St. Louis on the Air

Chef Rob Connoley’s acclaimed St. Louis restaurant, Bulrush, isn’t just a delicious night out. It’s also a deep dive into the culinary history of the region. The Grand Center eatery takes its inspiration from cuisine in the Ozarks region prior to 1870, before railroads allowed for easy transport of foodstuffs. And, in recent months, the restaurant has doubled down on that exploration. Aided by col...

In St. Louis County, it’s illegal to be a "vagrant." Host Sarah Fenske talks with attorney Bevis Schock — who is challenging the ordinance — and learns about what his client has endured.

Kaldi’s Coffee is a St. Louis company. Other than a few outlets in the Atlanta area, Kaldi’s lacks a physical presence outside Missouri. But in the past year, Kaldi’s co-owner Tricia Zimmer Ferguson has been spending time far from the Midwest — in Rwanda. Ferguson is also working with the nation’s only women’s college, Akilah Institute. A group from Kaldi’s is committed to teaching its students ab...

The director of the St. Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine, Dr. Sharon Deem, wants people to understand just how much human health is dependent on the health of other animals and the environment. The interconnection between people, animals, plants and their shared environment is the main focus of the CDC’s “One Health” movement, in which the St. Louis Zoo is a leader. In this interview,...

Growing up in north St. Louis County, where she was leading choirs by the time she was 12 years old, Maria Ellis remembers thinking about St. Louis Children’s Choirs as “the ultimate vocal group.” But as her alma mater, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, notes in a recent UMSL Daily story about Ellis’ journey, Ellis couldn’t afford to join the SLCC program as a child. She did participate in one...

On the heels of Bi-State Development's meeting where committee members declined to move forward a proposal that the regional transit agency take over trolley operations, St. Louis Public Radio's Kae Petrin joins host Sarah Fenske in studio to talk about it.

In the popular imagination, Cahokia seems to represent a cautionary tale. What today remains only as a series of mounds outside Collinsville, Illinois, used to be a thriving city — bigger than London in the mid-13th century. There may have been as many as 40,000 people living there. Yet in the years that followed, the population faced rapid decline. By 1400, what was a city had become a wasteland....

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is suing the St. Louis Police, a former undergrad is suing Washington University, and across the country, there are thousands of lawsuits against Bayer-Monsanto. Locally, a trial kicks off in St. Louis this week involving Bayer-Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup, as well as one in Cape Girardeau involving Dicamba. In this episode, a panel of legal analysts joins host Sarah...

George Herbert Walker III, better known as Bert, was a St. Louis businessman, philanthropist and former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary. He died Saturday at the age of 88. In this remembrance, we listen back to when Walker came on the show in March 2007.

Host Sarah Fenske learns more about Downtown STL’s process of upgrading the street lights throughout downtown's 360 square blocks. Once completed, St. Louis will become one of the largest smart cities in the U.S., second only to San Diego. Joining the discussion is Downtown STL CEO Missy Kelley and the father-and-son team that helped develop the smart technology: Ted Stegeman, CEO of Labyrinth Tec...

In an age of crumbling infrastructure across the U.S., sidewalks have been no exception to the pattern of decay. The city of St. Louis alone is home to roughly 2,000 miles worth of sidewalks, and both the physical condition and suitability of those streetside pathways vary widely. David Newburger, St. Louis' commissioner on the disabled, is constantly working with colleagues to update sidewalks an...

When news breaks about a dangerous situation, it’s natural to wonder what one might have done in a similar scenario: Tried to help? Been courageous? Perhaps made things worse? Running into burning buildings and shielding others from active shooters may be the sort of dramatic situations that come to mind. But far subtler opportunities to intervene on behalf of fellow humans come up more regularly...

There are roughly 2.8 million people living in Greater St. Louis, many of whom would be surprised to know that they share the space with a good variety of wildlife. The St. Louis Wildlife Project now has four seasons of data that they hope will give insight into how wildlife occupy and utilize the region’s urban spaces. For the past year, they’ve collected images from 34 motion-activated cameras p...

Host Sarah Fenske talks with Fran Caradonna, Schlafly’s CEO, about how St. Louis’ craft scene has changed in the last three decades, Schlafly’s expansion plans and what it’s like being a woman in a field long dominated by men. She's helped position the now 29-year-old brewery in a much-changed beverage landscape.

St. Louis Public Radio morning newscaster and reporter Wayne Pratt joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about all the excitement in the city as the National Hockey League kicks off festivities for this weekend’s all-star tournament. It’s the first time the Blues will host the league’s all-star events since 1988.

In some ways, the concept behind St. Louis Public Library’s Creative Experience makerspace, located at its downtown branch, sounds pretty simple: It’s a space dedicated to creating things. But as makers of all sorts of stuff know, it can be difficult to bring even the best ideas to fruition without the right tools. That’s exactly where Creative Experience comes in — providing studio-quality softwa...

The Commonwealth Project at Harvard University aims to model a new way for universities to engage with social problems through service and collaboration, with a special focus on St. Louis. A half-dozen local artists were selected for its new #IntheCity Visual Arts Fellowship last November. The goal of the program is to provide exposure and resources for up-and-coming artists in the region. Joining...

On this month’s Sound Bites segment, produced in partnership with Sauce Magazine, managing editor Heather Hughes Huff gives an overview of the six up-and-comers the publication chose for its annual "Ones to Watch" feature that highlights local culinary talent. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Hughes Huff as well as featured restaurateurs, Alejandra Fallows and Bailey Schuchmann.

Host Sarah Fenske delves into the Salam Clinic’s impact on the region and the services its first psychiatric clinic will offer. Joining the discussion are cardiologist Dr. Zia Ahmad, founder and medical director of Salam Clinic, and psychologist Dr. Syed Mumtaz, coordinator of the clinic’s Mental Health Services.

Richard Geary is an actor, director and playwright. He frequently portrays the author Mark Twain, using only the words of Sam Clemens himself. Geary owns the Planters Barn Theater in Hannibal, and his 18th season there kicks off this May. This summer’s show is called “Mark Twain for President,” and it focuses on Twain’s satirical runs for the nation’s highest office. Before that, on February 21 an...

During this episode, in light of the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, host Sarah Fenske talks with Lucy Grimshaw, Courtney McDermott and Sha-Lai Williams about how the UMSL tour has influenced their perspective on the civil rights movement — and the connections they see to St. Louis events and issues, both past and present.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with the St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent who has been following this story.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with Mayor Lyda Krewson as the Close the Workhouse campaign relaunches its push surrounding St. Louis’ Minimum Security Institution.

The effort to shutter the city’s workhouse jail got new life this week with the launch of what activists call Close the Workhouse 2.0. Their argument this time isn’t just about poor conditions. It’s about the $10 million the city could save with jail closure. Host Sarah Fenske talks to one of the campaign’s co-founders, Kayla Reed. Also joining the discussion is prosecutor Mary Pat Carl, the forme...

Following Governor Mike Parson's 2020 State of the State address, host Sarah Fenske digs into its main themes and a few surprises with St. Louis Public Radio's Jaclyn Driscoll and Julie O'Donoghue.