via kmov.com

Teacher shoving a student.

A video taken inside a classroom of St. Louis' Gateway STEM High School is a bit blurry, but clearly shows a male teacher throwing his desk down and shoving a female student -- twice.

The footage, on view below and first reported by KMOV (Channel 4), is reportedly of teacher Peter Sheppard, 33, who has since been charged with third-degree assault.

It's not clear what led up to this confrontation based on the quick footage -- but the shoving is well documented.

More »

Craig Blankenhorn/Showtime

Come into my office, baby.

Almost exactly one year ago, Showtime ordered a full twelve-episode season of Masters of Sex, a drama based on the lives and work of Washington University researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

The network has just released the show's first teaser trailer, pun intended. It doesn't give away much about the plot line, but there are plenty of bare backs, dropping straps and a clear message: SEX.

Take a peek after the jump.

More »

Stray Rescue

Our Little Girl, who survived.

Cennitra Fowler, a 22-year-old St. Louis woman, has admitted in court that she starved her two dogs and then dumped one in the trash to die. Her punishment? One year of unsupervised probation involving 24 hours of community service, an animal care class and a $75 donation to the Humane Society of Missouri.

"I don't know if she learned her lesson," Randy Grim, founder of the Stray Rescue of St. Louis, tells Daily RFT. "I worry about how she treats others."

Grim has close ties to this case. Fowler had called Stray Rescue two years ago to inform the organization that she had thrown away her dog -- just like any other piece of trash.

More »

Michael Cook.

Citing their client's need to stay in a drug rehabilitation facility, attorneys for former St. Clair County circuit judge Michael Cook have asked that his trial date be pushed back.

Cook checked himself into a rehab facility in Minnesota as a condition of his bond after police arrested him in late May with heroin and a firearm.

Authorities have apparently had their eye on Cook ever since the March cocaine overdose of Judge Joe Christ at Cook's hunting cabin.

More »

SLMPD

Charles Freeman.

In the chaos of last week's violence, one suspect who allegedly fled cops and then crashed into an officer was taken to the hospital for treatment. Then he got away.

Police officials now say they have once again apprehended the 27-year-old man named Charles Freeman -- and have filed formal charges against him. The probable cause statement, on view below, outlines the six counts he is facing and also offers some new details on the high-speed chase and the injuries suffered during the crash -- amid an unusually tense and violent week for the St. Louis city cops.

Freeman is behind bars, facing charges of second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, unlawful possession of a firearm, resisting a lawful stop, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest -- and more.

More »

via

Lemay Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Sigh.

A broken valve at an Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District pump station yesterday caused untreated wastewater to discharge into the River des Peres, officials say. That break happened less than three-quarters of a mile from the Mississippi River, eventually causing the discharge of wastewater from a site in south St. Louis county.

Given heavy rains, officials believe that the total volume that flowed could be up to 1 million gallons -- and as a precaution are warning residents to avoid contact with the rivers for the next two to three days.

More »

Dominic Hood.

Earlier this month, we wrote about the exoneration of Marlon Miller, a twenty-year-old East St. Louis, Illinois, resident wrongfully accused of a violent rape and robbery. He was released from jail after a DNA test proved his innocence. And now, as Miller's attorneys weigh a possible lawsuit against police, officials have tracked down the person they do believe robbed and raped a woman at the MetroLink Emerson Park station on January 29.

In an interview with Daily RFT last week, before the new charges were announced, East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks says it's crucial that police find the perpetrator.

"It is extremely important for the young lady that was victimized and for everyone...that we find out who did it and bring them to justice," he says.

And since then, St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly has charged a new man named Dominic Hood, also age twenty.

More »

via

St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones.

Four former employees of the St. Louis city treasurer's office are suing Tishaura Jones, who stepped up to the position in January, alleging that she terminated them for political reasons -- mainly that they had not supported her when she was running for office.

"They were fired because of their political allegiances to someone else," attorney Elkin Kistner tells Daily RFT. "Their First Amendment rights were violated."

Anthony Baker, Aubrey Morrison, Thomas Stoff and Andres Broussard, who all worked under former treasurer Larry Williams, are seeking damages from Jones' office through this wrongful termination suit, on view below.

Jones, however, says the accusations are completely false -- and that these employees lost their jobs as part of a productive reorganization she has orchestrated for the office.

More »

Jessica Howell.

Police say that Jessica Lynn Howell, a 25-year-old O'Fallon mother, encouraged her boyfriend to rape her infant daughter -- prompting a brutal sexual assault that resulted in her four-month-old baby's death last year.

The woman was allegedly aware that her boyfriend, Jordan Lafayette Prince, 25, intended to assault her daughter, Ashlynn Lilith Peters, who did not survive the attack in December. Officials say they have text messages between the two that clearly demonstrate her responsibility in her child's death.

"These text messages [from the mother] encouraged the killer to engage in sexual conduct with the child," St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar tells Daily RFT. "We're very confident that she was fully aware of the gravity of what it was she was suggesting."

More »

via

Public-service announcement! The city of St. Louis is going to start enforcing parking-meter violations downtown on Saturdays effective July 1, officials announced today.

That means folks parking downtown will be required to pay the meters between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Previously, parking division officials had not ticketed cars at expired meters on Saturday when drivers technically could park free for two hours. The city's parking commission voted unanimously to change this policy in May.

"We did it for consistency," St. Louis treasurer Tishaura Jones tells Daily RFT, pointing out that this aligns downtown rules with the rest of the city.

More »