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| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Anita Johnson, Georga Taylor |
| Editor | Camilla Mortensen |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 1251 Lincoln Street Eugene, Oregon |
| Circulation | approx. 36,000 (as of 2011)[1] |
| Website | eugeneweekly |
Eugene Weekly is analternative weekly newspaper published on Thursdays inEugene,Oregon. It began publication in 1982 and was originally namedWhat's Happening.[2]
The free newspaper, published every Thursday, has a circulation of 30,000.[1] 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[3][4] and solutions journalism.[5]
Eugene Weekly has won regional and national awards for its reporting,[6] solutions journalism[7] and photography[8] and for its arts criticism.[9]
A weekly arts and culture newspaper namedWhat'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, theWillamette Valley Observer, itself a successor to theEugene Augur.[10] A collective of five residents (Lucia McKelvey, Sonja Snyder, Liz Lyman, Lois Wadsworth and Bill Snyder)[10] launched the newspaper and operated it in its early days. It was sold to Art and Anita Johnson and Fred and Georga Taylor in 1991; Fredy Taylor was the former editor and managing editor ofThe Wall Street Journal. The newspaper was renamed toEugene Weekly in 1993 and expanded their scope beyond arts and culture to cover local news and politics.[11] Fred Taylor remained one of the owners of theWeekly until his death in 2015.[12]
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.[13] The loss left theWeekly 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 onGoFundMe to restart operations.[14][15][16] In one week, the paper raised more than $100,000 in donations, leadingWeekly 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.[17] 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.[18]
In October 2024,Eugene Weekly received a $100,000 grant from Press Forward to expand its coverage.[19] Later that year the paper's co-founder Anita Johnson died. Her 60% ownership stake then went into afamily trust for her four children who plan to transfer it to editor-in-chief Camilla Mortensen, who wants to convert theEugene Weekly into anonprofit organization or give ownership to apurpose trust.[20]
In July 2025, Young was extradited fromOhio toLane County and arraigned on theft charges.[21]