The Eugene Emeralds are playing in the High-A West Championship Series, a best-of-five series that started Sept. 21. But the team won’t play a game in Eugene; instead they’ll have their home field advantage in Spokane, the Ems said in a press release. That’s because the team’s lease at the University of Oregon’s PK Park ran out Sept. 10 and the season ran longer this year after the team was promoted to the Single A league. We’re guessing the Ems would’ve played the championship series in Eugene had the team not deserted the old Civic Stadium for the UO’s PK Park. Tragic burning of the old Civic Stadium aside, it worked out well for Civic and Kidsports with a shiny new facility and playing fields.
• Best of Eugene voting ends Friday Sept. 24 at 11:59 pm — aka just before midnight. This is your annual opportunity, dear readers, to tell us what you love about Lane County (Yes, we call it Best of Eugene but all of Lane County is eligible, so you, too, can vote Springfield as best thing about Eugene, as Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon says he did). Vote now!
• Redistricting Oregon’s Legislature and congressional districts is off to a rocky start. House Speaker (and hopeful gubernatorial candidate) Tina Kotek decided to have a majority Democrat committee decide the U.S. congressional districts, a committee that was previously balanced with members of both major political parties. State Rep. Marty Wilde dissented with the Senate’s proposed map, saying the map diluted racial minorities and prioritized residences of existing legislators. He alleges the Senate then punished him by creating a map that turned his rural-urban district — that currently includes the University of Oregon — and gerrymanders it into a safe Republican seat. Read more about Wilde’s complaints and an update on the process at EugeneWeekly.com. Hopefully, the Legislature gets its act together before the redistricting process ends up in court — or gets redrawn by the secretary of state.
• We bid a fond “see you later” to EW reporter Taylor Perse who heads off to spend nine months in Spain. She assures us she will be learning Spanish in a highly vaccinated rural area. While she’s gone, former intern Gina Scalpone will cover Perse’s K-12 education and Eugene city government beats.
• “The Knight Campus: How the Growth of a Research Juggernaut can Change the World… and Eugene” is the City Club of Eugene topic for Friday, Sept. 24. Robert Guldberg, vice president and executive director of the Knight Campus, will speak. The program airs on the City Club Facebook and YouTube pages starting at noon. The City Club promises a preview of what’s coming next and how the discoveries and inventions coming from the campus can have an impact right here.
• What we are reading next: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. This memoir with ties to Eugene is an expansion of Zauner’s 2018 New Yorker essay mourning the death of her Korean mom. Zauner, who plays as indie rock band Japanese Breakfast, performs a sold out show at WOW Hall Friday, Sept. 24. See more in EW’s What’s Happening Calendar.