Eugene
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Waldo Lake, Fall Creek area to have limited access for years to come, officials say
Fires of unprecedented size and heat take years for areas to recover enough to ensure public safety. “The Willamette National Forest has had so much fire since 2020,”Lowell Evans, a fire recovery project manager, said at a recent U.S. Forest Service Middle Fork Ranger District meeting in Lowell. “Over 400,000 acres burned in four years, that’s a quarter of the forest and 190,000 acres on the Middle Fork District since fall of 2021.”
After fatal drug overdose, Oregon State Hospital resumes limited in-person visits for patients
Oregon State Hospital will resume in-person visits for some patients on Monday after suspending them in May after a patient died of a suspected fentanyl overdose. Officials at the state-run psychiatric facility suspended in-person visits between patients and their family and friends so the hospital could retool its visiting policies, with an eye toward preventing visitors from passing drugs or other contraband on to patients. The hospital has nearly 700 patients between its main campus in Salem and a smaller satellite campus in Junction City.
Lane County will explore citizen redistricting proposal
After discussing an advisory committee's six proposed changes to Lane County's Charter, the Board of Commissioners rejected the committee's pair of proposed amendments to reform the county's redistricting process, instead choosing to further explore an alternate citizen proposal. The board also accepted the three least controversial recommendations. In 1976, Lane County expanded the...
Kotek proposes changing State School Fund calculations: Eugene/Springfield districts react
Gov. Tina Kotek on Wednesday released a proposal to increase the State School Fund’s current service level estimate for the 2025-27 biennium by $515 million. The State School Fund provides the majority of funding for K-12 public schools. In 2023, the state budgeted $10.2 billion for Oregon schools. The current service level is the state’s...
BLM closes lands near Cottage Grove for safety amid wildfires
Oregon — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Northwest Oregon District has temporarily closed BLM-managed public lands because of multiple fires in the area southeast of Cottage Grove, within the Sharps Creek and Clark Creek areas. The closure is for public and firefighter safety. The closure order closes the...
Eugene’s new city hall building now open to the public
EUGENE, Ore. – The City of Eugene opened the doors of their new city hall building to the public with a grand opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon, according to city officials. City staff said that their teams have been moving in since late May and the last of the...
On the Agenda: Eugene strategic plan, city manager evaluation
To attend: The new Eugene City Council Chambers are the northern building on the former Eugene Water & Electric Board property at 500 E 4th Avenue, Eugene. Both Monday meetings will be hybrid, while the Wednesday meeting will be online only. To watch: Meetings stream online at bit.ly/Eugene-meetings, the city's...
Eugene seeks new decarbonization strategies after failure of natural gas ban
A year after the failure of its natural gas ban, the City of Eugene is looking for new ways to reduce carbon emissions. City Council previously tried to ban natural gas hook-ups in new low-rise residential buildings. But that drew pushback from an advocacy group backed by Northwest Natural. Ultimately,...
Global tech outage impacts Lane County
EUGENE, Ore. — Healthcare providers and businesses across Lane County were among those affected in a nationwide tech outage caused by the technology security company CrowdStrike. The outage began late Thursday night, July 18, and carried over into Friday, July 19. "Over the last 24 hours or so, we...
University of Oregon, beach volleyball and club rowing athletes unable to reach settlement in federal Title IX lawsuit
The University of Oregon and current and former members of the school’s varsity beach volleyball and club rowing teams were unable to reach a settlement in the federal Title IX lawsuit filed by the athletes last year. Two days of settlement conference discussions before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F....
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