St. Louis County’s jail population has dropped significantly over the past couple years, from an over-capacity total of 1,242 in the summer of 2018 to 930 inmates as of last week. The sustained decrease has been touted as one positive outcome among the justice reform efforts that followed protests in Ferguson. Much work remains — and thanks to five years of research led by University of Missouri-St. Louis Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Beth Huebner and funded by the John and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, collaboration continues between the researchers and the county, its circuit court and service providers. During this year’s Pierre Laclede Society Community Confluence donor event at UMSL Feb. 20, St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske talks about ongoing efforts in the county, and addressed lingering challenges. She is joined by Huebner, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page and Julia Fogelberg, director of diversion and special programs for the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office.
Today’s teachers and school administrators are under increasing pressure on many fronts. There’s the increased focus on standardized testing, large class sizes and funding issues, not to mention the outside-the-classroom challenges complicating their students’ ability to learn. In the midst of all of this comes a refreshing focus — and a new graduate-level course — from two UMSL-connected leaders: Mindy Bier, co-director of the university’s Center for Character and Citizenship, and Tom Hoerr, assistant teaching professor and scholar in residence in the College of Education and former head of the New City School. During this year’s Pierre Laclede Society Community Confluence donor event that took place at UMSL Feb. 20, Bier and Hoerr talk with St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske.
How do two teenagers who've had siblings injured by bullets feel about guns? Normandy teenagers Cassidy Stokes and Claudia Graham share their experiences and thoughts about guns in their community.
The town of Alton was a major stop for escaped slaves making their way from St. Louis to Canada. In this interview, Sarah Fenske talks with J. Eric Robinson, assistant professor of history at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and proprietor of J. E. Robinson tours, about the historic places and people involved in the Underground Railroad in St. Louis and in Illinois. Robinson will begin guided tours of Alton’s Underground Railroad history starting Feb. 29.
On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking weekly news round-up, St. Louis Public Radio’s team of political reporters talk about efforts in Jefferson City to pass a prescription drug monitoring program — and the reemergence of former Gov. Eric Greitens.
St. Louis Public Radio’s Julie O’Donoghue, Jaclyn Driscoll and Jason Rosenbaum discussed how a so-called PDMP once again passed the Missouri House despite loud opposition from some conservative Republicans. It faces a tough reception in the Missouri Senate, where the program aimed at stamping out opioid abuse.
For three decades, Diane Rehm hosted a conversation with America. The Diane Rehm Show grew from a local show at NPR affiliate WAMU to a national juggernaut, with 2.8 million listeners every week. And even after her December 2016 retirement, Rehm has continued the conversation. She hosts a podcast; she also recently published her fourth book, “When My Time Comes.” In partnership with "St. Louis on the Air," Rehm discussed her career at a dinner hosted by the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Here are the highlights from that conversation, including the secrets of her success and her reasons for becoming a passionate advocate for the “death with dignity” movement.
The St. Louis BattleHawks of the new XFL play their first home game this weekend. For fans who have been following the team even before it hit the field, it will mark the end of a long wait for the return of professional football in St. Louis.
St. Louis’ Municipal Court is hosting a warrant amnesty program Feb. 24-27. It’s an opportunity for people with outstanding bench warrants — excluding DUIs, leaving the scene of an accident and prostitution — to be able to pay their original fines and costs without penalty. In this interview, Emily Woodbury talks with Judge Newton McCoy about the program. Newton is an administrative judge in St. Louis City Municipal Court.
Last week, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced the 12 sites in the state which were added to the National Register of Historic Places during 2019. That’s the official federal list of properties that merit special attention and preservation. Every Illinois county has at least one property or historic district listed in the National Register. Guest host Emily Woodbury learns more about the sites in Illinois that made it to the 2019 National Register of Historic Places, and what it took to get them on the list. Joining the discussion is Amy Hathaway, National Register and Survey Specialist for Illinois State Historic Preservation Office.
Often referred to as the most dangerous eight seconds in sports, bull riding is not for the faint of heart. In fact, the medical director for the international organization Professional Bull Riders estimates that about one in 15 rides results in injury. Yet, the sport is gaining popularity. Since PBR was founded in 1992, the sport has grown into a global phenomenon. Over the course of a weeklong competition, riders can earn up to six figures in prize money. This weekend, PBR is hosting a competition at the Enterprise Center. Riders and their bulls will be coming to St. Louis with several events already under their belt, and competition this year has been tough. One of the riders competing is Brady Sims. The Missouri native is currently ranked as the 27th rider in the world.
A play at the Black Rep is set in a St. Louis bar frequented by African American artists, who explore their experiences living and working in a racist society in a series of vignettes. “Spell #7” is written by Ntozake Shange who was a notable participant in the Black Arts Movement.
Big news out of Cape Girardeau: A federal jury there returned its verdict against agricultural companies Monsanto and BASF. The case involved some Cape Girardeau peach farmers who said they’d been damaged by the weed killer dicamba. And that verdict was staggering. It totaled $15 million in damages — and $250 million in punitive damages. That’s even more than attorneys had asked for. St. Louis Public Radio reporter Corinne Ruff was in Cape Girardeau when jurors returned their verdict. She’s joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about it.
For the occasional traveler, the term “TSA” likely conjures images of opening laptop bags, taking off shoes, lifting arms overhead and hoping against hope that there’s no spare change hiding in a pocket. But for Transportation Security Administration manager Robert Davis, that scene has about as much to do with customer service as it does airport security — and earlier this month he was honored in a big way for his efforts. St. Louis Lambert International Airport named Davis its Ambassador of the Year at the airport’s annual employee celebration. The kudos came as part of the airport’s Catch Us Giving program, after Davis helped an international traveler avoid what could have otherwise turned into a travel nightmare. Davis — who first began working for the TSA when it was created in 2002, and always at Lambert throughout the 18 years since — joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about it. Also joining the conversation is Davis’ supervisor Shayne Danielson, who oversees airport security at Lambert.
The St. Louis Art Museum has opened an exhibition that its curators say acknowledges the contributions of a largely forgotten artist who was instrumental in the birth of modern art: 19th-century French painter Jean-François Millet. His work features landscapes, nudes and other work that inspired other artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art at the St. Louis Art Museum. He is the co-curator of the "Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí" exhibition along with Maite van Dijk, senior curator at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Researchers are examining how psychedelics including LSD and certain mushrooms might be used to treat people with major depression. Some St. Louis professionals agree. Others in the region say they have experienced benefits from the illegal substances.
Jackie Robinson famously integrated Major League Baseball, taking the field for the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers in April 1947. And the American League followed a few months later, when the Cleveland Indians put Larry Doby into the lineup. But right behind Cleveland were the St. Louis Browns. Just 12 days later, the team played its first black player. And two days after that, the Browns became the first club to put two black players into a game when Willard Brown and Hank Thompson took the field. Author Ed Wheatley discusses how fans and teammates reacted to Brown and Thompson — and why their time on the team proved short-lived. He also discussed another former Negro League star who did a stint with the Browns: the one and only Satchel Paige.
Host Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jason Rosenbaum about former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. The Missouri Ethics Commission fined him $178,000 for failing to disclose in-kind donations but the commission also found no evidence that Greitens personally engaged in wrongdoing or that he had any knowledge of the ethics violations. The ex-governor has posted publicly on social media for the first time in months. Is he mounting a comeback?
Washington University’s Clinic for Acceptance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) treats women who become pregnant while dealing with an opioid use disorder. It provides prenatal care, substance abuse treatment and extended postpartum support. In this episode, we talk with the clinic’s medical director, Dr. Jeannie Kelly, who says there is a high demand for these services in the St. Louis region. She also says they are seeing more patients who are addicted to multiple types of drugs, otherwise known as polysubstance abuse. About a third of the clinic’s patients have some sort of concurrent polysubstance use going on, and there’s been a rise in patients with addictions to meth.
Donald Hutson is one of hundreds of Missouri inmates who have overdosed in the past two years. He died in September 2018 at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. According to an internal Missouri Department of Corrections investigation, Hutson was strapped face down to a medical backboard for 30-45 minutes while he was overdosing – which is not in accordance with standard operating procedures at the prison.
Bugs benefitting humans? Doug Tallamy's research and reason lays out an eco-logical banquet of ways insect life supports our own - and he calls on each one of us to return the favor, by growing native plants. Tallamy's message is passionate and practical - and clear enough for us ALL to take to heart.
His first midwestern speaking gigs, in St. Louis on March 6-7, sold out in days. This Earthworms conversation is a great chance to hear THE BEST explainer of how we are part of Nature, and how our personal landscapes - from suburban yards to city balconies - CAN turn around catastrophic ecological decline, if we work together and Grow Natives NOW. We can grow what Tallamy encouragingly calls Homegrown National Park. Dig it!
Music: Big Piney Blues, performed live at KDHX by Brian Curran
THANKS to Sasha Hay and Jon Valley, engineers for Earthworms
Native Plant Garden Tour: See, Grow, Love! (Aug 2017) - look for this tour again in 2020 - and find St. Louis Audubon's Bring Conservation Home program cited by Doug Tallamy in Nature's Best Hope as a program transforming local plant aesthetics.
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