The union that represents thousands of grocery and other retail workers in the St. Louis area — United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 — is asking Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to mandate that customers cover their faces while shopping in retail facilities deemed essential businesses. The union also asks that Parson designate all essential retail workers as temporary first responders, which would give them state-provided protective gear and other benefits. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with the president of the UFCW 655, David Cook, as well as Chris Dean, a local grocery store employee who started the 'Who Are We' movement as a resource and organizing point for essential workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Many congregations in the St. Louis area are taking steps to mark some of the most important religious events of the year in the age of social distancing. Also, state health officials are reporting coronavirus among transit workers and prison inmates.
St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann has dealt with a lot of challenges since he became the fast-growing county’s top political leader in 2007. But it’s likely the GOP official has never dealt with something as impactful as the coronavirus outbreak. Ehlmann and St. Charles County Public Health Director Demitrous Cee-ance-ee-Chapman talk with St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O’Donoghue about how their county is dealing with the pandemic.
SLU School of Law's Rob Gatter talked to Sarah Fenske on Tuesday's "St. Louis on the Air" about quarantine procedures and related topics that connect his research on pandemic preparedness. Also in the conversation were questions from callers regarding quarantine procedures.
On Tuesday's "St. Louis on the Air" host Sarah Fenske talked to Carolyn Mueller, author of "Forest Park: A Walk Through History" and zookeper at the Saint Louis Zoo. During the show, Mueller discussed places to visit off the beaten path in Forest Park as well as lesser-known sculptures featured in St. Loius' flagship park.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson says the city is anticipating a COVID-19 budget impact in the tens of millions of dollars. Her comments come as the newest numbers show areas of north St. Louis have some of the highest coronavirus rates in the city.
Earth Day launched 50 years ago. 2020 is cause for a global celebration, if not for some bits of lipid-coated protein commanding human awareness, planet-wide.
In St. Louis, our Earth Day-365 leaders are rallying to help us celebrate, learn, and organize VIRTUALLY, at the safe and healthy Social Distance. Over NINE days of eco-logical events, folks here in the Earthworms region will celebrate, while staying apart and healthy. Green learning, music and much more for all, April 18-26!
Host Sarah Fenske talked to St. Louis-baed author Sarah Kendzior Monday about her book “Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America”, which talks about Trump’s rise to power since the 1980s.
On Monday’s “St. Louis on the Air” host Sarah Fenske talked to Sara Baker, policy director for the ACLU, who discussed COVID-19 in jails and prisons and her agency’s attempt at getting the state prison system to take action regarding the safety of inmates during the coronavirus outbreak.
Missouri residents are being told to stay home to help limit the spread of the new coronavirus. Governor Mike Parson has issued the order. He says local governments can continue to implement tighter regulations. The statewide measure comes as leaders of a new task force in the St. Louis region estimate the peak for COVID-19 cases will likely come in the next two or three weeks.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, St. Louis dancer and musician Christian Frommelt had to look for new ways to teach new dancers while keeping safe distance. With video meetings becoming popular on social media after the coronavirus pandemic, Frommelt took to hosting virtual swing dancing lessons on the St. Louis Swing Dance Facebook page. On Friday’s “St. Louis on the Air” host Sarah Fenske talked to Frommelt about the abrupt change to live-streaming dance courses and what the future holds for the St. Louis dance scene. Also during the show, Fenske talked to Frommelt about the history of dance culture in the early 1900s.
Nursing homes are facing challenges to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. On Friday’s “St. Louis on the Air” host Sarah Fenske talks to science and environment reporter Eli Chen about her recent reporting on the challenges facing nursing homes in our region. And during the show, we eavesdropped on a conversation between 98-year-old nursing home resident Jean Hemphill and her granddaughter, Evie Hemphill.
At the St. Louis hospital where Emma Crocker works as a registered nurse, only employees working in areas with confirmed COVID-19 patients, like the emergency room and ICU, were given N95 masks from the hospital’s collection. N95 masks are in short supply across the country, and the hospital wanted to conserve their supply. Yet, Crocker was concerned that she and her colleagues were being exposed to the virus by unknowingly infected patients coming into their outpatient oncology clinic, which is located within the hospital. In this episode, Sarah Fenske talks with Crocker about her push for all hospital health care workers to have access to N95 masks.
The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted another jump in weekly unemployment insurance claims in Missouri and Illinois. It is also causing St. Louis County to close its parks so more people follow a stay-at-home order. And amid the pandemic, lawmakers are set to return to Jefferson City next week.
Humane Society of Missouri President Kathy Warnick joined host Sarah Fenske on Thursday’s “Saint Louis on the Air” to talk about the organization's unique effort of partnering pets with families who are currently home-bound while still maintaining social distancing.
Host Sarah Fenske talked to Saint Louis Zoo Director Micahel Macek about how the zoo is adjusting to closing its doors to visitors and their #BringTheSTLZooToYou social media updates.
On Thursday’s “St. Louis on the Air” host Sarah Fenske talked to Michael-Jon Voss, co-founder and special projects director with ArchCity Defenders, about a nearly $1.7 million settlement of a class action lawsuit against the City of Ferguson, Missouri. The settlement affects more than 10,000 citizens of the area who were charged fees for the issuance of warrants or for failing to appear for a municipal court date in Ferguson.
Missouri's governor says the state budget is expected to take a more than $500 million hit related to COVID-19. Mike Parson is hoping money from the federal government will help fill that gap. Also, we speak with the incoming bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri on adjustments being made to deal with the outbreak.
All those hypothetical questions we love to debate around issues of privacy, freedom and other civil rights? Many of them feel a lot less theoretical these days. The spread of coronavirus — and restrictions placed by the government on the public and private sectors in response — has given these questions a greater sense of urgency. This conversation focuses on COVID-19’s implications for government power and its limits as expressed in the United States’ founding documents.
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