A 1999 vision seeded by two Missouri women sprouted, the next year, as a tax-supported program from our state's Department of Conservation. Flourishing today in a non-profit's fertile soil, Grow Native! stands like a swath of Big Bluestem and Blazing Star as one of the strongest native plant programs around.
Carol Davit, Executive Director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, tells how a diversity of forces grew success. Like the many "weeds" native to this idea, Grow Native! spread to include plant growers, seed producers, home and professional gardeners, and garden centers, statewide. Now housed within MPF, Grow Native! continues expanding beyond a tax-supported agency's state lines, cultivating ecological landscapes in Kansas, Iowa and Illinois.
Perhaps unique in the U.S., the Grow Native! inclusion of public education, professional development, and lively marketing covers the critical human roles so the plants and habitats they create can speak for themselves. Native plants will grow on you!
As many athletes have returned to fields, courts and arenas during the coronavirus pandemic, so have sports protests. More and more professional athletes are kneeling during the national anthem, displaying Black Lives Matter messages on their gametime attire, and speaking out publicly about police brutality and systemic racism. “But there’s at least one place where protesting is still not allowed,” an op-ed piece in the New York Times featuring St. Louis-area native Gwen Berry noted earlier this month: an Olympic podium.
The Grand Avenue Water Tower has been a familiar sight for Brandon Bosley ever since he moved to St. Louis’ College Hill neighborhood at age 7 — until this past weekend, that is. Now the 3rd Ward alderman will need to get used to the tower’s bright new facade. On Saturday, a whole host of volunteers helped give the 149-year-old tower a long-overdue fresh coat of paint as part of the St. Louis community’s latest Operation Clean Sweep.
Belleville News Democrat reporter Megan Valley joins the program to talk about how the lack of coronavirus transparency is concerning parents in the Metro East.
Local producers have competed in a battle of songs in front of a crowd of hip-hop fans for a decade. This year the beat battle is online because of the pandemic. But producers will still have a platform to share music and connect with other musicians.
St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where she joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum to talk about efforts to drum up more money for early childhood education programs.
Clancy is a Maplewood Democrat who was elected to represent the St. Louis County Council’s 5th District in 2018. She currently serves as the chairwoman of the council.
Even one baseball game has plenty of innings — seven, nine, or, if there’s an especially stubbornly tied score, perhaps even 11 or 12 innings. But it all pales in comparison to the 39 innings Tom Sullivan and his teammates completed over the course of a single summer day (and night) in St. Louis 43 years ago.
For more than 40 years, Joe Yancey has worked to help those with mental illness receive the treatment and support they need to lead successful, fulfilling lives. The former CEO of Places for People retired last month.
State Rep. Deb Lavender is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast, where she talks with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about running in the competitive 15th District Senate contest.
The 15th District takes in portions of south central and southwest St. Louis County, which includes cities like Kirkwood, Ballwin, Manchester, Twin Oaks and Valley Park. Lavender is squaring off against Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican who won his general election in 2016 by nearly 20 percentage points.
Koenig is slated to record an episode of Politically Speaking in October.
There is a national moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 outbreak. That means people facing evictions have until December 31 to find rental or housing assistance. But African American and Latino neighborhoods in the St. Louis region are expected to be hardest hit if the ban is lifted at the end of the year.
WePower's Elevate/Elevar business accelerator aims to uplift and assist Black and Latino entrepreneurs in St. Louis. It's inaugural cohort finished last month, and companies in the program averaged a 350% increase in sales.
Artists who live in north St. Louis are painting murals on business and residential doors and fences. Vibrant homages depict jazz culture, African-inspired flowers, St. Louis greats such as Josephine Baker and more.
It’s been six long months since Wendy Lea has been able to play or perform with the group of musicians dearest to her heart — or put a paycheck in their pockets. But this weekend, that’s changing as masked members of the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis carefully gather on an outdoor stage alongside the Union Avenue Opera.
Two of playwright Melda Beaty’s plays will be streamed this month by The Black Rep. Both focus on the experiences of older Black Americans.
Also, we remember the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Republic Services general manager Brent Batliner talks about how the Hazelwood-based facility has adjusted to changes brought on by the pandemic and reiterates what to avoid tossing in the recycling bin.
Even as the COVID-19 crisis derailed many of Dance the Vote’s typical endeavors, St. Louisan Joan Lipkin and her collaborators knew that artists remained “an essential part of the conversation.” They decided to center the contributions of artists of color, and commissioned a series of videos highlighting the work of choreographers in St. Louis as well as beyond.
How people speak, and how other people react to it is a major cause of racism and sexism, according to an English professor at Missouri S&T. Sarah Hercula has written a book advocating for English teachers, people who study linguistics and others to tear down stereotypes of language as part of the overall effort to combat systemic racism and sexism.
St. Louis Zoo resident Utamu is pregnant. The 18-year-old chimpanzee is expected to give birth this fall. In this interview, primate manager Helen Boostrom talks about how zookeepers are caring for Utamu during her pregnancy, what to expect during the birth, and how a new baby may alter the group dynamics of the facility’s nine chimpanzees.
Last week, supporters of a plan to privatize St. Louis Lambert International Airport announced they would withdraw the initiative set for city ballots this November. A week later, two of the major entities behind the privatization push announced they had decided to part ways just one day before the announcement on the airport initiative. In this episode, St. Louis Business Journal reporter Jacob Kirn talks about the end of the 14 year relationship between conservative billionaire Rex Sinquefield and political consultant Travis Brown.
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