PUNCHING KITTY: 2009 - 2013

Punching Kitty was a writing project for the city of St. Louis to have a little fun and try to get everyone to stop taking themselves so seriously…and hopefully highlight some critical issues along the way. Not everyone liked it (it turns out people don’t love being made fun of) but we converted a lot of people and I take pride that the site was truly well read. From the local media, to area police departments, Punching Kitty truly became a source for news and entertainment for St. Louis.

We had a lot of fun, but all good things need an ending and ours was on March 13th, 2013. When we closed up shop the news made local radio, TV, and even the front page of STLToday (The St. Louis Post Dispatch’s website) where we were the top story over a new pope being named. Wild stuff.

While we will no longer actively write, the site will stay up as an archive for St. Louis.

- The Editor

More Ways to Peruse the Punching Kitty Archives

 Posted on September 21, 2012  |  The Editor

This site has been up for nearly 4 years now and amassed almost 2,000 stories, so we’re always trying to find new ways to flip back in time and remember the random St. Louis oddities of years past. Last week we quietly launched two new pages to help. They aren’t all that complicated, but they are pretty fun: punchingkitty.com/random Pretty straight-forward: Load the page, get a random story. There’s little url that you can copy for Tweeting and the like, and you can click the story preview to read the whole thing. [Read More]
archives  random  today 

Baron Calmese Jr. is a Huge Butthole

 Posted on September 21, 2012  |  The Editor

Baron Calmese Jr. is one of those names that make you visualize a guy that wears smoking jackets all day, but this particular Baron Clmese Jr. is actually a total douche butthole…and naturally he’s from St. Louis. Baron Calmese Jr. of the 12100 block of Aragon Avenue was staying with his sister along the 11100 block of Estrada Drive when he asked her if he could borrow some quarters at about 5 p. [Read More]
butthole  theft 

Translating STL Police Chief Dan Isom’s Denials About Leaving the Position

 Posted on September 20, 2012  |  The Editor

KMOX has a source that tells them St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom might be mulling an opportunity to leave his glamorous post as the lead protector of the city and take a job teaching at the university level. We’re guessing he’d be teaching art because you don’t get to be St. Louis’ top cop without getting really good at tracing bodies in chalk. A reporter for KMOX caught up to Chief Isom in an attempt to confirm the report, but he was met with an “artfully vague” response. [Read More]
dan isom  stlpd 

KMOV’s Matt Sczesny Got Beat Up

 Posted on September 19, 2012  |  The Editor

KMOV (Channel 4) reporter Matt Sczesny and it wasn’t by someone who got overly frustrated after trying to spell Sczesny’s name phonetically like you’d imagine. Turns out it was just some guy who wandered over while they were on a story. Sczesny was in Alorton standing outside a KMOV truck when a man walked up to him and asked if he could ask him a question. Sczesny said sure, and the man punched him, according to Sean McLaughlin, KMOV’s executive news director. [Read More]
assault  illinois  kmov  Matt sczesny 

Lets Save the North City Community Center You Guys!

 Posted on September 18, 2012  |  The Editor

There’s a $20 million dollar, taxpayer-funded community center in North St. Louis and no one’s using it. Why? At first we thought it was because it’s in North City and there’s probably some scary gang hanging out by the front door, which still might be true, but the actual reason is because the door is locked over political fighting between Mayor Slay and Alderman Antonio French. Here’s the short version: French doesn’t want the rec center to open until his demands for a better deals for his residents are met, and the Mayor disagrees and doesn’t want to lose to “French” people. [Read More]
north city  rec center 

St. Louis Highways Were Taken Over by Stunt Bikers, Only One Got Ran Over

 Posted on September 17, 2012  |  The Editor

If you were driving around this weekend and noticed a distinct rise in the amount of motorcyclists with a love of neon-type colors that the general population shunned by the mid-90s, then congratulations! You were part of the “Ride of the Century”! A huge group of motorcyclists rode through the St. Louis area on their annual controversial ride Saturday, as police kept a close eye. Police presence was visible but not heavy as the bikers gathered at midafternoon near the flood wall along the Mississippi River just south of the Gateway Arch for the 10th Streetfighterz Ride of the Century. [Read More]
bikers  cops  motorcycles  ride of the century 

St. Louis Hates Jason Motte via Twitter…and Then Likes Him via Twitter

 Posted on September 17, 2012  |  The Editor

The Cardinals had quite a roller-coaster of a weekend, but that’s even more true for Cardinal closer Jason Motte who blew the save Saturday night, but then closed out the win on Sunday evening. You didn’t even have to watch the games to know that, you could have just watched Twitter! Here’s the crazies going off on Motte on Saturday night: Those aren’t even the worst. The crazy prize goes to @Crazy_Corwegian, who posted the following: “seriously jason motte, take a gun to your head tonight and shoot yourself. [Read More]
cardinals  jason motte  twitter 

Cat Sings to Collective Soul

 Posted on September 14, 2012  |  The Editor

Cats and 90’s alternative rock music have finally converged. Nothing else will ever be better than this…unless you’re Collective Soul who is now no doubt going through their back catalog and realizing that many of their songs could easily include a meow to make them substantially more interesting. Off the top of our heads, in addition to the below Shine: Gel, December, Heavy, Breathe, and Goodnight, Good Guy could all easily incorporate this cat. [Read More]
collective soul  kitty 

Best School Lunch Ever and All It Took Was a Bunch of Sewage

 Posted on September 14, 2012  |  The Editor

Kids at an East St. Louis school had the best school lunch ever Wednesday when the school was forced to order 100 pizzas when a sewer line backed up in the cafeteria. Good for them for knowing the difference between the usual school lunch and actual sewage (the difference is a side of fries) East St. Louis Senior High School assistant superintendent Beth Shepperd said someone working in the lunch room noticed raw sewage seeping into the food preparation area about 45 minutes before lunch time. [Read More]
east st. louis  illinois  lunch  school