Lane County Parks Plan Could Revive Large Events

Leasing water rights? Logging? What about bringing back Faerieworlds, the Dirty Dash and other events? Lane County’s park system is massive in scope — it encompasses 4,300 acres from the coast to the Cascades, including everything from marinas and campsites to hiking and horseback riding — and also massive is the draft master plan Lane County Parks produced last month. For the first time since 1980, Lane County is updating its Parks and Open Space Master Plan, and the county is now taking public comment on the almost 300-page document.  Continue reading 

South Willamette Area Plan Sparks Much Debate

There are almost 500 parcels that will be rezoned, and people don’t even know the plan is about to transpire

Members of South Willamette Neighbors are protesting the proposed rezoning. Photo courtesy Ralph McDonald.

A rezoning plan for the South Willamette is raising hackles among some residents there, who say it could have serious impacts on the quality of life in the area. On the other hand, city planners say the South Willamette Special Area Zone (SW-SAZ) came about as a part of an Envision Eugene goal to create walkable, liveable areas in key corridors.  Continue reading 

Fired for Pregnancy?

Former employee takes R-G to court

Serena Marksrom talks to reporters in front of the Register-Guard March 27, 2014.

A year and a half after journalist Serena Markstrom was fired by The Register-Guard, she has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper where she had worked for more than a decade. Markstrom, who also goes by her married name Serena Markstrom Nugent, was terminated by the paper shortly after informing her employer of her pregnancy. Markstrom was fired for being “dishonest, insubordinate and having destroyed company property” after checking her email while on pregnancy-related disability leave. The “destroyed property” refers to emails that Markstrom deleted. Continue reading 

Football, football, football

Ever notice that the Register-Guard writes a lot about Duck football? Like three stories a day. R-G readers must like football (and crime and the weather, based on an informal survey of what shows up on the web). Last week the web editors must have gotten just a wee bit football crazed, what with a game coming up Sept. 5 and all. Continue reading 

Quake Preparation Gets Attention On UO Campus

The UO also encourages students to have their own kits

High school track in Taiwan hit by an earthquake

The lingering aftershocks of a recent New Yorker story, which pronounced everything west of I-5 “toast” when a massive Cascadia subduction zone earthquake hits the Northwest, means a lot of attention has been paid to quakes recently. An Aug. 6 UO public forum on the science behind “the really big one” drew more than 500 people, with 200 more watching on live stream. But how ready is the UO itself for a quake?  Continue reading 

Ian Van Ornum EPD Taser-Arrest Case Can Go Back to Trial

Back in 2008, some UO students and other local groups held a rally downtown to celebrate that the Lane County Commission was limiting use of pesticide sprays. Seven years later, the Oregon Court of Appeals has handed down a ruling in a case related to an arrest at that rally, an arrest that was later appealed and has been making its way through the court system ever since. Continue reading