Archive for September 2024

Kayla Reed and Brittany Packnett Cunningham found their voices as activists during the Ferguson Uprising. They also forged a bond and strong friendship. So what happens when Brittany leaves St. Louis and Kayla stays? And how does that impact the community work they did over the years?

Credits: This episode was produced by Chad Davis and edited by executive producer Kris Husted. With production assistance from Danny Wicentowski and Emily Woodbury. Greg Munteanu did the audio mixing and podcast design. Brian Heffernan provided editorial guidance.

Special thanks to Kameel Stanley.

The theme music is by Cassie Morgan and remixed by Mvstermind. Additional music provided by Drake Stafford and Kai Engel.

Financial support for this episode comes from the River City Journalism Fund.

We Live Here is a production of St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with the Midwest Newsroom.

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, author Heather McGhee talks about her support for a ballot item raising Missouri’s minimum wage.

McGhee is a New York-based attorney who wrote the New York Times bestselling book “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.” Part of her work involved following the movement in Missouri to raise the minimum wage, particularly in the Kansas City area.

“I wanted to come back and see what was going on, and I’m really thrilled to see the amount of broad-based support for something that should be common sense, which is that people should not work all day and come home in poverty,” McGhee said. “And they should be able to earn sick time to take care of themselves and their loved ones.”

Proposition A on the Nov. 5 ballot would raise the state’s minimum wage to $13.75 an hour next year – and gradually move it up to $15 an hour by 2026. Once it reaches $15, the minimum wage will continue to go up based on changes in the Consumer Price Index starting in 2027. Currently, Missouri’s minimum wage is $12.30 an hour.

The initiative would also require employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

“We understand nowadays that people get sick. Their loved ones get sick. Your child has to stay home,” McGhee said. “And if they don’t have the ability to do that without missing a whole day’s pay or risking their job, there are cascading impacts in that family and for the customers who walk in and somebody’s coughing over them.”

When McGhee was taping her episode of Politically Speaking, there hadn’t been any announced opposition to Proposition A. But that changed recently when the Missouri Chamber of Commerce came out against the initiative. A representative from that group will appear on Politically Speaking in the coming weeks to provide its perspective on the measure.

Still, the odds of Proposition A passing seem fairly solid based on past precedent. Missourians approved wage increases in 2006 and 2018 without much trouble. And even though Proposition A is a statutory change that the legislature could hypothetically undo, the GOP-controlled General Assembly declined to alter either initiative.

“The grassroots support all across the state for this initiative is so strong that this becomes a defining issue in voters’ minds,” McGhee said. “And if the legislature were to step out and first, reverse the will of the people, and second, push one in four Missouri workers back deeper into poverty, I think they should be very, very worried about making such a move.”

Ferguson showed what happens when a community comes together to protest power and obtain meaningful change from it, but power doesn’t like to retreat.

What happens to people who feel elite, and untouchable, when the city around them rises up to expose and oppose them? What happens when power takes a different shape — obscuring its nature and staying in its position?

In this episode, we examine a protest story decades before the Ferguson Uprising — the story of those who worked to take down the Veiled Prophet.

There’s more to the Veiled Prophet and what the group’s leaders are focused on today. That story is explored in detail in this St. Louis on the Air story: VP St. Louis ousts its own figurehead — the Veiled Prophet is no more.

Credits: This episode was produced by Danny Wicentowski and edited by Emily Woodbury. With production assistance from Chad Davis and Ulaa Kuziez. Greg Munteanu did the audio mixing and podcast design. Brian Heffernan provided editorial guidance. Kris Husted is the executive producer. 

Special thanks to Kameel Stanley and Holly Edgell.

The theme music is by Cassie Morgan and remixed by Mvstermind. Additional music provided by Drake Stafford and Kai Engel.

Financial support for this episode comes from the River City Journalism Fund.

We Live Here is a production of St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with the Midwest Newsroom.

Ferguson showed what happens when a community comes together to protest power and obtain meaningful change from it, but power doesn’t like to retreat.

What happens to people who feel elite, and untouchable, when the city around them rises up to expose and oppose them? What happens when power takes a different shape — obscuring its nature and staying in its position?

In this episode, we examine a protest story decades before the Ferguson Uprising — the story of those who worked to take down the Veiled Prophet.

There’s more to the Veiled Prophet and what the group’s leaders are focused on today. That story is explored in detail in this St. Louis on the Air story: VP St. Louis ousts its own figurehead — the Veiled Prophet is no more.

Credits: This episode was produced by Danny Wicentowski and edited by Emily Woodbury. With production assistance from Chad Davis and Ulaa Kuziez. Greg Munteanu did the audio mixing and podcast design. Brian Heffernan provided editorial guidance. Kris Husted is the executive producer. 

Special thanks to Kameel Stanley and Holly Edgell.

The theme music is by Cassie Morgan and remixed by Mvstermind. Additional music provided by Drake Stafford and Kai Engel.

Financial support for this episode comes from the River City Journalism Fund.

We Live Here is a production of St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with the Midwest Newsroom.

Ferguson showed what happens when a community comes together to protest power and obtain meaningful change from it, but power doesn’t like to retreat.

What happens to people who feel elite, and untouchable, when the city around them rises up to expose and oppose them? What happens when power takes a different shape — obscuring its nature and staying in its position?

In this episode, we examine a protest story decades before the Ferguson Uprising — the story of those who worked to take down the Veiled Prophet.

There’s more to the Veiled Prophet and what the group’s leaders are focused on today. That story is explored in detail in this St. Louis on the Air story: VP St. Louis ousts its own figurehead — the Veiled Prophet is no more.

Credits: This episode was produced by Danny Wicentowski and edited by Emily Woodbury. With production assistance from Chad Davis and Ulaa Kuziez. Greg Munteanu did the audio mixing and podcast design. Brian Heffernan provided editorial guidance. Kris Husted is the executive producer. 

Special thanks to Kameel Stanley and Holly Edgell.

The theme music is by Cassie Morgan and remixed by Mvstermind. Additional music provided by Drake Stafford and Kai Engel.

Financial support for this episode comes from the River City Journalism Fund.

We Live Here is a production of St. Louis Public Radio in collaboration with the Midwest Newsroom.