Free Republic

"D’oh – The Uplands Park “City Manager” Isn’t Actually a “City Manager”, and The Real Uplands Park Officials Are A little Upset…." A fellow named John Muhammad identified himself as city manager of the tiny north county village of Uplands Park during a live interview Thursday night on FOX News channel. Mr. Muhammad then went on a bizarre diatribe to say he, and his community, believed the KKK or the police themselves were the shooters. Beyond the jaw dropping protestations about the police shooting another slight problem is Mr. Muhammad is not a “city manager”. Actually, not even close. First,...

Ferguson Protester Tells FOX Reporter Police Shooting Was a Setup by Police With the KKK (VIDEO) Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, March 12, 2015, 10:35 PM A city manager from North St. Louis County named John Mohammad told Steve Harrigan from FOX News that the police shooting last night was an inside job. “I think it was a complete set up. I think it was a setup of the police fraternities, what I like to call them. I think they operate just like the KKK. I think they did it to make themselves look like the victim, when honestly...

A Justice Department report released last week makes a strong case that Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, last August. The report suggests that Robert McCulloch, the much-maligned St. Louis County prosecutor, made the right call when he decided not to pursue criminal charges against Wilson. McCulloch nevertheless was the wrong person to make that call. His lack of credibility, as illustrated by the upside-down grand jury process that he orchestrated to clear Wilson, highlights the need for independent prosecutors to review police shootings. Because they...

The Eagles settled the long-running debate over whether Nick Foles is their quarterback of the future, as they neared completion Tuesday on a trade that will send him to St. Louis for QB Sam Bradford and what would seem to be a swap of second-round draft picks, a league source said, confirming a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Bradford, 27, the 2010 No. 1 overall pick, has missed the past two seasons with ACL tears and would seem just as poor a fit as Foles for the read-option part of Chip Kelly's offense.

A now-retired Super Bowl-winning NFL running back went on a Twitter tirade on Saturday after openly gay 2014 draft pick Michael Sam kissed his boyfriend on television. Derrick Ward, 33, who was a member of the New York Giants Super Bowl XLII-winning team, didn't hide his disdain for ESPN's decision to air Sam's smooch with boyfriend Vito Cammisano after learning he would become a St. Louis Ram. 'Man U got little kids lookin at the draft,' Ward complained. 'I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen.'

... Murder rates have fallen sharply in most of the country. But St. Louis is one of a few major cities, including Memphis and Washington, where the number of homicides jumped last year. It is also one of several cities, including Baltimore, Detroit, Gary, Ind., and New Orleans, where violent crime, concentrated in low-income minority neighborhoods, has remained stubbornly high, though down from the crack-driven peaks of the early 1990s. The start of the new year was equally violent. On Jan. 15, shaken by six murders in five shootings overnight, the city’s mayor, Francis Slay, called for more police, more...

Federal lawsuits allege that jails in the St. Louis County towns of Ferguson and Jennings operate essentially as modern-day debtors’ prisons, where minor traffic offenses can lead to extended periods behind bars. Two lawsuits were filed Sunday on behalf of people who have spent time in jail for failure to pay fines for traffic violations and minor offenses. The suits representing 11 people jailed in Ferguson and nine in Jennings were filed by the nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law of Washington, the St. Louis nonprofit ArchCity Defenders, and Saint Louis University School of Law. …

An attempt to mend the relationship between citizens and police in St. Louis broke into a shouting and shoving match late Wednesday — between citizens and police. Council members considering a bill to establish a civilian oversight board over police work were holding a public meeting when Jeff Roorda, the business manager of the city’s police union, and a woman appeared to get into a confrontation, an online video shows. The room erupted into shouts and profanity, as people rose to their feet and crowded in on the two. The bill was sponsored by Alderman Antonio French, an active participant...

An 8-year-old St. Louis boy went to school and told an office worker he had been shot, after his mother exchanged gunfire with a man who tried to force his way into a home, police said Tuesday. Both mother and child were hospitalized in stable condition as police searched for a suspect in the shooting, the latest of several that have plagued St. Louis over the past 13 months. …

ST. LOUIS -- Toni DiPina has been trying to solve the mystery of her unknown family since she was abandoned as a baby. The reality is DiPina, at 51, still has no clue where she came from. She does not know why one or both of her parents abandoned her at 9 months on May 26, 1963, on a vacant lot in St. Louis. No one has ever come forward. Not then and not in 2008 when the Post-Dispatch first wrote extensively about her. For decades, the only details she had from a day she was too young to remember...

As Valentine’s Day approaches love birds in the St Louis region will be looking for fine chocolates to send their partners. But, if they are pro-life they may want to avoid Kakao Chocolates. According to posts placed on the Facebook page of Planned Parenthood of the St Louis Region, Kakao Chocolate created “Chocolates for Choice” to help fund abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood’s December 2nd post reads, “Send a gift of Kakao chocolates to yourself or a loved one and proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood in St. Louis. Kakao packages are available in three sizes, and start with...

FULL TITLE: Doctors decided this baby’s life wasn’t worth saving. Now a Missouri legislator wants to make sure it never happens again. Imagine being in a hospital watching your recently born child gasp for air as his or her oxygen levels plummet. Imagine watching in horror as medical professionals stand by doing absolutely nothing, indicating to you through body language and inaction that your son or daughter is not worth saving. This is exactly what befell Sheryl and Scott Crosier, of St. Louis, Missouri, in December 2010 when they lost their three-month-old son Simon who had the chromosomal abnormality Trisomy...

St. Louis city officials said Wednesday that the owner of the Rams isn’t returning their calls, so they plan to work directly with the NFL on efforts to keep a team—any team—in St. Louis amid speculation the Rams are headed back to Los Angeles. Billionaire owner Stan Kroenke is part of a joint venture that announced plans Monday for an 80,000-seat stadium in the Los Angeles suburbs, a move that could soon return the NFL to the nation’s second-largest market and the home of the Rams from 1946 until they moved to St. Louis in 1995. The move would have...

The Hollywood Land Company, a joint venture between Stockbridge Capital Group and The Kroenke Group, plans to build a 80,000-seat stadium, a 6,000-seat performance venue, a 300-room hotel, 2,500 residential units, 1.7 million square feet of retail and office space and 25 acres of public parks, playgrounds and open space on the site. The development, named the “City of Champions Revitalization Project”, will be built at no cost to taxpayers.

The owner of the St. Louis Rams has announced intentions to build a massive new NFL stadium and entertainment complex in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Stan Kroenke revealed the grand plan to the LA Times on Monday. In addition to an 80,000-seat stadium, the billionaire and his partners are proposing an adjacent 6,000-seat performance venue. Los Angeles was home to the Rams from 1946 to 1994 and, as St. Louis scrambles to come up with a plan for a new stadium in order to retain the team, the City of Angels appears ever more likely to get a...

Referee Ed Hochuli referred to replay official Tom Sifferman by his nickname “Jungle Boy,” which was heard on the in-stadium microphone during the Cardinals-Panthers NFC wild-card game Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.

Scores of protesters at the helm of the ongoing nationwide movement against police violence stormed the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Wednesday, aiming to “evict” officers they accused of “perpetrating police brutality on our citizenry.” Five of the roughly 25 demonstrators who linked arms in the lobby of the police department were arrested in the headquarters, the St. Louis Police Department told Al Jazeera. Police pepper-sprayed and forced other protesters off the premises. The detainees — four women and one man — were charged with “trespassing and peace disturbance,” said Leah K. Freeman, the department's spokeswoman. The man was charged...

Ferguson protesters stormed the police headquarters in downtown St. Louis today. They were going to hold a sit-in protest for four-and-a-half hours until they were maced and cuffed. X 2 reported: Protesters stormed the doors of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department headquarters Wednesday morning. Their plan is to occupy the department for four and a half hours. About 15 protesters were in the lobby and refused to leave until their demands were met. They also handed police an ‘Eviction Notice.

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...

Riot Police Protect St. Louis Cathedral from Protesters at Christmas Midnight Mass Posted by Kristinn Taylor on Thursday, December 25, 2014, 12:18 AM Churchgoers in St. Louis Wednesday night were not allowed to celebrate the birth of Jesus without the threat of disruption by supporters of the so-called Black Lives Matter campaign. Photos posted to Twitter show police in riot gear massed in force protecting a church identified as the Cathedral Basilica.