• Chef’s Night Out, the annual sold-out Food for Lane County fundraiser featuring tasty bites from all over town, was April 6. We were delighted to see Lane Community College’s Culinary Arts students shared the Mike West Overall Best Bite award with Agate Alley Bistro. West was an owner or co-owner of West Bros. BBQ, Cafe Zenon, and Fisherman’s Market among other restaurants, who died at age 51 back in 2011. He was also a force behind the popular foodie event. See all the winners at Bit.ly/cno2026.
• Speaking of winners! April 2 was the Oregon Beer Awards (OregonBeerAwards.com) and we were delighted to see local favorite ColdFire Brewing with a gold in “Mixed Culture Beers” for its Elisabeth farmhouse style ale, as well as with four other top-three awards.
• You know that meme of the cartoon dog sitting in a burning house and it says “everything’s fine”? That’s the current state of the online platform we use for our What’s Happening calendar. You might’ve noticed recently that it’s been slow to work on our website or that posting makes you want to pull your hair out or that it takes events longer than usual to get published. Don’t worry! We are in the middle of switching to a new, similar calendar platform. If you have any frustrations or questions, email Cal@EugeneWeekly.com.
• This week in news: The city of Eugene announced its Municipal Court is now a court of record. Until now, if a person is convicted there, they could ask for a new trial in Lane County Circuit Court. Now, a record is produced so a defendant can appeal a Municipal Court decision to a higher court, rather than have another trial. Over in the circuit court, all the local news sources were following the trial of Scott Stolarczyk, who was convicted on April 2 of second-degree manslaughter and DUI in the death of local musician and professor Sharon Schuman, whom he hit and killed when he lost control of his vehicle on Amazon Parkway. Less than an hour after the morning crash, Stolarczyk had a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit.
• This week in WTF: The public comments at the April 7 Lane County Board of Commissioners meeting went wild when retired businessman Ruben Garcia gave an excellent example of misogyny when he tried to call Commissioner Laurie Trieger to task for not letting him hug her. Trieger took a moment and then clapped back — powerfully and emotionally saying Garcia had sexually harassed her 30 years ago when she worked for him and “I stood back and said, ‘You do not have permission to touch me,’ and that offended you.” Watch the meeting on the Lane County YouTube page or read Trieger’s comments in the April 7 EW Extra Newsletter, Eugeneweekly.com/newsletter.
• If you’re making something meaningful happen in arts, culture, humanities or heritage — or know an organization or individual who is — let the community know, starting with us! In partnership with the Lane County Cultural Coalition, Eugene Weekly is helping amplify local organizations and events by offering free promotional advertising. We’re especially interested in supporting underrepresented or underfunded arts, cultural, humanities and heritage producers. Apply or nominate by April 23 by calling JJ at 541-484-0519, or emailing Office@EugeneWeekly.com.
• Iran, the United States and its ally, Israel, haveagreed upon an extremely fragile two-week ceasefire, with both sides halting bombardment as long as certain conditions are met. A key element at play in the ceasefire is reopening the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian control. This agreement comes after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, April 7, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight” if his deadline for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was not met. At press time, April 8, Iran had closed the strait again in response to continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Several reports of strikes from both sides continue despite the ceasefire, according to media sources. With Trump threatening to murder millions of civilians, he must be held accountable by the voters and lawmakers of this country.