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Long before ping-pong tables and beer taps in every tech startup office, long before hoodies and work-from-home Fridays, long before the Great Resignation, Jim Kavanaugh was thinking about culture. More than 20 years ago, the cofounder and CEO of World Wide Technology was focused on how to motivate and engage his employees so they did their best work, driving fantastic business results. The recipe he and his colleagues devised has two simple ingredients: Hire the right people and train them well,…

Confessed serial killer Gary Muehlberg has spoken publicly for the first time since September, when prosecuting attorneys from three jurisdictions announced murder charges against him for a spree of serial murders that occurred in 1990 and 1991. "I took five innocent lives. That's fact.

ST. LOUIS - This Veterans Day and every day, Ameren is proud to support veterans and active-duty military members and their families by providing energy assistance as well as post-military career opportunities. Assistance Available for Military and Veteran Customers Active military families and veterans throughout Missouri are eligible for additional assistance to help pay their utility bills. Ameren Missouri is providing $25,000 in assistance that will be administered through United Way 211 as part of the Ameren Missouri Veterans Fund. "Our military has made tremendous sacrifices for our country, and we're honored to be able to partner with Ameren Missouri to provide them extra support at home," said Michelle Tucker , president and CEO of United Way of Greater St. Louis. "Since launching in 2018, the Ameren Missouri Veterans Fund has assisted 508 veteran and military households, totaling more than $147,000 in utility bill assistance statewide." Veterans, active military members

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The Police drummer Stewart Copeland was among the many artists to perform at Foo Fighters' two tribute concerts to late drummer Taylor Hawkins, which took place September in London and…

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William Jones, 38, and his 11-year-old daughter, Milani Jones, died after fire engulfed their home Monday in the 5200 block of Von Phul Street.

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest.  Amid growing concern about Chinese investment in U.S. agriculture, there has been a renewed push to limit and more closely monitor foreign ownership of farmland across the country. At least eight states considered implementing a new limit on foreign control of agricultural land, and one, Indiana, passed […]

The post Citing concerns about China, states mull limits on foreign ownership of farmland appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Martin Mathews, the co-founder of Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, died Wednesday at Evelyn's House, a hospice center in Creve Coeur. He was 97. He grew up in Southeast Missouri before moving to St. Louis with his family. In the mid-1950s, kids would come to Mathews' porch and beg the former player for lessons. His coaching led him to Handy Park where he met Hubert "Dickey" Ballentine. Together in 1959 they created the Mathews-Dickey Boys' Club, renamed the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’…

After singing the national anthem and posting of the colors, the school announced a special guest.

New York state-based artist Jean Shin, Laumeier’s 2022 Visiting Artist in Residence, describes her work as “giving new form to life’s leftovers.” Her sculptures and installations transform familiar objects into

The post Jean Shin: Home Base appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

One of Cherokee Street’s newest restaurants, My Marie Restaurant, opened doors in early September. Located just a couple doors down from our friends at STL Style House, My Marie (3147 Cherokee Street) offers a menu of authentic Haitian cuisine in a warm, inviting and casual space. From coconut curry shrimp, jerk chicken and griot pork […]

The post My Marie Brings Authentic Haitian Flavors to Cherokee Street appeared first on Cherokee Street.

Many cities across the country, and here in the bi-state, are honoring the men and women who fought for our freedom.

The fire in the 800 block of Tall Cedar Court near New Melle was reported around 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

The familiar Budweiser sign on I-64 was relit Thursday evening during rush hour after being repaired for more than a year.

by Beth Hundsdorfer, Capitol News Illinois, and Molly Parker, Lee Enterprises Midwest

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Lee Enterprises, along with Capitol News Illinois. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

Several employees at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center attempted to cover up a brutal assault on a patient, according to a new report by the watchdog office within the Illinois Department of Human Services.

The report by the IDHS Office of the Inspector General said that the “widespread attempted cover-up” around that incident pointed to a deeply entrenched “code of silence” among some workers.

The OIG report comes after a series of stories by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica revealing a culture of patient abuse and cover-ups at the state-run facility in rural southern Illinois that serves people with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses or a combination of disorders. The news organizations’ reports detailed the beating of Blaine Reichard in December 2014 and attempts by staff to conceal the abuse; the series also showed how workers accused of abuse allegations seldom face serious consequences for their actions.

The OIG report, which comes nearly eight years after the attack on Reichard, echoed many of the news organizations’ findings and called on IDHS to do more to protect patients’ safety. The news organizations had sought the report when it was finalized in September under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, but the request was denied until this month.

Among the most egregious violations, the OIG’s investigation found that mental health technician Mark Allen held Reichard in a chokehold and punched him repeatedly in the face after the two argued, leaving the patient with two black eyes, a busted lip and bruising to his face and upper body. The OIG additionally cited five mental health technicians for neglect after they witnessed the abuse but didn’t seek medical care for the patient or report the abuse to authorities, despite the fact that one of them later told authorities that it looked like Reichard had “gone three rounds with Mike Tyson.”

But the OIG investigation showed that the problem was not confined to a few bad actors. Among the challenges investigators faced when they were called to the scene: One of the mental health technicians initially lied to state police and said he’d been in the bathroom at the time of the abuse. A housekeeper told them she hadn’t seen any blood in Reichard’s room but later acknowledged that she had. A social worker who was romantically involved with Allen leaked information to him about the investigation. And a nurse and doctor gave misleading statements about the extent of Reichard’s injuries, the OIG report said.

That collusion led the inspector general to find Choate itself negligent. The facility, the OIG said, must be held responsible for “failing to prevent the establishment of a culture in which so many employees chose to protect their fellow employees instead of protecting an abused individual and apparently felt comfortable doing so.”

The OIG report concluded: “That so many employees participated in the cover-up of the abuse of [the patient] suggests that this type of conduct may be endemic at Choate.” Previous reporting by the news organizations revealed credible abuse allegations in which the state’s attorney declined to bring charges because he said that employees would not cooperate in determining what happened.

An excerpt from the “Recommendations” section of the Illinois Department of Human Services inspector general’s report calling for employees who impede investigations to be held responsible. (Source: OIG Report obtained by Capitol News Illinois)

The OIG report said that it is “crucial” that when staff lie or withhold information in an investigation, they “experience consequences for their actions” — and that one of the best ways to identify such conspiracies is by using video footage. The watchdog recommended the installation of interior security cameras at Choate in order to break the code of silence “from the onset.”

In the Reichard case, more than a year passed before anyone was arrested in connection with the beating. In 2016, Allen was charged with felony battery and intimidation, and three others — Curt Ellis, Eric Bittle and Justin Butler — were charged with felony obstruction of justice. All ultimately accepted plea deals for reduced charges: Allen was convicted of felony obstruction of justice for lying to the police, and the others were convicted of failing to report the abuse, a misdemeanor.

But no one was held criminally responsible for abusing Reichard and no one served prison time.

Reporting by the news organizations also showed that Allen continued to be paid for a full year after the attack, up until he was criminally charged. He has been suspended without pay since then and resigned in early October, a department spokesperson said.

But the other three had never missed a state paycheck until they were suspended pending termination last week in the wake of the OIG report finding them negligent. The state has paid them, collectively, in excess of $1 million since Reichard’s attack. Initially, they were assigned to duties away from patients, such as lawn care, cooking and laundry; later, they were sent home on administrative leave.

In addition to the OIG findings against those who faced criminal charges, the report cited two other employees for neglect — Christopher Lingle and John “Mike” Dickerson; the report concluded that both witnessed the abuse and didn’t intervene or report it. Lingle continued to work until earlier this year and is now suspended without pay pending termination. Dickerson worked at the facility until he retired in 2017. In his last three years on the job, he mowed the lawns at Choate.

In a statement, IDHS spokesperson Marisa Kollias said that all of the employees named in the report had either resigned or were suspended pending discharge following the conclusion of the OIG investigation in September. She previously said that IDHS could not take disciplinary action against the employees until the conclusion of OIG’s case. That investigation was held up for eight years awaiting the resolution of Allen’s court case, which concluded last December.

Allen could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for the union who represents the other employees named in the case did not respond to an email seeking information about their employment status. When reporters reached out to them for an earlier article about the incident, Butler, Bittle, Ellis and Dickerson did not respond to requests to comment. Lingle, who was not named in the prior story, did not respond to a message sent via Facebook this week.

Kollias also said that in the eight years since the case began, “additional safeguards have been put in place to protect residents, patients and staff from harm.” Those changes include bringing in Equip for Equality, a legal advocacy organization, to monitor conditions inside the unit, setting up training on the reporting of abuse and neglect, beefing up the security and professional staff at Choate and installing security cameras — something the OIG has called for more than 20 times over the past five years. (This week, the IDHS spokesperson said the department has 39 cameras and plans to begin installing them this month.)

Despite OIG’s call for more serious consequences for employees who impede abuse investigations, the report stopped short of issuing more serious findings against the mental health technicians that would have prohibited those staffers from seeking employment in a different health care setting such as a hospital, nursing home or veterans home.

State law requires that the OIG report the names of any employees it cites for abuse or “egregious neglect” to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Health Care Worker Registry. Under that law, Allen will be reported to the registry but the others will not.

Stacey Aschemann, a vice president with Equip for Equality, said the fact that these workers are not prohibited from future employment with vulnerable populations is “very troubling.” Peter Neumer, IDHS’ inspector general, said it is his office’s general policy not to comment on specific details of its investigations or its decision-making process.

Aschemann, an attorney, said it is evident from the report that the OIG felt constrained by the current regulatory language. The report stated that the behavior of the workers who witnessed the abuse was “profoundly troubling” but did not fit the legal definition of “egregious” because Allen, not the other technicians, was directly responsible for the injuries, and because the other technicians’ failure to report the abuse did not result in the patient’s death or a serious deterioration in his physical condition.

Though he declined to comment directly on the case, Neumer signaled that legislative action may be needed. “OIG,” he said, “is prepared to collaborate on and advocate for policy changes to further deter employees from engaging in ‘code of silence’-type behavior.”

Aschemann was more direct, saying that Illinois lawmakers should address shortcomings in the laws governing conduct standards for direct-care workers.

”It is clear that laws need to be updated to both impose harsher penalties for this misconduct and to ensure that employees who turn a blind eye to the well-being of the people they are paid to help are reported to the Illinois Health Care Worker Registry as ineligible to work in health care settings,” she said.

Jurors found Steven Noah Washington, 21, was guilty in a drive-by shooting that killed a 20-year-old woman as she drove in a car with a newborn.

Aldermen on Thursday advanced a plan to give control of firefighter pensions back to a board dominated by firefighters, reversing part of a 2012 overhaul meant to rein in costs.

A Pittsburgh-based restaurant chain has shuttered one of its west St. Louis County locations.