Mayor Lucy Vinis spoke to the City Club of Eugene on April 28 about the city’s efforts to combat climate change. She emphasized her support of the measure to ban gas in new construction, calling it “one step forward.” We’re watching the ban under a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down a gas ban in Berkeley, California, in a victory for the fossil fuel industry. Vinis also added that she would support full-time pay for the mayor and city council of Eugene, calling it an equity issue. They currently make less than $20,000 a year. We agree — we need folks paying attention to our city and its people’s needs, and we won’t get diverse viewpoints if the job pays poverty wages.

• You should have your ballot in your mailbox by now. Grab your pen and sit down to do your civic duty. We did ours and talked to and researched a sea of school board hopefuls, some looking to make the world a better place and some, quite honestly, running to spew hateful views in public schools. You may not agree with our endorsements, but know we would never endorse hate. 

• It was sad to see the long, well-written article on the front page of the April 29 New York Times about Craig Coyner’s journey from mayor of Bend to a homeless person on the streets of that thriving city. When he died, his daughter said, “If he had been a dog, somebody would have rescued him long ago.” It’s a tale of the timber boom, mental illness and addiction — and a reminder we need to do more for the homeless.

• Have you noticed that the deer in your yard gobble up the tulips, but don’t touch the daffodils? Those blossoms are lucky — and contain the alkaloid lycorine, making them unpalatable to Bambi and his ilk. We hear that in some parts of the East Coast, where the deer population is even higher than here, they are even eating rhododendrons. We don’t look forward to that, as we love the colorful rhodies of the Northwest. 

• Do you need a break from the wretched news of the day, from still more horrendous shootings to the fall of the sort of Democratic hopefuls we thought could make a change? Then pick up the best-of-seven series between the Golden State Warriors and the L.A. Lakers. Watching Steph Curry score 50 points and do so much more against the Sacramento Kings was great fun. but LeBron James and the Lakers are a different challenge. We’ll still bet on Curry and the Warriors.

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