Despite its ever-present vastness along the Missouri-Illinois border, the Mississippi River is easy for locals to take for granted. And all too often, residents completely avoid the river. It’s one thing to drive above it on a highway or eat a meal at a restaurant overlooking the water; relatively few actually travel its meandering length. But the people behind Big Muddy Adventures are aiming to change that, one canoe trip at a time. Host Sarah Fenske talks with the company’s founder and lead guide, Mike Clark, who is better known as “Muddy Mike," and Roo Yawitz, general manager of Big Muddy Adventures. And, producer Evie Hemphill talks with some enthusiastic recent canoe passengers.
Every city has its nightmare intersections, and many residents could likely cite a personal nemesis or two. In the greater St. Louis area, the crossroads of North Grand Boulevard and Interstate 64 in Grand Center, and Eager and Hanley in Brentwood, may well come to mind among other notoriously tricky traffic spots. Frequently stressful for drivers and non-drivers alike, these sections of public infrastructure can seem like a permanent fixture of civic life, along with the honking, confusion and rage they trigger. But change can sometimes happen. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske takes a closer look at some of the region’s worst intersections – and discusses how planners work to address trouble spots in an age of crumbling infrastructure across the U.S. The conversation also touches on what residents can do to help address problematic roads and contribute to smoother, safer streets for all. Joining the discussion are Scott Ogilvie, who is a transportation policy planner for the City of St. Louis, and Kea Wilson, a St. Louis-based communications manager for Strong Towns.
On July 30, St. Louis gained a new resident — Tobias, the Somali wild ass. His birth is special, since he is part of a subspecies that is both critically endangered in the wild and underrepresented in zoos nationwide. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks with Tim Thier, the acting curator of antelope at Saint Louis Zoo, about the Somali wild ass and the zoo's conservation efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Andrea Henderson about how a group of local residents doing their part to remember the first slaves brought to the English colonies four hundred years ago this month.
Earlier this week, members of the Missouri Botanical Garden horticulture staff returned from a research trip in the Central Asia country of Kyrgyzstan. Host Sarah Fenske talks to Megan Engelhardt, manager of the Botanical Garden's Seed Bank, and horticulturist Dave Gunn, about how the staff went about bringing seeds back to add to the Botanical Garden’s seed bank to propagate.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with renowned St. Louis chef Gerard Craft about his battles with anxiety, and the way rankings and awards wreaked havoc with his well-being.
The XFL is a planned professional U.S. football league with the mission of reimagining America’s favorite sport. The league originally debuted in 2001, and only lasted one season. XFL games are set to begin again in February 2020. The St. Louis BattleHawks were one of the league’s eight teams announced this week. In this interview, Sarah Fenske learns about the XFL resurgence by talking with the BattleHawks team president, Kurt Hunzeker.
Thousands of people in the St. Louis region depend on Metro Transit’s 83 total MetroBus routes and 46 miles of MetroLink tracks to get where they need to go every day. But on Monday, many of those transit users were left waiting at their usual stops for many minutes, some even for hours, as expected public transportation vehicles did not arrive. The transit agency cited a driver shortage early Monday as the cause of the delays, putting out a statement that read, in part, “Due to an unusually high number of MetroBus operators already calling off work and declining to work extra assignments, we anticipate that we will not be in position to deliver the normally high quality service the region has come to expect every day.” In this episode, host Sarah Fenske hears from riders who ran into snafus on Monday – and also talks with Catina Wilson, vice president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788, and St. Louis Public Radio digital reporter Kae Petrin.
For more than a year, city officials and an army of consultants have been exploring the possibility of leasing St. Louis Lambert International Airport to a private entity. Host Sarah Fenske explores where things stand with leasing the city’s largest public asset alongside St. Louis Public Radio reporter Corinne Ruff and Alderwoman Cara Spencer, D-20th Ward.
In this segment, we mark National Senior Citizens Day by talking with Vanessa Woods, who teaches ballet classes to seniors in assisted living facilities.
Last Friday, local theater veteran Linda Kennedy died after battling cancer. She was 68 years old. In this episode of the show, host Sarah Fenske talks with Ron Himes, founder and producing director of the Black Rep, where Kennedy performed many of her greatest roles.
Host Sarah Fenske delves into the latest news surrounding plans for a Major League Soccer team in St. Louis. Joining the discussion are Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia, whose 6th Ward encompasses the west downtown area where the proposed stadium would sit; “St. Louligan” Stu Hultgren, a south St. Louis resident and avid local soccer fan; and “Mr. Soccer” Bill McDermott, St. Louis University’s longtime men’s soccer game announcer. The conversation also includes questions from listeners and their wide-ranging opinions on what the new team ought to be named.
St. Louis’ literary community lost one of its most influential members, Lorin Cuoco, 64, earlier this month. The longtime editor and poet passed away at her University City home Aug. 8 after a long illness, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Cuoco is perhaps best known for her work alongside the late novelist William Gass, a dear friend and collaborator. Together they founded and oversaw Washington University’s International Writers Center (now the Center for the Humanities), and she edited multiple books with Gass. She was also a force for the St. Louis Poetry Center, the River Styx literary organization and other local efforts to raise the profile of St. Louis’ literary scene. On top of all that, she was an accomplished radio professional. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske discusses Cuoco’s life and legacy with two people who observed her influence firsthand: Mary Edwards and Joel Minor. Remembrances from multiple listeners are also included.
Host Sarah Fenske explored how and why people start their own pop-ups, and how patrons can find out about them for the latest Sound Bites segment with Sauce Magazine. Joining the program were Sauce managing editor Heather Hughes – and pop-up owners Chelsie Hellige of Spirit House and Steven Pursley of Ramen x Rui.
A U.S. District Court recently ruled that the Missouri Parole Board has been violating the U.S. and Missouri constitutions in its handling of cases involving juvenile offenders. In this interview, host Sarah Fenske talks with the director of the MacArthur Justice Center, Amy Breihan, about the ways Breihan feels the parole board has failed to comply with state and federal law in its handling of cases involving young people who were originally given mandatory life sentences without parole.
Legal experts Bill Freivogel, Mark Smith and Lisa Hoppenjans discuss topics including the sentence of former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, a licensing dispute concerning a restaurant on The Hill and the case of a man wearing body armor and carrying a rifle who caused panic at a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri.
More than 430 inmates have overdosed in Missouri prisons since May 2017, and at least five of them have died after taking controlled substances such as heroin, fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids. St. Louis Public Radio’s Shahla Farzan talks with host Sarah Fenske about her recent reporting on the situation.
From its early Lemp Brewery days to the Schlafly era and beyond, St. Louis has earned its reputation as a drinking town. But lately the city is also seeing a nightlife trend that doesn’t involve alcohol at all. Among other beverage and restaurant industry professionals, the people behind WellBeing Brewing, a locally based company that exclusively makes non-alcoholic craft beer, have helped to catalyze the movement. So has the Wellness Council of St. Louis, which is affiliated with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and oversees Sans Bar STL. The inaugural Sans Bar STL event early this year drew about 300 people to Third Degree Glass Factory for a night of music, glass-blowing, tarot card readings and handcrafted alcohol-free drinks. Host Sarah Fenske discusses St. Louis’ growing sobriety scene with Genevieve Barlow, co-founder of WellBeing Brewing; restaurant industry veteran Tom Halaska; and Nichole Dawsey, executive director of NCADA.
St. Louis Public Schools has lost four children to gun violence over summer break, including the most recent death of Xavier Usanga, an incoming second-grader at Clay Elementary, who was shot and killed on Monday. In this St. Louis on the Air episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with school officials about the ways their districts are helping St. Louis kids cope with a long, violent summer.
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