• The annual State of the County address will be at 11 am Monday, Jan. 4, at Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. County officials will talk about what has been accomplished in 2015 and plans and challenges for 2016.
• Rep. Phil Barnhart will be holding town halls in January to talk about the February special session of the Legislature and to hear concerns from constituents. The first meeting will be at 6 pm Monday, Jan. 4, at the LCC Downtown Campus, 101 W. 10th Ave. Next will be 7 am Tuesday, Jan. 5, at Creswell Coffee Co., 116 Melton Road in Creswell. A Coburg meeting will be at 6 pm Tuesday, Jan. 5, at Coburg City Hall. A Brownsville meeting will be at 7 am Wednesday, Jan. 6, at Randy’s Main Street Coffee, 250 Main Street. A UO town hall will be at 11 am Saturday, Jan. 9, at a location on campus to be announced.
• Health Care For All Oregon’s Eugene Chapter will meet from 7 to 9 pm Tuesday, Jan. 5, at First United Methodist Church at 13th & Olive. HCAO’s strategic plan is to place a measure for universal, tax-supported health care for all Oregonians on the 2020 ballot. Also on the agenda will be discussion of a public forum on gun violence planned for Jan. 28. Call 483-3971 or email patbitner@gmail.com.
• Mayor Kitty Piercy will deliver her State of the City Address at 5:30 pm Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the lobby of the Hult Center. Piercy, who is not running for reelection, is expected to highlight key accomplishments of the city in 2015 and outline goals for the coming year. Entertainment will be provided by the Dorians Jazz Choir of South Eugene High School. Light refreshments will be served.
• Permits for the Jordan Cove Energy Project and the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline will be the subject of two public meetings in January. The first will be from 4 to 7 pm Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Rogue Regency Inn ar 2300 Biddle Road in Medford. The second will be from 4 to 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 7, at the North Bend Public Library, 1800 Sherman Ave. in North Bend. The meetings will allow informal questions and answers during the entire three-hour timeframe. There will be no formal presentation by the state or the applicants. Public comments will be recorded and entered into the public record. The Oregon Department of State Land’s deadline for making a permit decision is Feb. 8. See oregon.gov/dsl.
• The political film Merchants of Doubt will be shown at 6 pm Thursday, Jan. 7, at Bijou Art Cinemas on 13th Avenue. The film looks at the secretive group of pundits-for-hire who dispute the science of climate change and toxic chemicals.
• A Lane County town hall on human rights, equity and access is planned for 5:30 to 7:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 7, at the Baker Center, 975 High Street. The county is looking at how a new advisory board can improve the county’s “long-term efforts to implement its new human rights and equity plan.”
• Coming up later in January will be a rally for raising the minimum wage to $15 at 2 pm Thursday, Jan. 14, the Oregon State Capitol. A public hearing will be at 4 pm that day with opportunities to sign up to testify. Carpooling is planned from Eugene and elsewhere in Oregon. See 15noworegon.org to get on the mailing list.
Eugene’s future City Hall is the topic at GreenLane Sustainable Business Network’s monthly member meeting at 11:30 am Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Eugene Hilton. Mike Penwell, the city’s design and construction manager, will provide an update on the project, including information on sustainability aspects.