Earlier this year, Steve’s Hot Dogs announced it was calling it quits after an 11-year run. But the outpouring that followed its closure announcement led directly to a new day for the eatery.

As owner Steve Ewing explained on St. Louis on the Air, the massive crowds in what he’d intended as the restaurant’s final week gave him a change of heart.

“The last couple of days, I’m starting to see people just pour out. We had lines down the streets. I’m starting to see tons of kids, and the parents with their kids, and the people who I’d seen for many years,” Ewing recalled. “And that’s when I’m like, ‘It would be really cool if we didn’t have to close this thing down.” 

Webster Groves’ elementary schools would be less crowded and have unbroken attendance boundaries under a plan being considered by its school board.

But the changes that would take effect in 2021 have lukewarm approval from parents, with concerns over concentrating poverty in one school, walkability and home values.

The St. Louis County Health Department is distributing free bottles of an overdose antidote to save people addicted to opioids.

The department announced Monday it is offering naloxone at its health clinic in north St. Louis County and at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton. When given to a person who has overdosed on opioids, the medicine can immediately reverse the effects of the overdose.

Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.

MASCOUTAH — A new director has been named to lead MidAmerica St. Louis Airport ahead of current director Tim Cantwell’s retirement.

Bryan Johnson’s starting date is April 3. His appointment was announced Monday by the St. Clair County Public Building Commission, which oversees MidAmerica’s operations. 

State Sen. Brian Williams is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast. The University City Democrat joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum to talk about his priorities for the 2020 session — and what to expect when the General Assembly hits the home stretch.

Williams represents Missouri’s 14th Senate District, which takes in a slew of municipalities in central and northern St. Louis County. That includes places like University City, Ferguson, Normandy, Bridgeton and Hazelwood.

St. Louis County’s jail population has dropped significantly over the past couple of years, from an over-capacity total of 1,242 in the summer of 2018 to 930 inmates as of last week. The sustained decrease has been touted as one positive outcome among the justice reform efforts that followed protests in Ferguson.

Much work remains — and thanks to five years of research led by University of Missouri-St. Louis professor of criminology and criminal justice Beth Huebner and funded by the John and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, collaboration continues between the researchers and the county, its circuit court and service providers.

During this year’s Pierre Laclede Society Community Confluence donor event at UMSL on Feb. 20, St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske talked about ongoing efforts in the county and addressed lingering challenges.

Today’s teachers and school administrators are under increasing pressure on many fronts. There’s the increased focus on standardized testing, large class sizes and funding issues, not to mention the outside-the-classroom challenges complicating their students’ ability to learn.

In the midst of all of this comes a refreshing focus — and a new graduate-level course — from two UMSL-connected leaders: Mindy Bier, co-director of the university’s Center for Character and Citizenship, and Tom Hoerr, assistant teaching professor and scholar in residence in the College of Education and former head of the New City School. 

During this year’s Pierre Laclede Society Community Confluence donor event that took place at UMSL on Feb. 20, Bier and Hoerr talked with St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske.

Stress, anxiety and depression can be part of the college experience for many students, so the University of Missouri System is hoping a mobile app can help them cope better and be healthy.

The university purchased the rights for students on the campuses in Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Rolla to download and use the app called Sanvello. Normally it costs $8.95 a month. 

It has functions including self-assessments, guided meditations, breathing exercises and behavioral studies that are designed to help manage mental health issues.