Kayla Drake
General Assignment ReporterKayla Drake is a reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. She joined the newsroom as an intern and stayed on as a 2020 Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow. Before joining the station, she interned with KMOV, the St. Louis CBS affiliate. As a storyteller, she aims to create dialogue between audiences and issues. Born and raised in St. Louis, Kayla graduated from Lindenwood University with a degree in journalism and actually got her start at her high school’s rock and roll radio station. When off work, she’s either scoping out a new park, binging history podcasts or eating— but definitely not cooking.
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St. Louisan Gene Litvin traveled to Poland this month to help Ukrainians fleeing the war. Litvin himself left Ukraine in the 1990s as a Jewish refugee. -
Wash U researchers say adults who struggle with alcoholism miss an average of 32 workdays annually — twice as many as their counterparts. -
Nicole Warrington of St. Louis is just a volunteer with no official position, but she’s gotten 400 calls from social workers at local hospitals in the past year, all seeking help finding places to take the homeless patients they’re discharging. -
Irish folk singer Seth Staton Watkins will perform at Blue Strawberry on St. Patrick’s Day. -
Washington University is conducting a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to look at the psychiatric toll of divorce on children. -
Community resistance has stalled the $900,000 project to establish St. Louis’ first city-funded intentional encampment. -
Shirley Norris is 92 and manages projects worth millions of dollars at the Missouri Department of Transportation. -
St. Louisan Matt Jordan is breaking out of the mainstream country sound to create a unique sound for himself in the country-rock genre. -
![Steve Smith and Monica R. Butler pose in front of Second Baptist Church near Delmar Blvd. in St. Louis. They plan to convert it into a national center for the celebration and study of gospel music. [8/13/21]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f5cc8d4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4078x2272+0+400/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F6c%2F3b4a17da43ae84105a49856d4fbe%2Fmonica-steve-exterior-3.jpg)
Monica Butler says gospel music history is being lost. To salvage it, she wants to convert a historic Central West End church into a gospel music hall of fame. -
An expert from the Missouri History Museum details how to research your home’s history. -
Willie and Jon McMiller hope to land an HGTV series with their pilot "My Flipping Family," which premieres Wednesday. -
St. Louis’ last pop-up safe haven shelter has closed for the season, and the city has yet to fund one.
![Steve Smith and Monica R. Butler pose in front of Second Baptist Church near Delmar Blvd. in St. Louis. They plan to convert it into a national center for the celebration and study of gospel music. [8/13/21]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/decb4e2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4078x2272+0+400/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F6c%2F3b4a17da43ae84105a49856d4fbe%2Fmonica-steve-exterior-3.jpg)
