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The watchdog group Think Progress is reporting that the highly profitable Regal Entertainment Group, which includes Regal Cinemas, is cutting non-salaried shift workers to 30 hours a week to avoid mandatory health insurance under Obamacare next year. See http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/17/1878481/regal-theater-obamacare/?mobile=nc Continue reading
Has former Lane County Commissioner Jack Roberts been improperly forced out of his position as the executive director of the Lane Metro Partnership? An email from Roberts to public officials details what led to him write a letter of resignation on April 8. The email alleges he resigned in order to maintain funding from the cities of Springfield and Eugene and from Lane County. He writes, "these things are often as much about personality and other people's ambitions as about merit." Continue reading
• Glorybee’s 38th annual Bee Weekend is April 12-13 at the Factory Store, 29548 B Airport Road in Eugene, right off Highway 99. The free two-day event centers on beekeeping practices, demonstrations and activities such as honey tasting and children’s contests and crafts. Check out glorybeefoods.com or call 689-0913. Continue reading
Benjamin hunt cuts hair at the Gorilla Salon Continue reading
Citing local, state and federal codes, activist Alley Valkyrie says the early morning April 5 arrests by the Eugene Police Department of four men and four women, ranging in age from 18 to 38 years old, for camping under an overpass did not follow official policy, and were also a violation of human rights. Continue reading
The Downtown Public Safety Committee met Monday, April 8, and weighed alternatives to the downtown exclusion zone, which is deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory by opponents and is set to expire in November 2013. The exclusion zone is one part of the Downtown Public Safety Zone strategy, which also includes more popular measures like CAHOOTS vans and increased bike patrols downtown. The panel also looked at various issues from safety houses for the homeless to the banning of dogs downtown. Continue reading
Almost a year after he began to fight misconduct charges he said were timed to be revealed just before the May 2012 election, former Lane County Commissioner Rob Handy’s public meetings, public records and federal lawsuits continue to make their way through the legal system. Continue reading
In 2007, when 10 Earth Liberation Front eco-saboteurs were sentenced in federal court in Eugene for their ecologically motivated arsons, their attorneys fought a “terrorism enhancement” label. They argued it should be saved for “the most dangerous types of offenses that threaten the fabric of our society,” not people who went out of their way to make sure animals and humans were not harmed through their actions. Continue reading
Progressive former city councilor Bonny Bettman McCornack walks into a meeting of Glenn Beck fans — it sounds like there’s a punch line coming, but at the meeting of 9.12 Project Lane County April 9, when Bettman McCornack presented her position against the proposed city fee on the May ballot, there was an air of agreement in the Izzy’s Pizza banquet room. Continue reading
Watch out for that bottom part of the food chain: Honeybee colonies have been on the decline since the mid-2000s due to a problem known as “colony collapse disorder” or CCD. Local beekeepers say that this winter — a time when both traditional and CCD die-offs tend to occur — was particularly bad within the city of Eugene, and that’s likely due to the rise in garden pesticides containing neonicotinoids that threaten important agricultural pollinators like honeybees. Continue reading