St. Louis on the Air

Taking advantage of our community’s diversity can be a challenge.  While people of different ethnicities, cultures, and ages are all around us we can often find ourselves on the outside looking in.  Host Don Marsh talks with guests about ways non-profit and arts organizations can engage new and underserved communities and improve their diversity.

Term limits are a controversial topic in Missouri and there are persuasive cases both for and against them.  Currently, the Missouri constitution limits state senators to two four-year terms and state representatives to four two-year terms.

Host Don Marsh’s guests are:

Not many people who watch city politics were surprised when Board of Alderman president Lewis Reed announced that he will challenge Mayor Francis Slay in next year’s Democratic primary in April.

Reed officially threw his hat into the ring on Wednesday at Sqwires in Lafayette Square, part of his ward before he ran for board president.

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney square off in Denver tonight in the first of their three scheduled televised debates.  Host Don Marsh is joined by NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin to talk about the importance of debates to the election process and what viewers should be looking for.  We’ll also talk with Ken about some political races and issues closer to home.

Show Highlights

Presidential Debate

The economy is identified as the top concern and voting issue in this presidential election.  There is, however, a strong and sometimes overriding religious subtext on such issues as abortion, contraception, and same sex marriage.  In advance of an upcoming lecture at Fontbonne University on “Faithful Citizenship: A Forum on Religion and Public Life,” host Don Marsh talks with some of the panelists about the intersection of politics and religion, engaging in a broad discussion though approaching it from the Catholic perspective.

Less than one week ago East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced a list of new measures in an attempt to curb recent violence in the city.  Among the new rules is a curfew for all youth after 10:00 p.m.  A ban from wearing royal blue or bright red clothing was also in effect for all men though the Mayor has since backed down.

Host Don Marsh talks with multiple guests about the new measures which stem from a deadly weekend in which an 18 year old man was stabbed to death and three young men died after being shot in the parking lot of a local club.

Tony La Russa won two World Series championships as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and another with the Oakland Athletics.  He won four Manager of the Year Awards and has the third highest win total in Major League Baseball history.  Host Don Marsh talks with La Russa about his career, the current season, and his new memoir, “One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season.”

For any community to grow and prosper, it’s important to open the door to new business and business expansion, to retain the talent we have, and make it a place in which people are proud and happy to live and visit.  A key component to all of this is marketing and then delivering.  Join host Don Marsh as we talk about branding St. Louis.

Guests:

Brian Hall, Chief Marketing Officer, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission

Tara Pham, founding member of the Brain Drain Collective

Campaigns to protect our environment and improve sustainability efforts are numerous and ongoing in the St. Louis area.  Host Don Marsh talks with environmental experts about what has been done, what is being done, and what still needs to be done to further protect our planet. 

Finding effective treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is elusive.  While most of what we hear about the disease is depressing, we may be on the threshold of some exciting discoveries concerning prevention.  Washington University’s School of Medicine is in the middle of this new research and this hour, host Don Marsh is joined by Dr. John Morris, Director of Washington University’s Alzheimer’s Research Center, to talk about clinical trials aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

There is good and bad news when it comes to the latest government figures on poverty in America.  The good news is that the poverty rate has more or less stabilized for the first time in three years, while the bad news is that the number of people living in poverty in the St. Louis area is well above the national average.  Join host Don Marsh for a discussion about poverty and its ripple effects in the region. 

The City Museum is a popular tourist destination in St. Louis and its co-founder, Gail Cassilly, says founding it along with her late ex-husband was one of her life’s highlights though it was also a life that had “crushing sorrows.”  Host Don Marsh talks with sculptor and writer Gail Cassilly about her new memoir, Saltwater.  Then, Don talks with a couple of St. Louisans who are mounting a national effort to officially change the name of Columbus Day to Exploration Day.

It can be emotional when children leave home to start life on their own.  Parents are often saddened by the new arrangement but can also relish returning to life as they lived before children.  Host Don Marsh talks with guests this hour about coping with the empty nest.

Some legal rulings leave us scratching our head but for widely different reasons.  Don Marsh hosts our monthly legal roundtable.  We wonder what a judge was thinking when she left important court decisions to her clerks, why a judge approved a sex change operation for a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, and other legal issues.