UO to talk about “The Really Big One”

The University of Oregon is jumping into the earthquake fray. What earthquake fray, you ask? On a recent trip to the Oregon coast, a certain EW reporter found herself mentally planning evacuation routes and nervously eyeing the coastline, imagining tidal waves of unrealistic proportions crashing down on her. Continue reading 

Activist Alert 7-23-2015

• The NAACP national convention was earlier in July, and City Club of Eugene will have a report at noon Friday, July 24, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette Street. Speakers will include Eric Richardson, president of the local NAACP, and members of the Eugene-Springfield faith and social justice communities. $5 for non-members. Continue reading 

Biz Beat 7-23-2015

Many Eugene downtown businesses will be open for the first Sunday Streets celebration from noon to 4 pm July 26. Streets will be blocked off from car traffic from the Park Blocks to Kesey Square and all the way down Broadway to Monroe Park. Participants can enjoy a relaxing bike ride, skate or stroll through a cornucopia of food, music, fitness classes and bike demos. Continue reading 

Oregon Schools Still At Risk Of Collapse In Mega Quake

If you hadn’t heard about the Cascadia Subduction Zone mega earthquake before now, the recent New Yorker article titled “The Really Big One” has probably popped up on your social media feed enough times to draw your attention. Some people have known for decades about the predicted 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami threatening to devastate the Oregon Coast and beyond.  Continue reading 

Parking Lot Appears On Rubble Of Old City Hall

A fenced-in parking lot complete with stripes on the gravel has appeared at the site of the leveled City Hall downtown, leading passers-by to wonder what’s going on. Turns out the parking will not be for the public or even the architects and engineers working on plans for the new City Hall. “We had a request from the Federal Courthouse to accommodate overflow parking for jurors for two weeks,” says city spokesperson Laura Hammond. City Code 9.5800 “allows up to two weeks of temporary parking three times per year,” she says. Continue reading 

Pet Economy Flourishes In Eugene And Portland

“Business has been booming,” says Jody Maddox, who owns Wags Dog Emporium off Coburg Road. This is no surprise, based on the $58.51 billion the American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates Americans spent on their pets in 2014.  Oregon happens to be near the top of the list for pet-owning states and ranks fourth overall, according to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation’s 2012 survey numbers, and those high ownership numbers seems to have translated to good business for pet-related industries operating in Eugene and Oregon in general. Continue reading 

Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products and Cascade Pacific Pulp discharge pollution to the Willamette River

Pollution Update 7-23-15

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm  Tuesday, July 28, on two proposed Clean Water Act permit modifications for Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products and Cascade Pacific Pulp, which both discharge pollution to the Willamette River via the same outfall near Halsey. The proposed modifications involve the relocation of the outfall approximately 1,300 feet downstream, and a decrease in the size of the “mixing zone” for the discharges. Continue reading 

Lane County Area Spray Schedule 7-23-15

• 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, 99 and Beltline. • Weyerhaeuser, 744-4600, plans to helicopter and backpack spray 5.8 acres near Taylor Butte south of Cottage Grove with glyphosate, imazapyr, triclopyr, metsulfuron methyl, sulfometuron methyl, MSO Concentrate, Crosshair and/or No Foam. See ODF notification 2015-771-10308, call Tim Meehan at 726-3588 with questions. Continue reading