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KEPW Eugene Home Grown Community Radio is holding weekly meetings at 6 pm Thursdays at the Growers Market upstairs, 454 Willamette St. The group has raised about $2,500 of the $10,000-plus needed to get the low-power radio station up and running by late summer. Organizers plan to broadcast local musicians and bands, variety shows, progressive call-in talk shows, environmental news, labor news and more. See enfn.org/~eugpeace or look for KEPW on Facebook. Continue reading
• After listening to Phyllis Barkhurst and Jeff Todahl at City Club of Eugene last week talk about 90by30, their initiative that seeks to reduce child abuse 90 percent by 2030, we’re even more convinced that we need more teachers, more counselors, more school nurses, more frontline professionals who interact with children and can recognize signals of abuse. To date, the education budget being debated in the Oregon Legislature this week doesn’t bring that about. We’re looking for the leadership that will. Continue reading
Whole Foods is preparing to begin construction in April for its new store downtown that will take up one full block near The Shedd Institute at 8th and Broadway. Two buildings on the site will come down and the new store of about 38,000 square feet is expected to open in March 2016. This project has been relatively uncontroversial. Whole Foods made headlines in 2006 when the company proposed a 50,000-square-foot building in the same area, but required city subsidies of $8 million for a 500-car adjacent parking garage to be shared with the city. Continue reading
ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for herbicide application information. Hwys. I-5 and 58 near Pleasant Hill, 99, 105 and 126 in Springfield were sprayed recently. Continue reading
• The proposed Lane County Vehicle Registration Fee, Ballot Measure 20-231, will be the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, April 10, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St. Speakers will include County Commissioner Pete Sorensen and Lane County Transportation Planning Program Supervisor Lydia McKinney. Cost is $5 for nonmembers. See cityclubofeugene.org for more information. Continue reading
• ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call 1-888-996-8080 for herbicide application information. Highways I-5, 58 near Pleasant Hill, 99, 105, 126 in Springfield and Beltline were sprayed recently. • M Three Timber Co., 767-3785, plans to spray its roadsides in Lane County with Accord XRT II, Garlon 3A and/or Induce. See ODF notifications 2015-781-05361 and 2015-781-05364, call Brian Peterson or Brian Dally at 726-3588 or 935-2283 with questions. Continue reading
• Help wanted! Look at these job openings in Eugene and Lane County. Tom Turner is heading to Florence, so we need a new Lane county sheriff. General Manager Ron Kilcoyne of Lane Transit Distict announced this week that he is leaving that hotspot after a new GM is found. The big slot, UO president, is still open. School District 4J just hired a new superintendent. Could be that this is normal turnover for the age of the shrinking attention span. Could be that this is a tough place for public servants. Continue reading
• The Cottage Grove Blackberry Pie Society will host a community conversation with Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky at 7 pm Thursday, April 2, at Hard Knocks Brewing, 1024 E. Main St. in Cottage Grove as part of the Blackberry Pie Speakers Series. Mokrohisky, who has been the county administrator since May 2014, will address local and county issues and answer questions from the audience. Call Leslie Rubenstein at 521-2887 or email blackberrypie@gmail.com. Continue reading
• The May 19 4J School Board election got hotter last week as several new candidates squeaked in on the filing deadline. Incumbent Jim Torrey is facing off against two opponents: Oregon Democratic Party Regional Director Kevin Cronin (also EW’s “Best Local Hellraiser”) and Whiteaker Community Council member David Nickles. Torrey has served on the board since 2007 and is currently chair. Continue reading
• City Club of Eugene topic this week is “Perspectives on Alternative Approaches to Forest Management” with Marc Barnes of Integrative Resource Management and Matt Fehrenbacher of Trout Mountain Forestry. Noon Friday, March 27, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St. $5 for nonmembers. See cityclubofeuegene.org to get on the email list. Continue reading