STL on the Air 📻

Dr. Alex Garza discusses again leading the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force after his deployment in Kuwait and shares lessons he learned overseas.

A new law in St. Louis basically extends the possession rights enjoyed by medical marijuana card holders to everyone. Alderman Bret Narayan explains the bill’s genesis — and why it’s not yet legalization.

Shayn Prapaisilp is a lifelong St. Louisan. But as an Asian American, he’s still regularly asked where he’s “really” from. In this episode, he fires back with his answer.

All-girl punk band the Welders burst onto the St. Louis music scene in the 1970s. But their work never made it to vinyl — until now. Host Sarah Fenske sits down with three of the founding members of the band.

St. Louis University music professor Stephanie Tennill explains how she invented VocalEase, a mask now being used by top opera singers — and why it’s being manufactured right here in St. Louis.

Tom Wiley, who lost his late wife to breast cancer in 2016, started The December 5th Fund to provide sweet memories and home-related help to other families in the midst of hard journeys. Now, the St. Louis nonprofit is expanding its efforts into southern Illinois.

Clever Real Estate is growing fast by disrupting how real estate agents are found — and how much they get paid. Co-founder Luke Babich explains why St. Louis is a perfect place to grow the business.

Becky Sucher, senior manager of living collections, discusses a conservation effort involving the garden’s horticulturists — and some 17,000 seeds from the Appalachian Mountains.

Becky Sucher, senior manager of living collections, discusses a conservation effort involving the garden’s horticulturists — and some 17,000 seeds from the Appalachian Mountains.

After Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent school districts around the state cease-and-desist letters about their COVID-19 precautions, Joe Hatley sent his own letter back, on behalf of a Lee’s Summit school district. Hatley explains why Schmitt’s opinion is wrong in his view.

Santa takes many forms this holiday season. St. Louis’ own "Cocoa Santa,” hip-hop Santa and the St. Louis Aquarium's "Scuba Claus” share their perspectives on the role of a lifetime.

Sauce Magazine Executive Editor Meera Nagarajan digs into why nine new restaurants earned rave reviews from Sauce staff.

Fossil hunter Guy Darrough discusses how recent new discoveries have changed our understanding of Missouri’s state dinosaur, Parrosaurus missouriensis, and what its excavation site in Bollinger County tells us about Missouri’s ancient past.

On Friday night, an EF-3 tornado tore through an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, killing six people. Another tornado killed a woman in Defiance, Missouri. STLPR Correspondent Jonathan Ahl talks about the disasters and the questions that remain unanswered.

As high school students, Shreya and Saffron Patel set out to help their grandmother – and ended up founding the nonprofit Letters Against Isolation, which has helped senior citizens around the world. Wash U sophomore Shreya Patel discusses the organization’s big reach.

Dr. Dale Anderson created a free app for those struggling with mental health in the pandemic. He believes even small doses of cognitive behavioral therapy can get people to a healthier place.

St. Louis Art Place Initiative hopes to help 20 artists purchase homes in a four-block area of the city’s Gravois Park neighborhood. Operations director Kaveh Razani explains how the program works and what it hopes to do for artists, and the Cherokee Street area, as housing costs escalate.

Author Mark Kruger (“The St. Louis Commune of 1877”) describes how the railroad strike of 1877 became a much broader strike in St. Louis, basically shutting down all commerce in the city — and how communists took control of the city.

The International Institute of St. Louis is overwhelmed trying to resettle more than 300 Afghan refugees and turning to other nonprofits for help.

Lydia Caesar has found a home in the St. Louis music scene. Her new EP tells listeners not to settle or sacrifice themselves in relationships, but to strive for something monumental.