Pacific Recycling penalized for discharging stormwater containing hydraulic fluid

Pollution Update 6-11-15

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has hit Pacific Recycling with yet another penalty (see previous Pollution Updates for other violations), this time for discharging stormwater containing hydraulic fluid to Roosevelt Channel in December. According to DEQ documents, a large grader that Pacific Recycling was unloading at its Cross Street facility on Dec. 23 tipped over, spilling hydraulic fluid. Continue reading 

Activist Alert 6-4-2015

• The Metropolitan Policy Committee meets from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm Thursday, June 4, at the Eugene Public Library. Public comment time is early in the meeting and one of  the agenda items is “Development of Draft Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan,” presented by Savannah Crawford of ODOT. Springfield Main Street public safety is also on the follow-up agenda. See lcog.org for more information. Continue reading 

Biz Beat 6-4-2015

Just heard this week that Cynthia Pappas is retiring as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, and the Board of Directors has hired Lisa Gardner, former intergovernmental relations manager for the City Manager’s Office in Eugene. Gardner was previously city planning director. Pappas has been head of PPSO for the past nine years.  Continue reading 

South Eugene High Grads Talk Diversity, Future Plans

Five young African-American women will graduate from South on June 5

Black students made up only 2.4 percent of the student body population at South Eugene High School at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year. Five young African-American women will graduate from South on June 5, and EW caught up with three of them to discuss their plans for the future, their quests for diversity and their advice for young women of color growing up in Eugene. Continue reading 

Downtown Assault Leaves Three Hurt

At approximately 1:30 am on Saturday, May 23, a group of six men attacked two women and one man on the sidewalk in front of Cowfish Dance Club in downtown Eugene.  One of the men in the group punched Jasmyn Hinton in the eye and punched her partner Koen Derflinger in the face three times. The third person in the group — Nicole Foti — says she was hit in the stomach. Hinton, Derflinger and Foti say the six men were white, between the ages of 20 and 25, and looked like “stereotypical college guys.” Continue reading 

Oregon Looks To Ban Pet Debarking, Declawing

In the last five years, several states have taken up regulating or banning surgeries to declaw cats or devocalize dogs, also known as “debarking” or ventriculocordectomy. Now it’s Oregon’s turn to wrestle with the issue.   Debarking is illegal in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Several California cities, including Los Angeles, have banned declawing outright. Continue reading