Sicilian-style pizza may not be as well known as its Neapolitan, New York or even Chicago-style counterparts, but anyone who has visited Rush’s Squares know it’s as good as any of them. The cart got its start this year after Mike Rush, the cart’s founder, spent months making and delivering pizzas in his free time. […]
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 inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Asian Restaurant
Chi Chinese & Sushi Bar
Chi moved locations this past year, but it’s kept its number-one spot on Best Of for the fourth straight year. Chi offers a wide variety of both traditional Chinese food and sushi, made fresh every day. “We focused mostly on quality food and service, so we try to make everything as fresh as we can […]
Posted inNews
Oregone
A proposal for a greater Idaho imagines Bend as a border town, just a stone’s throw away from Redmond, Idaho
Before there was Oregon the state there was the Oregon territory, made up of what’s now Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Borders were set for all these western states by 1890, but now, a group of residents in central, eastern and southern Oregon are seeking to move the historic border and […]
Posted inNews
Out Without A Bang
Bend’s firework ban extended to Dec. 1, and maybe forever
The Bend City Council is considering permanently extending its personal fireworks ban, saying they are an unnecessary fire risk, can trigger mental health episodes and cause panic in pets. The City temporarily banned fireworks on June 8 before extending it to Aug. 31. At the City Council’s regular meeting on Aug. 4, City of Bend […]
Posted inNews
The New Normal, Again
As COVID-19’s Delta variant spreads across Oregon, leaders to call for a new round of masks and distancing
Oregon dropped its mask mandates and distancing requirements on July 1. Now, after just a little over a month of “back to normal,” Governor Kate Brown announced that mask mandates will return. When restrictions were lifted, the state recorded under 200 new cases a day. The seven-day average when this article went to print was […]
Posted inNews
Out Of The Junipers, a Proposed New Camp for the Unhoused
A village is in the works for unhoused people living on public lands east of Redmond
Urban and rural houselessness often don’t look the same and have different solutions. In more-urban Bend, the rising population of unhoused has inspired both great acts of compassion from houselessness advocates and drawn ire from NIMBYs who want unhoused camps out of sight and out of mind. In rural Redmond, houseless populations aren’t as acutely […]
Posted inNews
Emerson’s Cleared. Now What?
The City’s after-action report from the closing of a camp on Emerson Avenue could guide future closures on City-owned right of ways
On June 23 the Bend Police Department, in coordination with social services agencies, closed and cleared Emerson Avenue, where 40 to 50 unhoused people were living on City right of ways, using a City policy uniquely tailored for Emerson that could guide how unhoused encampments are swept in the future. At the Bend City Council meeting approving the policy […]
Posted inNews
Timber!
A day in the life of a local arborist—who loves trees with a professional passion
Every day arborists perform impressive acts of acrobatics, precise calculations of physics and medical diagnoses of trees as they’re maintaining or removing trees. Central Oregon Tree Experts co-owner Brett Miller said after 27 years in the business there haven’t been two days that were completely alike. “There’s a lot of people that do work in […]
Posted inNews
Protecting Pines in the Ochocos
Logging areas in sensitive habitats were blocked after an appeal from conservationist groups
A settlement between conservationist groups Oregon Wild and Central Oregon LandWatch and the Ochoco National Forest halted logging in sensitive areas that could have put fisheries and Rocky Mountain Elk in danger. The settlement was reached on June 14, over a year after it was filed. The National Forest Service’s mandate is to manage the land […]
Posted inNews
Protect Bend Trees
One local woman is fighting to make sure the rush for missing middle housing doesn’t come at the cost of Bend’s trees
Bendite Karon Johnson and her program, Protect Bend Trees, are seeking to change the developer code for more strict arboreal protection in a town once mainly associated with the lumber industry. Johnson argues that high-density housing alone won’t solve Bend’s housing crisis, and that it shouldn’t come at the cost of its trees. She says […]