St. Louis on the Air

For 150 years, Forest Park has been many things to many St. Louisans: a place to walk, play, gather, escape the heat, visit a museum, see an animal at the zoo or simply find a quiet place to read. But the history of the park also tells a larger story about the city itself.

Amanda Doyle and Cameron Collins talk about their new coffee table book, “Forest Park: St. Louis’s Gathering Place Since 1876,” that traces the park's history from its origins through the present day.

The St. Louis-based nonprofit MidAmerica Clean Future Alliance aims to reduce plastic pollution — from food and beverage containers to tires — along the Mississippi River. Executive director Jennifer Wendt and community engagement specialist Caran Hanks talk about their community-driven approach to reduce plastic waste in local neighborhoods and waterways from St. Paul, Minnesota down to the Mississippi Delta.

A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that Missouri must use a congressional map passed last year for this November’s election. That order goes against what the Missouri and U.S. Supreme Courts ordered earlier this month. STLPR politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum shares the various legal issues at play and what may happen next.

A now-retracted letter asking some St. Louis businesses to stop giving water to homeless people elicited significant backlash last week. The letter highlighted ongoing gaps in the region’s shelter and social safety support system. To explore what happened on South Grand, why the letter drew outrage, and how city officials and advocates are responding, we talk with the director of the continuum of care at Peter and Paul Community Services, an Arch City Defenders attorney, and the director of the Department of Human Services for the City of St. Louis.

Service industry professionals across St. Louis are fighting to make their voices heard by filing for unionization. In 2022, local Starbucks workers filed to form a union. Now two more groups of employees have joined their ranks. Within days of each other, workers at Alamo Drafthouse and Union Loafers announced they’re intent to file for unionization in a growing effort for transparency, fair wages and, above all, consistency. Logan Allgood from Alamo Drafthouse and Nelle Kate McPherson from Union Loafers discuss the intent behind their filing and why their efforts shouldn’t be seen as detrimental to a company.

The Trump administration is weighing a policy change that would redirect federal childcare funds from low-income, working parents to married couples with a stay-at-home parent. Washington University sociologist Caitlyn Collins says the move doesn’t reflect the will or needs of the American people. Collins, who authored the book “Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving,” shares insight on public policies that are proven to support both working parents and stay-at-home parents and discusses her latest research on how families in the St. Louis area navigate the childcare market.

For nearly a decade, President Donald Trump’s popularity in Missouri was a boon for the state’s Republican Party. But new poll numbers from St. Louis University and YouGov show that the GOP chief executive is on shaky ground, especially as concerns about the economy and the Iran War are on voters’ minds. St. Louis University’s Steven Rogers joins “The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air” to talk about the poll results and what they could mean for the Nov. 3 elections.

Two years ago, Missourians legalized abortion — and repealed one of the strictest bans on the procedure in the country. Now, Missouri Republicans who oppose abortion rights are hoping voters will take to a proposal, known as Amendment 3, that places a near-total ban into the constitution. Abortion rights proponents say that the proposal is misreading what voters want. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum dives into the Amendment 3 battle on “The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air.”

The Missouri Supreme Court made a number of precedent-setting decisions this year when it comes to congressional redistricting. And they’ve also held the state’s GOP secretary of state in contempt for disobeying one of their rulings. These actions have prompted blowback from Missouri Republicans, including more than a dozen who called for impeachment hearings for Supreme Court judges. Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff discusses whether these threats are just talk or a sign that Republicans may want to target a plan that selects key judges in the state.

A year after the St. Louis post-hardcore band Foxing announced its indefinite hiatus, singer/songwriter Conor Murphy is making music inspired by what he listens to, in his spare time, in his other band, Smidley. The optimistic tunes and oftentimes melancholy lyrics of “Murphy Horse” — Smidley’s third album — reflect changes in Conor’s life, and the evolution of his relationships with the people closest to him.

STLPR’s Chad Davis sat down with Murphy ahead of the album’s September 25th release. They discussed what the last year has looked like for Murphy since Foxing started its break and Smidley has taken on new life.