• Did you miss Sen. Jeff Merkley’s town hall earlier this month? Read about what the senator had to say about Trump’s presidency. He told reporters, “It’s extraordinarily dangerous because an imperial presidency is just one small step away from being an authoritarian government, and no longer government by and for the people.” We were impressed at the turnout for the President’s Day protest Feb. 17 here in Eugene and across the country. Now how do we leverage that into saving this damn democracy?
• Artificial intelligence is a hot topic among journalists, with questions ranging from if it can be used as a tool or if it’ll take all of our jobs. We at Eugene Weekly have faced our fair share of frustration with Google Gemini trying to summarize our articles as we write them or trying to write email responses on our behalf (EW’s journalists do not use AI). Sometimes, though, it’s incredibly useful, such as when we get a 10-second voicemail chock full of slurs from a reader, and AI (correctly) describes it as “Caller expresses homophobic views about drag queens in a vulgar manner.” Thank you for the call, but we’re gonna continue to feature the drag performers of Lane County.
• Speaking of vulgar, we had a couple readers express dismay about our use of the word “fucking” in a headline. The rule about cursing is to use a curse only when it’s the best word to use. When the story is about sexual fetishes, well. Remember kids: We do run Dan Savage. If you want to hear more from reporter Emma J Nelson about what she learned about the fetish scene in town, tune into KLCC’s Oregon on the Record on Thursday, Feb. 20, and we promise she will not drop any f-bombs (because you can’t say them on the radio).
• “There is a mental health crisis in Lane County, without enough services to handle it.” That’s the message kicking off the noon Friday Feb. 21 City Club of Eugene meeting. PeaceHealth, in partnership with Lane County, plans to build and operate a new 96-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital in Lane County called Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital. It will be located by PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield next to the planned Lane Crisis Stabilization Center, a project of Lane County and Connections Health Solutions. City Club says this forum will cover both new facilities and their intended impact on the Lane County community. Join the conversation at WOW Hall or tune into the live stream at Cityclubofeugene.org. And then stay tuned for the Feb. 28 City Club featuring your fav commie rag (that would be the Weekly, in case you were wondering).
• The Museum of Natural and Cultural History’s newest exhibit, Roots and Resilience: Chinese American Heritage in Oregon, opens with a reception, refreshments and performance 6 pm Friday, Feb. 21. The museum is collaborating with the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology and the Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project to educate Oregonians about some of the earliest non-Indigenous settlers in the state, and how their experiences reflect the modern American immigrant story of struggle and resilience. The grand opening continues from 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, Feb. 22, and Sunday, Feb. 23, and the exhibit is available for viewing until 2026.