Camilla Mortensen

Author: Camilla Mortensen

DeFaz tells O to say ‘No’ to GMOs (or rather, ‘Yes’ to labeling)

This in from Rep. Peter DeFazio's office today: DeFazio Encourages President Obama to Adopt GMO Labeling Standards Washington, DC – Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04) joined members of Congress and more than 200 businesses and organizations today to support a letter sent to President Obama. The letter encourages the President to fulfill his 2007 pledge to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adopt a national mandatory GMO labeling system. Continue reading →

Fleenor Files Lawsuit Over Richardson Probe

We need transparency

News 12 years ago

A cloud of suspicion around the departure of former administrator Liane Richardson still hangs over Lane County government, in part because the full details of the investigation into her unauthorized changes to her payroll have never been released. On Jan. 13, former Lane County Commissioner Bill Fleenor filed an open records lawsuit over the report by USO Consulting. The outside investigation was commissioned by the county and released with 29 pages blacked out. Fleenor, the R-G and EW were among those who made public records requests for copies of the report. Continue reading →

Will Congress Fast Track Secret Trade Agreement?

News 12 years ago

In a time when government secrecy is becoming both more prominent and more criticized, it’s no longer hard to believe that Congress would “fast track” a vote on a secret document devised by international corporations. Continue reading →

Goshen ‘Great’ Plan Problems

News 12 years ago

Lane County is plowing ahead with its plans to develop the rural industrial area of Goshen, which lies just south of Eugene. The county calls its plan to develop Goshen “GREAT” — the Goshen Region Employment and Transition plan — but land-use and environmental advocates have serious doubts about its greatness, and LandWatch Lane County has a case about Goshen before the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Continue reading →

Oregon Values and Beliefs Examined

News 12 years ago

Tom Bowerman of PolicyInteractive is hoping that research from the 2013 Oregon Values and Beliefs Survey will help stir a cultural conversation. Bowerman founded PolicyInteractive in order to understand general public opinions about global climate change and how it may influence our future, but the OVB survey also addressed education, conservation, health, crime, public transportation, economic development and taxes. Bowerman, along with Adam Davis of DHM Research, will be discussing the survey and its findings at the Jan. 10 City Club of Eugene meeting. Continue reading →

Ecovillages, Ecodistricts and Climate Change

News 12 years ago

Karen Litfin, a University of Washington professor of political science, spent a year traveling and researching her book, Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community. Litfin, along with Deni Ruggeri of the UO’s landscape architecture program and Anita Van Asperdt, a local landscape architect, will be discussing “Ecovillages and Ecodistricts: Solutions for Climate Change” at the UO Jan. 13. Continue reading →

Columbia Gorge Coal Case Rolls Forward

News 12 years ago

The Sierra Club, Columbia Riverkeeper and several other conservation groups sued BNSF Railway Company last summer after finding what they call “substantial amounts of coal in and along several Washington waterways near BNSF rail lines.” On Jan. 3 the groups celebrated the most recent development in the Clean Water Act case when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington denied a motion to dismiss, allowing it to go forward. Continue reading →

Intimate Partner Violence

Casey Wright and preventing domestic abuse

News 12 years ago

Casey Wright was an equestrian and a dancer. She grew up in Eugene, graduated Sheldon High School and worked downtown at the Pita Pit for several years before taking a job at a Springfield metal fabrication plant to support her goals of riding, training and showing the horses she loved. Early on the morning of Nov. 2, Wright’s ex-boyfriend, Robert Cromwell, confessed to beating 26-year-old Wright to death with an aluminum baseball bat as she lay sleeping in the house they once shared. Continue reading →

Before there was Edward Snowden …

News 12 years ago

Before there was Edward Snowden, there was a group of burglars who broke into the FBI's offices, exposed the agency's spying under J. Edgar Hoover and led the exposure of COINTELPRO. They were never caught. Continue reading →

Van Ornum Taser Case Can Now Go To Appeal

News 12 years ago

In May 2008 Ian Van Ornum was Tasered by a Eugene police officer while prostrate on the ground. On Dec. 27, 2013, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that he could continue to pursue his appeal of his conviction for resisting arrest. The appeals court can either not take action, which would leave Van Ornum’s conviction standing, or decide to send the case back to trial court. Continue reading →