Author: EW Staff

Activist Alert 7-2-2015

Activist Alert

• The Lane County Metropolitan Policy Committee meets from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm Thursday, July 2, at Coburg City Hall Council Chambers. On the agenda is the Metropolitan Cable Television Commission. Contact Paul Thompson at 682-4405. • The VA Roseburg Healthcare System has scheduled a town hall from 4:30 to 6:30 pm Thursday, July 2, at the Elks Lodge, 1701 Centennial Blvd. in Springfield. VA representatives will be available to answer questions and assist vets with current claims or filing new claims for disability compensation.  Continue reading →

Lane County Area Spray Schedule 7-2-15

Spray Schedule

• ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for often inaccurate herbicide application information. Highways recently sprayed include I-5, 36, 105, 126, Beltline and Territorial.  • USDA Forest Service will be spot treating a few patches of false brome near Cape Perpetua and the Cummins Creek Loop Trail with glyphosate. Continue reading →

Waiting to Inhale

A handmade BHO EW cover

Cannabis

Well, Oregon, we’ve come a long way. As of July 1, recreational marijuana use is legal for adults. Prohibition ends at last. Reefer madness, at least for now, has found its antidote, and it turns out it was legal, regulated marijuana all along. We hope that this will be the start of a greener, brighter chapter in pot’s problematic history — an era in which cannabis research proliferates and the number of people in prison for marijuana offenses drops off; when all the benefits of marijuana are explored without fear or resistance. Continue reading →

Lane County Area Spray Schedule 6-25-15

Spray Schedule

Spray Schedule • ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for sometimes inaccurate herbicide application information. Highways recently sprayed include I-5, 126 near Santiam Pass and Territorial near Lorane. Though all of Highway 36 was sprayed in May, not all of this spray was reported on the ODOT information line.  Continue reading →

Slant 6-25-2015

Slant

• The death last week of nine people at the hands of a racist in a Charleston, South Carolina, church that was founded by Denmark Vesey, a man killed for planning a slave revolt, is not unthinkable or unspeakable, as an excellent essay in Esquire by journalist Charles P. Pierce points out. Someone did think to sit through an hour of Bible study and then kill a pastor and his parishioners. Someone did think to sell Dylann Roof a gun, someone did think —  and talk and act —  to ensure the Confederate flag flies over South Carolina’s Capitol. Continue reading →

Activist Alert 6-25-2015

Activist Alert

• The BLM is considering revisions to the Northwest Forest Plan and according to Oregon Wild, all of the options proposed would reduce logging setbacks on streams and rivers. The next riparian workshop will be from 4 to 7 pm Thursday, June 25, at the BLM office at 3106 Pierce Parkway in Springfield. Another public meeting is planned for June 30 in Springfield. See the BLM schedule at wkly.ws/216. Continue reading →

Slant 6-18-2015

Slant

• Fans of Eugene’s Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption turned out to voice their support at the Eugene City Council meeting June 16 in a repeat performance of an unofficial MUPTE public forum June 8. The council will meet again on the topic July 8. We predict the 10-year tax breaks for developers will be reinstated with some added restrictions, but probably not enough restrictions to deal with our chronic need for affordable housing. We question some underlying assumptions about MUPTE. Continue reading →

Activist Alert 6-18-2015

Activist Alert

• Electing judges is the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, June 19, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette Street. Speakers are W. Michael Gillette, retired justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, and James Huffman, dean emeritus of the Lewis and Clark Law School. $5 for non-members. See cityclubofeuegene.org. The following week, June 26, the topic will be “The Future of Collegiate Athletics at the UO” with professor Bill Harbaugh and professor emeritus Dennis Howard. Continue reading →

War Dead 6-18-2015

War Dead

In Afghanistan • 2,355 U.S. troops killed (2,355 last month) • 20,071 U.S. troops wounded in action (20,068) • 1,592 U.S. contractors killed (1,592) • 16,179 civilians killed (updates NA) • $704.7 billion cost of war ($704.7 billion) • $281.9 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($281.9 million)   Against ISIS • $4.7 billion cost of military action ($2.5 billion) • $1.9 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($1.9 million) Continue reading →