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Aerial surveillance contract faces more roadblocks in St. Louis
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen is set to vote today on whether to enter into a contract with an aerial surveillance company to help combat crime in the city. But the controversial contract may be running into a trio of roadblocks. The city’s attorney argues that the contract may be illegal. The company in […]
Record number of women, Black and LGBTQ lawmakers serving in Missouri’s legislature
Missouri’s 2021 legislative session will be barrier breaking. The number of women serving is at an all-time high with 52 women lawmakers. It will have the most ever Black lawmakers serving with 25. There will be five openly LGBTQ lawmakers — what is believed to be another record. And the first Asian American woman was […]
Eric Schmitt denies involvement in call for Trump supporters to march on U.S. Capitol
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt denies any knowledge of a robocall by an arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) encouraging “patriots” to participate in a march that ended in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Schmitt serves as vice chair of RAGA. The Rule of Law Defense Fund, the 501(c)(4) […]
Controversial aerial surveillance proposal in St. Louis moves forward
St. Louis aldermen have advanced a bill proposing a three-year contract with a controversial aerial-surveillance program that claims to help solve and prevent murders. After more than four hours of testimony Tuesday, an aldermanic committee voted 6-1 to approve a contract with Persistent Surveillance Services for the company to fly three surveillance planes over the […]
Prosecutors try to keep people out of pandemic-clogged courts through diversion programs
When Julia Fogelberg was a public defender in St. Louis County, she saw how the criminal justice system could often do more harm than good. Now working on the prosecutor side, she’s grateful that she can provide a different solution — like in the case of a single-mother of two she met this summer. The […]
Food stamp applicants struggle to get through Missouri call center line
In normal times, the Missouri Bootheel has the highest rates of hunger in the state. “But when the pandemic hit, it made an already bad situation much worse,” said Lisa Church, chief advancement officer of the Southeast Missouri Food Bank. The organization’s pantries and mobile food distribution were seeing as many as three times more […]
St. Francois County jail faces class-action lawsuit alleging ‘unlawful’ conditions
When Bonne Terre resident Robert Hopple entered the St. Francois County Detention Center in May 2018, he was placed in a small holding cell with about ten other men for roughly three days. Hopple, 49, says the jail staff gave him a urine-soaked mat and a thin blanket to sleep on the floor — while […]
Missouri may get 30 percent less of its second dose of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine
Missouri may be receiving about 25 to 30 percent less of the second dose of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine than it had anticipated, the state health department director said Wednesday. The state will “be seeing a little bit less” of the second scheduled dose, Randall Williams, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, […]
Missouri police recruits must soon take course on history of policing minority communities
New recruits in Missouri’s law-enforcement academies will soon be required to take a two-hour course on the history of policing in minority communities. The Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission — which sets the minimum standards for the basic training in Missouri — unanimously approved the measure on Tuesday. A POST subcommittee spent the last […]
Why did Fayette police raid a Black student’s house twice late at night?
It was 8:30 p.m. on Halloween night, and Christopher Turner Jr. and his girlfriend had just gotten home from a Central Methodist University football game in Kansas. Turner, 24, plays right defensive tackle for the team, and both are seniors at the small private college in Fayette, about 30 miles northwest of Columbia. The team […]
Federal eviction moratorium ends Dec. 31. Missouri rental aid program begins in January
Missourians who have fallen behind on their rent due to the pandemic can seek relief through the Missouri Emergency Rental Arrears Program (ERAP) beginning in January. But housing advocates fear that the help won’t come soon enough to prevent thousands of Missourians from being evicted on January 1, when the federal moratorium will be lifted. The […]
Missouri bills seek to shield drivers who hit protesters
Reacting to a summer marked by protests against police violence around the country, a pair of Missouri lawmakers are pushing for legislation shielding drivers from liability if they hit protesters with their cars. State Sen.-elect Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, is sponsoring a bill that would bar lawsuits against drivers for injuries to a person who “was […]