News: Page 354

Celebrating 50 Years of Oregon Wilderness

News
Hells Canyon wilderness. Photo by Trask Bedortha

From old-growth forests to dynamic desert landscapes, Oregon’s legacy of diverse ecosystems lives on through its protected wilderness areas. That’s exactly what Oregonians will celebrate Sept. 3 for the 50-year anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which protects around 2.5 million acres across 48 sites in Oregon and 110 million acres total nationwide. While observances will be happening all over the U.S., the weeklong celebration in Eugene will be classic Oregon fare: talks, hikes and beer. Continue reading →

Medicaid Expands Coverage For Transgender Oregonians

News

Alex Paige, a trans woman from Portland, describes the gender dysphoria she experienced as “a supreme unhappiness with the way my body looked, the way it felt, the way other people interacted with me.” Thanks to an Aug. 14 vote by the Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC), treatments for gender dysphoria will be covered under the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) beginning January 2015.  Continue reading →

Pollution Update 8-28-14

Pollution Update

Oregon DEQ has settled Christopher John Bartels’ appeal of the civil penalty assessed against him by DEQ in July of 2013 for illegally discharging wastewater from his meat processing and packing facility to ditches flowing to Fern Ridge wetlands on two occasions in 2011 (EW 6/27/13, goo.gl/Xb41PD), by reducing the $15,600 penalty originally assessed to $10,200. DEQ’s settlement with Bartels also includes an additional $7,600 penalty for illegal discharges of blood waste to Fern Ridge Reservoir in February of this year (EW 5/8, goo.gl/BhX5vP). Continue reading →

Activist Alert 8-21-2014

Activist Alert

• A free gathering to commemorate the 94th anniversary of women’s suffrage will be at 3 pm Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Eugene Public Library. Kirk Taylor and Livvie Taylor-Young will present a scripted Power Point documentary complete with original music and photographs dating as far back as the 1800s.    Continue reading →

Biz Beat 8-21-2014

Biz Beat

Join the Eugene SLUG Queens as they slime around downtown Eugene visiting local businesses. The SLUG Crawl departs Kesey Square at 4 pm, but you can stop by participating businesses any time on Aug. 23 and use the secret code “SLUG Queen” to enjoy a special discount. Participating businesses include: Townshend’s Tea, MECCA, Harlequin Beads, Heritage Drygoods, Party Downtown, Out on a Limb Gallery and more.  Continue reading →

Police Officer Shoots Dog, Prompts Protests

News
Kiki the pit bull shot by police. Photo by Breanna Kerr.

In Springfield on Tuesday, Aug. 12, a dog named Kiki was shot in the head by a Springfield police officer responding to what police say was a vicious dog call. Such shootings have happened all over the country — in July, a police officer in Idaho shot a Labrador through the glass window of a van it was sitting in. The window was partially open and the officer thought it was lunging at him.  Continue reading →

LandWatch Opposes New Houses On Forestlands

News

Weyerhaeuser is a name long associated with timber, but back in 2010 the company became a REIT — real estate investment trust. Local land-preservation advocates from LandWatch Lane County say that Weyerhaeuser is one of the many landowners in the region moving property lines around on forestland to allow more houses to be built on what’s called an “impacted forest zone” on the edges of towns in Oregon. Continue reading →

Funding For Full-Day Kindergarten Still Uncertain

News

The data is in: Kids benefit academically when they attend kindergarten all day instead of half the day. An Oregon bill mandating that the state must pay for full-day kindergarten goes into effect in the 2015-2016 school year, and while the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) says it will fund the transition, some worry the funds won’t cover the full cost of implementation when districts switch from half-day to full-day.  Continue reading →