This is officially the first full weekend of spring, a moment worth savoring in my book, so I was alarmed to learn — via this story in The New York Times — that spring may not be your favorite season. (In fact, as the Times reports, recent surveys have shown that spring in some polls now has fallen to third place for many Americans, which triggered a pair of thoughts for me: First, what is wrong with these Americans? And second, since pollsters are asking Americans about their favorite season, that must mean we’ve run out of other subjects to survey.)

Now, the mid-valley did not experience the kind of brutal winter that many of our fellow Americans endured. But there still were plenty of days when I had to scrape ice off the windshield of my car — oh, the humanity! — so spring is welcome in my book.

But our relatively warm and dry winter — along with the (previously) unseasonable heat dome that afflicted much of the West this week — should signal big flashing alarms for this summer across the West, as Rebecca Boyle writes in The Atlantic. As of this weekend, the indispensable Watch Duty app (consider a donation to this essential nonprofit) shows three wildfires burning in Oregon, including a 45-acre fire in Wallowa County. And we’re not even through March!

The New York Times’ reporting this week outlining how labor leader and United Farm Workers co-founder César Chavez sexually abused young girls and his longtime ally, Dolores Huerta, sent shockwaves throughout the nation, including at Oregon State University, where a cultural center bears Chavez’s name. (So does an elementary school in Eugene.) Hans Boyle, at the Gazette-Times, talked to a pair of OSU professors about the revelations, and they had thoughtful things to say. 

If you’re interested in reading the Times’ main story about its five-year investigation into Chavez, you can find it here. 

The last time I checked, that referendum about Oregon’s controversial 2025 transportation law is still scheduled to be on the ballot this May, instead of in November, as Republicans preferred. But the fact that the measure – which would negate tax and fee increases included in the law – is on the ballot in the first place bodes poorly for the law, as Mia Maldonado at the Oregon Capital Chronicle reports: Counting the May measure, Oregonians have referred 67 laws to the ballot. Two-thirds of those measures have been successful at overturning laws. Oregon is a national pioneer in its use of the referendum and initiative petitions.

Saturday is the last day of Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of open government and public records – you know, the idea that government functions best when it does its work in full view of the public. (I know, it seems obvious. But sometimes government officials – well, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt today and say that sometimes, they forget.) To that end, here’s a Capital Chronicle story about Oregon journalists urging Gov. Tina Kotek to veto a just-passed piece of legislation that could make it easier for government officials to conduct business through “chain conversations” – one-on-one transactions that can be held outside of public scrutiny. 

CBS News announced this week that it was laying off another 6% of its workforce, about 60 jobs. The cuts include shuttering CBS News Radio, which has been on the air since 1927. These new cuts come in the wake of additional layoffs last fall, when CBS News cut about 100 jobs shortly after its parent company merged with Skydance. 

A funny thing happened as comedian Bill Maher was on the way to receive this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy (Donald J. Trump) Center for the Performing Arts: Trump apparently decided that Maher wouldn’t get the prize. Maybe this isn’t actually that funny – but, regardless, The Atlantic explains how the on-again, off-again feud between the two looks to be very much on again. 

The SAVE America Act, the bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification when casting their ballot, is almost certainly doomed, The Atlantic reports. So why is Trump so determined to get it passed? The theory The Atlantic lays out is that it’s part of Trump’s bigger plan, to irresponsibly sow doubt about the integrity of U.S. elections – clearing the way for him to interfere with those elections.

In a state whose lore includes an effort to blow up a beached whale with dynamite, it makes sense that The Oregonian/OregonLive would be all over a story about a man and his dog, walking along a stretch of ocean beach in Tillamook County, who came across the carcass of a dead dairy cow.

Curious about how I did with my Oscar predictions? No? That’s too bad.

I was at least partially right in 20 of 24 categories, and the rare tie in the live-action short category explains the phrase “partially right” – if I had been really sharp, I would have predicted the tie and both winners, “Two People Exchanging Saliva” (my choice), along with the other winner, “The Singers.” But my reasoning here is that people who correctly predicted at least one of the winners should get credit for that category. (And someone who predicted the tie – and both winners – should have been declared the winner of your Oscar pool even if they missed every other category.)

I missed on casting, which went to “One Battle After Another” instead of my choice, “Sinners.” I missed on cinematography, which went exactly the other way as casting. (I should have known better on that one.) I whiffed on documentary, which went to “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” instead of  “The Perfect Neighbor.” The animated short award went to “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” instead of “Butterfly,” my choice. 

Overall, I thought the ceremony went well – and I loved Conan O’Brien’s joke about how the sequel to “F1” would be called “Caps Lock.” (It’s a keyboard joke! Get it?)

And apparently, Conan’s line isn’t the only “Caps Lock” joke out there: A quick internet search reveals hundreds of other similar jokes, and it’s safe to say they’re all as bad as this one:

Q: Why couldn’t the computer take its hat off?

A: Because it had its CAPS LOCK on.

In any event, none of the other entrants in my Oscar challenge was able to beat my mark – but I only had one contestant, and because I’m in a good mood, I’m going to send Cynthia that $25 gift certificate to Darkside Cinema. Next year, I promise to post my Oscar predictions a little earlier. 

That’s it for this weekend. Get outside and gulp down some fresh air before the skies are choked with wildfire smoke.