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Protesters are staging a rally in St. Louis today urging the Boy Scouts of America to reject a policy change that would allow openly gay members.

Linda Briggs-Harty, a Brentwood mother who will be attending the rally, tells Daily RFT, "We are not out to discriminate."

She says, "We are talking about open and avowed homosexuality and the risks that come with that kind of shift."

What are these "risks," and how is her cause not a discriminatory one?

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Update below: Two St. Louis parks officials allegedly stole around half a million dollars from the city by submitting false invoices since 2005, according to a federal indictment announced this morning.

Joseph Vacca, deputy commissioner of the St. Louis Parks Division, and Thomas Stritzel, chief of the St. Louis park rangers, are "expected to turn themselves in to authorities this week," according to the U.S. attorney's office.

"The city has moved forward to place both these men on immediate, forced, unpaid leave while we work through the disciplinary hearings," Maggie Crane, spokeswoman for Mayor Francis Slay, tells Daily RFT. "If the allegations are true, they deserve everything they get for betraying the public trust."

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Claire McCaskill.

This week, the United States Army announced that one of its sergeants in Fort Hood, Texas, is facing allegations of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

The accusations are especially damning because that sergeant worked in the sexual harassment and assault prevention and response program.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri who has been very vocal about this issue in recent weeks, has introduced legislation aimed at reforming the military justice system with new criteria for those who can serve in sexual assault prevention positions.

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via rt.com video.

Ryan Fogle, CIA spy?

Ryan Fogle, 29, graduated from Mary Institute and Country Day School in Ladue in 2002. His family reportedly has roots in Clayton and Richmond Heights. And yesterday, he was apparently detained and expelled from Russia after he was accused of being a CIA spy.

In an incredibly bizarre story, Fogle was kicked out of Russia after authorities say they caught him trying to recruit a Russian intelligence official on Monday night -- with a ridiculous wig, a strange recruitment letter and a compass and maps on hand. TPM has done some digging on Fogle, who was at one point a big fan of the Daily Show and was in a fraternity at Colgate University.

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Larry Conners.

Yesterday, KMOV-TV (Channel 4)'s Larry Conners made quite a splash when he speculated on his Facebook page whether the Internal Revenue Service may have targeted him in response to his interview with Barack Obama last year. Our original coverage is below. Since his post got national attention, Conners went on air to address the controversy -- and offer a pretty surprising disclosure.

His issues with the IRS, he announced, "preceded that interview by several years."

And, he emphasized, his views are his own, not that of his company.

Watch his full statement below.

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imdb.com

Maggie Lehman was eleven years old when her father caught her singing in her bedroom and persuaded her to audition for a local play. She landed that role, and her career in acting was born. Now in her late-twenties, Lehman makes her network television debut tonight, playing the role of an abused housewife on CBS' Criminal Minds (8 p.m. Wednesdays).

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After months of controversy regarding the smelly Bridgeton landfill -- with heated debates about the cause of the awful stench and the potential health hazards -- the Missouri attorney general's office and the company behind the site have hammered out an agreement.

Republic Services, parent company of the landfill, and Attorney General Chris Koster, who sued, unveiled a legal agreement yesterday, which includes details on relocation opportunities, a timeline on efforts to reduce the stench and funding plans for ongoing monitoring of air quality.

Environmental activists, however, say the plans don't go far enough to protect local residents in the coming weeks -- in part, because some in the surrounding areas may have to deal with an increasingly putrid odor.

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humanesociety.org

Three years after Missourians voted to crack down on disreputable dog breeding operations, the Show-Me State continues to lead the nation in the number of dangerous and unsanitary puppy mills.

So says the Humane Society of the United States, which last week issued a report highlighting the nation's 100 worst dog breeders. Twenty-four Missouri dog breeders made the "Horrrible Hundred" list, besting the runner-up -- Ohio -- by nine puppy mills.

"It's definitely disappointing for Missouri considering that voters passed a law only for lawmakers to overturn many of the key provisions of the measure," says Kathleen Summers, director of outreach and research for HSUS's puppy mill campaign.

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Courtesy of Jodie Snider.

Part of the shirt sparking controversy.

One year ago, Colby Snider, a seventeen-year-old Nixa resident, died from carbon monoxide poisoning. His younger brother and friends wanted to wear t-shirts to Nixa High School on the anniversary of his death this month to honor the late teenager, who would have turned nineteen this August. Nixa Public Schools, however, would not let them. Why?

The shirts have confederate flags on them.

"The rebel flag doesn't cause hate. People cause hate," Jodie Snider, mother of Colby, tells Daily RFT. "To all of us, it's about being from the south.... This is about being southern, living the southern way. It's not about whether you're black or white."

Snider says the shirts are in no way meant as a symbol of hate and that it's important to her and her family that they wear the flag (photos below) in memory of her son. School officials in Nixa, which is twelve miles south of Springfield, see it very differently -- and cite a history of racism in defense of their policy.

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Scott Schnuck.

Here at Daily RFT, we've been following the Schnucks cyber attack controversy pretty closely, chronicling the various apologies and legal complaints the company is facing tied to a security breach that left millions of customers' credit card numbers vulnerable.

In our reporting, we've kept an eye on the hundreds of comments on Schnucks' Facebook page and while there are many angry customers who say they will never be coming back -- unless they are offered some serious coupon deals! -- we've noticed there are a handful of hardcore Schnuck devotees who will not abandon the local store. At any cost! The business is really a victim here, too, they argue.

So today, we bring you twenty reasons to continue shopping at Schnucks -- from its most vocal and loyal customers.

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