STL on the Air 📻

More than 400 flower farmers converge in St. Louis this week for the first-ever Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers conference, which is focused on urban flower farming. Miranda Duschack and Mimo Davis of Urban Buds, a flower farm located in Dutchtown, discuss the booming (and blooming) world of urban flower farming.

Are you guilty of bringing home leftovers only to pitch them in the trash days later? If so, you're not alone. The amount of food waste overall in our region equals the weight on nearly 1,000 adult blue whales. — 667,000 tons each year. The Green Dining Alliance and Missouri Botanical Garden partnered to see how much food could avoid landfills with specific techniques and strategies in local restaurants. We talk with people involved with the effort and with the chef/owner of a local restaurant.

Jesuits relied on enslaved labor for their missions in Missouri, including for the founding and sustaining of Saint Louis University. A three year research project uncovered this history. Now, Robin Proudie, a direct descendant, is working to preserve her ancestors' heritage and advocate for their commemoration. Christopher Tinson, chair of SLU’s African American Studies Department, talks about what it’s like to teach this history to his students.

It's been almost a full year since Bobby Bostic walked out of prison on November 9, 2022, overcoming a 241-year sentence for a robbery he committed at 16 in 1995. Bostic has spent his first year free teaching writing classes in three juvenile offender facilities in St. Louis, a mission he wrote about in a Marshall Project essay titled, "Here’s How I Use My Story to Teach Incarcerated Kids That Writing Matters." Bostic was also recently named as one the Kranzberg Arts Foundation 2024 Artists in Residence.

For centuries history has primarily been told from the perspective of white men. What was traditionally considered a “reliable source” has not included the voices of Black people and other people of color. Over the last decade tables have started to turn, and more historians are recognizing there is a lot of work to be done in addressing the interpretation of Black history. Cicely Hunter of the African American History Initiative at the Missouri Historical Society, Pam Sanfilippio of Gateway Arch National Park’s museum services, and Vivian Gibson, author of “The Last Children of Mill Creek” discuss the difficulties faced when attempting to provide inclusive interpretation of American history that spotlights the unique experiences of Black Americans.

German immigrants helped shape Missouri’s culture in myriad ways, as detailed in the book “Explore Missouri's German Heritage” and the documentary it inspired. Author W. Arthur Mehrhoff details the people, places and ideas that influenced the Show-Me State’s cultural heritage.

Since the 2018-2019 school year Hazelwood School District’s investigations into student residency have jumped 8-fold over the last five years. These investigations disrupt students – especially those who face unstable housing – and affect their access to a range of educational and other services mandated by federal law. A joint investigation by the Midwest Newsroom and St. Louis Public Radio published today examines that trend, and its consequences.

Missouri gave Iron County more than $3 million to recover after the devastating December 14, 2005 flood triggered by the bursting of the Taum Sauk reservoir. Today, the money is nearly gone. Its funded projects included a coffee shop and bike park, but they made little impact to repair the damage. Tony Messenger, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, investigated the fund and found that most of the money has gone to insiders. Whistleblower Erich Jett, who worked for the board overseeing the fund, reveals what he saw as early as 2015 that led him to raise an alarm.

The fastest rising hip hop star from St. Louis is arguably Sexyy Red. The northside native is currently on the road performing the “Hood Hottest Princess Tour.” Arts reporter Chad Davis and “St. Louis on the Air” producer Miya Norfleet share their reflections on the rapper’s hometown stop at Chaifetz Arena on October 30.

Abraham Lincoln had political ambitions from a very early age. NPR Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep’s new book, “Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America,” details sixteen interactions with people who differed from him — and who helped him become a savvy politician. The book contains several St. Louis-area connections, including Lincoln’s interactions with Owen Lovejoy of Alton, Joseph Gillespie of Edwardsville, and Jessie Benton Frémont who was in St. Louis at the start of the Civil War.

St. Louis drivers routinely blast through intersections. Is the problem the drivers or is it the infrastructure? We talk about speed humps and other measures being proposed to calm traffic with panelists: St. Louis Community Mobility Committee Co-Chair Liz Kramer; CBB Principal and Transportation Engineer Shawn Leight; and St. Louis Complete Streets Program Manager Scott Ogilvie.

An increased interest in all things spooky means Halloween is right around the corner. Horror films are a perfect way to get into scary mode, but there is room for the genre all times of the year. Alex Rafi, associate professor of media production at St. Louis University, shares what makes horror an important storytelling genre.

Palestinian graduate student Intimaa Abuhelou came to St. Louis University last year to pursue her master's degree. When she last heard from her family in Gaza, they were sheltering at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school. Intimaa shares what she’s heard from her family in Gaza and what it’s like to be in St. Louis during the most recent Israel-Hamas war. (Editor’s note: No one story can capture all perspectives, experiences, or emotions connected to this conflict. If you have a personal connection to what's happening in Israel, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank — and you want to share your experience — send an email to: talk@stlpr.org.)

Missouri House Majority Leader Jon Patterson is slated to become speaker in 2025 — and he’s receiving more attention this week after current House Speaker Dean Plocher became embroiled in a controversy over his expense reimbursements. In the debut episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, STLPR Political Correspondent Jason Rosenbaum talks with Plocher. STLPR statehouse and politics reporter Sarah Kellogg for analysis, and we open up the mailbag to answer listener questions about local government and politics.

More than 35,000 people will be eligible to receive a portion of a $3.1 settlement in St. Ann, a result of litigation filed by civil rights law firm Arch City Defenders. Quentin Thomas describes what it was like to be trapped in a cycle of fines and jail in St. Ann. Maureen Hanlon, a civil litigation staff attorney with Arch City, discusses how St. Ann jailed people solely because they didn't have money to pay for their freedom, and what this settlement means for Arch City's years-long legal campaign against cities with similar practices.

Executives with St. Louis’s Major League Soccer expansion team are hoping the success of a record-setting regular season carries over into the playoffs. St. Louis City SC plays its inaugural postseason match Sunday night at home. STLPR’s Wayne Pratt talks with team President and General Manager Diego Gigliani and Chief Experience Officer Matt Sebek.

Every year, by law, sex offenders in Missouri must post a sign on Halloween that says “no candy or treats at this residence.” But can a law compel someone to erect a sign against their wishes? That question and others are taken up in this month’s edition of St. Louis on the Air’s Legal Roundtable, featuring attorneys Bevis Schock, Connie McFarland-Butler, and Sarah Swatosh. The attorneys also discuss a lawsuit filed against St. Louis-based Mission Taco Joint by the Mission brand of tortillas, a controversial $50,000 campaign donation to Attorney General Andrew Bailey, and the latest news coming from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.

The deadly shooting one year ago at Central Visual Performing Arts High School left many students and teachers to deal with immeasurable grief. STLPR’s Kate Grumke shares how Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience students are processing difficult emotions as they reflect on the upcoming anniversary of the deadly shooting in the school building they share with CVPA. Also, STLPR’s Chad Davis highlights how CVPA artists and alumni have spent the year using art to work through trauma.

In the year since the school shooting on the Central Visual Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience campus, students are finding ways to process their grief, anger and guilt. CVPA alum Raniyah Taylor and Collegiate alumni Axel Cortes and Mikayla Sanders talk about their experience of that tragedy, how they worked to process their trauma as seniors finishing high school, and what they wish people would better understand about their experience.

Keisha Acres’ daughter Alexzandria Bell was killed in the Oct. 24 shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. Abbey Kuczka’s mother, CVPA teacher Jean Kuczka, was also killed in the shooting. Keisha and Abbey share their reflections on grief, trauma and hopes for the future, including their wish for people to take the country’s growing mental health crisis more seriously.