Eugene Weekly

Clean drinking water is a logging issue in Oregon, where so many of our watersheds are on forest lands. In the furor over the DeFazio forest bill — or more properly the O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act — river advocates say that the need to protect water for fish, wildlife and humans gets lost as people argue over county payments, timber jobs and board feet.  Continue reading →

More than 20 percent of Lane County residents are on food stamps — that’s 80,657 people in a county with a population of about 350,000 who need federal assistance to eat and to feed their children. Local mapper and retired government employee Joe Kosewic has been mapping food stamps and other social issues to graphically draw attention to the challenges faced by the poor and the homeless. Continue reading →

The name may not be familiar, but the ideas might be refreshing in relatively conservative east Lane County. Jose Ortal is one of the challengers eyeing incumbent Faye Stewart’s East Lane County commissioner position in 2014. Also on the record planning to file are former EWEB commissioner Joann Ernst and longtime environmental land use activist Kevin Matthews. Continue reading →

Warm up and get ready to roll! The renovation of the park under Washington-Jefferson Bridge has begun, and what will be the biggest covered and lighted skate park in the country will reach completion in March 2014.  Continue reading →

Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz won some high marks during his annual performance evaluation, but councilors also complained about the budget process that created a nearly $6 million deficit and poor relations with the public employee union. “A certain pattern has developed here, certain unhealthy trends,” says City Councilor George Brown. Brown says he hasn’t received answers to critical budget-related questions that he submitted in April. “Why it doesn’t bother the other councilors is beyond me,” he says. Continue reading →

Summer is not over yet at the Eugene Public Library. For parents concerned about the school budget cuts affecting art and music programs in Eugene public schools, the library fills in a little by providing free summer programs every week for teenagers to express their talents.  Continue reading →