As part of our Curious Louis series, we look into the hidden history of Castlewood State Park — including the clubs, dance halls, and speakeasies once tucked into its hills — and visit the ruins that remain.
Nuclear power plants. Radioactive waste from building the WWII atomic bombs. Low-grade nuclear weapons waste. Nuclear medicine. These complicated technical issues are hardly citizen stuff, except for Kay Drey.
Nuclear focused groups here and abroad consider St. Louis "ordinary citizen" Kay Drey as both ally and expert resource in their work. For well over 40 years, Kay has dug into these issues, both vetted researched them with science and policy professionals, and spoken up about them in countless public forums.
More impressive than her own advocacy, according to her longtime colleagues and friends Arlene Sandler (Board member for Missouri Coalition for the Environment) and special librarian Rebecca Wright, is how Kay has empowered countless fellow ordinary citizens to get up and testify, with personal viewpoints and facts, armed with info from Kay's files.
Kay Drey is an untiring opponent for causes she espouses, especially nuclear power, and an enviro Living Treasure in Missouri. Earthworms owes a great debt to Kay: in the show's first year her call to cover nuclear waste transportation issues affirmed for volunteer host Jean Ponzi that these conversations on KDHX were a real and necessary community service. Thank you, Kay Drey!
Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of a tragic accident that killed 17 people near Branson, Missouri, one of the state’s biggest family vacation destinations. The drownings occurred when a Ride the Ducks boat capsized and sank on Table Rock Lake in neighboring Stone County. In this talk show segment, Branson Mayor Edd Akers and Fire Chief Ted Martin look back on the day of the tragedy and also discuss efforts to support victims and their families and bring healing to the Branson community.
The St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center was once celebrated for lowering its euthanasia rate, but a recent audit found that the rate was only lowered after the shelter implemented the practice of labeling the “owner requested euthanasia” check box as simply “ORE” on animal surrender forms. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with Danny Wicentowski, who has been covering this story as a staff writer for the Riverfront Times.
The St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center was once celebrated for lowering its euthanasia rate, but a recent audit found that the rate was only lowered after the shelter implemented the practice of labeling the “owner requested euthanasia” check box as simply “ORE” on animal surrender forms. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with Danny Wicentowski, who has been covering this story as a staff writer for the Riverfront Times.
When Darwin Aquino was a young boy growing up in the Dominican Republic, his father directed him to choose one instrument to learn to play. Aquino opted for the violin and, with that early decision, took his first steps along a musical journey that would eventually lead him to St. Louis. Along the way, his musical accomplishments have also expanded beyond his skills as a violinist. Aquino is now a conductor and a composer, with his current roles including positions at both Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was also recently named the musical director of Gateway Festival Orchestra, which is wrapping up its 2019 season this Sunday. Aquino talks with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin about his local musical endeavors and compositions.
After leaving Bosnia in the 90s, Nermana Huskic looked for a way to give back to St. Louis. She saw the growing need to care for the homeless population. Now she owns RukaNade, one of the largest Bosnian nonprofits in the city.
Emoji have come a long way in recent years, with smiling faces and simple thumbs up now vastly outnumbered by a wide range of visual expressions available for digital use. As this visual language infuses contemporary forms of communication more and more, emoji present both opportunities and challenges in humans’ abilities to understand each other.
Over the weekend, the National Women’s Political Caucus convened in St. Louis to give women the chance to network, recruit, train, and provide support for political campaigns. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jeremy Goodwin talks with St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum and University of Missouri political analyst Hanna Brant about the convention and the representation of women in American politics.
Over the weekend, the National Women’s Political Caucus convened in St. Louis to give women the chance to network, recruit, train, and provide support for political campaigns. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jeremy Goodwin talks with St. Louis Public Radio political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum and University of Missouri political analyst Hanna Brant about the convention and the representation of women in American politics.
Every July and October, the Belleville nonprofit MindsEye sponsors unique baseball tournaments for St. Louis-area athletes who are legally blind. The games are played with beepballs that emit sounds and bases that buzz. Players with normal eyesight are welcome to play – blindfolded.
St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann goes behind the headlines with guest host Jim Kirchherr on two big stories from recent days: John Rallo, a major campaign donor to former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Tuesday. And, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has publicly spoken out defending her conduct with regard to the case involving former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. She's also been defending the changes she’s made to the circuit attorney’s office.
St. Louis Public Radio arts and culture editor David Cazares talks with Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire ahead of the band's performance at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis. The group has received multiple Grammy Awards and is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Nearly a decade ago, HandleBar owner Tatyana Telnikova began heading up the after-party for St. Louis’ World Naked Bike Ride. She’s now even more deeply involved as an organizer of the annual event, which gets going at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Grove neighborhood. Telnikova talks with guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network about this growing St. Louis tradition. Twelve years running, the ride aims to raise awareness about oil dependency, body positivity and cyclist vulnerability.
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, when humanity took its first steps on another planetary body via astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, guest host Jim Kirchherr remembers that day in history with the manager at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, Will Snyder, and Linda Godwin, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Missouri and retired NASA astronaut.
St. Louis artist and activist De Nichols will focus on the Griot Museum of Black History in her newly awarded Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Through the one-year program which begins this fall, Nichols will create a plan for the north St. Louis institution to deepen and sustain its impact as a space for black arts and history.
Years ago, when many multiple sclerosis researchers believed that a type of immune cell known as a T cell was the cause of the disease, Dr. Anne Cross turned her focus instead to B cells. Her findings have led to key breakthroughs in MS research – and also to receiving the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Academy of Neurology.
Guest host Jim Kirchherr of the Nine Network talks with a past winner of the competition, Justice Hill, who is now a SLU student, as well as Rebecca Butler Mona, the president of Optimist International. Also joining the discussion is Wayne Fields, the Lynne Cooper Harvey Chair Emeritus in English at Washington University. Among other books, Fields is the author of “Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence."
State Rep. Derek Grier is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast, where he talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about how Missouri is approaching economic development policy.
The Chesterfield Republican represents the 100th District in the Missouri House. That St. Louis County-based district takes in parts of Chesterfield, Town & Country, Winchester and Ballwin.
Grier is a St. Louis County native who first entered the local electoral scene in 2011 when he won a seat on the Chesterfield City Council. Aside from his political pursuits, Grier has spent time working in the real estate industry.
When Rep. Sue Allen departed from the Missouri House due to term limits, Grier jumped into the GOP primary for the 100th District House seat. He ended up defeating Allen’s husband, Michael Allen, by roughly 1,000 votes — which was tantamount to election since no Democratic candidate filed to run for the seat.
About 6,000 school nutrition professionals from across the country have spent part of this week in St. Louis sampling food, testing equipment, and sharing best practices for meeting federal nutrition requirements for school cafeteria lunch options.
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