Aggregator

Can you travel safely during the coronavirus pandemic? Are certain forms of travel safer than others? And what kinds of precautions should you take? We get answers from a University of Missouri epidemiologist.

Aloni Benson found himself on the frontlines in Ferguson in 2014, calling for change after a police officer killed Michael Brown Jr. But protesting wasn't enough. Two years later, Benson became an officer with the St. Louis County Police Department. St. Louis Public Radio’s Marissanne Lewis-Thompson talks with him and his wife Khalia about his decision to become a cop, raising a black son, and what it’s like being a police officer assigned to protests.

Vernon Mitchell Jr. was an undergrad at the University of Missouri-Columbia, intent on heading next to medical school, when he enrolled in a course on the Black freedom movement — and soon decided to become a historian instead. “It changed everything for me,” Mitchell recalls about the class, taught by Mizzou’s Carol Anderson. And one moment, and person, stood out to Mitchell as his professor introduced her students to key figures and events within the civil rights movement: the Reverend C.T. Vivian, a Missouri native described by the New York Times as a “field general” for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The footage of Vivian confronting law enforcement in 1965 on the steps of a Selma courthouse has remained seared in Mitchell’s consciousness ever since. Mitchell, who is now a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, joins host Sarah Fenske to remember the life and legacy of Vivian. He passed away Friday at the age of 95 — mere hours before a fellow civil rights legend, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, 80, also died.

As the St. Louis Cardinals start their 2020 season with a home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates this Friday, a burst of brightly colored familiarity will return to downtown. But not the tens of thousands of fans that typically fill Busch Stadium. As the Redbirds’ devoted fans gather instead (and hopefully in socially distant ways) around TVs and other devices to take in the abbreviated, 60-game season, conditions inside the stadium will be a whole new ballgame. In this conversation, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about the upcoming season. They discuss some of the biggest changes — and the big remaining questions — associated with this year’s play, as well as the strength of the year’s roster.

The pandemic prompted the St. Louis County Executive to take unprecedented action. Sam Page says his administration’s response is worthy of praise. His opponents in the four-way Democratic primary for county executive disagree.

When one thinks of “the island life,” sentiments of a tropical ocean breeze, easygoing lifestyle and good food likely come to mind. And that is very much part of the experience. But with the good, comes the bad — and Zahra Spencer and Telie Woods saw the worst of it. They are the owners of Jerk Soul, a Caribbean carryout restaurant on Cherokee Street. Sauce Magazine detailed Spencer’s and Woods’ harrowing story of opening their first restaurant — despite hurricanes, transatlantic moves and barely knowing one another in its July issue. Guest host Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with with Spencer and Woods for our monthly Sound Bites segment alongside Sauce Magazine managing editor Heather Hughes Huff.

Guest host Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with singer-songwriter-actor Tre G about navigating “the new normal” as a performer and finding his place in an ongoing movement towards racial equity. Recently, he organized WerQfest to do just that. The digital festival was geared toward celebrating Black queer art and community.

Hospitals in St. Louis are seeing more children and teens showing up for self-harm during the pandemic, according to emergency medicine pediatrician Dr. Rachel Charney of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. In this interview, she talks about what is leading to the increase in these cases, as well as potential warning signs that parents and caregivers can look for.

Nearly five weeks before school is scheduled to begin, many teachers have conflicting feelings about returning to the classroom and being able to stay healthy during the pandemic.

The St. Louis Art Museum has extended because of the pandemic the stay of “Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí” through September. The curators say the exhibition acknowledges the contributions of a largely forgotten artist who was instrumental in the birth of modern art: 19th-century French painter Jean-François Millet. Millet’s work features landscapes, nudes and other work that inspired other artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. In an encore of this conversation aired February 20, 2020, host Sarah Fenske talks with Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art at the St. Louis Art Museum.

In April 1968, Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa. On the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she felt compelled to shift her lesson plans. She decided to teach her young white students about discrimination by telling the children that brown-eyed people were superior to their blue-eyed peers. She watched as the students turned on each other. Then, the next day, she reversed the script. The exercise highlighted the arbitrary and irrational basis of prejudice, an issue that Americans continue to grapple with more than five decades later. This is an encore of a conversation we first aired September 9. 2019

Aloni Benson started out protesting the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson. He would later become a St. Louis County Police officer. Benson talks about his decision and his experience on both frontlines.

Former Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he talked about his efforts with the Veterans Community Project to end homelessness among veterans. Kander joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum for a special edition of the podcast that was livestreamed on Twitch. Kander also discussed national efforts to make it easier to vote from home and protests decrying police killing Black people.

We have an encore of discussion from December 6, 2019. The Mississippi River has been integral to life in the St. Louis region for hundreds of years — from Native Americans who occupied areas in and around Cahokia Mounds to the later arrival of Europeans. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Andrew Wanko, public historian for the Missouri Historical Society and author of the new book, “Great River City: How the Mississippi Shaped St. Louis.” David Lobbig, curator of environmental life at the Missouri Historical Society, also joined the conversation. He is the content lead on the Missouri History Museum’s newest exhibit, “Mighty Mississippi,” which is open at the museum until June 2021.

We have an encore of a discussion from May 11, 2020. Walter Johnson’s book reframes American history so that St. Louis sits at the center. No more looking at the nation as if it’s that New Yorker cartoon where everything important happened in New York City or Los Angeles, and the vast middle was mere flyover country. In Johnson’s telling, the St. Louis story is the American story — and it’s a messy, often ugly, one. The book is titled “The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States.”

Nearly 2,000 people attended a George Floyd protest in O'Fallon, Mo., recently. That would have been unheard of just a few years ago. St. Charles County is still 90% white. Diversity has been increasing but protest organizers say the turnout has more to do with the video of Floyd's death.

In late June, when a customer at Herbie’s restaurant in Clayton tested positive for the coronavirus, owner Aaron Teitelbaum immediately closed the business and told employees to get tested to see if they were infected. Teitelbaum expected to wait a few days for his employees’ results to come back. But almost three weeks later, many were still waiting. In this episode, we hear from Teitelbaum, as well as the incident commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, Dr. Alex Garza. Garza describes why it’s taken so long for many COVID-19 test results to be delivered and what hospital admissions data says about how the coronavirus is spreading through the region.

Less than two years ago, the staff behind Flourish St. Louis set a daring goal: eliminate racial disparity and infant mortality by 2033. They called it their organization’s “North Star,” or main purpose. The drive to reach that goal was reignited when the organization earlier this month received the 2020 Launchcode Moonshot Inclusion award for its approach to improving the health of Black moms and babies. Kendra Copanas is the executive director of Generate Health, the center that provides staff support and coordination for Flourish community-wide effort. Mia Daugherty is a member of the Flourish Community Leaders Cabinet. Copanas and Daugherty join guest host Jonathan Ahl to share the experiences of the people the organization serves and the work that’s led them to this point.

Darryl Diggs Jr. and Howard Fields III, the founders of Black Males in Education St. Louis, talk about how their platform helps educators of color connect, find mentorship and advocate for more Black voices in the classrooms. Diggs and Fields received the 2020 Launchcode Moonshot Challenge award. Diggs is the principal at Hardin Middle School in the City of St. Charles School District, and Fields is the assistant superintendent at Kirkwood School District.

An infectious disease doctor at Washington University had to make a tough choice at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis was about 7 months pregnant and worried about being exposed to the virus. She decided to dial back on work and eventually gave birth to a healthy boy.