Shahla Farzan
ReporterShahla Farzan is a reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. She comes most recently from KBBI Public Radio in Homer, Alaska. Before becoming a journalist, Shahla spent six years studying native bees, eventually earning her PhD in ecology from the University of California-Davis. In 2020, she joined APM Reports’ Public Media Accountability Initiative, a team of investigative reporters and editors working to expose neglect, injustice and abuse among powerful people and organizations. Her work for St. Louis Public Radio on drug overdoses in Missouri prisons won a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.
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Missouri lawmakers are considering legislation that would shield nursing homes and other businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits. Some advocates worry the proposal will prevent nursing home residents from holding facilities legally responsible for abuse and neglect. -
As part of a two-year statewide effort to track ticks, scientists from A.T. Still University in Kirksville and the Missouri Department of Conservation are asking residents to mail in samples of the tiny parasites. The team plans to map the distribution of tick species on a county-by-county basis, along with their bacterial pathogens.
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While some antibodies remained effective, researchers found it often took more of them to quash the new variants compared to the original virus. The results, along with a growing body of research worldwide, suggest COVID-19 vaccines and treatments may need to be updated in the future.
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St. Louis officials stressed last spring that two downtown tent encampments posed a threat to public health, eventually relocating residents to temporary housing across the city. An investigation by St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with APM Reports has found the city may have put residents in harm's way by placing them at hotels with a history of criminal violence, drug activity and unsanitary living conditions.
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Loss of smell is one of the telltale signs of COVID-19, affecting up to 80% of patients by some estimates. Though there is no cure, an experimental therapy currently being tested at Washington University has given some patients hope.
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A new tool developed in part by a St. Louis mathematician compares the chances of catching the coronavirus across different activities at public gatherings and helps pinpoint which may be the riskiest.
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St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said Wednesday the county plans to open its first mass vaccination site in Ferguson. Vaccinations at the new clinic could begin as early as next week, if the county health department is able to obtain enough vaccine doses from the state.
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The daily flow of workers needed to keep Missouri prisons running has made it nearly impossible to prevent the virus from entering facilities. State health officials hope to reduce this risk by first vaccinating prison staff, but the majority of inmates will be among the last in the state to be offered a vaccine.
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released federal guidance last month, confirming that employers can require staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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For months, a small group of people has occupied about a dozen tents along the McGuire Moving & Storage building, a vacant warehouse north of downtown St. Louis. But late last week, a notice to vacate appeared on the side of the building, informing encampment residents to leave the private property by Monday morning.
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Hundreds rallied in downtown St. Louis Saturday to demand the resignation of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. The Missouri senator has faced strong criticism after he was photographed raising his fist in support of a pro-Trump mob, shortly before they burst into the Capitol on Wednesday.
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A large share of construction workers in Missouri, southern Illinois and Kansas are being diagnosed with muscle and joint injuries each year, according to a large analysis of union health care data from Washington University, and many are prescribed opioid painkillers.
