We've got issues.
The tide keeps on turning! From the AG's office: Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today announced that Oregon has joined two historic briefs in the United States Supreme Court supporting same-sex marriage. Continue reading
Earth: Too big to fail. That’s the theme of this year’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) Feb. 28 through March 3 at the University of Oregon. But perhaps we should be asking the question: Are we failing the Earth? Continue reading
• City Club of Eugene will meet at noon Friday, March 1, at the new LCC Downtown Center on the topic of “Prison, Compassion and Peace,” with speakers Steven Shankman, the Rev. Tom English, Connie Bennett and Mark Beudert. This is the first in a series on the link between art and public policy. • Friends of Trees is organizing tree planting events around the valley this winter. The next planting date is March 2. See friendsoftrees.org for details or to donate. Continue reading
We hear Divine Cupcake, the dessert restaurant, is cutting its retail store and cart sales but will continue to do catering and have its carts at events around the county. The retail shop at 11th and Chambers, across from Ring of Fire, will have its final day from 10 am to 8 pm Tuesday, March 5, on its third anniversary date, according to owner Thaddeus Moore. As usual on its anniversary, the store will be giving away free cupcakes, but this time selling off equipment and furnishings as well. Continue reading
Growing up in small-town Portola Valley, Calif., Allen Hancock had time to spend with nature. “My fourth-grade teacher took us to a meadow and pond near the school,” he recalls. “A couple years later, I watched as bulldozers arrived. It broke my heart.” Always an avid cyclist, he biked eight miles to high school in Redwood City. Continue reading
Twelve-year-old Jared Harrison testified about his experiences being shut in a seclusion room at his 4J school before the Legislature’s House Committee on Education in Salem on Feb. 22. “I think people have it in their minds that kids that are exposed to this kind of treatment are some kind of monsters,” Jared’s mother, Jennifer Harrison, says. “They are not thinking about a kid who can speak at length publicly.” Continue reading
The 4J School Board last week voted to place a bond measure on the May 21 ballot and addressed teachers’ concerns over schedules at middle and high schools. Continue reading
Thanks to what a local land use attorney calls “poorly written” land use code in Lane County, there’s no end in sight for the gravel mining of Parvin Butte. The 600-foot butte continues to be quarried by Lost Creek Rock Products (LCRP); the Dexter and Lost Creek neighbors who protest the mining have lost some ground in a recent Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) decision. LUBA decided Feb. 6 that LCRP does not need to undergo a site review in its mining operation at Parvin Butte. Continue reading
As winter turns to spring, the McKenzie River flows toward Eugene with impressive force. While powerful, the river is not invincible — in fact, snow-fed rivers with slow drainage systems like the McKenzie are more susceptible to the effects of climate change than other kinds of river systems, according to a new study out of OSU in Corvallis. Continue reading
Eugene-based Beyond Toxics wants the city’s public parks and public lands to go pesticide free, but the group says it’s still having trouble finding out just what toxins are being sprayed in the city and what public money is being spent on them. A public records request to the city of Eugene for the information was met with a fee estimate of more than $7,000. Continue reading