Biz Beat 3-6-2014

We heard a late-night flight coming into Eugene Sunday, Feb. 23, was unable to land and was diverted to Portland. Grumpy Eugene passengers had to rent cars and make the early morning drive home. The pilot told passengers that he was unable to get ground wind speed information from the Eugene tower and so he could not land. What happened? We checked with Eugene Airport officials and learned that all pilots have discretion when it comes to safety and it appears some malfunction occured with the FAA equipment, which was quickly repaired. 

(The above story has been edited to fix errors in earlier information provided to EW.)

A saved and restored Civic Stadium should prove to be good for business, and local businesses are getting involved in raising money for Friends of Civic Stadium (FoCS) now that School District 4J has given the go-ahead for the city to buy the property. The group needs to raise $3 million for the renovation and other costs and already has a lot of business support. As of this week Bagel Sphere stores around town are donating a percentage of Monday sales. Any others to talk about? Meanwhile, FoCS has created an escrow account at Evergreen Land Title. All donations will be returned if the funding goal is not met, but we’re optimistic. See savecivicstadium.org for information about FCS and the escrow account.

A free small business clinic is planned for 5 to 7 pm Thursday, March 6, and again March 27, at the Eugene Public Library downtown. Sponsored by the LCC Small Business Development Center and SCORE: Counselors to America’s Small Business. Topics include “Start and Grow an Arts & Crafts Business.” Pre-registration is required, call 682-5450. 

A free meeting on “The Gift Economy” will be from noon to 2:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the HEDCO Education Building Room 220 on campus. See story in EW last week.

We see Eugene Yoga and the Pelvic Wellness Center are doing something different, a panel discussion on “Sex, Chocolate & Menopause” from 6:30 to 9 pm Friday, March 7, at Eugene Yoga, 3575 Donald St. Sliding scale of $12-$15 supports scholarships. Panelists include a gynecologist, nurse practitioner, sex therapist, clinical social worker, naturopath, massage therapist, strength trainer and others. See eugeneyoga.ous or call 520-8771. 

A one-day conference to showcase research and creative expression by graduate students in all of the UO’s graduate colleges and schools will be from 9 am to 4:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the Erb Memorial Union on the UO campus. More than 170 grad students in some 50 disciplines will be involved, along with local businesses such as Acroname, Abcam, Organic Consultants, Concentric Sky and Life Technologies.

The nonprofit Sexual Assault Support Services provides many services to women, but one in six men have experienced childhood sexual abuse, and only a small number of them take advantage of SASS services, according to Jessica Mason, program director of SASS. “We would like to make it more known in the community that all our services are accessible for male survivors,” she says. Mason is currently conducting intakes for a self-identified male support group and supervising a “community campaign for the agency 1in6 which works with adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse.” See sass-lane.org or call 484-9791.