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St. Louis Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about his idea for a $10/hour open bar came about and its potential pitfalls.

Judy Gladney graduated from University City High School in 1969. She and her husband were among the first African-Americans to attend the school. She was hesitant about attending her 50th reunion but has decided to go. Gladney reflects on her high school experience in a conversation with St. Louis Public Radio's Holly Edgell.

Mayor Lyda Krewson is among the three city officials who have the ultimate say in whether any airport privatization deal goes through. She joins host Sarah Fenske to share her thoughts on the process, among other topics.

This weekend’s concerts at Powell Hall are a homecoming for Leonard Slatkin in more ways than one. In addition to returning last year to live in the St. Louis area, the music conductor laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is taking the podium, in part, to revisit his SLSO sendoff in 1996. Slatkin will be conducting the world premiere of variations on a theme of Paganini that were composed for Slatkin's recent 75th birthday. The compositions update five original themes inspired by the Italian-born composer that were first performed when Slatkin’s 17-year tenure with the SLSO was ending.

St. Louisan Ronald Ollie is displaying the works of black abstract artists, who are often under-represented in art galleries. We explore what “abstract" means for many African Americans artists and what messages and themes are typically conveyed.

Those who staff and depend on the St. Louis region’s public transit system have seen some significant changes in recent days, particularly with the implementation of Metro Reimagined, Metro Transit’s overhaul of its Missouri-side bus lines. Host Sarah Fenske talks with transit riders and other stakeholders about the current state and future of public transit in the region. Joining the conversation are Metro Transit executive director Jessica Mefford-Miller, Citizens for Modern Transit board member D'Andre Braddix and St. Louis resident and frequent transit rider Mitch Eagles. The discussion also includes pre-recorded comments and live calls from commuters.

Women comprise nearly half of the United States’ civilian labor force, according to the Department of Labor’s latest statistics. Yet their annual median earnings — about $42,000 — still fall about $10,000 short of the median paycheck men see each year. And along with the compensation gap, other workforce gender-equity disparities remain common for many industries and employers. The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis aims to measure progress on that front with its Women in the Workplace Employment Scorecard. The voluntary rating system, which is now underway for this year, includes a voluntary employer survey exploring policies, practices and work culture. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with Women’s Foundation Executive Director Lisa Weingarth about the organization’s findings on what makes a company work for women. The conversation also includes Affinia Healthcare's Kendra Holmes and NCADA's Stacie Zellin as well as the perspectives of fellow working women Catherine Brown and Emily Cantwell on what makes a job environment a great one — and what doesn’t.

Washington University's Kemper Art Museum has re-opened after a major expansion. Exhibition space has increased by 50 percent, and a new facade of polished stainless steel heightens the museum's presence on campus and in the neighborhood.

The cover image on this report shows a painful face of St. Louis: the stark "Delmar Divide" with its north-south, black-white, disadvantaged and more privileged split up the middle of this city's economics, social and cultural resources. Not a worthy picture, but a growing body of action. 

                  

Just released in October 2019, Environmental Racism in St. Louis concentrates results of other reports, commissioned by official sources, into one from the people profiled by the data. Each of 8 chapters details a serious issue with environmental roots, from persistent lead pollution to the bluntly defined Food Apartheid. 

Leah Clyburn, organizer in the Sierra Club Missouri Beyond Coal campaign, led this effort for Sierra Club, collaborating with leaders of Action St. Louis, Arch City Defenders and Dutchtown South Community Corporation. The Interdisciplinary Law Clinic at Washington University prepared the report. Clyburn's take on these issues, in this Earthworms conversation and her work at large, is a rare merger of frank no-compromise and sincere encouragement to engage. 

Music: Taproom, performed live at KDHX by Brian Curran

THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms Engineer

Related Earthworms Conversations: St. Louis Metro Market: Grocery Story in a Bus (June 2015) 

Sweet Potato Project: Growing Social Justice, One Garden at at Time (Sept 2016) 

Host Sarah Fenske gets the details on a controversial aerial surveillance program being proposed for St. Louis city.

Host Sarah Fenske delves into the purpose of emotional support animals, how they differ from standard service animals or pets, and what the law says about them.

Tim McBride is a professor at Washington University’s Brown School, where he focuses on health care policy. He’s also served on a board that oversees Missouri’s Medicaid program — so he has a lot to say about the possibility of expanding the health care program. McBride joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O’Donoghue and Jaclyn Driscoll on the latest episode of Politically Speaking, so let’s hit the music.

Many are familiar with the fact that women make up the majority of the ownership group for St. Louis’ new pro-soccer franchise. Plenty of fans in the area also know that Georgia Frontiere owned the NFL’s Rams when the team moved to the region. But they might not be aware that the first female owner in Major League Baseball history was in St. Louis.

University City, Missouri, is considered to be among the more diverse communities in a region still grappling with the stubborn legacy of segregation. But five decades ago, things were different in U. City, including at the local schools. When Judy Gladney began attending University City High School in the '60s, she was one of its very first African American students, and found herself bridging two disparate worlds. So did Eric Vickers, Gladney’s future husband. Years later, the two would send their children through the same school district, which is now largely non-white. As Gladney looks toward her 50th high school reunion this month, she joins host Sarah Fenske alongside her daughter Erica Vickers Cage and local journalist and storyteller Ellen Futterman.

While the sun’s rays were at full effect this August, the Missouri Botanical Garden launched its Grow Solar St. Louis program for St. Louis-area home and business owners. Property owners throughout the city and county can participate in this pilot program to help pool their buying power for discounts on solar panels. Host Sarah Fenske delves into why the initiative was started and how interested St. Louisans can use green energy to power their homes.

Children from Emerson Academy Therapeutic School in the Greater Ville neighborhood of St. Louis are talking about how they cope with gun violence. The area has a high crime rate with little to no resources to change the culture.

St. Louis Public Radio's Julie O'Donoghue, Jason Rosenbaum and Jaclyn Driscoll talk about the news that matter during the week of Sept. 30, 2019. We also talked with St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Jeremy Kohler on his latest story about St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson conversed with a Centene business executive about fighting crime.

Only 10% of domestic violence shelters accept pets. That means many people fleeing abuse find themselves giving up animals with whom they’ve formed meaningful bonds. Lydia’s House is a St. Louis shelter that houses battered women and their pets for up to two years. The pet-friendly amenities at Lydia’s House are the result of Purina’s Purple Leash Project and the work of Rescue Rebuild. In this interview, Sarah Fenske talks about this ongoing effort with Purina president Nina Leigh Kruger and Karen Kirk, the executive director of Lydia’s House.

The late, great jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington once said, “Whether it be Shakespeare or jazz, the only thing that counts is the emotional effect on the listener.” In the summer of 1956, Ellington found himself seriously digging the bard. Inspired by his encounters with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival while on tour in Stratford, Ontario, he composed a twelve-part suite titled “Such Sweet Thunder.” This week, the critically acclaimed suite becomes the soundtrack for a new joint production from Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Nine Network of Public Media, Jazz St. Louis, and The Big Muddy Dance Company. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks about the production with Tom Ridgely, executive producer of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and Gene Dobbs Bradford, president and CEO of Jazz St. Louis.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with our partners at Sauce Magazine about the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community.