By EW editorial staff
• It’s Eugene Weekly’s annual Pets Issue! And the pet photo contest — see the winners in this issue — is as much fun as Best of Eugene (nominations open at Vote.EugeneWeekly.com) except in the pet contest, EW staff gets to vote (Best of is all on you, dear readers). Why is the Eugene-based winner of the Word’s Ugliest Dog contest not all over this Pets issue? First, every news source around from KLCC to The New York Times covered ugly little Petunia. Also, there’s more to the story, and since we are the Weekly, we’re gonna take our time (Weekly, get it?) and dive into why dogs like Petunia exist (hint, unethical breeding and the burden it places on rescue groups). Stay tuned for more dog stories!
• Who wants a parade? We do! The newly annual Eugene BRiGHT Parade is Saturday, Sept. 27, and early bird entries end August 29. Dare EW to enter? Can we bring dogs and horses? Word is as long as we pick up the poop and don’t run an engine, we can. Tempting! Find out more at EugeneBrightParade.com.
• The August 26 All Eyes on ICE protest at the federal building heated up with federal officers aggressively pushing protesters — all caught on video. Appalled? Want to get involved? Find the Lane County Immigrant Defense Network via the Party for Socialism and Liberation Eugene at Linktr.ee/psleugene, and in Activist Alert. EW would like to put together a list of the numbers each week of folks being detained by ICE. If you can help us collect local info, reach out to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.
• For those concerned about Flock license plate readers being deployed by Eugene and Springfield police, after discovering that there was no statewide policy on license plate reader technology, nor a statewide policy requiring Oregon police departments contracting with Flock to lock down sharing settings, Sen. Ron Wyden’s staff asked Flock to implement privacy filters in Oregon to prevent out-of-state police searches related to abortion or immigration. Wyden says Oregonians’ license plate data are protected from such abusive queries as of July 25.
• The Corvallis City Council has been discussing “A Resolution Prohibiting Investment in Genocide, Apartheid and Illegal Occupation” — basically disinvesting from or not investing in companies profiting from human rights abuses. The resolution cites Investigate.info, a project of the American Friends Service Committee Economic Activism Program, for researching companies. The Corvallis Advocate, the area’s weekly paper, is vehemently against the resolution citing concerns over antisemitism. We’re on the side of standing up against human rights abuses here at the Weekly, and we always appreciate thoughtful discussion of intense topics. Read the viewpoint this week from a local rabbi on why you should protest the war in Gaza and how to not be antisemitic in doing it.
• White Bird Clinic announced its new executive director on August 26, Women’s Equality Day. Amée Markwardt is the first woman to lead the nonprofit in 50 years. We are looking forward to updates on the nonprofit’s beloved and much-needed CAHOOTS program.
• As we go to press, we find ourselves again fighting to comprehend the incomprehensible — another mass shooting at a school. As of August 27, law enforcement says the shooter shot through a window of a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. Another 14 children and three adults were injured — two in critical condition. The shooter killed himself. We need to stop this horrific violence. There are no simple answers — but we can change this.