• It’s the season for senior photos. South Eugene High School senior Jillian Henry headed over to Mount Pisgah for some shots of her in the wild. She got more than she bargained for when a naked man and his dog photobombed her shots. She posted them on Twitter with the comment “Love my senior pics.” The images have been retweeted more then 25,000 times and gotten more than 70,000 likes, and the story has been picked up at Jezebel, Buzzfeed, The Oregonian and in the UK. Way to start your senior year with a bang!
• Beware of traffic in Eugene-Springfield and on I-5 before and after the Oregon-UC Davis football game at 2 pm Saturday, Sept. 3, at Autzen Stadium. Or look at it this way: Do your driving around town or off to Portland between 2 and 5 Saturday afternoon. Better yet, float the river on this September afternoon. It’s usually uninhabited on game days.
• The Register-Guard looks like it’s made some positive changes lately under the leadership of its newest publisher Logan Molen. We see some brighter editorials and perhaps a return to investigative reporting. But that the daily decided to pursue and not settle the case over Serena Markstrom Nugent, the popular former reporter fired for checking emails, has been a surprise. As arts writer and former R-G journalist, Bob Keefer pointed out in court, Nugent brought younger, hipper readers to the R-G. That’s something print media should capitalize on.
• The Democratic Party of Oregon has gleefully announced that Donald Trump will not be campaigning in our state after all. Oregon hasn’t supported a Republican since 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan’s landslide, so it was weird that we were on Trump’s schedule, but then, what’s not weird about the Trump campaign? EW endorsed Bernie in the primary, and it’s not that easy to switch to Hillary, but every day the Donald reminds us that we must.
• Not one Oregon school landed in the top 10 greenest schools in the Sierra Club’s national list this year. Portland State was 14, Lewis and Clark was 16 and the University of Oregon was 18. We didn’t find Oregon State in the top 50. The prime reason the UO was so low could have been the Sierra Club’s new question: “Has your institution made a public decision to sell its investments in any fossil fuel companies?” The University of Oregon has not.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.
None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519