Thursday, July 28, 2011
Maryland Heights broadcasters receive relatively few indecency complaints.
Maryland Heights Patch continues its look at speech freedoms and information access with a look at Maryland Heights-based broadcast stations. Speech freedoms are guaranteed by the First Amendment, but that does not mean everyone will like what you say. And, as broadcasters know, the responsibility of using the public airwaves comes with rules. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is tasked with keeping obscene programming off the airwaves, and asks for the public's help in monitoring television and radio stations. The rules The commission uses the Supreme Court's guidelines to judge obscenity. According to the FCC website: Indecency complaints filed with the FCC may not make it to the broadcaster. The commission's website …
38.701402
-90.420667
KPLR 11
2250 Ball Dr, Saint Louis, MO
/articles/this-is-child-porn-patch-explores-maryland-heights-broadcast-indecency-complaints
1645609
/locations/4955244
38.701402
-90.420667
KTVI-TV (Fox 2)
2250 Ball Dr, Saint Louis, MO
/articles/this-is-child-porn-patch-explores-maryland-heights-broadcast-indecency-complaints
1646754
/locations/4955245
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Part of Maryland Heights Patch's month-long celebration on the first amendment and open records, Missouri Watchdog's Brian Hook discusses sunshine requests.
First, I am not attorney. Second, I am not providing legal advice. I am but a humble reporter. It is not necessary, however, to be a lawyer or a member of the media to request government documents. Anyone may request public records, according to the Missouri Sunshine Law. For Missouri Watchdog, I file sunshine requests by email using the summary language provided online by theMissouri Attorney General’s Office. The website provides a helpful format to follow and many essential tips. For starters, you’ll need to send your request to the government agency’s officially designated custodian of records. How do you figure out the name of the custodian of records for any given government agency? It’s not necessary. I usually write “custodian of …
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Throughout July, Maryland Heights Patch will publish articles that relate to the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment.
You can find Yankee Girl, by Mary Ann Rodman, in a Pattonville School District library. The novel deals with race issues and, in July 2009, the district received a complaint about the book’s inclusion. Banning books Book challenges are not uncommon in the United States. The American Library Association (ALA) reported 53 texts were challenged, restricted, removed or banned between May 2009 and May 2010. The books range from classics such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird to comic books such as Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. You can read the entire list here. Tim Pecoraro, Pattonville's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said library book and instructional material challenges are …
38.74029
-90.45141
Pattonville High School
2497 Creve Coeur Mill Rd, Maryland Heights, MO
/articles/challenging-books-maryland-heights-parents-can-register-concerns
841716
/locations/4815494
38.66681
-90.501371
Parkway School District Administrative Center
455 N Woods Mill Rd, Chesterfield, MO
/articles/challenging-books-maryland-heights-parents-can-register-concerns
844215
/locations/4815495
Monday, July 4, 2011
Throughout this month, we'll be taking a look at different First Amendment issues, including public access to information in Missouri.
July is a month to celebrate American freedoms. Hundreds of years ago, the country’s forefathers established a country devoid of royal rule, where its citizens had certain inalienable rights. Maryland Heights Patch celebrates one of those rights every day; "the freedom of speech and of the press." The First Amendment grants everyone the right to speak our minds and worship as we see fit. Here's the First Amendment's text, found on the Cornell University Law School website: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of …
Linda
9:17 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
I am so opposed to "editing" any book by changing words. Why must we insist on dumbing down our children?? Let them read it as it was written and then teach them WHY those words were used in that time period. Teach them how things USED to be and how they SHOULD be and how they NEED to be now. And I totally agree with the first poster. Too many parents are of the "do as I say, not how I do" … more ›