We've got issues.
• Thumbs up for President Obama’s Justice Department’s decision to end the management of federal prisons by private groups. How did we ever start that in the first place? The drive for profit was certain to fuel the drive for more prisoners serving more time. We understand that Oregon has no privately run prisons. Thumbs up for that, too. Continue reading
It’s such a good idea. Why didn’t someone think of it sooner? “I was out one day moseying around on Skinner’s Butte,” Robert Newcomer says. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is fairyland up here.’” Newcomer, a native Texan and theater arts educator who relocated to Eugene four years ago, is directing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the inaugural production of Bard on the Butte. Continue reading
Oregon Performance Lab is back for its second summer of theater workshops, bringing rising playwrights of America to Eugene. Described as a “three-week pop-up laboratory,” OPL connects artists with venues, actors and an audience for theatrical experimentation. The wife-and-husband team of Willow Norton (artistic director) and Corey Pearlstein (creative director) are based in New York but have roots in Eugene. On the heels of last year’s successful inaugural season, now they are fueling even more ambitious plans. Continue reading
When the Oregon legislative session of 2015 opened, Eugene Weekly embarked upon the bold experiment of establishing a delivery route in Salem. Each Thursday I traveled there, my first stop was the Capitol, where crowds in costumes and uniforms campaigned colorfully for their causes. The Salem experience was thoroughly enjoyable. As the final month began, I wondered how I could top the fun, and decided to meet Kate Brown. Continue reading
The day after Erika Fortner graduated from art school in New York, she headed straight to Berlin to work on a $5 million 80-foot long mural for banking behemoth Goldman Sachs. She wasn’t alone; Fortner was one of about 30 art assistants in the employ of abstract painter Julie Mehretu, a 2005 MacArthur “genius” grant awardee who Goldman Sachs commissioned in 2007 to create “Mural.” Continue reading
Arguments in former Register-Guard entertainment reporter Serena Markstrom-Nugent's case against the R-G began in court yesterday, Aug. 22. You can read the KLCC story and the R-G's own fairly neutral coverage on their websites. Continue reading
The Civil Liberties Defense Center is hosting a Know Your Rights information booth at Kesey Square today, Thursday, Aug. 18, 7:30 pm-9 pm at Kesey Square (10th & Broadway). The Eugene Police Department recently increased its presence downtown with its Community OutReach Team (CORT). EPD says in its press release that "Trespass, drug and alcohol use, drug sales, prostitution, robbery and serious assaults typically increase in the downtown area during the spring and summer, as the weather improves." Continue reading
The funny thing is, this time last year Emerald Empire HempFest founder Dan “DanK” Koozer was ready to call it quits. Continue reading
After the fireworks, there’s still the smoke. The legalization of retail weed in Oregon — a real Fourth of July moment for potheads — has left in its wake an enduring fug of legal, political and commercial questions that can make prohibition look like a cheerful stroll to the neighborhood dealer in comparison. Continue reading
• Organizers of Eugene/Springfield’s “new homegrown, non-commercial, progressive, all-volunteer community radio station” meet at 7 pm every Thursday on the 2nd floor of the Growers Market building, 454 Willamette; next to Morning Glory Café. Continue reading