Oregon, Eugene | featured news

Eugene police on Sunday arrested a man who allegedly pulled a knife on a Goodwill retail store employee who tried to stop him from stealing clothes from the agency’s outlet on Division Road, police said. Shawn Michael Evans, 41, faces a first-degree robbery charge in connection with the case.

Members of a SWAT team were used to arrest a man who allegedly used a shotgun to fire at a water tower in his west Eugene neighborhood on Saturday night, police said. Zechariah Boesman, 32, was taken into custody on three counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Heavy rain and winds caused a mudslide that hit Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks about 1:30 a.m. Monday in the Nisqually area north of Olympia.

A traffic crash caused minimal delays this morning at the Randy Papé Beltline/Highway 99W interchange in Eugene, state transportation officials said. Off-ramps were reportedly affected by the collision. No injuries were immediately reported.

PORTLAND — Forecasters say 6 to 12 inches of snow could fall Monday in the north Cascade Range in Oregon. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the area, as well as a mountainous swath running from the northeast corner of the state to Central Oregon.

BURNS — Harney County rescuers are waiting for a break in the weather to make another attempt to reach four cell phone tower construction workers stranded since Saturday on Steens Mountain near Andrews in southeast Oregon.

Before today it had been more than five years since DanceAbility founder Alito Alessi led a workshop in Eugene, what with all his world-traveling and Guggenheim Fellowship-winning.

The National Weather Service in Portland has issued a blizzard warning for eastern Lane County beginning at 6 p.m. today and extending through 6 p.m. Monday. Snow will be particularly heavy this evening and overnight tonight, in Oakridge and other areas in the Cascades, the weather service said.

Local seniors will come together on Christmas Day for the 34th annual Senior Holiday Dinner, which includes a full turkey dinner, entertainment, dancing and prizes at the Hilton Eugene. The event is an important tradition for many seniors, coordinator Sydney Shook said.

A former employee who handled cell phone purchases for employees of the Eugene-based Papé Group has been accused in court of misusing her post to order more than 5,000 additional phones, then privately sell them on the Internet, reportedly pocketing more than $300,000.