News: Page 267

Apache Tribal Members Discuss Arizona Land Grab At PIELC

Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act was “dirty politics”

News
Apache Tribal members

Late on a December night in 2014, Sen. John McCain attached a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act, swapping 2,400 acres of federally owned land for 5,300 acres of land owned by Resolution Copper Mining. San Carlos Apache Tribe Councilman Wendsler Nosie, Sr., and his granddaughter Naelyn Pike will be keynote speakers at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the UO this week talking about their efforts to regain the land that is sacred to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Yavapai-Apache Nation. Continue reading →

Pollution Update 3-3-16

Pollution Update

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a civil penalty of $6,451 to Rexius Forest By-Products, Inc. on Feb. 17 for Clean Water Act violations at its Bailey Hill Road facility. Specifically, DEQ penalized Rexius for negligently failing to monitor for arsenic in its stormwater discharges. Rexius can appeal the penalty, pay it or offset it by implementing a “supplemental environmental project.” Examples of such projects include stream restoration and replacement of pavement with rain gardens to improve water quality. Continue reading →

Lane County Area Spray Schedule 3-3-16

Spray Schedule

• ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for herbicide application information. Hwy. 99 near Creswell was recently sprayed. Hwy. 101 will soon be sprayed with Aquamix and Milestone for Scotch broom and gorse. • ODOT sprays chemicals including Rodeo, Accord and Honcho Plus containing glyphosate, Milestone VM Plus containing aminopyralid and triclopyr, Esplanade 200 SC containing indazifam, Payload containing flumioxazin, Escort/Escort XP containing metsulfuron methyl and Dyne-Amic adjuvant.  Continue reading →

City of Eugene knew about Kesey Square deed

News

[EW will be updating this post as new information becomes available. Last update at 5:40 pm Monday, Feb. 29.] Did the city of Eugene truly forget or were city officials just hoping the public wouldn't remember? The city of Eugene was aware of the 1971 deed restriction on Kesey Square well before City Manager Jon Ruiz brought to the City Council a private offer to purchase the public parcel, which is "forever dedicated to the use of the public," in October 2015. Continue reading →

Our Kids Deserve Better

IP 28 proposes a way out of Oregon’s school funding crisis

News

Listen up, Oregon — your schools are underfunded by $2 billion. Just ask Sabrina Gordon, a reading teacher at Awbrey Park Elementary School in Eugene. She started teaching in Eugene School District 4J in 1999, but prior to that she was a student in 4J schools. Gordon experienced 4J at its peak in the ’80s, before the devastating passage of Measure 5 in 1990, which capped property taxes for school funding and shifted budgetary responsibility from local government to the state.  Continue reading →

Activist Alert 2-25-2016

Activist Alert

• The Coalition to Reduce Elementary Level Class Size is hosting an organizing meeting from 6:30 to 8 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, at Edison Elementary School, 1328 E. 22nd Ave. Oscar Loureiro, director of research and planning at 4J, and Anne Marie Levis, 4J school board member, will join the meeting for a question and answer session. Find the event on Facebook. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 2-25-2016

Biz Beat

• Tsunami Books reports its “Eat Local/ Shop Local” sandwich board sign in front of the store was stolen the night of Feb. 18, the same night the Domino’s Pizza opened next door at 2568 Willamette. Coincidence? A new sign will be up soon. Domino’s now has three stores in the Eugene area. Continue reading →

Anya Dobrowolski & Beth Sweeney

We talked about our life goals and changes we wanted to make happen

Happening People
Anya Dobrowolski & Beth Sweeney

A native of Rockville, Maryland, with a degree in music education from George Mason University, Anya Dobrowolski came to Eugene in 2006 for grad school in landscape architecture. She finished a master’s degree in 2011 and was hired as assistant director of the school’s newly minted one-year graduate certificate program, Oregon Leadership in Sustainability (OLIS). That’s where she met Beth Sweeney, an OLIS student who had worked six years for the EPA in Dallas, Texas, and in her hometown of Seattle. Continue reading →

Bijou, UO Law School Host Enviro Film Fest

For the first time in its 43-year history, PIELC has organized a film festival

News

The annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) comes to the University of Oregon March 3-6. For the first time in its 43-year history, PIELC has organized a film festival to preview the conference at the Bijou Art Cinemas Feb. 25. Films will also play as part of the conference itself. “Almost all the films have a panel accompaniment with people involved in the films,” says PIELC co-director, Emily Hajarizadeh. “We chose to incorporate film this year because every year we receive massive amounts of submissions for films, and we haven’t had a space to show them.” Continue reading →

Citizens Want Public Square, Council Wants ‘Win-Win’

News

The night of Monday, Feb. 22, was a moment many have been waiting for since October, when the city considered the private purchase of Kesey Square in a closed executive session: For the first time, the Eugene City Council publicly discussed Kesey Square, aka Broadway Plaza. The work session, and public forum that followed, illustrated a lingering divide between some of the city councilors and mayor and the requests from citizens to keep the square public.  Continue reading →