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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.

Host Don Marsh discusses local efforts underway to attract and retain newcomers to the region – and also delve into how transplants can take advantage of the innovation community in St. Louis.

State Rep. Kevin Windham is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast, where the Hillsdale Democrat talked about his first few months as a member of the Missouri House. Windham represents the 85th District, which takes in roughly 20 municipalities in central and north St. Louis County. When he won his seat in 2018, he became the youngest African-American man ever to get elected to the General Assembly’s lower chamber. Windham is a graduate of Southeast MissourI State University. After college, he worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. It’s a similar to path to former state Rep. Stephen Webber, who, like Windham, worked for the Democratic senator before getting elected to the House at the age of 25.

Ninety years ago, daring air races across the U.S. routinely attracted crowds that would dwarf attendance at spectacles such as the Super Bowl today. “I’m talking about a half million people – paying customers – during the Great Depression coming out to watch races over the course of a weekend,” Keith O’Brien said during Friday’s St. Louis on the Air. “An additional half million would watch for free from the hoods of their automobiles parked on nearby highways … in this little window of time, air racing was one of the most popular sports in America.” The pilots vying for the prize were usually men, and the few women pilots were often ridiculed – until they combined forces to break down barriers and make aviation history.

Earlier this week, the local union representing educators who serve in St. Louis Public Schools began arbitration relating to its claims about pay discrepancy within the district. Host Don Marsh led a conversation in light of that news, touching on challenges surrounding teacher compensation as well as other matters.

Host Don Marsh talks with St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger about the state of the county and recent news concerning the region.

Retired astronaut and U.S. Air Force officer Catherine “Cady” Coleman is among very few people who have lived in space. But during a visit to St. Louis last month, she came across as equally excited about life on earth – especially because of her interactions with some accomplished high school students. Thursday’s "St. Louis on the Air" included a conversation with Coleman as well as comments from two Gold Award Girl Scouts, 17-year-old Molly Frei and 16-year-old Lilly Orskog, whom Coleman came to town to help celebrate alongside the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.

A 2018 study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed that a St. Louisan who earns minimum wage would have to work 81 hours per week in order to afford a modest apartment. That reality is part of what Esther Shin describes as a "national affordable-housing challenge" stretching from San Francisco to New York City.

St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed’s narrow victory on Tuesday required some unusual political coalitions and allies to come together. Reed bested state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed and Alderwoman Megan Green in easily the toughest re-election bid since he captured the presidency of the Board of Aldermen in 2007. It came after years of political toil for the Democratic official, featuring two unsuccessful bids for mayor and high-profile fights with aldermanic colleagues. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum and Rachel Lippmann break down the results.

Host Don Marsh discusses the results of the St. Louis primary election in which race for president of the Board of Aldermen is the most high profile.

A lot of enviro-info dis-credits our human species for the impacts of our "footprints" on Earth's systems, and on beings other than ourselves.

     

Scientist and public health advocate Greg Norris was inspired, while working with Life Cycle Analyses, to look up from Footprints and focus on the human part that can collaborate, create and restore. "Handprinting" has become a vehicle to encourage and measure our capacity to be a benefit on Earth.

Beneficial actions - and the ripples of influence they create - can now be measured through a key piece of Norris' work-in-progress, the app Handprinter.org.

This tool and idea aim to ensure that Earth is better off because of human beings, than without us.

Gregory Norris will presents "Handprints and Footprints" in St. Louis on Tuesday evening, March 12 for the U.S. Green Building Council-Missouri Gateway Chapter

THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms net-positive impact engineer

Music: Trambone, performed at KDHX by Brian Curran

Related Earthworms Conversations: Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Dr. Daniel Wildcat (October 2018)

The Patterning Instinct in Human Nature with Jeremy Lent (June 2017)

Roughly 850,000 people are facing food insecurity in the state of Missouri alone – and that includes about 220,000 kids. Representatives from Food Outreach, Operation Food Search and the St. Louis Area Foodbank discuss the issue and their distinctive efforts to address it.