Sunday Poll: Should The Cardinals Get To Adopt ‘Rally Cat’?

On August 9th a small kitten ran across the outfield during a Cardinals baseball game, followed by a grand slam. The internet quickly dubbed it Rally Cat. Just as quickly Rally Cat disappeared, but then Rally Cat was found in Citygarden.

Then the controversy started.

The Cardinals publicized a plan to adopt the good-luck cat. He would live in the Cardinals Clubhouse and be pampered by the team, officials with the team said.

But alas, it won’t be so.

Public conflict between the birds and the cat lovers who captured Rally Cat have led to irreconcilable differences.

The cat nonprofit claims the Cardinals organization has the wrong priorities. (Post-Dispatch)

And here we have the subject for today’s poll:

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Will You Be In The Path of Totality Tomorrow?

Tomorrow is the big day, the total solar eclipse.

For months, state highway officials from 14 states have been meeting regularly via conference call to plan for – or more importantly try to head off– what could be the largest traffic jam in U.S. history Monday, when an estimated 200 million people will be within a day’s drive of the path of the first total solar eclipse in 99 years.

The roughly 70-mile-wide path of totality – where the moon will block 100 percent of the sun – stretches from Oregon to South Carolina.

In Oregon, where the totality begins at 10:16 a.m. at Depoe Bay, officials have ordered extra-wide-load trucks off the highways through Tuesday to ease congestion, and in Madras, which has been identified by many experts as one of prime viewing locations, the National Guard is being called in to help control traffic.  (Post-Dispatch)

It has been impossible to escape talk of tomorrow’s eclipse. Today’s poll seeks to see how interested readers are in the eclipse.

This poll will close at 8pm tonight. Results tomorrow with another post on the eclipse.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Are You Uncomfortable In The Arch Tram?

I’d guess that most of you reading this post have been up in the Gateway Arch at least once. Today’s poll question is curious if you get uncomfortable doing so.

This poll will close at 8pm

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Is The NAACP Travel Advisory For Missouri Necessary?

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Recently the National NAACP recognized a Missouri NAACP travel advisory issued in June, relating to SB43, which changes the standards used in discrimination lawsuits. Governor Greitens signed the bill into law.

The organization is circulating a travel advisory after the state passed a law that Missouri’s NAACP conference says allows for legal discrimination. The warning cites several discriminatory incidents in Missouri, included as examples of “looming danger” in the state.

The NAACP says this is the first travel advisory ever issued by the organization, at the state or national level. The Missouri conference initially published the advisory in June, and it was recognized nationally at the NAACP’s annual convention last week. (CNN)

Here’s more:

Black travelers in the state are “subject to unnecessary search seizure and potential arrest,” the Missouri NAACP warned.

“Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri,” the original advisory stated. “Warn your families, co-workers and anyone visiting Missouri to beware of the safety concerns.”

The advisory wasn’t just prompted by concerns about safety on the road. At the time, the state’s Republican governor had not announced whether he would sign or veto legislation that the NAACP has described as bringing back “Jim Crow.” (NPR)

Today’s poll question is about the issuance of a travel advisory.

This poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: What’s Up With St. County Police & Metro?

A week ago we learned about St. Louis County police officers covering the camera at a MetroLink substation.

A federal Homeland Security law enforcement officer was assigned to Metro transit patrol as part of a beefed-up security plan for the busy Fourth of July weekend.

He didn’t like what he saw.

Late in the afternoon on July 4, the officer walked into the North Hanley MetroLink substation to find 12 St. Louis County police officers milling about. A resulting Metro check of video footage determined that not only were county police officers loitering in the North Hanley security office instead of patrolling trains or platforms, at one point they covered the security camera with an envelope and tape. (Post-Dispatch)

Horrible, right? Consider the other side’s position:

The statement released Sunday by county police Chief Jon Belmar and spokesman Sgt. Shawn McGuire implies the allegations are the result of “politics and infighting.” The statement says the security camera at North Hanley MetroLink substation, which documented at least eight instances since 2015 of police covering up its lens, is improperly placed in a “private room.”

“A limited number of carefully selected images from over a two-and-a-half-year period that were pulled from an improperly-placed surveillance camera in a 12×14 private room appeared with the article,” McGuire wrote. “This room is used to monitor security cameras, hold briefings and complete report writing. It is also the only room officers have to take breaks from work and weather as well as change clothes and equipment at the end of a shift.” (Post-Dispatch)

As part of the Post-Dispatch series, apparently the County wants to remove accountability from their contract with Metro, with Metro head John Nations and St. Louis County Police chief Belmar disagreeing on matters for a couple of years now, hence Belmar’s “politics and infighting” comment.

Which brings us to today’s poll:

This poll will close at 8pm tonight.

— Steve Patterson