News

The latest design for a proposed new Eugene City Hall was unveiled Monday at  a City Council work session by Rowell Brokaw Architects of Eugene and the Miller Hall Partnership of Seattle. The building would be constructed on the site of the existing city hall, closed nearly two years ago. John Rowell, a principal architect in the Eugene firm, and Project Manager Kaarin Knudson discuss the new municipal center.

A number of cities around the world have bike-share programs that require membership fees. A brewery in Eugene is doing its own version of bike-share for free.

Falling Sky Brewing bought 7 cruisers from the University of Oregon, painted them blue and had Arriving By Bike do tune-ups. Falling Sky plans to have bikes available to borrow at both its Deli and Pub. Co-owner Rob Cohen says customers and employees can take a bike for free for up to 24 hours.

UPDATE: Thursday 10:00 pm 

A fast-moving fire engulfed and destroyed the Springfield Plywood and Veneer mill Thursday. No injuries were reported.

To see a video of the helicopter dropping water on the fire, visit our KLCC Facebook page.

The effort to save historic civic stadium in Eugene continues. Yesterday (Wednesday) supporters were given an extension to raise money to renovate the dilapidated ball park.

The Eugene City Council voted 5 to 4 to extend the fundraising deadline from September 5th to December 1st. Earlier in the year, the city of Eugene won a bid to purchase the site for 4.5 million dollars. That selection was contingent upon the success of groups like “friends of civic stadium” to raise      $3 million dollars *and find an entity to operate the facility. So far they’ve raised about $200,000.

Beginning Tuesday July 22, KLCC will air five weeks of the series State of the Re:Union,  hosted by Public Radio Talent Quest Winner and performance artist Al Letson.  The shows will air at 6:30 pm.

With a journalistic, documentary-style approach, each hour-long program focuses exclusively on one city, region, or other community and features interviews, commentary, recordings, listener-generated letters, and music.

July 22
Hawaii: The Legacy of Sugar   

Bandon residents continue to have mosquito problem. Another round of larvicide was applied Sunday by air to a section of the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.

Residents living near the marsh started noticing a drastic increase in mosquitoes last year. Coos County officials approved the use of the larvicide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, or Bti, to deal with the problem. Bti is designed to gum-up mosquito's digestive systems after they hatch but before they become adults. Environmental Health Manager Rick Hallmark says the timing of a Bti application is crucial.

A lawsuit against Lane Transit District and the Federal Transit Administration has been rejected, with prejudice, by a federal judge.

Our Money Our Transit had filed the suit claiming that the way the agencies did their environmental impact process for the West Eugene EmX was inadequate under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

LTD Spokesman Andy Vobora says U-S District Court Judge Thomas Zilly had a lot of leeway in assessing the process.

Nearly all of the meandering back channels in the Willamette Basin have been drained and filled to create more agricultural land.  Unfortunately, this vanishing habitat is critical for the survival of a number of indigenous species.

Eugene is looking to follow in the footsteps of Portland and Seattle with a sick leave ordinance. It would require employers to provide paid sick time to their workers within city limits. This endeavor has been welcomed by many low-wage workers and their advocates and met with dismay by many employers. The Lane County Board of Commissioners is trying to sideline the effort.

The Eugene Film Society 72-Hour Music Video Competition will challenge local videographers to create videos for the songs by this year’s finalists for the Eugene Weekly’s Next Big Thing contest. Eric Alan speaks with Joshua Purvis, founder and Director of operations of the Eugene Film Society.