Local News

Missouri Republicans Are Losing It Over Campus Pro-Palestine Protests

Published

1 year ago

April 24, 2024

[ad_1]

Right-wing Missouri politicians are throwing temper tantrums over free speech on college campuses. These snowflakes want Pro-Palestine protests silenced.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has doubled down on his calls for the federal government to “immediately expel” foreign student visa holders who “are found to have supported terrorist organizations.” Meanwhile, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) called on President Joe Biden to mobilize the National Guard against protestors.

Bailey claims he’s demanding action in response to “antisemitism” on college campuses and reiterated the call he initially put out in November, following Pro-Palestine protests by Washington University students.

Student protests calling on universities to divest from corporations they see abetting genocide in Gaza have swept the nation and reached a crucial boiling point in recent days as Columbia University arrested more than 100 protestors setting up a demonstration encampment on the school’s lawn, according to CNN.

Washington University joins a growing number of universities nationwide protesting Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Earlier this month, demonstrators at Wash U interrupted a university event for newly admitted students, calling for the school to divest from Boeing, which has been criticized for its weapons program that has developed bombs used in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. “As a result, the Washington University Police Department issued 12 protesters court summons for trespassing, disturbing the peace, and refusing to disperse, April 13,” reported Student Life, Washington University’s student newspaper. Then, last Wednesday, Student Life reports approximately 30 people demonstrated in support of one of the three Wash U students who’d been suspended over the protests. Wash U ordered the students to disband about 30 minutes into the demonstration, the student newspaper reports.

Fittingly for a man who lives in Virginia, Hawley’s letter to Biden doesn’t mention anything happening at Washington University, but repeatedly mentions Columbia University and falsely calls the protests against Israel’s attacks on Gaza “pro-Hamas.”

“On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk. Most alarmingly, in-person classes at Columbia University have been canceled today — on the Jewish holiday of Passover — in response to a days long, illegal pro-Hamas demonstration,” Hawley says in the April 22 letter. “You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens.”

Hawley likened the protests to segregation in Arkansas in 1957 saying:

“President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the National Guard and 101st Airborne Division to ensure the safety of black students attending Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. I urge you to similarly mobilize the National Guard and other necessary authorities to protect Jewish American students on Columbia University’s campus, and any other campus where Jewish students are at risk. ‘Never again’ means never again.”

But Hawley’s letter got that history wrong. As the National Archives demonstrate, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus actually summoned the National Guard to stop nine Black teens from entering the school. It was the subsequent deployment of the federal 101st Airborne Division that protected the integrating students.

Coming from an unpopular member of the party that’s not in power, Hawley’s posturing will almost certainly have no sway or say in whether the National Guard is deployed. Bailey may have a little more authority here, but only if the Biden administration chooses to listen.

He’s joined a coalition of attorney generals in 20 other states to call for the removal of international students who participate in Pro-Palestine protests. They argue that the Immigration and Nationality Act makes those who support a “foreign terrorist organization” ineligible for a visa.

“Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, college campuses have become a glowing hotbed of antisemitic activity,” according to a statement from Bailey’s office. “Threats of violence against Jewish students and people are also rising.”

“The Biden Administration must enforce federal law by immediately vetting all foreign student visa holders and expelling any who are found to have endorsed or supported terrorist organizations,” Bailey says.

Meanwhile many St. Louis students continue to stand in solidarity with Palestine, and another action is planned for Saturday on Art Hill in Forest Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event is coordinated by multiple local student organizations including ones at Wash U, Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Webster University, and St. Louis Community College, according to the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Students will create banners and posters for future demonstrations and will design their graduation caps to protest Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza.

Since October 7, more than 33,843 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Middle East Monitor. This number may be higher as the health ministry in Gaza struggles to locate the dead. Israel stands accused of genocide in the International Court of Justice, which issued a provisional order calling on the country to stop any acts that violate the genocide convention, according to National Public Radio. Israel is not heeding the order, according to Human Rights Watch.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link