There have been more than 400 drug overdoses and at least five drug-related deaths in Missouri state prisons since May 2017, according to internal data from the Department of Corrections. In many cases, inmates have overdosed on controlled substances, including heroin and fentanyl. There are a number of ways drugs can be smuggled into prisons, but institutional corruption appears to play a role. Current and past DOC employees say staff members are bringing contraband into the prisons and selling it to inmates -- often without consequences.
This edition of St. Louis on the Air features highlights from a live storytelling event with speakers whose lives changed drastically after Michael Brown Jr. was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson.
Today marks five years since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. St. Louis Public Radio asked dozens of people to reflect on the past five years and to tell us their hopes for the future. The conversations are part of our special project, livingferguson.org.
It’s been five years since Michael Brown was killed by a Ferguson police officer, setting off a protest movement that led to big changes here in St. Louis and throughout the world. Remembering those events, the St. Louis Public Radio newsroom interviewed nearly twenty people for its Living Ferguson project. By talking to people who lived the events in Ferguson, or are directly touched by the systemic inequalities exposed in its wake, the reporters seek to illuminate what we remember, how we have changed, and what we hope for. Shula Neuman, executive editor of the St. Louis Public Radio, joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about the project.
In this special edition of The Gateway, St. Louis Public Radio brings you an extended interview that profiles Michael Brown Sr. It's part of a larger project that explores what's changed and what hasn't since Michael Brown Jr. was killed five years ago. Find it at livingferguson.org
Last week, St. Louis attorney Michael Kahn won over a federal jury in a case looking at whether the Katy Perry song "Dark Horse" infringed on the copyright of a 2009 rap song “Joyful Noise” by St. Louis artist Marcus Gray, who is known as Flame. The jury decided that Katy Perry and Capitol Records must pay Gray $2.78 million in damages. In this segment, Sarah Fenske discusses the case with Kahn, as well as copyright expert Micah Zeller of Washington University Libraries.
As the host of The Splendid Table, a cookbook editor and food journalist, Francis Lam has explored cuisines from all around the world. That may be one reason he’s not at all disconcerted by St. Louis’ method of slicing bagels as if they were loaves of bread.
On the latest edition of Politically Speaking, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum, Julie O’Donoghue and Rachel Lippmann take a look at how politics and policy has changed in five years since Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson.
This show looks at how the slow progress picked up last year with the election of Wesley Bell as St. Louis County prosecutor. That ushered in a new political coalition that’s affecting other parts of county government. But progress has been slower in state and national politics.
Five years after a white Ferguson police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, Jr., a black man, artists in the St. Louis region continue to explore the movement that emerged after his death. Some incorporated political concerns into their work for the first time. Others intensified their focus on social justice.
The first few minutes of Tanner Craft’s new short film pair a seemingly everyday scene – a mother and her young son at a doctor’s office – with an unsettling soundtrack. There’s a looming, ongoing hum audible beneath the dialogue as the physician tells the mother that her son has autism spectrum disorder. “It’s a developmental disorder,” the doctor says, the mother appearing overwhelmed. “It impairs his ability to communicate and interact with others.” But “Diagnosis,” which Craft wrote, directed and produced, doesn’t stop there. The film goes on to highlight a mother-son journey from early diagnosis, to learning more about autism and existing resources, to finding new ways to connect with one another and thrive. On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske talked with both Craft and his mother, Tanya Craft, about the film and about autism’s influence on their lives.
Host Sarah Fenske delves into ways that St. Louis’ Latino community continues to grow and influence the city – artistically and otherwise. A local artist and podcast host share their experiences of navigating a bicultural life, the importance of representation in their fields of work and how the Latino arts scene is expanding in the region.
Host Sarah Fenske sits down with Anna Crosslin, CEO of the International Institute, and Nadya Kanim, a business specialist there, to discuss their weekly lunch, the institute’s efforts to support immigrants, and the bevy of cuisines on the menu.
Former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leader Robert Cardillo stepped down in February after playing a major role in selecting St. Louis as the site for a new headquarters. On June 1, he started at St. Louis University as a distinguished geospatial fellow, where he will serve as a liaison for the N-G-A, industry leaders and the university.
Global Mosquito Alert aims to mobilize professional and volunteer citizen scientists from around the world, using mobile apps, to track and control mosquito borne viruses. Dr. Anne Bowser, Director of Innovation for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, reports on this collaboration involving citizen science associations in Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia and the U.S.
Backed by UN Environment, this initiative draws on successes from programs like Barcelona's public engagement Mosquito Alert and the school-based U.S. Invasive Mosquito Project. Because monitoring types of mosquitos and sites where mosquitos are breeding is a significant element in controlling mosquito borne diseases like West Nile and Zika Virus, yellow fever, malaria, chikungunya and and dengue fever.
Could St. Louis marshal this kind of collaboration? Check out this Earthworms conversation!
Music: Public Enemy, performed live at KDHX by Godfathers
THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms so green savvy engineer
Host Sarah Fenske sits down with Anna Crosslin, CEO of the International Institute, and Nadya Kanim, a business specialist there, to discuss their weekly lunch, the institute’s efforts to support immigrants, and the bevy of cuisines on the menu.
Young adults throughout the St. Louis area make up the artist collective, St. Louis Story Stitchers. They aim to showcase the region’s culture through performance art, and they work to curb gun violence, which many of its members have grown up with.
In the aftermath of Ferguson, the municipal court system came under scrutiny for a variety of unfair practices. Some reforms have been implemented over the last five years, but we examine whether real change has occurred.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with our partners from Sauce Magazine about the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community. Joining her for the conversation were Catherine Klene and Matt Sorrell, managing editor and staff writer, respectively.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with Dr. Page for a look at what he’s accomplished in his first 100 days in office as St. Louis County Executive, and what he hopes to do in the weeks and months to come.
St. Louis Alderman Bret Narayan is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his first few months on the Board of Aldermen.
The 24th Ward Democrat represents the neighborhoods that encompass Dogtown in southwest St. Louis. He won election to the seat earlier this year.
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