St. Louis on the Air

The Missouri legislature finished its work on Friday without the contention or dramatic standoffs that have highlighted the final weeks of session in recent years. Lawmakers spent Friday passing a number of significant, but mainly uncontroversial bills. That includes wide-ranging public safety legislation that features an automatic expungement program, a bill moving St. Charles County school board elections to November, a ballot item affirming that most of the state’s sheriffs will remain elected, raising the speed limit on rural highways from 70 to 75, and an additional proposal sent to voters creating a “sovereign wealth fund” to, one day, eliminate all taxes. The legislature passed 100 bills this session compared to 67 last year. But with lawmakers returning home, the fate of some key GOP agenda items will be up to voters – including Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to expand Missouri’s sales taxes to get rid of the state income tax. Be sure to tune in on Monday to listen to the Politically Speaking Hour on @stlonair . If you have a question about the 2026 legislative session, either comment below or send an email to [email protected]. Cover photo: @cmkdigitals

Veteran astronaut Tom Akers was born in St. Louis, grew up in Eminence, Missouri, and attended the University of Science and Technology in Rolla. Then, he went to space — an experience he calls “an honor of a lifetime.” Today, Akers will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. He joined @stlonair ahead of the ceremony to talk about his upbringing, his love of teaching, and making the leap from small-town Missouri to floating in orbit above the planet. Find the full episode via the link in our bio. ✍️: Danny Wicentowski 📸: @nasa

Lafayette High School Graduate Nathaniel Mahone has always found joy in bringing laughter to others. Now, after several summers as a Muny Kid and Teen and graduating college, Mahone is touring the country with the musical comedy “Monty Python’s Spamalot”. “The funny thing is doing ‘Spamalot’ right now, there's a lot of comedic and physical requirements for this specific show,” he said. “I laugh every now and again, because it's like, of course, the small clowning training that I got would apply to this Broadway musical tour. I was able to capitalize on the physicalization that I learned growing up and the storytelling in which we have to use our bodies.” In this @stlnair episode, Mahone shared his journey from small plays to big stages, and what it means to be coming home to St. Louis on his first national tour. Tap the link in our bio for the full story. ✍️: Darrious Varner | @ddarebionic 📸: Evan Zimmerman

If you're a fan of horror flicks and local music, listen back to our @stlonair episode with @bates_stl to hear how she combines both. The St. Louis rapper’s album, “The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose” blends her love of music and scary stories by flipping classic nursery rhymes with twisted origins and showcasing her expansive music tastes with her lyricism. “This is the project that defines the kind of music that I actually hear in my head [and] the music that I want to make. [‘The Terrible Tales of Mother Goose’] is my opportunity to show people that I'm not just a rapper who writes rap lyrics,” Bates said. “I really am a music fanatic, and I'm really interested in the production side of the music. I'm not here to prove myself as a lyricist anymore. I'm a songwriter, songwriter and performer — that's what I want to be labeled as.” In this episode, she takes us behind the scenes of her fifth album and she shares her future plans of becoming a music executive producer. Find the full conversation by tapping the link in our bio or wherever you get your "St. Louis on the Air" episodes. ✍️: Miya Norfleet | @hiya.miya.stl 📸: Brian Munoz | @brianmmunoz

From diners to desserts, St. Louis’ food scene is transforming and expanding. On @stlonair , we discussed the latest with several new restaurants, including some notable franchises, that opened in our region in April. We also talk about the local arrival of the slop bowl: what this food trend is, and whether the slinger belongs in that category. Find the full episode via the link in our bio, or wherever you get your "St. Louis on the Air" podcasts. ✍️: Jessica Rogen 📸: Brian Munoz | @brianmmunoz

In two months, @matistl will return to Grand Center for a weekend of music, food and community. July 17-19 won’t just bring the humidity and heat — the festival, formerly known as Music at the Intersection, features a lineup packed with artists who call St. Louis home. In April’s new music roundup, Larry Morris, the director of programs and partnerships for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, joins @stlonair producer @hiya.miya.stl to discuss the latest music from some of the musicians representing St. Louis. Tap the link in our bio to hear the full episode and to see the playlist. ✍️: Miya Norfleet | @hiya.miya.stl

Students at Parkway West High School play Rock, Paper, Scissors for pieces of bubble gum. It’s part of teacher Rachel Money’s lesson on private ownership and how wealth can be redistributed. Money uses innovative exercises to help students understand the complicated interplay of economic systems and government policy. In another lesson, students play Monopoly with randomized income amounts to learn about social hierarchies. “It evoked a lot of emotions in my classroom,” Money said. “The students who had a very high income found the game quite easy. … My students who received the lowest income started to cry out that the game was unfair because they could not possibly keep up. They had no way of getting ahead or of thinking about even being able to buy one property, much less multiple.” Now in her fifth year of teaching high school, Money makes an effort to give students tangible experiences that help explain the concepts listed in their textbooks. In this @stlonair episode, Money joins Parkway West senior Lily Overmann to share how such methods not only equip students for AP exams, but build their skills in media literacy, strategic thinking and problem solving. Find it by tapping the link in ur bio, or wherever you get your podcasts. ✍️ & 📸: Emily Woodbury

The debate over a data center project in Festus took a dramatic turn earlier this month when residents voted out every city council member seeking reelection who had approved the project. The electoral message became national news, with Politico describing it as “the latest example of growing public backlash against cities agreeing to host hyperscale data centers over the objections of residents.” The proposed site of the Festus data center would cover 360 acres only a few minutes' drive from Erica Carter’s home. In November, she attended her first town meeting about the plan. At the time she had never heard of a data center. Some of her neighbors were already organizing to oppose it. “One of the townspeople kind of led the meeting and explained what a data center was,” she recalled. “He said, ‘We're going to need people speaking to the media, people going to town meetings, people organizing groups and running petitions and organizing talks and all these things.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, gross. This is not for me. I don't want any part of any of this.’” She said her mind changed when she witnessed a presentation on the project by Clayco CEO Bob Clark. “I became very angry,” she said. “I had a bad feeling in the bottom of my stomach, like this man is not telling the truth about the things that he's trying to sell us on.” In this @stlonair episode, we go behind the headlines with STLPR reporters Kavahn Mansouri and Katie Grawitch, who have spent months covering the debates and voter backlash over data centers in Festus and the St. Louis region. Festus resident Erica Carter also shares what a data center would mean for her community, and attorney Steve Jeffrey discusses the lawsuit filed against Festus to stop the project before it breaks ground. Find the full episode via the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts. ✍️: Danny Wicentowski 📸: Brian Munoz | @brianmmunoz

Missouri is on the brink of changing how it funds and provides naloxone to first-responders. The program is credited for reducing overdoses, but it faces a potential budget cut of $8 million. Rachel Winograd discusses the origins, successes and uncertain future of naloxone in Missouri. Winograd is a @umsl professor and director of addiction science at the Missouri Institute for Mental Health. Her team is responsible for distributing naloxone for the entire state. “We got our first funding for naloxone in 2017, and that year we gave out about 1,100 naloxone kits,” she said. “Last year, we distributed over 650,000 naloxone kits across the state. That has been a huge amount of growth.” Lawmakers continue to debate the final budget before the legislative session ends next month. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee discussed restoring $5 million for naloxone funding, the Missouri Independent reported. However, that proposal comes with a requirement that the state purchase Narcan, the more expensive, brand name version of naloxone. Winograd called the committee’s proposal “scandalous.” “[Narcan] is more than a $7 difference per box,” she said. “You multiply that by hundreds of thousands of boxes, [and] we are talking about losing out on almost 100,000 doses of naloxone.” Hear he full @stlonair episode via the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts. ✍️: Danny Wicentowski 📸: Brian Munoz | @brianmmunoz

Protest and activism come in many forms, including music that draws attention to current issues that artists find most pressing, and important. On this episode of “The Politically Speaking Hour on @stlonair ,” St. Louisans share their favorite protest songs and what that music means to them. We also hear from hip-hop artist @KVTheWriter about her latest diss tracks aimed at Mayor Cara Spencer, developer Paul McKee and Congressman Wesley Bell, and talk with WashU professor Lauren Eldridge Stewart about the history of protest music. Find the full episode via the link in bio or wherever you get your "St. Louis on the Air" podcasts. 🎥: Jason Rosenbaum | @jasonrosenbaum ✍️: Miya Norfleet | @hiya.miya.stl

Dozens of Holocaust survivor portraits, each standing more than seven feet tall and over three and a half feet wide, are on display at @thedistrictstl entertainment center in Chesterfield. These images are part of a traveling public art project called “Lest We Forget” by Italian-German photographer Luigi Toscano. The UNESCO Artist for Peace joined @stlonair to discuss what inspired his project in Germany in 2014 and how people have responded to its installations in different cities across the U.S. He also shares why bringing the “Lest We Forget” program to U.S. public schools — the first such partnership is happening with two rural Missouri schools in Houston and Sedalia — reflects the forward-looking orientation of his work: portraits and stories as a reminder of the past and a reflection of what is possible. Find the full episode via the link in our bio, or wherever you get your "St. Louis on the Air" podcasts. ✍️: Layla Halilbasic 📸: Bill Motchan

For long-suffering progressives in St. Charles County, this month’s municipal election results showcase the value of running candidates who are supported with disciplined political campaigns. Voters there defeated a property tax freeze and rejected self-identified conservative candidates to the Francis Howell School Board. And while some politically active residents are cautious about the GOP-dominated county turning blue, the results do provide some hope that Democrats can elect members of their party to the state legislature during a midterm election that could be bad for Republicans. “Hopefully we'll have some really competitive general elections in November and some balance in the representation,” said Ted House, the most recent Democrat elected to countywide office in St. Charles County, as a judge in 2014. “Because when you have a county council that's all Republican, or every single legislator from the county be Republican or Democrat, it's very unhealthy, and you get bad government.” You can read and listen to @jasonrosenbaum ’s Politically Speaking Hour on @stlonair report about the future of St. Charles County by tapping the link in our bio – or wherever you find your "St. Louis on the Air podcasts." Cover photo: @brianmunoz