The Gateway

America needs more renewable energy, and of course it needs food--and those two demands are on a collision course over farmland. Solar power is the fastest growing source of renewable power, but solar farms can take land out of crop production. As Harvest Public Media’s Frank Morris reports, a growing field of study is searching for ways to get calories and kilowatts off the same land.

While the work to get Missouri residents compensated for radiation exposure has gotten lots of attention, an effort to help victims in Venice, Madison and Granite City has largely gone unnoticed. St. Louis Public Radio’s Will Bauer reports on what's being done and who's being impacted.

Galileo’s observations about the solar system made him the father of modern astronomy. They also clashed with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. And in 17th century Italy, spreading scientific facts could earn a death sentence. Opera Theatre of St. Louis is presenting a work about Galileo by the American composer Phillip Glass that opens Saturday. In a report by STLPR's Jeremy Goodwin, Performers Paul Groves and Vanessa Becerra reflect on some key moments in the opera and its continuing relevance.

Precision agriculture has promised to revolutionize farming since the mid-1990s. The idea is to give growers more granular data about their operations and new technology to put that information to use. Some of this has come to pass: farmers have more sophisticated equipment and hard data on how their operations perform. But St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid reports, some of the loftiest promises of precision ag are still out of reach. This reporting is in conjunction with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains - including St. Louis Public Radio.

The right haircut can be hard for anyone to find. Some St. Louis hairdressers understand a good haircut is especially important for transgender clients. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Lauren Brennecke reports, these stylists and barbers are moving toward gender-free terminology and using in-depth consultations.

One of the centerpieces for free public gathering in downtown St. Louis is back open after eight months of renovations. Citygarden, the three-acre sculpture park stretching along the Gateway Mall, is again offering a greener and more peaceful environment than the busy streets and city sidewalks it sits among. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin reports, an opening day party at Citygarden offered a view of the amenity as a colorful hub for city residents and visitors.

A recent report showed child abuse investigators missed warning signs parents were taking fentanyl before their children overdosed. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum explains, the report is prompting sharp questions about why Missouri’s Children’s Division isn’t using a process to steer parents into rehabilitation programs.

Missouri’s Department of Conservation has a new director. Jason Sumners, a former deputy director of the department, is taking the reins from Sara Parker Pauley who stepped down after 30 years. St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Kellogg spoke with Sumners about how conservation work has changed over the years and his goals for the department.

Staffing at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department dropped by about a third since 2014. There’s a backlog of DNA samples linked to homicides, and the homicide squad grappled for resources as murders in the city spiked. Our investigation with APM Reports and The Marshall Project has found that one reason police failed to solve more than 1,000 homicides in the city over the last 10 years is a lack of resources. Tom Scheck with APM Reports, spent a lot of time digging into the finances of the SLMPD’s homicide squad. He spoke to St. Louis Public Radio's Rachel Lippmann about the findings.

We’ve been reporting this week on the difficulty the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department had with solving homicides between 2014 and 2023. Reporting by St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports and the Marshall Project found that the department kept detectives in the unit even after a supervisor claimed they repeatedly failed to perform basic investigative tasks. St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann has more of the investigation’s finding.

This week, we’re taking a look at how the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department handles homicide investigations. An investigation by St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports, and The Marshall Project found there were roughly 1,000 unsolved homicides involving Black victims over the last 10 years. Tom Scheck takes us to a stretch of road in north St. Louis where Black families rarely see justice.

There were more than 1,900 murders in St. Louis between 2014 and 2023, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has failed to solve more than 1,000 of them. That means thousands of family members and friends do not have answers from police about the violent death of their loved ones. Rachel Lippmann has the story, part of an investigation into the city’s homicide clearance rates by St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports and the Marshall Project.

Researchers at University of Missouri St. Louis are listening to cicadas with the help of area residents to better understand where the bugs that have emerged this summer are, and where they aren't.

So far, 2024 is one of Missouri’s most active tornado seasons on record. The St. Louis region has been especially stormy, which means meteorologists at the local National Weather Service are busy. St. Louis Public Radio’s Kate Grumke spoke with Ben Herzog, the Science and Operations Manager at the National Weather Service St. Louis. They talked about what goes into tornado warnings and how they are changing.

Dr. Suzanne Saueressig was known for transforming veterinary medicine in the St. Louis region. She helped stabilize a struggling Humane Society of Missouri clinic in the 1950s and 60s despite resistance from her colleagues in a then heavily male dominated field. St. Louis Public Radio’s Marissanne Lewis-Thompson spoke with Andy Primm at the Missouri History Museum about Saueressig and how she became the state’s first practicing female veterinarian.

Having a baby is expensive. But the growing cost of medical debt related to giving birth is becoming one of the largest part of those bills. KFF Health News has the story of one Illinois family and the medical bills that piled up after their daughter was born.

Organizers of a night of LGBTQ solidarity in Chesterfield on Saturday are touting it as a first-of-its kind event. The Gay-la will feature music, dancing, and many of St. Louis’s top drag performers. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin spoke with Greg Coleman, who will host as drag queen Karma T. Cassidy, about what drew him to drag, why nights like this matter, and how he hopes to get the audience on their feet outside the venue, too.

A new study at Washington University is examining how yearly vaccines for COVID-19 affect someone’s ability to fight the virus. So far, the data suggest people who receive repeated COVID-19 vaccines don’t lose their ability to fight the virus. WashU infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Diamond talked to St. Louis On The Air Host Elaine Cha about his research.

Researchers have spent the past two years on the Mississippi River between Hamilton, Illinois, and Keokuk, Iowa, studying whether underwater acoustic systems will deter invasive carp. Halfway through the study, the results are promising. Reporter Eleanor Lindenmayer spoke with the two lead scientists about how it works and why it matters.

It’s spring, and most of us have rolled out the lawn mower at least a few times by now. But in the United States, there’s an ongoing debate over the traditional turfgrass yard. Harvest Public Media contributor Teresa Homsi explains how lawns became the default in American communities - and how a push for more environmentally-conscious options could change the landscape of our neighborhoods.