Project Homeless Connect

THE STORY: Corvallis held its first Project Homeless Connect event Oct. 24 at the First Christian Church downtown. Sponsored by Benton County and Community Services Consortium, the resource fair was held in conjunction with the announcement of the county's 10-year plan to address homelessness.

THE LATEST: Organizers estimate more than 150 people took part in the event. Many took advantage of free services ranging from haircuts to dental care, and a number of government agencies and nonprofit organizations were on hand to help homeless people fill out paperwork to access benefits. Project Homeless Connect is expected to become at least an annual occurrence in Corvallis and could be held more frequently, depending on the need.

- Bennett Hall

School giveaway

THE STORY: Love INC held its seventh annual school supply giveaway for teachers Sept. 4 at Linus Pauling Middle School. More than 330 teachers gathered free supplies for their classrooms during the event and were treated to a free breakfast.

THE LATEST: Despite the sluggish economy, $112,142 worth of supplies were given away this year, up from $107,000 last year. Twenty-five businesses donated items to the event, which relied on the help of 28 local churches and 176 volunteers.

- Raju Woodward

Candy buy-back

THE STORY: For the ninth year, Corvallis dentist Kurt S. Black offered to pay local children $2 a pound for the Halloween candy they collected during trick-or-treating as a way of discouraging tooth decay.

THE LATEST: Black's "Dollars, Not Decay" program brought in 673 pounds of candy on Nov. 1. He matched the amount of money he gave to the children with a donation to the dental clinic operated through the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis.

- Theresa Novak

Legend Homes

THE STORY: Legend Homes, a Portland-based homebuilder that has built several large Corvallis subdivisions, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. The company's assets are tied up in court, but it is allowed to continue selling completed homes and do a limited amount of new construction.

THE LATEST: President David Oringdulph said the company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the next 30 to 60 days. Legend has abandoned some of its projects, such as the proposed 221-home Witham Oaks subdivision in Corvallis, but hopes to move ahead with others. That's the case with Willamette Landing on the city's south side, said Mike Goodrich, who manages the company's local holdings. Goodrich said Legend intends to build another 34 houses in current phases of the project and could add as many as 76 more in future phases.

- Bennett Hall