Author: Camilla Mortensen

Foster Care for Shelter Animals Helps Them Get Homes

Many Lane County animal rescues are in need of foster homes for the animals

News
Biggie is being fostered by an EW staffer

Biggie the pitbull was scheduled to be euthanized at Los Angeles County’s Carson Animal Shelter on Dec. 11. He was so shy that no one was interested in adopting him, and the shelter was out of room. But, instead of being put to sleep that day, he was picked up, fed a hamburger and driven to Oregon thanks to a network of animal rescues, animal lovers and people who provide foster homes for pets in need.  Continue reading →

Global Weirding

News

Those couple days of icy, freezing temperatures last February might stick out in your mind, but while a brief spell of cold days may affect your personal impression of the weather, don’t forget that the climate is heating up across the globe, thanks to rising levels of greenhouse gases.  Overall, 2014 was Oregon’s second hottest year since record keeping started in 1895, according to researchers with the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University. The average statewide temperature in Oregon in 2014 was 3 degrees above the average for the 20th century. Continue reading →

Groups Denounce Eastern Oregon Coyote-Killing Contest

Animal rights groups fighting to stop coyote-killing contest in Eastern Oregon

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The second annual Harney Coyote Classic is scheduled to kick off Jan. 16, and animal rights groups and conservation organizations are fighting to stop the coyote-killing contest that takes place in Eastern Oregon near Burns. “It’s horrific, blatantly slaughtering wildlife for no reason,” says Brooks Fahy of Predator Defense. “You don’t eat coyotes.” Continue reading →

UO Memo Details Plan To Quash Union Voice

The memo allowed the UO to have its own board of trustees

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 “In the most elemental form, the faculty has traded its voice in internal government and management for the union’s voice, and the union’s only legal role involves terms and conditions of employment for bargaining unit members,” reads a May 2012 memo written by the University of Oregon’s then-legal counsel Randy Geller, calling to abolish the UO’s Faculty Senate and advisory committees that are a part of the university’s “shared governance.” In shared governance, a university’s faculty has a say in how the school is run. Continue reading →

Why is animal neglect not criminal in Lane County?

These cases are handled as code violations rather than criminal cases

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Photo courtesy of Strawberry Mountain

In mid-November, Darla Clark began getting frantic calls about Dani, a young Tennessee Walker horse in Lane County who was so emaciated that her spine and ribs protruded through her muddy black hair. Clark, who runs Strawberry Mountain Rescue and Rehab, says people who called Lane County Animal Services about the horse were told an officer couldn’t make it out until after the holidays.  Dani’s condition was so bad, Clark says, the mare didn’t have a week, let alone more than a month. Clark’s rescue took her on. Continue reading →

Mariota is “All In” for Jesus Christ

Sports

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes did an interview with Duck quarterback Marcus Mariota before his Heisman win and before the Rose Bowl win that is sending Mariota and the Ducks to the National Championships against Ohio State.  In the interview with FCA, of which he is a member, Mariota discusses his Christian faith and going "all in for Him." Continue reading →

Climate Change Projected To Move Salmon North

News
Coho salmon are among the species anticipated to shift northward with climate change

Oregon’s salmon might be moving toward Alaska at a rate of about 30 kilometers (19 miles) a decade, according to a study in the January 2015 issue of Progress in Oceanography. “Marine life is being affected by changes in ocean conditions resulting from changes in climate and chemistry triggered by combustion of fossil fuels,” the study says. This news comes as Oregon continues to debate the oil trains, coal export and liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline and export facilities that are jockeying for position throughout the state. Continue reading →

EW’s Top Five 2014 Stories

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According to our web hits and downloads, the most-read story in EW this year was a story about the other paper in town … The Register-Guard. More precisely, it was our story “Reporter Fired for Checking Email?” about the termination of popular reporter Serena Markstrom Nugent while she was out on pregnancy disability leave.  That article not only was the most read on our website — it also generated a lot of national attention, with mentions on the journo news site Romenesko and a tweet by NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik.  Continue reading →

Judge Rules In Favor Of County In Protest Camp Closure

News

Late in the summer of 2013, Lane County closed a protest camp in the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza leading to one of many recent debates on the nature of free speech and whether a government agency can shut it down.  In a Dec. 15 ruling on a motion to dismiss, Municipal Court Judge Karen Stenard writes that the closure in this instance was not unconstitutional under Oregon law. She writes there were “legitimate health and safety concerns.” Activists disputed those concerns at the time of the closure and in the months afterward. Continue reading →