News: Page 361

Amy Red Feather

Happening People
Amy Red Feather

The daughter of a military man, Amy Red Feather was born in California and “moved all over” prior to her high school years in Slidell, La. “I got interested in permaculture and gardening,” says Red Feather, who completed a degree in animal science and conservation at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla., then worked in ecotourism with conservation groups in Maui. “We showed them hidden waterfalls and talked environmental education.” On Maui, she met people from Eugene. “It’s like our sister city,” they told her. Continue reading →

Activist Alert 7-10-2014

Activist Alert

• The Pastors for Peace Friendship Caravan to Cuba will stop in Corvallis for a fundraiser at noon Thursday, July 10, at Westminister House, 101 N.W. 23rd St. The caravan will stop overnight Friday, July 11, in Eugene and a potluck and presentation about challenging the embargo of Cuba will run 6 to 8:30 pm Friday at the Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC) office at 458 Blair Blvd. Call 485-8633 or email lasc@efn.org. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 7-10-2014

Biz Beat

Most contractors in Lane County are happy to provide would-be customers with their license number from the Construction Contractors Board (CCB), and many contractors even include it on their business cards. But that information might be out of date or just wrong. If you hire a contractor who is unlicensed and things go wrong, it can get very expensive. See our 2008 cover story “Cutting Corners” in our archives at wkly.ws/1s9. You can check the CCB website and see the status of contractors, but now it’s even easier. Continue reading →

Fighting a Rape Culture

News

Explicit consent, according to the University of Oregon student code, “means voluntary, non-coerced and clear communication indicating a willingness to engage in a particular act.” It “includes an affirmative verbal response or voluntary acts unmistakable in their meaning.” Making sure students understand consent and what constitutes sexual assault (or as it says in the student code, sexual misconduct) is easier said than done with nearly 25,000 students and a focus that critics say has become more about sports than about educating students.  Continue reading →

Earth First! Protest Shuts Down Seneca

News
Lane County Sheriff officers cut loose a protester locked down to a truck dump at Seneca’s Biomass Plant

With banners reading “Buy the Elliott State Forest, Expect Resistance” and “Stop this ecocide,” protesters organized by Earth First! and Cascadia Forest Defenders descended upon Seneca Sustainable Energy on the morning of July 7 to call attention to what they say is the company’s pollution in a low-income area and clearcut logging in the Elliott State Forest. Continue reading →

Budget Cuts Trim Park Services

News

Fiscal year 2014 went out with a bang in Eugene July 1 and took park bathrooms, irrigation, trash service and jobs with it. Restrooms at three parks — Hendricks, Sheldon and Sladden — will close and neighborhood parks will see less watering and garbage pick-up, as $300,000 in reductions to park maintenance set in. Eugene’s City Council approved the cuts June 9 as part of a balancing act to fill a $1.9 million deficit in the city’s general fund. Continue reading →

Pollution Update 7-10-14

Pollution Update

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent Delaware-incorporated Jordan Cove Energy Project L.P. a warning letter in late June for excavating residual sludge waste (generated by the Weyerhaeuser mill that used to be at this site) and incorporating that waste into berms associated with the Jordan Cove project (located on Coos Bay). DEQ’s letter requests that Jordan Cove Energy Project submit a permit application for its activities by July 31. Continue reading →