Kate Grumke
Senior Environmental Reporter, STLPRI report on agriculture and rural issues for Harvest Public Media and am the Senior Environmental Reporter at St. Louis Public Radio, my hometown NPR station.
I started at STLPR as an education reporter, covering late night school board meetings and tagging along on field trips. Before moving back to Missouri, I spent more than five years producing award-winning television in Washington, D.C., most recently at the PBS NewsHour. In that work I climbed to the top of a wind turbine in Iowa, helped plan the environmental section of a presidential debate and produced multiple news-documentaries on energy and the environment.
I graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and hold a certificate in data journalism from Columbia University’s Lede Program.
You can reach me at kgrumke@stlpr.org or follow me on social media @kgrumke.
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The Republican Missouri senator introduced bipartisan legislation that would require data centers to build their own power plants and would increase transparency around data center energy use. -
The new plant will be on the site of the retired Rush Island coal plant in Jefferson County. It is being built, in part, to power proposed data centers. -
New federal funds for people who are sick after living near radioactive waste are a win for advocates, but now they are turning their focus to cleanup. As part of the ongoing cleanup effort, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is demolishing some homes near Coldwater Creek. -
Scientists in the middle of the country told Harvest Public Media that 2025 was a year of major changes and uncertainty. -
At grassland sites worldwide, including the Midwest and Great Plains, scientists simulated extreme drought conditions. The study provides a far-reaching and systematic look at the effects of drought severity. -
The brown tarantula is about the size of an apple or orange. University of Missouri-St. Louis scientist Becky Hansis-O’Neill and her team of students have been using an app to track their locations, tag and measure them, and learn how to protect their populations. -
Artificial intelligence could help scientists and state conservationists count waterfowl more quickly and accurately, according to a new study. -
U.S. Sen Josh Hawley's skepticism of data centers puts him at odds with some prominent Missouri Republicans, including Gov. Mike Kehoe. -
The Missouri Public Service Commission held a hearing to get feedback on Ameren Missouri's plans to build a new natural gas plant in Jefferson County. Community members opposed the plant, saying it would harm the environment and cost too much.
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Scientists and seed companies are working on shrinking corn. The subtle difference in height has led to some big changes in how shorter corn can be planted and managed in the Corn Belt.
