St. Louis on the Air

Host Sarah Fenske talks with Mayor Lyda Krewson as the Close the Workhouse campaign relaunches its push surrounding St. Louis’ Minimum Security Institution.

The effort to shutter the city’s workhouse jail got new life this week with the launch of what activists call Close the Workhouse 2.0. Their argument this time isn’t just about poor conditions. It’s about the $10 million the city could save with jail closure. Host Sarah Fenske talks to one of the campaign’s co-founders, Kayla Reed. Also joining the discussion is prosecutor Mary Pat Carl, the former lead trial attorney under former Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, who supports the campaign.

Following Governor Mike Parson's 2020 State of the State address, host Sarah Fenske digs into its main themes and a few surprises with St. Louis Public Radio's Jaclyn Driscoll and Julie O'Donoghue.

A few weeks ago on the show, we learned about a brand new medical device that allows users to measure nutritional ketosis with a breathalyzer. Nutritionists say they’ve witnessed the reemergence of the keto diet as a means for weight loss in the past few years. Both during and after that segment aired, we received a lot of questions about the keto diet, as well as some concern that this may be an unhealthy choice for some people. In this conversation, we dive into what the research says about keto with several nutritionists.

St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporters Jaclyn Driscoll and Jason Rosenbaum during this broadcast of Gov. Mike Parson's 2020 speech.

Vast wildfires in Australia, California and elsewhere continue to have wide-sweeping impacts, testing the limits of firefighters on the front lines and presenting new challenges for experts in all sorts of sectors. At St. Louis University’s Geospatial Institute, also known as GeoSLU, researchers are using remotely sensed images and spatial analysis to extend our understanding of these disasters and others. The geospatial technology helps them predict wildfires as well as map the extent and severity of wildfires after they have occurred. In this segment, host Sarah Fenske leads a conversation about the difference this research can make. She talks with Ness Sandoval, associate professor of sociology at St. Louis University and an associate director of the Geospatial Institute, and with Shawn Steadman, director of SLU’s emergency management program.

Lots of things set St. Louis apart from other Missouri municipalities, from its fixation with the high school question to bread-sliced bagels. So the fact that the city of St. Louis is one of few municipalities in the state with a residency requirement for most of its government employees is hardly its most defining. But right now, it might be the most hotly contested. After the Board of Aldermen rejected last fall Mayor Lyda Krewson’s plan to put the issue to voters — and have city residents decide whether to continue requiring city workers to live within the city limits — Krewson is now pushing for the legislature to take up her cause. House leadership seems on board. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske talks with longtime local journalist Ray Hartmann, who has a column in this week’s Riverfront Times on this subject. Also joining the discussion is St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann.

The year 2020 is still in its infancy, yet it’s already been marked by a slew of troubling events near and far — from gun violence in St. Louis, to devastating wildfires in Australia, to dramatically escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Many Americans may feel far removed from violence and loss in another part of the world, despite direct U.S. involvement, and everyday life goes on. But for those with loved ones based in volatile, vulnerable places, or who have deep cultural ties to a country such as Iran, the latest round of disturbing headlines can carry a lot more weight. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske hears from three local Iranian Americans, Dr. Bahar Bastani and attorney Javad Khazaeli and librarian Jaleh Fazelian, to get their perspectives.

Miranda Popkey’s new novel, “Topics of Conversation,” owes its existence to the MFA program at Washington University in St. Louis. The California native was a student there when she wrote much of it. The novel takes its inspiration from what it’s like to be a young woman in this fraught time. How do we talk about sex and our desires? How do we make sense of our choices, and our lives? In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Popkey joins host Sarah Fenske to discuss her novel, which was recently named one of January’s 20 “must-read books” by Entertainment Weekly.

A newly published Riverfront Times piece by Ryan Krull delves into the experiences of various TEH Realty tenants, detailing many miserable living conditions. In this episode, Krull joins host Sarah Fenske to discuss his reporting. Also joining the conversation are St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Jesse Bogan, who has also been following the developments surrounding TEH Realty, and Sunni Hutton, a volunteer grassroots organizer with Homes for All St. Louis.