Eugene Weekly

• Welcome to our annual Best of Eugene issue, sometimes affectionately called the “Beast of Eugene” since it is our biggest honking issue of the year and demands brain-numbing weeks of labor by our writers and photogs, and thousands of ballots submitted by our readers. This is our fattest Beast issue ever at 76 pages with near-record ad revenue, so we have to thank our loyal advertisers as well. They recognize that EW print ads provide the most bang for the buck. You simply have to be in EW to build a crowd for your business or event. Continue reading →

• Wolves have endured a rocky reintroduction to Oregon, but with new legislation enacted this summer, wolves stand a better chance of surviving when they will disperse elsewhere into Oregon. OR-7, the famous Oregon wolf affectionately known as Journey for his 1,000-mile trek from the Wallowa Mountains to Northern California, was the first to do this, and more wolves could follow his example, eventually settling in the Crater Lake area or even the Willamette Valley.  Continue reading →

• The Eugene Budget Committee began a series of public outreach meetings this week, and we weren’t satisfied with the overly broad and simplistic exercise the city provided the audience. Most attendees wanted better information, clearer details and a more creative discussion. A city staffer says the city planned to repeat the exercise at the rest of its public outreach meetings, but changes are possible. Following the exercise, the audience moved to a more in-depth discussion. Continue reading →

• Eugene’s Finance Investigative Team (FIT) is a new addition to the city budget process, adding a group of invited community members to join some Budget Committee members to talk about how to balance the FY 2015 budget. The meetings are supposedly open to the public, but they have been held in a third-floor room of the Eugene Public Library that does not have public access, and no public notice was given. Is this a violation of Oregon’s Open Meetings Law? Continue reading →

• Lane County released the redacted investigation into Liane Richardson last week, and you can find the whole thing, for what it’s worth, on our blog. We appreciate that the county seems pretty pissed about what went on — the press release says several times that Richardson was “untruthful.” But what we don’t appreciate are the pages and pages of redactions — 30 or so pages are blacked out. Continue reading →

• Lane County is a shit storm lately — both with accusations of bowel movements being flung about as protesters continue to occupy the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza and with allegations of lying being flung by and at county officials. Jean Stacey of SLEEPS has filed a bar complaint against Liane Richardson and Stephen Dingle in connection to their recent poo testimony (see news briefs) and Commissioner Jay Bozievich created a stir when he used his Facebook page to accuse homeless advocate Alley Valkyrie and SLEEPS of lying. Continue reading →