Véronique LaCapra

Science Reporter

Science reporter Véronique LaCapra first caught the radio bug writing commentaries for NPR affiliate WAMU in Washington, D.C. After producing her first audio documentaries at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies in N.C., she was hooked! She has done ecological research in the Brazilian Pantanal; regulated pesticides for the Environmental Protection Agency in Arlington, Va.; been a freelance writer and volunteer in South Africa; and contributed radio features to the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. She earned a Ph.D. in ecosystem ecology from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in environmental policy and biology from Cornell. LaCapra grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and in her mother’s home town of Auxerre, France.

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Elk reintroduction: a different kind of Missouri comeback

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Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

Missouri’s elk are being released on the Peck Ranch Conservation area, north of Fremont, Mo.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

Bobby Simpson raises Angus cattle on his ranch near the Meramec River, about 6 miles outside of Salem. He and other ranchers fear that elk will damage cattle fences and compete with livestock for forage.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

The Missouri legislature is considering making the MDC financially responsible for any damage caused by wild elk, and allowing ranchers and other landowners to kill any elk that damages their property.

Credit (Missouri Department of Conservation)

Of the 49 elk captured in Kentucky, one had to be released, and another 14 have died from injuries, pneumonia, or capture-related stress. Thirty-four cows, calves, and yearling bulls remain.

Credit (Missouri Department of Conservation)

In Kentucky, the elk have tested free of diseases including brucellosis, chronic wasting disease, and bovine tuberculosis. MDC staff say there are no cases of eastern elk transmitting diseases to cattle.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

Once they arrive at Peck Ranch, the elk will be kept in these pens for at least two weeks to allow them to recover from the stress of transportation and get used to their new environment.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

The MDC manages vegetation at Peck Ranch with selective logging and controlled burns. The created clearings are planted with crimson clover, wheat, alfalfa, orchard grass – all favorite food for elk.

Credit (Missouri Department of Conservation)

MDC resource scientist and cervid biologist Jason Sumners holds GPS radio collars that will be used to track the adult cows (left) and calves after they are released.

By Véronique LaCapra

You can also see photos of the elk and find out more about the reintroduction above. And, for more information about the elk restoration efforts prior to their arrival in Missouri, see the video below the story text.

Listen

Starting tomorrow*, elk will be back in Missouri. They haven’t been here since the mid-1800s, when hunting and habitat loss drove eastern elk to extinction.

States from Arkansas to Pennsylvania have since reestablished their elk populations. And now Missouri is trying to do the same.

But not everyone is happy about the state’s elk reintroduction plans.

6:35 am

Tue April 26, 2011

Student-made robots take over Chaifetz Arena. Next stop? The Edward Jones Dome!

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Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Peter Prombo Cates (left) and Chirag Doshi, students at Gateway Institute of Technology in St. Louis, carry their team’s robot off the playing field.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Perpetual Chaos team members Peter Prombo Cates, Josh Kish, coach Frank Dressel, and team members Liz Arnold and Chirag Doshi (left to right) will compete with their robot in the FIRST Robotics Championship this week.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Team members from the Ratchet Rockers (Wentzville School District, in blue) Rob Fletcher (front) and Matt Moore help Perpetual Chaos team members (in green) repair their robot.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Home-schoolers Camryn Vrbka (left, from Old Monroe, Mo.) and siblings Elizabeth and Bryan Stearns (from St. Peters, Mo.) are members of the FIRST Robotics team the Channel Cats, which won the St. Louis Regional Chairman’s Award.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Matt Duelo (left, Hazelwood Central High School) and Cameron Dozier (North County Technical High School) get their Robohawks robot ready for “autonomous mode” at the start of a match.

Credit (John Zeman, St. Louis FIRST Robotics)

Spectators watch as participants prepare the field for a FIRST Robotics Regional competition match at Saint Louis University’s Chaifetz Arena.

Credit (Scott Schneider)

Robohawks mentor Mike Duello and team members Brandon Cannon, Evan Mensinger, Sarah Harter and Jaylen Taylor (left to right) work on their robot.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Normandy High School students Dajuan Drake, Dushon Brackins, Bianca Bailey (seated), J’von Coleman, Binder Kayland, and teacher Patsy Issom-Harper (left to right) cheer on their team.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Students Latisha Hall, Ashley Hunt, Bianca Bailey, and Justin Battiest are members of the NYACK team from Normandy High School.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

Camdenton 4-H LASER team members Brandon Kapp, Mitchell Woodside, Blake Barbour and Stephanie McQueen (left to right, Camdenton High School) show off their St. Louis Regional winning alliance medals.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

John Gillis and Danielle Sylve (team mentor) watch the St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics awards ceremony. Their team, the Army Ants of Columbia, Mo., won two best rookie team awards this year.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

The goal of this year’s FIRST Robotics competition is for robots to hang inner-tube-like shapes on pegs to form the FIRST logo (red triangle, white circle, and blue square).

Credit (John Zeman, St. Louis FIRST Robotics)

In the pit area, the FIRST Robotics teams prepare their robots for competition.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

The Robohawks (Florissant, Mo.), Robo-Lions (University City, Mo.) and Camdenton 4-H LASER (Camdenton, Mo.) won this year’s St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics competition.

By Véronique LaCapra

Listen

This week in St. Louis, close to 9,000 high school students from five countries will compete in the FIRST Robotics Championship.

Teams of student-built, remote-control robots will take to the field at the Edward Jones Dome. Organizers hope the competition will draw more than 20,000 spectators and generate at least $18 million in local spending.

Véronique LaCapra was at the St. Louis Regional event in March and has this inside look at the competition.

3:00 pm

Wed April 6, 2011

Exposure to welding fumes may lead to impaired brain function

Credit (via Neurology ®)

Brain scans from a control subject (left), a welder (center), and a subject with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (right), in a study by researchers at Washington University comparing brains of apparently healthy welders to those of Parkinson's patients.

By Véronique LaCapra

Workers exposed to the metal manganese in welding fumes may be at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s-like symptoms, including loss of motor control and tremors.

That’s the finding of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, who compared brain scans of apparently healthy welders to those of Parkinson’s patients.

8:30 am

Mon April 4, 2011

Mo. voters head to the polls in tomorrow's municipal elections

Credit (via Flickr/lowjumpingfrog)

A touch-screen voting machine. Most voters in St. Louis County are expected to use the touch-screen machines in tomorrow's municipal elections.

By Véronique LaCapra

St. Louis-area election officials are expecting a relatively low turnout, typical of municipal elections.

The Democratic director of the St. Louis City Board of Elections, Mary Wheeler-Jones, says the City is preparing for 25 to 30 percent of registered voters to show up at the polls.

Wheeler-Jones says that range is probably an overestimate, but she does expect a higher turnout this time than in March’s municipal elections.

5:05 pm

Wed March 30, 2011

EPA a step closer to cleaning up Carter Carburetor Superfund site in St. Louis

By Véronique LaCapra

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The above map depicts Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club (right), across the street from the Carter Carburetor Superfund site, a former gasoline and diesel carburetor manufacturing plant which closed in 1984.

The Environmental Protection Agency is a step closer to cleaning up a contaminated industrial property on the city's north side.

In a memorandum signed today, the EPA spells out the steps it will take to clean up the Carter Carburetor Superfund site.

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Elk Reintroduction

2:48 pm

Fri April 29, 2011