. The woman, Alison Hair, had insisted on reading sexually explicit material aloud before the board.

“The hope is that other elected officials, people who are on school boards and thinking about running for school board, or school officials that interact with them like superintendents, see this result and are more careful when they are tempted to censor other parents in the future,” said Del Kolde, a senior attorney with the Institute for Free Speech, a D.C.-based nonprofit that opposes campaign finance restrictions and represented the Mama Bears pro bono.

The January injunction prevents the district from enforcing what a federal judge called its “respectfulness requirement,” which school board members used as grounds to prohibit the Mama Bears’ read-alouds. The policy also had prevented the public from personally addressing board members and the superintendent or from using profane, uncivil or abusive remarks.

A spokesperson for the Forsyth County School District said its leaders are considering a revision to the policy, which most notably would eliminate language that speakers must conduct themselves in “a respectful manner.” It would also eliminate a rule that speakers not address board members individually nor be loud and boisterous. The revised proposal makes clear that law enforcement may get involved should speakers make physically threatening remarks, hateful racial epithets or other comments that would result in a meeting disruption. The board is set to vote on the new policy tonight

Kolde said emails discovered in the course of the lawsuit showed how school officials worked to make it harder for parents to criticize them.

In a March 24 email, Forsyth County Superintendent Jeff Bearden wrote to the board and a district spokesperson: “We must stop the ‘playing to the audience, pep rally mentality.’ One way to do that is limiting the amount of time for public participation.” He went on to suggest cutting total public participation at each meeting to 15 minutes.

Days earlier, Jennifer Caracciolo, the district’s communications director, urged the board to “take back the purpose” of the meetings.

“We must get back to our BOE meetings being about the work of the district and not about providing a public platform,” she wrote.

In a statement, the district said the emails Kolde cited were sent 11 months ago: “A lot has happened since they were sent, including this lawsuit which was settled between both parties. As such, as a district, we have moved forward from this issue.”

Individual school board members declined to comment on the settlement itself.

Cindy Martin, a mother of four and chair of the Mama Bears, said the group, dissatisfied with the district’s refusal to remove titles from shelves, continues to challenge books at meetings. The lawsuit, she said, was a victory even for people who disagree with their cause.

“The message is, you are servants of the American people, and you cannot silence those you serve,” Martin said in an email. “The freedom to speak is essential for our constitutional republic to survive. Government officials must always respect it and uphold it, even when it's speech they don't like.”

Kevin Goldberg, an attorney and First Amendment specialist with the nonprofit free-speech advocacy group Freedom Forum, said the Mama Bears’ victory could lead to even more challenges of restrictions on what people can say at school board meetings and who can be banned from them.

“It’s going to embolden other individuals and groups to stand up to school boards,” Goldberg said. “Because now they’re seeing one organization come out of this with success.

“This is a loss for the school board and, frankly, it’s a success for free speech.”

by Nicole Carr

St. Louis Powerball player wins $100,000

2 years 6 months ago
ST. LOUIS -- A Powerball ticket sold for the February 4th drawing at the QuikTrip in the 2600 block of Chouteau near Lafayette Park is worth $100,000. The winner's handpicked combination matched four of the five white-ball numbers and the Powerball. The $50,000 prize doubled because he included the Power Play option on the ticket. [...]
Joe Millitzer

City of Wood River-U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Enter Into Sewer Separation Project

2 years 6 months ago
WOOD RIVER – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, and the City of Wood River, Illinois, recently entered into a cost-shared Project Partnership Agreement, or PPA, for sewer improvements included in the State Street Sewer Separation Project. The $4.6 million project, of which $3.5 million is federal, will involve of separation of combined sewers, construction of a new storm water collection system, and expansion of existing storm water detention and pumping facilities. These improvements would not only benefit the numerous businesses, schools, civic centers and residences in the project area by reducing sewer backups, but it would also greatly reduce the amount of wastewater the city is required to treat, extending the operable life of the wastewater treatment facility. The State Street Sewer Separation project will be constructed in four phases and located primarily in partially in downtown or light industrial area as well as within a densely populated residential

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Meta Following Elon Down The Road Of Making Verification An Upsell Is A Terrible Idea

2 years 6 months ago
And here I was thinking that the last few months of Twitter shenanigans with Elon Musk at the helm had done something nearly impossible: made Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership of Meta (Facebook/Instagram) look thoughtful and balanced in comparison. But then, on Sunday, Zuckberg announced that Meta is following Musk down the dubious road of making “verification” […]
Mike Masnick

Leave Section 230 alone

2 years 6 months ago
Today the Supreme Court heard arguments in Gonzales vs. Google. It's really Gonzales vs. YouTube, but since Google owns YouTube it gets pride of place in the lawsuit. Long story short, the question is whether YouTube should be held liable for hosting content from Islamic State—i.e., ISIS. The Gonzales family says that YouTube's algorithms promoted ...continue reading "Leave Section 230 alone"
Kevin Drum

Find a St. Louis fish fry with this 2023 map for Lent

2 years 6 months ago
Churches and other organizations are holding their annual fish fries this year. Find a fish fry near you by using the map on this page or checking the directory. Don’t see your preferred location? Add a fish fry by filling out this form. St. Louis Fish Fry Directory Most fish fries are held on Fridays during [...]
Joe Millitzer

Jersey County Against Drugs Coalition and Jersey Community Hospital Host Resource Fair

2 years 6 months ago
JERSEY COUNTY - The Jersey County Against Drugs (JCAD) Coalition and Jersey Community Hospital (JCH) are hosting a Community Resource Fair at the Susnig Center on Thursday, March 9, 2023, from 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. The Susnig Center is located at 401 Mound Street in Jerseyville. The Community Resource Fair is a free event and appropriate for youth in 6 th grade and up, parents and caregivers, and all community members. There will be door prizes and other giveaways. JCAD is dedicated to developing and offering the highest quality of prevention, intervention and awareness programs to keep youth healthy and drug free. JCH is committed to the treatment and recovery of individuals and their families experiencing substance use and mental health disorders. Working together, they strive to connect community members to local resources, educate the youth, and provide evidence-based support for recovery and prevention. The Community Resource Fair is an interagency collaboration of vendors

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Uncle Vanya at St. Louis Actors’ Studio Is Mesmerizing

2 years 6 months ago
The sense of gravity is particularly strong in playwright Anton Chekov’s works, including the layers of sadness and resignation that permeate Uncle Vanya. The smoldering production at St. Louis Actors’ Studio, adapted by Neil LaBute, is compelling and heartbreaking.
Tina Farmer

IDOT Plans Intermittent Lane Closures On I-143 Between Praire Road and Highland Park Road

2 years 6 months ago
HIGHLAND – The Illinois Department of Transportation announces intermittent daytime lane closures on Illinois Route 143 between Prairie Road and Highland Park Road (Silver Lake) beginning on Monday, February 27, 2023, weather permitting. Two-way traffic will be maintained by the use of flaggers. This project is needed to do guardrail replacement and work at this location is scheduled to be completed by the middle of March. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be alert for changing conditions, obey all construction signage, and refrain from using mobile devices while approaching and traveling through the work zone. The contractor on this project is Lovewell Fencing, Inc. of Davenport, IA. For IDOT District 8 updates, follow us on Twitter at @IDOTDistrict8 or view area construction details on IDOT’s traveler information map on GettingAroundIllinois.com.

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