• The American people took charge of their own government in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, voting overwhelmingly against the sleaze, corruption, dishonesty, cruelty and incompetence of the Trump regime — turning control of both the House and Senate over to the Democratic Party. Locally, Gov. Tina Kotek staved off a serious challenge by Republican Christine Drazan, and elections across the country marked historic firsts — Xavier Becerra will be California’s first elected Latino governor. Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms became the nation’s first Black female governor. Deb Haaland became the nation’s first Native American female governor in New Mexico. And in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. Locally, as we go to print, Eugene Weekly’s endorsements hold onto leads across the county. As of Nov. 4, Heather Buch for Lane County East Lane has 51.11 percent of the vote. Athena Aguiar has declared victory for Eugene City Council Ward 5 and more (see our story this issue). While Trump is blaming Fox News for the GOP catastrophe and he and his cabinet members are facing the real possibility of impeachment, the stodgy Dem incumbents are welcoming a range of new progressive voices to their midst. Congrats, America! Now, Congress, do your job!
• PeaceHealth’s Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital and Lane County’s Crisis Stabilization Center are a big step closer to coming to fruition. Springfield City Council voted unanimously Nov. 2 to approve the annexation request for 18 acres on International Way that allows the project to move ahead. As EW’s Bricks $ Mortar has reported, the proposal has had a lot of enthusiasm from the community and law enforcement and the main opposition came from two companies that own property near the proposed site, and a business group, Common Sense for Springfield. A press release from PeaceHealth says “groundbreaking on the $82 million behavioral health hospital could happen as soon as next spring.” The release says that PeaceHealth estimates crisis patients receiving care at the stabilization center, rather than the RiverBend emergency department, will reduce ED wait times by over 40 minutes for each patient.
• Election Day is when we decide who will run the city, county, state and federal government, right? Well sort of. In places like Eugene and Lane County, the government also often has an unelected city manager or county administrator who does a lot of the day-to-day work. The positions are appointed by the city council or county commission. At noon, Friday, Nov. 6, at WOW Hall (291 West 8th Avenue) Eugene’s relatively new city manager, Jenny Haruyama, will be interviewed by longtime (and outgoing) Lane County Administrator, Steve Mokrohisky.
• Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky has done a great job staying behind the scenes at the county for more than a decade, until the California-based digital startup Lookout Eugene-Springfield (an outpost of Lookout Local, or as we like to say, LOL, and as everyone else likes to say, Outlook) took him to task in an Oct. 22 editorial that started off “What was Steve Mokrohisky thinking?” Mokrohisky, County Commissioner Laurie Trieger and others clapped back at the reporting and the editorial (you can read our story at EugeneWeekly.com) and LOL has now posted at least three pieces seeking to defend its reporting and ethics. Fascinating. When EW reporter Eve Weston reached out for comment from LOL on her story, she discovered the newsroom doesn’t have a posted phone number. Also fascinating. For the record, you can reach this commie rag at 541-484-0519.