The latest news stories and stories of interest in the Willamette Valley from the digital home of Southern Oregon, from Wynne Broadcasting’s WillametteValleyMagazine.com
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Willamette Valley Weather
The Community Invited To The Grand Opening Of New Eugene Riverfront Park On Friday
The first part of Eugene’s Downtown Riverfront Development project will open to the public Friday, June 10th.
“Welcome to the downtown riverfront park,” Emily Proudfoot said, taking KLCC on a tour of the new park. She’s the City of Eugene’s Principal Landscape Architect.
The new park encompasses three acres along the river and on the former EWEB utility operations yard. It includes public art, native plants, and decks to view the river. Proudfoot said it feels very civic.
“People told us they wanted an urban riverfront park,” she said. “But, I think, this is very Eugene, developed in balance with conservation and habitat enhancements at the river. And, I think we’ve done that really well.”
This park will host a free fan festival during the World Track & Field Championships next month.
“There will be a big watch screen for folks,” Proudfoot said. “And then, they’ll be lots of booths and foods and sponsorships and entertainment. Main stage will actually be under this art pavilion here. And, yeah, look for a couple of weeks of free activities for your whole family and visitors. It should be pretty exciting.”
The community is invited to the grand opening of the Downtown Riverfront park on Friday with celebrations all weekend.
The weekend celebration will begin at 10 a.m Friday, with speeches by Mayor Lucy Vinis and City Manager Sarah Medary as well as a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Harmonic Laboratory and City of Eugene will be presenting special Artistic Encounters programming throughout the weekend. All performances are free to the public and will run from 12 – 1 p.m. on Friday, 12 – 2 p.m. on Saturday and 12 – 1 p.m. on Sunday under the new art pavilion, SubSupra.
Food will be available for purchase from local favorites including: Most Wanted Espresso, O’my Mini Donuts, Sweetbay Shave Ice and Sling-in Weiner.
Funding for the Downtown Riverfront Park development comes from the 2018 Parks and Recreation Bond, Urban Renewal Agency funds and Public Works capital funds. Ongoing maintenance of the park is being funded by the 2018 Parks and Recreation Levy.
Lane County Sheriff’s Office Investigating Human Remains Found In Woods Near Lowell
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a suspicious death near Lookout Reservoir after human remains were found.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office reported that on May 26 a passerby called the sheriff’s office to report that they had found what seemed to be human remains in a forested area near West Boundary Road not far from Lookout Reservoir. Police said that when investigators responded they confirmed that the remains were human.
The LCSO said that the condition of the remains indicated that the victim had likely been dead for several weeks prior to the discovery of the remains. But wouldn’t not say why.
LCSO investigators are working with the Oregon State Police Crime Lab to determine the identity of the victim and the cause of death.
Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact the LCSO at 541-682-4150 option 1 and reference case number 22-2856.
Oregon State University is expected to announce its next president this week.
OSU Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting tomorrow to consider the appointment and the employment agreement. The candidate will succeed OSU Interim President Becky Johnson. She replaced Ed Ray in 2020 who retired after serving as president since 2003.
DMV in Dire Need to Fill Job Openings in Your Area
“DMV has been experiencing the same shortage of applicants for job openings as other employers statewide and nationwide,” Joyce said.
“The people working at your local DMV live in your community – and could use your help.”
Apply for a job at ODOT today at www.odotjobs.com – select “Department of Transportation” under the Company menu.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently. This report covers the three-day period from June 3 to June 5, 2022. Visit our dashboard, linked below, and hover over the new cases graph to view new presumptive and confirmed case numbers reported to OHA by date.For more information, including COVID-19 data by county, visit our dashboard: http://ow.ly/CAuc50JqTy0
A recent study by Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences found that COVID patients had a 25% increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder in the four months following their infection.
The study compared people with a COVID diagnosis with patients with other respiratory tract infections.
According to the university, researchers limited the study to patients with no previous mental illness and looked at two time periods following COVID diagnosis: from 21 to 120 days and from 120 to 365 days.
The researchers looked specifically at anxiety and mood disorders. Researchers say the results show that patients and health care providers need to be more proactive addressing mental health concerns following a COVID infection.
The study’s lead author, Ben Coleman from the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, is already working on a follow-up paper which seeks to assess the association between symptoms of long COVID and new-onset mental illness.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Is Renewing Its Search For Kyron Who Disappeared More Than A Decade Ago
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office is renewing its search for Kyron Horman who disappeared more than a decade ago. The sheriff’s office has released a new age-progressed photo of what Kyron Horman might look like today.
The office released the photo over the weekend on the 12th anniversary of Horman’s disappearance from Skyline School in 2010. Horman was dropped off at school by his step-mother, Terri Moulton, before he went missing.
Detectives have not identified a suspect in the case. Horman’s mother, Desiree Young urged people to continue searching for her son. A 50-thousand-dollar reward remains for anyone with information that leads to his location.
Kyron Richard Horman (born September 9, 2002) is an American boy who disappeared from Skyline Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, on June 4, 2010, after attending a science fair.[1] Local and state police, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), conducted an exhaustive search and launched a criminal investigation, but have not uncovered any significant information regarding the child’s whereabouts. Horman’s disappearance sparked the largest criminal investigation in Oregon history.
Thousands Left Without Power in Klamath Falls
Tens of thousands of residents were left without power Monday morning after a widespread outage in the Klamath Basin. Pacific Power indicated the problem was due to a probable animal getting into the main power line causing the massive disruption.
Both the city and suburban areas were without power, as were areas like Keno, Dairy, and Bonanza. As of Monday noon, most power had been restored after being rerouted.
Klamath County Schools started two hours late today with the exception of some in the outlying areas, and city schools were able to try to maintain a normal schedule.
Further information is expected to be released regarding the specific cause and the amount of damage caused at a later date by PP and L. PP and L estimates that about 31,000 people were affected by the outage in the area Monday.
Oregon’s Rental Assistance Program Expects To Run Out Of Money By End Of June
More than 55,000 Oregon households have avoided eviction thanks to the state’s rent assistance program and they say the money is quickly running out.
The $406 million program, funded by the federal and state governments, will be mostly out of money by June 30, representatives from Oregon Housing and Community Services told legislative committees last week.
“While we were able to get a lot of money out, we know that the need is still great,” said Andrea Bell, the agency’s executive director. “We’re going to have to be relentless in building and creating more access to affordable housing.”
Since the program launched in May 2021, more than 55,000 households have received a combined more than $363 million to cover unpaid rent and stave off evictions. The average payment was about $6,400.
It typically costs three to four times more to help a family out of homelessness than it does to help a family stay housed, according to Jill Smith, the agency’s interim director of housing stabilization.
The majority – 85% – of the Oregonians who received assistance made less than half the median income in their area. That means a family of four in the Portland area was making less than $53,250, while a family of four that received aid in rural counties in eastern Oregon likely earned less than $35,900 a year.
Agency leaders are still seeking additional funding from the federal government, which has been reallocating money from states that didn’t use it. Oregon so far has received an extra $17 million of such unused funds.
Separately, the Legislature allocated $130 million over the past several months for eviction prevention programs. The agency is using that for direct rent assistance, as well as legal services, mediation and case management.
The agency struggled for months to get rent payments to tenants or their landlords, prompting the Legislature to convene in a special session in December to extend a “safe harbor” period to protect tenants whose applications for help were pending. The Audits Division of the Secretary of State’s Office is investigating the program this year.
Portland Rose Festival In Full Swing
It’s the return of Rose Festival’s big outdoor events like the Grand Floral Parade, Starlight Parade, Junior Parade, CityFair and Fleet Week, and a continuation of the Rose Festival Court and Queen’s Coronation.
Portlanders and visitors alike celebrate our floral heritage and community spirit.
The Rose Festival Fleet arrives along Portland’s seawall this week. Three ships arrive Wednesday afternoon with the rest of the fleet arriving Thursday afternoon. Drivers should expect extended bridge lifts of the Broadway, Steel, and Morrison bridges while the ships move upriver. MORE INFO: https://www.rosefestival.org
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