The Veiled Prophet is gone. According to VP St. Louis, the central figure and namesake of the secret society that runs St. Louis' Fourth of July parade “is no longer part” of the group that once bore his name. In a rare public interview, VP St. Louis Chief Operating Officer Michael Ruwitch said the decision to remove the Veiled Prophet was made “for reasons.” He insisted that “VP is just letters.” St. Louis on the Air producer Danny Wicentowski unpacks the news, and what it means for the...

Children of immigrants often face heritage language loss. In this encore episode, we hear from St. Louis parents and community members who are taking practical steps to maintain linguistic and cultural connection across generations.

Female rappers are dominating the charts, including St. Louis’ very own Diamond Smith — better known by her stage name Big Boss Vette. The writer and rapper behind hits like “Snatched” and “Pretty Girls Walk” reflects on her St. Louis roots, her fast-growing career and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

Producer Miya Norfleet shares reflections for artists and attendees of this year’s Music at the Intersection Festival hosted in Grand Center.

The "How to Destroy Everything" podcast is back after a long break with new episodes, continuing the strange, twisting tale of the late St. Louis attorney Richard Jacobs. Listen back to our 2023 interview with creators Danny Jacbos and Darren Grodsky, who describe their growing investigation into the ways Jacobs, Danny’s father, controlled and terrorized the people in his life. We also hear an update about the next episode, and what the series creators have been doing since 2023.

Do speed humps help curb reckless driving? Crown Candy Kitchen owner Andy Karandzieff says he’s seen a marked improvement in driver behavior at the intersection near his restaurant in Old North St. Louis. He joins Elaine Cha and 14th Ward Alderman Rasheen Aldridge to talk about traffic violence, what it takes to get speed humps installed, and what else needs to happen to improve the safety of our region’s roadways.

Sam Altman wants to be careful about not overhyping Thursday’s release of the newest model of ChatGPT. But that’s not stopping the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI from celebrating OpenAI o1 as a new artificial intelligence model that can reason and solve complex problems. Altman grew up in St. Louis and was back in his hometown speaking at his alma mater, John Burroughs. Altman discusses his St. Louis upbringing, the origins, emergence and uses of AI, along with the newest version of ChatGPT.

St. Louis summers are infamously hot and humid. But this year saw a combination of much hotter, more humid and drier days. Matt Beitscher, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service-St. Louis, and Trent Ford, Illinois’ State Climatologist speak to what’s causing extreme weather events in the Midwest region, and what is challenging about keeping vulnerable people safe.

Leticia Seitz is the owner of Arte Rojo STL and broadcaster behind Conectando Raices Radio. She joined “St. Louis on the Air” to discuss the importance of providing a way for people of Mexican descent living abroad to stay connected to their heritage as well as sharing her culture with those who are interested in learning more about Mexico. She also shares what’s planned for Fiesta Mexicana, a local celebration that commemorates Mexican Independence Day.

St. Louis took over the airwaves and the hip-hop Billboard charts in the early 2000s, and helping lead the charge was Walnut Park native Howard Bailey, Jr. — better known as Chingy. He’s bringing those nostalgic hits and newer works to the Music at the Intersection stage Saturday, Sept. 14.

The St. Louis initiative Dance the Vote is using the arts to get people to register to vote ahead of the November general election. Ahead of this Saturday’s Dance the Vote event at the Missouri History Museum, cofounder Joan Lipkin and youth activist Precious Barry discuss the importance of fostering civic engagement among young people before they hit voting age, disability voting rights and efforts to increase voter turnout in the St. Louis area.

A Missouri Supreme Court order this week ended days of legal drama surrounding an amendment to legalize abortion in Missouri. St. Louis Public Radio politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum breaks down the legal developments and political ramifications, and what happens if voters approve Amendment 3 on November 5.

Sam Goodwin’s recreational trip to Syria took a terrifying turn when he was wrongfully accused of espionage and detained for nine weeks in 2019. While stuck on the inside of the country’s notoriously lethal prison system, his family in St. Louis worked relentlessly to secure his release. The story of his captivity, and the international network of people who helped him get out, is detailed in his new book, “Saving Sam: The True Story of an American’s Disappearance in Syria and His Family’s...

The BBC is turning its lens toward St. Louis. The Arts Hour on Tour will showcase the city’s talent on Tuesday night at the Touhill Performing Arts Center; and the flagship daily news program, Newshour, broadcast from STLPR’s studios on Monday. Newshour anchor James Menendez discusses the BBC’s reporting in St. Louis which included stories on efforts to legalize abortion and a trip to a rodeo in Defiance, Missouri.

Illinois has joined a slew of states and cities looking to redesign their flags. The Illinois Flag Commission — made up of political appointees and representatives from the state archives, state museum and state superintendent — will accept ideas online or by mail until Oct. 18.

Fifty years after his death, Bruce Lee’s status as one of the world’s most influential martial artists endures through his work as an actor and his philosophical teachings. In the 2020 book “Be Water, My Friend,” Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee speaks to principles that guided her father’s life as well as her own. In this encore episode, she talks with Elaine Cha about the book and her father's teachings.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will square off in their first presidential debate on Tuesday. St. Louis has a rich history of hosting such events. Washington University hosted presidential or vice presidential debates in 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016. Longtime St. Louis journalist Jo Mannies discusses this history on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, and we hear from WashU Chancellor Emeritus Mark Wrighton as well as notable moments from those debates.

St. Louis County Councilman Dennis Hancock recently faced scrutiny after he sought to hire his stepdaughter as his assistant. The Missouri Constitution prohibits nepotism and it’s been frowned upon throughout American history. In this episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum speaks with historian Cassandra Good about the tradition and controversy around nepotism in American politics.

Jamaa Birth Village founder Okunsola Amadou became Missouri's first Black certified professional midwife in 2019. She shares her unlikely life story, from a childhood in Texas and Ferguson, to becoming a water priestess in Ghana, to returning to Ferguson just in time to experience the uprising over Michael Brown’s killing in 2014. She spoke with producer Danny Wicentowski about her decision to return to Ferguson to build her dream birth center.

The digitization and curation team from the National Museum of African American History and Culture are helping families and institutions preserve Black history in the St. Louis region. Doretha Williams, director of the Digitization and Curation Center at the Smithsonian Institute and April Brown, director of Internship Management & HR Solutions at Cardinal Ritter College Prep discuss the importance of maintaining personal and community histories and how folks can participate

The HBO series "Chimp Crazy" has brought international attention to U.S. roadside zoos that offer exotic animal encounters. It also brought renewed attention to Missouri resident Tonia Haddix, who kidnapped a chimpanzee named Tonka in 2021 and lied about his death in court. PETA lawyer Brittany Peet shares insights on “Chimp Crazy” and the legal issues that Haddix now faces. Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation executive director Bob Baker also joins the conversation to discuss how...

Math can be a dry and daunting subject for many students. Educator and author Kendall Ware decided to change it up with his math textbook, “Solving for Freedom,” which teaches the principles of algebra and features portraits of Black history makers. Ware talks about why making math relatable helps students succeed.

Eden Theological Seminary’s Praxis Cohorts program focuses on bringing people of faith together around locally-anchored community work and fostering relationships during the contentious 2024 election season. Steve Lawler, founding director of the Walker Institute of Leadership, shares anecdotes about Praxis Cohorts’ impact and details about its “Faithful Responses to the 2024 Election” breakfast panel on September 5.

A social media trend about what it means to be “demure and mindful” is playing out against the background of Society of Human Resource Management March 2024 findings that two-thirds of workers have experienced or witnessed incivility at the workplace within the last month of that spring study. The Modern School of Manners founder Asha Hornaday and WashU professor of organizational behavior Hillary Anger Elfenbein discuss why folks are ruder and how to manage poor manners and low emotional...

For many years, the U.S. Postal Service has worked with hatcheries to ship live birds across the country. Special handling and priority mail designed to meet specific timing standards are required — but delays are resulting in the delivery of dead birds. Investigative reporter Kavahn Mansouri of NPR’s Midwest Newsroom reports on the problems and their impacts.