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TexasTowelie's JournalCampaign fund linked to Stenger fined by Missouri ethics regulators
JEFFERSON CITY — A once-obscure campaign committee that helped fund former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger’s 2018 reelection bid has been fined more than $10,000 for violations of state ethics rules.
The penalty was levied against the Missouri Association of Career Fire Protection District’s political action committee earlier this month after the Missouri Ethics Commission audited the account amid news reports about potential money laundering.
“Based on the audit report, the commission determined that there were reasonable grounds to believe that violations of law had occurred,” the decision said.
The fund, which has since been shut down, was used by Stenger as a place to park large corporate donations from donors seeking to bypass a state ban on making such donations directly to candidates.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/campaign-fund-linked-to-stenger-fined-by-missouri-ethics-regulators/article_02945981-eb54-5952-a914-0eed67bdf5ea.html
LGBTQ exhibit that was removed from Missouri Capitol opens in St. Louis
JEFFERSON CITY — An LGBTQ history exhibit that was removed from the Missouri Capitol this year after drawing complaints has opened in St. Louis.
The “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights” exhibit — which describes the city’s “surprisingly pivotal role in helping to launch America’s gay rights movement,” according to the exhibit’s website — was removed from the state Capitol in September after several complaints, including from a GOP official who worked in the Capitol.
The state later announced the exhibit would be on display at the historic Lohman Building on the Jefferson City riverfront.
Cheryl Adelstein, deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, said a copy of the exhibit was opening in St. Louis.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lgbtq-exhibit-that-was-removed-from-missouri-capitol-opens-in-st-louis/article_20d7ead1-11e2-5402-b612-d41326fadb7f.html
Missouri attorney general pushes 'Parents' Bill of Rights' in schools
As school boards across the U.S. face conservative backlash to policies on masks, library books and social studies curriculum, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt proposes a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” for the next legislative session.
Such a bill, similar to a federal version introduced last month by Sen. Josh Hawley, would require schools to provide information to parents on curriculum, extracurricular clubs, teacher training and school choice programs such as the Missouri Empowerment Scholarships Accounts.
“Parents have a fundamental right to oversee their children’s education,” said Matthew Spalding, vice president of Hillsdale College and executive director of the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, speaking Tuesday at a hearing of the Missouri Joint Committee on Education.
During the hearing, Republican committee members signaled their interest in the legislation.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/missouri-attorney-general-pushes-parents-bill-of-rights-in-schools/article_e55aec03-e505-5af0-914e-b21078459486.html
Rep. Bush enters fray over GOP attempt to crack down on Planned Parenthood in Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY — U.S. Rep. Cori Bush is asking the Biden administration to intervene in an attempt by Gov. Mike Parson and the Republican-led Legislature to withhold funding to Missouri’s lone abortion provider.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the St. Louis Democrat asks for the administration to ensure that none of the actions taken by the state interfere with patients’ right to health care.
“As the Congresswoman for Missouri’s First District, a Black woman who has utilized Medicaid and also faced systemic barriers in accessing health care, and a nurse who has worked on the frontlines of patient care, I urge the administration to denounce all actions that prevent Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood and any other abortion-providing health centers,” Bush said.
In October, Parson’s administration issued an emergency rule designed to give agencies under his control another tool to close down Planned Parenthood.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/rep-bush-enters-fray-over-gop-attempt-to-crack-down-on-planned-parenthood-in-missouri/article_ae5bca9a-96bb-58dd-b976-312ae8e66335.html
Windfall from NFL settlement won't change St. Louis convention center expansion plan, Mayor Jones
Windfall from NFL settlement won’t change St. Louis convention center expansion plan, Mayor Jones saysST. LOUIS — The Dome at America’s Center is a “unique” asset that will help downtown St. Louis continue to attract conventions and events, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones says, providing a vote of confidence for a 26-year-old stadium some say may not be worth the cost of maintenance without an NFL team.
The mayor’s comments come as the board that owns the Dome at America’s Center is set to receive a windfall from the Rams relocation lawsuit settlement — a roughly $500 million check split between St. Louis, St. Louis County and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority that owns the Dome.
Jones, in a Monday interview, said last week’s $790 million settlement with the NFL and Rams over the team’s 2016 relocation to Los Angeles has not changed the city’s position on the convention center project. Prominent and politically connected businessman Bob Clark has suggested the convention center be redesigned and the attached Dome demolished.
“No, that’s not a conversation I’m willing to have,” Jones said when asked whether the Clayco founder and chairman’s recent campaign for a larger, redesigned convention center expansion might gain traction following the Rams settlement. “We’ve already started down the process for (construction) bids ... so that process should continue.”
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/windfall-from-nfl-settlement-won-t-change-st-louis-convention-center-expansion-plan-mayor-jones/article_d6820820-54ea-5d02-825d-1aca7fcf3938.html
As Alden seeks seats on Lee Enterprises' board, Lee unions urge the board to reject Alden's takeover
Alden Global Capital has played another card in its campaign to take over Lee Enterprises. On Friday, the hedge fund nominated a slate of three directors for seats on Lee’s eight-person board.
In a press release Monday, Lee described these as “purported” nominations and said it would see whether proper procedures were followed. If so, they would be considered at the company’s 2022 annual meeting.
Alden offered a bid of $24 a share a week ago, $5.50 per share more than the company’s trading value at market close Nov. 19. Lee rebuffed the offer, saying its directors will consider it over the next year, while putting in a “poison pill” aimed at blocking Alden from buying more than 10% of the company’s shares.
Alden gained seats on the board of Tribune Publishing over a period of 18 months as part of its strategy for acquiring control of that company, which it completed this summer.
Read more: https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2021/hedge-fund-alden-seeks-seats-on-lee-enterprises-board/
Among the major brands in the Lee Enterprises chain are the following:
Omaha World-Herald
Buffalo News
Richmond-Times Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A complete list of their brands is at https://lee.net/markets/ .
Jimmy Kimmel Has Had Enough of Scumbags Attacking Dr. Fauci for Trying to Keep Us Alive
Southwest Baggage Handler Stole Guns From Travelers in St. Louis
A former Southwest Airlines employee will serve six months in prison after admitting to stealing at least five firearms from checked bags belonging to passengers traveling through St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Mark Hunter, of St. Louis, previously pleaded guilty in federal court for possession of stolen firearms. He had been indicted in April.
According to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the case against Hunter began in September, when the Manchester Police Department seized a pistol that had been reported stolen by a Southwest passenger. The passenger told police that the firearm had been taken from his luggage.
That's when federal investigators got involved. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the Transportation Security Administration, identified seven similar firearm thefts: All had been reported as stolen from checked luggage on Southwest Airlines flights during a roughly five-month span between March and August 2020.
Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2021/11/30/southwest-baggage-handler-stole-guns-from-travelers-in-st-louis
Elon Musk warns SpaceX faces 'genuine risk of bankruptcy' if engine production troubles continue
SpaceX is having engine trouble.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk warned employees of a “Raptor production crisis” for the engines needed to launch the massive Starship spacecraft from South Texas.
SpaceX is aiming to launch the Starship into orbit for the first time in early 2022 and then run a series of test flights as steps toward carrying cargo and humans to the moon and Mars. But Musk on Friday warned that delays in production of Raptor engines could hamper that progress and lead to significant financial problems.
“We face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year,” he wrote in a company-wide email obtained by CNBC and Space Explored.
A longtime SpaceX observer said it was “classic Musk” to suggest workers should forgo their Thanksgiving holiday weekends to focus on the engines. And it isn’t the first time Musk, who’s also founder and CEO of Tesla, has openly discussed the possibility of financial hardship.
Read more: https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/Elon-Musk-warns-SpaceX-faces-genuine-risk-of-16663564.php
(San Antonio Express-News)
Capitol riot suspect entered Air Force basic training in San Antonio, then got the boot
A U.S. Capitol riot suspect entered basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in July and was later charged with attacking police during the Jan. 6 assault on Congress.
He was in training at the base for about three weeks, until the FBI questioned him and the Air Force kicked him out.
The Justice Department said Aiden Henry Bilyard, 19, of Cary, N.C., was charged with a variety of offenses. They include civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and “aiding and abetting” others in each of these crimes.
A criminal complaint filed Nov. 15 listed disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Read more: https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Capitol-riot-suspect-entered-Air-Force-basic-16662965.php
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