Branson, Missouri doesn’t just sit and wait for you to arrive. It announces itself. First, the radio stations turn a bit more country and a bit more religious. The road signs start to focus on cheese shops and local politics. Then Missouri’s farmlands turn to rolling hills patterned with an endless canopy of native trees. When the highways carve through those hills, the billboards tell you that you’re close. Country shows, rock shows, comedy shows, amusements on top of amusements—if they tell you anything, it’s that Dolly Parton’s Stampede rules that town. And when you arrive at the city gates, you see the perfect Branson host, Yakov Smirnov there to greet you. He’s still going strong in Branson after 30 years.
Inside the city, the music, attractions, and distractions find you at every turn. When the sun sets and the LED lights are dialed up to 11, you can still get a chicken-fried pork chop at Paula Deens. No one gets canceled in Branson.
This week in Branson, the Missouri Association of Treatment Professionals is hosting its 25th annual conference in Branson. It is the biggest conference yet with over 900 attendees from all corners of the state. Eight members of our RePath team were able to attend this year to see the dedication, curiosity, work ethic, and creativity of these professionals. As much as we and the attendees benefit from this conference, we know the treatment court participants across the state are the real beneficiaries. Thank you to the MATCP for allowing us to participate and we look forward to the 26th annual conference in 2024.
More from Missouri—As the Missouri treatment conference was getting started this week, St. Louis County graduated its 1,300th participant from its treatment court.
Progressive St. Louis City prosecutor Kim Gardner says not only will she not resign in connection with the Missouri Attorney General’s suit to oust her from office, she is already planning to run for re-election. Her comment on the case against her: “It's foolishness, but guess what, let's go, let's go, let’s go.” Either way this all goes, it seems St. Louis City will get the prosecutor it wants and deserves.
From one progressive prosecutor to the next: In Alameda County, California, prosecutor Pamela Price is holding firm on her progressive promises. In 2021, Jasper Wu, a 23-month-old boy, lost his life to a stray bullet while riding in his car seat. He was killed because two rival gangs were having a rolling gun battle on Highway 880. Police have arrested and charged 3 suspects. When asked about the case, which is set for a hearing next month, Price responded that her office “is currently working on a partnership with the Asian Law Caucus to support AAPI victims of violence in ways that open up broader possibilities for healing and non-carceral forms of accountability.” Maybe something is lost in translation, but “non-carceral” sounds like no jail time even if these men are convicted of murder.
Bail Reform in New York. The state assembly may finally be blinking in its showdown with Governor Hochul and NYC Mayor Adams about rolling back bail reform. The assembly is now considering some tweaks to the the bail reform laws passed in 2019. However, there is no final deal in Albany and no real indication for what changes will be made.
In the category of unintended consequences, drug court participation in New York has dropped nearly 50% since the 2019 bail reform laws. It turns out that bail reform may lead fewer people to request admission or be willing to accept admission to these courts.
SBF: Alleged crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried is in the news again this week. He has been now been charged with bribing a Chinese official with $40M in effort to unfreeze his assets. There are also reports that he is funding his wildly expensive defense with stolen funds that he gifted to his father. And he also has his brother under investigation in a potential multi-million dollar straw donor scheme. But don’t worry, under a new bail agreement, they are limiting his ability to connect to the internet.
Who’s First in Second City. The Chicago Mayoral election will take place April 4, and the candidates are making their final push. Policing and criminal justice remain the primary topics dominating the debate. The tougher on crime candidate Paul Vallas is leading Johnson in the polls by 5 points, 2 points, or its a dead heat. Johnson is planning a rally with Bernie Sanders and both are touting a long list of endorsements. However it goes, there will not likely be any victory party on election night because of the large number of mail ballots expected.
Arkansas: Governor Huckabee has submitted a new prison reform proposal that she calls tough, but fair. The proposal is focused on victim’s rights and involves a new $470M prison facility, a requirement that certain violent offenders serve 85-100% of their sentence, and the promise that “If you are a murderer, if you are a rapist, if you are an abuser, we will put you in prison and you’re going to stay there for a very, very long time.”
That’s the Governor? In Nevada, Governor Lombardo took the unusual step of testifying in front of state lawmakers to advocate for a repeal of restorative justice measures introduced into Nevada schools in 2019. He says the idea of restorative justice had good intentions, but has lead to increased school violence in Las Vegas and Reno.
The Streisand Effect in Ohio: Ohio cops are suing Afroman after the rapper subjected them to "embarrassment, ridicule, emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of reputation" after a drug bust on his house came up empty. The cops are unhappy that although Afroman had no drugs that they could bust him for, he does have lots of surveillance cameras at his house, a fan base, a sense of humor, and some musical chops. These are all on display in two videos he put out earlier this year—Lemon Pound Cake (1M+ views) and Will You Help Me Repair My Door? (4.8M views). There is no doubt that these videos subject the officers to embarrassment, ridicule, and humiliation. The question is whether it’s unlawful or underserved. It is 100% entertaining.
Stuff of the Week:
Testing the TSA—Why try to sneak a single knife onto a plane when you can carry around 20 knives and scissors at the Atlanta airport. Just so long as he didn’t have more than 3 ounces of hand sanitizer.
Chiefs Superfan—He calls himself Chiefsaholic. He may have robbed two banks near Tulsa on his way to a Chief’s game. He cashed over $100k in bets after the Super Bowl. He failed to show for his court hearing this week and his ankle monitor was found in the woods by a Tulsa hotel where he was staying.
Just climbing a tree, sir—Police responded to a call about a naked woman climbing a tree at 9:15 am in Palm Beach, Florida. While she was detained for the naked tree climbing, further investigation led deputies to a home where they found another woman dead, strangled with a cord. The woman has been charged with first degree murder.
It sounded so legit—The principal of a charter school in Florida has announced her resignation after she allegedly wrote a $100,000 check from a school account to someone she thought was Elon Musk, hoping for millions in investments..
You can’t look for Antlers just anywhere—The Idaho legislature has passed a bill limiting where and when people can search the ground for shed wildlife antlers. You can still walk around and you can look on the ground, but avert your eyes if you see any shed antlers.
You thought the DMV failed you—Oregon man kept in jail for 11 months based on error in DMV database.
MMMmmmmmm Pancakes—Two inmates who broke out of jail with a toothbrush were caught at IHOP after breaking out of jail with a toothbrush.
