Nick Wertsch is studying the role of public discourse in India under a Fulbright Fellowship. He is a St. Louis native and graduate of Georgetown University. Wertsch wrote for the Beacon during a previous stay in India.
Public hearings are supposed to give citizens a chance to address community issue, but those that deal with power plants make no one happy. Power companies find the hearings adversarial. Citizens feel their views are not taken into account.
 with other nuns_4895.20.jpg)
Misinformation, lack of information, low public awareness are just some of the problems confronting villagers who would be displaced by a coal mining project. Individuals, such as Sr. Supriya are combatting that but are up against a company that owns the mine and the media.
India, the world’s largest democracy, faces some of its biggest challenges as it seeks to keep up its frenzied pace of economic growth. More communities are growing disaffected with how public hearings required for big development projects are handled.
Roughly 300 million to 400 million people in India have no access to electricity. The other 800 million must deal with scheduled power cuts and spotty access at best. How do people cope in boh rural and urban areas?
Trains and train stations may offer the most complete image of India, says Nick Wertsch. Few places merge the heaving worlds of 1.2 billion people with such shocking disparity, overwhelming bluntness and raw intensity.
A trip to rural Andhra Pradesh, India, ended well because of the ability of an interpreter to persuade villagers that the visitors were not from a mining company. By the end of the visit, Nick Wertsch notes, people were posing for pictures, but
Power outages are nothing new in India or in many other developing countries, and nearly 400 million people in India live without any electricity at all, according to the International Energy Agency. When the weather outside climbs to average
The tiny rural community of Wagah in India's state of Punjab is the destination for Nick Wertsch. This is the only official land crossing-point between India and Pakistan. Don't expect a somber border ceremony, however.
"Where are you from? America? Don't you speak English?" Those questions have been directed at Nick Wertsch, who has found that people in India have incorporated their own form of English into their Hindi and Telugu.
St. Louisan Nick Wertsch goes into the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh province and meets Devudama. This woman, in her late 30s, has been arrested more than once for protests against a mining company whose refinery was given government leases
India · Andhra Pradesh · Berlin · Dehli
When you register with the Beacon, you can save your searches as news alerts, rsvp for events, manage your donations and receive news and updates from the Beacon team.
Take a look at our tutorials to help you get the hang of the new site.
Meeting in St. Louis next week, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will have its first opportunity as an assembled group to consider what to do after the Vatican issued a mandate for change this spring. It calls on the conference to reorganize and more strictly observe church teachings.
When a family of four goes to the St. Louis Zoo, they can be forgiven for not knowing it will cost them $60, $72 if they park. If they can't pay, the alternative is to tell the kids they can't do what kids do at the zoo.
Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley gave reporters less than a half-hour’s notice today when he announced that conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s sculptured bust will be formally installed in the Capitol at 1 p.m.
The world seems eager to learn more about Pope Francis, so learning that he admires St. Philippine Duchesne and her spiritual daughters — Argentinean nuns who have been under Francis' spiritual direction as they live among the poor — adds to understanding.
The celebration in Sikeston will reunite residents of the community which was destroyed in May 2011 when the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway to alleviate flooding on the Mississippi. Residents are still hoping for a FEMA buyout so they can relocate their village.
The Newman Money Museum at Washington University has a quirky pseudo-robot Ben Franklin in the basement that is essentially a TV screen projected into a plastic shell head.
The Beacon's Mary Delach Leonard and Rob Koenig extensively covered flooding in 2011 in Missouri. Now this coverage is compiled in an iBook. Read the stories.
"Lost Egypt," at the St. Louis Science Center, combines real images shot in Egypt with art and artifacts as well as interactive and family-friendly features and explanations of the science used to uncover the ancient world. The exhibit will run through Sept. 2.
Opera is for snobs. Country music is for rednecks. Everybody loves Chuck Berry now that he's been around for a few decades, but what about Nelly? Why can't we simply respond to what's before us without dragging preconceptions and prejudices into play?
Organizers aren't trying to replace the rib fest, but music lovers will be able to find tangy sustenance as they listen to such greats as Mavis Staples (pictured), Big George Brock, Trombone Shorty, Kim Massie and Marquise Knox take the stage.
Donna Korando is the Beacon's arts and features editor. You can contact her at dkorando@stlbeacon.org.
Developers on the south side come in all shapes and sizes, with ambitions that vary from single buildings to entire city blocks. In the first of a two-part story, Jason Deem talks about building community.
Speaking to reporters at Monsanto, Howard Buffett warned that future generations would foot the bill for irresponsible soil use. He urged leaders to address thorny issues such as malnutrition and environmental destruction.
Twenty winners will split a million dollars and a wide array of professional services after this year's Arch Grants competition. Victors will also see one-on-one business mentoring in their prize package. The diverse group includes everything from biotech concerns to fashion enterprises.
Innovation and entrepreneurial activity are on the rise in St. Louis, especially in bioscience, technology and alternative energy. The Beacon's InnovationSTL section focuses on the people who are part of this wave, what they're doing and how this is shaping our future. To many St. Louisans, this wave is not yet visible. InnovationSTL aims to change that. We welcome you to share your knowledge, learn more about this vibrant trend and discuss its impact.
The Academy of Science-St. Louis hosts tours of EarthDance, an organic farm, and the Monsanto Agronomics and Breeding Facility May 21-22. The workshop is meant to prompt discussion and answer questions about these two competing philosophies of food production.
Speaking to reporters at Monsanto, Howard Buffett warned that future generations would foot the bill for irresponsible soil use. He urged leaders to address thorny issues such as malnutrition and environmental destruction.
Vernon Bowman's challenge to Monsanto Co.'s patent on its Roundup Ready soybean seeds was billed as a David vs. Goliath contest. Goliath won and won big. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an Indiana soybean farmer had violated Monsanto's patent on its genetically engineered soybean seeds.
Sally Altman is the Beacon's Health and Science editor. You can contact her at saltman@stlbeacon.org.
Opera is for snobs. Country music is for rednecks. Everybody loves Chuck Berry now that he's been around for a few decades, but what about Nelly? Why can't we simply respond to what's before us without dragging preconceptions and prejudices into play?
You have to know your audience: McDonald's regulars don't need free-range chicken or a certain breed of beef; a second-chance high school needs personally motivated students as opposed to people ordered to attend and low-income Democrats by and large don't want a cigarette tax.
Last week, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura sacrificed his crown as the King of America. He faced an individual decision to play against the best in the nation or the best on the planet. Find out what happened at that world-level tournament.
Donna Korando is the Beacon's Voices editor. You can contact her and submit opinion pieces for possible publication at dkorando@stlbeacon.org.