A man who was convicted of embezzling more than half a million dollars from St. Louis University was hired by the city of St. Louis according to an exposé by KMOV-TV. Bretton DeLaria was awarded the "Young Alumni Award" by the university's communications department in 2019 after he oversaw $50,000 in scholarships for high school students to earn college credits. He was fired from the position in June the following year. 'It makes sense that someone with a criminal record ... would be part of a group of people who have that street cred.' In 2022, DeLaria pleaded guilty to five felony wire fraud charges and admitted to stealing $518k from the college. DeLaria would submit false invoices and have the money sent to accounts he had set up through PayPal. He used part of the money to help construct a new pool at his home at Benton Park West. "Saint Louis University is outraged by the acts admitted to by Bretton DeLaria in federal court," said officials from the school at the time. "The University will not tolerate theft or other illegal activity by anyone in its community." DeLaria agreed to forfeit his home, pay back the money, and was then sentenced to nearly two years in prison. He was released from prison in Sept. 2023. Despite the fraud conviction, DeLaria was hired by the city of St. Louis as the public information officer for the Office of Violence Prevention, which is run by the Public Safety Department. KMOV spoke to Benjamin Singer of the "Show Me Integrity" group that advocates for transparency in government. He said DeLaria's conviction might give him "street cred" in his new position. “It makes sense that someone with a criminal record, who’s in the process of getting back on their feet and being an upstanding member of society, would be part of a group of people who have that street cred,” Singer told KMOV. He went on to express some concern, however, that officials make certain that DeLaria had no access to taxpayer funds in his new position. KMOV reported that the city told reporters DeLaria was not handling money, but officials refused an interview request about the subject. DeLaria has a salary of about $60,000 and a condition of his probation is that he's not allowed to have a job that involves handling money. KMOV said both the city and DeLaria have refused requests about what qualifications led to his new employment. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Donald Trump’s first rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, since his New York City hush-money conviction was as expected: eventful. Not only did six people get rushed to the hospital for exposing themselves to the blistering heat to support the former president, but he nailed some critiques of Joe Biden’s disastrous immigration policies and proposed eliminating service industry tip taxes. “The illegal immigrants are turning, and they’re turning at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. They’re fighting our families, they’re totally destroying our black population, they’re totally destroying our Hispanic population, and you know what else they’re destroying?” Trump said to the crowd, adding, “They’re killing unions.” “They’re not able to survive this onslaught,” Trump said. “Virtually 100% of the new jobs under Biden have also gone to illegal aliens. Did you know that?” Then, Trump gave service workers some much needed hope. “This is the first time I’ve said this, and for those hotel workers, and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips,” he said before the crowd roared with applause. “We’re not going to do it, and we’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years, and years, and years. And you do a great job of service, you take care of people, and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” he continued. Sara Gonzales is pleased but doesn’t think he went far enough. “I don’t benefit from it, but if we can roll back anything in relation to taxes, it’s good,” Gonzales says. “It’s like okay, step one, what is step two? What else are we not going to tax anymore? Let’s just keep going on that, if we can start there and keep going, just use that momentum to talk about other taxes that we are going to roll back.” Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday said Washington will spell out in state law that hospitals must provide abortions if needed to stabilize patients, as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether states can bar abortions during some medical emergencies.