• We are delighted and proud to be sending more of our excellent interns to the Wall Street Journal. Last year, Michael Tobin, now editor of the Daily Emerald at the University of Oregon, held the F. James Pensiero Summer Reporting Internship. For summer 2020, our intern Renata Geraldo will have the Pensiero internship, and intern Donny Morrison will be breaking news for the WSJ at its Los Angeles bureau. In addition to being Eugene Weekly interns, Morrison is the managing editor of the Emerald and Geraldo is the editor-in-chief of Ethos magazine, also at the UO. 

• Last Friday, Jan. 3, Sen. Ron Wyden hosted a town hall meeting at Roosevelt Middle School as part of his original campaign promise to hold the meetings in every Oregon county once a year. The room was packed (they had to set up more chairs), and the discussion was moderated by Mayor Lucy Vinis. Wyden answered questions, and he discussed health care, homelessness, the climate crisis, immigration and impeachment. He said that several of these issues were competing to be his top priority for this year. And on Jan. 6 Rep. Peter DeFazio spoke to media about the situation unfolding with Iran. He printed and read aloud Trump’s tweet claiming it was a notification to Congress that if Iran targeted the U.S., the country would strike back. “This is just outrageous,” DeFazio said of Trump’s actions and use of Twitter.

• In case you need some good news today, consider a few numbers from our local St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County. In 2019, St. Vinnies’ Dusk to Dawn program transitioned 72 people into stable housing. More than 2,000 parents and children were served at the First Place Family Center. Seventy families (84 percent) who enrolled in the Night Shelter program exited to stable housing. As a community we need to do better in 2020, but St. Vinnies is an inspiring leader.

• From the “What could go wrong?” department comes this piece of fear-piercing news: The University of Oregon, the school’s sororities and Eugene Wake Up are combining to create privately funded foot patrols to fight “lawlessness” — crimes Eugene Wake Up believes are being committed exclusively by homeless men and women. Stephen Sheehan, the owner of Elk Horn Brewery near campus and one of the founders of Eugene Wake Up, told local television media and KLCC this week he’s working with sorority mothers to add patrols around his restaurant and nearby sororities on East 15th Avenue. College kids as vigilantes? Saul Hubbard, a UO spokesman, notes that the UO will offer “technical expertise” but is not funding the foot patrols. We can only hope the patrols also watch for drunken frat boys.

• PSA: Slant is an editorial column. Editorials are where newspapers express opinion. We get a little nervous when we see folks referring to a Slant item as an “article.” We don’t really mind when readers say Eugene Weekly has bias. We do, and to pretend otherwise would be untrue. We are pro-local, pro-environment, pro-the underdog, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, anti-Trump. We are also pro-free speech and diverse opinions, which is why you will see opinions that differ from ours in our Local and Vocal viewpoints and letters. 

• Take it if a friend offers you a ticket to an Oregon women’s basketball game at Matt Knight Arena —  you might not be able to even buy a ticket to these popular games. Ranked No. 2 in the country, the Ducks are drawing 10,000 to 11,000 fans even when the students are on holiday and the other team is nowhere — like losing by 50 points. Seats will be sold out for the Stanford and Oregon State games for sure, probably for all the rest of the home games. Don’t despair. You can watch their games on Pac12 Network and have as much fun as these amazing athletes seem to be having.

• How about a Democratic ticket of Warren-Castro in November 2020?  Elizabeth Warren welcomes Julian Castro’s endorsement, but says it is too early to be talking about vice-presidential candidates. Oregon probably is still Bernie country, but wouldn’t it be great to watch a woman beat Trump this time?

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