News: Page 422

Dispatches from Kabul

Leaving family to serve in Afghanistan

News

Before service members leave for Afghanistan, military regulations demand that they prepare for the unpleasant possibility that they may never come home. The Navy requires that you meet with a military lawyer to fill out a will, designate an executor and assign your survivors benefits. It can seem overdramatic when you are being called back from civilian life, and jokes about who should get a favorite baseball glove or why leaving a car to a sibling would be a disaster help cut the tension. Continue reading →

Pollution Update 8-29-13

Pollution Update

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent a notice of noncompliance to Cascade Pacific Pulp LLC on July 19 for a hazardous waste violation at its Halsey facility, specifically for storing waste without a permit. Comments on stormwater plans for Schnitzer Steel, BJB Milling & Lumber, Ideal Steel and Seneca Sawmill Company are due to DEQ by 5 pm Sept. 5. Visit goo.gl/ScwdH to see stormwater plans, and goo.gl/iMDQb to comment. Continue reading →

War Dead 8-29-2013

War Dead

In Afghanistan • 2,262 U.S. troops killed (2,258 last week) • 19,181 U.S. troops wounded in action (19,141) • 1,389 U.S. contractors killed (1,389) • 16,179 civilians killed (updates NA) • $653.1 billion cost of war ($651.1 billion) • $195.9 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($195.3 million)   In Iraq • 4,422 U.S. troops killed, 31,928 wounded • 1,599 U.S. contractors killed (1,599) • 125,296 to 1.2 million civilians killed* (125,049) Continue reading →

Rick Dancer wants to know: Is sleep a human right?

News

Rick Dancer is pretty darn sure that having a safe place to sleep is not a human right. He doesn't want to be "insensitive" he says in the video, but as he writes in the comments of his Facebook page where he posted his "driving while videoing" musings, "I agree it would be nice if we all had a safe place to sleep but that's not a right, that is what we call a privilege." Continue reading →

Activist Alert 8-22-2013

Activist Alert

• Occupy Medical will not be downtown during the Eugene Celebration Sunday, Aug. 25, but instead the mobile clinic will roll out to Cottage Grove to offer free medical care, foot care, nutrition guidance and even haircuts, with no appointment needed. Prescriptions will be written as needed, but the clinic does not dispense drugs. The clinic with two volunteer doctors and their trained assistants will be available from noon to 4 pm Sunday in the parking lot at South Lane Mental Health, 1245 Birch Ave. Call 316-5743 or 942-3939. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 8-22-2013

Biz Beat

The American Institute of Architects Southwest Oregon Chapter is hosting the People’s Choice Awards for Architecture again this year at the Eugene Celebration, and as in recent years the display will also include landscape projects. Find the display at the corner of Broadway and Willamette in the Broadway Commerce Center. This year the designs (and voting) are also online at aiaswo.com, according to Scott Stolarczyk, co-chair of the awards committee (sstolarczyk@robertsonsherwood.com). Winners of the competition will be announced at City Club of Eugene Sept. 13. Continue reading →

Homeless Camp Moves, Maintains Purpose

News

James Chastain’s tent sat by Ferry Street Bridge for a week. He pitched camp and others followed — three, then five, then 20. “It became a neighborhood,” he says. Homeless advocates say a neighborhood — or at least a safe place for the many homeless people in Lane County to sleep — is still needed. Continue reading →

Clues Offered To How Fossil Fuel Disasters Might Happen

News

A train disaster can stem from something as small as a leak — chlorine gas can be fatal when inhaled — or as massive as an ethanol or crude-oil fed fire. An environmental disaster can stem from something as simple as a train derailment or as complex as the massive amounts of fossil fuels and hazardous materials that are turning Oregon into an energy-industry gateway. Continue reading →