News

Hunters in Eastern Oregon are having another Coyote Derby this weekend. Predator advocates say these contests highlight an outdated approach to wildlife management in Oregon.

The Harney County Coyote Classic offers prizes of guns and cash for teams of hunters who kill the most coyotes.
Brooks Fahy heads Predator Defense of Eugene.

UO’s Music Today Festival celebrates new music, including student compositions. It runs from January 19th through January 31st, and features Grammy-winning soprano Esteli Gomez. She joins Eric Alan in the KLCC studios, along with festival founder and composer Robert Kyr.

A new clinic offering a one-stop shop to treat substance abuse, mental health and primary care held a grand opening in downtown Eugene Thursday.

Willamette Family is a non-profit that has been in the Eugene area for fifty years. It offers residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment, detox and help for families. Now they've opened a Rapid Access Clinic for walk-ins or appointments. Senior Manager Jonathan Smith.

Six months ago, a devastating fire completely destroyed a plywood mill in Springfield. Today (Thursday), Swanson Group announced their plans to rebuild.

Once the smoke cleared, investigators ruled a lot of things out but could find no definitive cause for the fire. In October, the insurance company wrote out a settlement check. Swanson Group President and CEO Steve Swanson says that’s when they began the process of deciding the best way to use the insurance money.   

Two environmental groups are challenging a timber sale outside of Springfield that they say is the largest clear-cut on federal land in 20 years. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Eugene.

The project, called The Second Show Timber Sale, is on nearly 260 acres of Bureau of Land Management Land near Shotgun Creek outside Springfield. Nick Cady is with Cascadia Wildlands, one of the conservation groups which filed the lawsuit. He says the BLM neglected to analyze the effects of the project in relation to other private logging projects in the area.

Foreclosures rose in several Oregon counties during the month of December. Eugene based real estate buyer Gorilla Capital reported there were 753 foreclosures in 2014.

Lane County saw 94 foreclosures in December 2014. Ally  Leavitt with Gorilla Capital says the fourth quarter is traditionally slow for foreclosures, but the change in Oregon’s process could be a factor.

The Eugene City Council is considering a local option levy to improve public library services. The council heard Wednesday from Library Director Connie Bennett. She described options for a local funding levy. She also told a story of an elderly man who is a regular at the library. He'd been estranged from his family.

Bennett: "Library staff was able to connect him with his sister within a few weeks of her death. With your help we can multiply this kind of story by a thousand-fold by increasing access to library services in Eugene."

Since last summer, national attention has shifted away from the plight of Central American youth coming to the United States to escape violence. The U-S Government says the situation at the border has improved. But the violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has not abated. Some kids from Central America have ended up in the northwest, including Lane County.

This week we’re talking to Oregonians across the state who struggle with hunger. Yesterday we checked in with Tyra Lynn. We interviewed her more than a decade ago about her experience with food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Today, we spend time with Lynn and her sister Constance Lee, who has a different take on accepting SNAP.

Tyra Lynn is rolling pie dough in her sister’s home in Mountain Home, Idaho.

Lynn: We’re going to need more flour. I’ve got barely enough flour and I’ve only made one pie crust.

Wildlife officials in Oregon say a mallard duck shot by a hunter near Eugene has tested positive for avian flu.

The strain of influenza is relatively common in Europe and Asia and has not caused any human sickness. The flu does not appear to cause illness in wild waterfowl, which have evolved with the virus. But it could kill falcons and hawks, as well as domesticated birds.

Oregon officials say they are not surprised this strain of avian flu has arrived in the state. Wild birds in Washington, California and Utah have also tested positive.