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Camilla Mortensen is the longtime local editor of Eugene Weekly, the area’s alternative newspaper. The paper, which has been in print since 1982 (originally as What’s Happening) continues to print more than 27,000 copies a week in addition to its popular email newsletters and website. Camilla has a masters degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA and a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Oregon. She has been a reporter and editor at EW since 2007 and teaches journalism at the UO in the mornings before heading to the Weekly’s office. She also teaches newswriting at Lane Community College and advises The Torch student newspaper.
The UO has dropped its countersuit against the student who says three UO basketball players raped her. According to the R-G, interim President Scott Coltrane said, "that the UO heard from 'many different people on campus, and we really wanted to get away from this distraction.'” Continue reading
While her previous position as Oregon’s secretary of state typically did not put her in the environmental spotlight, Oregon’s new Governor Kate Brown is no stranger to green agendas or protests. In summer of 2012, members of Cascadia Earth First! and Eugene’s own Cascadia Forest Defenders locked themselves together at Brown’s office at the state Capitol to call attention to logging in the Elliott State Forest. Continue reading
Social media posts about "Hope," a dog animal advocates say was starving and dehydrated, led to a KEZI story and then to a response from the Eugene Police Department. Hope the dog, whose name is actually Zena, according to EPD, has since been put to sleep by her owner. Continue reading
We all make mistakes, but The Register-Guard wins typo of the week with this one in the article "Final Frontier" from the Feb. 21 issue: “'Microgreens will be the first cash flow boost,' Jason Waligoske said. 'That will be followed by mescaline, baby spinach, other greens." In the print version, it appears after the jump under "Unusual varieties planned." Continue reading
As of noon Monday, Feb. 23, a petition to UO trustees entitled "Stop suing rape survivors University of Oregon" has garnered more than 500 signatures. Continue reading
In 2003, a Lane County Animal Regulation Advisory Task Force Report said that the animal shelter shared by Lane County, Eugene and Springfield was in need of a “thorough overhaul or a complete replacement” and 60 more kennels. Instead, First Avenue Shelter, which is home to the area’s strays and now run by Greenhill Humane Society, has the same 30 kennels it has had since the 1970s and is stretched beyond its capacity, according to longtime shelter volunteer Misha English. Continue reading
Oregon might be seen as a green and healthy state, but its laws protecting people, pets and lands from the chemicals drifting from aerial herbicide sprays are weaker than the laws in Idaho, Washington and California. Lisa Arkin of Beyond Toxics hopes a new bill introduced into the Oregon Legislature Feb. 10 could change that. Continue reading
Update: Kitzhaber has resigned and Oregon has the nation's first openly bisexual governor. Continue reading
The ongoing battle between car sharing service Uber and the city of Eugene has taken to social media. Let the Twitter wars begin! Uber has launched an online petition asking Eugene to back down on its stance that the ride service must obtain the same $400 permits local taxi companies have. It is using the hashtag #EugeneNeedsUber. Continue reading
The Oregon “Right to Rest Act” will be introduced in the Legislature this week, according to the office of Sen. Chip Shields, a Democrat from Portland who is sponsoring the bill. The Right to Rest Act, which is also sometimes referred to as a “Homeless Bill of Rights” by some supporters, would decriminalize the everyday and necessary acts of sleeping, sitting, standing, eating or sharing food, according to Paul Boden of WRAP, the Western Regional Advocacy Project, which is pushing for bills in Oregon, California and Colorado. Continue reading