© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Rundown: Teachable Moments In Aftermath Of Ferguson

Tim Lloyd | St. Louis Public Radio
Vincent Flewellen leads a lesson on Ferguson during his eighth-grade multicultural studies course at Ladue Middle School.

We know that you listen to us on air and check our website for news and information about our region. We hope that you look at our website every day, but we know that's not always possible. So, once a week, on Friday, we will highlight some of the website's top stories of the week.

Life lessons

A Teachable Moment: ‘Adults, We Have Such A Hard Time Having These Conversations’

As the months have passed since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown and teachers have gotten to know their students, the focus has started to shift away from crisis management and mental-health services to a direct discussion of the events in Ferguson and the issue of race. While some educators have been eager to  talk about issues of race and class, others have found those conversations uneasy at times.

Credit Tim Lloyd / St. Louis Public Radio
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Bernice King gives students in Riverview Gardens training in nonviolence.

A Teachable Moment: For Some, Ferguson Is A Matter Of Faith

From pulpits to protests, many religious leaders havw been deeply involved with demonstrations following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. And for some teachers at religious schools in St. Louis, talking with students about the protests in Ferguson and Brown’s death is about more than education -- it’s a matter of faith.

A Teachable Moment: In Riverview Gardens, Training Ambassadors For Nonviolence

Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is bringing her father’s message of -- and training in -- nonviolence to students living close to where mass protests broke out this past August. Students in Riverview Gardens High School attended a three-day training session in nonviolence.

Seeing the protests from all sides

Officer: Facing Threats And Shots Makes Protest Duty Emotional For Police

Since Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown in August, police have been facing hostile protests with often a strong anti-law enforcement bent. Chants of "No justice, no peace" have been mixed with much more violent anti-police messages, including threats of shooting down police helicopters and other vulgar terms. But it's not just shouts being hurled at police; they've also had Molotov cocktails, rocks, and bottles of urine thrown their way, even been spit at and fired upon.

Ferguson Police Lt. Craig Rettke is confronted by two protestors in the middle of S. Florissant Road Sunday night.
Credit Stephanie Lecci | St. Louis Public Radio

Clergy's Role In The Ferguson Protests Is Controversial And Expected

On "Moral Monday," hundreds of clergy and lay leaders from various faiths spent four-and-a-half hours praying for peace and asking police officers nearby to admit that wrong had happened and be willing to work for change. Forty-three people were arrested.

Justice For Michael Brown: An Expanding Definition

Since Michael Brown’s death one has heard a consistent cry for justice. For many protesters, that justice means the indictment of Officer Darren Wilson, who shot the unarmed 18 year old. That case is before the grand jury. But an indictment is not the only definition of justice, as sought by those who have been demonstrating.

General election 2014

St. Louis Public Radio aired the first public debate between two candidates for St. Louis County executive, Democrat Steve Stenger, left and Republican Rick Stream (right).
Credit Rebecca Smith | St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Public Radio aired the first public debate between two candidates for St. Louis County executive, Democrat Steve Stenger, left and Republican Rick Stream, right.

In Debate, Stenger Takes Aim at Stream's Record

St. Louis County’s two major candidates for county executive – Republican Rick Stream and Democrat Steve Stenger – engaged Tuesday in their most vigorous debate to date, tangling over guns, other social issues, their records and their different visions of what government can and should do for the county’s 1 million residents. Stream called their contest “the most important race in the state of Missouri’’ on the Nov. 4 ballot. The debate was broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio’s “St. Louis on the Air.”

Marching to a different tune

Vets Centers Ease Path From Military To College

For the typical college freshman, heading for campus means a welcome chance to leave behind all those pesky rules that had to be followed at home and to enter a new environment of freedom and choice. For the military veteran trying to re-enter civilian society and signing up for college classes, that lack of structure may be far less attractive and more than a little intimidating. Increasingly, campus veterans' centers are becoming aresource for solving the big -- and small -- problems of adjusting to the campus climate.

Secrets of St. Louis

An aerial view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency at 3200 South 2nd Street, the current headquarters for NGA West.
Credit (courtesy NGA) / National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NGA
/
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NGA
An aerial view of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Super Secret Government Work Happens In Some Of St. Louis' Oldest Buildings

It’s a top national security facility in St. Louis that’s flown under the radar for years. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is hidden in plain sight on more than 20 acres between the Anheuser-Busch brewery and the Mississippi River. Roughly 2,500 NGA employees work there on highly secretive projects. The maps, charts and strategic intelligence they provide are used by the president and military leaders.

Archeologists Dig For Clues To African-American History in Brooklyn, Ill.

Brooklyn, Ill., is a small, predominantly African-American town, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Archeologists have been digging for evidence of Brooklyn’s pre-Civil-War past, trying to solve some of the mysteries about its origins.Brooklyn appears to have played a role in the Underground Railroad ― the secret network of routes and safe houses that African Americans used to escape from slavery.

Susan Hegger comes to St. Louis Public Radio and the Beacon as the politics and issues editor, a position she has held at the Beacon since it started in 2008.