Eugene | featured news

PORTLAND — Another storm is clobbering the southern and central Oregon coast, with high winds knocking down trees and highway crews clearing them off the roads. Several trees fell across Oregon 18 west of Lincoln City, and one blocked U.S. 101 north of Florence for a time Tuesday morning.

NORTH BEND — Fire has destroyed an old, abandoned hangar at Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend. Firefighters responded just after midnight Monday. The building was engulfed in flames and collapsed about 1 a.m. Tuesday.

PORTLAND — The Oregon Zoo hopes to retain possession of the baby elephant that was born Friday in Portland, but it won’t own the animal.

SALEM — The man who opened fire on three men in a Salem park in 2009 was sentenced Monday to life in prison. Twenty-one-year-old Lorenzo Garcia-Ceja won’t be eligible for parole until he’s 60.

MEDFORD — A 37-year-old Central Point man was sentenced Monday in Medford to at least 25 years in prison for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death and trying to set her body on fire.

FLORENCE — A Florence man reportedly fell asleep at the wheel Monday afternoon and crashed into a telephone pole while driving on Highway 101 a mile south of Florence, the Oregon State Police said. Charles E.

COTTAGE GROVE — A 40-year-old man was arrested and taken to Cottage Grove Municipal Jail this evening after police responded to a report of a man approaching two children in the front yard of a residence on Quincy Avenue.

Eugene livestock auctioneer Jake Cheechov might be hesitant to call himself a success story, but it’s getting harder all the time to ignore his rapid-fire accomplishments. From his first auction in high school through years of unpaid auctioneering, Cheechov, now 37, started Pacific International Auctions in Eugene in 1999.

RV Corral on Highway 99 North in Eugene is expanding, acquiring a 3.5 acre lot that is next to its existing lot of about 5 acres. The additional space will allow the company to expand its service business immediately, and its sales business in the future, company officials said.

SPRINGFIELD — A 52-year-old Springfield woman is being taken to jail this evening for allegedly throwing two cats into the Willamette River near Island Park last Friday night, police said. Betty Ann Gould faces charges of attempted first-degree aggravated animal abuse.