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The Shelbina Republican talks with STLPR's Jason Rosenbaum and Jonathan Ahl about how the Missouri Senate's women changed the course of a special session around a critical tax that funds Medicaid.

SWADE is officially open in the Delmar Loop from 12 PM to 9 PM at  6166 Delmar Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63112 Their building is gorgeous!  Quite a stunning renovation. They have Elevate Holistics on hand to answer any questions and sign patients up for medcard appointments. Learn more https://swadecannabis.com/delmar/ .

While the pandemic resulted in many Fourth of July events in 2020 being canceled or modified, annual celebrations will return... Read More

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has signed 13 bills that make up the state budget. The move comes after the last-minute approval of a tax to help fund Medicaid and hours before the start of Missouri’s new fiscal year.

The Run for the Hills is back in action in 2021 and now is the perfect time to train!Run the 5k, walk the 1 miler, watch your kids compete in […]

The Legal Roundtable discusses how a former restaurant server ended up on the hook for an $80,000 jury verdict, as well as other legal matters in the news.

Fontbonne University in St. Louis and Quincy University are among the schools launching a new sprint football league. Fontbonne President, Dr. Nancy Blattner is the founding chair of the league’s board of governors and says the sport can boost the entire university.

SLUCare Pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Haller shares what he’s learned about approaching vaccine hesitancy by working with his clients.

Two historians discuss Ninian Edwards' significance to the history of Illinois amid the ongoing efforts in Edwardsville to remove a statue of the city’s namesake.

Fifty years ago today, with the New York Times and the Washington Post tied up in the Supreme Court over whether they could report on the leaked Pentagon Papers, a young Senator named Mike Gravel was taking matters into his own hands.

Gravel had just obtained a second copy of the Pentagon Papers from whistleblower (and, much later, Freedom of the Press Foundation co-founder) Daniel Ellsberg, through a midnight curbside handoff from Ben Bagdikian, an editor and journalist at the Post. In an act of remarkable bravery, Gravel convened a subcommittee meeting, and read from the Papers until one A.M., culminating in an emotional description of the violence of war. He then inserted 4,100 pages of the document into the Congressional Record.

In the morning, the Supreme Court cleared the Times and the Post to continue publishing, in one of the most important press freedom decisions in the court's history.

Gravel took action despite considerable nerves; he reportedly "had not slept for three nights, overwrought with fatigue and fear that he might be headed to prison." But he was also protected by the "Speech or Debate Clause" of the U.S. Constitution, which protects Congress members from arrest or inquiry for statements made on the floor of the House or Senate. Many state constitutions have similar forms of parliamentary immunity.

Still, a Gravel aide faced a subpoena from a federal grand jury empaneled to investigate the Senator's actions. Gravel moved to intervene, and the question of whether the aide could be compelled to testify also made its way to the Supreme Court. In Gravel v. United States, the Court issued a 5-4 opinion holding that Congressional aides and employees enjoy the same legal protection as the legislators themselves.

(The decision also narrowed the Speech or Debate Clause in part, explicitly limiting it to actions "essential to the deliberations" of the legislative body, and thus deeming it did not cover Gravel's transmitting the Papers for private publication. In a powerful dissent to that portion in particular, Justice William O. Douglas argued: "To allow the press further to be cowed by grand jury inquiries and prosecution is to carry the concept of 'abridging' the press to frightening proportions.")

Senator Gravel died this weekend at 91 years old. Without a doubt, his willingness to bring the Pentagon Papers to the public is one shining example that more lawmakers should follow.

But despite the fact that Gravel’s heroic actions in protest of the nation’s broken secrecy system would be his defining legacy, other members of Congress have largely not followed in his footsteps. From the CIA torture program to NSA surveillance to extrajudicial drone strikes, the US government has used the classification system to shield corruption, abuse, and illegal behavior from the American public. In many cases, courts have protected the executive branch from accountability. At the same time, they have harshly punished whistleblowers who come forward to the press.

Members of Congress enjoy a unique broad immunity to expose illegal government programs and lies. And yet, besides Senator Gravel, no one has chosen to use it. We hope in the future, more members of Congress will show the same bravery he did fifty years ago today.

The federal government plans to send more debt relief payments to Black farmers in recognition of how the USDA and local farm credit offices denied generations of people loans and foreclosed on their properties. For many, the money will be too late to reverse the decades of damage caused by discrimination in farming.

IT STARTED AS A DISPUTE over grass clippings. According to local news reports 29-year-old Allen Waller, who lived in the Glasgow Village area of north St. Louis County, got into an argument on June 6 with the men who cut his neighbor’s lawn, over debris they allegedly kept leaving behind. The dispute quickly escalated. Guns […]

Congresswoman Cori Bush's new bill is called the People’s Response Act. It’s a $10 billion package aimed at putting community organizations, social workers and nurses on the front lines of the nation’s mental health crisis — and scaling back the role of law enforcement. She explains why.

Mark Rank of Washington University's Brown School argues that most Americans have an incorrect view of who is poor, and what causes their poverty. He explains what the data says, and what that says about us as a nation

On the heels of the final day of the women’s competition, our Metro East report joins host Sarah Fenske with an update on the results and what this major downtown event meant for the St. Louis region.

Many hemp growers in the Midwest are finding it more difficult than anticipated to sell the crop for industrial uses. That has led to a drop in the number of licenses in at least one state.

Where in an urban space do goats, bees, flexible muscles, resilient spirits, elderflowers, generous hearts, and veg all flourish?

Thanks to farmer and healer human being Janett Lewis, in Spanish Lake, a community in unincorporated North St. Louis County, MO.         

Janett's work through Rustic Roots Sanctuary grew its strong fibers from her Georgia childhood on a family plantation, through work at a Waldorf School "where everything revolves around nature," to hands-on learning of bodywork skills in global cultures. A real estate business decision brought her to Spanish Lake. She stayed to address community needs and "because it's so beautiful and the people are amazing."

Rustic Roots 6.64 acres add urban farming land-wealth to the GROW Spanish Lake community garden, both co-creators with Spanish Lake CDC - with Janett's strong hand in each.

In each of her key roles in Spanish Lake, Janett Lewis draws from her lifetime of experience and commitment to help people feel better. Rustic Roots Sanctuary is a proud member of Known & Grown STL, our regional local food brand and certification program from Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

Thanks to Jenn DeRose and Known & Grown STL for facilitating this edition of Earthworms On The Farm!

Thanks to Earthworms truly verdant engineer, Andy Heaslet - and to Jon Valley and Andy Coco, KDHX Production guys.

Related Earthworms Conversations: One Health for People - Animals - Earth with Dr. Sharon Deem (April 2020)

Tend & Flourish School of Botanicals (Feb 2020)

Building Futures: Kids, Wood, Tools, Design, Future Benefits Now (June 2019)

Rep. Phil Christofanelli of St. Charles County talks with St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum about the passage of Empowerment Savings Accounts, new law surrounding HIV, and special sessions on the FRA and redistricting. This show was recorded on June 24, 2021 while the FRA special session was still going on in the Missouri Senate.

St. Louis on the Air's Evie Hemphill and Paola Rodriguez tagged along to document the feat, which is just the latest stunt the Jackson Pianos crew has undertaken in celebration of Make Music Day STL. That’s part of a global effort held each year on the summer solstice.

What makes a good summer read? For librarians Jennifer Alexander and Jen Ohzourk, it’s a book that is captivating, escapist, and easy to put down and pick back up again later — perhaps after a swim or bike ride. They share their favorites in this episode.