News: Page 314

State Laws Would Support Local Distillers

News

Rep. Jennifer Williamson told the Oregon Legislature’s House Committee on Business and Labor that her two distillery bills are not encouraging anyone to drink more hard liquor, but to drink Oregon hard liquor.  Williamson, a Democrat, is chief sponsor of two bills moving forward in the Oregon Legislature that would improve ways distilleries are allowed to market and sell their products. She became aware of some of the industry’s concerns after she and her husband took a tasting tour of Bull Run Distillery, which is close to her Portland district.  Continue reading →

Bartels again fined for violating environmental law at slaughterhouse

Pollution Update 5-21-15

Pollution Update

The DEQ has again fined Christopher Bartels for violating environmental law at the slaughterhouse he operates on Central Road, this time for violations of monitoring and reporting requirements. DEQ fined Bartels $30,147 on May 7 for failing to perform required monitoring of slaughterhouse wastewater in 2013, and for trying to pass off 2012 monitoring results as having been collected in 2013. Bartels has 20 days to request a hearing on the fine, and based on past history between DEQ and Bartels, he will request a hearing and DEQ will reduce the fine. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 5-14-2015

Biz Beat

We’re hearing some grumbles about the Glenwood Refinement Project and some residents and businesses that might be affected or even displaced. One drawing of the new Franklin Boulevard Project through Glenwood shows four roundabouts within 1 mile, requiring widening in several places that would take out entire buildings and business frontage. The new Planned Parenthood building could lose part of its setback from the street. Continue reading →

Isabelle Rogers

I like to write

Happening People
Isabelle Rogers

“I learned to read at age 4,” says Isabelle Rogers, who entered first grade at Oak Hill School a year later. She skipped kindergarten and eighth grade on her way to high school graduation from Oak Hill this year at age 16. Rogers started writing stories when she was 7. She won a Glitterary Award from the Young Writer’s Association the next year for her story “If It Rained Down Soda.” “I liked to write,” she says. “My parents encouraged me. I still bounce ideas off my parents.”  Continue reading →

Rape Survivor Seeks To Change Oregon Laws

News

In 1998, Brenda Tracy reported to the police that she was sexually assaulted — gang-raped — by four men, two of them Oregon State football players. More than 16 years after the ordeal, Tracy is speaking out and working to change Oregon laws dealing with campus sexual assault.  The University of Oregon Intercollegiate Athletics Committee is sponsoring a talk by Tracy on Thursday, May 14. Continue reading →

Are There Better Options To The County Vehicle Fee?

News

Who came up with the vehicle registration fee (VRF) measure on the May 19 ballot and why were other, more palatable options not suggested? Judging by letters to the editor in EW and The Register-Guard, these questions remain unanswered in the minds of many voters as the Tuesday voting deadline approaches. “The proposal was not generated or authored by any one person,” says Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky. “In fact, it was a citizen panel that recommended the fee to the board.”  Continue reading →