Lookout Eugene-Springfield

🎉 Congratulations to our 2026 Journalism Scholarship winners and finalists! 🎉

We’re proud to celebrate these Lane County student journalists for their thoughtful reporting and community storytelling. Read all of the winning articles at the link in our bio.

Lookout’s annual Journalism Scholarship Challenge is open to all Lane County high school students! Keep an eye out for next year’s challenge — applications for the 2026–27 school year will open this fall.

Lane County lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss allegations in Commissioner David Loveall's lawsuit that other commissioners violated the state's open meetings law and that his due process rights were violated.

Read more: https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/government-politics/2026/06/02/lane-county-officials-ask-judge-to-toss-out-parts-of-lovealls-lawsuit/

Joel Iboa is the Oregon Just Transition Alliance executive director and a Homes for Good commissioner. Most recently, he is the chief petitioner for the Eugene Clean Energy Fund — an initiative that, through a fee on local profits of large retailers, generates a fund for projects that protect people on the forefront of climate extremes, like rising temperatures in heat-trapped communities.

“Climate justice is environmental justice,” said Iboa, explaining the nuance between the principles that seek to protect people from hazards around them. “Climate justice asks us not only to do what’s best for the land, but also do what’s best for the people, especially the folks who live and are from them.”

Read more from correspondent Ashli Blow https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/environment/2026/06/02/growing-up-in-two-distinct-eugene-neighborhoods-informed-activists-view-on-justice-and-more/

The potential ownership change at McKenzie-Willamette is part of a proposed merger between the hospital’s current owner, Tennessee-based Quorum Health, and Healthside Partners, which Quorum officials call a newly formed nonprofit.

Read more in the Lookout app or at this link: https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/latest-news/2026/06/01/mckenzie-willamette-poised-for-nonprofit-ownership-as-medicaid-cuts-loom/

Board members praised collaborative efforts that went into a difficult budget process this year. Administrators also announced changes to try to ease some of the staffing and programming effects of the cuts. Read the story from Lilly St. Angelo

‘It’s been hard’: After cuts, unexpected shortfalls, 4J school board OKs budget The Eugene School District 4J School Board unanimously voted to adopt the district’s 2026-27 budget Wednesday, May 27.

OPINION: Even after accounting for differences in poverty and race, Oregon's fourth-graders ranked dead last among all 50 states in both reading and math, according to a 2025 Urban Institute analysis of national test scores. Behind Alabama. Behind West Virginia. Behind Mississippi. Behind every state Oregon would never think to compare itself to. Read more here

Parents deserve a public accounting of Oregon’s education failure Even after accounting for differences in poverty and race, Oregon's fourth-graders ranked dead last among all 50 states in both reading and math.

Bill Cornog, who grew up in Eugene and made his money in private equity, wants Sporting Cascades FC’s games at Civic Park to feel distinctly local — but he also sees the club as part of a global player-development pipeline. Read the story from Tyson Alger

New owner of Eugene’s upcoming pro soccer club says he’s in it for the joy, not the money The new owner wants Civic Park to feel distinctly Eugene, but he also sees the club as part of a larger soccer-development pipeline.

University of Oregon student groups and traffic safety advocates have banded together to seek changes along Patterson Street in Eugene, where a bicyclist was hit and killed in January. Read the story from Ben Botkin

Advocates, UO students gather to push for improved traffic safety on Patterson Street University of Oregon groups and advocates want improvements along Patterson Street in Eugene, where a bicyclist was killed in January.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture missed its initial timeframe for publicly releasing its proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule. Eugene-based conservation groups and activists have spent months preparing for another public comment period that has yet to open. Read the story from Ashli Blow

Forest Service delays public rollout of its proposed repeal of Roadless Rule The U.S. Department of Agriculture missed its initial timeframe for publicly releasing its proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule. Eugene-based conservation groups and activists have spent months preparing for another public comment period that has yet to open.