Aggregator

Host Don Marsh talks to St. Louis County assessor Jake Zimmerman about the recent rise in property values in the county, and the potential impact on property taxes.

Host Don Marsh talks with science reporter Eli Chen in light of proposed changes to Missouri's regulations on coal ash contamination.

Many of St. Louis' known – and not-so-known – performers are included in a big pictorial history of St. Louis and its music, titled “St. Louis Sound: An Illustrated Timeline.” It also goes beyond the men and women who made and wrote the music; it includes the disc jockeys who promoted it, the record stores that sold it and the venues where musicians performed in. Host Don Marsh talks with the authors of the book, Steve Pick and Amanda Doyle.

The discussion touches on regional matters including pretrial detention at the St. Louis' medium-security Workhouse, the latest news surrounding the Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office and the police department, and the proposed Missouri legislation that would change Title IX procedures at colleges and universities in the state, among other topics.

It’s been said that life is a cabaret. But what exactly is a cabaret? Ask storyteller and performer Beverly Buck Brennan, and she’ll list three key things: a singer, a piano and someone to play it. “Cabaret also, by definition, is about getting to know the performer personally,” the lifelong St. Louisan says. “It’s not like you’re in a musical or you’re playing a character – you’re just you up there, which I had to learn about … I had to really pull back [from musical-theater training] … and try to mellow out and be really in a conversation with the audience.”

Including Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, the Ozarks is a geographic region known for its mountainous topography, forests and tourism. The region also has a unique culinary history. Host Don Marsh talks to St. Louis native and chef Rob Connoley, the James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef Southwest who is planning to open a restaurant rooted in Ozark cuisine.

Alan Byrd, dean of enrollment at University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Debbie Greenberg, College Bound's director of college counseling, discuss longstanding disparities and ongoing challenges within the college-admissions industry.

The name Terence Blanchard is well known in the worlds of jazz and opera. Host Don Marsh talks with the Academy Award nominee and Grammy Award-winning composer/trumpeter about his latest OSTL commissioned production, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” as well as his work on the recent Spike Lee film, "BlacKkKlansman."

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe joins Politically Speaking to talk about his first few months in office — and some of the issues that his Republican legislative colleagues are dealing with during the 2019 session. Kehoe spent nearly eight years as a state senator representing several Mid-Missouri counties, including Cole. After he became chief executive last year, Gov. Mike Parson appointed Kehoe as lieutenant governor. In many respects, the lieutenant governor’s office doesn’t have a lot of defined duties. The officeholder presides over the Senate and sits on a number of key boards and commissions. But the lieutenant governorship came into greater focus last year when Gov. Eric Greitens became embroiled in scandal.

Host Don Marsh explores alternative forms of voting with David Kimball, professor and Graduate Director of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Some methods include ranked choice, proportional and cumulative voting.

Dogs are often regarded as “man’s best friend,” but to many, they can be so much more. “Superpower Dogs,” a new IMAX film which opens Friday and plays through July at the St. Louis Science Center, shows working dogs all over the world and the ways they are vital – from search and rescue to protecting endangered wildlife.

Host Don Marsh talks with political reporter Jason Rosenbaum in advance of legislators' spring break. Fights over abortion, transportation and finances lie ahead.

March 14 is celebrated nationally as Pi Day in honor of the mathematical constant π. But in St. Louis, the local community acknowledges another aspect of the 314 numerical value – the city itself. For years, locals – especially in the black community – have embraced showing pride for St. Louis through informal gatherings or St. Louis-themed parties and supporting local businesses.

To hear Kitty Ratcliffe tell it, the America’s Center Convention Center in downtown St. Louis has had a good run since it first opened in 1977 – and since it grew bigger with the addition of the Dome in 1995. But now, the president of Explore St. Louis says, the 42-year-old complex needs some major attention – to the tune of $175 million in upgrades and expansion.

Seven years ago, writer and community activist Sylvester Brown founded the Sweet Potato Project in north St. Louis to promote urban farming and provide entrepreneurial skills to underserved youth. Brown’s involvement in the project has now led to his newly released book “When We Listen: Recognizing The Potential of Urban Youth.” He talks with host Don Marsh about his vision for engaging area young people and their impact on the future.

A power plant burns coal to produce electricity. As with any other combustion, ash remains. This ash is typically stored in "ponds" near the plant. What do ponds do? The fill up, they overflow, they leak into groundwater. With coal ash in this flow, toxics like Arsenic, Lead, Molybdenum, Mercury and more get into our water supplies.

                            
LEO, the Labadie Environmental Organization, has been tracking and acting on Missouri coal ash issues for more than 11 years. LEO organizers Patricia Schuba and Janet Dittrich bring to this Earthworms edition research, observations and an urgent request to YOU to weigh in as MO-Dept of Natural Resources develops a plan to present to US EPA.

Groups like LEO across the country are working to hold power plants responsible for cleaning up coal ash ponds, and managing coal combustion waste responsibly. In Missouri, a public comment period through March 28 gives citizens the chance to comment on MO-Dept of Natural Resources proposal to regulate coal ash.

You can sign a LEO petition through March 21.

Check out related coverage by Eli Chen of St. Louis Public Radio.

THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms Green-savvy enineer

Music: Stomp Hat, performed live at KDHX by Matt Flinner

Related Earthworms Conversations: Value of Water Coalition (Oct 2015)

When “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” opens its 2019 North American tour at the Fabulous Fox Theatre Tuesday evening , it will be a bit of a homecoming for stage producer Paul Blake. Blake, who joined host Don Marsh on Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, spent 22 years as executive producer at the Muny.

A study released this week by the National Institutes of Health indicates that nearly one-third of Americans between the ages of 10 and 12 “screened positive for suicide risk in emergency department settings.” Meanwhile, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have been studying even younger children who think and talk about suicide – and their most recent findings refute some conventional wisdom about children’s understanding of what it means to die.

Host Don Marsh discuses a variety of local efforts underway to attract and retain newcomers to the St. Louis region.

Even as an especially wintry winter continues to make itself known across the St. Louis region, spring is more and more on residents’ minds – and will finally be here, at least officially, in less than two weeks. Along with warmer temperatures the new season brings renewed focus on gardening and yardwork. Representatives from the St. Louis Audubon Society, Shaw Nature Reserve and the Missouri Department of Conservation discuss ideas for fostering native habitats and incorporating native plants as part of those efforts.