On April 15, Lane Community College President Stephanie Bulger brought together members of the College Council, the school’s college planning and policy body, and faculty to discuss concerns regarding the departure of underrepresented faculty members and students as a result of bias and discrimination felt on campus. “I want to remind everyone that you’ve got a president right now who is leading diversity, equity and inclusion in the college who has both knowledge and lived experience,” she said at the meeting. When the country began to unpack systemic racial discrimination in the mid-1960s co ..read more

All the way from space, intergalactic dance mixed with eclectic music is in Springfield this Saturday. Swallowtail Spirits host Pulp and Friends: May The 4th Be With You featuring local artists and EDM beats. Pineal Pulp — aka Miles Lentz — is kicking off his monthly series of EDM shows with this event bringing experience from Michigan and Colorado as a producer and DJ. “We have a small but thriving EDM scene that is supported by some really great people working hard to bring events showcasing local talent to the area,” Lentz says. “I have rounded up some amazing up-and-coming local DJs, produ ..read more

Head out to Golden Gardens Park and learn about unique wildlife and the diverse ecosystem of the park at Birds, Bees & Turtles, Oh My! May 4. Kicking off the morning is the bird walk with the Lane Audubon Society. Nature explore backpacks are loaned out for free with supplies, like binoculars, scopes and bug nets to get a closer look at the creatures. Around noon, the bee survey with Beyond Toxics and Bee City Eugene is happening where local volunteers and anyone who wants to join in can safely catch bees in little jars and identify the type of species. “It’s a good way to get a baseline r ..read more

A 24-year-old man died in front of Eugene Weekly’s offices early on the morning of April 25. Eugene police say the cause of his death is still under investigation, but the signs point to a drug overdose.  Police identified the man as Ian Alexander Stouder of Eugene. Surveillance video shows four people, including Stouder, gathered outside EW’s office at 1251 Lincoln St. around 7:20 that morning. Three people left a few minutes after 8 am, and Stouder remained alone on the bench in front of the office.  An EW employee discovered Stouder shortly before 9 am and called 911. Eugene Polic ..read more

Technically, the 53 acres of land and buildings near 13th and Jefferson is the Lane Events Center, but locals just call it the Fairgrounds.  The Livestock Building at the Lane Events Center — host to 4-H and Future Farmers of America livestock during the annual Lane County Fair — could be demolished to make way for a brand new minor-league stadium for the Eugene Emeralds Minor League Baseball team.  The cost on paper to rebuild the livestock facility, $10 million, tells only part of the story.  If it breaks in favor of the Ems, longtime programs like FFA and 4-H will have to fin ..read more

On Tuesday, April 16, two Lane County Elections workers were on their sixth hour of filling out test ballots in the Lane County Elections Office. According to Lane County Clark Dena Dawson, 2,000 ballots need to be marked in a specific pattern in order to test the voting system.  The workers, Rusty and Elaine, have gone through an eighth of the test ballots so far.  “It’s tedious work,” Dawson says. “I’m surprised their wrists still work at this point, but we do it to test the voting systems. Most people don’t know that we do these things.” Since Dawson became the Lane County Clerk i ..read more

It’s the very first scene from Bright Star, the poignant musical that opened April 26 at Actors Cabaret of Eugene, and Alice Murphy is declaring how heart-wrenching her road was to a contented understanding of a past that was stifled by the social norms of the time. Alice (Claire Kepple) stands at center stage, surrounded by the cast from The Non-Stop Players, the company in residence at ACE, and delivers a forceful rendition of “If You Knew My Story.” “If you knew my story / You’d have a good story to tell / Me I’m not alone / Tell me I’m not alone / Many backs have broken from lesser weight ..read more

• Dear Phil Knight (Uncle Phil, if we may): We see you have launched the “Nike Metamorph poncho,” which runs about $620, and transforms into a tent. The poncho is part of the NIKE ISPA line — Improvise. Scavenge. Protect. Adapt. (You know, Just Do It, only longer). We would like to suggest that you use some of the profits for the poncho — which is probably great for watching soccer or something — to provide tents for some of the unhoused folks who could use a respite from the rain or sun.  • It was quite a last weekend of April in Eugene. Saturday was the University of Oregon spring ..read more

Hot springs should be earned. A soak certainly seems more satisfying after a day of hiking. And I don’t think the quarter-mile trail to Terwilliger Hot Springs at Cougar Reservoir is long enough to qualify. The closest real hike, along French Pete Creek, burned to snags in a 2018 wildfire. What to do instead? Try taking Aufderheide Drive to a forgotten corner of the Waldo Lake Wilderness, where a three-mile portion of the Shale Ridge Trail ambles amid unburned trees even bigger than French Pete’s. Then swing by Terwilliger Hot Springs (known to most as Cougar Hot Springs) on the way home. The ..read more

Gordon Gano wrote the lyrics to the song that would change his life, “Blister in the Sun,” when he was 15. High school didn’t interest him and neither did his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Instead, Gano spent his adolescence clawing his way back to the place he was born — New York City — while hopelessly trapped in the halls of Rufus King High School, dreaming of being near his favorite bands like Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers and Jonathan Richman.  His only escape: lamenting his turmoil through songwriting. “I didn’t have a good time in school, but if I could write a song tha ..read more