Eugene, Lane County | featured news

It’s easy to guess what many of us will be doing on Christmas Day, what with gifts to be opened, meals to be eaten and relatives to be visited.

It’s easy to guess what many of us will be doing on Christmas Day, what with gifts to be opened, meals to be eaten and relatives to be visited.

Three-time Olympian runner Suzy Favor Hamilton has admitted leading a double life as an escort. She apologized Thursday after a report by The Smoking Gun website said she had been working as a prostitute in Las Vegas. The 44-year-old Favor Hamilton lives in Madison, Wis.

FORKS, Wash. — A team of tsunami debris officials is setting out Thursday for a dock that washed ashore on a remote beach on the Washington coast. A spokesman for the state Marine Debris Task Force, David Workman, says the team represents federal, state and tribal agencies.

Art Robinson, the Cave Junction chemist and two-time Congressional candidate, has announced his intention to seek the chairmanship of the Oregon Republican Party. Robinson, who lost to incumbent Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio of Springfield in 2010 and this year, will run to replace current GOP chairman Allen Alley.

Eugene police took 93 reports in the last week regarding thefts from vehicles parked in the city — approximately twice as many as during the previous week. Police said the crimes were not concentrated to a single area of town.

WALTON — A landslide has forced the closure of Highway 126 between Walton and Mapleton this morning. Officials have said the highway may not reopen until sometime Friday.

PORTLAND — The Oregon Department of Transportation says drivers should use TripCheck to plan their routes on coastal highways The department says high water on Highway 101 south of Seaside Thursday morning is restricting traffic to trucks. Drivers heading for Seaside and Astoria are advised to use Highway 30.

A fugitive for more than a year in a violent home invasion robbery in Springfield has been arrested in Southern California, authorities said today. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement that 25-year-old David Robert Friend was arrested in Moreno Valley. The charges against him include attempted murder.

A repeat of Tuesday — snow in the morning but rain in the afternoon — is a possible scenario Thursday for Eugene-Springfield and the rest of the southern Willamette Valley, the National Weather Service in Portland reports. The snow level tonight could drop to 500 feet, the weather service said.