• Monday, Feb. 2, was Groundhog Day, and our quote of the week from a loyal reader is, “If the groundhog pops his head out and doesn’t get tear gassed, does that mean we get six more weeks of democracy?” There’s been a lot of tear gas, pepper balls and pepper spray this week at the downtown Federal Building and Eugene Weekly has been there to document — reporter Eve Weston is unmistakable in her red EW press vest. See all updates and videos at EugeneWeekly.com. Particularly of note were videos of a federal agent stomping on a Mexican flag, footage of the feds shooting pepper balls and tear gas into the streets, and the controversy over just who broke a window at the Federal Building.
• Speaking of the Mexican flag, the officer who stomped and kicked it reminds us to focus on why folks are protesting in the first place — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are mistreating immigrants, racially profiling people of color and murdering protesters and legal observers. The protests are over democracy and these days, our democracy is smelling a lot like tear gas.
• And speaking of just what all this is about, Oregon Community Asylum Network, which works with asylum seekers and other immigrants, is running low on funds. OCAN pays attorney fees to help folks get green cards, work permits and asylum status. The group has also been paying bills for folks who have lost a breadwinner in their family or whose hours have been cut due to small businesses losing customers. A kick-off for a weeklong online auction is 4 pm to 6 pm, Feb. 7, at 1376 Olive Street. Bid at App.galabid.com/2026-ocan-fundraiser.
• On a more cheerful note, also at EugeneWeekly.com, is the news that the former owner of what was our fav hippie gas station, SeQuential Biofuels, is now the owner of Sam Bond’s Garage! Ian Hill tells EW that he plans to re-open Sam Bond’s in May or June. He says, “The opportunity that we had to be in a position where we could jump in and try to be a part of bringing it back and keeping it in the community — that just seemed a great place to put energy and resources.”
• As EW goes to press, word has gone out that PeaceHealth is terminating its contract with local Eugene Emergency Physicians in favor of Georgia-based ApolloMD, to save costs. PeaceHealth insiders say that many of the EEP doctors will not apply due to the lower pay, and that nurses may leave, too. With PeaceHealth already having closed its Eugene emergency room, we’re wondering how the latest developments will affect ER visits?
• Right-wing darling Ammon Bundy, who led the six-week armed takeover of eastern Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016, has come out in strong opposition to Donald Trump’s brutal immigration policy. According to The Atlantic magazine, federal agents’ recent violence “clearly looks like tyranny,” in Bundy’s own words. “It’s sickening to me.” “To call [immigrants] criminals for lacking official permission” to be in the country, Bundy wrote in a self-published essay in November, “is to forget the moral law of God, the historical truth of our own founding, and the Constitutional ideals that continue to define justice.” This stance has not endeared him to the MAGA world, and the Atlantic story is titled “Ammon Bundy Is All Alone.”