News

St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies delve into the three medical marijuana initiatives.

Missourians will vote on Amendment 2, Amendment 3 and Proposition C. All three initiatives would make it legal to get marijuana for medical use. But they differ greatly in terms of how much marijuana will be taxed, how the regulatory framework would work, and where the money would go. Missouri state law says that if there are two conflicting constitutional amendments, the measure with the “largest affirmative vote” will prevail.

Some of the U.S. soldiers who helped liberate Holland in September 1944 during World War II never made it home, and many of them are buried or memorialized in the Netherlands American Cemetery. Those ranks include 172 African-American service members.

Dutch historian Sebastiaan Vonk's efforts to learn about their lives have taken him on a trip to St. Louis.

“There are a lot of veterans coming over each year [to the Netherlands], but the African-American veterans unfortunately have not been coming over a lot,” Vonk said on Friday’s St. Louis on the Air. “The stories are almost unknown. So that’s something that we, I guess you could say, want to get fixed and make sure that also their stories are told and also that their service is being honored.”

St. Louis has been home to a vibrant Jewish community for many decades. This weekend, an arts and culture festival will bring together various artists and musicians across the country to showcase Jewish talents, food and customs.

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh discussed the upcoming festival, billed as “Sababa.” It’s a joint effort by the St. Louis Jewish Community Center (The J), St. Louis Jewish Federation and other local organizations. Joining the conversation were artist Rachel Zolotov and musician Will Soll, both of whom are participating in the event. Rabbi Brad Horwitz, director of Jewish Engagement & Adult Programs at The J, also joined the program.

The International Institute of St. Louis has received a grant from the U.S. Justice Department to fund initiatives to address problems of labor and sex trafficking in the St. Louis region.

The grant will provide the institute with $250,000 annually for three years.

“The services available to victims includes everything from housing, supportive services, access to health care and general case management,” said Blake Hamilton, the International Institute’s vice president of programs.

On Friday’s episode of St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh went behind the headlines to discuss the mounting effort to bring a Major League Soccer team to St. Louis.

The decision to make a bid for an MLS team — spearheaded by two St. Louis families – has been attracting both local and national attention.

Joining Marsh for the conversation were Jack Croghan and Brian Howe.

Globalhack VII, a 48-hour hack-athon, returns to the Chaifetz Arena on the Saint Louis University campus this weekend with the goal to develop software to aid local agencies that serve immigrant and refugee communities in the region.

Matt Menietti, executive director of Globalhack, calls the event a “civic tech project.” More than 700 hackers are expected to participate in the event with $100,000 in prizes to be awarded to the best software solutions on Sunday.

The number of African-Americans arrested or facing a summons in St. Louis for all types of crime dropped significantly between 2002 and 2017, according to research released Thursday by criminologists at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

The data show that about 11,300 black individuals faced some kind of enforcement action in 2017, compared to about 38,000 in 2002. Enforcement is defined as an arrest for a felony, misdemeanor, municipal offense or because the person has a bench warrant, or being issued a criminal summons

On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, William Knoedelseder told host Don Marsh that when he decided to write a book about the rise of the American automotive industry, he, “tried to specifically make it not a book about cars.”

Rather, the University of Missouri-St. Louis alumnus and celebrated author wanted his newest biography, “Fins: Harley Earl, the Rise of General Motors, and the Glory Days of Detroit,” to paint a broader portrait of a moment in American history.

The United States made history with its victory in the 2016 Chess Olympiad held in Baku, Azerbaijan, its first success in the biannual team event in 40 years.

It nearly repeated this triumph two years later in Batumi, Georgia, tying for first with China and Russia, but finishing second to the former on tiebreak.

Promoters of Missouri tourism, stung when then-Gov. Eric Greitens cut the state tourism budget in half, are encouraged that his successor wants to restore the funding.

Gov. Mike Parson made it known early in his administration that he wants to promote tourism.

New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New is on a roll. She’s on the cover of the October issue of International Musician and will make her debut with New York Philharmonic in November. In St. Louis, she made history on two fronts in September when she led St. Louis Symphony’s opening-night concert. She was the first woman and the the first resident conductor to do so.

New, 31, spoke with Cut & Paste in Powell Hall after leading the orchestra through its first rehearsal for opening night.

All three high schools in the Ferguson-Florissant School District will remain open but a number of other buildings will close.

The Ferguson-Florissant Board of Education approved one of three proposed redistricting plans Wednesday night, opting for one that preserves its high schools but shutters other buildings, including the historic Vogt school.

The agency in charge of licensing the nation’s medical schools has taken the Saint Louis University School of Medicine off probation.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education informed the school in 2017 that it was putting the school on notice in part because the university could not comprehensively demonstrate and measure what medical students were learning. School officials said it’s made changes to remedy the agency's complaints.

This week, the committee decided that SLU has taken necessary steps to move off probation.

In Missouri, not all congressional districts are created equal.

Which is why both major U.S. Senate candidates – and their national allies – are paying significant attention to the 2nd District, which spans from south St. Louis County to St. Charles County. It also includes a sliver of Jefferson County.

For almost a decade, the 2nd District has produced more votes than its seven counterparts. The 2nd District also includes many of the suburban women voters that both sides covet.

The city of St. Louis has cleared another hurdle in its effort to secure the land needed for the new headquarters of a federal spy agency.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer on Tuesday condemned the 97-acre site in north St. Louis, where the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s western headquarters will be built. The decision makes it more difficult for others to claim they have any legal rights to the property.

Looking for some new cuisine to kick off the fall?

On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh discussed some of St. Louis’s best new restaurants with our partners from Sauce Magazine.

Joining him for the culinary conversation were Sauce’s managing editor Heather Hughes and staff writer Matt Sorrell.

LaunchCode, an organization headquartered in St. Louis, celebrates its five-year anniversary this week. The nonprofit helps people enter the tech field by providing education and job placement services.

“We’ve got over 1,400 careers that we’ve launched so far in the five years that LaunchCode has been [in St. Louis], but that doesn’t count the people who have taken our training and gotten placed elsewhere,” explained entrepreneur and investor Jim McKelvey.

Along with fellow St. Louisan Jack Dorsey, McKelvey is the co-founder of Square and founder of LaunchCode, a company McKelvey started because St. Louis lacked a skilled workforce adept at programming.

Updated at 4:35 p.m. on Oct. 12 with details about the police chief's departure.

Ferguson Police Chief Delrish Moss said Friday his last day on the will be Nov. 16. The announcement comes after officials said Wednesday that Moss would be leaving to take care of his family in Florida. Ferguson City Manager De’Carlon Seewood said Assistant Police Chief Frank McCall will be interim chief while the department holds its search for a permanent replacement.

Seewood said the city will conduct a national search for another chief. The search will include citizen input, he said, noting the importance of having a person at the helm who not only knows how to police well but also has a connection with the community.