• ICE BOX: According to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, detentions are on the rise, with 43 detentions in May — 19 detentions between May 20 and 28 — those include detentions in Lane, Benton, Marion, Jackson and Multnomah counties. PIRC says four out of five detentions are before noon and many of them directly follow interaction with local law enforcement.
• Thank you to everyone who came to Eugene Weekly Day, May 30 at Claim 52 — and thanks to all the folks who made it possible to celebrate and fundraise for the commie rag! We had a blast talking to folks, listening to music, playing pinball and more. You can still enter the raffle to win a chance to photobomb a future Eugene Weekly cover. Raffle tickets can be purchased on the Eugene Weekly Day page at the top of our website through June 15. Now set your sights on CageFest at Art House — Eugene Weekly’s two-day all Nicolas Cage film festival! Fun fact: Cage’s real name is Nicolas Coppola (he’s the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola) but he used the stage name Cage to separate himself and in 2025, legally changed his name to — Nicolas Cage.
• For the little paper that could category! We are excited to have won six regional journalism awards through the Society of Professional Journalists! Despite our small staff, we wound up in the medium category competing against newsrooms three times our size! Catalyst Journalism Project and graduating University of Oregon senior Mirandah Davis-Powell took first in Arts & Culture Reporting for her story on Abilities Diner: “The Diner Fighting for Inclusivity,” and fellow graduating senior and Catalyst reporter Seira Kitagawa took third in Racial Equity Reporting for “Thriving Under Fear,” about a Latino community garden. Former Catalyst writer and 2025 UO grad Emma J Nelson got first for LGBTQ+ Equity Reporting, “Housing a Rainbow.” Bricks $ Mortar columnist Christian Wihtol walked away with two awards: Third place in Business & Economics Reporting for “Waiting for Stratacache,” about the old Hynix plant and third for Series for his reporting on the Amazon warehouse. EW’s graphic artist McKenzie Young-Roy took second in Graphics & Illustrations for her cover, and reporter Eve Weston got a third in Environment & Natural Disaster Reporting for her story about dams and salmon, “Drawdown.”
• Reports of a 4J middle school telling students they can’t celebrate “Drag Day” started circulating on social media at the start of June — Pride month. Last year, right-wing news sites created drama around Arts & Technology Middle School’s Pride Spirit Week and its optional student-initiated Drag Day. This year, 4J tells us that several schools observe Pride Week, and this year, ATA had “more inclusive ‘Express Yourself’” as one of five themed days during the week — Rainbow Day, Day of Remembrance, Queer Hero Day and Pride Flag Day. The school district says, “The message to students and families for Express Yourself Day is ‘wear whatever makes you feel most authentically you, celebrating unique identity with no limits or labels.’” 4J adds, “Last year, our school and district administrators who were visiting ATA on that day (partly to ensure student and staff safety in the wake of the elevated attention from select national media) observed no students choosing to participate in drag attire. The themes this year have been thoughtfully developed to educate and support inclusion while still being age-appropriate and in a vein that students participate in.”
We will update Slant as we learn more!
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