A SETBACK FOR POLITICAL PERSECUTION: Judge dismisses prosecutor from McCloskeys case. “A judge on Thursday disqualified the St. Louis prosecutor and her office from the case involving Mark McCloskey, who along with his wife pointed guns at racial injustice protesters marching on the private street near their home in June. Circuit Judge Thomas Clark II dismissed Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, citing two campaign fundraising emails around the time she filed felony gun charges against the couple in July. ‘In short, the Circuit Attorney’s conduct raises the appearance that she initiated a criminal prosecution for political purposes,’ Clark wrote.”