News Brights

Struggling to access the internet? Eugene Public Library cardholders can now borrow mobile wifi hotspots. The library has 250 of the small rechargeable hotspots to lend, and each hotspot “can be used by up to 10 people at a time to access free high-speed internet with unlimited data,” according to the library.

“Internet equity is an urgent need in our community,” Eugene Public Library Foundation Director Reed Davaz McGowan says in a press release. “Even before the pandemic, lack of internet access disproportionately affected low-income households, unhoused people and people of color. And now, the need for access is even more crucial.”

The library is supplying another 250 hotspots to local agencies serving unhoused community members and others with barriers to internet access, including Community Supported Shelters, Community Outreach through Radical Empowerment (CORE), Downtown Ambassadors and First Place Family Shelter and Preschool.

Eugene Public Library cards are free for all Eugene residents and for all students enrolled in the 4J and Bethel school districts. Hotspots can be borrowed at any Eugene library location or go to bit.ly/EugLibraryHotspot to place a loan pick up request.

• Faeries, elves, trolls and other mythical and cryptozoological beings, rejoice! Faerieworlds 2022 will return to Eugene at the Cuthbert Amphitheater and Alton Baker Park on Summer Solstice weekend (we think that means the weekend after June 21), according to an announcement on Faerieworlds.com.

The annual festival features faerie folk, food, arts and crafts and music such as Rasputina, Beats Antique and Delhi 2 Dublin.

The soon to be 20-year-old festival Faerieworlds was in Eugene at Howard Buford Recreation Area/Mount Pisgah for many years, and in 2015 moved to Horning’s Hideout near Portland after the Lane County commissioners voted to end large events in the park. In 2019 and 2020 the pandemic canceled the in-person event.

• The Biden administration announced a $952,951 planning grant award for Oregon’s Medicaid program to support the development of CAHOOTS-like mobile crisis intervention service programs to help those struggling with mental health and substance use disorder crises. CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is the longtime Eugene-area program operated by White Bird Clinic that has inspired similar efforts across the country. The American Rescue Plan provided $15 million in planning grants for state Medicaid agencies to help set up these services around the country, according to a press release from Sen. Ron Wyden. “This grant will kick-start the effort to help those experiencing a mental health crisis in Oregon get the services they need and reduce the prospect of an encounter with law enforcement,” Wyden says in the release.

Have any good news you want to share? Send information to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.

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.

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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!