St. Louis on the Air

Gloria Nolan is counting her blessings after an EF3 grade tornado tore through her neighborhood near Fairgrounds Park in north St. Louis. She shares her family’s experience surviving the storm, assessing the damage and securing assistance for the long road to recovery.

During a state funeral at the Missouri State Capitol on Tuesday, former U.S. Senator and Governor Kit Bond was remembered as a dedicated public servant who forged bipartisan ties. Bond died last week at the age of 86. STLPR’s Jason Rosenbaum talked with people who worked closely with Bond over his more than four decade public service career.

A lawsuit that accused St. Louis running an “unspeakably hellish” jail has ended in a $4 million settlement. Pending a judge’s approval, the settlement would allow at least 16,000 people who were jailed in the now-demolished Workhouse jail to file a claim. ArchCity Defenders Executive Director Blake Strode and Inez Bordeaux, a former Workhouse detainee who became an organizer of the Close the Workhouse campaign, explore the eight-year path to the settlement, and the past and future of the Workhouse.

On Friday afternoon, an EF3 tornado with winds topping out at 152 mph inflicted serious damage on about 4,400 St. Louis-area buildings, including homes, businesses, churches and schools. Dozens of people sustained injuries and five people lost their lives. STLPR reporter Chad Davis shares what he's heard from officials, community leaders and residents about the damage caused by the tornado.

The 2025 session ended last week and lawmakers endorsed many of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s priorities. That included placing a state board in charge of the St. Louis Police Department and sending $50 million to help fund K-12 scholarships that could go toward private schools. The session also included the passing of contentious GOP-led efforts to repeal Proposition A’s paid sick leave requirements and to place an anti-Amendment 3 measure on the 2026 ballot. STLPR statehouse and politics reporter Sarah Kellogg discusses the highs and lows of the session, followed by a discussion with Reps. Ian Mackey, D-Clayton, and Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County.

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for the last 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson knows what makes an excellent photograph. But AI is getting better and better at that, too. Carson, a 2025 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, has spent much of the past year on leave from the paper studying the collision of AI and photojournalism. He shares his insights on the challenges, complications and possible solutions for a world where, increasingly, what you see is different from what you get – and describes why he sees purported AI "learning" as just another word for theft.

Vocalist and songwriter Brianna Brown — known on stage as Be.Be the Neosoul, has performed on many St. Louis stages during her singing career. By day, she’s the artistic director at her alma mater Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. Next Tuesday, she’s hitting the stage at the Sheldon Concert Hall for something of a full circle moment. That’s when she and CVPA students will put on a benefit concert to raise money for the school’s arts departments. She shares what this moment means to her, what it’s like to hear her students perform her original music, and how it feels to perform beside them on stage.

Since 1975, the Focal Point has played a critical role in promoting and shaping St. Louis’ folk, roots, jazz, blues and world music scene. As the nonprofit celebrates its 50th anniversary with a year-long series of special concerts, we hear from musicians, volunteers and fans who have supported the organization from its humble beginnings — operating out of church basements and spare rooms — to its current, permanent home in downtown Maplewood.

Dilapidated and vacant buildings are more than eyesores for the community. They can lower property value and impact safety. But before starting up the bulldozers, Landmarks Illinois wants property owners and city governments to consider renovation and restoration. Their latest list of endangered historic places includes the Spivey Building in East St. Louis and various Meramec Caverns Barns including one in Madison County. Quinn Adamowski, regional manager of advocacy for Landmarks Illinois explains why renovation helps communities more than demolition and what successful rehabilitation looks like.

Just a year and a half after forming, the St. Louis-based improv team Some Black People took the championship belt in the Improv Shop’s 2024 Cagematch Tournament. Jessica Nicole, founder of Some Black People, shares what clinched it for them, and how far they’ve come in their goal to encourage more Black folks to get into improv as performers and fans.