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"I'm not there yet, but I can probably get there," Sam Habecker said.

CHICAGO – The Illinois Lottery today announced outstanding results for the first six months of fiscal year 2022, including sales of $1.7 billion, to benefit the State’s Common School Fund. Two-thirds of Illinois adults now play the Illinois Lottery, which is up from half just a few years ago, with an expanded retail network and an improved digital offering attracting new players. “The Illinois Lottery is a valuable state asset, generating essential revenue for the Common School Fund and good causes across the great State of Illinois,” said Acting Illinois Lottery Director, Harold Mays. “Lottery proceeds directly support K-12 education and causes such as breast cancer awareness, Alzheimer's support, and homelessness prevention. A successful first half-year allows us to continue to deliver for the State.” During the first half of the fiscal year, a new Monday night Powerball draw was launched, the Lottery expanded its Fast Play game in retail

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Dan Stephen, president of Central Bank of St. Louis, spoke with the St. Louis Business Journal about how the interest rate increases could affect everyone.

Green Street St. Louis plans two apartment towers, with a total combined project cost of $160 million, next to the Armory at Grand Avenue near Interstate 64.

It doesn't make a difference if you make it or not, but Bon Jovi is asking local bands to audition to open for them on their upcoming tour. Bands who…

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The last time we wrote about Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the NY Times was in 2017 when Judge Jed Rakoff was dismissing the case, noting that Palin had failed to show "actual malice," by the NY Times, which is the necessary standard under the seminal defamation case (also involving the NY Times), NY Times v. Sullivan. However, two years later, the appeals court ruled that Rakoff violated procedural rules in doing so, and reinstated the case. It's been three years since then and over the past few weeks an actual trial was held -- which is extraordinarily rare in defamation cases.

The "actual malice" standard is both extremely important and widely misunderstood. It does not mean that the speaker/publisher "really disliked" the subject or wanted to get them. It has a distinct meaning under the law, which is that that the publisher/speaker either knew it was false at the time of publication, or that they posted it with "reckless disregard" for whether it was true or false. And, again, people often misunderstand the "reckless disregard" part as well. It does not mean that they were simply careless about it. For there to be reckless disregard, it means that they had to have substantial doubts about the truth of the statement, but still published it.

In other words, for defamation of a public figure, you have to show that the publisher/speaker either knew what they were writing was false, or at least had strong reasons to believe it was false, and still went ahead with it. This is extremely important, because without it, public figures could (and frequently would) file nonsense lawsuits any time some small mistake was made in reporting on them -- and small mistakes happen all the time just by accident.

But, still, the Palin case went to trial and before the jury even came back, Judge Rakoff announced that, as a matter of law (which the judge gets to rule on) Palin had failed to show actual malice. The oddity here was that he did so while the jury was still deliberating, and allowing the jury to continue to do so. The next day, the jury came to the same conclusion, finding the NY Times not liable for defamation, as a matter of fact (juries decide matters of fact, judges decide matters of law -- and it's nice when the two agree).

It seems likely that Palin will appeal, in part because there are a contingent of folks in the extreme Trumpist camp -- including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and some of his close friends who have been campaigning over the past few years to over turn the "actual malice standard" found in the Sullivan case.

As many observers have noted, this case is probably not a very good test case for that question, but that doesn't mean Palin won't try to make it just such a test case -- and even if it's a weak case, we should be watching closely as any such case moves through the courts -- as they are, inherently, attacks on free speech. Weakening the actual malice standard would be a way for the powerful to more easily silence the powerless who speak up against them. The "actual malice" standard is a key element of strong free speech protections -- and attempts to weaken it are attacks on free speech.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - A Collinsville, Illinois home was completely destroyed by a fire Wednesday morning. The fire started at about 7:15 a.m. at a home located in the 200 block of Lake Ridge Drive. It is unknown at this time how the fire started. When firefighters arrived at the home, flames were already shooting from [...]

A family-owned, St. Louis-area based distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) equipment has been acquired by private equity firm.

ST. LOUIS - One person is in custody after a police chase Wednesday morning in south St. Louis County. The chase ended near Lindbergh and Reavis Barracks when the suspect took off on foot. There, the suspect was captured and taken into custody. FOX 2's Bommarito Automotive Group SkyFOX flew over the scene. FOX 2 [...]

From their location in the Fox Park neighborhood, the Clapps also serve a menu of coffee drinks and South American specialties.

When our flotilla of five canoes pushed off from Louisiana, Missouri, on a Friday afternoon in September, the sky was flat gray, and a promising forecast had turned into warnings about heavy rains coming our way. This wasn’t the introduction to the joys of paddling on the Mississippi River that I had hoped for. Six […]

The post Paddling on the Mississippi River appeared first on NextSTL.

Illinois does not have safety regulations for warehouses like the Amazon facility hit by a tornado late last year in the Metro East. That means workers in surrounding buildings, and in the Amazon operation, once it’s rebuilt, won’t be any safer during the next major storm.

East Alton Elementary, Wood River-Hartford District, the Alton School District, Edwardsville School District, and Granite City School District now are mask optional. The schools made decisions on Tuesday to drop mask requirements. The decision comes after the recent Sangamon County judge’s decision overturning the Governor Pritzker mask mandate and the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules voted to reject reintroduce of emergency rules for COVID-19 protocols. Granite City Superintendent Stephanie Cann made this statement on Tuesday night: "This afternoon action from the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) voted 9-0 to reject a reintroduction of emergency rules for COVID-19 protocols in schools which include masking, testing, and exclusion. This Illinois legislative body is independent of the Illinois judicial Appellate Court, from whom we are still awaiting a ruling on the previous court cases involving the Governor’s mask mandates. "Our lega

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ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. - A horse died in St. Clair County, Illinois Wednesday morning after being stuck in a ditch. The property owner said he dug some ditches recently and somehow the horse got loose and got stuck in one of them. The incident was first reported to emergency crews at about 5:45 a.m. [...]

GREENVILLE - The Bond County State’s Attorney’s Office has charged Demarcus C. Gurlly, a 28-year-old male from Greenville, IL with First Degree Murder (Class X Felony) and Obstructing Justice (Class 4 Felony) in reference to a homicide that occurred on February 10, 2022 in Greenville, Bond County. On February 10, 2022 at approximately 7:24 p.m., Illinois State Police (ISP) District 11 and ISP Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Zone 8 agents responded to the 600 block of E. South Street in Greenville, IL where a 37-year-old female from Greenville was found deceased after a reported shooting. Information was received that moments before the homicide, a red Dodge Challenger, was believed to be involved in a separate shooting one block south of the homicide, near the 600 block of Vine Street. The red Dodge Challenger fled the scene. At approximately 9:06 p.m., a vehicle matching the description of the red Dodge Challenger was seen in Wood River, IL. The vehicle failed

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