Avatar photo

Jack Harvel

Jack is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and has been making his way west since graduating from the University of Missouri, working a year and a half in Northeast Colorado before moving to Bend in the Spring of 2021. When not reporting he’s either playing folk songs (poorly) or grand strategy video games, and checking out the different hiking trails in Central Oregon.

jharvel@gannett.com
Posted inNews

Glowing Up the Power Grid

Oregon’s climate goals will transform the way the state delivers energy to people’s homes
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Oregon set ambitious climate goals in June 2021, seeking to fully eliminate carbon emissions from the state’s electrical grid by 2040. It’s the fastest decarbonization timeline for a power grid in the United States. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality found electricity use contributes nearly 30% of emissions in the state, second only to transportation. […]

Posted inCulture

Keeping Your New Year’s Resolution

More than 90% of New Year’s Resolutions get abandoned — so how do you become one of the 10%?
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Nearly 40% of adults had a new year’s resolution going into 2022 — and by February about 36% of those people had already given up. Fewer than one in 10 people are able to maintain their resolution the whole year, and the people who fall off the wagon often blame it on a lack of […]

Posted inNews

Straight Blastin’ in Bend

Bend’s newest MMA gym packs a punch, and is part of an international organization of fighting gyms
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Straight Blast Gym is Bend’s newest mixed martial arts gym, offering classes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai and more under the SBG banner, which has locations in over a dozen states, is in eight countries and has trained high-profile fighters including Connor McGregor. Brian Heenan, SBG Bend’s owner and head instructor, started […]

Posted inNews

New Year New Council

New and returning city councilors took their oaths of office, but the new mayor’s ascension leaves a vacancy the City must fill within a month
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

On Jan. 4 the Bend City Council swore in new members and declared the vacancy of councilor-turned mayor Melanie Kebler’s former seat. Councilors thanked outgoing councilors Mo Mitchell and Stephen Sehgal and former Mayor Gena Goodman-Campbell for their service. City councilors appointed Mitchell and Sehgal to their seats in July, after former councilor Rita Schenkelberg […]

Posted inNews

Q&A With New Mayor Melanie Kebler

Melanie Kebler shares her thought on the election, council goals and more
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Bend voters elected Melanie Kebler with 55% of the vote in November after she served two years on the City Council. The Bend-raised attorney’s platform focused on increasing affordable housing, environmentalism and a transportation system that increases access for pedestrians and cyclists. Shortly before she was sworn in, Kebler sat down with the Source Weekly […]

Posted inNews

Hunnell Camp Scheduled for Closure ▶ [With Video]

Bend is closing its largest houseless camp. Service providers hope it provides a roadmap for providing “surge support” for future crises
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

On Dec. 28 the City of Bend declared the campsite on Hunnell Road was unsafe and would be removed in March. It’s the largest campsite for people living outside of typical homes in Bend, and at peak residency in the summer there were over 100 camps on the road. That number shrank to about 65 […]

Posted inNews

Q&A With Outgoing DA John Hummel

John Hummel is leaving Bend after eight years as District Attorney. He sat down with the Source to discuss his time in office and what he plans to do next
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Since moving to Bend in 1995, John Hummel has worked as a public defender, started a defense firm and served six years on the Bend City Council before being elected as District Attorney in 2014. The self-described progressive prosecutor took a different approach than many DAs, taking public stances on injustice and what he views […]

Posted inNews

LISTEN: Parting Thoughts from District Attorney John Hummel 🎧

Days before leaving office, District Attorney John Hummel sat down with the Source
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

Since moving to Bend in 1995, John Hummel has worked as a public defender, started a defense firm and served six years on the Bend City Council before being elected as District Attorney in 2014. The self-described progressive prosecutor took a different approach than many DAs, taking public stances on injustice and what he views […]

Posted inNews

Governor Commutes Death Row Inmates

Seventeen inmates with death sentences are no longer eligible for capital punishment, a policy the state hasn’t acted on in over 25 years
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

On Dec. 13 Gov. Kate Brown commuted the sentence of Oregon’s 17 inmates on death row and ordered the execution chamber to be dismantled. The 17 prisoners will now serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Oregon rarely uses the death penalty, executing only two inmates in the last 50 years. Since the […]

Posted inNews

Winter Driving Obstacle Course

We put together a handy obstacle course with the basic tenets of winter driving, which a shocking number of Bendites could learn from
Avatar photo by Jack Harvel

When I moved to a mountain town, I thought you folks would know how to drive during the winter. Boy, was I wrong. As a simple Midwesterner, I was used to the occasional snowstorm and how to drive on it — and so were other drivers who, from my limited anecdotal experience, fared better than […]

Sign up for newsletters

Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.

Sending to:

Gift this article