Youth Homelessness Grants Deadline Extended
Homelessness is not uncommon for the youth in Lane County. In fact two of the 10 rhododendron Court royalty had experienced homelessness over the past several years. Luckily for them their situation has improved, however there are still youth, not just here but around the state that experience homelessness. The state of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Human Services provided funds through their Youth Experiencing Homlessness program. First announced in March the recent passage of House Bill 5019 has increased the funding available to 18.75 million dollars. Community partners that provide services to youth are available to apply for grants. Monies can be used for prevention services including youth outreach and drop-in services, early and crisis intervention housing and host home programming and more. The original deadline for applying for funds was April 7th but has been extended to April 21st.
Rally at PeaceHealth
A rally yesterday at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Riverbend in springfield brought awareness to the staffing shortages and work load experienced by nurses at the hospital. Local nurses from around the area joined Congresswoman Val Hoyle and Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis to shed more light on the issue. Nurses and other staff around the state in various hospital systems have been suffering through an increased workload for years, but more recently through the pandemic where a shortage of hospital staff and increased patient intake was rampant. PeaceHealth alone has almost three hundred nurse vacancies and that effects the entire hospital network including Peace Harbor in Florence.
BLM Land Use
A proposed rule from the U-S Bureau of Land Management could raise conservation up as a priority on the land it manages. Under the proposal, the B-L-M would prioritize the health and resilience of ecosystems alongside other uses for the land, such as recreation and resource extraction. There are about fifteen-point-seven million acres of B-L-M land in Oregon. Mark Salvo is with the Oregon Natural Desert Association.
“Bureau of Land Management lands have traditionally been managed for resource use and extraction, despite the fact that Congress and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act did provide the agency tools and direction to manage for conservation of resources as well.”
The Western Energy Alliance is among the opponents of this change, saying it goes too far beyond the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which laid out the multiple uses that should be prioritized on public lands. The public can comment on the rule through June 20th.