Credit Elizabeth Gabriel / KLCC News
Lane County Public Health is offering two free COVID-19 testing opportunities for Eugene 4J families and staff.
Testing will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Community members are encouraged to bring their health insurance, but free testing will be available regardless of insurance or immigration status.
Results will be available 2-3 days after the test. Lane County Public Health will only follow up with individuals who test positive.
4J’s COVID-19 testing will be on Jan. 9 and 16 at the 4J Education Center, from 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
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Credit Martin Rafferty
The Eugene organization Youth Era is opening a drop-in center for students in need of resources. The program will begin as soon as COVID-19 protocols allow.
The building is called the Eugene Drop, which will serve students who need access to Wi-Fi or are experiencing homelessness. Youth Era’s CEO Martin Rafferty hopes providing a safe space for students will help destigmatize youth homelessness.
“The theory that we have is that part of what s happening is that they are over identifying with that label as being a homeless youth or belonging to the streets, said Rafferty. And so we re going to do everything we can to try and help them see that they re not homeless youth. Just like if you have anxiety, you re not a mentally ill youth, you re a youth. And your potential is endless.”
Credit Elizabeth Gabriel / KLCC News
The South Umpqua School District announced Tuesday that all schools will begin in-person instruction after the winter break.
The district said coronavirus cases in Douglas County have been under 200 cases per 100,000 people for the first time since early Nov. Which means if South Umpqua students were attending school in-person prior to the Thanksgiving break, they will return to school in-person on Jan. 4.
Students enrolled in comprehensive distance learning before Thanksgiving, will resume online classes.
Students and staff will be required to adhere to all COVID-19 health and safety precautions, including hand-washing, wearing face masks, social distancing, and staying home when sick or knowingly exposed to COVID-19.
A screenshot from a video of people running in downtown Eugene after police officers fired a weapon in the direction of community members on May 31.
Credit Elizabeth Gabriel / KLCC News
Eugene’s Civilian Review Board (CRB) discussed a community impact case Tuesday involving the investigation into the Police Department’s use of force during protests in May. The board agreed with most of EPD’s adjudication.
This community impact case includes six investigations into allegations of misconduct, six incident reviews including review of each night of the weekend demonstrations, four inquiries, and one service complaint.
As part of an impact case, the CRB had three options:
Credit Elizabeth Gabriel / KLCC News
The City of Springfield held a virtual public forum Thursday evening for community members to share their experience at a Black Lives Matter protest in late July. Most participants spoke against the Springfield Police Department s actions.
As part of external investigator Rick Braziel’s research, he listened to 33 community members provide three-minute statements in response to SPD officers hitting, tasing, and dragging Black Unity protesters on July 29 in the Thurston neighborhood. And about one-third of the responders said SPD handled the situation correctly.
Thurston resident Steve Molnar said Black Unity’s actions were disruptive.
“If it was clear, based on their social media posts, [their plan] was to invade our quiet residential neighborhood and cause as much disruption, and chaos and anarchy as possible,” said Molnar, “what did they expect to happen when they showed up?”