The Gateway

Four months after the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade, the cost of surviving is hitting hard for the 24 people with bullet wounds. Expenses like medical bills, missed work, and many out-of-pocket costs are all coming due for the survivors and their families. They’re waiting for a promised payout, but they’re racking up debt in the meantime. Bram Sable-Smith from our partner at KFF Health News reports, it can be expensive to survive a mass shooting.

Connecticut-based band Goose launched its summer tour at The Factory in Chesterfield earlier this month. The show sounded and looked great for fans in the room, and those watching a live webcast from home. Few of them knew the sights and sounds arrived, in part, through the work of a Chesterfield company that’s become a force in the concert industry. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin reports on the work that happens before a band can hit the stage.

America needs more renewable energy, and of course it needs food--and those two demands are on a collision course over farmland. Solar power is the fastest growing source of renewable power, but solar farms can take land out of crop production. As Harvest Public Media’s Frank Morris reports, a growing field of study is searching for ways to get calories and kilowatts off the same land.

While the work to get Missouri residents compensated for radiation exposure has gotten lots of attention, an effort to help victims in Venice, Madison and Granite City has largely gone unnoticed. St. Louis Public Radio’s Will Bauer reports on what's being done and who's being impacted.

Galileo’s observations about the solar system made him the father of modern astronomy. They also clashed with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. And in 17th century Italy, spreading scientific facts could earn a death sentence. Opera Theatre of St. Louis is presenting a work about Galileo by the American composer Phillip Glass that opens Saturday. In a report by STLPR's Jeremy Goodwin, Performers Paul Groves and Vanessa Becerra reflect on some key moments in the opera and its continuing relevance.

Precision agriculture has promised to revolutionize farming since the mid-1990s. The idea is to give growers more granular data about their operations and new technology to put that information to use. Some of this has come to pass: farmers have more sophisticated equipment and hard data on how their operations perform. But St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid reports, some of the loftiest promises of precision ag are still out of reach.

This reporting is in conjunction with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains - including St. Louis Public Radio.

The right haircut can be hard for anyone to find. Some St. Louis hairdressers understand a good haircut is especially important for transgender clients. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Lauren Brennecke reports, these stylists and barbers are moving toward gender-free terminology and using in-depth consultations.

One of the centerpieces for free public gathering in downtown St. Louis is back open after eight months of renovations. Citygarden, the three-acre sculpture park stretching along the Gateway Mall, is again offering a greener and more peaceful environment than the busy streets and city sidewalks it sits among. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy Goodwin reports, an opening day party at Citygarden offered a view of the amenity as a colorful hub for city residents and visitors.

A recent report showed child abuse investigators missed warning signs parents were taking fentanyl before their children overdosed. As St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum explains, the report is prompting sharp questions about why Missouri’s Children’s Division isn’t using a process to steer parents into rehabilitation programs.

Missouri’s Department of Conservation has a new director. Jason Sumners, a former deputy director of the department, is taking the reins from Sara Parker Pauley who stepped down after 30 years. St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Kellogg spoke with Sumners about how conservation work has changed over the years and his goals for the department.