March 14, 2019

KC inmate says guard smashed his face into wall after complaint about strip search

A former Jackson County jail inmate filed a civil rights lawsuit this week alleging that guards used excessive force when he complained about being strip searched during a 2014 stay at the county detention center.

“Shut the (expletive) up,” one of the guards allegedly told Rasheed M. Early before smashing the man’s face into a wall and dragging him to the elevator by his hair, according to the lawsuit.

The suit was filed one day before the statute of limitations would have expired. Two lawsuits and two criminal cases have been filed in recent years concerning allegations that county corrections officers brutalized prisoners.

The violent incidents prompting the civil and criminal litigation occurred prior to August 2015, when county officials announced that the FBI was investigating instances of corrections officers using excessive force on detainees.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article227590384.html

March 14, 2019

Mizzou's Nobel winner gives away his $250,000 prize to students

University of Missouri’s newly minted Nobel Prize winner has decided what to do with his nearly $250,000 in prize money: He’s giving it away.

George P. Smith, a biology professor emeritus known on campus as a kind and modest genius, said Tuesday he is donating it all to launch the Missouri Nobel Scholarship Fund for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.


“This might surprise some people, but my first degree was actually a bachelor of arts, not a bachelor of science,” Smith said at a community event in Columbia with his wife, Margie. “My liberal arts education was the springboard for a lifetime of learning and cultural engagement. Margie and I hope that supporting the liberal arts as a whole will enrich the lives of future Mizzou students, whatever careers they choose.”


The announcement marked the start of Wednesday’s annual Mizzou Giving Day, designed to encourage support for the university.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article227547494.html

Thought this to be a positive story about academia in these days of scandal that was worth passing along.

March 13, 2019

Mizzou's Nobel winner gives away his $250,000 prize to students

University of Missouri’s newly minted Nobel Prize winner has decided what to do with his nearly $250,000 in prize money: He’s giving it away.

George P. Smith, a biology professor emeritus known on campus as a kind and modest genius, said Tuesday he is donating it all to launch the Missouri Nobel Scholarship Fund for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.


“This might surprise some people, but my first degree was actually a bachelor of arts, not a bachelor of science,” Smith said at a community event in Columbia with his wife, Margie. “My liberal arts education was the springboard for a lifetime of learning and cultural engagement. Margie and I hope that supporting the liberal arts as a whole will enrich the lives of future Mizzou students, whatever careers they choose.”


The announcement marked the start of Wednesday’s annual Mizzou Giving Day, designed to encourage support for the university.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article227547494.html

March 13, 2019

Special prosecutor seizes St. Louis circuit attorney's email server

ST. LOUIS • Police and a special prosecutor seized the email server from the St. Louis circuit attorney's office Tuesday afternoon amid a grand jury investigation into alleged perjury by a former FBI agent hired last year to investigate ex-Gov. Eric Greitens.

The server was taken by police officers and an attorney for the special prosecutor for about an hour, from 3 to 4 p.m., according to statement released Wednesday by Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner.

An attorney for Gardner decried the move as an effort to "intimidate and humiliate" the circuit attorney.

"In my decades of work in the criminal justice system, I have never seen a chief prosecutor treated this way by a court or a police department," Gardner's attorney, Roy L. Austin Jr., said in a statement released by the circuit attorney's office.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/special-prosecutor-seizes-st-louis-circuit-attorney-s-email-server/article_218b6186-aa3f-5bb1-bb23-3d438846d326.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

March 13, 2019

Human-Centered Capitalism

Capitalism as an economic system has led to unparalleled innovation and improvement in the human condition. Many consider it to have “won” the war of ideas against socialism, but that simplistic view ignores that there is no such thing as a pure Capitalist system. And our current version of institutional capitalism and corporatism is a relatively recent development.

Our current emphasis on corporate profits isn’t working for the vast majority of Americans. This will only be made worse by the development of automation technology and AI.

We need to move to a new form of capitalism – Human Capitalism – that’s geared towards maximizing human well-being and fulfillment. The central tenets of Human Capitalism are:

Humans are more important than money
The unit of a Human Capitalism economy is each person, not each dollar
Markets exist to serve our common goals and values

https://www.yang2020.com/policies/human-capitalism/

March 13, 2019

Missouri House Committee Approves Changes To How Colleges Handle Sexual Assault Reports

A Missouri House committee gave the green light Tuesday to legislation that would alter how colleges and universities deal with accusations of sexual assault or harassment.

The initial passage of Rep. Dean Dohrman’s bill comes amid a heightened effort to overhaul what’s known as the Title IX process.

Among other things, Dohrman’s bill would allow a student accused of sexual harassment or assault to appeal their case to the state Administrative Hearing Commission. It would also allow an accused student to sue a college or university if they are intentionally denied due-process rights.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman David Gregory made a host of changes to Dohrman’s bill, including no longer making a college or university employee who handles Title IX matters subject to lawsuits. It would also prevent a person who accuses someone of sexual harassment or assault from being sued by the accused.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-house-committee-approves-changes-how-colleges-handle-sexual-assault-reports

March 12, 2019

Amazon driver who was shot will get new wheelchair-friendly home

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/amazon-driver-who-was-shot-will-get-new-wheelchair-friendly-home/63-43e02c3e-76b9-4186-91b7-62d239e42af8

ST. LOUIS — Nearly $40,000 has been raised on GoFundMe for an Amazon delivery driver who may never walk again.

Jaylen Walker is an Amazon delivery driver who was shot in the spine after a fight in a parking lot.

That day Walker learned his life would never be the same.

"I'll be paralyzed for the rest of my life. There were so many things [going through my head]," Walker said.

That's where Adam Pickett came in. The architect for the Benton Design Group said while he can't help Jaylen regain function, what he can do is make navigating his new life a little easier.

"You know a simple thing from changing a door knob to a door lever can be much easier for someone that doesn't have the same mobility that you and I have," Pickett said.

March 12, 2019

In two Friday decisions, Missouri judges block anti-union laws pushed by Republicans, Greitens

JEFFERSON CITY • In a double blow to Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature, two judges Friday blocked laws approved last year that opponents believe would have undermined public-sector unions.

In one ruling, Circuit Judge Joseph Walsh halted a so-called “paycheck protection” law from going into effect until a final judgment is entered in a lawsuit filed in August by public sector workers.

A second Cole County ruling put on hold a sweeping rewrite of the state’s hiring and firing practices, potentially jettisoning changes that were designed to allow for state workers to get merit raises.

The “paycheck protection” proposal, approved last year by the GOP-controlled House and Senate, was signed into law as one of the final acts of former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned amid scandal last June 1.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/judge-blocks-anti-union-law-pushed-by-missouri-republicans-greitens/article_cc7bf250-2fb1-51af-812e-b892c36bf4a5.html?

March 11, 2019

UFCW 655 launches telephone Town Hall meetings preparing for new Schnucks/Dierbergs contract

In preparation for upcoming contract talks between UFCW Local 655 and Schnucks Markets and Dierbergs Markets, the union has instituted a unique, extensive new membership contact program that combines the normal in-person membership meetings with live telephone Town Hall conference calls.

“We want to give every member the opportunity to be heard on their new contract,” said David Cook, Local 655 president.

“In today’s busy world it’s often difficult for members to get to an in person meeting so by instituting a series of telephone Town Halls, where members can have their issues heard from the convenience of their own home, hear issues raised by others and have an open conversation with their leadership, we ensure reaching for the largest number of members covered by this important contract,” Cook said.

The Schnucks and Dierbergs contracts are the two largest of the union’s many agreements in both the food industry as well as other industries. The combined contracts cover almost 8,000 members. The current contract expires May 12, 2019.

https://labortribune.com/ufcw-655-launches-telephone-town-hall-meetings-preparing-for-new-schnucks-dierbergs-contract/

March 11, 2019

Chick-Fil-A restaurants added to 'We Do Not Patronize' list for using non-union bricklayers, tile se

https://labortribune.com/chick-fil-a-restaurants-added-to-we-do-not-patronize-list-for-using-non-union-bricklayers-tile-setters-and-electricians/

Fourteen months ago, when Chick-Fil-A built a new restaurant on Hampton Avenue in South St. Louis, Bricklayers Local 1/Tile Setters Local 18 bannered the project for using out-of-state bricklayers and tile setters who paid below the area standard wages and benefits negotiated by Local 1/Local 18.

Chick-Fil-A’s management noticed and in discussions with Local 1/Local 18 pledged to give union contractors consideration on future projects. That promise lasted about as long as it takes to order lunch at the drive-thru.

Construction of new Chick-Fil-A restaurants in Bridgeton and Florissant –– both of which recently opened –– and St. Peters –– which is still under construction –– have all used non-union workers.

“They said they would give the union an opportunity,” said Mike Fox, president and field representative for Local 1. “It wasn’t much of an opportunity though.”