James Knowles III was taking down tents with his father at the Ferguson Farmers Market on August 9, 2014, the day one of his city’s police officers shot and killed Michael Brown. He learned about the shooting that would spark months of protests in his town and elsewhere through a phone call from Ferguson’s city manager.
“It was one of those things at 12:30 or so on an August, Saturday… if the city manager’s calling me, it’s probably nothing good,” Knowles said.
Nearly six years after Brown’s death sparked change and protests in the north St. Louis County city, Knowles is stepping down as mayor tomorrow due to term limits and turning the job over to Ella Jones. On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Knowles reflected on a consequential tenure in office that changed his town — and his life.
We remember former St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn. He served 38 years with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and served as Chief of Police for Moline Acres. Dorn was shot and killed on June 2nd after responding to an alarm at the pawn shop where he moonlit as a security guard. His death shocked those who knew him here in St. Louis, and those who didn’t across the country. Hundreds of people gathered on June 10th at the St. Louis Friendly Temple on Martin Luther King Drive for David Dorn’s funeral. He is survived by his wife, adult children and grandchildren.
In 2016, Ed Wheatley retired from his job as an engineer at AT&T. But Wheatley has kept busy — to the point that Reedy Press recently published his third book in as many years. Wheatley’s “Baseball in St. Louis: From Little Leagues to Major Leagues” surveys the city’s rich baseball history, from the Major Leaguers who got their start here to the semi-pro and amateur leagues that flourished for decades. In this conversation, Wheatley shares some of the remarkable facts he uncovered about baseball’s 160 years in St. Louis. He recalls the Khoury League, which began here in 1934, the Negro Leagues that provided a home for some gifted players shut out of the big leagues, and the high school and college teams that proved a major source of talent for the St. Louis Cardinals and more.
Corey S. Bradford Sr. chose a tough time to come home to the St. Louis metro. The native St. Louisan took office as president of Harris-Stowe State University on May 4 — an unprecedented time for higher education, which is grappling with both funding shortages due to the economic downturn and complications from the coronavirus. In this interview, he talks with Sarah Fenske about his career in higher education, his reasons for returning to St. Louis and the challenges Harris-Stowe faces in an uncertain time.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson says the time has come to reopen all businesses in the state. That is one of the reasons why he's lifting all coronavirus related restrictions next week. Local officials will be able to keep their limits in place. Also, we report on immigrant meatpacking workers afraid to speak out about safety issues at work in the age of COVID-19.
St. Louis-based nonprofit Duo Dogs has placed trained service dogs with clients in 38 states, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom. Their dogs are taught a wide range of skills that make them the perfect assistant for people who have trouble getting around or have hearing disabilities. In this episode, we learn about how the organization trains their puppies to become the ultimate companion to those in need.
The death of George Floyd has not just sparked action to protest against police brutality, but it’s also led to more conversations about how to support and uplift black Americans. Anti-racism books are selling out and topping best-seller lists, while infographics about how to best support local black-owned businesses are filling social media feeds. LaShell Eikerenkoetter, also known as Ohun Ashe, advocates for black lives in the streets as a frontline protester — and she does the same advocacy online for black entrepreneurs. She created For the Culture STL, a directory of black-owned businesses and events in the St. Louis area. She said support for the initiative has skyrocketed over the past couple of weeks. She host Sarah Fenske to talk about these two parallel efforts.
Demonstrators are still planning to gather in front of Florissant Police headquarters every night until a former officer is arrested after hitting a man with a vehicle. The city's police chief has fired the detective after video of the incident emerged on social media. Also, we'll tell you about Quarantine Radio Theater.
Alex Lindley and Danny Kerth are among the St. Louisans affected by suicide; they’ve each lost friends and family to it, including their mutual friend Ryan Candice. After Candice’s death in 2014, Lindley and Kerth started Project Wake Up — a nonprofit organization working to destigmatize mental illness and suicide, and raise awareness about providing adequate access to mental health care in the country. Their film, “Wake Up," highlights the voices of people from various walks of life along their mental health journeys. Kerth joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about the film’s future and ways it aims to spread awareness about various ways to seek help, including telehealth care.
As a professor of political science at Washington University, Clarissa Rile Hayward had a front-row seat for the protests and disruption that followed the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. She paid attention as activists blocked highways, demonstrated at a symphony performance and even interrupted brunch at fancy restaurants to agitate for the Black Lives Matter movement. And she found herself thinking about what tactics work, and why. Hayward recently published a paper detailing this new way of looking at disruption in the Journal of Politics. In this interview, she discusses her findings and how they apply to the current protests sweeping the globe.
Three years ago, a Tennessee man made a wrong turn and ended up lost in rural Missouri. The man, Tory Sanders, sought help from local law enforcement — only to end up dead in a Mississippi County jail cell eight hours later. Two top jail officials reportedly pressed down on Sanders' neck for more than three minutes even as a colleague urged them repeatedly to ease up. Then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley declined to prosecute anyone for those actions. Now, George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police is reigniting interest in Sanders' 2017 death. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Missouri NAACP President Nimrod Chapel Jr.
Psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon's life and work took a sharp turn six years ago when she turned own feelings of hopelessness and despair toward action. As a self-proclaimed Climate Warrior, she began leading others through TheClimateMobilization.org, a part of the climate emergency movement working alongside Sunrise, Climate Strike, Extinction Rebellion and other urgent-action groups.
Salamon's has written a self-help guide to direct more of us into the kind of all-in action she continues. She talks with Earthworms' Jean Ponzi about this new book, Facing the Climate Emergency:How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth (New Society Publishers), and how the necessary urgent climate response is connected to the Covid-19 pandemic and now the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Music: Balkan Twirl, performed live at KDHX by Sandy Weltman and Carolbeth Trio THANKS to Andy Coco, Andy Heaslet, Jon Valley - Earthworms team of audio engineers
On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, Yinka Faleti, the Democratic nominee for secretary of state joins the program to discuss his bid for the office — and the burgeoning protest movement for police accountability.
Faleti’s appearance on the podcast kicks off an effort to have all of Missouri’s major statewide candidates on Politically Speaking. The two Democratic contenders for attorney general, Elad Gross and Rich Finneran, are slated to record episodes later this month — and we’ll be reaching out to GOP and Democratic candidates to come on the show in the coming weeks.
St. Louis County Police Chief Mary Barton has outlined her plans for diversity, inclusion, and reform in the department. Also, we'll report on African American protestors who plan to remain in the streets despite coronavirus concerns.
For Dr. Sameer Vohra and his colleagues, a focus on improving the lives of people in southern and central Illinois has long been at the heart of their work. But now, in the age of COVID-19, the urgency of their mission is more obvious than ever. Vohra leads SIU School of Medicine's Department of Population Science and Policy as its founding chair, and the coronavirus pandemic has magnified many of the challenges that the region’s small cities and rural communities already faced. In this episode, Vohra joins host Sarah Fenske to share his insights on these challenges — and what can be done to address them. The conversation also includes comments from Audrey Gough, the health director for Shelby County, Missouri, about what she’s observed on the other side of the Mississippi River.
Quincy, Illinois, is among the thousands of cities across the country where demonstrations against police brutality have taken place in the past two weeks. Illinois’ Gem City has a population of about 40,000, with nearby Hannibal adding another 17,000. Jessica Benton and Michelle Renee Houston are longtime Quincy residents. They’re among the community members taking action in their own ways to raise awareness about police brutality and racism, joining a movement inspired by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They join host Sarah Fenske on Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air to talk about how their community is reacting to the Black Lives Matter movement and the change they’d like to see happen.
Data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that, as of May 31, 253 Missouri nursing home residents had died of COVID-19. That’s about a third of the state’s 771 deaths. Marjorie Moore, executive director of VOYCE, an advocacy group for those in assisted living or nursing homes, joins to talk about what that figure says to her and the changes she would like to see moving forward.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has lifted restrictions calling on people to stay inside from 9 at night to 6 in the morning. It had been in place for a week after a night of violence and looting. We also examine how the pandemic is affecting scientific research.
Most people have become uncomfortable navigating public life in the months since the new coronavirus hit, but things are even more difficult for those who experience the world differently than the majority, like those with blindness or those who are deaf. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with Nick Silver, who is almost completely blind, and Colleen Burdiss, who is hard of hearing, about how they've been getting by in the last few months.
In many cases, real estate transactions are a happy occasion. First-time homebuyers smile and hold up keys. Families move from one locale to another and begin exciting new chapters. But for others, selling or buying a home can be an enormous headache that’s just one part of a bigger mess: a divorce. And with the COVID-19 crisis, some lawyers have reported an increase in inquiries from people thinking about splitting up. St. Louis native Kathy Helbig has spent 25 years working in the region’s real estate industry. In that time, she’s helped many clients make these complex shifts as they try to work together — separately and as cordially as possible. And now, she’s Missouri’s first certified “divorce real estate specialist,” having recently undergone 40 hours of virtual training toward that end. In this segment, Helbig joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about what makes real estate transactions particularly tricky while divorcing. She also touches on the housing market trends she’s been observing during the coronavirus pandemic.
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