The Bend Park & Recreation District is working on clearing bushes and tree limbs from parks to reduce the risk of a wildfire spreading to nearby neighborhoods. New plans to create vegetation buffers comes amid a heightened awareness about the potential for catastrophic wildfire and a community-wide push to become more resilient. The park district has been clearing overgrown brush from wildfire-prone parks […]
Bend Park District Ramps Up Wildfire Thinning
Posted inLocal News
New Women’s Police Training Org Names New President
Redmond Police Department’s Lieutenant April Huey was elected as the Oregon Association for Women in Criminal Justice’s first president. Huey formed the OAWCJ in March as a separate branch of the Oregon Peace Officers Association, and was later elected president by its members. As a non-profit organization, OPOA promotes proper training and achievement recognition for police officers in Oregon. The new OAWCJ offers similar programs, but places an emphasis on championing women’s empowerment in the Oregon Criminal Justice field. […]
Posted inLocal News
Federal Immigration Officials Made 279 Queries into Bend’s Flock Safety Data in its First Three Weeks
Community members who applauded Bend City Council for turning off Flock Safety’s AI-powered surveillance cameras at a Jan. 7 business meeting weren’t paranoid. Reporting by the Oregon Law Center has revealed that federal immigration officials — including those from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations — […]
Posted inFilm
Streep, Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci: Still a Perfect Combo
As someone who has dressed like a color blind retiree since childhood, I know next to nothing about couture, modern fashion, or why one designer brand outranks another. Watching “The Devil Wears Prada” all the way back in the year of our lord 2006, I knew the film really wasn’t “for me,” yet I still […]
Posted inOutside Features
Flag Football Offers Sports Pathway for Young Women Across Central Oregon
It’s a perfect night for football. The air is crisp and cool as the sun sets and the lights come on at Mountain View High School’s varsity football field. There’s a cross-town rivalry being battled out as the Cougars face off against the Summit High School Storm. However, this isn’t your typical football game. There […]
Posted inCulture
Free Will Astrology, Week of May 7
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When lightning from a cloud hits sand or soil, the current travels down into the ground. It melts material along its path and forms tubular, branching glass structures that can penetrate deep below the surface. I believe that metaphorically similar phenomena will soon happen in your life, Taurus. Sudden insights or […]
Posted inLocal News
Deschutes County to Choose New Landfill Site — Again — as Deadline Looms
For the second time since 2024, the committee tasked with choosing a new landfill site for Deschutes County is getting ready to make a final recommendation. The County’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee went back to the drawing board last summer after property negotiations stalled over a 440-acre gravel mine called the “Moon Pit” 15 miles southeast of Bend. Now, the County is banking on a different site working out. Any further delays […]
Posted inLocal News
Dry Forests, Warming Weather Signal Early Start to Central Oregon Wildfire Season
Snowpack has mostly vanished from mid-elevation forests in Central Oregon, meaning logs, trees and shrubs are drying out earlier — one factor that could result in a boisterous wildfire season. That was part of the report from a preseason wildfire briefing held Monday morning at the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District station in Sisters. Elected officials from Bend, Redmond and Sisters, along with state and local fire officials from departments in Redmond and the Sisters area, met at a […]
Posted inPodcasts
LISTEN: The Lunchbucket Podcast, Ellie 🎧
In this episode of The Lunchbucket Podcast, Ellie shares what it’s like to be a Dutch Bros barista. The training she went through, the details involved in making all those specialty caffeinated drinks, and how it feels to interact with customers for hours at a time. Plus, she talks about her favorite lunchtime eats, Bo’s Bagels […]
Posted inOpinion
A Library — Any Library — in Bend Couldn’t Come Too Soon
In just a few short days, the Deschutes Public Library’s new Central Library will open on the east side of Bend. For those who have gone by during the many months it’s stood there under construction, the 100,000-square-foot space is certainly hard to miss. We are excited about it, but right now we’re also still […]