St. Louis on the Air

Becky Sucher, senior manager of living collections, discusses a conservation effort involving the garden’s horticulturists — and some 17,000 seeds from the Appalachian Mountains.

Becky Sucher, senior manager of living collections, discusses a conservation effort involving the garden’s horticulturists — and some 17,000 seeds from the Appalachian Mountains.

After Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent school districts around the state cease-and-desist letters about their COVID-19 precautions, Joe Hatley sent his own letter back, on behalf of a Lee’s Summit school district. Hatley explains why Schmitt’s opinion is wrong in his view.

Santa takes many forms this holiday season. St. Louis’ own "Cocoa Santa,” hip-hop Santa and the St. Louis Aquarium's "Scuba Claus” share their perspectives on the role of a lifetime.

Sauce Magazine Executive Editor Meera Nagarajan digs into why nine new restaurants earned rave reviews from Sauce staff.

Fossil hunter Guy Darrough discusses how recent new discoveries have changed our understanding of Missouri’s state dinosaur, Parrosaurus missouriensis, and what its excavation site in Bollinger County tells us about Missouri’s ancient past.

On Friday night, an EF-3 tornado tore through an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, killing six people. Another tornado killed a woman in Defiance, Missouri. STLPR Correspondent Jonathan Ahl talks about the disasters and the questions that remain unanswered.

As high school students, Shreya and Saffron Patel set out to help their grandmother – and ended up founding the nonprofit Letters Against Isolation, which has helped senior citizens around the world. Wash U sophomore Shreya Patel discusses the organization’s big reach.

Dr. Dale Anderson created a free app for those struggling with mental health in the pandemic. He believes even small doses of cognitive behavioral therapy can get people to a healthier place.

St. Louis Art Place Initiative hopes to help 20 artists purchase homes in a four-block area of the city’s Gravois Park neighborhood. Operations director Kaveh Razani explains how the program works and what it hopes to do for artists, and the Cherokee Street area, as housing costs escalate.

Author Mark Kruger (“The St. Louis Commune of 1877”) describes how the railroad strike of 1877 became a much broader strike in St. Louis, basically shutting down all commerce in the city — and how communists took control of the city.

The International Institute of St. Louis is overwhelmed trying to resettle more than 300 Afghan refugees and turning to other nonprofits for help.

Lydia Caesar has found a home in the St. Louis music scene. Her new EP tells listeners not to settle or sacrifice themselves in relationships, but to strive for something monumental.

The head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force discusses the latest regional trends, the Missouri attorney beneral’s fight against mask mandates and whether the omicron variant could be a cause for optimism.

Librarians Jennifer Alexander of St. Louis County Library and Kathy Condon Boettcher of St. Louis Public Library share their favorite books released in 2021.

For choral conductor Maria Ellis and her students, convening historic Sumner High’s first choir in decades has proved to be a challenging task — but also full of reward. We check in with the choir as it prepares for a winter concert.

In the new Netflix documentary “Procession,” six survivors of sex abuse by Catholic priests process their trauma by using drama therapy techniques. Filmmaker and Mizzou Professor Robert Greene joins the show alongside one of the survivors.

Grammy Award-winning rapper Murphy Lee discusses his rise to fame as a St. Lunatic, his new journey as an independent artist and why he wants fans to reach out and text him.

Tomáseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas,” now in its 26th year, is making its first-ever St. Louis stop Dec. 13 — and two locals have big roles. They join us in anticipation of the big evening.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson discusses the road to St. Louis’ settlement over the Rams’ departure, why an expansion team was never in the mix, and his thoughts on how to spend the money.

Percy Menzies, founder of Assisted Recovery Centers of America, and Ben Westhoff, author of “Fentanyl, Inc.” discuss how fentanyl is fueling record-high overdose deaths and what we can do to help people affected by it.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tony Messenger discusses his first book, which expands on his columns about debtors prisons and the fight to reform the court fees and fines that trap Americans in a cycle of poverty

For years, Missouri was known for its problem dog breeders. Advocates explain what changed after legislation cracked down on the industry — and where they still see room for improvement in the Show Me State.

After attending Clayton High School, comedian Jo Firestone went to college and then to New York City, where she’s lived for more than a decade. But one of her current gigs, as a writer, producer and co-star in a hit TV show, puts her back in the Midwest in a fictional version of Marquette, Michigan.

It’s been 40 years since the first official HIV/AIDS case was diagnosed in the U.S. But researchers now know the 40-year mark is likely an incomplete understanding of the disease’s beginnings.

St. Louis has $41 million in sales tax revenue that could be used to build a north-south MetroLink expansion. But is that what the city’s public transit system needs? Transit scholar Kate Lowe and community members weigh in.

Shopping local can make a big difference for the region, as the Federal Reserve’s Bill Rodgers explains. He’s joined by Debra Hunter, co-owner of Provisions St. Louis, and St. Louisans sharing their favorite local spots.

Approximately 50 St. Louis families lose their homes to tax foreclosure each year, even though they owe on average just a few thousand dollars. Abdul Abdullah talks about a new fund that aims to help those families stay in their homes and keep the tax collector at bay.

St. Louis author Beth Bacon discusses her new book “Helping Our World Get Well: COVID Vaccines,” the art of a good children’s book and how to talk to kids about complicated topics.

Alden Global Capital wants to buy the company that owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. An investigative reporter and the president of the union that represents Post-Dispatch staffers discuss what that could mean for the daily — and St. Louis.

More than 45 years after her death, St. Louis native and entertainer Josephine Baker is receiving France’s highest honor: induction into the Panthéon. We talk with Lionel Cuillé of Washington University and Lois Conley of the Griot Museum of Black History about Baker’s life and legacy.

Opera star Christine Brewer discusses the cabaret show she debuts this weekend in St. Louis, how she was pushed to become a performer and what makes her nervous even after all these years singing in public.

Tom Zoellner's new book, "The National Road: Dispatches from a Changing America," is a journey into the uneasy soul of the nation: What unites us, what divides us, and what lies in the middle of the cities of the coasts.

Matthew Stock and Sid Sivakumar started out talking crossword puzzles and became fast friends. Now, a puzzle they co-wrote has been published in the New York Times. They discuss the joy of puzzle making with host Sarah Fenske.

Fewer than 20 American red wolves live in the wild throughout the U.S., all in a refuge in North Carolina. Two Missouri-born wolves were flown there last month to join the population, providing a critical source of new genetic diversity.

In this one-hour special edition, Nina Gilden Seavey discusses her podcast "My Fugitive," which connects the story of anti-war activist Howard Mechanic with that of another fugitive who spent time in St. Louis: James Earl Ray, who was convicted of killing Martin Luther King Jr.

The Legal Roundtable discusses the latest in the litigation over the Rams’ departure from St. Louis, the Missouri Democratic Party’s attempt to fight unionization of its employees and the surprisingly short sentence given to a former police officer accused of beating an undercover colleague.

The building that began as St. Liborius Catholic Church has housed one of St. Louis’ coolest underground spots: Sk8 Liborious. Two of its owners discuss how they turned the deconsecrated church into a skate haven — and their plans to turn it into an official arts center.

Minnesota Public Radio is suing St. Louis police over their refusal to release clearance status information for homicides, information sought by St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with APM Reports. STLPR Justice Correspondent Rachel Lippmann discusses the suit — and what families of crime victims say about getting information from the department.

Food Outreach provides nutritious meals to people living with cancer or HIV. Now the nonprofit is piloting a project to help veterans with uncontrolled diabetes. Executive Director Julie Lock explains the impetus.

Two members of Midwest Avengers explain what’s kept the hip-hop rock band together for nearly 30 years — and how they navigated a world that wasn’t quite ready for their music.

Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of St. Louis-based Stonemaier Games, discusses the art of designing a hit board game and while tabletop games will never go out of style in a digital age.

The futuristic, sustainability-focused legacy of the late American architect Buckminster Fuller lives on, including in the St. Louis region. Hundreds of people stopped by SIUE’s Fuller Dome last week to take a spin in a replica of Fuller’s 1933-built Dymaxion Car.

A new nonprofit is doing big things in small spaces. Pocketparks’ founder explains how, and why, she’s taking vacant lots in St. Louis and transforming them into community spaces.

The Brickline Greenway aims to connect the Gateway Arch to Forest Park and Fairground Park to Tower Grove Park with pedestrian and bike paths. Great Rivers Greenway discusses how two recent federal grants will fuel the ambitious plan to connect 17 city neighborhoods.

More than 30,000 property deeds in St. Louis include language that excludes Black people and those of certain religions from buying the homes. STLPR reporter Corinne Ruff and historian Colin Gordon talk about the two-part investigation on the topic.

Washington University researchers find cognitive decline is linked to having too little or too much sleep. Dr. Brendan Lucey discusses how the data untangles the complicated relationship between sleep, Alzheimer’s and cognitive function and gives advice on better sleep.

Two St. Louis County corrections officers were brutally attacked by inmates in recent weeks. Attorney Elad Gross describes the attacks as acting jail director Scott Anders explains what he’s doing to prevent them from happening again.

Colin O'Brien's quest for a date made him an internet sensation earlier this year. And now, he has some news, as he explains in this episode.

Author Lisa Napoli discusses her book “Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie” and the early days of NPR with Sarah Fenske before a live audience at St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.