On Sept. 24, 1959, Redmond police officer Robert Dickerson spotted a flying mushroom-shaped object moving side to side in the sky. It glowed green, yellow, crimson and blue, he reported, bright enough to illuminate nearby treetops and reportedly hovered in the sky for over an hour. The object pinged the Federal Aviation Administration’s radar, and […]
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.
Posted inNews
Snow Way Out
Despite late-season snowfall, Central Oregon can still expect harsh drought conditions
A late season snowstorm gave Central Oregonians a glimmer of hope that the drought, among the most severe in the region’s history, could be alleviated. Oregon’s Snotel precipitation report found the Upper Deschutes received about 99% of the median yearly snowfall. That figure may be a bit misleading, according to experts, and on April 25 […]
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Reduce, Reuse, Rebate: The Three R’s of Urban Water Conservation
As Central Oregon cities become more water resilient, they follow a path laid by similarly arid communities in the American Southwest
Central Oregon is facing one of the most severe droughts on record, and people are rightly worried about water as climate change, population growth and the loss of wildlife habitat stress the already-delicate balance of water use in the high desert. Municipal water accounts for about 2% of overall water rights in the Deschutes Basin […]
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Farmer Moves to Drought Resistant Crop
A local farmer switches from hay to lavender to adapt to the increasingly scarce water supply
In 2019 Marv Wodtli transitioned his 10-acre farm away from hay, a crop he’d grown on the family plot of land since he was a child. Wodtli owned a floor covering store, Floor Decor, for over 30 years as his main job but still farmed on the side. He started growing lavender after researching crops […]
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Candidates Debate in Contentious Jefferson County Sheriff’s Race
The campaign for Jefferson County Sheriff has been a divisive one, with both candidates claiming the other spread or ignored false claims about the other
Jefferson County Sheriff candidates Marc Heckathorn and Jason Pollock met for what’s likely to be the only debate between the two at the Jefferson County Community Center on April 18. Questions ranged from matters of policy to the several controversies that arose over the course of the campaigns. Jefferson County Commissioners interviewed both candidates to […]
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Fires in the Forest
Two fires in the Deschutes National Forest concern residents and prompts the Forest Service to take proactive measures
Two fires started off China Hat Road near houseless camps in April, the first torching an RV and the second igniting a pickup truck. There’s been an increase in camps staying longer than the 14-day stay limit over the last year, according to Deschutes National Forest Public Affairs Officer Jean Nelson-Dean. The fires alarmed nearby […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
What the FDA?
The federal government legalized agricultural hemp in 2018 after its prohibition nearly 50 years earlier. Cannabis is still considered a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency along with heroin and LSD, which is defined as not having any accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The conflicting legal status of hemp […]
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Farmworkers Overworked
Researchers found Oregon farmworkers suffered dehumanizing experiences during the pandemic
Between February and July of 2021 researchers conducted 48 interviews with farmworkers in agricultural regions throughout the state, concluding that farmworkers endured unsafe and dehumanizing experiences throughout the pandemic. Farmworkers often lack protections afforded to most professions. They can be fired for union activity and aren’t owed overtime, two protections enshrined in the National Labor […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Highs and Lows of Hemp
The hemp market stabilized, and farmers are shifting away from CBD and toward grains and fiber
The hemp industry in 2022 is in a strange spot. The market overproduced in 2019 and has since been trying to find a sweet spot for the crop while millions of pounds of excess biomass are still stored across the country. In 2020 there were over 200 million pounds of excess hemp, but it looks […]
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Former Bend Running Back Charged with Murder
Amara Marluke’s family claims former Mountain View running back Keenan Harpole physically and
psychologically abused Marluke before taking her life
Deschutes County Sheriffs arrested Keenan Harpole in Bend around 8:30 am on April 4 for allegedly shooting and killing Amara Marluke around 1 am on April 4 near the Portland State University campus. The sheriff’s office transported Harpole to Multnomah County and turned him over to the Portland Police Bureau. Harpole pleaded not guilty to […]
