U.S. District Court

Marijuana: Gary Wiegert's Free-Speech Lawsuit Goes Forward, Sgt. Hopes to Lobby for Reform

Last week, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed a marijuana reform proposal that would reduce the punishment for minor pot offenses. The policy change is supposed to save police resources and the mayor is expected to sign it into law. While officials with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Depart ... More >>

Contraception: Tim Jones Still Fighting Birth Control Mandate After Ruling, Cites Free Speech

Should employers and insurers in Missouri be allowed to deny coverage of birth control if it violates their religious beliefs? A federal judge, as we reported earlier this week, ruled that they cannot be exempt -- in a decision overturning a Missouri law that directly contradicted President Barack O ... More >>

Birth Control: Court Overturns Missouri Law Allowing Moral, Religious Coverage Exemptions

Last week, we reported on a GOP proposal in Missouri that would give doctors the right not to perform procedures that go against their moral beliefs -- such as abortions. Meanwhile, a federal judge has struck down a Republican proposal with a similar theme that became law last year; this now over ... More >>

Rush Limbaugh's Inexperienced Cousin Named Cape Girardeau Prosecutor

If, for some reason, you don't think the name Limbaugh carries any juice in Cape Girardeau, consider the following news blip. On Christmas Eve, Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Christopher Limbaugh the prosecutor for Cape Girardeau County. The 28-year-old Limbaugh, who'll become the county's top law enfor ... More >>

Is Civil Disobedience the Answer to Immigration Debate?

Saint Louis Art Museum Wins Court Battle Over Ancient Egyptian Mask

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Autrey has rejected the U.S. attorney's office suit against the Saint Louis Art Museum in the case of the ancient Egyptian artifact, the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer. The government filed the suit in order to return the mask to the Egyptian government, which claimed it had ... More >>

Where Is Sicily Streat? Part Two [Updated]

Gut Check noticed last week that the Sicily Streat (@SicilyStreat; 314-440-2636) appears to have gone AWOL. The food truck has sent no tweets from its account since the end of February, and -- anecdotally, at least -- there have been no sightings of it since then, either. Our attempts to reach the ... More >>

Leland Beasley: Sentenced to 290 Years in Child Porn Case

Leland Beasley: He was given the largest sentence in the history of the federal court here.​Suspected murderess Casey Anthony may be home free, but we can't say the same of one local scumbag. Leland Beasley, a St. Louis County man who molested as many as ten boys at his video gaming business -- an ... More >>

Former Mr. Irrelevant/ St. Louis Rams Linebacker David Vobora Awarded $5.4 Million in Steroid Lawsuit

With a company name like Anti-Steroid Program, who would have thought?​In June 2009, St. Louis Rams linebacker David Vobora decided to take a supplement called "Ultimate Sports Spray." He must have felt pretty safe taking it, since it was made by a company called Anti-Steroid Program and distr ... More >>

79-Year Old Woman Assaulted by Cops, Lawsuit Alleges

Public Enemy, NWA, Tupac... 79-year-old Velma Fortune, shining a light on police brutality.​ Updated at 11:30 a.m. to include a statement from McPherson Police Chief Dennis Shaw. Two McPherson, Kansas, police officers snatched the cane of a 79-year-old woman, handcuffed her and dragged her a ... More >>

Archdiocese Not Liable For Pedophile Priest Robert Johnston

courtesy of SNAP MidwestRobert Johnston: not the archdiocese's fault that they hired a perv.​Score one for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. Because, as a legal ruling today makes clear, even if a Christian ethicist would hold the church accountable for allowing a predatory priest to run roug ... More >>

Sac and Fox Nation: Missouri Desecrated our Ancestors. We Want 'Em Back (And Some!)

Image viaThe DNR has been keeping Native American bones like these for decades. ​UPDATE 3:47 pm: The parties just settled today. Details forthcoming....The Sac and Fox Nation wants its grandfathers back.  Right now, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is storing tribal bones in banke ... More >>

Monsanto Sugar Beets: Pull 'Em Out of the Ground, Says Federal Judge

Image viaAbout half of America's sugar supply comes from sugar beets such as these.​On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered that any of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets planted commercially since August be yanked out of the ground and destroyed. (Read the full decision.) Back in August, U.S. Distr ... More >>

Ask a Mexican! Hombres at Work: Can employers regulate what language is spoken in the break room?

Jive & Wail in Maplewood Sued for Copyright Infringement by BMI

jiveandwail.com​Performance-rights giant BMI and several other copyright-owners have sued the Maplewood outpost of the Jive & Wail for copyright infringement In documents filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, multiple plaintiffs accused the Jive & Wail piano bar in Maplewood of nineteen in ... More >>

St. Louis Wins Decision Vs. Eminent Domain Mural

ij.orgRoos and his sign.​The U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri today ruled in favor of St. Louis City in a suit over a well-known sign south of downtown. In 2007 activist Jim Roos painted a mural on the side of a building with the message: "End Eminent Domain Abuse." At the time, the buildin ... More >>

Gonna Be One Long, Dark Night for Missouri Man Found Guilty of Movie Piracy

Image via​Sucks to be Robert Henderson. Investigators reportedly followed the Grandview man into a Lee's Summit movie theater in July 2008, watched as he slid a camcorder out of his winter parka -- yes, a parka in July (doh!) -- and proceeded to catch him taping The Dark Knight.Fast-forward to Feb ... More >>

St. Louis Isn't the Only City With Bad News Bail Bondsmen

Image Via Chico's Bail Bonds not licensed for business in St. Louis...yet​The Post-Dispatch has filed a few very intriguing dispatches lately chronicling the fishy goings-on between a local bail bond kingpin and a St. Louis Circuit Court official.If you haven't yet read the stories (click h ... More >>

David Carruthers: From House Arrest to Prison

Wikimedia CommonsCarruthers was known for bringing the brains to the scrappy sports gambling outfit. ​After more than three years on house arrest, the former CEO of BETonSPORTS today was sentenced to 33 months in a federal prison. David Carruthers, a Scotsman who helmed the now-defunct cyber-sport ... More >>

First Politico of 2010 To Be Sentenced for Federal Felony: Talibdin "T.D." El-Amin

"I don't talk money." I just take it. ​Former State Representative Talibdin "T.D." El-Amin is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow morning. El-Amin represented a swath of north St. Louis in the state legislature until he pleaded guilty in September to a bribery c ... More >>

Lawsuit Brought by Missouri "Birthers" Hinges on Kenyan Newspaper Article

A lawsuit brought on by Missouri state representatives Cynthia Davis (R-O'Fallon), Tim Jones (R-Eureka) and other "birthers" who believe President Barrack Obama was born overseas, hinges on an obscure Kenyan news report from 2004. As Fired Up! Missouri recounts today, the article appeared online in ... More >>

Feds Let Online Gamblers Lay Claim to BETonSPORTS' Founder Gary Kaplan's $43 Million, Beginning Today

​Gary Kaplan, founder of the now-defunct online gambling business BETonSPORTS, delivered a big win to the U.S. Department of Justice last week when he pleaded guilty to racketeering and fraud. Part of the plea-bargain included Kaplan's forfeiture of more than $43.65 million in proceeds he acquired ... More >>

Founder of BetonSports Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Forfeits $43 Million to Government

​Gary Stephen Kaplan, the subject of a Riverfront Times investigation in '07, has pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges of fraud for running an illegal offshore sports wagering business.As part of a complex plea agreement, Kaplan, 50, entered pleas of guilty to charges of conspiracy to violat ... More >>

Former BETonSPORTS CEO Now Playing for the Government

Wikimedia CommonsDavid Carruthers, during better daysDavid Carruthers, the former CEO of the now-defunct Internet sports book BETonSPORTS, agreed today to testify against his former boss and colleagues in a substantial racketeering case unfolding here. Carruthers pled guilty today in U.S. District C ... More >>

Arnold Lawsuit Challenging Red-Light Cameras Moves On Without Original Plaintiffs

Derek JensenOpponents of red-light cameras are celebrating a ruling earlier this month in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri. In a broad-ranging order handed down February 3, Judge Thomas C. Mummert III denied defendant American Traffic Solutions' (ATS) motion to dismiss the RICO claims fil ... More >>

Fizzled Out: Andrew Gladney, heir to the 7-Up fortune, is off to a federal penitentiary

Savvis Co-Founder Andrew Gladney Gets 33 Months in Federal Pen

Criminal Charges to be Filed in Megan Meier Case

Secret Santa

Snag part of Unreal's crapucopia of gifts for your office gift exchange!

Guilt-Edged

Pugnacious defense attorney Frank "Tony" Fabbri never backed away from a fight. Then the lawyer ran afoul of the law.

Gateway to a Cure Founder's Death a Suspected Suicide

Floyd Irons' Alleged Co-Conspirator Expected to Plead Guilty

Floyd Irons' Alleged Co-Conspirator Expected to Plead Guilty

Law and Anarchy

St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa and his officers may stand trial for violating the civil rights of “anarchists” in 2003.

Vashon Basketball Legend Floyd Irons In Federal Court on Criminal Charges

Back to the Bolozone

The "anarchists" finally get their day in court.

The Old Nazi

A member of Hitler's Waffen SS lives out his last days in St. Louis

All Aboard!

We get political with Kerry and Dean, feel the bite of a "Mad Dog" and discover something amazing about Prius ownership. Plus, confidential to Unreal readers: Parking downtown is easy!

Methmaker, Methmaker, Make Me Some Meth

Unreal finds good meth-lab locations and talks to a young lady making her way in the world (with the help of semi-nude photos); Bill Haas gets honest; and we (and Denny's) find several ways to play with our food

Debt Comes to the Archbishop

A sad chapter in the church's history is far from over

Same As It Ever F**king Was

When it comes to censorship, the song remains the same

Where's Dora?

Former St. Louis corrections chief Dora Schriro has moved on to a more high-profile controversy

Going Postal

Maybe it’s time to revisit Steve Stogel’s redevelopment plan for the Old Post Office downtown

Credit Check

Local musician Willie Woods says the Trackboyz promised him credit on a smash hit -- then reneged

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A park is coming to a village of the damned

When Online Got Off Base

Or: How Mark Cuban would have -- and could have? -- saved the music biz

Death Man Walking

Dozens of patients died on nurse Richard Williams' watch, but he was never charged. Did authorities do too little, too late?

Best Judge (If You're Michael Lazaroff)

Charles Shaw

Funny Business

Rich Balducci takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'

John the Catalyst