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Back in 2013, EW did a public records request to find out how much oil was rolling through Eugene on railroad tanker cars. The request was swiftly denied by Oregon’s Attorney General’s office citing a post 9/11 security exemption. After all, if terrorists were to find out how much explosive Bakken crude was rolling through town, what would they do with that knowledge? Continue reading
John Belcher has a simple dream: to walk down his street to a neighborhood natural foods market and buy cheese. Belcher, co-chair of the River Road Community organization, is working with members of the River Road neighborhood and building owner Lutfi Thabet to bring a much-needed grocery store to an area of Eugene with few options in terms of healthy, fresh produce. Continue reading
• Good Food Easy/Sweetwater Farm will be opening a farm stand at the Creswell Bakery at 182 S. 2nd Street in Creswell beginning 10 am to 2 pm Saturday, June 11, then ongoing each Saturday throughout the summer. Erica Trappe of Good Food Easy says, “We are a major supplier of produce to the bakery, so now customers will be able to purchase the same fresh local ingredients they enjoy on the bakery menu.” Continue reading
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fined Pacific Recycling, Inc. $12,374 last week for Clean Water Act violations at its Eugene metal recycling facility (located at 3300 Cross Street). Pacific Recycling has a history of environmental violations (and associated fines) at this facility (see goo.gl/kkGA0D), and this most recent fine is for failure to monitor its stormwater discharges during the first half of 2015. Continue reading
Oregon Department of Transportation is spraying roadsides. Call 503-986-3010 to talk with a vegetation management coordinator or call 1-888-996-8080 for recent herbicide application information. Hwys. 36, 101 and 126 were recently sprayed. Continue reading
• Calls to EW’s front desk can be crazy and fun. The latest comes from a reader (maybe) wondering what kind of paper and ink goes into our finished product. He has been using EW to start his barbecue, and the food is tasting bad. Oops! We recommend trying The Register-Guard or The Oregonian. Continue reading
Don’t get me wrong — I’m absolutely thrilled that Autzen Stadium will host a July 24 soccer match between two very high-level European clubs with some of the world’s most talented players at the 2016 International Champions Cup. I definitely will be going to the match. Continue reading
Earlier this year, Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill affirming the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s decision to remove wolves from the state Endangered Species Act and essentially block judicial review. Although the delisting decision and subsequent passage and signing of HB 4040 dealt wolf recovery a blow, the wolf conservation and management plan ultimately determines the fate of this keystone species. Continue reading
Oil paintings of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Frida Kahlo and Abraham Lincoln, among others, lined the walls of downtown Eugene’s Townshend’s Teahouse amidst the chatter of conversation and the clinking of ceramic mugs against tabletops. These portraits are the work of Simon Graves, a Eugene artist whose current oeuvre is focused on the importance of the constructs of good and evil — and specifically the characters we tend to conceive as being good on an iconic, archetypal level. Continue reading
I squinted through the grimy glass of our office window on the 14th floor of Eugene’s oldest high-rise (and eyesore). I stared down at the city’s streets lined with flushed sweetgums and pin oaks. We’re warming fast — maybe too fast — zooming into summer, maybe another hot, dry vintage, promising big bold pinot noirs, not the cool-country delicacy we’ve come to know and love. The global news on climate change (warming) has been grim: retreating glaciers, sweltering droughts, disappearing species. Continue reading