Clayton Franke

Deschutes County this month adopted new hiring practice rules aimed at eliminating pay differences between men and women, but it still has not released results of an ongoing organization-wide study into wage gaps amid County employees more than a year after its expected completion date.  In March 2024, an internal audit found wage gaps existed […]

A $47 million construction project that roughly doubled the size of the Deschutes County Courthouse is officially complete.   The project added about 51,000 square feet, two new courtrooms, jury deliberation rooms, judge’s chambers, public service counters, a more accessible entrance and a new lobby — transforming the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Bond Street […]

The City of Bend later this month plans to remove part of a center median on Greenwood Avenue between the U.S. Highway 97 underpass and 3rd Street, aiming to reduce vehicle backups on one of the City’s busiest east-west thoroughfares.   Construction will take place between Aug. 24 and Labor Day, the City announced Monday. The […]

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) gathered with local elected officials at Bend City Hall Monday afternoon to discuss wildfire response and preparedness as a smattering of large infernos continue to burn across Oregon.   After attending fire briefings in Warm Springs and Prineville Sunday and Monday, Wyden criticized the federal government’s response while praising the firefighters on the front lines.   “The so-called response by Washington, D.C., if […]

A former British airliner once suited to carry 100 passengers now skims the Central Oregon High Desert carrying only two people: a pilot and an officer trying to decide where to send 27,000 pounds of reddish-pink slurry tumbling to the ground.  They are among the first to reach the fanning flames of the Bench Fire burning on the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs […]

A committee appointed to help spur Bend’s housing production has come up with a set of policy recommendations the Bend City Council will discuss this month — including whether to ask voters to help subsidize affordable housing through a tax measure.  The recommendations are intended to propel Bend toward lofty home building targets established by the state. That could mean expanding property tax and infrastructure fee exemptions for affordable […]