St. Louis on the Air

A yearlong collaboration between the Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper, Blue2Blue Conservation and researchers at Wichita State University, the effort centers on three litter-collection devices installed at area creeks. In this segment, we travel to Deer Creek in Maplewood for a closer look.

St. Louis singer-songwriter Haley Woolbright planned to record her new song as a wedding surprise for her husband. The pandemic changed those plans -- but taught the couple some things about love.

St. Louis’ historic Sumner High School has dodged closure once more. Tuesday night, the St. Louis Public School board approved a new effort to reinvigorate Sumner's declining enrollment, rather than close the historic school.

Council Chair Rita Heard Days recently beat back a lawsuit to hold the chairwoman's post. She discusses her relationship with the county executive, her priorities and her thoughts on COVID-19 restrictions in St. Louis County.

Last week the Missouri Supreme Court dealt another blow to Lamar Johnson, who's spent 26 years in prison for a murder prosecutors say he didn't commit. His lawyer discusses next steps in the quest for his freedom.

Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City are seeking to update some of the state’s photo ID laws as they pertain to elections. Rep. John Simmons, R-Washington, sponsored the bill — which passed the House on Feb. 24 and is on its way to the Senate for consideration.

Marian Middle School is the city's only all-girls Catholic middle school. School administrators describe it as a “school beyond walls” because its students are equipped with resources that help them, and their families, overcome societal and financial obstacles.

In Missouri’s own bicentennial year, Missouri Folk Arts’ staff are sharing 200 stories over the course of 52 weeks about folk and traditional arts in the Show-Me State.

One of our favorite recent conversation was with H.W. Brands. His recent book, "The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom," explores the run-up to slavery's abolition — and choice to confront its "great evil" via politics or violence — through the lives of two men: John Brown and Abraham Lincoln.

Today is International Women’s Day and we’re listening back to our conversation from last summer about 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted U.S. women the right to vote. St. Louis women were among some of the earliest suffragists and an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum about those women remains on display.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and after 10 years of pursuing music professionally, Lloyd Nicks couldn’t have anticipated the year 2020 being his biggest yet. But last summer, everything changed when one of his songs started hitting airwaves across the U.S.

As a longtime professional in the live entertainment industry, Greg Hagglund watched far too many livelihoods crumble around him over the past year. But in recent months he’s collaborated with other local industry veterans on a concrete way to help them: Keep Live Alive St. Louis. The ongoing effort includes the premiere of a 90-minute video special March 12, featuring local and national performer...

Missouri’s “waiting lists” for public defenders were declared unconstitutional last month. Judge William E. Hickle ruled that the Missouri Office of State Public Defender violated the constitutional rights of indigent people awaiting trial by forcing them to wait for weeks, and even months, for an attorney. Tony Rothert of the ACLU of Missouri and state Rep. Tony Lovasco, a Republican from O'Fallo...

St. Louis attorneys Elad Gross and Mark Pedroli got a surprise in a set of documents they recently unearthed via Sunshine requests: proof that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office exchanged emails with the Rule of Law Defense Fund leading up to the November 2020 election — and continued to receive numerous communications from the fund afterward.

In 2018, Bayer-Monsanto lost a $289 million jury verdict in a case brought by a groundskeeper who claimed the weedkiller Roundup gave him cancer. Author Carey Gillam discusses her new book about that litigation.

How did Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer move onto the April mayoral election? For Jones, it was a strong performance in north St. Louis and parts of south St. Louis, and approval voting may have been key in getting Spencer to the second round.

Missouri school students will sit down for state assessments soon. For some, it’ll be their first time in a classroom in more than a year. Teachers and parents say testing should be canceled, but education officials counter that the data is critical.

StoryCorps is turning its ear to tell the stories of Black people from Alton. We previewed a virtual event happening this Friday, "Untold Black Stories of Alton" and got a sneak peek at one of the conversation.

Earlier this year, Brittany "Tru" Kellman’s efforts got a big boost: a $1 million grant to train hundreds of doulas in an effort to reduce Missouri's maternal mortality rates and racial disparities. Kellman and her Jamaa Birth Village team are partnering with local nonprofit Generate Health on the three-year project. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Kellman and Generate Health's Kendra Copanas, and we...

This Friday marks 75 years since Winston Churchill delivered the famous "Iron Curtain" speech. Tim Riley of America's National Churchill Museum talks about the significance of that speech and shares details about Churchill's trip to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

Aaron Fowler has found huge success in the contemporary art world. Now he debuts his first solo exhibition in his hometown, N2EXISTENCE: GENESIS, which opens March 6 at the Luminary. Fowler explains how he went from St. Louis' Carr Square neighborhood to the Ivy League, and what it's been like to be back in his hometown for a year's residency.

Co-authors John A. Wright Sr. and John A. Wright Jr. discuss the new, second edition of their book, newly out from Reedy Press, and why the stories of so many notable Black people have been forgotten or concealed.

Paul Mensah, a Black chemical engineer and vice president of Bioprocess Research and Development group at Pfizer in St. Louis, led a team of scientists, engineers and technicians to develop Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The Legal Roundtable discusses developments involving the area's judicial system, including two 8th circuit rulings on qualified immunity for police officers and lawsuits over Missouri's Sunshine law.

André Cataldo of Dear Genre considers his latest album, “Man in Full,” his most “tame and mature” sound. He delves into his musical journey and share tracks from his sixth album.