April 2017 News

4-29-2017: Team TIF proposes new rules on St. Louis tax incentives

4-26-2017: Man hung in cell for hours at St. Louis lockup while guards streamed Netflix

4-26-2017: Bedbugs lead St. Louis senior housing complex to try to evict 87-year-old tenant

4-26-2017: Alarming number of babies born with syphilis prompts universal screening recommendation

4-25-2017: St. Louis faces fair housing complaint over new homeless shelter's location

4-25-2017: Non-profit assisting people returning from prison opens new headquarters at Westport

4-25-2017: Judge orders University City to apologize, pay lawyer fees of resident barred from meetings

4-25-2017: Trump's 'sanctuary-city' order blocked by federal judge in San Francisco

4-25-2017: In parts of the California’s Bay Area, $105,350 is now ‘low income’

4-25-2017: Scientist invents way to trigger artificial photosynthesis to clean air

4-24-2017: Florissant to swear in first-ever black City Council member tonight

4-24-2017: Greitens signs law smoothing the way for Uber, Lyft to operate statewide

4-24-2017: Police video shows officer press gun to unarmed man's head, threaten to kill him

4-24-2017: U.S. top court won't review Houston police shooting 'waistband' defense

4-24-2017: Lawsuit threatened against AT&T over slow Internet speeds in low-income Cleveland neighborhoods

4-24-2017: Teen's Powerful Prom Dress Is a Tribute to Black Lives Matter

4-24-2017: Post Falls, ID company under fire for racist image

4-22-2017: New St. Louis mayor on her to-do list, political foes and getting 're-married' to the county

4-22-2017: Messenger: Missouri lawmaker switches teams, files bill to help debt-collector clients

4-22-2017: Infighting among Missouri Republicans threatens ability to get work done

4-22-2017: Dylann Roof is now on federal death row in Indiana

4-21-2017: Kinloch officials ordered to St. Louis County court to answer for alleged illegal traffic ticket

4-21-2017: Missouri poised to make it harder for fired workers to win discrimination cases

4-21-2017: 4 Former Missouri Jail Officers Accused of Attacking Inmate

4-21-2017: WikiLeaks releases more top-secret CIA docs as U.S. considers charges

4-21-2017: Disabled people can be fired for using medical marijuana, even in Colorado

4-21-2017: Diet soda study looks at dementia, heart risks

4-21-2017: Highly trained fire protection for $2 an hour: California’s inmate fire crews

4-20-2017: St. Louis police chief out on new mayor's first full day

4-20-2017: St. Louis juvenile officer charged with illegally accessing crime database

4-20-2017: St. Louis Community College extends buyout offer to 500 employees

4-20-2017: St. Louis gunman kills two gas company workers, then himself

4-20-2017: Missouri will receive $10 million to fight opioid addiction

4-20-2017: Revenue Agency Gives Records After Missouri Auditor Subpoena

4-20-2017: Report: Manhunt underway for 'traitor' inside CIA

4-20-2017: Regulators Accuse Subprime Mortgage Servicer of Years of Abuses

4-19-2017: United Way releases new ‘Basic Living Measure’ for St. Louis metro region

4-19-2017: Homeless Kids in St. Louis Face High Risk of Sex Trafficking, Exploitation

4-18-2017: New St.Louis mayor vows continued revival and warns of less help from feds

4-16-2017: On the Trail: A look at St. Louis’ newest officeholders

4-14-2017: St. Louis Community College weighs buyout offers to more than 500 employees

4-14-2017: ‘Informed Delivery’ From The US Postal Service – New Potential Evidence

4-13-2017: United Way report finds 43 percent of St. Louis-area households can’t meet basic living expenses

4-13-2017: Two teens are first to graduate from St. Louis' new 24-hour online high school

Editorial note: See our related, "Free Money for College" page.

4-13-2017: MSD trustees opt against low bidder for $145 million sewer project

4-13-2017: Lyft Could Return to St. Louis Thanks to Passage of Bill Authorizing Ride-Sharing

4-13-2017: 2 Gwinnett officers fired after videos show them hitting suspect

4-13-2017: Law enforcement officers may be illegally selling guns, ATF says

4-13-2017: Black Lives Matter release video of police 'dragging man from his car and kicking him in the face'

4-13-2017: U.S.-led coalition accidentally bombs Syrian allies, killing 18

4-13-2017: Buffett foundation unveils $90M plan to help girls of color

Editorial note: See our comments about foundations on our "Billionaire Overthrow of U.S. Goverment" page.

free money for college

4-12-2017: Fatal overdoses hit middle-aged white Missourians hardest

Editorial note: See our recent post, “We’re Coming for You”: Is There a Hidden Agenda to the Florida Sheriff’s Anti-Drug Message?

4-12-2017: Laclede Gas files first rate increase in four years

4-12-2017: With new members, St. Louis elected school board hopes to regain power soon

Editorial note: See our related, "Educational Oppression" page.

4-12-2017: Senators OK Home Buyouts Aimed at St. Louis-Area Landfills

4-12-2017: Officials in Missouri and Illinois will present Bi-State with security plan

4-12-2017: St. Louis suing NFL over Rams' relocation

4-12-2017: Messenger: Missouri Supreme Court draws a line in the sand on rising court costs

4-12-2017: Police body cameras lead to 39-percent drop in complaints

4-12-2017: Court: Woman raped in state hospital can’t sue for damages

4-12-2017: DeVos Undoes Obama Student Loan Protections

4-11-2017: Sacramento police officer suspended after video shows him punching jaywalking suspect

4-9-2017: MetroLink violence exposes rift between St. Louis County and Bi-State

4-9-2017: Proven treatment is out there for heroin addicts. But good luck getting it in Missouri

4-9-2017: Political activism inspired by Trump shows no signs of slowing down

Editorial note: See our related "protester rights" page

4-8-2017: St. Louis police shoot man in leg after chase

Editorial note: Again, it's amazing the number of suspects that point a gun at police without firing but end up getting shot by the police. Some of these officers must be really quick on the draw; they can draw their weapons so quickly, aim and shoot before the suspect can get off a single shot. See our related gun law in Missouri page.

4-8-2017: Missouri weighs funding cuts for sobriety checkpoints

4-8-2017: Why the payday loan industry is declining in Missouri

4-8-2017: Security for Betsy DeVos Costing Education Dept. Nearly $8M for 8 Months

4-8-2017: Missouri Military Academy Dating to 1880 Will Close

4-8-2017: New York Adopts Free Tuition

4-8-2017: Hacker sets off all 156 emergency sirens in Dallas

4-7-2017: St. Louis agrees to close temporary homeless shelter in Weed Control building in 60 days

4-7-2017: St. Louis to Kansas City, finalist for Hyperloop One

4-7-2017: Neil Gorsuch Confirmed by Senate as Supreme Court Justice

4-7-2017: One state has passed a law to stop schools from shaming kids without lunch money

4-7-2017: Russia Says U.S. Broke International Law In Striking Syria, Citing 'Pretext'

Editorial note: For example, imagine that instead of the U.S. firing missiles because of the 70+ deaths from chemical weapons, some other country fired missiles at the U.S. for the 169 police killings of unarmed people in 2016 or the 234 killings of unarmed people in 2015. In September 2016, aUnited Nations' group warned that the United States has not confronted its legacy of “racial terrorism,” and owes African-Americans reparations.

4-7-2017: Tomahawk maker's stock up after U.S. launch on Syria

4-7-2017: Tomahawk missiles: Explaining the weapons the US used to strike Syria

Editorial note: Three weeks before Trump took the oath of office we published, "Billionaire President Equals Massiver Military Industrial Complex Profits" which predicted increased military spending, because nothing is more profitable than armed conflict. According to the artcle, each Tomahawk missile cost  $569,000 in 1999 dollars or $832,000 dollars today, however other sources list the cost as high as $1.59 million each. Using the lower $832,000 figure, the missile cost alone was over $49 million. Some have suggested the 2013 and recent chemical attacks were false flags, even Trump's first national security adviser, General Michael T. Flynn could not rule out that possibility.

4-7-2017: Hackers use college student loans tool to steal $30 million

4-7-2017: America’s Retailers Are Closing Stores Faster Than Ever

4-6-2017: Low prisoner population prompts 166 layoffs at Newark detention center

Editorial note: Mass incarceration of African-Americans benefits corporations and employees running and investing in private prisons just as plantation owners and their overseers benefited from slavery. Prisons are usually located in rural mostly white communities and those populations have a vested interest in continued incarcerations. Racism provides real economic benefits. Don't allow yourself to be fooled by propaganda designed to make you support ideas, candidates, policy or systems that work against your best interest. 

4-6-2017: Four St. Louis police officers charged with felonies for allegedly stealing overtime pay

4-6-2017: Missouri House approves budget, sends $27.8 billion plan to Senate

4-6-2017: Identity thieves may have hacked files of 100,000 FAFSA applicants

4-6-2017: Court upholds $500,000 award to Overland woman from mortgage services company

4-6-2017: Corrupt Metro East official gets 5 years for stealing from impoverished East St. Louis township

Editorial note: Black officials seem to be disproportionately charged with and sentenced with corruption. Even with St. Louis' long history of corruption, white officials such as the recorder of deeds gets a pass while black officials get prosecuted.

4-6-2017: Man shot dead on MetroLink train near UMSL

4-6-2017: Missouri sheriff in office while facing 18 charges

4-6-2017: Messenger: FBI investigating Missouri legislative dispute involving truckers

4-6-2017: The IRS has been quietly confiscating millions from small business owners

4-6-2017: Justice Department Considering Reopening Emmett Till Murder Case, Family Says

Editorial note: See our related post, "Woman whose accusation led to lynching of Emmett Till Admits she lied"

4-5-2017: Minority Neighborhoods Pay Higher Car Insurance Premiums Than White Areas With the Same Risk

Note: Analysis of premiums and payouts in California, Illinois, Texas and Missouri shows that some major insurers charge minority neighborhoods as much as 30 percent more than other areas with similar accident costs.

4-5-2017: Taser International, now Axon, to offer free body cameras for every US police officer

Editorial note: Now the City of St. Louis can obtain body cameras for police even though voters rejected eliminating the recorder of deeds office. Hopefully, Axon or some other company will create a system where the cameras come on automatically when a taser or gun is removed from the holster. 

4-5-2017: Messenger: Greitens takes dead aim at Capitol corruption, shoots blanks

4-5-2017: Chicago mayor: No high school diploma without acceptance letter

Editorial note: Black and brown students will be disproportionately effected negatively. Under the proposal, all Chicago Public School students starting with this year’s freshman class would have to show an acceptance letter to a four-year university, a community college, a trade school or apprenticeship, an internship, or a branch of the armed services in order to receive their high school diploma. Black and brown students who can't secure an acceptance letter will either be forced into the military or stigmatized by not getting the high school diploma they earned. Every Democrat is not your friend!

4-5-2017: 3 Denver homeless advocates tried for violating camping ban

4-5-2017: Pepsi pulls widely mocked ad featuring Kendall Jenner

Editorial note: Last year, I boycotted Pepsi and other companies because of their silence concerning the killing of unarmed black people. The Jenner commercial, although off the mark, seemed to indicate a baby step in the direction of at least being aware issues exist. 

4-4-2017: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on this day in 1968

4-4-2017: Fifty Years After King’s Famous Anti-War Speech, America Is Again Debating Guns Versus Butter

Editorial note: See related: "Billionaire President Equals Massiver Military Industrial Complex Profits," "War is a Racket," and "Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Donald Trump"

4-4-2017: KC voters approve lower penalty for pot possession: $25 fine and no jail

4-4-2017: 220 Cities Losing All Passenger Train Service per Trump Elimination of all Federal Funding for Amtrak’s National Network Trains

4-4-2017: MN Dem exposes lawmakers’ whites-only card game — and now they are calling her a ‘racist’

4-4-2017: Texas man up in arms over arrest for shooting at men trying to kidnap his fiancée

Editorial note: As we have pointed out, African-Americans do not enjoy the same gun rights as white gun owners; that evidentially applies to other non-white citizens as well..

4-4-2017: Feds order Wells Fargo to rehire whistleblower and pay him $5.4 million

4-4-2017: Third Black Employee Sues Fox News for Racial Discrimination

Editorial note: Racial bias in media is commonplace. People who are racist are often sexist, and vice versa, so the fact that Fox is under fire for both is not surprising. 

4-4-2017: LGBT Job Discrimination Is Prohibited by Civil Rights Law, Federal Appeals Court Rules

4-3-2017: Black Cop gets 40 Year Sentence in death of White kid

4-4-2017: Parents of white supremacist accused of murdering black man in New York refuse to pay his legal fees

Note: Police say James Jackson admitted to travelling to New York City with the sole purpose of killing black people and is now on trial for murder

4-4-2017: Islamic State says US 'being run by an idiot'

Editorial note: FDR once said "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."  – Chapter 1, "None Dare Call It Conspiracy".

4-3-2017: Consumer Watchdog Warns City Voters of Ballot Issues

4-3-2017: Open letter to next St. Louis mayor on crime

4-3-2017: Missouri House Passes Prescription Drug Tracking Program

Editorial note: Welcome news for heroine dealers. Since 90% of heroin addicts are white, white communities should prepare for increased turf competition from drug dealers. 

4-3-2017: Opioid maker Mallinckrodt agrees to $35 million U.S. drugs probes settlement

4-3-2017: Proposed budget cuts take aim at Missourians with disabilities

4-3-2017: Sessions orders Justice Dept. review of all police reform agreements, including Ferguson

4-3-2017: Debt load could snag students, hurt U.S. economy: Fed's Dudley

4-2-2017: Larry Rice's New Life Evangelistic Center is evicted from downtown shelter

Editorial note: See our related post, "St. Louis – A Heartless City"

4-2-2017: The government’s struggle to hold opioid manufacturers accountable

Editorial note: The government declared war against black people, while the real "drug dealers" induced doctor to over prescribe opiods making millions of Americans addicted.

4-2-2017: Why some of the most controversial police shootings aren't on video

4-1-2017: The Rev. Larry Rice vows not to back down in fight over St. Louis homeless shelter

4-1-2017: About Missouri’s Charter School Program

Editorial note:  See our post, "The Hidden Racism of Charter Schools"

4-1-2017: Without Obama, once-booming gun industry poised to shrink

Editorial note: See our "Gun Law in Missouri" page.

4-1-2017: Russian government posts April Fools' Day prank offering "election interference"


2017 News Items

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