The Gateway

There is no legal place in Missouri to buy medical marijuana, even though more than 17-hundred patients are already in the state's medical cannabis program. That number indicates greater access in Missouri compared to Illinois, where an initiative has been in place for almost five years.

Increasing tuition is putting pressure on students throughout the country. Many state universities in Missouri are relying on it for more than half of their budgets. We examine how the rising cost of higher education is affecting students at Missouri's flagship university.

The internationally renowned political dissident and artist Ai Weiwei is presenting a major exhibition at the Kemper Art Museum. The artworks examine questions related to the horrors of war and various forms of violence. Many of the pieces are being presented in the United States for the first time.

St. Louis County police officials are dealing with the impact of a nearly $20 million verdict against the department for discrimination against a gay officer. There are questions about the culture of one of the state's largest police departments and how Missouri handles discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

Every few months, artist Allana Ross gives public tours of the Weldon Spring, Times Beach and West Lake Landfill sites. By allowing people to visit those locations and learn about their history, Ross hopes many will see that people have repeatedly dealt with toxic waste by dumping it and contaminating the soil for future generations.

Charter schools opened in St. Louis two decades ago. But it was not a warm reception all around. Now a once adversarial relationship between traditional public school backers and charters is showing signs of warmth.

African swine fever has been infecting its way through the pig herds of Asia. The disease, which took officials in China by surprise, could kill up to a quarter of the world’s pig population. Harvest Public Media’s Amy Mayer reports that while the disease isn’t here, the U.S. pork industry is preparing for a possible crisis.

Most of the houses in downtown Belleville are more than 80 years old, according to the US Census. And many of them were built decades earlier -- in the 1800s. These older homes are attracting a new crop of residents to the neighborhood, for personal and practical reasons.

State funding per student at Missouri's colleges and universities has dropped by almost half since 2000. That is leaving people throughout the state trying to figure out how to pay for their higher education.

The former president of the National Bar Association and the civil rights attorney for Michael Brown Jr. is on tour promoting his new book "Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People." Benjamin Crump talks about race and the criminal justice system, and violence in St. Louis.

Three St. Louis-area House seats will be filled in special elections on November 5th. Only one is competitive. It's Jean Evans' former seat in West County where Republican Lee Ann Pittman is facing Democrat Trish Gunby.

Nonprofit immigrant health clinic Casas De Salud President Jorge Riopedre will leave the job on Friday, November 1st. Even though he's moving on, Riopedre says he has set plans in motion to make the clinic more includes for all non-English speakers in the St. Louis Region.

For 20 years, Gerry Marian has played the organ before movie showings at the Chase Park Plaza Cinema. He is one of a few people who still hold a job that dates back to the days of silent films. Marian will enter the spotlight this weekend to debut his newly written score for the 1925 silent film "The Phantom of the Opera."

Every week, thousands of people across the U.S. head to dance studios and clubs to move to Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican beats. Some of the most dedicated will arrive in St. Louis this week for the 10th Annual St. Louis International Salsa Congress, which starts today.

The mayor of Woodson Terrace is sending a letter to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson asking for a say in whether the city privatizes the Lambert International Airport. Also, the mayor of Bridgeton and others involved in the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis are spearheading an impact study to discover how they could be affected if a private operator leases the airport.

East St. Louis has a rich history but much of it is at risk of being lost. East St. Louis native Reginald Petty has helped launch a society to preserve the city's history. He has written a book about major people who have come from East St. Louis and is concerned younger residents are disconnected from the community's history and culture.

Florissant native Kevin Cox Jr. is a post-doctoral associate at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and one of 15 Hanna H. Gray Fellows named by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The more than one-million-dollar fellowship specifically seeks out scientists from underrepresented groups early in their careers. Cox is African American.

St. Louis–based LGBTQ advocacy organizations are taking steps to anticipate the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case that could overturn municipal laws protecting transgender and gender-nonconforming employees in Missouri and Illinois. Legal experts say the case outcome could leave LGBTQ workers with just a "patchwork" of protections, opening them up to legal discrimination.

Unlike some Mississippi River-adjacent states that have set limits on nutrient pollution, Missouri has addressed nutrient pollution by providing funds for farmers to use conservation practices that reduce nutrients from the waterways. But environmentalists say that the state needs to vastly improve how it monitors nutrients that enter waterways and set limits in order to make a substantial progres...

Missouri has thousands of untested rape kits sitting on shelves in police stations and hospitals — some containing DNA evidence that could put rapists behind bars. The state is getting closer to finishing an inventory of those untested kits, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

A conversation with Arriel Biggs, the Founder and CEO of Young Biz Kidz. Her organization teaches kids and their parents financial literacy and entrepreneurism.

Gov. Mike Parson pledged not to restart a state program that creates low-income housing unless the legislature made big changes. That didn't happen, and now he's facing pressure to end a nearly two-year freeze of the controversial incentive.

Judy Gladney graduated from University City High School in 1969. She and her husband were among the first African-Americans to attend the school. She was hesitant about attending her 50th reunion but has decided to go. Gladney reflects on her high school experience in a conversation with St. Louis Public Radio's Holly Edgell.

St. Louisan Ronald Ollie is displaying the works of black abstract artists, who are often under-represented in art galleries. We explore what “abstract" means for many African Americans artists and what messages and themes are typically conveyed.

Washington University's Kemper Art Museum has re-opened after a major expansion. Exhibition space has increased by 50 percent, and a new facade of polished stainless steel heightens the museum's presence on campus and in the neighborhood.