St. Louis on the Air

After 27 years of incarceration, Bobby Bostic walked out of prison in 2022. Bostic was sentenced to 241 years for a robbery he committed in 1995 at just 16 years old. In the year after gaining his freedom, Bostic continued writing — a passion introduced to him while in prison — and now teaches youth in St. Louis’ juvenile detention centers. In this encore of “St. Louis of the Air,” we revisit host Elaine Cha’s conversation with Bostic from 2023 about life since his release and the experience of teaching young people in the same detention centers he spent his teenage years.

The two contenders for St. Louis mayor engaged in an often tense discussion on Tuesday over the city’s immediate and long-term challenges. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Alderwoman Cara Spencer tackled a number of issues during an episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, including clamping down on crime, managing city services, and how to stem population decline in the city. The election is April 8.

A new invasive tick species was recently found in St. Louis County, with more sightings expected this spring and summer. St. Louis senior scientist Solny Adalsteinsson shares how the longhorned tick may affect our already tick-riddled ecosystems, how to avoid tick bites, and what to do if you’ve been bitten.

As Jurassic beasts roamed the earth, a little weasel-like animal called Morganucodon was making an evolutionary breakthrough in parenting — producing milk to feed her young. Author Cat Bohannon calls this creature Morgie in her 2023 book “Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.” Bohannon discusses the book, and insights from the evolution of Morgie, ahead of an author event in St. Louis County.

314 Day gets bigger each year in the St. Louis region. While there’s a lot to celebrate and several options of where to party, 2025 also brings a lot of serious matters to the fore. For this 314 day, hip-hop artist and community advocate Kayla “KVTheWriter” Thompson, “Overarching” podcast host and realtor David Lemon, and host of “Voice of the Streets” Dsmoovee Shabazz share what they love about St. Louis, what worries or frustrates them the most about the region, and their ideas of how to make their hometown a better place to work and live.

At four years old, Susan Polgar was already playing chess — and winning. At 15, in the mid-1980s, she was already the top-ranked woman in the world. By 1991, she’d become a grandmaster. The former Webster University chess coach discusses her new memoir, “Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster.”

The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of Proposition A, the minimum wage and sick leave law that voters passed with 58% support last November. In this episode, Fran Marion, a longtime fast food restaurant worker, details her support for the measure. Buddy Lahl, CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association, explains his opposition. This story was originally featured as part of KCUR’s talk show, Up to Date.

In the 19 years St. Louis naturalist Mark H.X. Glenshaw has studied Charles the great horned owl, Charles has fathered 27 owlets with seven mates. This year, Glenshaw was waiting to see if Charles would mate with the new lady owl in Forest Park: a one-year-old owl that Glenshaw named May. He shares what Charles and May have been up to and why their “May-December romance” hasn’t yet come to fruition.

From tools and materials to varieties of edible and decorative plants, this home gardening conversation offers growers tips for making the most of their yards – and porches and window sills – this spring planting season. Daria McKelvey, home gardening information and outreach supervisor at Missouri Botanical Garden; and Megan Moncure, engagement director for Seed St. Louis, join the show to share advice and respond to listener calls.

When organizers of the annual Annie Malone May Day parade in St. Louis announced its cancellation this year, many people — especially in the Black community — were disappointed. Funds for the parade were redirected to support clients who needed shelter and food. But, the outpouring of community support means the parade can forward as planned. The attention also reignited a passion and interest in the woman for whom the parade is named: Annie Malone. Linda Nance, who founded the Annie Malone Historical Society in 2013, discusses Malone’s legacy and why it’s more than “just a parade.”