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At times when they're seeking merger deals, banks have committed to paying grants or charitable contributions to support the work of a St. Louis group that pushes them to invest in low-income and minority neighborhoods.

ST. LOUIS – United States District Court Judge Matthew T. Schelp accepted a plea of guilty from Demeria Thomas, age 38, on today’s date for deprivation of rights under color of law related to her knowingly allowing inmates to assault another inmate while in his cell at the St. Louis City Justice Center. A grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri previously indicted Thomas in July 2021. Judge Schelp set sentencing for May 10, 2022 . According to the indictment, on March 22, 2021, Demeria Thomas was employed by the City of St. Louis as a Corrections Officer at the City Justice Center. Thomas was on duty at the City Justice Center on March 22, 2021, and acted, at all times relevant hereto, under color of law. Thomas was operating a control panel which locked and unlocked cells in her area of responsibility. After engaging in conversation with two inmates, Thomas unlocked a specific cell door. This allowed the two inmates to enter and physically assault another inmate

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WOOD RIVER – Midwest Members Credit Union is proud to sponsor the “Eagles of the Month” program at Civic Memorial High School. Senior students are selected each month by members of the Civic Memorial faculty to represent each department. All students are awarded a certificate and a Subway gift card. Two Seniors (1 female student and 1 male student) that were selected each month will have the opportunity to compete for a $500.00 “Eagles of the Year” scholarship each at the end of the school year. 2022 January’s Eagles of the Month winners: - Math – Charly Bellanca - Fine Arts – Mackayla Byrd - Social Studies – Toni Reynolds - PE/Health -- Benjamin Morris - Choir -- Jamiya Crymes - Band-- Justice Eldridge - Science -- Griffin Crump - English -- Carson Klocke - C.T.E. -- Ethan Rea January’s Teacher of the Month winner: - Science -- Heather Wallace Congratulations to all the Civic Memorial “Eagles of the Month” an

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The Missouri House approved a $4.6 billion supplemental spending bill Wednesday that would give all state workers a pay raise.  But lawmakers refused to go along with Gov. Mike Parson’s plan for …

SPRINGFIELD — Choosing a college is an important decision that can be overwhelming without the right information. Today, the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) launched a new collaborative project that makes it easier for students and parents to make an informed college choice. Unlike third-party college search tools that collect data from the same sources that are often out of date or incomplete, the Illinois Postsecondary Profiles (IPP) project utilizes comprehensive data directly from Illinois higher education state agencies and Illinois’ 160 public and private universities and community colleges. “We are incredibly excited to give students and families a way to filter, search, and sort the kind of information that is most important to them in choosing a college, including a focus on equity. With the IPP families have information all in one place and know

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SPRINGFIELD – With the Super Bowl just around the corner, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Police are teaming up with local police and sheriff’s departments throughout the state to remind motorists that Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk . If your football festivities will involve drinking alcohol or using marijuana, make a game plan before kickoff to get home safely – and encourage your friends to do the same. “Super Bowl parties are a chance for friends to gather for football and fun,” said Cynthia Watters, IDOT’s bureau chief of Safety Programs and Engineering. “As part of enjoying Super Bowl Sunday responsibly, we urge you to have a game plan in place to avoid a flag on the final play: the drive home. If you’re drinking or using marijuana, know how you’ll get home safely before the night begins. If you choose not to indulge, consider being the designated driver for a friend.” Follow these

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Created through a federal grant, TechSTL will operate with a membership-based structure and says its ultimate goal is to position St. Louis as “most diverse high-tech innovation hub in the country.”

Missouri has regained 98.8% of its jobs since the start of the pandemic, while Illinois has recovered 96.9% of its jobs.

ST. LOUIS--Days after the President of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys wrote to the bill's sponsor asking it to be withdrawn, a bill dubbed by critics as the "Make Murder Legal Act" was voted down by a state legislative committee Thursday. Senate Bill 666, "provides that a person who uses or threatens to use [...]

There's a new otter in town, and he's got the neighbors talking.

So we've noted that a lot of the U.S. politician accusations that Huawei uses its network hardware to spy on Americans on behalf of the Chinese government are lacking in the evidence department. The company's been on the receiving end of a sustained U.S. government ban based on accusations that have never actually been proven publicly, levied by a country (the United States) with a long, long history of doing exactly what it accuses Huawei of doing.

To be clear, Huawei is a terrible company. It has been happy to provide IT and telecom support to the Chinese government as it wages genocide against ethnic minorities. It has also been caught helping some African governments spy on the press and political opponents. And it may very well have helped the Chinese government spy on Americans. So it's hard to feel too bad about the company.

At the same time, if you're going to levy accusations (like "Huawei clearly spies on Americans") you need to provide public evidence. And we haven't. Eighteen months of investigations found nothing. That didn't really matter much to the FCC (under Trump and Biden) or Congress, which ordered that U.S. ISPs and network operators rip out all Huawei gear and replace it to an estimated cost of $1.8 billion. Yet just a few years later, the actual cost to replace this gear has already ballooned to $5.8 billion and is likely to get higher:

"The FCC has told Congress that applications to The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program have generated requests totaling about $5.6 billion – far more than the allocated funding. The program was established to reimburse providers with 10 million or fewer customers who must remove Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE equipment."

That's quite a windfall for companies not named Huawei, don't you think?

My problem with these efforts has always been a nuanced one. I have no interest in defending a shitty global telecom gear maker with an atrocious human rights record which very well may be a proven to be a surveillance lackey for the Chinese government. Yet at the same time, domestic companies like Cisco have, for much of the last decade, leaned on unsubstantiated allegations of spying to shift market share in their favors. DC is flooded with lobbyists who can easily exploit both xenophobia and intelligence worries to their tactical advantage, then bury the need for evidence under ambiguous claims of national security:

"What happens is you get competitors who are able to gin up lawmakers who are already wound up about China,” said one Hill staffer who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. “What they do is pull the string and see where the top spins.”

But some experts say these concerns are exaggerated. These experts note that much of Cisco’s own technology is manufactured in China."

So my problem here isn't necessarily that Huawei doesn't deserve what's happening to it. My problem here is generally a lack of transparency in a process that's heavily dictated by lobbyists, who can hide any need for evidence behind national security claims. This creates an environment where decisions are made on a "noble and patriotic basis" that wind up being beyond common sense, reproach, and oversight. That's a nice breeding ground for fraud.

My other problem is the hypocrisy of a country that doesn't believe in limitations on spying, complaining endlessly about spying, without modifying any of its own, very similar behaviors. AT&T has been proven to be directly tethered to the NSA to the point where it's literally impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins. Yet were another country to ban AT&T from doing business there, the heads of the very same folks breathlessly concerned about surveillance ethics would explode. What makes us beyond reproach here? Our ethical track record?

And my third problem is that the almost myopic, focus on Huawei has been so massive, we've failed to take on numerous other privacy and security issues, whether that's the lack of a meaningful federal privacy law, the rampant security and privacy issues inherent in the Internet of things space (where Chinese-made hardware is rampant), or election security with anywhere close to the same level of urgency. These all are equally important issues, all exploited by Chinese intelligence, that see a small fraction of the hand-wringing and action reserved for issues like Huawei.

Again, none of this is to defend Huawei or deny it's a shitty company with dubious ethics. But the lack of transparency or skepticism creates an environment ripe for fraud and myopia by policymakers who act as if the entirety of their efforts is driven by the noblest and most patriotic of intentions. And, were I a betting man, I'd wager this whole rip and replace effort makes headlines for all the wrong reasons several years down the road.

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It is a common misconception that comic collecting is a solitary hobby.…

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Nearly 10,000 feral hogs were removed in 2021 by the Missouri Feral Hog Elimination Partnership. Since 2016 more than 54,000 feral hogs have been eliminated from the state. This partnership is made up of 13 federal and state agencies. Feral hogs are an invasive species and create damage to the landscape. [...]

JERSEYVILLE - Jersey Community High School senior basketball star Sam Lamer has been a key for the successful Panthers boys squad this season under head coach Stote Reeder. Sam said he has played competitive basketball since third grade. "I love the relationships I have built with my teammates and the amount of fun that I have had competing against great athletes on the court," he said. Sam Lamer is one of the Quality Chrysler Jeep Ram Male Athletes of the Month for Jersey Community High School. Sam thanked his mom, Jill, dad, Scott, brother, Shane, and all his coaches and teammates for their help in making him a successful athlete. The Jersey senior also has a love of America's National Pastime - baseball. "I also enjoy playing baseball," he said. The Jersey athlete added that "High school sports have helped me focus on my body more and really improve my work ethic. They have made me tougher, stronger, and more confident, which will help me in the future." Sam is unsure which

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JERSEYVILLE - Tessa Crawford has been involved in basketball since fourth grade and what she thrives on is the intensity of the game. Tessa, a sophomore, is being recognized as one of the Quality Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Jerseyville Female Athletes of the Month for Jersey Community High School. Tessa’s head girls basketball coach Ton Twitchell said Tessa continues to grow as a good teammate and “the sky is the limit for her” in the future in her athletic career. Tessa thanked her parents, Mary and Bob, and grandparents, Janet and Carl, who have come to every game of her career to support her. “I thank Ron Twitchell and Caleb Williams as coaches that have helped me grow as a player,” she added. The Jersey sophomore said her involvement in sports has taught her leadership, hard work, and responsibility. “My goal is to go somewhere and play basketball in the future,” I haven’t decided on my dream college year.” A 5.0 GPA student,

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Ted Drewes reopened for the 2022 season at 11 a.m. Thursday.

In honor of his civic leadership and community involvement, a St. Louis couple has committed to five years’ worth of funding to continue Arch Grant’s Donald M. Suggs Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.