St. Louis on the Air

St. Louis drivers routinely blast through intersections. Is the problem the drivers or is it the infrastructure? We talk about speed humps and other measures being proposed to calm traffic with panelists: St. Louis Community Mobility Committee Co-Chair Liz Kramer; CBB Principal and Transportation Engineer Shawn Leight; and St. Louis Complete Streets Program Manager Scott Ogilvie.

An increased interest in all things spooky means Halloween is right around the corner. Horror films are a perfect way to get into scary mode, but there is room for the genre all times of the year. Alex Rafi, associate professor of media production at St. Louis University, shares what makes horror an important storytelling genre.

Palestinian graduate student Intimaa Abuhelou came to St. Louis University last year to pursue her master's degree. When she last heard from her family in Gaza, they were sheltering at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school. Intimaa shares what she’s heard from her family in Gaza and what it’s like to be in St. Louis during the most recent Israel-Hamas war. (Editor’s note: No one story can capture all perspectives, experiences, or emotions connected to this conflict. If you have a personal connection to what's happening in Israel, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank — and you want to share your experience — send an email to: talk@stlpr.org.)

Missouri House Majority Leader Jon Patterson is slated to become speaker in 2025 — and he’s receiving more attention this week after current House Speaker Dean Plocher became embroiled in a controversy over his expense reimbursements. In the debut episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, STLPR Political Correspondent Jason Rosenbaum talks with Plocher. STLPR statehouse and politics reporter Sarah Kellogg for analysis, and we open up the mailbag to answer listener questions about local government and politics.

More than 35,000 people will be eligible to receive a portion of a $3.1 settlement in St. Ann, a result of litigation filed by civil rights law firm Arch City Defenders. Quentin Thomas describes what it was like to be trapped in a cycle of fines and jail in St. Ann. Maureen Hanlon, a civil litigation staff attorney with Arch City, discusses how St. Ann jailed people solely because they didn't have money to pay for their freedom, and what this settlement means for Arch City's years-long legal campaign against cities with similar practices.

Executives with St. Louis’s Major League Soccer expansion team are hoping the success of a record-setting regular season carries over into the playoffs. St. Louis City SC plays its inaugural postseason match Sunday night at home. STLPR’s Wayne Pratt talks with team President and General Manager Diego Gigliani and Chief Experience Officer Matt Sebek.

Every year, by law, sex offenders in Missouri must post a sign on Halloween that says “no candy or treats at this residence.” But can a law compel someone to erect a sign against their wishes? That question and others are taken up in this month’s edition of St. Louis on the Air’s Legal Roundtable, featuring attorneys Bevis Schock, Connie McFarland-Butler, and Sarah Swatosh. The attorneys also discuss a lawsuit filed against St. Louis-based Mission Taco Joint by the Mission brand of tortillas, a controversial $50,000 campaign donation to Attorney General Andrew Bailey, and the latest news coming from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.

The deadly shooting one year ago at Central Visual Performing Arts High School left many students and teachers to deal with immeasurable grief. STLPR’s Kate Grumke shares how Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience students are processing difficult emotions as they reflect on the upcoming anniversary of the deadly shooting in the school building they share with CVPA. Also, STLPR’s Chad Davis highlights how CVPA artists and alumni have spent the year using art to work through trauma.

In the year since the school shooting on the Central Visual Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience campus, students are finding ways to process their grief, anger and guilt. CVPA alum Raniyah Taylor and Collegiate alumni Axel Cortes and Mikayla Sanders talk about their experience of that tragedy, how they worked to process their trauma as seniors finishing high school, and what they wish people would better understand about their experience.

Keisha Acres’ daughter Alexzandria Bell was killed in the Oct. 24 shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. Abbey Kuczka’s mother, CVPA teacher Jean Kuczka, was also killed in the shooting. Keisha and Abbey share their reflections on grief, trauma and hopes for the future, including their wish for people to take the country’s growing mental health crisis more seriously.