The Gateway

Michael Plisco is a pulmonologist in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis who treated the man who died from vaping-related lung injury last month. While medical experts still don’t know exactly what causes death and severe illness in some people who vape, Dr. Plisco says the St. Louis patient offers clues into the little-understood dangers of vaping.

Fort Leonard Wood is huge, and a lot of it is undeveloped natural areas. That means some of Missouri’s threatened species, such as bats, have a safe home among the soldiers. And the Army is working to keep it that way.

A mural project in Belleville is bringing public art to the city's downtown streets. It's funded through donations from individuals and area businesses. Artists and organizers believe the effort will have a lasting impact on the Metro East city.

Leaders of Native American tribes say they support proposed legislation to make Cahokia Mounds a national park as a way to preserve a place that is sacred to their people. Many tribes who live in the Midwest trace their heritage to those who built the ancient city 1,000 years ago.

When people are shot and killed, the pain can linger for families left behind. Sharon Williams’s 19-year-old son was killed on a street corner in the Mark Twain neighborhood 10 years ago. She says losing a child to gun violence has left her with years of traumatic grief and an enormous sense of guilt.

Denver International Airport recently fired Ferrorvial Airports, the developer involved in a nearly $2 billion public-private partnership. The same company likely will bid for a lease to operate St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

When it comes to gun violence, many seem to think children are excluded from being harmed. But more children in St. Louis have been killed by guns since Memorial Day, compared to all of last year. Experts, police, and people in the neighborhoods discuss the "norms" when it comes to not harming or killing children, and why things have shifted.

Queer Puerto Rican author Gabby Rivera is coming to St. Louis to talk about her novel 'Juliet Takes a Breath.' The book was originally published by an extremely small press, to a limited audience. But it resonated with LGBTQ and Latinx readers nationally, and now, three years after its initial publication it’s being re-released in hardback and translated into Spanish.

The new Major League Soccer stadium in St. Louis is expected to be built near other sports and entertainment venues including Enterprise Center, Busch Stadium and Union Station. Washington University Sports Business Program Director Patrick Rishe talks about how other cities have set up similar districts to help boost economic development.

The group Mixed Feelings offers opportunities for people who identify as multiracial to share their struggles in defining racial identity. Members say it's time to reassess the nation's traditional black and white cultural dichotomy and to make room for those with roots in more than one group who want to embrace their varied identities.