• Policy wonks unite! City Club of Eugene is going to dive into the city of Eugene’s budget process! Speakers include longtime conservative Eugene City Councilor Mike Clark, City Council candidate and seven-year Eugene Budget Committee member Tai Pruce-Zimmerman, and President & CEO of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce Brittany Quick-Warner. Check it out at noon, Friday, Sept. 19, at the WOW Hall on 8th Avenue.
• Think local politics are boring? Think again! We reported back in August that Lane County Commissioner David Loveall was causing controversy with his religious invocations before commission meetings. That was the tip of the iceberg. Both the daily, out-of-state owned paywalled publications in town reported on Loveall’s ongoing bad behavior at the county. (We are pro-paywall, journalism costs money, but we have to brag about being free!) The board chair has demonstrated “a pattern of disregard for others that is escalating and increasingly impacting employees and taxpayers,” The Register-Guard reports that county admin Steve Mokrohisky wrote in an email. Loveall referred to one woman as a stripper and another as a spinster — the latter insult led to a $250,000 settlement the RG and its new digital rival we like to call LOL report. Given the Weekly was the news outlet that reported Loveall was seen patrolling Main Street Springfield with an AR-15 style rifle during a Black Lives Matter protest before he was elected, we are kinda not surprised. Loveall’s position 2 Springfield seat is up for election in May 2026. Who’s up for it?
• Word is that the plaque commemorating longtime Eugene joketeller and jokebook writer David “Frog” Miller is done. Frog died Nov. 2, 2024, and is remembered for his groan-worthy jokes as well as taking on the city of Eugene, which tried to ding him for illegal sidewalk vending. His case went to the Oregon Supreme Court, and he won. Frog was known for his jokebook vending in front of the University of Oregon Duck Store at 13th and Kincaid, and his friends and advocates would love to see the plaque land there.
• Speaking of plaques … Eugene Weekly, along with 32 other Oregon Blackberry Award winners, will be listed on a new plaque being unveiled at the Nobel Peace Park, located within Alton Baker Park, at a free, family-friendly community festival on Sept. 21. The Oregon Blackberry Award, modeled after the Nobel Prize, is a way of acknowledging individuals (and apparently institutions) “who make a positive difference in the cultures and communities of Oregon.” The Nobel Peace Park is the only park in the United States that publicly honors, with outdoor plaques, all 24 American winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. The celebration runs from noon to 4 pm.
• Eugene Weekly’s Eve Weston had the opportunity to join Cascadia Wildlands, KLCC and Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology in a flight over the Willamette National Forest’s roadless areas on Sept. 15. These areas are in danger as the United States Forest Service considers repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule, which is intended to protect sensitive ecosystems by preventing designated areas from having new roads constructed and old roads maintained. Public comment on the proposal to rescind the rule closes Friday Sept. 19 — see last week’s story as well as the online extra viewpoint by Oregon Wild’s Chandra LeGue. The flight, piloted by Gary Kraft of EcoFlight, took the group over some of Oregon’s extremely remote areas as well as the devastation caused by wildfires of years past.
• Beavers and Ducks will proudly wave their flags Sept. 20 for the 129th football clash between Oregon and Oregon State at Autzen Stadium. The rivalry game will be the two schools’ last violent collisions and flying bodies on the football field, at least for 2026. College football realignment is the reason, and it marks the first interruption of the series since World War II. The Ducks now play sports in the Big Ten Conference, and the Beavers play an independent football schedule while trying to restart the Pac-12. Both programs are locked into their schedules for 2026, but there is hope for reviving the series in 2027. Oregon enters the game 3-0 and ranked sixth in the country, while OSU is winless in its first three games. Oregon leads the series with a 69-49-10 record.
• On the sportsball tip, no, contrary to a spurious post on the Facebook page, “Quack Attack Nation,” the Ducks did not leave an empty seat in memory of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The story said there was a golden plaque engraved with the words “Forever with the Ducks – Charlie Kirk.” There was not. What did happen is Coach Dan Lanning said, “The U.S. could learn a lot from our locker room… you’ve got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you’ve got a team that loves each other.” He also called for common sense in the gun violence debate, but added, “the reality is there is just not a lot of common sense on both sides.” Indeed.