Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, his wife and his brother-in-law are under federal criminal investigation for a dubious residential property tax appeal that dogged him during his gubernatorial campaign last year, WBEZ has learned.

A law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation confirmed to WBEZ that the probe, which has not been revealed publicly until now, began last October and remains active. There are no signs that criminal charges are imminent.

St. Louis will host the 2020 United States Olympic team trials for gymnastics.

The three-day event will be held at the Enterprise Center starting June 25. This will be the first time the city will host trials for both men’s and women’s gymnastics.

The trials will determine which athletes will represent the United States in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The U.S. Olympic gymnastics team will be announced at the event.

The year 2018 was a record one for organ transplants in the U.S., with more than 36,000 people receiving new organs. But there is still a great need for more donors: About 8,000 people die each year because the organs they need are not donated in time.

On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jonathan Ahl discussed some of the latest advancements in the organ transplant field as well as the importance of registering as organ, eye and tissue donors in light of National Donate Life Month.

Joining the discussion were Diane Brockmeier, president and CEO of Mid-America Transplant, and Dr. Will Chapman, chief of transplant surgery at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The new interim head of the St. Louis County jail wants to bring in an outsider to help figure out why three inmates have died in custody since January.

“I want an unbiased opinion about what’s going on at the jail,” Lt. Col. Troy Doyle told reporters Tuesday after a meeting of the St. Louis County Council. “I work for St. Louis County and county government, but I think that would be reassuring to not only the workers there but the families.”

Leonard Slatkin’s career as a conductor has taken him to nearly every corner of the classical music world: from Lyon and Hong Kong to Washington, D.C.

But despite all of that traveling, he still considers St. Louis—where he debuted with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as an assistant conductor in 1968 and served as music director from 1979 to 1996—to be his home base.

“My grandparents on my father's side emigrated here from Russia in 1911; my dad was born here and was assistant concertmaster when he was 19 years old; I was here for 27 years altogether and then retained this title of music director laureate and then my son was born here—so four generations of Slatkins are here,” he explained to St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jonathan Ahl on Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air.

Updated 7:45 a.m., April 23, with comment from a Unite STL spokesperson — More than 30 African American political leaders from the St. Louis metro area are calling for the resignation of St. Louis County NAACP President John Gaskin III.

The announcement came Monday afternoon at the Cool Valley City Hall, several days after political leaders accused Gaskin of having a conflict of interest after he revealed he is being paid by Unite STL. The organization is the political arm pushing for the Better Together’s city-county merger recommendations. Gaskin announced the St. Louis County NAACP was in favor of the merger on April 18.

St. Louis on the Air's monthly Legal Roundtable got underway Monday as St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jonathan Ahl delved into a variety of recent local and national stories pertaining to the law.

The discussion touched on matters including the latest news surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision to hear three cases that have to do with whether existing federal bans on sex discrimination in the workplace also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; the redacted Mueller report; criticism of the St. Louis Bail Project; and the arrest of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, among other topics. 

Joining the program were Bill Freivogel, journalism professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Mark Smith, associate vice chancellor of students at Washington University; and Marie Kenyon, director of the Peace and Justice Commission of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Rep. Bruce Franks returns for his third appearance on Politically Speaking, where the St. Louis Democrat talked about how he’s been faring during his third year in the Missouri House.

Franks first burst on the Missouri political scene in 2016, when he defeated (after a high-profile redo election) incumbent Penny Hubbard. He was elected to another term last year without opposition, getting another two years to represent a part of eastern St. Louis.