Micah Wicks of the Lane Titans women’s basketball team takes a shot against the University of Oregon club team in a November 2024 game. Photo by Mason Falor.

Slant — Strike Out?

Slant by Editorial BoardPosted on

• We have learned that our readers have a lot of feelings about fabric and yarn! Thanks to those who wrote in in response to last week’s Slant item about Joann Fabric & Crafts Stores closing. We’re adding to our list that you can buy from Eugene-based Fluid + Drape online, Paramount Sewing and Vacuum on River Road in the old Goodwill and that Piece by Piece fabrics is retiring/closing (date TBD) and having a blowout sale at its 13th Avenue location. And a reminder that Fall Creek-based Something to Crow About is open online.

• This week in tidbits of news. A press release from the Eugene Emeralds says the 70-year hometown sportsball team’s future in Eugene is uncertain. The release says, “Recognizing the need for a permanent home, the Emeralds are exploring potential cities to which to relocate. Finding a suitable site, negotiating (a) lease and completing construction is a complex process that will take time.” So you know: We like baseball; we just didn’t like the idea of public money supporting a private sports enterprise. Are the Emeralds leaving or are the team’s marketing wizards coming up with a plan to keep the Ems in the Emerald Valley? 

• Is Strikemageddon looming at the University of Oregon? Both the United Academics faculty union and the UO Student Workers union have passed strike authorization votes. On that note, cheers to the Bigfoot Beverages strikers who have been walking the picket line since late September, undaunted by ice, rain or how hot it is to wear a sasquatch costume while carrying a strike sign. 

• One more news tidbit! The Chamber of Commerce turned in 8,413 signatures by the March 13 deadline “in an effort to bring the recently enacted Fire Service Fee ordinance to a public vote.” To qualify for the ballot — either in November or for an August special election — at least 5,817 signatures must be valid. The Chamber says in a press release that if the Elections office certifies the referendum for the ballot, the Eugene City Council can either repeal the ordinance and consider alternative solutions, or place it on the ballot.

• Shout out to Springfield Twin Rivers Rotary Club, which meets each week at around 7 am on Fridays at the Eugene Mission, for having Eugene Weekly Editor Camilla Mortensen and Publisher Jody Rolnick as guest speakers. The Rotarians — avid news readers — heard more about the Weekly (and since they are a Springfield club had high praise for The Chronicle) — and EW learned about the Rotary’s good deeds locally and around the world, including 10 polio vaccines that will be given in the Weekly’s name. 

• It’s the time of year when basketball fans — some knowledgeable, others picking entirely by team colors, team nicknames or their alma mater — fill out their brackets for the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. It’s March Madness, and the University of Oregon and Oregon State University have teams in the celebration. The UO men’s team is a No. 5 seed in the East Regional and opens play March 21 against Liberty University. The UO women’s team, a No. 10 seed in the Birmingham Bracket, plays Vanderbilt University March 21, and the OSU women, a 14-seed in the same Birmingham bracket, takes on the University of North Carolina March 22. A shout out as well to the Lane Community College women, who stormed through the season with 32 straight wins until losing a 65-58 heartbreaker March 16 to Walla Walla Community College in the NWAC championship game in Pasco, Washington, denying the Lady Titans a third straight NWAC title.  

• This week at City Club of Eugene (noon at the WOW Hall), Dr. Stephanie Bulger, president of Lane Community College, will discuss LCC’s latest achievements as well as looming threats to federal funding of higher education and significant shifts in demand stemming from AI and other macroeconomic shifts. Watch the live stream on the City Club’s YouTube page or listen on KLCC Monday nights at 7 pm.

• The topic of nuclear energy is, as they say, heating up. This week’s online extra viewpoint is by Peter Bergel of the Stop Nuclear Working Group. He’s concerned about bills in the Legislature that would undermine Measure 7 that required that there be an operating federal nuclear waste repository and a vote of the people before new nuclear plants could be sited in Oregon. Read more at EugeneWeekly.com.