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Under attack, Kim Gardner fights back Cops, special prosecutor return circuit attorney’s server By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said last week that a search warrant demanding thousands of records from her office would put countless people’s privacy at risk. On Tuesday, March 12, Circuit Court Judge Michael K. Mullen rejected Gardner’s motion to quash the search warrant, after claiming last week that Gardner’s office was “playing games.”
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner
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Due process, black men, dark money and David Steward By Sylvester Brown Jr. For The St. Louis American
The warrant relates to a grand jury case reviewing whether Gardner’s investigator William Tisaby lied under oath last spring during then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ felonious invasion of privacy case. Gardner’s attorneys appealed within hours of Mullen’s decision. In the short amount of time it took for them to file the appeal, the police and special prosecutor overseeing the grand jury case on Tisaby See GARDNER, A7
Vol. 90 No. 51
David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, is a man of faith who has donated millions of dollars to medical, cultural and educational institutions and local nonprofits. He was named in a series of news stories alleging that he is funding a dark money group that intends to weaken the federal Title IX processes that Missouri universities use to address allegations of sexual assault on campus. The group, Kingdom Principles, is a registered 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit. It has provided money to the Missouri Campus Due Process Coalition, which “supports reforms to Missouri law to ensure that both the accuser and Sylvester the accused receive due Brown Jr. process as provided by our Constitution.” “The legislation is an attack on rape victims, an attempt to make it harder for women to bring forward allegations of assault on campus,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger wrote of two proposed reform bills, House Bill 573 and Senate Bill 259, supported by the Missouri Campus Due Process Coalition. According to Messenger and other media outlets, this is a treasonous act, considering that Steward was once a curator of the University of Missouri System and is still a trustee with Washington University in St. Louis (both oppose the proposed legislation). According to Messenger, university
Photo by Wiley Price
See BROWN, A6
Kamryn Joyner and Johnathan Ingram, both 6, colored a leprechaun dancing under a rainbow as a St. Patrick’s Day exercise in their kindergarten class at Peabody Elementary School on Wednesday, March 13.
Voter education forum on Ferg-Flor school board
‘Discipline
New cumulative voting approach expected to make black candidates more competitive
Photo by Wiley Price
Color me a rainbow
with dignity’
By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Public schools switch from suspensions to restorative justice By Ryan Delaney Of St. Louis Public Radio There are no desks in AP Latin class at University City High School. Students instead “circle up” by facing each other in plastic chairs. As the stuffed animal Felix the Talking Cat makes its way around the circle, one student expresses worry about an exam later in the day. Seniors fret about pending collegeacceptance letters. Another
shares news of unexpectedly acing a test, and the group cheers. These circles, part of what’s known as restorative practices and restorative justice, are a tool schools are using to reduce trauma and stress among students. More schools in the St. Louis area are adopting the practice to improve school climates and cut down on student outbursts, See JUSTICE, A7
Photo by Ryan Delaney
University City High School senior Kaya Blount talked about being nervous for an upcoming college audition during a restorative circle in Latin class. “When you’re just able to talk about it,” she said, “it doesn’t get to the point where it’s harmful to you.”
The ACLU of Missouri has launched an effort to educate voters about the new voting system in the Ferguson-Florissant school board election on Tuesday, April 2, when three candidates will compete for two open seats. This voter education effort includes canvassing throughout the FergusonFlorissant School District, a direct mail campaign, and a candidate forum with several community partners. The voter education program and candidate forum will be held 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26 at Greater Grace Family Church, 3690 Pershall Rd. in Ferguson. The ACLU will host the forum in partnership with the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, iHeart Media and The St. Louis See FORUM, A6