Kelly Kenoyer

City Council voted yesterday to let a developer build a 16-story apartment complex in the middle of Old Town Chinatown, potentially shifting the city's standard on height limits downtown. The decision, ushered in by Mayor Ted Wheeler, sets the maximum height of a proposed building in Old Town to 160 feet (or, 16 stories), far beyond the 100 foot limit currently imposed by the Chinatown Historic District.

In 2015, Portland kicked off a $2.4 million project intended to help at least 65 low-income families become homeowners in North and Northeast Portland over the next five years. More than three years in, only five families have been able to buy a home through the program.

The Decision Shines a Light on 'Systemic Failings' Within PPS On February 9, Ockley Green Middle School teacher Chris Riser joined a student-led walkout to commemorate the death of Quanice Hayes, a 17-year-old shot and killed by Portland police last year. Held during the middle of a school day, the event brought more than a hundred students to the streets of North Portland as they chanted, “Our voices, our choices.”

Local attorneys say a new fingerprinting process at Eugene Municipal Court is being performed without state authority and may infringe on the rights of defendants as well as endanger undocumented immigrants. The new process requires fingerprinting for all misdemeanors, rather than just DUIIs, according to an email sent to Eugene defense attorneys.

The public defender system in Eugene and Springfield discourages quality representation by free attorneys, according to local lawyers. Attorney groups that contract with the cities pay public defenders a flat rate for each case, so attorneys make less than minimum wage on cases that go to trial. And the bail system in Springfield keeps impoverished defendants in jail before they get to trial, putting defendants in a strained situation and prompting a misleading number of guilty pleas.

A debate is growing around the future of the riverfront near the University of Oregon campus: Keep the land as is, develop it as an extension of the University of Oregon campus, or focus on environmental and habitat restoration.

Redefining Women in Tech (RWIT) is a nonprofit in Eugene that connects women with the communities and resources they need to thrive in tech careers. Lauren Jerome is a mentor-in-residence with RAIN Eugene (Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network) and co-founder of Mindbox Studios, a software and web development studio in Eugene.

St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVDP) has received a $2 million donation to build a home for homeless teen boys — the largest single donation it has ever been given. The donation was announced as SVDP finishes up construction on its home for unhoused teen girls, which will be completed in January. The donor, CBT Nuggets, is a local tech company that produces online education materials on information technology.

Ten consecutive freezing nights in Eugene earlier this month have stretched homelessness resources to a breaking point, with exhausted volunteers staying at Egan Warming Center locations night after night. Shelley Corteville, director of Egan Warming Center, says this has been a challenging December. “I believe that’s more consecutive nights than we’ve ever opened before,” Corteville says. “It’s really hard to sustain that many nights with volunteers.”

A new law in Oregon takes great steps for protecting the elderly from abuse and mismanagement in the state’s 530-some licensed care facilities. House Bill 3359, signed by Gov. Kate Brown in August, increases civil penalties for elder abuse by 400 to 500 percent. It also institutes a fine, capped at $1,000, for facilities that fail to report their own abuses.

With an average of 64 additional calls for service each day, Kerns says, wait times are increasing, and police have limited time for regular patrol duties that keep the community safer.

Suspended high in the canopy over the Willamette National Forest on a platform, an activist sits, putting his life on the line. The rope holding him in the air is connected to an anchor — a box full of concrete and two vehicles that form a blockade on the timber road. If any part of this intricate set-up is moved, the activist could plummet to his death.

More than 80 people stood at the intersection of Oregon Avenue and the I-5 exit in Creswell on Monday, Oct. 2, calling on drivers to “Say no to One Gro.” The protesters were referencing an upcoming ballot initiative in the small town — one that has “the friendly city” divided about its future. If passed, Ballot Initiative 20-280 would allow recreational marijuana dispensaries into Creswell, but those on both sides make arguments unrelated to pot when they argue for or against the measure.

There are 418 tech companies registered in Lane County, and many of them are hiring, according to Allison Weatherly, the event coordinator for Technology Association of Oregon (TAO). She says most of these tech companies are looking to shop local when they’re hiring, so several programs are setting up Lane County high school students to train for these jobs.

The city of Springfield has temporarily waived certain fees it typically charges for the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are also known as secondary dwelling units and in-law flats. These small dwellings are considered by many to be a key solution to the local housing shortage, as they can provide missing middle housing — small, affordable housing ideal for young families and retirees alike — in desirable neighborhoods.

In a small café just off I-5 that proprietors hope to convert into a weed dispensary, a marijuana company’s leaders met with a few citizens of Creswell last week in an attempt to change hearts and minds — and a city ordinance — about the pot industry. One Gro is a marijuana company started by Mike Arnold, the Eugene-based lawyer who briefly defended the Bundys after their Malheur occupation last year and who recently left his law practice to become a “gentleman hobbyist farmer” growing and sell

Robert Wilson has been homeless off and on for 25 years, with none but a small dog to keep him company and keep away the demons of PTSD and anxiety that haunt him. A veteran who served in the Army in the ’80s, Wilson, 54, is a short man with bright, worried eyes and a friendly, if nervous, demeanor. “I couldn’t be outside or talk to strangers without her,” he says of his Chihuahua, Chica. The dog is dressed as a cowboy, shivering slightly inside his coat.

With three recently passed bills, Oregon is cracking down on animal abuse and neglect. The bills, two of which were carried by Eugene senators, touch on everything from animal forfeiture to cock fighting. These bills, however, may fail to impact the prosecution of animal cruelty in Lane County, since most cases are treated as code violations rather than crimes in the area.