By EW editorial staff
• Online extras this week! Snowden intern Aishiki Nag headed to Seattle for the FIFA World Cup Pride Match — that was ironically Iran versus Egypt, two countries that really don’t celebrate Pride — and ended in a draw and with Egypt moving to the next round. And our EW Asks! questionnaire asking readers’ thoughts on Best of Eugene (the real, OG Best of) categories is still open — it’s joined by another EW Asks about online comments. We accidentally turned them off a couple weeks ago and nobody complained and now we are tempted to leave them off. Weigh in at EugeneWeekly.com.
• You may have noticed that one of our events disappeared from Activist Alert, and for good reason! The weekly Make Whistle Kits gathering at First United Methodist Church has ended because organizers have surpassed their goal of producing more than 10,000 whistle kits to help inform and educate the community about ICE. The group also dropped off kits at the Eugene Weekly office — 1251 Lincoln Street — for anyone who would like one. Remaining kits will be kept on hand by organizers to restock distribution locations as needed. For more information, email Whistles2026@gmail.com.
• It’s Supreme Court ruling time and it’s been a mixed bag. Thumbs up for the birthright citizenship being affirmed. Thumbs down on the anti-immigrant ruling that limits amnesty and strips temporary protected status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been living and working in the U.S. legally. Thumbs down too on the ruling against trans athletes and on letting the president fire commissioners at federal agencies that were designed by Congress to be independent. WTF. Also, vote, damnit.
• The fence surrounding the downtown Federal Building is set to come down, even after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an administrative stay June 30 against its removal. The stay remained in place until U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai clarified exactly what alternatives the General Services Administration is authorized to employ. Kasubhai originally ordered the fence’s removal within 48 hours of June 26 after the GSA could not come up with a timeline for an alternative fence that would open up the plaza for protest activity. Kasubhai extended the order to July 1 — to ensure folks could exercise their free speech rights on July 4 — after the GSA said it could not comply on time. At press time, Kasubhai has renewed his order to begin removal of the fence by July 1. The GSA has asked once again for a stay, citing that the fence “did not violate Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.” The GSA has also appealed once again to the Ninth Circuit. Records show the GSA spent more than $58,000 on a contract to remove the fence and obtained a right of way permit from the city of Eugene.