Republicans will gain control of the House, Senate and presidency next month and that means Missouri Rep. Jason Smith will become even more powerful, as he’ll have a clearer path as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to reshape taxation and trade policy. Smith, who represents Missouri’s 8th Congressional District, discusses priorities including renewing or expanding tax cuts — and governing with a narrow majority.

Congresswoman Cori Bush had an unlikely journey to Washington, D.C., rising from the Ferguson protest movement to the House of Representatives. Bush, who represents Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, will be leaving office in November after losing an expensive and bitter primary battle against St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. She sits down for an exit interview reflecting on her four years in Congress — and why she won’t be disappearing from the public view anytime soon.

Aida Ade — born Jamie Hudson — took a step back from music after the passing of her cherished aunt. She returned to music this year with the EP, “The Unbreakable Aida Ade,” which features songs written to lift herself up and to celebrate the power of a strong circle of loved ones.

Metro Boomin takes trust seriously. The St. Louis native recently returned to his hometown to continue his annual tradition of celebrating single mothers and honoring his late mother Leslie JoAnne Wayne, who was killed in June 2022. Producer Miya Norfleet sat down with the Grammy-nominated music producer to talk about his accomplishments, values, and views on what it means to be part of hip-hop culture.

Courtney Dowdall, music reviewer for The Arts STL, joins producer Miya Norfleet and Elaine Cha for a roundup of new music releases from St. Louis musicians. Their picks cover a range of genres, from Midwestern country to jazz to death metal.

Lawyers for County Executive Sam Page and Governor Mike Parson met in court this week to argue their case for appointing a new St. Louis County prosecutor to replace Wesley Bell. The unusual legal battle that pits county and state interests against each other is just one of the topics tackled in this month’s Legal Roundtable. Attorneys Mary Anne Sedey, Liz Lenivy and Dave Roland also dig into a former St. Louis county staffer’s retaliation claim — and why the Los Angeles Rams prefer arbitration to a local courtroom.

A recent report out of the Policy Research in Missouri Education Center at St. Louis University shows that about 61,000 children in Missouri are homeschooled — an almost two-fold increase since 2020. Executive Director Collin Hitt and Senior Research Associate Amy Shelton discuss how Missouri compares to other states, what a continued trend toward homeschooled K-12 students could mean for state-level policy and funding for public schools, and the need for more research into demographic trends and homeschooling outcomes.

For more than 60 years, Santa’s House in Belleville’s historic downtown square has been a mainstay of the holiday season. Combined with an open air German Christmas Market, experiencing Christmastime in Belleville is a tradition for many Metro East families. Cindy Hawkins, co-president of the Optimist Club of Belleville and chairman of the Santa committee, shares the history and memories of Santa’s House.

A Black man from St. Louis has served a decade in prison for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. The only evidence linking him to the shooting that resulted in a 25-year sentence was the testimony of a white police officer. But what neither he, his attorneys nor the jury that convicted him knew at the time was the officer had mistakenly arrested another Black man seven months earlier, using an illegal choke hold that ended in the man’s death. The officer also had a long history of racist posts on social media denigrating Black people.

The closure of three Christian boarding schools in Missouri since 2020 is only a start, says Amanda Householder, whose parents ran the now-closed Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. Householder reflects on her upbringing at her parents’ unregulated boarding school, what happened after she escaped, and her feelings as her mother, Stephanie Householder, faces numerous charges of child abuse. We also hear from David Clohessy, the former national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Clohessy shares insights from a career of advocating for abuse victims, and why he is calling on Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to do more to expose other abuse situations in the state’s boarding schools.