Two people were arrested at a Springfield, Missouri city council meeting on September 22 after opposing the city's use of Flock Safety ALPR cameras. Mayor Jeff Schrag blocked public comment on a resolution to review the surveillance system, then police arrested attendees Mia Heider and Noah Powell as they protested the decision.
Data center developer TerraWatt sued St. Louis's Board of Adjustment over a requirement to supply 2.4 megawatts of renewable energy on-site for a $3.1 billion facility, claiming the mandate exceeds the board's authority and is impractical for the 11-acre site. The lawsuit challenges conditions attached to a July permit approval amid broader tensions between cities and developers over data centers' environmental and infrastructure impacts.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order establishing safeguards for automated license plate readers like Flock cameras, requiring data deletion within 30 days, prohibiting vendor data sales, and restricting use to legitimate law enforcement purposes. The order aims to protect residents' constitutional rights and privacy while allowing law enforcement to benefit from the technology, with penalties for misuse including criminal referral and license revocation.
In 2002, a Monsanto representative confronted Gary Rinehart, a country store owner in rural Missouri, accusing him of illegally planting the company's genetically modified soybeans despite Rinehart having no involvement in farming. The article describes Monsanto's widespread use of private investigators and agents across rural America to enforce patent rights on genetically modified seeds, employing tactics farmers compare to aggressive policing.