Sarah Fentem
Sarah Fentem reports on sickness and health as part of St. Louis Public Radio’s news team. She previously spent five years reporting for different NPR stations in Indiana, immersing herself deep, deep into an insurance policy beat from which she may never fully recover. A longitme NPR listener, she grew up hearing WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, which is now owned by STLPR. She lives in the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood, and in her spare time likes to watch old sitcoms, meticulously clean and organize her home and go on outdoor adventures with her fiancé Elliot. She has a cat, Lil Rock, and a dog, Ginger.
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The most rain in St. Louis in more than 100 years reports over 10 inches in under five hours. The rains caused flash flooding — closing major roads and leaving many stranded in their cars on roads.
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Missouri has now banned abortion in the state, except in cases where a parent’s health is severely threatened. But the full effects of the state’s ban and its legal ramifications are still to be seen, and activists on both sides say their work is far from over.
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Abortion rights supporters in Missouri decried the court's decision to roll back decades of federal protections for people seeking abortions.
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The nonprofit Missouri Foundation for Health and the Ad Council are launching a campaign to reduce gun-related suicides in the state. Starting this week, people in the St. Louis region will see online and television ads about safe firearms storage.
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Donald Kauerauf said Thursday that as head of the Department of Health and Senior Services, he aims to boost the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rates. He supports masking and other public health measures to decrease coronavirus infections but opposes vaccine mandates. Instead, he said the state should focus on giving residents more information.
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Missouri Republicans say they plan to introduce more restrictive abortion legislation modeled on a Texas law that took effect this week. Abortion rights activists are gearing up for a tough battle in the Republican-controlled legislature.
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Missouri agreed to settle a lawsuit against opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and three distributors for their part in the opioid crisis. But before states can collect, they must ask many cities and towns to drop their own lawsuits against the companies.
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Two health care workers saw the COVID-19 disease ravage St. Louis patients. But they needed time, information and a push before deciding to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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While coronavirus outbreaks have largely been concentrated in southern Missouri, epidemiologists from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services say the number of cases is now rising in other parts of the state, including the St. Louis region. Rural counties with low vaccination rates also are at risk of large outbreaks.
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As coronavirus cases rise and more contagious variants take hold in Missouri, the four largest hospital systems in St. Louis are requiring all their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by fall. Employees at St. Luke’s, SSM Health, BJC HealthCare and Mercy Health will need to be vaccinated by late September. Hospital officials say unvaccinated health workers are more at risk of catching the virus and more likely to spread it to patients.