St. Louis on the Air

As part of his research into human origins for a recent book, Dr. Joshua Swamidass, an associate professor of laboratory and genomic medicine, has looked closely at how race has been defined in recent centuries. "If you go back about 150 years ago in science, and 500 years ago in theology, people have been wondering about this idea of polygenesis,” a long-dominant theory of disparate human origins...

Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent, Jason Rosenbaum, about a third straight weekend of protests in St. Louis, his recent reporting on the firing of Florissant police detective Joshua Smith (after a video of him hitting a man with an SUV sparked outrage throughout the region), and his recent conversation with outgoing Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III.

What’s in a word? The answer is a whole lot when it comes to words such as “race” and “racism.” And contemporary definitions of these terms can vary widely — both in dictionaries and in hearts and minds. Florissant resident Kennedy Mitchum recently grappled with this in an unusual way, and with striking results. After noticing some of her day-to-day associates citing Merriam-Webster’s definition o...

We remember former St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn. He served 38 years with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and served as Chief of Police for Moline Acres. Dorn was shot and killed on June 2nd after responding to an alarm at the pawn shop where he moonlit as a security guard. His death shocked those who knew him here in St. Louis, and those who didn’t across the country. Hundreds...

In 2016, Ed Wheatley retired from his job as an engineer at AT&T. But Wheatley has kept busy — to the point that Reedy Press recently published his third book in as many years. Wheatley’s “Baseball in St. Louis: From Little Leagues to Major Leagues” surveys the city’s rich baseball history, from the Major Leaguers who got their start here to the semi-pro and amateur leagues that flourished for dec...

Corey S. Bradford Sr. chose a tough time to come home to the St. Louis metro. The native St. Louisan took office as president of Harris-Stowe State University on May 4 — an unprecedented time for higher education, which is grappling with both funding shortages due to the economic downturn and complications from the coronavirus. In this interview, he talks with Sarah Fenske about his career in high...

St. Louis-based nonprofit Duo Dogs has placed trained service dogs with clients in 38 states, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom. Their dogs are taught a wide range of skills that make them the perfect assistant for people who have trouble getting around or have hearing disabilities. In this episode, we learn about how the organization trains their puppies to become the ultimate companion to...

The death of George Floyd has not just sparked action to protest against police brutality, but it’s also led to more conversations about how to support and uplift black Americans. Anti-racism books are selling out and topping best-seller lists, while infographics about how to best support local black-owned businesses are filling social media feeds. LaShell Eikerenkoetter, also known as Ohun Ashe,...

Alex Lindley and Danny Kerth are among the St. Louisans affected by suicide; they’ve each lost friends and family to it, including their mutual friend Ryan Candice. After Candice’s death in 2014, Lindley and Kerth started Project Wake Up — a nonprofit organization working to destigmatize mental illness and suicide, and raise awareness about providing adequate access to mental health care in the co...

As a professor of political science at Washington University, Clarissa Rile Hayward had a front-row seat for the protests and disruption that followed the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. She paid attention as activists blocked highways, demonstrated at a symphony performance and even interrupted brunch at fancy restaurants to agitate for the Black Lives Matter movement. And she found h...

Three years ago, a Tennessee man made a wrong turn and ended up lost in rural Missouri. The man, Tory Sanders, sought help from local law enforcement — only to end up dead in a Mississippi County jail cell eight hours later. Two top jail officials reportedly pressed down on Sanders' neck for more than three minutes even as a colleague urged them repeatedly to ease up. Then-Missouri Attorney Genera...

For Dr. Sameer Vohra and his colleagues, a focus on improving the lives of people in southern and central Illinois has long been at the heart of their work. But now, in the age of COVID-19, the urgency of their mission is more obvious than ever. Vohra leads SIU School of Medicine's Department of Population Science and Policy as its founding chair, and the coronavirus pandemic has magnified many of...

Quincy, Illinois, is among the thousands of cities across the country where demonstrations against police brutality have taken place in the past two weeks. Illinois’ Gem City has a population of about 40,000, with nearby Hannibal adding another 17,000. Jessica Benton and Michelle Renee Houston are longtime Quincy residents. They’re among the community members taking action in their own ways to rai...

Data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that, as of May 31, 253 Missouri nursing home residents had died of COVID-19. That’s about a third of the state’s 771 deaths. Marjorie Moore, executive director of VOYCE, an advocacy group for those in assisted living or nursing homes, joins to talk about what that figure says to her and the changes she would like to see moving...

Most people have become uncomfortable navigating public life in the months since the new coronavirus hit, but things are even more difficult for those who experience the world differently than the majority, like those with blindness or those who are deaf. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with Nick Silver, who is almost completely blind, and Colleen Burdiss, who is hard of hearing, about ho...

In many cases, real estate transactions are a happy occasion. First-time homebuyers smile and hold up keys. Families move from one locale to another and begin exciting new chapters. But for others, selling or buying a home can be an enormous headache that’s just one part of a bigger mess: a divorce. And with the COVID-19 crisis, some lawyers have reported an increase in inquiries from people think...

Protests against police brutality continue to fill the streets of St. Louis, its suburbs and even the small towns of rural Illinois and Missouri. On Sunday, thousands braved brutal temperatures to march at St. Louis City Hall. St. Louis Public Radio’s Kayla Drake joins Sarah Fenske to share the latest on the movement that began in Ferguson and now has the world on the march.

In the past week, protests against police brutality have filled the streets of St. Charles, O’Fallon, Kirkwood, Frontenac and more. In this episode, we explore the movement’s potential to lead to meaningful reform, as well as what will it take for all of St. Louis to affirm that black lives matter. Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio political editor, Fred Erlich, reporter Jonathan Ahl,...

Theater and restaurant workers have taken huge economic hits lately, and back before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Anna Blair was a busy member of both industries as an actor and bartender. Now theaters are closed, and restaurants and bars are seeing little traffic. But after experiencing some initial deep worry, Blair came up with an idea for how she wanted to spend her time during this crisis. S...

Vanessa Garry is passionate about preparing aspiring administrators to lead today’s schools. As an assistant professor of educator preparation and leadership at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she often finds herself looking to the past for some of the most important lessons she teaches. That history is not always easy to grapple with, and Garry knows its ugliness better than most. The Misso...

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost everyone, but the epidemic poses unique challenges to children in foster care. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Rita Soronen, CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption,about the unique challenges facing kids in foster care right now. Also joining the conversation is t. Louis-based foster care recruiter Edna Green, who recently helped in the adoption of th...

Jermar Perry and Bryant Antoine are social workers and friends. They graduated together from St. Louis University's Master of Social Work program in May 2019. Since then, the like-minded duo have launched an initiative aimed at what they say is their “life’s purpose” — helping men of color gain access to mental health resources. Perry and Antoine are the facilitators of the Village Healing and Wri...

Seventeen-year-old Jalen Thompson and his friends Ryan Staples, Joseph Bartholomew and Ryan Fetsch had barely wrapped up their senior year at Fort Zumwalt West High School when protests against police brutality flared up across the country, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Thompson and his friends wanted to seize the moment and find a way to galvanize their suburban community o...

Last year, a report published in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology surveying low-income women in St. Louis found that nearly two-thirds of them can’t always afford pads or tampons — often resorting to rags, diapers or paper towels. According to Laurel Segrist, program manager for the St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies, such “period poverty” in the region is still as pressing of an...

When Heather Mitchell saw those viral Lake of the Ozarks images of not-so-socially-distanced partying over Memorial Day weekend, she felt concern and frustration — like many people. But she also saw the situation as a clear example of the various ways humans respond when new information conflicts with previously held beliefs. Mitchell is an associate professor of psychology at Webster University,...