St. Louis on the Air

NPR correspondent Brian Mann was involved in a violent car crash while covering the war in Ukraine last year. The driver of his military vehicle lost control while trying to evade Russian surveillance. Mann broke his leg but expects to make a full recovery. He also wants to go back to cover the conflict and to talk more with the Ukrainian people. Last month, STLPR’s Rod Milam talked with Mann abou...

As the Metro Trans Umbrella Group approaches their tenth anniversary, they embark on a multi-year plan to develop and implement a community needs assessment for the greater St. Louis region. Interim executive director Michaela Joy Kraemer explains how a community needs assessment will improve their work, and talks about the other social issues the organization plans to address in the coming year.

Missouri gave Rev. Darryl Gray unprecedented access to death row inmate Kevin Johnson. Gray served as his spiritual advisor, even holding Johnson’s shoulder as the lethal injection was administered on November 29. Gray discusses his observations from this unusual connection, what he learned from Johnson’s faith, and what it means to find yourself within a system that you believe should be abolishe...

Educators today face a myriad of challenges that have affected teacher recruitment and retention. Ferguson-Florissant School District language arts teacher Kem Smith has responded by sharing advice to fellow educators — from how to accurately and appropriately teach U.S. history to how the pandemic has affected the ways students learn and teachers teach with her column, ‘After the Bell.’

Steven Pursley discusses his experience reconnecting with his roots in Japan, what he learned about the different types of ramen during his time there, and what it’s been like to launch Menya Rui in St. Louis over the past year.

In 2022, we said goodbye to a number of remarkable people who lived and worked in the St. Louis region. In this episode, we honor those we lost this year by listening back to conversations with them or by hearing from those who knew them well.

“Neuro Blooms,” a community art exhibition on Cherokee St. in St. Louis brings visibility and awareness to neurodiversity. Artists Con Christeson and Bonita “Bo” Owen share how the project helps break stigma and invites people to talk more openly about mental health.

“In 1998, I nearly lost custody of my three young children. It wasn’t because I was a bad mother. It was because I’m gay.” So begins a recent essay by in the Huffington Post from former St. Louis Public Radio arts and culture reporter Nancy Fowler. Fowler discusses the wrenching decisions she made during the divorce, how Missouri law equated being gay with being an unfit parent, and why she’s spea...

St. Louis singer/songwriter Mai Lee has been in the performing arts since she was in grade school. She and her family of restaurateurs joke that the debut album, ‘FRIENDZ’ is 20 years in the making. In this conversation Mai Lee shares how her friends, family, and St. Louis shaped her music and who she is as an artist.

On December 8, recreational cannabis became legal in Missouri. But the stakes are far higher than adults buying legal weed. The law enacted a provision for "automatic expungement" of nonviolent marijuana convictions from criminal records, but there are concerns about the process and its stated deadlines. To discuss what comes next for legal weed in Missouri, we hear from Legal Missouri campaign di...

What’s next for Lamar Johnson’s attempt to overturn his 1995 murder conviction? And who really owns the Fabulous Fox Theater? What’s the latest on Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s deposition of Dr. Anthony Fauci? Those cases, and more, are tackled by our Legal Roundtable, with attorneys Booker T. Shaw, Sarah Swatosh and Dave Roland.

St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams has led the district through some major changes during his 14 years in the position. The district became fully accredited, returned to a locally-elected school board and passed two major bond measures, including a $160 million measure approved in August that funds school repairs and improvements. Adams reflects on his career, and where SLPS is h...

The St. Louis nonprofit Doorways has spent decades connecting people living with HIV/AIDS with housing. The organization recently moved into a headquarters on its $40 million campus on Jefferson Avenue. Doorways President and CEO Opal Jones discusses the group’s strategy that prioritizes connecting people with housing while also stabilizing their health. Cory McCormick, a Doorways program particip...

Missouri has killed 93 men since 1976. Amber McLaughlin, a convicted murderer, could be its first woman. But Amber's story goes deeper than her crime. Jessica Hicklin met Amber while both were incarcerated. In 2018, Jessica won a landmark transgender-rights case in a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections, allowing her and other trans inmates, like Amber, access to hormone therapy....

A documentary about Bosnians who took refuge in St. Louis during the Bosnian War, “A New Home,” can now be streamed on Amazon Prime Video. We spoke with the film’s director Joseph Puleo as well as two Bosnians featured in the film, Nejla Mustafic and Nedim Ramic, about their experiences.

New basketball courts are scheduled to make their debut next year in St. Louis’ two largest parks: Forest Park and Tower Grove Park. In Forest Park, development progress has been slow because of efforts to get as much community input as possible. Their next advisory board meeting is set for December 15. In this encore episode, producer Miya Norfleet talks with St. Louisans and park leadership abou...

This week, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has been making its case to overturn the conviction of Lamar Johnson. Johnson has spent the last 28 years serving a life sentence for murder – and was sent there by the same prosecutor’s office that’s now working to exonerate him. St. Louis Public Radio justice reporter Rachel Lippmann breaks down the case, and the story behind what one attorney h...

Sauce Magazine Executive Editor Meera Nagarajan shares her team’s picks for best new restaurants of 2022, as well as recommendations for holiday-themed pop-up bars in the St. Louis region.

St. Louis natives Brian Owens and Sophia Stephens joined forces in 2020 to release “A New Holiday,” a Christmas movie that features a little girl celebrating her first Christmas without her beloved grandmother. The movie is inspired by the life of local philanthropist, Thelma Steward, wife of David Steward, founder of World Wide Technology, and his mother, Dorothy Steward, who passed away in July...

Conservation geneticist Christy Edwards never expected to use her knowledge of plant phenotyping to help solve a murder. The experience seemed more akin to a script of “Law and Order” or “CSI”: A young wife and new mother disappears, the investigators suspect her husband of foul play, and they just need the evidence to prove it. Instead of blood, mud and juniper needles become the focus — and Edwa...

Sports historian Ed Wheatley shares stories from his latest book, “St. Louis Sports Memories: Forgotten Teams and Moments from America’s Best Sports Town.”

Mixologists share tips for making low- and zero-proof drinks that are balanced and complex.

Podcast Description: The Amazon warehouse where six employees died in a tornado a year ago Saturday is nearly rebuilt. The plans don’t include installing a tornado shelter. Instead, Amazon says they're taking other steps to keep employees safe such as training them on how to respond to extreme weather, and it hired a meteorologist. STLPR’s Metro East reporter Will Bauer discusses this story.

Kohn’s Kosher Meat and Deli is an institution in St. Louis’ food scene. Yet, earlier this year news of the store going up for sale triggered many to worry that the beloved deli could be in danger of closing for good. As it turns out, Kohn’s isn’t going anywhere — and it’s keeping its original name. St. Louis chef A.J. Moll discusses his love for Kohn’s, how he became its new operator and part-owne...

Scott Air Force Base in the Metro East plays a critical role internationally, housing U.S. Transportation Command, which is one of 11 unified combatant commands. TRANSCOM is responsible for the logistical movement of troops and supplies for the country’s military. The command’s role has been on display recently, coordinating and delivering supplies for the war in Ukraine. STLPR reporter Eric Schmi...