Hoyle Announces Tele-Town Hall
Representative Val Hoyle has announced she will host a telephone town hall on Monday, December 15th at 5:30 PM Pacific Time. Hoyle will provide end-of-year updates on activity in Congress and how it affects communities throughout Oregon’s Fourth District. Constituents will also have the opportunity to ask questions directly. According to organizers, residents who wish to participate should complete the online form available with this story on the Coast Radio website. After signing up, participants will receive a call at the start time with instructions for joining and asking questions during the tele-town hall.
Hotel Groundbreaking
Members of FURA and City Council braved the wind and rain yesterday for the official groundbreaking for the new Wyndham Microtel on Quince Street. Construction began last week and contractors were already digging out the foundation, but the ceremony was a celebration of a project that was dreamed up when the initial Florence Event Center was built. In recent years Matt Braun with Braun Hospitality had taken on the project who persevered through difficult financial times for the economy to finally see the project come to fruition.
“I had a lot of sleepless nights over the last 4 years of working through this. It has been a tough economic environment for developers. It seems like Oregon has taken it a little worse than California, Washington and Idaho.”
Work will continue through 2026 with a planned opening in early spring of 2027.
Gas Prices
Gas prices in Oregon and across much of the country continue to fall as the holidays approach. Analysts point to relatively low crude oil prices and the seasonal dip in demand as key factors. According to the latest report, the national average for regular slid four cents this week to $2.95 a gallon, while Oregon’s average dropped nine cents to $3.70. Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon says declining pump prices are arriving just in time for the holidays, noting that Oregon’s average is now at its lowest level since February. Here in Florence, prices are currently averaging about $3.29 a gallon.
Search Still On For Missing Mushroom Hunter
Lane County Sheriff’s deputies were notified late Friday night that 32-year-old Erik Everardo Aguilar-Cisneros of Springfield went missing while mushroom picking with friends near Hadsall Creek Road, south of Mapleton. Deputies, detectives, and the Lane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team launched an intensive search, continuing daily and into the night with ground crews, K9 units, and drones. Authorities say the terrain in that area is extremely rugged, often requiring ropes to reach steep drainages. Aguilar-Cisneros is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 220 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last known to be wearing a black raincoat and rain pants with a black-and-red baseball hat. Investigators believe he is lost in the area, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
