St. Louis on the Air

"St. Louis on the Air" host Sarah Fenske talks with State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. ahead of his resignation from the Missouri House on July 31, capping off an unlikely political tenure that placed the Ferguson activist and rapper firmly into the political spotlight.

Sarah Fenkse is among the notable media leaders of St. Louis. She’s served as the editor-in-chief of the Riverfront Times for the past four years, reporting on various topics such as breaking news, business, arts and culture. She’ll now be heard on the airwaves as the new official host of "St. Louis on the Air" at St. Louis Public Radio.

In the early 1990s, a man abducted and murdered at least three women from south St. Louis. This man is known as the package killer and the three murders remain cold cases nearly 30 years later. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jonathan Ahl talks with Riverfront Times contributor Ryan Krull, who has investigated the details of these cold cases over the past year. Also joining the conversation are cold case detective Sgt. Joseph Burgoon and the stepsister of one of the women murdered by the package killer.

"St. Louis on the Air’s" latest Sound Bites segment with Sauce Magazine explores how salads are indeed culinary staples that can withstand the vegan trends of 2019 and beyond. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin talks about how the magazine compiled its list of the 12 best salads foodies should try in the St. Louis area with Sauce’s art director, Meera Nagarajan, and Kevin Willman, chef and owner of Farmhaus Restaurant.

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled on the City of St. Louis’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter. The decision went mostly in the reporter’s favor and allows the lawsuit to proceed. Now based in Washington state, journalist Mike Faulk filed the suit following a September 2017 protest related to the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley. Faulk was reporting on the protest when he alleges police officers unlawfully assaulted and arrested him. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin goes behind the headlines in this segment to talk with Faulk about where things stand.

From the announcement of MetroBus service shifts coming this fall, to record-setting MetroLink ridership the day of the St. Louis Blues parade last month, to security challenges, the past year and a half has proved to be a pivotal time for Metro Transit. The developments have daily implications for area residents who depend on public transportation. Metro Transit’s executive director, Jessica Mefford-Miller, joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin to provide an update on the latest changes to bus and train service in the region. She focuses on what’s in store with the Metro Reimagined plan set to launch later this year.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin delves into a variety of recent local and national stories pertaining to the law.

Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of a tragic accident that killed 17 people near Branson, Missouri, one of the state’s biggest family vacation destinations. The drownings occurred when a Ride the Ducks boat capsized and sank on Table Rock Lake in neighboring Stone County. In this talk show segment, Branson Mayor Edd Akers and Fire Chief Ted Martin look back on the day of the tragedy and also discuss efforts to support victims and their families and bring healing to the Branson community.

The St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center was once celebrated for lowering its euthanasia rate, but a recent audit found that the rate was only lowered after the shelter implemented the practice of labeling the “owner requested euthanasia” check box as simply “ORE” on animal surrender forms. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with Danny Wicentowski, who has been covering this story as a staff writer for the Riverfront Times.

The St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center was once celebrated for lowering its euthanasia rate, but a recent audit found that the rate was only lowered after the shelter implemented the practice of labeling the “owner requested euthanasia” check box as simply “ORE” on animal surrender forms. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with Danny Wicentowski, who has been covering this story as a staff writer for the Riverfront Times.

When Darwin Aquino was a young boy growing up in the Dominican Republic, his father directed him to choose one instrument to learn to play. Aquino opted for the violin and, with that early decision, took his first steps along a musical journey that would eventually lead him to St. Louis. Along the way, his musical accomplishments have also expanded beyond his skills as a violinist. Aquino is now a conductor and a composer, with his current roles including positions at both Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was also recently named the musical director of Gateway Festival Orchestra, which is wrapping up its 2019 season this Sunday. Aquino talks with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin about his local musical endeavors and compositions.

Emoji have come a long way in recent years, with smiling faces and simple thumbs up now vastly outnumbered by a wide range of visual expressions available for digital use. As this visual language infuses contemporary forms of communication more and more, emoji present both opportunities and challenges in humans’ abilities to understand each other.

Over the weekend, the National Women’s Political Caucus convened in St. Louis to give women the chance to network, recruit, train, and provide support for political campaigns. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jeremy Goodwin talks with St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum and University of Missouri political analyst Hanna Brant about the convention and the representation of women in American politics.

Over the weekend, the National Women’s Political Caucus convened in St. Louis to give women the chance to network, recruit, train, and provide support for political campaigns. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jeremy Goodwin talks with St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum and University of Missouri political analyst Hanna Brant about the convention and the representation of women in American politics.

St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann goes behind the headlines with guest host Jim Kirchherr on two big stories from recent days: John Rallo, a major campaign donor to former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Tuesday. And, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has publicly spoken out defending her conduct with regard to the case involving former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. She's also been defending the changes she’s made to the circuit attorney’s office.

St. Louis Public Radio arts and culture editor David Cazares talks with Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire ahead of the band's performance at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis. The group has received multiple Grammy Awards and is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Nearly a decade ago, HandleBar owner Tatyana Telnikova began heading up the after-party for St. Louis’ World Naked Bike Ride. She’s now even more deeply involved as an organizer of the annual event, which gets going at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Grove neighborhood. Telnikova talks with guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network about this growing St. Louis tradition. Twelve years running, the ride aims to raise awareness about oil dependency, body positivity and cyclist vulnerability.

Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, when humanity took its first steps on another planetary body via astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jim Kirchherr remembers that day in history with the manager at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, Will Snyder, and Linda Godwin, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Missouri and retired NASA astronaut.

Years ago, when many multiple sclerosis researchers believed that a type of immune cell known as a T cell was the cause of the disease, Dr. Anne Cross turned her focus instead to B cells. Her findings have led to key breakthroughs in MS research – and also to receiving the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Academy of Neurology.

Guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network talks with a past winner of the competition, Justice Hill, who is now a SLU student, as well as Rebecca Butler Mona, the president of Optimist International. Also joining the discussion is Wayne Fields, the Lynne Cooper Harvey Chair Emeritus in English at Washington University. Among other books, Fields is the author of “Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence."

While many writers pen memoirs because of something particularly distinctive or unusual about their lives, the reason Chavisa Woods gives for writing hers is pretty much the opposite. “I felt that it was incumbent for me to put this on the page ... because my life is not exceptional,” Woods, the author of “100 Times: A Memoir of Sexism,” says. “And I think when people hear that you’ve experienced 100 formative incidents of sexism, maybe the first reaction is, ‘Oh, I can’t believe that it influences your life so much.’ But I think when most women stop and think about discrimination, harassment, groping, sexual violence and also microagressions, you’ll see that you could easily compile [such a list]. ”

Guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network talks with Jaclyn Driscoll, who recently joined St. Louis Public Radio’s newsroom as its statehouse reporter to help cover all things Missouri politics.

Guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network talks about the latest trends in school lunches and more with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Chad Davis; past School Nutrition Association President Becky Domokos-Bays and Irene Wan, director of food services for the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District.

Guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network delves into lobbying in Missouri and how it's evolved over time with University of Missouri-St. Louis political scientist Anita Manion and David Jackson, a principal with Gamble & Schlemeier, Missouri’s largest lobbying firm.

In this "St. Louis on the Air" segment, guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network discusses ongoing violence in the region, as well as solutions which aim to address it as a public health issue. Joining the discussion are Poli Rijos of Washington University’s Gun Violence Initiative and Jessica Meyers of the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission.

St. Louis Fire Department Chief Dennis Jenkerson says that paramedics see the impact of so much violence that they're quitting faster than he can hire replacements. In this "St. Louis on the Air" segment, we talk about the impact of violence in the area and the toll it takes on the morale and the mental health of those providing emergency care.

Meandering over more than 400 miles of southeast Missouri is a network of hiking trails that’s been in existence since the 1970s: the Ozark Trail. Its history, along with its natural beauty, fill the pages of Don Massey’s photographic book titled “The Ozark Trail: Images of Missouri’s Longest Hiking Trail.” Massey is a member of the Ozark Trail Association, and he joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum for this conversation alongside the association’s president, Kathie Brennan.

St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum goes behind the headlines to discuss the latest news in the ongoing abortion battle in Missouri with politics editor Fred Ehrlich.

St. Louis-based hip-hop artist Kareem Jackson, who goes by the stage name Tef Poe, talks about his upcoming travels Jordan as part of Next Level, a cultural exchange program the U.S. State Department-sponsored is heading alongside the Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The project seeks to use artistic collaboration and social engagement to enhance people-to-people diplomacy, especially among young audiences.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl discusses the advancement of women’s suffrage and equal rights in Missouri with Nancy Miller, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis, and Vivian Eveloff, director of the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Six of the 113 films in the spotlight during the 19th Annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase are feature length. Collectively, they take viewers from the women’s prison in Vandalia, Missouri, to Henry Shaw’s Museum at the Missouri Botanical Garden, to World War II and more. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl talks with the filmmakers of “Road to the Pros” and “The Ghost Who Walks.”

Ranging from narrative and experimental shorts to feature-length documentaries, the lineup also includes a documentary short directed by 14-year-old Joshua Kelley. Kelley, whose film “A Look Ahead: Our Energy Future in 20 Years” considers the future environmental state of St. Louis and the country as a whole, joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl for a conversation. Also participating in the discussion is Chris Clark, who is the artistic director of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis. The organization presents the annual festival, which serves as the region’s primary venue for films made by local artists.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl talks with St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell; Cristina Garmendia, author of St. Louis’ Equity Indicators Baseline Report as well as a staff member at Washington University’s Race and Opportunity Lab at the Brown School; and Wally Siewert, director of civic engagement and the Impact Fellows program for FOCUS St. Louis.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl talks with Washington University neurosurgeons Albert Kim and Eric Leuthardt about the particularities of the brain and their “BrainWorks” theater production that dramatizes real-life neurological cases to help explain the science behind brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, brain tumors and strokes.

After a very rainy spring and early summer that have included more than 80 days of flooding along rivers in the St. Louis region, many area residents are still feeling the effects. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl talks with guests from both Illinois and Missouri about the impacts they’ve been dealing with in their respective communities. Joining the discussion are Adam Jones, a fourth-generation farmer on about 900 acres in Missouri, and Herb Simmons, the longtime mayor of East Carondelet, Illinois.

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl discusses factors contributing to the country’s current political environment with Frank DiStefano, author of “The Next Realignment: Why America’s Parties Are Crumbling and What Happens Next."

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl discusses factors contributing to the country’s current political environment with Frank DiStefano, author of “The Next Realignment: Why America’s Parties Are Crumbling and What Happens Next."

Several longstanding St. Louis traditions get underway this week, including Fair St. Louis and the VP Parade. Both events have connections to the Veiled Prophet Organization, which was founded in 1878 by white elites. The organization and its regular celebrations have been associated with civic pride and philanthropy – and at times with controversy, secretive rituals and protest. St. Louis Public Radio’s Shula Neuman looks back on Veiled Prophet history and considers the organization’s evolution and ongoing influence while talking with two guests: Percy Green, a prominent civil rights activist perhaps best known for scaling the Gateway Arch 55 years ago, and Devin Thomas O’Shea, a Chicago-based freelance writer who recently finished an as-yet-unpublished novel inspired by the city’s Veiled Prophet traditions.

St. Louis Public Radio’s executive editor Shula Neuman talks about the ongoing St. Louis Cardinals season and what’s ahead for the team as they go on break for the All-Star game with Rob Rains of STLSportsPage.com.

St. Louis Public Radio executive editor Shula Neuman explores how parents approach “the talk” with their children – which often varies widely across race, gender and cultural lines.

A year after being racially profiled along with fellow black college students in Clayton, Missouri, Teddy Washington and his mother, Denise Washington, talk with St. Louis Public Radio's Shula Neuman. Also joining the discussion is Richard Weiss, whose story about the 2018 incident will appear in this Sunday's edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His reporting is supported through a grant from the Pulitzer Center.

Sauce Magazine art director Meera Nagarajan and staff writer Matt Sorrell talk up some of the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community.

Eric Schmid joined St. Louis Public Radio’s newsroom a few weeks ago as its Metro East reporter – a new role made possible through the Report for America initiative, which aims to fill important gaps in local journalism. Schmid talks with St. Louis Public Radio editors Shula Neuman and Maria Altman about what this means for the station’s news coverage and how he hopes to help boost people’s understanding and knowledge of communities just across the river from St. Louis.

St. Louis Public Radio editor Maria Altman talks with reporters Sarah Fentem and Jason Rosenbaum about the legal and political drama surrounding the state's only remaining abortion clinic.

Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that will soon make recreational marijuana legal in the state. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2020, and makes Illinois the 11th state to allow recreational use. St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann goes behind the headlines on the news with Amanda Vinicky of Chicago public media outlet WTTW.

It’s been nearly eight decades since Illinois sailor William Klasing was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His remains were just recently identified after a long process of identifying dozens of men who died on the USS Oklahoma. This weekend, members of his family from near and far are gathering in Trenton for a funeral procession and reburial in his honor.

During St. Louis’ Make Music Day last Friday, people gathered in places around the St. Louis area to do just that. And on what was meant to be the longest, sunniest day of the year, it began to rain. While it halted some outdoor performances, many, like those inside Evangeline’s Bistro and Music House, went on. St. Louis Public Radio's Alexis Moore takes in the scene.

Two and a half weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues made history with their first Stanley Cup, and the memories are still fresh for lifelong and recent fans alike. To help keep those memories alive for many years to come, St. Louis Public Library is encouraging people around the region to contribute Blues-related artifacts to the team’s official archive. St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann talks about the archive and what sorts of materials the library is seeking to add to it with Amanda Bahr-Evola, manager of special collections and digital archives.

Dr. Ken Haller regularly finds himself assuring parents that childhood vaccines are safe. He tries to do so with empathy, because along with having confidence in vaccinations, he also believes parents genuinely want what’s best for their kids. The Saint Louis University associate professor of pediatrics talks with St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann about how he navigates those vaccine worries.

Missouri Chief Justice Zel Fisher in January announced coming changes to the state’s pretrial rules, which govern bail, detention and other practices directly impacting citizens accused of a crime. The new rules, described by Fisher as “common-sense modifications” within a system that too often treats defendants according to their pocketbooks instead of the law, go into effect July 1. St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann discusses the implications with a Washington University law professor and a representative from ArchCity Defenders.