Eric Schmid
Economic Development ReporterEric Schmid covers Economic Development for St. Louis Public Radio. He's primarily focused on examining policies and ideas to drive population and business growth throughout the St. Louis region.
He previously covered the Metro East writing about many topics in the Illinois counties adjacent to St. Louis, but regularly returns to stories about the environment, public policy, and the census and demographics.
Eric came to the station through Report for America in 2019 and was tasked to develop STLPR’s coverage east of the Mississippi. Before joining St. Louis Public Radio, Eric held internships at Fox News Channel, NPR-affiliate WSHU Public Radio and AccuWeather. He graduated from Stony Brook University in New York with a degree in Journalism in 2018.
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St. Louis has roughly 20,000 vacant properties, most of which are in north city and have no buildings on them.
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“Economic justice is a team sport. Government cannot do this alone," said Mayor Tishaura Jones. "When done in collaboration with our philanthropic civic and private sector partners, we can make a lasting difference for generations to come."
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Mayor Tishaura Jones signed legislation Tuesday clearing the way for the city to force the sale of certain private properties near the NGA’s new headquarters that are unoccupied, vacant, condemned or otherwise a nuisance.
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A University of Missouri System-led research team developing new ways to detect salmonella in the chicken supply chain received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to eventually make a commercially viable product.
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Regularly updated codes can also aid with disaster resilience. The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates adopting current building codes can avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.
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The airline offers a guaranteed look at the moon passing in front of the sun on a day when there’s a 50% chance of cloud cover in southern Illinois and Missouri.
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Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a plan Tuesday to add 200 Missouri National Guard members and 22 state highway patrol troopers to the 250 guardsmen already deployed to southern border by next month.
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“While eminent domain can be scary, ultimately, this use of eminent domain protects existing residents and existing occupied businesses,” the bill’s sponsor said.
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Thousands of miles of oil and natural gas pipelines already crisscross the country. Now, many more are being proposed to carry things like hydrogen and carbon dioxide as ways to combat climate change.
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Lambert’s relationship with Southwest Airlines has helped the airport reestablish passenger traffic after losing its TWA hub in the 2000s. That rebound now helps the airport drive 5.5% of the region’s gross domestic product.
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Marijuana cultivation facilities operate like fine-tuned machines while turning out multiple full crops of cannabis each year.
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“The whole purpose of racism from the beginning was to divide poor black and poor whites (so they could not) unite and create inclusive prosperity,” said former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.