Eugene Weekly

Is rat shit organic food? According to the USDA, it may be. The New York Times reports: Continue reading →

The Oregon Department of Transportation has stiffed the local unemployed and the environment on federal stimulus money. Continue reading →

CarrotMob could make Eugene a greener place. The local idea from the GreenLane Sustainable Business Network goes like this: clipped from greenlane-sbn.org Continue reading →

Which of these is “Meth Mouth” and which is “Mountain Dew Mouth?” A. B. A is Dew, B is Meth. So is Mountain Dew the new Meth? ABC news reports : Continue reading →

The Eugene Fire Department deployed 23 people for five hours to respond to a “small leak” of hydrochloric acid gas from a railroad tank car last night. The city responded in moon suits and evacuated Union Pacific employees from the rail yard off the Northwest Expressway. But the city didn’t evacuate the neighborhood next to the accident. To get money for new offices, the city is now trumpeting the chance of a few police cars getting trapped under City Hall in an earthquake. But a far more dangerous and likely hazard may be a toxic train derailment. Continue reading →

Facing huge cuts in city services due to the recession, the Eugene City Council voted unanimously today to blow at least $17 million in city reserves on a new police station that voters opposed three times. Continue reading →

Going to church on Sunday? Most people in Eugene won’t. The Eugene/Springfield metro area ranked as one of the very least religious places in the nation in a 2000 national study by the Glenmary missionary group. Only one in four people in Eugene go to church, half the national average, according to the study. Out of 276 metro areas, Eugene ranked 273 for the lowest percentage of adherents. Continue reading →

For police officers and judges, dishonesty is a firing offense. Without integrity, none would trust them. So why are these law enforcement officials lying to hype crime? Eugene’s acting Police Chief Pete Kerns and a gaggle of local judges have declared that the area suffers from a crime wave of apocalyptic proportions. The local mainstream media has repeated their crime claims without question, causing much confusion. Continue reading →

The UO is looking for an architect for a new 400-500 room dorm, apparently somewhere behind the Natural History Museum. The UO has been sharply criticized for building lavish athletic facilities instead of relieving dorm overcrowding. Continue reading →

Republicans are pushing to add more tax breaks for the rich into the Obama stimulus. An idea to use taxpayer money to subsidize lower mortgages is gaining traction. The Register-Guard endorsed it today. But most of the tax break would go to the rich, who are unlikely to spend it to stimulate the economy. Continue reading →