Former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leader Robert Cardillo stepped down in February after playing a major role in selecting St. Louis as the site for a new headquarters. On June 1, he started at St. Louis University as a distinguished geospatial fellow, where he will serve as a liaison for the N-G-A, industry leaders and the university.
Global Mosquito Alert aims to mobilize professional and volunteer citizen scientists from around the world, using mobile apps, to track and control mosquito borne viruses. Dr. Anne Bowser, Director of Innovation for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, reports on this collaboration involving citizen science associations in Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia and the U.S.
Backed by UN Environment, this initiative draws on successes from programs like Barcelona's public engagement Mosquito Alert and the school-based U.S. Invasive Mosquito Project. Because monitoring types of mosquitos and sites where mosquitos are breeding is a significant element in controlling mosquito borne diseases like West Nile and Zika Virus, yellow fever, malaria, chikungunya and and dengue fever.
Could St. Louis marshal this kind of collaboration? Check out this Earthworms conversation!
Music: Public Enemy, performed live at KDHX by Godfathers
THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms so green savvy engineer
Host Sarah Fenske sits down with Anna Crosslin, CEO of the International Institute, and Nadya Kanim, a business specialist there, to discuss their weekly lunch, the institute’s efforts to support immigrants, and the bevy of cuisines on the menu.
Young adults throughout the St. Louis area make up the artist collective, St. Louis Story Stitchers. They aim to showcase the region’s culture through performance art, and they work to curb gun violence, which many of its members have grown up with.
In the aftermath of Ferguson, the municipal court system came under scrutiny for a variety of unfair practices. Some reforms have been implemented over the last five years, but we examine whether real change has occurred.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with our partners from Sauce Magazine about the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community. Joining her for the conversation were Catherine Klene and Matt Sorrell, managing editor and staff writer, respectively.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with Dr. Page for a look at what he’s accomplished in his first 100 days in office as St. Louis County Executive, and what he hopes to do in the weeks and months to come.
St. Louis Alderman Bret Narayan is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his first few months on the Board of Aldermen.
The 24th Ward Democrat represents the neighborhoods that encompass Dogtown in southwest St. Louis. He won election to the seat earlier this year.
Jonathan Tremaine Thomas moved to Ferguson from Indianapolis five years ago to be part of the healing process after the death of Michael Brown. The pastor is planning to reopen the Corner Coffee House to help downtown Ferguson thrive again, which will benefit the entire community.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with longtime Quincy Senior High School music director Kathi Dooley about her experience on Netflix's "Queer Eye" makeover show, "Dooley-cizing," her future plans and more.
Host Sarah Fenske spoke with Amy Breihan, director of the MacArthur Justice Center, and Nicholas Phillips, a reporter at Missouri Lawyers Weekly, about developments in a case against the state of Missouri, for allegedly failing to provide “meaningful” legal representation for indigent defendants, as the U.S. Constitution requires. Because the public defenders’ office is overworked and underfunded, the ACLU and the MacArthur Justice Center argued, poor people charged with a crime are denied their constitutional rights.
Two vacant St. Louis County Council seats will be filled in a special election August 6. We review the election, which will decide what party controls the council going forward. Both seats are expected to stay Democratic although one of the races could be competitive.
Paying for child care is one of the largest expenses per month for families. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant child care in Missouri is about $800 a month. At the same time, day care providers are tasked with more work for little pay. On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske hosts a discussion on the rising cost of child care, the impact on families, and the challenges facing child care center teachers.
Paying for child care is one of the largest expenses per month for families. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant child care in Missouri is about $800 a month. At the same time, day care providers are tasked with more work for little pay. On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske hosts a discussion on the rising cost of child care, the impact on families, and the challenges facing child care center teachers.
State Rep. David Wood is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast. The Versailles Republican spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jaclyn Driscoll and Jason Rosenbaum
Wood was elected to Missouri’s 58th House District in 2012. He’s currently serving his final term in the General Assembly’s lower chamber, where he’s chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Health, Mental Health and Social Services.
What has changed in the region politically five years after Ferguson? The past 12 months have showcased big policy gains in St. Louis County government, and some modest advances in Jefferson City.
Host Sarah Fenske previews the latest Missouri History Museum exhibits: “Pulitzer Prize Photographs” and “In Focus: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photographs.” The first is a traveling exhibit from the Newseum in Washington, displaying the most comprehensive collection of Pulitzer-winning photos ever assembled. The second provides a companion exhibit that shows off the work of local photojournalists.
A group of local teens made St. Louis proud earlier this month when they earned first place at the 2019 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Las Vegas. Sarah Fenske talks with two members of the award-winning team: Zack Lesmeister, who is a graduate of Marquette High School, a freshman at Emerson College and a former St. Louis youth poet laureate, and Keana Fox, a graduate of Collinsville High School who is headed to college in Indianapolis this fall. Also participating in the discussion is one of the team’s coaches, Sahara Sista SOLS.
Science Fiction writers have long warned us about the dangers of modifying organisms. But new technologies are becoming a reality and researchers are trying to figure out how to present gene-editing technology to a skeptical public.
PR pro James Hoggan has decoded misinformation campaigns, and researched how humans learn, respond and can be manipulated. He's traveled through the "perfect storm" of climate communications, and explored what spurs us to become aggressively close-minded. These voyages into realms of despair have not dimmed his curious spirit, his determination to do, be, and communicate better.
Photos: Earthworms guest James Hoggan. Hoggan (right) talking with scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki (left) and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, colleagues referenced in this interview.
Our conversation draws from Hoggan's book I'm Right and You're an Idiot - the toxic state of public discourse and how to clean it up (2nd edition 2019, New Society Publisher). We're focused especially on the latter part of the message. May you find this encouraging!