Oregon
Oregon woman, 28, paralyzed after being crushed by piano in freak accident
An Oregon woman — hoping for a fresh start in a new state — is paralyzed from the waist down after she was brutally crushed by a piano in a freak accident last month.
Danielle Drummond, 28, was moving the piano when her friend she’d been helping lost her grip and dropped the “whole upright piano” on top of her, WOIO reported.
Drummond, who had just recently moved to the Beaver State from Ohio, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors discovered the accident “severed” her spinal cord and left her “paralyzed from the waist down.”
“I’m trying to keep like in high spirits because I know this is my life now, but it’s hard,” she told the outlet. “As of right now, I need a lot more physical therapy. I need to rebuild my strength.”
Following the injury, Drummond said she would need extensive rehab and a home health aide — presenting more difficulties since she was living in her van with her dog Lotus.
The 28-year-old has no family in Oregon to care for her and is currently looking for a place to live.
Returning home to her native Cleveland also seems impossible in her current condition.
“I don’t even know like how I would get home, let alone like how to transfer all the medical stuff, and I don’t feel like I’m able right now to do like that far of a car ride or a trip in an airplane,” Drummond told the outlet.
Her older sister, Rosie Hayne, has set up a GoFundMe to help her loved one find a place to live and pay for her medical expenses.
“Our hearts are completely broken, My baby sister means the world to me,” Hayne wrote.
“Such a strong and wise woman, down to earth and humble, her aura reflects her beautiful soul. We will get through this with lots of prayer and positive guidance. This is in God’s hands now, please wrap them around her tight!”
Hayne revealed that her sister fractured her T11 and T12 — the two lowest vertebrae in a person’s Thoracic spine.
In surgery, doctors also needed to perform a fusion “from T10-L2” in Drummond’s spine to improve her spinal stability.
In an update on May 1, her older sister wrote that Drummond is “getting around really well in the hospital wheelchair” but still needs to find one of her own and a place to live.
“She wants to make it clear that she is not expecting to ever walk again. She has accepted the reality of her situation. But she has an amazing spirit and an overall positive outlook, focusing on what she can do.”
While the accident has left her in a wheelchair for the remainder of her life, Drummond said she’s “hopeful” that medical advances in the future may grant her the ability to walk again.
The good times keep on rolling for the Oregon Ducks in the recruiting world. Dan Lanning and the Ducks scored a massive commitment from five-star quarterback Will Mencl out of Chandler, Arizona.
Oregon had been rumored to be leading the race for Mencl’s services for months, but the No. 1 quarterback in the country, per Rivals, cleared the air and committed to the Ducks on Wednesday evening. Mencl chose the Ducks over Auburn and Penn State, both of which battled hard for him down the stretch.
However, Mencl has been connected to Oregon for a long time. While he was offered last fall before breaking out in his junior season, Mencl has been a fan of the program long before he popped up on the Ducks’ recruiting radar. In a post shared by Rivals recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong, Mencl was announced as a quarterback for the Ducks when he was a kid at the 2019 NFL Draft fan experience in 2019.
Now, Mencl is ready to don the green and yellow for real and make his childhood dreams come true. The Ducks have made a point to get Mencl on campus as often as possible and as recently as last week. The continued connection between both sides is ultimately what made the decision easy for the nation’s top passer. Mencl said he told Lanning and the Oregon staff about his decision on Sunday.
“The biggest thing was the relationship with the staff,” Mencl said after committing. “I feel like that continued to grow over time, especially when I first got there last spring. Being able to sit down with Coach Koa, really being an underlooked guy at that time, and kind of blowing up my junior season. And then, the path to the NFL. You can’t deny what they do with quarterbacks and the type of scheme they run. I felt like that was the best fit for me and my family to get to the next level.”
Koa Ka’ai, Oregon’s new quarterback coach, made waves earlier in the offseason after his recruiting test about ice cream flavors went viral, but that doesn’t appear to have scared Mencl off. In fact, the two have a close connection that Oregon hopes will translate to success on the field in the near future.
“My relationship with Coach Koa, I feel like that is super, super strong,” Mencl told Rivals. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with Coach Lanning about the culture there and how they’re going to continue to sustain greatness throughout the program.”
Mencl exploded onto the national recruiting scene with a massive junior season for Chandler. He completed more than 70% of his passes for 3,815 yards and 33 touchdowns against five interceptions in his junior season, leading Chandler to a state title berth. He also rushed for 741 yards and an additional 17 touchdowns.
The Ducks expect to have some competition for Mencl to compete with when he joins the team for the 2027 season, with Dylan Raiola and Akili Smith Jr. already on the roster and competing for a role as the backup. Oregon has gone to the transfer portal as well in recent seasons, finding success with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and now Dante Moore.
Oregon has recruited well at quarterback in the past, establishing an NFL pedigree that attracted Mencl. Maybe he will be the one to buck the trend and give the Ducks a true, homegrown product under center.
Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
‘Pour in the largest glass you can find while slow dancing in your socks,’ a Wine Enthusiast contributor said of an Oregon wine
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Wine Enthusiast released a list of the top 40 sparkling wines around the world in 2026 – highlighting two bottles of bubbly from Oregon.
“While it can seem like you need a fortune to enjoy high quality sparkling wine, you honestly don’t. Excellent affordable bubbles are being produced around the world, often in places you might not expect. Each of the selections on our inaugural Top 40 Sparkling Wines list delivers personality, freshness, and celebration for under $75,” Wine Enthusiast wrote.
Wine Enthusiast divided its list into separate sparkling categories including, Champagne, Italian Bollicine, American sparkling and bottles $25 and under.
Snagging a spot on the American sparkling list: Corollary Wines in McMinnville.
Corollarly’s 2021 Momtazi Carbonic Rosé Pinot Noir scored 96 points from Wine Enthusiast.
“This is a Peter Max print of a wine, with vivid aromas and flavors to match the wine’s electric Kool-Aid color. It is filled to the brim with aromas and flavors of macerated strawberries, candied rose petals, apricots, and a bitter note similar to watermelon rind. Pour in the largest glass you can find while slow dancing in your socks,” wrote Wine Enthusiast contributor Michael Alberty.
The second Oregon winery to earn a spot on the list: Lytle-Barnett in Dundee.
Wine Enthusiast also gave Lytle-Barnett’s 2018 Brut Rosé Pinot Noir Chardonnay 96 points.
“Bubbles as persistent as an eight-year-old with a question deliver aromas of dried rose petals, macerated strawberries, and a touch of fresh hay and talc. This 70/30 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend is packed with flavors of lemon zest, Honeycrisp apple slices drizzled in caramel, and a dollop of raspberry,” Alberty wrote.
The nods to Corollary and Lytle-Barnett come as the wineries recently helped launch Method Oregon, a nonprofit made up of 50 Oregon wineries aiming to turn Oregon into a global sparkling wine destination.
A 73-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for the 1983 killing of his then-girlfriend. It was a case that went unsolved for more than 40 years.
The sentence was announced by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
In July 1983, Teresa Peroni, 27, was reported missing after attending a party in the Selma area of Josephine County southwest of Grants Pass. She was last seen walking in the woods with her boyfriend Marcus Sanfratello.
Authorities deemed Peroni’s disappearance suspicious, but they lacked evidence to bring charges against anyone.
In 1997, a human skull was found on private property near where Peroni disappeared. In 2024, authorities in Josephine County reopened the case. In addition to re-interviewing witnesses, they collected new DNA evidence to build a case against Sanfratello.
With the DNA, experts at the University of North Texas confirmed the skull was Peroni’s.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man arraigned on murder charge in Oregon for death of then-girlfriend in 1980s cold case
A grand jury indicted Sanfratello of second-degree murder, on June 27, 2025.
Police arrested Sanfratello in Chico, California the next day. He was then extradited to Oregon to face the charge of murder.
Under a plea agreement, Sanfratello pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
He will serve at least 10 years in prison, Oregon’s attorney general’s office said.
“For Teresa Peroni’s family, this has been a 43-year wait for an answer they never should have had to wait for,” Rayfield said in a news release. “Cases like this remind us of why we don’t give up. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed — if someone took a life, we’re going to keep working until we can hold them accountable.”
-
Lifestyle5 minutes agoThe New Rules for Negotiating With Multibrand Retailers
-
Politics11 minutes agoBass, Barger meet with Trump to push for L.A. fire recovery funds
-
Science17 minutes agoContributor: Regulate the ‘Enhanced Games’ as a medical experiment and a marketing stunt
-
Sports23 minutes agoAre you still hoping to buy Olympic tickets? LA28 shares terms for second ticket drop
-
World35 minutes agoIs Europe too late to the metal recycling game?
-
News1 hour agoWho is John Phelan, the US Navy Secretary fired by Pete Hegseth?
-
New York3 hours agoMamdani Considers Delaying Pension-Fund Payments to Ease Budget Gap
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoThings to do in Metro Detroit, April 24 and beyond