UO-RENAMING CAMPUS HALLS
KKK leader’s name to be removed from UO dorm building
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The University of Oregon’s president has called for the renaming of a dormitory on campus that is named after a former faculty member who was the leader of the Eugene chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Register-Guard reports President Michael Schill announced his decision to remove Frederic Dunn’s name from the building in a Thursday memo. But he’s holding off stripping UO founder Matthew Deady’s name from another building on campus.
The memo says Deady, who was president of the board of regents in the late 1800s, held “views that were racist and proslavery,” but he later denounced the Confederacy and joined the Union.
Schill says he’s accepting public comment on the renaming of Deady Hall.
The matter was brought forward by the UO Black Student Task Force.
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DOUBLE FATAL CRASH-CLATSOP
Mother and daughter die in vehicle crash near Astoria
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — Police say a woman and her daughter were killed in a collision involving two vehicles near Astoria.
Oregon State Police said in a news release that authorities responded to the crash Thursday morning on U.S. Highway 30.
Police say preliminary investigation shows the driver of a Suzuki sedan was headed east when she lost control negotiating a corner. The vehicle then crossed the center line and was hit on the passenger side by a westbound Dodge pickup.
The Suzuki driver, 38-year-old Sabrina Rainey of Astoria, and her 14-year-old daughter who was a passenger, were pronounced dead at the scene. The teen’s name was not released.
The 31-year-old pickup driver, Jordan Waliezer, of Kelso, Washington was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The highway was closed for about 30 minutes.
STUDENT’S INJURIES-LAWSUIT
School district settles with parents of disabled student
(Information from: The World, http://www.theworldlink.com)
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) — The North Bend School District has agreed to pay $25,000 to the family of a disabled student over injury to the child and claims of civil rights violations.
The World reports the district hasn’t admitted guilt by settling and says the agreement will help it “focus on the education of this student” and others in the district.
The family’s attorney, Marianne Dugan, says in a news release that the student came home from school one day with an injured leg in May 2014. In July of that year, she returned home one day with a bleeding stoma, the port surgically created in her stomach that serves as a catheter.
The release alleges nurses and teachers injured the child, and that the district allowed them to get away with it.
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SAGE GROUSE
US takes key step to implement sage grouse conservation plan
DENVER (AP) — Federal land managers have issued new guidelines that will help determine what restrictions are imposed on oil and gas drilling, livestock grazing and other activities in the West to protect the greater sage grouse.
The guidelines released Thursday are part of a broader effort to save the distinctive bird without resorting to the Endangered Species Act, which could bring down tougher restrictions.
Conservationists and industry groups are watching closely because the guidelines will influence how vigorously the government implements a sage grouse protection plan announced last year.
Among other things, the guidelines tell federal employees when and how to apply the new rules.
The guidelines cover about 95,000 square miles of federal land.
Greater sage grouse live in 11 Western states. About 200,000 to 500,000 remain, down from the species peak population of about 16 million.
PORTLAND-HOMELESS SWEEP
Large homeless encampment in Portland cleared out
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A homeless encampment of about 200 to 300 people that grew over the summer along a popular 21-mile bike and pedestrian trail in Portland is being cleared out by police, park rangers and other officials.
Thursday’s sweep of the Springwater Corridor comes after complaints from nearby residents but was delayed a month earlier this summer to give the city and homeless advocates more time to find alternative living spaces for the campers.
Chad Stover, the city’s livability project manager, says the sweep will take a while because each person must be packed up individually.
The target is a 14-mile section of the trail.
Portland has struggled to find indoor housing for hundreds of homeless people and the issue has recently dominated City Council meetings and the local news.
RAILROADS-OIL SPILL PLANNING
Washington: Railroads must show they can handle oil spills
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s Department of Ecology has adopted a new rule requiring that railroads shipping oil through the state demonstrate that they can immediately respond to any spills.
The department said Thursday the rule takes effect Oct. 1, and it brings railroads into line with rules for companies moving oil by pipeline and by vessel.
Railroads will have to provide Ecology with contingency plans detailing steps the railroad will take if oil spills or a substantial risk of a spill occurs during transport. Officials say they’ll review each plan and require that they be tested through appropriate drills.
The state says California and Minnesota have implemented similar laws for railroads.
This fall, Washington is also beginning to require that facilities receiving shipments of crude oil by rail notify Ecology, which will share notice of those plans with local first responders.
GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN STOPS
Oregon gubernatorial candidates follow different strategies
(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Campaign stops made by Oregon’s gubernatorial candidates show contrasting strategies for the upcoming election.
The Statesman Journal reports that a list of official stops from Democratic Gov. Kate Brown’s campaign primarily includes Oregon cities where the electorate is concentrated, as well as major cities in California and on the East Coast.
Republican Bud Pierce, a cancer doctor in Salem, has made five times as many official stops as Brown. His campaign has visited small, rural communities and included a stop in Stevens, Washington, and a visit to a republican Governors Association conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Pacific University professor Jim Moore says the campaigns seem to be following classic strategies so far. He says Brown is behaving like an incumbent, while Pierce is trying to expand his name recognition.
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NEWBERRY-NO LAB
Oregon location eliminated in search for geothermal lab site
(Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com)
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A site near Oregon’s Newberry Volcano is no longer in the running for a federal enhanced geothermal research laboratory.
The Bulletin reports that the Wednesday decision by the U.S. Department of Energy left sites in Utah and Nevada competing for the lab.
The department put $29 million into research by a Sandia National Laboratories team in Fallon, Nevada, and the University of Utah’s team in Milford, Utah. The investment is meant to help the organizations prepare for an underground geothermal research lab.
Developers and researchers in Central Oregon say they are surprised and disappointed that the Newberry Geothermal Energy site didn’t make it to the next round.
The location near the volcano was leased by Seattle-based AltaRock Energy Inc.
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Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
