skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Black smoke signals Vatican conclave has failed to elect new pope on first day;Nine in 10 surveyed people in CO, across globe back climate action; Three-Fifths comments ignite Indiana controversy; For MN, SNAP benefits reach farmers markets, other parts of the economy.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

As Congress debates Medicaid cuts and emissions rollbacks, former presidential candidate John Kasich calls for protecting vulnerable Americans, veterans link fossil fuel dependence to military deaths, and advocates warn funding cuts threaten health and jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

DOGE is gutting a 30-year old national service program, cuts are likely but Head Start may be spared elimination in the next budget, moms are the most vulnerable when extreme weather hits and there's a croaking sound coming from rural California.

Eugene Mural Brings New Attention to Native Oregon Plants

play audio
Play

Friday, July 15, 2022   

A new mural in Eugene depicts Kalapuya people harvesting native plants and preparing them as food and medicine. It is part of a larger project to provide information and a guide to native plants and their uses in the Willamette Wetlands.

Susan Applegate, the artist who created the project, said the panels of the mural are meant to reflect what is known as the seasonal round, a pattern of moving to different locations for food harvesting at different times of year. She added it is important to note the plants depicted are also right there in Westmoreland Park.

"There in the park, you have access to the immediacy of the living species," Applegate pointed out. "That was exciting, as well as the idea of working with what has gone on before, and how do we clue in to the past and take care of the present with that in mind."

Applegate worked with Ester Stutzman, a Kalapuya elder and storyteller, on the mural, which is 64 feet long and nine feet high. It's located on the east wall of the Dr. Edwin Coleman Jr. Community Center, which sits between two wetland areas.

Jennifer Eisele, pesticides policy manager for Beyond Toxics, one of the project's sponsors, noted a nonprofit started by Ester Stutzman and her family, The Komemma Cultural Preservation Association, has published a set of Kalapuya dictionaries. The mural project incorporates Kalapuya words for native plants as well as their English names.

"There are several of the native plants that grow in the wetlands that are identified in the Santiam dialect of the Kalapuya language," Eisele explained. "There is a language revitalization component to this project, there is the cultural component, and really just sharing all of that with the community in such a beautiful way."

She added the project was created in collaboration with the Friendly Area Neighbors Equity Action Team, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Kalapuya descendants, City of Eugene Human Rights and Neighborhood Involvement, and City of Eugene Parks and Open Space.

Disclosure: Beyond Toxics contributes to our fund for reporting on the Environment, Environmental Justice, Social Justice, and Toxics. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
As of 2023, half of likely undocumented immigrant adults and one in five lawfully present immigrant adults reported being uninsured, compared with less than one in 10 naturalized citizens and U.S.-born citizen adults, according to KFF. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

State lawmakers in Arizona are considering legislation to mandate hospitals to ask patients whether they are in the country legally. Rep. John …


Social Issues

play sound

As the national debate intensifies over cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance benefits and school meal funding, Missouri food system leaders are …

Social Issues

play sound

For now, Minnesota officials say panic has eased over federal funding for a program helping low-income households with their energy bills but there …


Illinois residents pay the second-highest gasoline taxes in the country, according to WalletHub. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

High taxes and a weak economy are the top concerns of Illinois residents according to a new poll, with nearly half of those surveyed saying they …

play sound

Air pollution in Washington is getting worse, according to a new report citing transportation emissions as the primary culprit. Eight of the 12 …

Overdraft fees originated during a time when consumers wrote and cashed checks more frequently so the checks would clear instead of bouncing. The amount of the fees has increased over time. (JJ Gouin/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Congress has overturned legislation which would have limited bank overdraft fees before the measure could go into effect. The Consumer Financial …

Social Issues

play sound

Reports of the Trump administration considering taxing wealthy Americans to pay for mass deportations and other priorities come on the heels of a new …

Social Issues

play sound

Protections for Indigenous rock art in Wyoming are in limbo after state lawmakers and the Trump administration took potentially conflicting actions re…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021