St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner made no move to resign before the Thursday-at-noon deadline set by Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R-MO), prompting the AG&#8217;s office to move forward with plans to remove her from office by legal means instead.
Bailey <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/missouri-ag-gives-st-louis-prosecutor-less-than-24-hours-to-resign-or-get-the-boot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered the ultimatum</a> on Wednesday evening — resign by noon on Thursday or be removed from office — claiming that Gardner had <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/no-justice-for-victims-defendants-may-walk-on-over-4000-solved-cases-while-st-louis-circuit-attorney-does-nothing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly failed</a> to perform her sworn duties as a prosecutor and had made the city of St. Louis less safe in the process.
When the deadline lapsed on Thursday — with no response from Gardner&#8217;s office — Bailey held a brief press conference explaining his prescribed course of action.
WATCH:
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey&#39;s press conference on St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner <a href="https://t.co/P6CfpQMVvN">https://t.co/P6CfpQMVvN</a>
&mdash; FOX2now (@FOX2now) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX2now/status/1628821354572288000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;My office has filed a petition for a quo warranto,&#8221; Bailey confirmed, citing a provision in Missouri law that allows the Attorney General to take steps to remove a public official who is not performing the duties required by his or her elected office.
Bailey laid out three reasons for the filing, saying first that Gardner &#8220;has failed to prosecute cases that are pending in her jurisdiction.&#8221; That failure, he explained, resulted in justice going by the wayside as pending cases sometimes were dismissed when they were not handled in a timely fashion.
&#8220;The second claim is that she has failed to confer and inform victims of the procedural posture and ultimate disposition in criminal cases,&#8221; Bailey continued, noting that Gardner&#8217;s office had not just a moral but a constitutional and legal obligation to inform the victims of crimes of the status and eventual outcome of their cases.
&#8220;Finally, she has neglected her duties by failing to charge new cases referred to her by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;These three behaviors constitute a continued pattern of failure to discharge her duties in office, and represent neglect under the statutes and warrant removal. At the end of the day, this is about the rule of law, and about justice.&#8221;
According to a <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/kim-gardner-calls-press-conference-amid-mounting-calls-for-resignation-threat-of-removal/article_a4a38e2a-afba-5914-bd21-3a12a7551867.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Gardner plans to hold her own news conference later on Thursday afternoon.
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Judge expected to rule on requiring court orders to release names of blacklisted St. Louis police officers

St. Louis Prosecutor Misses Resignation Deadline — Missouri AG Forges Ahead With Plan To Oust Her

Attorney General

Crime

Missouri

prosecution

St. Louis

U.S.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R-MO) has given St. Louis Circuit Attorney <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/rogue-progressive-prosecutors-promote-lawlessness-not-reform/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kim Gardner</a> an ultimatum: resign by noon on Thursday, or be removed from office.
Bailey shared the news in a brief series of tweets posted on Wednesday evening, threatening to use the power of his own office to oust her if she refused to leave her office voluntarily.
&#8220;We are giving Kim Gardner until noon tomorrow to resign,&#8221; he began. &#8220;If she refuses, she will face immediate removal proceedings in the form of a writ of quo warranto brought by our office.&#8221;
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We are giving Kim Gardner until noon tomorrow to resign. If she refuses, she will face immediate removal proceedings in the form of a writ of quo warranto brought by our office.
&mdash; Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1628560430388940801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;As AG, I want to protect the people of St. Louis, and that includes protecting victims of crime and finding justice for them,&#8221; he continued, adding, &#8220;Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them. My office will do everything in its power to restore order, and eliminate the chaos in St. Louis caused by Kim Gardner&#8217;s neglect of her office.&#8221;
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Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them. My office will do everything in its power to restore order, and eliminate the chaos in St. Louis caused by Kim Gardner’s neglect of her office.
&mdash; Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1628560434461569024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The case that spurred Bailey to action was the Saturday car crash that resulted in 16-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball player from Tennessee, losing her legs.
Edmondson, in St. Louis with her family for a volleyball event, was walking back to her hotel when she was struck by a car. That car was allegedly driven by 21-year-old Daniel Riley — who was supposed to be on house arrest with a GPS bracelet awaiting trial for an armed robbery that he allegedly committed in August of 2020.
The trial, which was scheduled for July of 2022, was postponed because Gardner&#8217;s office was &#8220;not prepared&#8221; to move forward with the prosecution — and in the seven months since he received the GPS monitor, he reportedly violated the terms of his monitoring over 40 times. The most recent violation took place just five days prior to the accident.
According to a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teen-volleyball-star-loses-legs-crash-caused-man-multiple-bond-violati-rcna71755" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from local NBC affiliate KSDK, the circuit attorney&#8217;s office had not filed any motions with the court to have Riley&#8217;s bail revoked. A memo from Gardner&#8217;s office pinned the blame on the court, claiming that the judge was also aware of the violations and bore sole responsibility for allowing Riley to remain free on bond.
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&mdash; Circuit Attorney (@stlcao) <a href="https://twitter.com/stlcao/status/1628586113660256259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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AG Bailey was not the only one to criticize Gardner over Edmondson&#8217;s case — Democratic St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones advised Gardner to re-evaluate her priorities in a tweet she shared on Wednesday afternoon.
&#8220;The system failed, and it must be fixed. Our Criminal Justice Coordinating Council is working to pull together the Circuit Attorney’s Office and judicial partners to review the process that led up to this preventable tragedy &amp; stop something like this from happening again,&#8221; Jones said, adding, &#8220;I hope the Circuit Attorney recognizes that seeking accountability and change is not &#8216;pointing fingers.&#8217; If she cannot do so, then she must do some serious soul-searching about her future as circuit attorney because she has lost the trust of the people.&#8221;
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I hope the Circuit Attorney recognizes that seeking accountability and change is not “pointing fingers.” 
If she cannot do so, then she must do some serious soul-searching about her future as circuit attorney because she has lost the trust of the people. (4/4)
&mdash; Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/saintlouismayor/status/1628509198425235456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Gardner has been <a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-michael-brown-st-louis-a7127040ad4ee0a8c23672940914d941" target="_blank" rel="noopener">under fire</a> since she took office in 2016 on a &#8220;criminal justice reform&#8221; platform, mainly for failing to prosecute a number of violent crimes in addition to completely shutting down prosecution of what she considered to be &#8220;low-level&#8221; crimes. She also took heat for compiling a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/40a8a74dff0a4820b383905b93f3a91c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blacklist</a> of St. Louis Police Department officers and then <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/no-justice-for-victims-defendants-may-walk-on-over-4000-solved-cases-while-st-louis-circuit-attorney-does-nothing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refusing to prosecute</a> any crimes that they brought to her office.

Missouri AG Gives St. Louis Prosecutor Less Than 24 Hours To Resign Or Get The Boot

Criminal Justice

Kim Gardner

Police

New email correspondence reveals that a St. Louis gender clinic, currently under investigation by the Missouri attorney general after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/morally-and-medically-appalling-gender-clinic-case-manager-blows-the-whistle-on-permanent-harm-done-to-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bombshell whistleblower report</a> alleged malpractice, advised an elementary school teacher to &#8220;affirm&#8221; a group of fifth-grade girls who all claimed to be transgender.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit parent advocacy group, discovered emails from a clinic staff member of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children&#8217;s Hospital that instructed a fifth-grader teacher not to question the validity of a group of 10 and 11-year-old friends&#8217; new transgender identities.
&#8220;The short story is that one of the students in the 5th-grade class is coming out as Trans. She has told several of her friends and now several of them are also saying they are Trans,&#8221; a teacher explained to the St. Louis gender clinic staff, whose names are redacted in the email correspondence, in October 2021. 
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🚨BREAKING: Doctors from the infamous St Louis transgender clinic told a teacher to &#39;affirm&#39; an entire group of 5th graders coming out as transgender simultaneously &#8211; despite the teacher’s serious fears they were being socially influenced by their friends.<a href="https://t.co/ECxOLlcDbn">https://t.co/ECxOLlcDbn</a> <a href="https://t.co/QTOqgblYK7">pic.twitter.com/QTOqgblYK7</a>
&mdash; Nicki Neily (@nickineily) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickineily/status/1626223014252773376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The teacher expressed concern about the situation and asked if there were any resources for handling it. The clinic staff member said the studies positing that &#8220;social contagion&#8221; may be responsible for clusters of adolescents adopting transgender identities do not use &#8220;affirming&#8221; language and are, in his &#8220;personal and professional opinion, invalid.&#8221;
The staff member then suggested that all the girls were genuinely transgender, and it simply took a close friend coming out for them to realize they were too. He said he would try to find some resources for the teacher but would exclude anything that &#8220;may invalidate transgender folks.&#8221; 
In a subsequent email, the staff member quoted the clinic&#8217;s Adolescent Medicine specialist, Dr. Sarah Garwood, who said, &#8220;The best we can do is affirm, validate and allow for exploration,&#8221; adding that &#8220;no harm&#8221; would be done in affirming a child&#8217;s transgender identity. 
While social transition, which may consist of adopting a new name and opposite-sex pronouns, is often portrayed as a benign way to allow children to express their “true selves,” studies show there are good reasons to doubt this narrative. All available <a href="https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/camh.12330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> suggests that this seemingly innocuous act of support is an active psychosocial intervention that can make matters worse.
The best available data <a href="http://www.sexologytoday.org/2016/01/do-trans-kids-stay-trans-when-they-grow_99.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicate</a> that roughly 60–90% of children who identify as transgender, but do not socially or medically transition, will no longer identify as transgender in adulthood.
After conducting a systematic review of evidence, England’s National Health Service has proposed <a href="https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/specialised-commissioning/gender-dysphoria-services/user_uploads/b1937-ii-specialist-service-for-children-and-young-people-with-gender-dysphoria-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new guidelines</a> for treating trans-identifying youth and warns that adolescents identifying as transgender may be experiencing a “transient phase” and that doctors should not encourage them to change their names and pronouns. “Social transition,” the NHS said, is not a “neutral act” and could have “significant effects” in terms of “psychological functioning.”
The Director of Outreach at Parents Defending Education, Erika Sanzi, told The Daily Wire that the case of the fifth-grade girls is not an isolated incident, and it has brought into sharp focus the debate around the diagnosis and treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.
&#8220;This isn&#8217;t the first time we&#8217;ve seen these kinds of communications between a gender clinic at a children&#8217;s hospital and a local school district,&#8221; said Sanzi. &#8220;We&#8217;ve seen similar correspondence in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia. St. Louis is the tip of the iceberg.&#8221;
The St. Louis gender clinic faces intense scrutiny following claims made by former case manager <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jamie Reed</a>. Her allegations describing the clinic&#8217;s practices as &#8220;medically and morally appalling&#8221; resulting in &#8220;permanent harm&#8221; done to vulnerable children have sparked two separate investigations, one by the Missouri Attorney General&#8217;s office and another by the office of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
The controversy has raised serious questions about the ethics and practices of gender clinics, particularly when it comes to working with children. Critics argue that too much emphasis is being placed on affirmation and not enough on exploring the underlying causes of gender dysphoria, which may include trauma, mental health conditions, or social pressures.
These revelations have caused outrage among parents, educators, and healthcare professionals. Nicki Neily, president and founder of Parents Defending Education, called the doctors&#8217; lack of curiosity about the underlying causes of the trend among the 10-year-old children &#8220;immoral at best and an abdication of professional responsibility at worst.&#8221;
&#8220;These children and their families have been let down, both by the school and the hospital — so it&#8217;s little wonder that trust in these institutions has declined precipitously over the past few years,&#8221; Neily added.

People waiting on an LGBTQ pride parade

St. Louis Gender Clinic Advised 5th Grade Teacher To ‘Affirm’ Group Of Students As ‘Trans’

Gender Identity

Gender Pronouns

Public Schools

Social Issues

Transgender

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri">Missouri</a> man who has spent the past 28 years in prison had his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/murder">murder</a> conviction <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/wrongful-conviction">overturned</a> on Tuesday.
Lamar Johnson, 50, was convicted of the October 1994 murder of Marcus Boyd, who had been shot and killed on his front porch by two masked men, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrongful-conviction-vacated-3eb7e5fbe6210dbc38b11995902b9947">reported</a>. Johnson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, while the second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and served just seven years.
Yet Johnson has always maintained that he was miles away from the shooting with his girlfriend at the time. He said he was only away from her for about five minutes to sell drugs on a street corner.
His girlfriend at the time, Erika Barrow, backed up his story. She said it would have been impossible for him to get to Boyd’s home from the friend’s house where they were staying when the murder occurred in the time it took him to step outside for the drug sale.
Helping Johnson’s case was the fact that a witness recanted their testimony and another prison inmate admitted to the killing. James Howard, 46, is already in prison for murder and other crimes committed years after Boyd’s death. He testified at Johnson’s hearing that he had committed Boyd’s murder with Campbell and that Johnson wasn’t present.
It wasn’t the first time Howard admitted to committing the murder. He and Campbell previously had signed affidavits admitting to the crime and swearing Johnson wasn’t with them, the AP reported.
A witness during the original investigation, James Gregory Elking, said he was on the porch with Boyd when he was shot but couldn’t identify the gunmen. Elking testified in December that he agreed to a police lineup, but when he couldn’t identify a suspect, police detective Joseph Nickerson told him: “I know you know who it is.”
Elking testified that he felt “bullied” and “pressured” into naming someone, so he named Johnson. Elking was reportedly paid $4,000 for his testimony.
Nickerson denied any pressure was put on Elking, testifying in December that the witness’ identification of Johnson was based on his eyes.
With this and other evidence, Circuit Judge David Mason ruled Tuesday that “reliable evidence of actual innocence — evidence so reliable that it actually passes the standard of clear and convincing” was needed to overturn Johnson’s conviction and that the bar had been met.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office had conducted the investigation, along with the Innocence Project, into whether Johnson was innocent of the murder.
“While today brings joy, nothing can restore all that the state stole from him. Nothing will give him back the nearly three decades he lost while separated from his daughters and family,” Johnson’s attorneys said after the ruling. “The evidence that proved his innocence was available at his trial, but it was kept hidden or ignored by those who saw no value in the lives of two young black men from the South Side.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s office opposed Johnson’s release, but didn’t challenge it.

US-NEWS-MO-JOHNSON-KC

He Spent Nearly 28 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit. His Sentence Was Just Vacated.

He Spent Nearly 28 Years In Prison For A Murder He Didn't Commit. His Sentence Was Just Vacated.

Murder

Wrongful Conviction

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri&#8217;s</a> attorney general announced Thursday that he has launched a multi-agency investigation into the Pediatric <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Transgender</a> Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after a whistleblower alleged that the facility’s practices are seriously harming children.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said that his office launched the probe into the &#8220;shocking allegations&#8221; from whistleblower Jamie Reed, a self-described “queer” leftist woman who worked as a case manager at the facility.
The attorney general&#8217;s office said that they received a sworn affidavit from the whistleblower and documents that support her claims.
“As Attorney General, I want Missouri to be the safest state in the nation for children,” said Bailey. “We have received disturbing allegations that individuals at the Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital have been harming hundreds of children each year, including by using experimental drugs on them. We take this evidence seriously and are thoroughly investigating to make sure children are not harmed by individuals who may be more concerned with a radical social agenda than the health of children.”
Reed said that she left the clinic last November because she could &#8220;no longer participate in what was happening there.&#8221;
Some of the most explosive claims included in Reed&#8217;s <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2-07-2023-reed-affidavit---signed.pdf?sfvrsn=6a64d339_2">affidavit</a> include:
<ul data-reader-unique-id="9">
<li data-reader-unique-id="10">“On several occasions, the doctors have continued prescribing medical transition even when a parent stated that they were revoking consent.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="11">“The Center does not require children to continue with mental health care after they prescribe cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers and even continues those medications when the patients directly report worsening mental health after initiating those medications “</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="12">“I have seen puberty blockers worsen the mental health outcomes of children. Children who have not contemplated suicide before being put on puberty blockers have attempted suicide after.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="13">“It is my belief that the Center does not track these outcomes because they do not want to have to report them to new patients and because they do not want to discontinue cross-sex hormone prescriptions. The Center never discontinues cross-sex hormones, no matter the outcome.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="14">“During my time at the Center, I personally witnessed Center healthcare providers lie to the public and to parents of patients about the treatment, or lack of treatment, and the effects of treatment provided to children at the Center.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="15">“Doctors at the Center also have publicly claimed that they do not do any gender transition surgeries on minors. … This was a lie. The Center regularly refers minors for gender transition surgery. The Center routinely gives out the names and contact information of surgeons to those under the age of 18. At least one gender transition surgery was performed by Dr. Allison Snyder-Warwick at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the last few years.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="16">“The Center tells the public and parents of patients that the point of puberty blockers is to give children time to figure out their gender identity. But the Center does not use puberty blockers for this purpose. Instead, the Center uses puberty blockers just until children are old enough to be put on cross-sex hormones. Doctors at the Center always prescribe cross-sex hormones for children who have been taking puberty blockers.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="17">“The Center tells the public and parents that it makes individualized decisions. That is not true. Doctors at the Center believe that every child who meets four basic criteria—age or puberty stage, therapist letter, parental consent, and a one-hour visit with a doctor—is a good candidate for irreversible medical intervention. When a child meets these four simple criteria, the doctors always decide to move forward with puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. There were no objective medical test or criteria or individualized assessments.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="18">“One doctor at the Center, Dr. Chris Lewis, is giving patients a drug called Bicalutamide. The drug has a legitimate use for treating pancreatic cancer, but it has a side effect of causing breasts to grow, and it can poison the liver. There are no clinical studies for using this drug for gender transitions, and there are no established standards of care for using this drug.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="19">“I know of at least one patient at the Center who was advised by the renal department to stop taking Bicalutamide because the child was experiencing liver damage. The child’s parent reported this to the Center through the patient’s online self-reporting medical chart (MyChart). The parent said they were not the type to sue, but ‘this could be a huge PR problem for you.’”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="20">“Children come into the clinic using pronouns of inanimate objects like ‘mushroom,’ ‘rock,’ or ‘helicopter.’ Children come into the clinic saying they want hormones because they do not want to be gay. Children come in changing their identities on a day-to-day basis. Children come in under clear pressure by a parent to identify in a way inconsistent with the child’s actual identity. In all these cases, the doctors decide to issue puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="21">“In one case where a girl was placed on cross-sex hormones, I found out later that the girl desired cross-sex hormones only because she wanted to avoid becoming pregnant. There was no need for this girl to be prescribed cross-sex hormones. What she needed was basic sex education and maybe contraception. An adequate assessment before prescribing hormones would have revealed this fact. But because the doctors automatically prescribe cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers for children meeting the bare minimum criteria, this girl was unnecessarily placed on drugs that cause irreversible change to the body.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="22">“On another occasion, a patient had their breasts removed. This surgery was performed at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Three months later, the patient contacted the surgeon and asked for their breasts to be ‘put back on.’ Had a requisite and adequate assessment been performed before the procedure, the doctors could have prevented this patient from undergoing irreversible surgical change.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="23">“It is my belief that the Center does not track these outcomes because they do not want to have to report them to new patients and because they do not want to discontinue cross-sex hormone prescriptions. The Center never discontinues cross-sex hormones, no matter the outcome.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="24">“In just a two-year period from 2020 to 2022, the Center initiated medical transition for more than 600 children. About 74% of these children were assigned female at birth. These procedures were paid for mostly by private insurance, but during this time, it is my understanding that the Center also billed the cost for these procedures to state and federal publicly funded insurance programs.”</li>
<li data-reader-unique-id="25">“I have personally witnessed staff say they were uncomfortable with how the Center has told them they have to code bills sent to publicly funded insurance programs. I have witnessed staff directly ask the providers for clarification on billing questions and have providers dismiss the concerns and work to have the patients have this care covered as the priority.”</li>
</ul>
Reed, a St. Louis native who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/morally-and-medically-appalling-gender-clinic-case-manager-blows-the-whistle-on-permanent-harm-done-to-kids">describes</a> herself as “politically to the Left of Bernie Sanders,” took a job at the Transgender Center in the summer of 2018, where she was a case manager responsible for patient intake and oversight.
“Soon after my arrival at the Transgender Center, I was struck by the lack of formal protocols for treatment,” said Reed. “The center’s physician co-directors were essentially the sole authority.”
During her four years at the Transgender Center, Reed said she noticed a significant increase in teenage girls seeking to transition to male with comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity, autism, or autism-like symptoms.
“Until <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-gender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015</a> or so, a very small number of these boys comprised the population of pediatric gender dysphoria cases,” said Reed. “Then, across the Western world, there began to be a dramatic increase in a new population: Teenage girls, many with no previous history of gender distress, suddenly declared they were transgender and demanded immediate treatment with testosterone.”
Reed and her colleagues recognized that the rapid increase in patients seeking transition could be a manifestation of social contagion — especially when clusters of girls arrived from the same high school — but their concerns were allegedly dismissed by the physicians.
“Anyone who raised doubts ran the risk of being called a transphobe,” said Reed.
The process to begin medical transition, like other pediatric gender clinics all over the country, only requires a letter of recommendation from a therapist after one or two visits. Reed said the Transgender Center made this process simple with recommendations of gender-affirming therapists and offered a template letter of support. A single visit to an endocrinologist for a testosterone prescription followed. Reed came to believe that the long-term effects of testosterone, including infertility, are not fully understood by minors and that the current treatment system is failing to do no harm.
“Our patients were told about some side effects, including sterility,” said Reed. “But after working at the center, I came to believe that teenagers are simply not capable of fully grasping what it means to make the decision to become infertile while still a minor.”
Reed detailed examples of negative physical and psychological effects experienced by patients, such as liver toxicity, vaginal laceration, and clitoral enlargement, and warned of the risk for long-term health problems from hormonal treatment like blood pressure issues, sleep apnea, and diabetes.
“But clinics like the one where I worked are creating a whole cohort of kids with atypical genitals—and most of these teens haven’t even had sex yet,” said Reed. “They had no idea who they were going to be as adults. Yet all it took for them to permanently transform themselves was one or two short conversations with a therapist.”
In 2019, Reed also become aware of an increasing number of minors who regretted their medical transition, called detransitioners. She and a colleague tried to bring attention to the issue and track the data but were met with resistance from doctors. Despite this, the author and colleague created the “Red Flag” list to track these patients.
“We thought the doctors would want to collect and understand this data in order to figure out what they had missed,” said Reed. “We were wrong.”
Reed recalled a particularly sad case of a detransitioned teenage girl from an unstable family with a history of drug use who had undergone a double mastectomy to remove her breasts. After only three months, she regretted her decision.
“Three months later she called the surgeon’s office to say she was going back to her birth name and that her pronouns were ‘she’ and ‘her,&#8217;” said Reed. “Heartbreakingly, she told the nurse, ‘I want my breasts back.&#8217;”
When Reed and her colleague checked on the young girl, they found out she was pregnant. “Of course, she’ll never be able to breastfeed her child,” Reed lamented.
By the spring of 2020, Reed felt morally obligated to voice her growing concerns and began speaking up in the office and through email communications. As a result, she began receiving negative performance reviews for the first time, noting her “defensiveness and hostility” when she received direction from management.
“Things came to a head at a half-day retreat in [the] summer of 2022,” said Reed. “In front of the team, the doctors said that my colleague and I had to stop questioning the ‘medicine and the science’ as well as their authority. Then an administrator told us we had to ‘get on board, or get out.&#8217;”
Reed finally left the Transgender Center in November 2022 and decided to come forward after she felt “stunned and sickened” by comments made by Dr. Rachel Levine, the transgender Assistant Secretary for Health at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, who said that “clinics are proceeding carefully and that no American children are receiving drugs or hormones for gender dysphoria who shouldn’t.”
“Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down,” said Reed. “But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.”
Christina Buttons contributed to this report.

US-TRANSGENDER-DAY-OF-VISIBILITY-GENDER

Missouri Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Trans Center For ‘Harming Hundreds Of Children’

Missouri Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Trans Center For 'Harming Hundreds Of Children'

LGBTQ

A former case manager at a Missouri pediatric transgender clinic is blowing the whistle on the &#8220;morally and medically appalling&#8221; treatment resulting in &#8220;permanent harm&#8221; done to children. 
Jamie Reed, a self-described &#8220;queer&#8221; leftist woman married to a transgender man, worked as a case manager handling intake of patients at the Pediatric Transgender Center at Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis Children&#8217;s Hospital for more than four years. In an <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exposé</a> for The Free Press, Reed confirmed all of the fears that have been raised in recent years about the fast-tracking of children into irreversible medical treatments.
&#8220;I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there,&#8221; penned Reed. &#8220;By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to &#8216;do no harm.&#8217; Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.&#8221;
Reed, a St. Louis native who describes herself as &#8220;politically to the Left of Bernie Sanders,&#8221; took a job at the Transgender Center in the summer of 2018, where she was a case manager responsible for patient intake and oversight. 
&#8220;Soon after my arrival at the Transgender Center, I was struck by the lack of formal protocols for treatment,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;The center’s physician co-directors were essentially the sole authority.&#8221;
During her four years at the Transgender Center, Reed said she noticed a significant increase in teenage girls seeking to transition to male with comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity, autism, or autism-like symptoms.
&#8220;Until <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-gender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015</a> or so, a very small number of these boys comprised the population of pediatric gender dysphoria cases,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;Then, across the Western world, there began to be a dramatic increase in a new population: Teenage girls, many with no previous history of gender distress, suddenly declared they were transgender and demanded immediate treatment with testosterone.&#8221; 
Reed and her colleagues recognized that the rapid increase in patients seeking transition could be a manifestation of social contagion — especially when clusters of girls arrived from the same high school — but their concerns were allegedly dismissed by the physicians. 
&#8220;Anyone who raised doubts ran the risk of being called a transphobe,&#8221; said Reed.
The process to begin medical transition, like other pediatric gender clinics all over the country, only requires a letter of recommendation from a therapist after one or two visits. Reed said the Transgender Center made this process simple with recommendations of gender-affirming therapists and offered a template letter of support. A single visit to an endocrinologist for a testosterone prescription followed. Reed came to believe that the long-term effects of testosterone, including infertility, are not fully understood by minors and that the current treatment system is failing to do no harm.
&#8220;Our patients were told about some side effects, including sterility,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;But after working at the center, I came to believe that teenagers are simply not capable of fully grasping what it means to make the decision to become infertile while still a minor.&#8221; 
Reed detailed examples of negative physical and psychological effects experienced by patients, such as liver toxicity, vaginal laceration, and clitoral enlargement, and warned of the risk for long-term health problems from hormonal treatment like blood pressure issues, sleep apnea, and diabetes.
&#8220;But clinics like the one where I worked are creating a whole cohort of kids with atypical genitals—and most of these teens haven’t even had sex yet,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;They had no idea who they were going to be as adults. Yet all it took for them to permanently transform themselves was one or two short conversations with a therapist.&#8221;
In 2019, Reed also become aware of an increasing number of minors who regretted their medical transition, called detransitioners. She and a colleague tried to bring attention to the issue and track the data but were met with resistance from doctors. Despite this, the author and colleague created the &#8220;Red Flag&#8221; list to track these patients. 
&#8220;We thought the doctors would want to collect and understand this data in order to figure out what they had missed,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;We were wrong.&#8221;
Reed recalled a particularly sad case of a detransitioned teenage girl from an unstable family with a history of drug use who had undergone a double mastectomy to remove her breasts. After only three months, she regretted her decision. 
&#8220;Three months later she called the surgeon’s office to say she was going back to her birth name and that her pronouns were &#8216;she&#8217; and &#8216;her,'&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;Heartbreakingly, she told the nurse, &#8216;I want my breasts back.'&#8221;
When Reed and her colleague checked on the young girl, they found out she was pregnant. &#8220;Of course, she’ll never be able to breastfeed her child,&#8221; Reed lamented.
By the spring of 2020, Reed felt morally obligated to voice her growing concerns and began speaking up in the office and through email communications. As a result, she began receiving negative performance reviews for the first time, noting her &#8220;defensiveness and hostility&#8221; when she received direction from management. 
&#8220;Things came to a head at a half-day retreat in [the] summer of 2022,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;In front of the team, the doctors said that my colleague and I had to stop questioning the &#8216;medicine and the science&#8217; as well as their authority. Then an administrator told us we had to &#8216;get on board, or get out.'&#8221;
Reed finally left the Transgender Center in November 2022 and decided to come forward after she felt &#8220;stunned and sickened&#8221; by comments made by Dr. Rachel Levine, the transgender Assistant Secretary for Health at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, who said that &#8220;clinics are proceeding carefully and that no American children are receiving drugs or hormones for gender dysphoria who shouldn’t.”
&#8220;Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0717/7420/8276/files/Jamie_Reed_s_Letter_to_the_AG.pdf?v=1675903809">letter</a> prepared for Missouri’s attorney general, Reed outlined the rapid medicalization of children, poor assessments of mental health prior to gender-altering treatment, lack of informed consent from parents and youth, and actual harm caused by the medical treatment. The letter also contained allegations of abuse and intimidation of parents who don&#8217;t fully support medicalization and misleading testimony before the Missouri Legislature.
&#8220;Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria,&#8221; Reed concluded.

syringe

‘Morally And Medically Appalling’: Gender Clinic Case Manager Blows The Whistle On ‘Permanent Harm’ Done To Kids

Gender Clinic Case Manager Blows The Whistle On 'Permanent Harm' Done To Kids

Puberty blockers

transgender surgery

Whistleblowers

The suspected Chinese spy balloon traveling over the U.S. has drifted out of Montana, crossed over several states — including Kansas — and is now reportedly flying over Missouri.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) confirmed that the balloon had crossed into Kansas airspace by Friday midmorning.
&#8220;I can confirm the Chinese spy ballon is over NE KS,&#8221; Marshall said. &#8220;My staff is in contact with law enforcement officials. I condemn any attempts the Chinese make to spy on Americans. President Biden must protect the sovereignty of the U.S. whether it’s our airspace or the southern border.&#8221;
The National Weather Service in Kansas City, Missouri, said in a statement a large balloon had crossed into northwestern Missouri.
&#8220;We have had several reports across northwest MO of a large balloon visible on the horizon,&#8221; the statement, which included photos, said. &#8220;It is now visible from our office in Pleasant Hill and the KC Metro. We have confirmed that it is not an NWS weather balloon.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We have had several reports across northwest MO of a large balloon visible on the horizon. It is now visible from our office in Pleasant Hill and the KC Metro. We have confirmed that it is not an NWS weather balloon. <a href="https://t.co/CKQWOw7God">pic.twitter.com/CKQWOw7God</a>
&mdash; NWS Kansas City (@NWSKansasCity) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSKansasCity/status/1621562137717141505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, responded to incursion into Missouri airspace by tweeting: “SHOOT IT DOWN.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) also called for immediate action to be taken in combatting the Chinese threat.
“I know I was just named to the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday but I’m going to go out on a limb and say we shouldn’t have a Chinese spy balloon floating over the United States of America,” Schmitt said. “Take it down.”
The U.S. Department of Defense revealed Friday that the Chinese spy balloon has the ability to maneuver and has changed direction at 60,000 feet.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder would not say how the balloon could be maneuvered and refused to state if the communist Chinese government was in control of the balloon.
“We know that balloon has violated US airspace and international law — which is unacceptable. And we’ve conveyed this directly to the PRC on multiple levels,” he told reporters Friday. “The fact is, we know that it’s a surveillance balloon, and I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that.”
This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

CHINA-BEIJING-CYLC-100TH ANNIVERSARY-CEREMONY (CN)

Chinese Spy Balloon Flies Out Of Montana And Over New U.S. State

China

Foreign Policy

Kansas

Montana

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri</a> House lawmakers <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/missouri-state-legislators-adopt-more-strict-dress-code-women/11046371002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted</a> to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3812448-missouri-house-adopts-new-dress-code-for-women-requiring-covering-of-arms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">change</a> the women’s dress code on Wednesday, sparking outrage from Democrats and several legacy media <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/13/1149057491/missouri-house-dress-code-women-cardigan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that looked to imply there was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sexism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sexism</a> at play, even though the new code ended up looking surprisingly similar to the previous dress code.
Republican state Representative Ann Kelley pushed for the changes, saying that the dress code needed to be clarified.
&#8220;Isn&#8217;t it is essential to always maintain a formal and professional atmosphere on the House floor?&#8221; Kelley asked. &#8220;And to ensure this happens, I have felt compelled to offer this amendment, which cleans up some of the language in rule 98 by mirroring the previous language and the gentleman&#8217;s dress code.”
“Men are required to wear a jacket, a shirt and a tie, correct? And if they walked in here without a tie, they would get gaveled down in a heartbeat. If they walked in without a jacket, they would get gaveled down in a heartbeat. So, we are so interested in being equal,” Kelley also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/politics/missouri-dress-code-lawmakers-house/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
“All we’re trying to do today is to take the same rules that we have and make them more clear,” Republican state Representative Brenda Shields <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/12/missouri-women-dress-code-arms-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The previous dress code from 2021 <a href="https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills211/rules/rules.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a> that “[p]roper attire for women shall be dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots. This rule shall apply to all members and staff on the floor of the House and lower gallery.”
For men, it says that “proper attire for gentlemen shall be business attire, including coat, tie, dress trousers, and dress shoes or boots.”
The dress code amendment was approved in a voice vote. A rules package with the new dress code then <a href="https://house.mo.gov/BillTracking/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=/billtracking/bills231/jrnpdf/jrn005.pdf#page=10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> on Wednesday in a <a href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HR11&amp;year=2023&amp;code=R" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a> of 105-51.
One dress code amendment <a href="https://house.mo.gov/BillTracking/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=/billtracking/bills231/jrnpdf/jrn005.pdf#page=10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> that “[p]roper attire for women shall be business attire, including jackets worn with dresses, skirts, or slacks, and dress shoes or boots. For the purposes of this rule, ‘jacket’ shall include blazers and knit blazers.”
The word “cardigan&#8221; was also added after the word &#8220;blazers&#8221; in an amendment by Shields as people reportedly pushed back on the rule change.
Democrats, in particular, voiced their concerns on the House floor.
“We are fighting — again — for a woman’s right to choose for something. This time, it’s how she covers herself — and the interpretation of someone who has no background in fashion,” Democratic state Representative Raychel Proudie <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/12/missouri-women-dress-code-arms-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> during a speech. “I spent $1,200 on a suit, and I can’t wear it in the People’s House because someone who doesn’t have the range tells me that it’s inappropriate.”
Proudie also said that some coworkers might be pregnant and would have to spend money on new attire to be in line with the rule.
&#8220;We are a place of laws and words do matter,&#8221; Proudie said. &#8220;This is a place where we ought to be dressed in business formal, which does call for women to have our arms covered. I think we&#8217;re being quite pedantic here by making rules so petty and what it will ultimately lead to is the disenfranchisement of folks.&#8221;
“You surely don’t have the money off the salary that we make to go buy a bunch of new clothes or tailored clothes, and I hope you’re able to continue to wear your cardigan and vote on behalf of the people who sent you here,” Proudie said.
Democratic State Representative Ashley Aune also pushed back, saying, “Do you know what it feels like to have a bunch of men in this room looking at your top trying to decide whether it’s appropriate or not?”
Kelley, in favor of the change, questioned why they were discussing the matter on the House floor at all.
“You would think, you would think, that all you would have to do is, say, dress professionally, and women could handle it,” Kelley responded. “You would think elected officials could handle that.”

white blazer jacket Hanging On Rack At Home

Democrats, Media Imply Sexism In Missouri Women Lawmaker Dress Code Change, But It Hardly Changed Anything

Democrats, Media Imply Sexism In New Missouri Women Lawmaker Dress Code, But It Hardly Changed Anything

Fashion

General

Politics

Sexism

It’s been nearly 20 years since the headless torso of a woman was found near a picnic area at a rest stop in Warren County, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri</a>, but a man finally has been arrested for the crime.
Authorities weren’t able to identify the deceased woman for 12 years, using DNA samples in 2016 to determine that the body belonged to Deanna Denise Howland of Alton, Illinois, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-clardy-charged-2004-killing-deanna-howland-headless-torso-missouri/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Now, nearly seven years later, DNA has also led to a suspect: Mike Clardy, 63.
Clardy was charged on Wednesday with second-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse. His bail was set at $1 million.
Police were able to connect DNA fragments found on Howland’s body and a knife found in a sewer near the rest stop where her body was found to Clardy. When Clardy was interviewed about the crime on Tuesday, police said, he confessed to the crime, saying he killed Howland at his house and then dismembered her and dumped parts of her body in St. Louis County and Warren County.
Howland, a 35-year-old mother of four, struggled with a drug addiction prior to her death.
Her body was found on June 29, 2004, by maintenance workers at the rest stop, but the case quickly went cold. In 2014, Lt. Matt Schmutz of the Warren County Sheriff&#8217;s Department started investigating missing person cases. One year later, he communicated with the Madison County Illinois Sheriff&#8217;s Office about a case involving a woman who hadn’t been seen since the spring of 2004, KSDK <a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/maryland-heights-man-charged-2004-headless-torso-case-mike-clardy-deanna-denise-howland/63-39342cbc-7e72-4309-bf44-04f197553a2f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. DNA testing in 2016 confirmed that the torso belonged to the missing woman.
Another three years passed before DNA testing resumed, eventually leading to Clardy in 2022. A DNA sample confirmed his connection.
Clardly has no criminal record in Missouri, CBS reported.
At a press conference on Thursday announcing the arrest, Howland’s daughter Ashley Kinnear thanked police for their years of work looking for her mother’s killer.
“I am just very very thankful,” she said.
Lt. Scott Schoenfeld, a detective with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office who worked on the case for years, also expressed his excitement about catching a suspect.
“At the point we zeroed in on a suspect it was one of the better moments of my career,” he said, according to KMOV.
If convicted, Clardy faces nearly 40 years in prison.

Welcome to Missouri

A Headless Torso Was Found At A Rest Stop In 2004. Someone Finally Has Been Arrested For The Crime.

Missing Person

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri</a> has executed a trans-identifying male inmate for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, nearly two decades after the killing.
The state on Tuesday evening executed Amber McLaughlin, formerly Scott McLaughlin, 49, who was convicted in 2006 of stalking, repeatedly raping, and fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend three years earlier.
McLaughlin died by lethal injection at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JUST IN: Missouri has carried out the execution of Amber McLaughlin on Tuesday. She was the first openly transgender woman executed in the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/ZpQTXojfRH">https://t.co/ZpQTXojfRH</a> <a href="https://t.co/EQWdHjtYGS">pic.twitter.com/EQWdHjtYGS</a>
&mdash; FOX4 News Kansas City (@fox4kc) <a href="https://twitter.com/fox4kc/status/1610447478389612551?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
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His death is thought to be the first execution of an openly trans-identifying male in U.S. history. There were no court appeals pending in McLaughlin&#8217;s case, according to his attorney, Larry Komp.
Hours before his death, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, denied McLaughlin&#8217;s clemency request.
“McLaughlin terrorized Ms. Guenther in the final years of her life, but we hope her family and loved ones may finally have some peace,” Parson <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2023/01/03/first-us-trans-inmate-execute-missouri-death-amber-mclaughlin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement after the execution.
Before he murdered her, McLaughlin was arrested for burglarizing the home of his ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther, 45. She got a restraining order against him.
Nevertheless, McLaughlin repeatedly stalked Guenther&#8217;s suburban St. Louis office, sometimes even hiding inside the building, court documents state. Police officers sometimes escorted Guenther to her car after work.
On the day of the murder, McLaughlin waited for Guenther outside her office and attacked her with a steak knife. He repeatedly stabbed and raped her before dumping her body near the Mississippi River in St. Louis.
Neighbors called the police when Guenther did not return home that night. Police went to her office and found a broken knife handle near her car along with a trail of blood. The next day, McLaughlin led police to where he had dumped her body near the Mississippi River.
About three years ago while in prison awaiting execution, McLaughlin began identifying and presenting as female, dressing in women&#8217;s clothes and wearing makeup. However, he never received hormone treatments, <a href="https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/missouri-executes-convicted-murderer-amber-mclaughlin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to his attorney. He continued to be housed in a men&#8217;s prison, the Potosi Correctional Center south of St. Louis.
Up to the day of his death, McLaughlin had allies <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-amber-mclaughlin-in-missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushing</a> for his execution to be stopped. Allies <a href="https://twitter.com/_breeeeen_/status/1609768529355489287?cxt=HHwWjoCyrdr8hdcsAAAA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he requested that supporters wear pink lipstick or nail polish in solidarity.
A clemency petition signed by several thousand people cited evidence it says the jury never heard, including abuse McLaughlin suffered as a child and his severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. A foster parent rubbed feces in McLaughlin&#8217;s face as a toddler, and his adoptive father used a stun gun on him, the petition claimed.
Meanwhile, some on social media called for remembering the victim of McLaughlin&#8217;s crime and rejected the idea that he is actually a woman.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeverlyGuenther?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeverlyGuenther</a> was the only woman present when she was stalked, raped, tortured and murdered by a MAN named Scott Mclaughlin
 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SayHerName?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SayHerName</a> <a href="https://t.co/C859JpWUgG">pic.twitter.com/C859JpWUgG</a>
&mdash; Katie Saurus🌹🦕🇺🇦 (@LeaningLeft46) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaningLeft46/status/1610741111152050197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
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McLaughlin was sentenced to death by a trial judge after a jury convicted him but deadlocked on his sentence. Missouri and Indiana are the <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-inmate-would-be-first-openly-transgender-person-executed-in-nation/article_80bbb35b-34f0-5281-861c-224e7a99f47d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only states</a> that allow a judge to override a jury that fails to agree on a sentence.
In 2016, a federal judge vacated the death sentence and a court ordered a new sentencing hearing for McLaughlin. In 2021 though, McLaughlin&#8217;s death sentence was effectively restored by a federal appeals court.
Guenther’s family <a href="https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/missouri-executes-convicted-murderer-amber-mclaughlin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> they were glad the governor rejected McLaughlin&#8217;s clemency request and that they felt McLaughlin had to be held accountable for taking their loved one&#8217;s life.
McLaughlin&#8217;s death was Missouri&#8217;s third execution in nine months, a significant increase for the state over the last several years.

Prisoners on Texas Death Row

Missouri Executes Transgender Inmate For 2003 Murder Of Ex-Girlfriend

Death Penalty

Death Row

Gender

St. Louis officials are investigating reports that a <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/jury-convicts-st-louis-county-man-of-9-counts-of-rape/article_838b11c9-665c-5738-bbaa-2031385be579.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted rapist</a> managed to access a dating app while incarcerated at the St. Louis County Justice Center ahead of his December 22 sentencing hearing.
<a href="https://m.facebook.com/StLouisCountyPolice/photos/update-mr-yocco-turned-himself-into-police-late-on-september-11th-thank-you-for-/2721717564513669/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dominic Yocco</a>, 23, was convicted by a jury on 16 of 19 counts of rape and sodomy in September, after which his bond was revoked. He has been housed at the St. Louis County Justice Center since — but a <a href="https://www.kmov.com/2022/11/29/convicted-rapist-suspected-using-dating-app-jail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from local CBS affiliate KMOV stated that someone who knew him found him on the dating app Bumble since he was incarcerated.
Amber Williams told the outlet that she matched with someone named &#8220;Giovanni&#8221; on the app, but when she looked at the photos, she recognized his face immediately. &#8220;I was like, &#8216;oh my God Yocco just matched with me.&#8217; Like, &#8216;what’s going on,'&#8221; she said.
Williams said that she had &#8220;hung out&#8221; with Yocco and some other friends when she was younger and that one of her friends had later said he had <a href="https://fox2now.com/news/witness-recounts-frightening-encounter-in-accused-serial-rapists-trial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assaulted her</a>. &#8220;It’s insane, and it’s just crazy to me, to think how you’re convicted of all these rapes, and you’re still getting on these dating apps,&#8221; Williams added.
Authorities are unsure whether Yocco was behind the account Williams found, and an investigation into whether or not it was him — and if so, how he managed to obtain access to the internet — is currently underway.
If it was Yocco, however, it may not be the first time he has tried something similar. Lyssa Laurent, whose late daughter Maya Jami was one of Yocco&#8217;s accusers, told The Daily Wire that he had joined Bumble under a fake name at least once before.
&#8220;I emailed the prosecutor’s office 9/13/2021 … over a year ago, that he was on Bumble. Same time that I found him on TikTok. He had fake names,&#8221; Laurent said, suggesting that if Yocco had gained access to the internet while in jail, it could have been through a tablet he was given &#8220;for movies and email.&#8221;
&#8220;His tablet is being checked. Apparently prisoners get tablets &#8216;for movies and email.&#8217; ?!?!?!!!!!!!!&#8221; she said.
Laurent&#8217;s daughter Maya ended her own life in October 2020 — when she was just 15 — but Laurent has continued down the path they began together: giving victim impact statements at every opportunity in an effort to make sure that what happened to her daughter doesn&#8217;t happen to anyone else.
&#8220;I was in shock when I saw it on the news last night,&#8221; Laurent said of the news that Yocco may have gotten access to a dating app from jail. &#8220;The reason why I have fought this whole time, and why Maya was willing to testify, was so that he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone else. But he is potentially still trying to contact women. The trial brought some feelings of closure for me, but seeing it on the news again, last night made me realize that it’s never really going to be over.&#8221;
&#8220;His sentencing was originally set for this Thursday but was recently changed to December 22. I am planning to make a victim impact statement as I have made statements at every single hearing since 2018,&#8221; Laurent continued. &#8220;This has been looming over us since the rape first occurred. It obviously had a devastating effect on Maya but it also did impact all of us and changed our lives forever. Every moment of every day has been impacted for me.&#8221;

In this photo illustration a Bumble logo seen displayed on a

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Lawyers on behalf of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Missouri</a> woman filed a federal lawsuit Friday in Chicago against cosmetic manufacturers L&#8217;Oreal and four other companies for allegedly contributing to an increased risk of uterine cancer using chemical hair straightening products.
Ben Crump, civil rights and personal injury attorney, and Diandra &#8220;Fu&#8221; Debrosse Zimmermann, mass tort attorney of DiCello Levitt, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois, on behalf of Jenny Mitchell, 32, of St. Louis, Missouri against L&#8217;Oreal USA Inc. and L&#8217;Oreal USA Products Inc., Strength of Nature Global LLC, Soft Sheen Carson (W.I.) Inc., Dabur International Ltd. and Dabur USA Inc., and Namaste Laboratories.
Attorneys for Mitchell claim that her uterine cancer was &#8220;directly and proximately caused by her regular and prolonged exposure to phthalates and other endocrine disrupting chemicals found in Defendants&#8217; hair care products,&#8221; CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/health/hair-straightening-products-lawsuit/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>. Mitchell was diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a full hysterectomy in 2018.
&#8220;My dreams of becoming a mother were gone,&#8221; she said, according to CNN. &#8220;As most young African-American girls, chemical relaxers, chemical straighteners were introduced to us at a young age. Society has made it a norm to look a certain way, in order to feel a certain way — and I am the first voice of many voices to come that will stand, stand up to these companies, and say, &#8216;No more.’”
According to <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16409-uterine-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleveland Clinic</a>, uterine cancer includes endometrial cancer (more common) and uterine sarcoma, which cause bleeding between periods or after menopause and often leads to a hysterectomy treatment to remove the uterus.
Zimmermann told CNN that the lawsuit could be a &#8220;watershed moment&#8221; for women who have used such products.
&#8220;Millions of little girls have this put on their head at 7, 8, 9 years old, sometimes twice a month or every other month,&#8221; Zimmerman said, according to <a href="https://ktla.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/nationworld/loreal-4-other-companies-accused-in-lawsuit-alleging-chemical-hair-straighteners-can-cause-uterine-cancer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KTLA</a>.
Mitchell&#8217;s lawsuit comes days after the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published a <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hair-straightening-chemicals-associated-higher-uterine-cancer-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> that showed women using chemical hair straightening products had a higher risk for uterine cancer than women who did not report using these products.
Researchers from the study said they tracked 33,497 U.S. women ages 35-74 for approximately 11 years to identify risk factors for breast cancer and other health conditions. During that time, 378 uterine cancer cases were diagnosed, according to the study.
&#8220;We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70; but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%,&#8221; Alexandra White, Ph.D., head of the NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology group and lead author on the new study, said in a <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hair-straightening-chemicals-associated-higher-uterine-cancer-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>. &#8220;This doubling rate is concerning. However, it is important to put this information into context &#8211; uterine cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer.&#8221;
Crump <a href="https://bencrump.com/press/attorney-ben-crump-files-lawsuit-on-behalf-of-user-of-chemical-hair-straightening-products/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the products &#8220;dangerous,&#8221; and said the companies have &#8220;aggressively misled black women to increase their profits.&#8221;
He added that Mitchell&#8217;s case would likely lead to &#8220;countless&#8221; others.
The companies named in the lawsuit have not responded to requests for comment.

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