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The lawyer for the St. Louis-area cop who shot dead Antonio Martin on Tuesday night has suggested his client may have been set up and ambushed by Antonio Martin, who police say pulled a loaded 9mm pistol on the officer without warning. The Berkeley, Missouri, officer was responding to a 911 call about a possible theft from a Mobil gas station about 11.15pm on Tuesday. Brian Millikan, the lawyer for the unnamed 34-year-old Berkeley officer, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the cop may have been walking into a deadly trap set by Martin and his friend. 'Their behavior is...

Full title: Protesters set off explosives, throw bricks after police officer shoots, kills 18-year-old in Missouri Hundreds of people gathered at a suburban St. Louis gas station early Wednesday morning after a police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man who had been pointing a 9 mm handgun at the officer, authorities said. Some protesters among the angry crowd of between 200 and 300 turned violent early Wednesday morning, setting off explosive devices and throwing bricks and rocks, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a press conference. More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded,...

Antonio Martin, an African American teen, pulled out a gun and tried to murder a police officer. In self defense, the officer shot Martin. Martin was killed. Yet, despite these crystal-clear facts, new protests are erupting in the Ferguson and St. Louis area. The police even quickly released video, showing that Martin unmistakably raised a gun to shoot at the officer. Sergeant Brian Schellman of the St. Louis police department said what happened was straight forward: “Fearing for his life, the Berkeley Officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him.” But apparently facts aren’t good enough for Ferguson...

There is some good debate and conversation happening in the wake of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. But there is also plenty of nonsense. Consider this gem from the New York Times editorial of this morning about police arrests: "there can never be a justification for any lethal assault on an unarmed man." How absurd. In Ferguson, there is evidence that Michael Brown was attempting to wrest the officer's gun away. Should Darren Wilson have waited until Brown was successful before defending himself? Whatever the facts from Staten Island, if a single officer finds himself in a struggle...

<p>BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at him at a gas station late Tuesday, police said.</p> <p>A crowd of about 100 people were gathered early Wednesday at the scene in Berkeley, Missouri, a few miles from Ferguson, where a white police officer fatally shot black 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.</p>

Weeks after protests over the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown started to subside, police in another St. Louis suburb have reportedly shot and killed an 18-year-old black man at a gas station, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Information on the shooting is thin so far, but large crowds have already started to form at the scene of the Mobil gas station in Berkeley, Missouri where 18-year-old Antonio Martin was shot. Those on scene report seeing bricks thrown and pepper spray used. St. Louis County Police released a statement saying Martin was shot after he pulled a gun...

An off duty St. Louis city police officer is recovering Saturday morning after being shot. He came under-fire while simply driving his personal vehicle north on 25th Street near Breman. That’s in north St. Louis. Police say that the 28-year-old officer was fired upon just before 4:00pm. He was shot multiple times in the lower extremities. His wounds do not appear to be life threatening. The St. Louis Municipal Department says the officer is in critical but stable condition.

<p>Decades ago, I taught at a community college. The bunch of us treated our shared office as if it were the neighborhood bar. We’d hang out for hours. That beat going home to our cheap apartments or our parents’ basements and watching TV, which was all we could afford on the pittance adjunct professors are paid. James was a jazz musician. Mo’s nose was always to the grindstone. Patrick was enthralling. I wish I had had a video camera recording our every conversation. His words glittered.</p>

Time Magazine warned of a growing threat to cops nationwide in September 2010. The nationally renowned publication argued that sinister individuals would launch targeted attacks against police officers and even ambush them in their patrol cars. Time alerted readers that these groups and individuals have a disturbing hatred of cops and that there was a real threat of “lone-wolf” attacks. Who are these groups that present such a threat to police? Right-wing militias, according to Time. [Snip] “Scores of armed antigovernment groups, some of them far more radical, have formed or been revived during the Obama years, according to law-enforcement...

Just a day after the premeditated execution of two NYPD officers in New York by a deranged, suicidal psychopath, two more police officers have been shot in America today. In St.Louis, an off-duty officer was shot multiple times and remains in critical condition while in Tarpon Springs, Florida, 45-year-old officer Charles Kondek - a 17-year-veteran and father of 5 children - was shot and killed early Sunday morning.As Fox Boston reports, Florida authorities say a police officer was shot and killed in Tarpon Springs early Sunday.  The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that police have arrested 23-year-old Marco...

Barack and Michelle Obama, speaking to People Magazine, of all disappointments, shared the disheartening news that they have experienced what they called racism. Barack, for example, apparently has had trouble, before he was president, hailing a cab in Chicago, to which an immediate thought might occur to anyone who has been to Chicago: Who hasn't? Also, Barack, at a black-tie event, when he, too, was in festive livery, apparently was asked by another guest if he would get them a cup of coffee. For her recollection, Michelle came up with a visit to a Target store as first lady. She...

Union: NYPD Now a 'Wartime' Police Dept. The New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the NYPD's union, has issued this statement following the deaths of two police officers in an ambush: "Starting IMMEDIATELY: At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the opinion of the patrol supervisor happens to be. “IN ADDITION: Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and an individual MUST be placed under arrest. “These are precautions that...

Until we have some actual progress involving an NFL team moving to Los Angeles, maybe it's best to stop the breathless speculation about which teams will move there. There won't be a team moving to Los Angeles in 2015. ESPN.com's Adam Schefter said commissioner Roger Goodell told the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams – the three hottest candidates to move to L.A. if that ever happened – that there will be no team in Los Angeles next season.

Someone knocked down and vandalized on Friday a sign on Interstate 580 that honors the four Oakland police officers who were shot and killed in 2009, the deadliest day in the department’s history.

Marco Rubio was on with Mark Levin tonight to talk Cuba and gave the best interview I’ve heard yet on Cuba from anyone. One of my favorite parts was where he listed four of five reasons why Obama’s new policy toward Cuba won’t help the Cuban people, one being based on how Cuba’s economy is set up so that 90% of all money in Cuba gets taken by the military because nothing is privately owned. Rubio is really quite impressive in his knowledge of Cuba.

Brittany Noble-Jones, a reporter at KMOV in St. Louis, tweets that the Big Lots retail store in Ferguson, Missouri, is shutting down. While the corporate office won’t comment on whether the closure is related to the post-Ferguson riots and protests, other small businesses have told Noble-Jones that they are “feeling the pinch.” Way to go, social justice mob.

McDonald’s and its franchisees illegally retaliated against employees for participating in union-related activities, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer alleged Friday in a case with sweeping industry implications. NLRB general counsel Richard Griffin announced Friday he will issue 13 complaints involving 78 charges against franchises and McDonald’s USA, LLC. Though many of these alleged labor violations were committed by independent franchise owners, Griffin ruled earlier this year that McDonald’s can be held liable for those actions as a so-called joint employer, leaving the corporatrion — and potentially other franchisors — exposed to such claims. McDonald’s said the decision will...

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder wrote an open letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. He is calling him out for not releasing his findings yet in the federal investigation into the Michael Brown shooting. In Kinder’s letter, he notes the investigation has gone on, “For more than four months.” He adds: “I respectfully request that you release to the public the findings of fact from your federal investigation into whether a civil rights violation occurred. I ask this not knowing what those findings are. However, I believe that all Missourians, indeed all Americans, have a...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A state lawmaker from St. Louis is asking a legislative committee to investigate whether St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch "manipulated" the grand jury in the Michael Brown case. A joint House and Senate committee is investigating why Gov. Jay Nixon did not use National Guard troops to prevent burning and looting in Ferguson on Nov. 24, the night McCulloch announced that the grand jury would not indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of Brown....

Rand Paul won his Senate seat without winning any notable amount of the black vote. In a match up with Hillary Clinton, he’s currently set to take 15% of the black vote. That’s much better than Mitt Romney, but he’s up against Hillary Clinton. Not Barack Obama. And his MSNBC comments about letting businesses discriminate against black people haven’t been in autoplay for eight months, which they would be if he ever won the primaries. After that, he would be lucky to get 1 percent no matter how many trips he makes to Ferguson.So his constant chatter about winning minority...