A nearly two-year process to consider leasing St. Louis Lambert International Airport to a private operator is coming to a screeching halt. In this interview with Sarah Fenske, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson explains why she is sending a letter to members of the Airport Advisory Working Group, asking that her representative, Linda Martinez, not support or vote to move forward with issuing a Request for Proposals.
On the final Politically Speaking roundup show of 2019, St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O’Donoghue and Jason Rosenbaum look at some of the headlines that made an impact in the waning days of the year.
O’Donoghue talked with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Eric Schmid about impending legalization of marijuana in Illinois. It’s a move that will have a profound impact on towns in the Metro East — and on neighboring states like Missouri.
Missouri has a backlog of 3,500 people awaiting a clemency decision. So far, Gov. Mike Parson has done little on this front. The parole board says he has made one clemency decision since taking office. With Christmas fast approaching, some are making a push for him to consider pardons and sentence commutations in time for the holidays.
An estimated 30% of Missouri youth in foster care or group homes are on psychotropic drugs of some sort — nearly twice the national average for kids that age. Many are on multiple drugs. And powerful anti-psychotic drugs have been used to treat conditions like ADHD and conduct disorders, even though the Federal Drug Administration hasn’t approved them for that use.
Local filmmaker David Kirkman is working on his next project following the release of his short "Static Shock" last year. That landed him a screening at Netflix. His most recent short film is "ICON," a black superhero film based on the DC Comics series. His films focus on racial inclusivity and feature primarily black casts.
Has the comedy scene become more inclusive in the last six decades? What does "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" get right and wrong about being a woman in comedy?
At present, people living with HIV in Missouri can face consequences on par with murder conviction for transmitting the disease. In the Missouri House, state Reps. Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) and Tracy McCreery (D-St. Louis) have each pre-filed bills for 2020 that they see as addressing an important public health issue.
Research shows that teens' internal clocks make them much more likely to go to bed later and sleep later. California recently passed a law requiring middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. What are St. Louis school districts doing?
State Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, joins public radio political reporters Julie O’Donoghue, Jason Rosenbaum and Aviva Okeson-Haberman to talk about her first year in office and what she expects in the upcoming 2020 legislative session.
Ingle has a background in social work and has investigated child abuse and neglect. She won election in 2018 in a district outside Kansas City. She flipped her House seat from Republican to Democrat.
The bi-state area was particularly well represented on TVs across the nation Thursday evening during a two-hour ABC “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition” premiere. Three of the 10 talented bakers competing in the first episode of this fifth season call the region home.
What once was a plan to build a continuous greenway along St. Louis’ Chouteau Avenue has morphed into something even bigger — and, after a year of planning and civic engagement, Great Rivers Greenway has now released a 140-page document outlining the overall aims of the project.
The tech company Readout Health was founded in San Francisco, but it recently moved to St. Louis. Last week, the startup launched its first medical device, Biosense.
Researchers at St. Louis University and the St. Louis Zoo have been studying Missouri's native box turtles in Forest Park and at a wild habitat near Washington University's Tyson Research Center in Eureka for seven years. Zoo scientists have recently found the turtles survive better in the wild than in urban parks.
As soldiers from World War II increasingly reach the end of their lives, more people are trying to preserve their stories and experiences. One of them is Louis Baczewski. In June of 2015, Baczewski bicycled more than 700 kilometers, following the path of his grandfather’s armored division, which doggedly fought its way through Europe during WWII.
A Washington University music professor and composer is exploring the intersection of science and art through his new work "Seasonal Music." The 30-minute string quartet, which draws inspiration from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, focuses on the ways we interact with our environment and how humans are changing it.
With just two weekends left before Christmas, the holiday shopping frenzy is in full swing. And like most Americans, gift buyers in the St. Louis region have countless options to choose from, both online and locally. But more and more people are choosing to put their discretionary dollars toward meaningful products — consumer goods that support a good cause. Julio Zegarra-Ballon, owner of Zee Bee Market, has been pleasantly surprised to see the growing appetite locally for fair trade and ethical shopping since opening his first brick-and-mortar outpost in the South Grand commercial district in 2014. The fair trade scene in St. Louis is still a relatively small one, and industry professionals including Alyson Miller, executive director of Partners for Just Trade, see plenty of room for more consumer education. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with both Miller and Zegarra-Ballon. The conversation also includes comments from Patrice Estes, director of the mostly volunteer-run Plowsharing Crafts, which is headquartered in the Delmar Loop.
Since Brittany “Tru” Kellman started Jamaa Birth Village in 2015, she’s sought to provide a community-driven solution to an ongoing nationwide health issue: the racial disparities within pregnancy-related mortality rates. African American women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than their white peers. For Kellman, who endured two cesarean sections and other challenges as a teen mom years ago, that work has been focused in Ferguson, Missouri, where she lives. But earlier this week, a letter published in the St. Louis American — and signed by many women of color who are leaders in the region — revealed a major controversy that’s been festering for months. “As black women and Missourians who organize to dismantle reproductive oppression,” the letter began, “we write to express our outrage and demand accountability for the disrespect and unethical treatment of Missouri’s first black Certified Professional Midwife [Kellman] by Mercy Birthing Center Midwifery Care.” Kellman has accused Mercy of breaking an agreement to “leave midwifery services in Ferguson to Jamaa,” as reported by St. Louis Public Radio. She said Mercy’s August announcement, of plans to open a nearby clinic next year, came after Jamaa agreed in March to train Mercy staff to administer culturally sensitive care at an existing clinic in Creve Coeur. In this episode, Kellman joins host Sarah Fenske to share her perspective on the situation. Mercy has declined interviews but this segment does include a statement from Mercy expressing regret over “the confusion that has arisen related to our plans.”
Host Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann about the latest in the troubling case of a St. Louis man found guilty of murder. Prosecutors say he’s not guilty. So why is he still in prison?
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