Eugene Weekly

Overview

The free newspaper, published every Thursday, has a circulation of 30,000. It publishes an annual "Best of Eugene" list, a restaurant guide ("Chow!"), and special sections on festivals, music, wine, health and travel. Eugene Weekly covers local and state politics, news, arts and culture, and it publishes investigative and solutions journalism.

Eugene Weekly has won regional and national awards for its reporting, solutions journalism and photography and for its arts criticism.

History

A weekly arts and culture newspaper named What's Happening was first published on September 16, 1982. It started as an effort to retain a particularly popular section, the events calendar, of the immediately previous alternative newspaper, the Willamette Valley Observer, itself a successor to the Eugene Augur. A collective of five residents (Lucia McKelvey, Sonja Snyder, Liz Lyman, Lois Wadsworth and Bill Snyder) Fred Taylor remained one of the owners of the Weekly until his death in 2015.

Embezzlement

In December 2023, the newspaper announced it had lost over $100,000 to an embezzlement scheme by a former business manager, Elisha Young, who had access to their finances. The loss left the Weekly with several months of unpaid bills and unable to pay its 10 staff members, who were laid off beginning on December 21. The newspaper was put on hiatus due to an unpaid debt to its printer; a fundraising campaign was started on GoFundMe to restart operations. In one week, the paper raised more than $100,000 in donations, leading Weekly managers to suggest they could restart printing before the end of January. However, managers estimated $188,000 is needed to get the paper out of enough debt to get back on track. After receiving $150,000 in donations, the newspaper announced it would resume weekly printing starting Feb. 8 with roughly 25,000 copies going to newsstands.

In October 2024, Eugene Weekly received a $100,000 grant from Press Forward to expand its coverage. Later that year the paper's co-founder Anita Johnson died. Her 60% ownership stake then went into a family trust for her four children who plan to transfer it to editor-in-chief Camilla Mortensen, who wants to convert the Eugene Weekly into a nonprofit organization or give ownership to a purpose trust.

In July 2025, Young was extradited from Ohio to Lane County and arraigned on theft charges.

References

References

1. "Eugene Weekly". [[Association of Alternative Newsweeklies]].
2. "About Us". Eugene Weekly.
3. Mortensen, Camilla. "Rape U". Eugene Weekly.
4. (June 1, 2017). "Criminalizing Homelessness". Eugene Weekly.
5. Kenoyer, Kelly. (May 4, 2017). "A System of Neglect". Eugene Weekly.
6. Cook, Caley. (June 19, 2016). "Congratulations to this year’s Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest Winners". [[Society of Professional Journalists]].
7. Stauffer, Todd. (July 23, 2022). "Winners Announced in 2022 AAN Awards".
8. Zaragoza, Jason. (July 9, 2016). "2016 AAN Awards Winners Announced". AAN.
9. Snead, Molly. (June 16, 2017). "2017 AAN Awards Finalists Announced". AAN.
10. (September 22, 2022). "Eugene Weekly's Radical Roots".
11. Keefer, Bob. (September 22, 2022). "Still in Print". Eugene Weekly.
12. (August 20, 2015). "Remembering Fred Taylor". Eugene Weekly.
13. (December 28, 2023). "Where's the Damn Paper? – Eugene Weekly". Eugene Weekly.
14. Rush, Claire. (December 29, 2023). "Embezzlement of Oregon weekly newspaper's funds forces it to lay off entire staff and halt print". [[The Washington Post]].
15. Wilk, Nathan. (December 28, 2023). "Eugene Weekly newspaper says it's fallen victim to an embezzlement scheme".
16. Cyr, Miranda. (December 28, 2023). "Eugene Weekly stops print, lays off staff, citing alleged embezzlement scam".
17. Cyr, Miranda. (January 6, 2024). "Eugene Weekly raises over $100,000 through community support one week after embezzlement scam".
18. Rush, Claire. (2024-01-28). "Oregon weekly newspaper to relaunch print edition after theft forced it to lay off its entire staff".
19. Lehman, Chris. (October 22, 2024). "Eugene Weekly gets $100k grant to boost coverage".
20. Wilk, Nathan. (January 3, 2025). "Eugene Weekly co-owner Anita Johnson remembered as ownership transitions to editor-in-chief".
21. Kochanski, Haleigh. (July 3, 2025). "Elisha Young arraigned on embezzlement charges in Eugene Weekly case". registerguard.com.