St. Louis on the Air

Peter Sagal is no stranger to St. Louis. The host of NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” has hosted the show here — and he’s also run through the streets of downtown St. Louis in his underwear and feathered wings while holding a bow and arrow. Sagal returns to St. Louis this Friday for a solo show at the Sheldon. In this episode, he discusses his experiences as the longtime host of “Wait Wait,” what h...

It's not a sign of a lavish lifestyle to have diapers and period products, but Missouri taxes those necessities at the same rate as jewelry and sports cars. The impact of that tax falls on the poorest families. St. Louis Diaper Bank executive director Muriel Smith discusses legislative efforts to lower the tax rate and how the Diaper Bank works with a coalition of partners across the state to help...

Results from recent polling suggest that there’s enough political will to end the practice of switching between daylight saving time and standard time every spring and fall. But Americans remain divided on which schedule to stick with. Washington University biologist Erik Herzog believes that permanent standard time is more beneficial to human health. Alongside St. Louis University political scien...

As Missouri Senate Majority Leader, Cindy O’Laughlin has a front row seat to the factionalism of the General Assembly’s upper chamber. During a wide-ranging interview on The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, O’Laughlin discusses the brunt of criticism from the Missouri Freedom Caucus, the need to reauthorize the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, initiative petition reform and more....

Last year, St. Louis Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier unveiled legislation known as an Unhoused Bill of Rights. The bill included a lot of different ideas — including the creation of intentional encampments and restrictions on when city officials can break up encampments. But the legislation faced a rash of criticism, including from St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. Sonnier shelved that legislation, and on...

For many years, Washington University has portrayed one of its founders, William Greenleaf Eliot, as an abolitionist. But, in 2021, a group of students and faculty released findings that disproved that notion and even showed Eliot was vehemently opposed to abolitionism. Three years later, the university has now established a Naming Review Board that gives people the opportunity to challenge the na...

Metro East sound engineer Bob Heil built sound systems and equipment that influenced the development of live concert sound in the 1970s and ‘80s, and show up in music produced across genres through today. Heil died on February 28, 2024. We talk with Peter Palermo, executive director of the Sheldon Arts Foundation, about Heil’s legacy.

Only 10% of domestic violence victims report their abuser, and of those who do file for orders of protection, only 20-25% are granted the order. Mike Burton knows the real-life implications of these statistics well. As a St. Louis County Circuit Judge, he oversaw countless domestic violence cases — and in doing so, became aware of the many flaws in the system that lead to abusers not being held ac...

On Feb. 7, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion to vacate Chris Dunn’s murder conviction. “The eyewitness recantations alone are enough to show clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence in this case,” Gore said. In an interview from prison, Dunn reflects on what this development means in his decades-long effort to prove his innocence. Also joining the conversation are Dunn's...

Since the early 2000s, healthcare systems have used technology originally made for law enforcement to combat misuse of prescription meds — yet the opioid epidemic continues to worsen. SLU Associate Professor Liz Chiarello discusses how prescription drug monitoring programs lead to an increase in overdose rates and how such surveillance systems threaten patient privacy.

Colin Murphy, co-founder of Boom Magazine — a queer publication focusing on the bi-state region — has died after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 53 years old. He is remembered for his positivity and mentorship despite the adversity he faced as a gay man with HIV as well as his passion for providing a news platform by and for queer people in the bi-state region.

In 2009, revelations of sexual abuse at one of the largest Christian camps in the country rocked the Branson-based Kanakuk camp. Now, a community of survivors and their supporters are building a path to change — including backing a proposed bill to expand the state’s statute of limitations. To discuss the ongoing legacy, and reckoning, around Kanakuk and Missouri law, we talk with journalist Nancy...

Hundreds of entrepreneurs from St. Louis and beyond apply for the Arch Grants Startup Competition each year, in the hopes of securing a $75,000 grant. The stakes are high, but a free mentorship program at the Olin Business School at Washington University is giving founders valuable feedback to help take their application to the next level.

Moving to a new place comes with a great deal more than an address change. For those who pack up their lives to move to an entirely new country, adjusting to language, systems, and culture that’s very different from what they’ve known can be difficult and lonely. The St. Louis Mosaic Project’s International Mentoring Program pairs immigrants with St. Louisans in order to promote networking opportu...

A case that began with a Missouri prison guard suing the state for workplace discrimination has “concerned” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The problem: The possibility that religious people who view homosexuality as a sin will be “labeled as bigots and treated as such.” Attorneys Erin Lueker, Connie McFarland-Butler and Bill Freivogel dive into Alito’s concerns, as well as the art of jur...

Dr. Travis Threats is a professor and chair of St. Louis University’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. He’s also the grandson of Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter, parents who dared to force Mississippi to recognize the injustice of the state’s “freedom of choice” in 1965 — one year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. He shares how his grandparents’ fight inspires his work t...

STLPR politics editor Fred Ehrlich, in 2022, wrote a memoir about his life with dogs. A few weeks ago, he gifted that book to producer Aaron Doerr, who was grieving the loss of his dog, Tallis. In this episode of “St Louis on the Air,” we talk about the close bonds we have with our pets and the healing that comes with saying goodbye.

A Girl Scout troop in St. Louis County made bracelets to raise funds for child war victims in Gaza. Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri told them to stop — or face legal action. The troop’s co-leaders, and one of the scouts, discuss what happened next, why they’ve decided to disband from the organization to create their own group, and their continued efforts to fundraise for the Palestine Children's R...

John Ulett started as a DJ at KSHE-95 in 1976 when he was just 19 years old. He’s never left, and he’s about to begin his 40th full season as the Cardinals’ PA announcer at Busch Stadium. Ulett reflects on his long career in his hometown in advance of Thursday evening's event at the Sheldon, “Life, Death & Other Scary Things: An Evening with KSHE-95's John Ulett.”

With a high violent crime rate and claims of inequitable policing in St. Louis, local leaders are questioning the $100,000 per year Chief Robert Tracy receives from local business owners. “Can the criminals get together and pay the chief?” asked one alderwoman. ProPublica reporter Jeremy Kohler talks about his story on the topic.

In the Missouri legislature, 2023 was the year of bills targeting trans people. But there is a bigger picture here: For observers of the national picture, Missouri is a bellwether and a trendsetter. We sit down with two trans journalists to talk about what they’re seeing in Missouri in this movement, and this moment. Joining the discussion is Erin Reed, the author of the newsletter Erin in the Mor...

Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered his annual budget address that outlined his priorities. Among the priorities in the $52.7 billion state spending plan are more money to address the migrant crisis and education, and tax hikes for businesses and for sports bettors. STLPR Metro East reporter Will Bauer discusses Pritzker’s speech, and we include Pritzker’s address in this epis...

St. Louis is in an unusual position of having a lot of extra money — primarily from a settlement from the departure of the St. Louis Rams. City leaders also got more positive news last year with a drop in violent crime. Even with the good news, policymakers still have a lot of work to do to fully address some long-standing problems. In a wide-ranging interview on the Politically Speaking Hour on S...

Like most Illinois Republicans in Springfield, Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said she’s largely skeptical of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $52.7 billion proposed budget. And, Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly are limited in what they can do because they are in the super minority in both chambers. STLPR’s Jason Rosenbaum and Will Bauer talk with Sen. Tracy on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Loui...

Jazz great David Sanborn, a Kirkwood native, got his start playing teen hangouts and clubs around St. Louis. Known for his warm sound on alto saxophone, Sanborn has won acclaim as a solo artist and as a collaborator with a long list of stars in the worlds of jazz, rock and pop. He joins STLPR senior reporter Jeremy D. Goodwin to discuss the lively, mid-century St. Louis jazz scene, the magic of ge...