• The May 26 murder of two men and near-fatal stabbing of a third by a white supremacist on a Portland commuter train is a sickening punch to the gut. People lost their lives standing up to a man harassing a Muslim teenage girl and her friend. Meanwhile, a local racist hung a banner proclaiming “Jews did 9-11” off an I-5 bridge north of Eugene. Local activists raced to stop it but didn’t arrive in time. And yet, that is our answer: Keep trying to stop the hate. Intervene. Be the helpers.
• If you watched the CNN program on the early 1960s in America, you must have shared our wonder about where we are today. Can you imagine President Kennedy or President Johnson tweeting? Or falling into the orbit of Putin, as President Trump has done for a complex of personal reasons, probably mostly money? Or alienating Europe until Der Spiegel, the Time magazine of Germany says “A Danger to the World”? It’s time to get rid of Donald Trump.
• The results of the annual Point in Time Homeless Count are in. Lane County tells us that 1,529 people were counted, and “this number includes homeless community members who were counted in a myriad of locations including the streets, under bridges, in parks, at food pantries, day access centers, schools, churches, emergency shelters, and transitional housing programs for homeless persons on January 25, 2017.” One piece of good news is that on the night of the count, 741 previously homeless people were living in permanent housing designated for homeless people. We have yet to do enough to help the area’s unhoused — see our news story this week on the homeless and tickets from the police — but there are bright spots. Another possible ray of hope? The city of Eugene’s Budget Committee recently recommended $1 million of the Comcast settlement be used for housing for the homeless. Kudos, Eugene. Now the City Council just needs to pass it!
• Oregon’s seven-member Supreme Court will have a female majority for the first time in June when Justice David Brewer from Eugene steps down and Rebecca Duncan steps up from the Court of Appeals. It would be great if Justice Martha Walters from Eugene moved into the presiding judge job. She has been a fine jurist, moving straight from trial practice to the Oregon Supreme Court.