St. Louis on the Air

When severe storms tore through the St. Louis area on March 14, local meteorologists played a critical role in keeping residents safe. KMOV First Alert 4 Chief Meteorologist Steve Templeton was on-air for hours, tracking tornadoes and delivering life-saving updates — even as one storm forced him to move to a safer studio. Templeton recounts that intense night, the challenges of broadcasting during...

A Missouri appeals court has dealt a major defeat to ride-sharing app Lyft in the case of a driver who was slain while on the job. The implications of the case could open other tech companies to potentially “billions of dollars in damages,” says attorney Dave Roland, who joins this month’s Legal Roundtable. Roland is joined by attorney Eric Banks and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyc...

Modern agriculture systems systems have helped increase bird flu’s ability to move between wild and domesticated animal populations, and humans, over recent years. That’s according to wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Deem of the St. Louis Zoo, who says that better recognition of how human health is dependent on animal health would go a long way toward limiting the spread of path...

Mother-daughter duo Arika Parr and Ava Johnson talk about the opening night of ‘But What Can You Do?’ play at the Sun Theater. The play is based on the book co-written and published by the duo. Parr and Johnson share the inspiration behind the book and the process of getting the book adapted into a play. Local actress and lead of the play, Aloha Mischeaux, shares how it feels to be a part of the p...

Earlier this month, more than 100 people gathered in a St. Louis church for a legal clinic on powers of attorney. The event was just one example of ways LGBTQ people are confronting an uncertain future regarding their legal rights — including what it would mean for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality. Attorneys Sara Marler and Ramona Gau discuss the current legal landscape and why...

As a boy growing up in a small town outside Champaign, Illinois, Brad Dean recalls being awestruck when his family visited St. Louis on his first vacation. His career journey over the next several decades took him to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and to Puerto Rico. Earlier this month, Dean took the top job at Explore St. Louis, the organization responsible for marketing the region to convention-g...

Robbie Daymond was bitten by the acting bug at a young age. The Warrenton, MO native has gone from the stage to the recording booth, bringing life to animated characters like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Japanese anime fan favorites including “Sailor Moon” and “Jujutsu Kaisen” and a host of video games across several genres. He stars in Netflix’s new animated series “Devil May Cry” which premieres April 3...

After 27 years of incarceration, Bobby Bostic walked out of prison in 2022. Bostic was sentenced to 241 years for a robbery he committed in 1995 at just 16 years old. In the year after gaining his freedom, Bostic continued writing — a passion introduced to him while in prison — and now teaches youth in St. Louis’ juvenile detention centers. In this encore of “St. Louis of the Air,” we revisit host...

The two contenders for St. Louis mayor engaged in an often tense discussion on Tuesday over the city’s immediate and long-term challenges. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Alderwoman Cara Spencer tackled a number of issues during an episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, including clamping down on crime, managing city services, and how to stem population decline in the...

A new invasive tick species was recently found in St. Louis County, with more sightings expected this spring and summer. St. Louis senior scientist Solny Adalsteinsson shares how the longhorned tick may affect our already tick-riddled ecosystems, how to avoid tick bites, and what to do if you’ve been bitten.

As Jurassic beasts roamed the earth, a little weasel-like animal called Morganucodon was making an evolutionary breakthrough in parenting — producing milk to feed her young. Author Cat Bohannon calls this creature Morgie in her 2023 book “Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.” Bohannon discusses the book, and insights from the evolution of Morgie, ahead of an author...

314 Day gets bigger each year in the St. Louis region. While there’s a lot to celebrate and several options of where to party, 2025 also brings a lot of serious matters to the fore. For this 314 day, hip-hop artist and community advocate Kayla “KVTheWriter” Thompson, “Overarching” podcast host and realtor David Lemon, and host of “Voice of the Streets” Dsmoovee Shabazz share what they love about S...

At four years old, Susan Polgar was already playing chess — and winning. At 15, in the mid-1980s, she was already the top-ranked woman in the world. By 1991, she’d become a grandmaster. The former Webster University chess coach discusses her new memoir, “Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster.”

The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of Proposition A, the minimum wage and sick leave law that voters passed with 58% support last November. In this episode, Fran Marion, a longtime fast food restaurant worker, details her support for the measure. Buddy Lahl, CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association, explains his opposition. This story was origi...

In the 19 years St. Louis naturalist Mark H.X. Glenshaw has studied Charles the great horned owl, Charles has fathered 27 owlets with seven mates. This year, Glenshaw was waiting to see if Charles would mate with the new lady owl in Forest Park: a one-year-old owl that Glenshaw named May. He shares what Charles and May have been up to and why their “May-December romance” hasn’t yet come to fruitio...

From tools and materials to varieties of edible and decorative plants, this home gardening conversation offers growers tips for making the most of their yards – and porches and window sills – this spring planting season. Daria McKelvey, home gardening information and outreach supervisor at Missouri Botanical Garden; and Megan Moncure, engagement director for Seed St. Louis, join the show to share...

When organizers of the annual Annie Malone May Day parade in St. Louis announced its cancellation this year, many people — especially in the Black community — were disappointed. Funds for the parade were redirected to support clients who needed shelter and food. But, the outpouring of community support means the parade can forward as planned. The attention also reignited a passion and interest in...

Even after Christopher Dunn won his release from prison in July, Missouri's Attorney General is still trying to put him back. It's just one of the consequences of the unique way Missouri law treats claims of "actual innocence.” We discuss the state of Missouri's innocence laws with Saint Louis University criminologist Kenya Brumfield-Young, as well as attorney Charlie Weiss, who has represented fi...

Less than a week after President Donald Trump promised to crack down on student protests at colleges and universities, he’s pulled funding to Columbia University in New York City — where students engaged in pro-Palestinian protests against the war in Gaza — and praised U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents for arresting a graduate student who is a permanent U.S. resident for his role in thos...

Aaron Malin and attorney Dave Roland have spent a decade in a legal battle to unseal the records of Missouri's drug task forces. These multijurisdictional law enforcement groups can seize vast quantities of drugs, money, and property, but they operate in secrecy. Ten years and many lawsuits later, Malin and Roland are upping the stakes with a motion for civil contempt against the Cole County Prose...

Republican Missouri Rep. Peggy McGaugh wants to allow someone to serve up to 16 years in either the House or the Senate. Currently, most legislators can serve up to eight years in the House and eight in the Senate. McGaugh discusses her proposal on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air. Then, term limits expert Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of Califo...

Some GOP lawmakers have faced angry crowds at town hall meetings, particularly over federal job reductions. That led to one GOP member suggesting an end to in-person town halls. During an appearance on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, agreed saying, “I think that the town halls create a dynamic where only political nutjobs show up.” Bur...

The 2017 slaughterhouse escape of six steers turned "The St. Louis Six" into animal rescue celebrities and inspired an expansion of the California-based nonprofit Gentle Barn to Missouri. Eight years later, the sanctuary’s abrupt closure this past October has left its former volunteers and staff feeling abandoned. An investigation by St. Louis on the Air producer Danny Wicentowski goes inside the...

The broader St. Louis economy would not necessarily be left in turmoil if the Trump administration cuts some of the nearly 26,000 federal employees in the region, but there could be negative trickle-down effects. STLPR Metro East reporter Will Bauer and interim managing editor Jonathan Ahl discuss their reporting on this topic.

When Ron Branstetter created the memecoin Unicorn Fart Dust, he knew he’d learn from the cryptocurrency experiment. He didn’t know that he was building a space for tens of thousands of people to support, connect and learn from one another across the globe. Branstetter discusses the highs and lows of memecoin creation, shares what he’s learned about crypto, and reflects on why the token has amassed...