Alex Heuer

When Michel Martin, host of NPR’s Tell Me More, brings her show to St. Louis Public Radio’s home of UMSL at Grand Center on November 8, 2013, it should come as no surprise that education will be a topic.

Companies and other organizations with an interest in Missouri state government hire lobbyists to influence policy in Jefferson City. State law requires lobbyists to disclose how much they spend in the process, listing which officials received benefits, such as free meals, professional sports tickets, trips and other gifts.

Lobbying Missouri, a new reporting partnership of St. Louis Public Radio and NPR, provides an interactive way to follow the money.

The mattress began to shake.  Arms and legs flailing.  For hours he fluctuated between frenzy and calm.

The following phrases describe an exorcism that took place in March and April of 1949.  A cadre of Jesuit priests affiliated with Saint Louis University, led by Father William S. Bowdern, the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church, undertook the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy. They took turns praying over the boy, working to cast out the demon believed to have possessed him.

When Arthur Schwartz was 10 years old his parents gave him a newspaper clipping – a poem about the 1946 World Series in which the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox.

After hearing our recent program on a new book about the 1946 World Series, Schwartz contacted us about the poem he memorized as kid, 67 years ago. 

In chess, the queen is recognized as the most powerful piece.  It can move in any direction, making it desirable yet unpredictable.

Centuries ago, however, the queen didn’t exist.  Around the 15th century, when Queen Isabella I of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I of England came to power, so too did the queen in chess.

Commissioners of the Zoo-Museum District, on September 30, voted to raise the property tax rate that funds five St. Louis cultural institutions to the highest level permitted by state law.  Those institutions are the St. Louis Zoo, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Science Center and Missouri History Museum.

Resale Royalty. Welcome to Sweetie Pies. Funeral Boss. Salvage City. If you are a fan of reality-based TV, these shows may be familiar to you.

All of them take place in St. Louis. And all of them were produced by St. Louis-based television production companies Coolfire Originals and NoCoast Originals, who often work in partnership to create what they call "unscripted" shows.

Dishcrawl is an organization which holds “food adventures” throughout the United States and Canada.

The St. Louis branch of Dishcrawl is hosting Battledish – an international food competition among local chefs.  The event takes place this weekend in the Central West End and "Cityscape" host Steve Potter is one of the judges.

Potter talked with Sara Graham, the community manager of the St. Louis Dishcrawl in advance of the event.

Every month, St. Louis on the Air holds a legal roundtable in which we discuss local, regional and national issues pertaining to the law.  This month, we took the show on the road to Saint Louis University's new downtown School of Law building.

Host Don Marsh and the panel of legal experts took questions from a live audience in the 12th floor court room. And with the new U.S. Supreme Court session scheduled to begin October 7th, there was a lot to talk about.

The panelists were:

St. Louisan Ben Hilliker, a career industrial realtor, has had a lifelong attraction to automobiles.

His passion for antique cars is so great that he wrote a children’s book, “The Tale of Willy Willys,” based on a 1926 Willys Overland he acquired in 1999.

The story is about the revival of the antique car as Mr. and Mrs. Willys stumble upon an unexpected find that leads them to restoring an old car that shares their family name.

The book features art by Robert Shay.