Normally, when we hear of a local newspaper selling, we get the shivers, but this week it’s good news. Oregon-based Country Media has purchased Newport News Times, Florence’s Siuslaw News and the Cottage Grove Sentinel. Owned by Steve and Carol Hungerford, who oversee the business from the central office in Salem, Country Media owns eight community newspapers in Oregon and one in northern California.
• What’s going on in the community? Well, first a group of friends and foodies got together August 23 to present Ib Hamide of Soriah’s with personalized aprons and glasses to honor him for his longtime efforts in Eugene’s food scene. Next, Community Cup Coffee, located under the Eugene Hotel on the corner of Pearl and Broadway, has been open for a year and a half and making an impact in the queer community, co-owner Julie Rost tells Eugene Weekly. She says, “The queer-owned and operated shop is one of the only businesses downtown that hangs a Pride flag in their window, and their ‘Open/ Shut’ sign uses ASL to spell out the words.” Rost says Community Coffee Cup tells a story of abundance and community and supports local artists without taking commissions. We’d love to hear about more businesses making positive change in the community! Send to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.
• What we’re reading: Last week we recommended the book Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust, who eventually became president of Harvard. The Sunday New York Times mentioned that one and another in the same vein, Up Home: One girl’s journey by Ruth J. Simmons. The daughter of sharecroppers in East Texas, she became the first Black president of an Ivy League university — she is the former president of Brown. Both these books recount the authors’ “unlikely paths to leadership at two of America’s most elite universities.”
• Duck hoops hero and WNBA all star Sabrina Ionescu is engaged to longtime boyfriend Hroniss Grasu, who was an Oregon football star and plays center for the Las Vegas Raiders. Grasu, 32, played for the Ducks from 2011 until 2014 and was picked by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Ionescu, 25, started at Oregon in 2016 and was selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2020 Draft by New York Liberty. The couple reportedly met at an Oregon Ducks alumni event and plan to marry this fall. We are guessing it will be the first wedding uniting sportsball Ducks whose last names end in ‘u’!
• Friends of Stephen “Lefty” Kelleher and his best friend Johnny Scooter came through and raised $3,000 to get Johnny Scooter back to Eugene to settle Lefty’s affairs and pay for his cremation. You can still contribute. Search Johnny Scooter on GoFundMe or go to EugeneWeekly.com/Lefty to buy a print of Lefty giving his signature bird, with all proceeds going to the GoFundMe. And we hear from local sculptor Jud Turner that he is making Lefty a “heavy metal urn for a heavy metal pirate.”
• Speaking of Jud Turner, he and his work are nominated for Best Public Art in this year’s Best of Eugene! We got your votes for the nomination round, now vote for what you love in Lane County at BestofEugene.com.