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The Best Concerts in St. Louis This Week: June 9 to 15

2 years 9 months ago
The week ahead offers a number of landmark music events in the river city as Jazz St. Louis continues its belated 25-year anniversary with the JSL @ 25 show series, which includes singer and saxophonist Grace Kelly alongside other contemporary jazz greats. The last three days of Twangfest are sure to pack Off Broadway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with Ha Ha Tonka, the Jawhawks and Cracker all headlining their respective nights.
Riverfront Times Staff

U.S. House passes ‘red flag’ gun control bill with only five Republicans in support

2 years 9 months ago

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday passed a “red flag” gun control bill that would allow federal courts to temporarily remove a firearm from an individual who is adjudged to pose a threat to themselves or others. In a 224-202 nearly party line vote, the House passed Georgia Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath’s bill, known as the […]

The post U.S. House passes ‘red flag’ gun control bill with only five Republicans in support appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ariana Figueroa

Hapless Deer Attempts St. Louis Bank Heist, Fails Miserably

2 years 9 months ago
A would-be thief who also happens to be a deer was left empty-hooved this morning after brazenly smashing its way into a bank in downtown St. Louis without a clear heist plan. KMOV reports that the attempted smash-and-grab took place at the UMB Bank located at Broadway and Market around 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
Daniel Hill

Exploiting tragedy: Police in Uvalde and Buffalo clamp down on free press

2 years 9 months ago
CC BY 2.0 Don Holloway

Police in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, have used the aftermath of mass shootings to clamp down on press access and have threatened to violate the press freedom rights of journalists doing their jobs. According to recent reporting by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, as tragedy unfolded in each of these cities, reporters have faced unnecessary hurdles erected by law enforcement and public officials, with some going as far as warning the reporters will be arrested.

Nearly two weeks before the Uvalde school shooting, a gunman killed 10 people in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket. Los Angeles Times reporter Connor Sheets said he was in Conklin, New York, a few days after the shooting when Sheriff’s deputies escorted him away from the alleged shooter's high school. The next day, deputies demanded that he also leave the school district’s central office and once again escorted him away from the building. "This restriction of media access seems to be part of the post-mass-shooting playbook," Sheets wrote in a tweet.

“These kinds of practices limit access to public information and can make it harder for journalists to do their jobs,” Sheets told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Sheets’s reference to a “playbook” is salient — this can’t be written off as the missteps of a particular agency or official, given the similar events we’ve seen in Uvalde:

[O]n June 1, a CNN crew visited the Uvalde school district headquarters, where police officers told the journalists they were trespassing and threatened to arrest them if they stepped back on the property. Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz recorded the interaction with Producer Matthew Friedman and posted the video on Twitter.

[...]

On June 3, the Texas Tribune reported that Uvalde City Hall locked its doors during regular business hours and refused to “immediately provide any public records to reporters.” According to the Tribune, the move came as residents and journalists aim to hold Pete Arredondo, the chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, accountable for waiting more than an hour for backup instead of immediately ordering officers to charge the gunman inside Robb Elementary School.

And in an op-ed in the San Antonio Express-News, journalist Michael Drudge cataloged some of the same behavior from public officials:

Adding to the problems journalists face is a virtual news blackout on the part of state and local authorities.

Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez represents Uvalde. He’s been a high-profile news source with contacts inside the Texas Department of Public Safety. He revealed Friday that a DPS official told him Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee ordered DPS not to release any more information to the senator or the public. The Associated Press reported Friday the DPS referred all questions to Busbee, who did not return phone calls and text messages from the Associated Press.

Unfortunately, the pattern encompasses even more examples over the course of several weeks. In the wake of a horrifying event, when the facts and truth are of critical importance, police and public representatives are interfering with crucial reporting.

Especially given the profound public questions about the actions of the Uvalde police and their role in the shooting, and the department’s constantly shifting stories about what actually took place, it’s essential that journalists are able to find answers. Interference with reporters doing their jobs is never OK for police. But in this case, it is absolutely unacceptable.

Parker Higgins

Paul Broadway Is Sentenced In Hit-and-Run Death Of 2-Year-Old Godfrey Girl

2 years 9 months ago
EDWARDSVILLE — Paul Broadway was sentenced to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and over $10,000 restitution after a conviction in the tragic hit-and-run death of 2-year-old Elle Grace Kiser of Godfrey and her family dog. The case riveted the area when it occurred on August 31, 2020. On Friday, May 3, 2022, Broadway was sentenced for the Failure to Report an Accident Involving Personal Injury or Death after a hit and run accident on August 31, 2020, which resulted in the death of Kiser and her dog. Broadway’s conviction could have resulted in a sentencing range from probation to eight years’ imprisonment. “There is no court judgment that will bring back Elle Grace and give her the future that her family still grieves over with her loss,” said Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine. “We hope that this helps bring some closure for them.” Haine specifically thanked Assistant State’s Attorney Chad Loughrey for

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Daily Deal: The Ultimate Project And Quality Management Certification Training Bundle

2 years 9 months ago
The Ultimate Project and Quality Management Certification Training Bundle has 10 courses to help you become a better project manager. Courses cover CompTIA Project+, Agile, PMI, and more. It’s on sale for $59. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Man shot, killed while driving on I-64 at Hampton

2 years 9 months ago
ST. LOUIS - A 47-year-old man was shot and killed while driving Wednesday night in south St. Louis. The man was shot at approximately 8:53 p.m. and then he crashed on westbound 64 at Hampton Avenue. Officers found him inside an SUV stopped in the emergency lane on the north side of the highway. He [...]
Monica Ryan