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Quick Takes

NAMED: Alex “Cookie” West, who served as direct care service specialist at the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ Jeffco Training Center for more than a decade, was named employment navigator and community facilitator this spring and expects to serve more than 100 individuals.

Her work entails communicating with schools, organizations and even some businesses to seek opportunities for her clientele, whose ages range from 14 years through adulthood. The goal is to establish their skills and find job or recreational opportunities in the area, which also helps meet oncoming federal mandates to integrate the disabled further into mainstream society, officials said.

West has spent time training for her new role and has been making contact with potential resources.

“I’m going to be the common denominator for students, schools and state services that will allow them to transition into community-integrated employment. They have a transition plan on what they want to do after their high school graduation,” West explained. “I would speak with the transition team to learn the student’s goal, such as college or work, and coordinate a team to reach the desired end.”

West is a familiar face in the community after creating the Lee Alexander West Spiritual Movement as a tribute to her late son. Her experience working with churches and the community has provided her with a wealth of possibilities she can use in her job.

APOLOGY: Southwest Airlines continues to have computer problems that are causing its best customers to lose a major perk — early boarding.

The airline said Wednesday that it partially fixed the problem but was still working to make things right and find the cause of the glitch.

A spokeswoman says Southwest is giving extra frequent-flyer points to A-List and A-List Preferred customers who didn’t get priority boarding in the last few days. It takes 25 one-way flights or a certain number of points in a calendar year to qualify for A-List, and 50 flights or even more points for A-List Preferred.

Most Southwest passengers board in the order they check in. Priority privileges can mean the difference between an aisle seat up front or a middle seat farther back.

CONSTRUCTION: Administrators of the Silver Dollar City theme park in southwestern Missouri say a new roller coaster being built will spin riders during the run that begins with a 10-story, 50-mph drop.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the $26-million coaster named “Time Traveler” will open next spring.

The ride will include three “inversions,” or elements in which the coaster track turns riders upside-down and then returns them to an upright position.

The coaster is manufactured by Germany-based Mack Rides.

OPENING: Online retailer Amazon is in the process of opening an “Instant Pickup” store in Eugene.

Amazon is eyeing a vacant storefront near the University of Oregon.

Amazon officials didn’t respond to requests for comment, but a building permit application filed with the Eugene Planning and Development Department shows it is interested in a location on 13th Avenue.

Small electronic products like phone chargers and other items would be available to pick up at the store within two minutes of a customer placing an order using the Amazon Shopping app on a smartphone.

It would be Amazon’s third Instant Pickup site, with two already being open in Los Angeles and Berkeley, California.

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