Email Author Nicholas Phillips

Awards

• 2012 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published January 20, 2011

  "Left for Dead"

• 2012 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published January 20, 2011

  "Left for Dead"

• 2011 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published June 9, 2010

  "Tears of a Town"

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2012 Stories by Nicholas Phillips

• [UPDATED] Whose Tweet is Funnierr Vote Now in Round One of RFT's Standup Throwdown!

  published Mar 16, 2012

  Update: Congratulations to Ryan Haynes, Shaun Arredondo, Kenny Kinds, Jr Moore, Erik Anker, Kevin White, Zack Stovall and Kris Wernowsky for making the elite eight. Thanks also to everybody else for e... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Faculty Accused of Helping Kids Cheat; St. Louis Public Schools Investigates

  published Mar 14, 2012

  Daily RFT has learned that officials with St. Louis Public Schools will soon conclude a year-long investigation into whether faculty at Herzog Elementary School organized cheating on last year's state... More >>

• Funnybone Emcee Sean O'Brien And His Incredible Norm Macdonald Story

  published Mar 13, 2012

  Comic Sean O'Brien is a big, burly, fast-talking loudmouth -- and he must be, for in his post as emcee at The Funnbyone in Westport, he's the cheerleader, clown ambassador and authority figure for the... More >>

• Strip Club Tax Supporters Drop Research Bomb

  published Mar 12, 2012

  Some resent the implication at the heart of the "skin tax" bill: That strip clubs somehow foster sexual assault, and thus should have to pay $5-per-patron fee to fund aid to rape victims. However, as ... More >>

• Is This Caller a Dangerous Personr

  published Mar 08, 2012

  A little after midnight on January 15, 2010, the following call came into Lambert Airport: Note that the the bomb-toting passenger was supposedly a black male named "Dorian." Well, no explosion ever h... More >>

• Can a Clinically Delusional Person Pretend Not to Be Delusionalr

  published Mar 07, 2012

  Our feature this week is about a guy who government psychiatrists have diagnosed with "delusional disorder, grandiose type." Despite the fact that he's never raced competitively, he believes himself a... More >>

• SNAP Releases Transcript of Church Lawyers Grilling Director David Clohessy

  published Mar 06, 2012

  On January 2, David Clohessy -- director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) -- sat down with lawyers representing Catholic priests. It was not to chat over tea.The attorneys de... More >>

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  COVER STORY

  Vicious Cycle: Dorian Williams thought he was a bike champion, shrinks and FBI be damned

  published March 8, 2012

  Just after midnight on January 15, 2010, a phone rang inside Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The caller said in a soft voice that a... More >>

• Check Out the Bling That Dunard Morris, Former CEO of Urology Practice, Allegedly Stole

  published Mar 02, 2012

  The feds may or may not prove their indictment against Dunard Morris, who until late last year served as CEO of Metropolitan Urological Specialists in St. Louis County. But sweet bejeezus, he loved th... More >>

• Toi Hutchinson, Illinois State Senator, on Strip Club Tax: "We May Have a Compromise"

  published Mar 01, 2012

  Toi Hutchinson, the Illinois state senator who introduced the "strip club tax" bill to fund aid to sexual assault victims, has left Daily RFT a voicemail saying that despite grumblings from opponents,... More >>

• Kendra Holliday, aka The Beautiful Kind, on Proposed Strip Club Tax: "Unfair Bullsh*t"

  published Feb 29, 2012

  When Daily RFT first heard about the "strip club tax" proposed in Illinois, we knew we had to ask the local sex blogger Kendra Holliday (a.k.a. The Beautiful Kind) for her two cents, because(a) This i... More >>

• Organic Farmers' Suit Against Monsanto Dismissed (and Dissed) by Federal Judge

  published Feb 28, 2012

  A federal district court judge in New York threw out a lawsuit yesterday brought by pro-organic groups against St. Louis- based Monsanto, scolding the plaintiffs for their "tactics." Some 60 seed comp... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Five Questions for MoDOT's "Barrel Bob"

  published Feb 27, 2012

  Barrel Bob, an 11-foot-tall MoDOT spokesthing, has been grinning from the shoulder of I-70 just north of downtown for several weeks.  We caught up with him Saturday. Daily RFT: Your job is to tel... More >>

• "Pole Tax" Poll: Should Strip Clubs be Taxed to Fund Aid to Victims of Sexual Assaultr

  published Feb 24, 2012

  Illinois state senator Toi Hutchinson (not pictured on the right) is introducing a bill that would require strip clubs serving alcohol to charge patrons a five-dollar tax at the door. The revenue woul... More >>

• Marc Maron Calls Out Rob Durham, the Local Comic Who Wrote a "How-To" Book on Standup

  published Feb 23, 2012

  For comedy nerds, standup Marc Maron needs no introduction; for the rest of you, he's one of the artform's leading intellectuals, a "Dostevskyan cut-up" (writes James Wolcott), who is "angry, probing,... More >>

• Sikeston-Based Designer of Star Wars Guitar "Does it For the Ladies"

  published Feb 22, 2012

  Brian Fisk, a 22-year-old from Sikeston, appeared on CNN's website Monday thanks to this little video: Fisk is an interesting fellow (check out CNN interview or story in the Southeast Missourian). He ... More >>

• Attention, Ne'er-do-wells: Manned Security Cameras Are Coming to the Loop

  published Feb 21, 2012

  We know some of our readers really, really hate security cameras -- in fact, they hate the entire system of private property that makes security cameras necessary. Well, bad news for those folks: The ... More >>

• Woman Gets Herself Arrested In Order to Find a Ride to St. Louis

  published Feb 16, 2012

  If you've got a court date in St. Charles, but you're 3.5 hours away without a ride, one option is public transportation. Another is hitchhiking. Yesterday, 22-year-old Emily Troncoso of Kirksville ha... More >>

• Jovica Petrovic Sentenced for Cyber-Stalking, Extorting Ex-wife

  published Feb 15, 2012

  Jovica Petrovic, a 62-year-old German citizen, was sentenced today to 97 months in prison for cyber-stalking and extorting his former American wife. Last November, a jury found him guilty upon learnin... More >>

• Ethics Reform Law Undone by Missouri Supreme Court

  published Feb 14, 2012

  Our state's highest court has just struck down the ethics reform law enacted by the Missouri legislature in 2010. That law, now considered unconstitutional, would have: allowed the state ethics commis... More >>

• Top 5 Pieces on Trent Arsenault, Missouri-born DIY Sperm Donor / Porn Star

  published Feb 13, 2012

  You either know Trent Arsenault as:(a) the 36-year-old virgin in California who has fathered 15 children by giving away his own "organic" sperm on the Internet, OR(b) "TrentDog," the amateur porn star... More >>

• Anti-Baldness Meds Helped Heads but Weakened Willies, Lawsuit Sez

  published Feb 10, 2012

  Even as lawsuits against Merck and its anti-baldness pill Propecia consolidate at the federal level, litigants at the state level are still piling on -- right here in St. Louis, for example.The big pr... More >>

• Jeremy Essig is About to Get Raw & Personal (And Record a CD in Brennan's Basement)

  published Feb 09, 2012

  Standup Jeremy Essig put in seven years as a road comic, recorded three CDs and has opened for the likes of Zach Galifianakis and Jeffrey Ross. By  2009, he was sick of it. All of it.  So he... More >>

• Standup Rob Durham to Comedy Newbies: "You're Not Andy Kaufman. Stop Trying to Be."

  published Feb 02, 2012

  Rob Durham teaches. Both by nature and he literally substitute teaches in the Clayton and Rockwood school districts. In addition, he's been trying to school newbie comics as of late on how not to humi... More >>

• Appeals Hearing in NorthSide Case Got Heated

  published Feb 01, 2012

  If you're a developer, and you want the Board of Aldermen to subsidize your huge redevelopment, how specific must you be about your plansr  That was the central question this morning during a hea... More >>