Eugene Weekly

Standing in a cavernous St. Vincent de Paul warehouse on Chad Drive, executive director Terry McDonald and I survey stacks upon stacks of identical cardboard boxes, each one the size of a watermelon crate. It’s quite a sight. The stacks tower toward the ceiling and stretch horizontally wall to wall, and their Lego-like arrangement creates the shadowy alleys of a deserted city at sundown. All told, the boxes contain more than one million pounds of used books. Continue reading →

Last week’s heat wave sent Lane County residents scurrying for shade. Press releases from the city and county offered suggestions for cool places like the library or swimming pools to take cover. But for those without air conditioning or in some cases without a roof over their heads, heat waves can turn deadly. Continue reading →

In the Whiteaker neighborhood, threads of the Black Panther Party, Central American farm workers, LGBTQ+ community and the Black Lives Matter movement are taking shape in a mural that will be unveiled during the Friday, Aug. 26, Whiteaker Art Walk.  “The mural’s theme is 50 years of social justice struggles,” says Jessilyn Brinkerhoff, the muralist leading a group of multiracial teens in designing and creating the artwork.  Continue reading →

Local blues institution and Saturday Market staple Eagle Park Slim, né Autry McNeace, passed away at 74 last weekend, leaving behind his partner Gwen Johnson, his son Donnie McNeace, two grandchildren as well as Johnson’s nine children and 16 grandchildren. While Slim has had a history of heart failure, and earlier this summer received a wireless heart-monitoring system implant, Johnson tells EW the results for cause of death are still pending. Continue reading →